21st June 1980 for three weeks

This is one of those songs that people just know. I haven’t a clue about when I first heard it but I know I was aware of it when I was a child.

By the time this hilarious moment was included in an episode of Only Fools And Horses I would have been eleven.

Although I wasn’t a huge Only Fools fan at the time (that came later) I do remember this and loved it. By that time I must have known Crying from somewhere.

Apparently it was a cover of a Roy Orbison song. I don’t know whether it’s the Orbison version or the McLean version that I have heard most but I imagine they both sound the same.

The song just kind of happens and doesn’t really go anywhere. And it can’t be sung anymore without singing, “cwying!”

4/10

31st May 1980 for three weeks

I have a recollection of hearing about a TV show called M*A*S*H when I was younger. I think it was army related. I have never watched it. And I don’t think I ever heard the theme tune.

Suicide Is Painless was later covered by Manic Street Preachers. I didn’t really become aware of the Manics until A Design For Life came out in 1996. Suddenly they were one of the best bands in the world. From that point on I loved their music. In 2002 they released Forever Delayed, their greatest hits album. And at that point I discovered Suicide Is Painless.

A good song… but the Manics’ version is far superior and would score higher!

6/10

17th May 1980 for two weeks

In 1980 this was the winning song from the Eurovision Song Contest. Ireland’s entry was a power ballad. It has the sort of sound that would later become typical of female power balladeers later in the decade. The backing remind be a little of the theme tune of Cheers.

It’s not a dreadful record but one that I wound never choose to listen to. It’s a million miles away from the style of song you’d associate with Eurovision.

5/10

3rd May 1980 for two weeks

I wasn’t sure that I’d heard this one but the trumpet section (do do do do doo) around half way through sounds familiar.

The whole thing just sounds like noise. You have to wonder what caused this to reach Number 1. Their other hit, Come On Eileen, is such a classic, you have to wonder whether they knocked this together in two minutes.

It didn’t just reach Number 1, it was there for two weeks. So there were enough people who liked it enough to go out and buy it more than any other song for two weeks Weird.

4/10

26th April 1980 for one week

Blondie seem to have been written about a lot on this blog so far. I think this is the fourth time. And Call Me was number one about six weeks after their previous, Atomic. This is a bit like the 2010s when artists would regularly go on to knock themselves off the top spot, or find themselves back at Number 1 after a couple of weeks.

Call Me is a good song and it is understandable why it went to Number 1. You can imagine the teenagers of the time loving this in the clubs and record shops.

7/10

12th April 1980 for two weeks

Another classic Number 1. This one is a cover of a Four Seasons song from the Sixties.

It’s one that was massive in Flares, the cheesy nightclub in Stoke-on-Trent in the Nineties and Noughties when we used to go there (when we actually used to go out).

Working My Way Back To You by The Spinners was a Medley with a song called Forgive Me Girl. It is only when writing this that I’ve discovered that it is a medley of two songs.

8/10

22nd March 1980 for three weeks

And suddenly the best Number 1 single of 1980 is with us. Going Underground is an absolute classic and is still really popular today.

Apparently it was a double A-side (this isn’t a thing anymore in 2019) with Dreams Of Children. I’ve not heard that at all.

Going Underground sounds amazing at full volume in the car, or it was always massive in the clubs on an indie night.

It makes you feel alive and happy and you couldn’t ask more of a song than that.

Buffalo Tom did a version of the song which was released in 1999 which was quite good but much slower. It’s still worth a listen.

10/10

15th March 1980 for one week

This is a song that I shouldn’t like. It’s too sweet and cheesy, surely. And yet, somehow I love it.

The song is one that I’ve heard over the years and enjoyed it, due to its catchy tune. Even the random French bit is enjoyable. But the song really struck a chord with me in 2013 after it was used in an advert.

8/10

1st March 1980 for two weeks

After two, frankly bizarre Number 1s, there’s a return to a higher class of music with Blondie’s Atomic.

Atomic is such an impressive single, somehow sounding just as fresh in 2019 as it did in 1980. It seems to bridge the gap between the Seventies and the Eighties by sounding like it is from each decade with a rock/disco/new wave sound.

It’s a song that is far from one of my favourites, but is one I enjoy when it comes on.

I remember a dance remix being released in 1998 which was pretty good.

7/10

16th February 1980 for two weeks

You have to wonder what was going on in 1980 for Coward Of The County to follow from Too Much Too Young. Surely they appealed to very different audiences, and yet somehow appealed enough for both to reach Number 1.

Coward Of The County is one of those songs that tells a story. A typical country and western song.

This is not 1980’s finest hour.

3/10