4th February 1990 for four weeks

I have clear memories of watching the video for Nothing Compares 2 U on The Chart Show (on Channel 4 on Saturday mornings). Even as a young child I can remember thinking that it was a powerful video. The video mostly stayed on Sinead’s face and she even cried!

Nothing Compares has stood the test of time – it is a truly fantastic pop song. There aren’t many break up songs that make you stop and listen in the way this does, even 33 years after its release.

I can remember at the time that the song was written by Prince. We will meet him at some point on the chart.

Sinead O’Connor never troubled the Top Ten ever again. This was her finest moment.

10/10

27th January 1990 for one week

Kylie released Tears On My Pillow in early 1990. It’s a cover of a song from the Fifties.

I can remember liking it as it was quite different to her other songs. Just doing a quick read about it, and it says that it was from the film The Delinquents – and I remember that too! I can remember that film being talked about in connection with this song, but I have never seen the film and know nothing about it.

It is a nice song but not a spectacular one and is perhaps not Kylie’s finest hour. 

We’ve talked a lot about Kylie over the last few years, but although she remains prolific in releasing music, we will not meet her on this blog for another ten years!

4/10

13th January 1990 for two weeks

NKOTB were back fairly quickly after their last Number 1 with the second and final, Hangin’ Tough. A slightly better record than The Right Stuff, Hangin’ Touch still suffers from a lack of a decent tune.

I can imagine that it was one of those songs that you had to watch the video to really appreciate it.

It’s not really aged well and sounds no better now than it did 33 years ago.

This is the last we’ll hear from New Kids on this blog but I can remember that my favourite songs came later – Cover Girl and Tonight. These were songs that I really loved, but were not appreciated as much as The Right Stuff and Hangin’ Tough.

4/10

23rd December 1989 for three weeks

Five years after the original version was released Band Aid was back with a new version of Do They Know It’s Christmas? Band Aid II was produced by Pete Waterman and so was full of the stars from the Stock, Aitken and Waterman repertoire – Kylie, Jason and Sonia. Cliff Richard, Wet Wet Wet, Lisa Stansfield, Cathy Dennis, Big Fun, Bananarama, Chris Rea and Jimmy Somerville performed on the record.

As I said when I talked about the original version, Do They Know It’s Christmas? has not aged well. It feels patronising. Well, Band Aid II takes it up a notch. This version feels like it has no meaning. It sounds too poppy – like they are all having way too much fun organising it. It sounds like it’s more about the pop stars than the meaning behind the song. So this version has not aged at all well. In fact, you never, ever hear this version played.

Musically it’s got some nice touches that make it different to the original, but they just feel self-indulgent and show-offy.

The last Number 1 of the 1980s ends a year dominated by Stock, Aitken and Waterman and Jive Bunny who produced seven of the year’s biggest hits.

2/10

16th December 1989 for one week

And can you believe it? After just one other act reaching Number 1, Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers were back at Number 1?!

As it was December, it was time to mash a load of Christmas hits together to create the ultimate Christmas party track, Let’s Party!

It is incredibly formulaic but, once again, it worked. They capitalised on the seemingly huge market for this style of production and gave it a Christmas spin.

Their rapid success placed Jive Bunny into a special category – they were only the third act to reach Number 1 with all of their three debut songs, following on from Gerry and the Pacemakers (before I was born) and Frankie Goes To Hollywood (already featured on the blog). And Jive Bunny managed to do this in the quickest amount of time.

Let’s Party spent just one week at Number 1, but still, this means that they enjoyed 9 out of the last 20 weeks at Number 1 with three different songs. Huge.

However, it was like someone said, “That’s enough now. We’ve had enough. No more, for God’s sake,” and from this point on their singles enjoyed smaller and smaller success. I cannot remember any of their other releases whatsoever. Although they had another couple of Top Tens, they never came close to reaching the top again. It’s probably a good thing.

4/10

25th November 1989 for three weeks

I can remember the huge hype around New Kids On The Block. They were the ‘biggest’ band in America and they were now being promoted in the UK where it was hoped they would be the same. 

Although I believe this was the second time The Right Stuff was released in the UK, it finally smashed the chart in November 1989 (having enjoyed its success in America in January of this year).

I can remember thinking that the song was ok. It didn’t blow me away. I didn’t think there was much of a tune. 34 years later and I don’t think my opinion has changed. It’s not a good song. It was the band that was hyped, the song was, and is, weak.

We will meet the band once more in 1990.

4/10

11th November 1989 for two weeks

Lisa Stansfield was everywhere in the early Nineties. But I honestly don’t know what’s she’s been up to since.

But she released some great songs. Once I realised that she was singing about her lover and not a baby, I remember enjoying this song as a child.

I don’t think you hear this song quite so much these days, which is a shame because it’s good.

6/10

21st October 1989 for three weeks

Jive Bunny returned pretty quickly with their second Number 1. It must be fairly unusual to have just one other record in between Number 1s, even if the one in the middle was there for six weeks.

If anything, at the time I think I preferred That’s What I Like. It is more of the same – like Swing The Mood, TWIL mashes up several songs from the Sixties to make a totally fun song. Everybody liked it – it was different. Older people could safely say that music they liked was in the charts. Younger people liked the novelty and the fun. Jive Bunny gave everyone something in common.

The fun for Jive Bunny isn’t over yet!

5/10

9th September 1989 for six weeks

I hated this song as a child. But I can’t remember why. Writing this post now, I have a feeling it was because I loved Jive Bunny. Why on earth was this other song keeping Jive Bunny off the top?!

My attitude today could not be more opposite. Ride On Time is one of the best songs that there has ever been. It is way ahead of its time – it’s hard to believe that this came out in 1989 amongst all of the cheese and novelty that there was around. It’s a timeless record, sounding as at home on the radio in 2023 as it did when it was first released. When I got into dance music in the 1990s I grew to love the song. In my opinion, it’s one of the best dance records ever released.

There was a whole big thing going on with the samples and singers used on the song that I was completely unaware of at the time. James Masterton has written more about this song than I was ever aware of.

Ride on Time was the record to spend the longest time at Number One since Stevie Wonder in 1984. It was also the biggest selling single of 1989.

10/10