4th April 1987 for three weeks

I remember the Zeebrugge ferry disaster – the Herald of Free Enterprise capsized in March 1987, killing many passengers and crew. It was awful. There were many tragedies in the Eighties that would have passed me by due to my age. But the Bradford Fire Disaster and the Zeebrugge Free Disaster were two that I can remember vividly. There was another significant one to come.

The Bradford and Zeebrugge disasters were followed by the release of awful charity songs in which celebrities came together to sing a song together to raise money for the victims. I can remember thinking that this was a good idea. As an adult I know that if you want to raise money for a charity you give money directly – not buy an awful record. It frustrates me that celebrities could raise the same amount of money that the record makes from sales just by putting their hand into their own pocket. 

Let It Be included Paul McCartney, Boy George, Mark Knopfler and Kate Bush. And it’s rubbish.

1/10

28th March 1987 for one week

Respectable is a fun pop song that rightly reached Number 1. I have no specific memories of the song, but can definitely recall hearing it when I was a child. I would have been eight years old and thought it was good.

Although we won’t meet Mel & Kim again after Respectable, Kim Appleby went on to enjoy further success on the charts. Poor Mel, however, tragically passed away three years after Respectable was released. Sadly she had cancer and then died due to pneumonia due to a weakened immune system. I can remember being really shocked when I heard about Mel’s death.

Reading about this on Wikipedia, it seems that Mel’s health condition was kept a secret as much as possible and hidden from the public. This just feels so odd, nowadays. Health conditions are talked about so openly now. Poor Tom Parker’s (from The Wanted) battle with cancer was made very public in 2020 and the public reaction to his battle and sad death was incredible. It raised awareness and reduced the stigma around health for men, particularly. Sharing people’s medical information is not necessarily what people would want. But it is so positive to see the change in attitude towards this over the last three decades.

6/10

14th March 1987 for two weeks

I have a vague recollection of this song when I was younger. I remember hearing something about Boy George going solo, but didn’t know what this meant at the time. I guess I didn’t know that he was in a band before.

This is a nice song. It’s not exciting. It’s just ok. That’s all I can say. The Wikipedia page for Everything I Own shows that it’s been covered quite a few times. I don’t know what the appeal is that draws artists to it.

4/10

21st February 1987 for three weeks

I was completely unaware of the film Stand By Me until I was in high school. I am not sure which year I was in, but I remember watching the film in English lessons. I remember thinking it was cool because it had swearing and dead bodies and they were actually showing this to us in school! But I loved the film and still do. It is a great film about bonding and friendship.

The song, Stand By Me, had originally come out in 1961 but was re-released to coincide with the release of the film.

The song is wonderful and has meaningful lyrics which I also love. It is truly a great song. 62 years later and Stand By Me still sounds fabulous.

10/10

7th February 1987 for two weeks

What a fantastic record! Over the last few years George Michael had written some absolute classic hits (apart from A Different Corner) and then he joined up with fantastic singer, Aretha Franklin, to perform this anthem.

I Knew You Were Waiting For Me is a fabulous song – a good song to sing along to. Both singers were at the peak of their game and together they create perfection.

9/10

24th January 1987 for two weeks

I believe that Jack Your Body was an incredibly influential record – the first house record to reach Number 1. I believe it was influential because it led to the acid house scene of the late Eighties.

As a huge dance and house music fan I should love this. But I don’t. House music has come a long way since this.

Fair play for being a break through record and house music pioneer though.

2/10

27th December 1986 for four weeks

I was seven years old when Reet Petite was at Number One. I have vivid memories of watching what a clay animation video, like Morph, dancing to this song. In my head I thought it was an advert for Lurpak, but having just checked. I seem to have got mixed up with an advert that came out in 2000. I don’t know what the animation was for then.

Reet Petite was a re-release of a song that came out in 1957. So far in this blog, this is the longest time that a song has taken to reach Number 1 (29 years).

Reet Petite is awesome. It is a truly great song and one you can’t help but sing along with.

8/10

20th December 1986 for one week

Caravan Of Love is a great song. It is an accapella cover of a Isley-Jasper-Isley song.

The Housemartins were the band that included Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway (who we will meet again in Beautiful South) and Norman Cook (who we will meet again as Fatboy Slim). They recorded some great songs and Caravan Of Love is one of the best. 

I have no memory of this song as a child but only discovered it as an adult, when I got into the music of Beautiful South. I don’t think the song gets the airing that it should.

8/10

6th December 1986 for two weeks

Everybody knows The Final Countdown.

My eight-year-old loves it. There is something about this song that makes it so easy to love.

The familiar riff is feels very empowering somehow. It is a song that should be on every psyche-up playlist.

It is so familiar that it is hard to imagine a time before The Final Countdown. It’s a song that feels like it has been around my entire life.

I mentioned hair in my last post, about Berlin. For Europe, I was expecting this much hair. It is exactly what I expected.

10/10

8th November 1986 for four weeks

I was 43 when I watched Top Gun for the first time. It’s a great film, but Top Gun: Maverick was even better (having watched it when I was 44).

I heard Take My Breath Away so many times over the years. I knew it was from Top Gun, but it never made me want to watch the movie.

It’s a great song and has that iconic riff that everyone knows, well almost everyone…

Having never seen the video for this song I am surprised to see how much hair the band members had.

9/10