20th May 1989 for three weeks

I need to phrase this very carefully. As a Liverpool fan, and a young child in 1989, the Hillsborough disaster hit home. It shocked me to my core. I couldn’t quite comprehend how something so awful had happened to my beloved football club. I can remember watching it on TV and being very upset.

I can remember this charity record being announced and thinking it was a good thing. Anything that raised money for the families of the victims of this awful tragedy was a good thing as far as I was concerned.

Ferry ‘Cross The Mersey was a song by Gerry And The Pacemakers who had been a huge band from Liverpool. It’s a good song, and Gerry Marsden lends his voice to this new version.

This charity version, however, is not good. Without knowing the history of the single, someone managed to assembly some of the greatest Scouse singers from all time and put them together on a record. Stock Aitken And Waterman, the pop song trio who were on a roll, writing and producing Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan’s songs, managed to grab a credit as artists on the song. The whole thing feels very self-indulgent and musically is not good.

But it did raise some money so that’s a good thing. As an adult it really frustrates me that people think that buying a song will raise money for a charity. It is much better to just give directly to a charity.

1/10

13th May 1989 for one week

Hand On Your Heart is a typical Kylie-sounding single.

At the time I can remember liking it. It was formulaic and sounded just like everything you’d want from a Kylie single. That was a good thing. But I guess that is also the reason why it’s not, perhaps, considered one of her greats.

There was a cover by Jose Gonzales released in 2006 which stripped away the pop and turned it into a melancholic-sounding love song. It’s quite good.

7/10

15th April1989 for four weeks

Eternal Flame is one of the great pop ballads. The Bangles released a classic in 1989 with a love song that has stood the test of time, still sounding great 34 years later.

A few years later, in high school, there was a talent show on a residential trip somewhere. I can remember some girls singing this song and everyone would join in with the ‘whaoos’.

This is not the last we’ll hear of Eternal Flame, but it is the last we’ll hear of The Bangles. They released a couple of other songs that are fun – Walk Like An Egyptian and Manic Monday.

10/10

25th March 1989 for three weeks

In 1989, Madonna released her best song, Like A Prayer. It reached Number 1, deservedly so. It was everywhere at the time. I can remember seeing the video on Top Of The Pops and hearing the song on the radio.

34 years later, the song still sounds great. It’s often been remixed and sampled. In 2002 a remix by Mad’House reached Number 3. 

I find it surprising that the song has only ever had one chart run – for thirteen weeks. Its popularity surely means that it should have experienced further success in the digital era?

9/10

11th March 1989 for two weeks

And for the second time in two months, Jason Donovan was at Number 1.

Too Many Broken Hearts is a glorious pop record. It is Stock Aitken and Waterman at their very best. I can remember loving this song and hearing it everywhere. 

In my opinion, it has aged really well and still sounds great. Like much of Jason Donovan’s best work it is a guilty pleasure to listen to. This is one of his best.

9/10

25th February 1989 for two weeks

Simple Minds released some amazing rock anthems – Alive And Kicking and Don’t You (Forget About Me).

But their most moving song reached Number 1 in 1989. In Belfast Child, the band reflects on the loss of loved ones due to the troubles in Northern Ireland.

These days their other, easier to listen to and less hardhitting, songs get their airplay rather than this.

4/10

28th January 1989 for four weeks

We last met Marc Almond at Number 1 in 1981 when his band, Soft Cell, reached the top with Tainted Love. Eight years later he reached the summit again, this time singing without his band, but joined by Gene Pitney.

Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart, originally performed by Gene Pitney, was released in 1967. It’s a good song.

It was given a new lease of life in 1989 when Marc Almond released a version of it featuring Gene Pitney. Their collobation is absolutely fantastic! The song sounds great and their voices are very distinctive but complement each other. I always think that Gene Pitney sings this version like he simply cannot believe his luck that he gets to rerecord this song all over again! It still sounds great today, but I don’t think it gets the plays that it probably deserves.

8/10

8th January 1989 for three weeks

I would have been 9 when Especially For You was released before Christmas 1988. This was exciting times – two stars of one of my favourite shows, Neighbours, were uniting to sing together on a pop song! I can remember excitedly watching the video on TV. Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan were set for stardom!

Kylie, of course, had enjoyed a Number 1 single the year before and a couple of Number 2 records. Jason Donovan had released Nothing Can Divide Us in 1988, reaching Number 3. Inevitably, when the two combined their chemistry from the show would be replicated in musical form and the song reached the top (although it was kept off the Christmas Number 1 spot by Cliff Richard).

The song is a classic cheesy pop song. It sounds just as cheesy in 2023 and it’s not quite as exciting as their solo singles usually were, with hindsight. The song had sales of just below one million copies, before just edging over in the 2010s.

6/10

10th December 1988 for four weeks

For me, Mistletoe And Wine is one of the great Christmas songs. It reminds me very much of childhood and instantly puts me in the Christmas mood.

The song charted in 1988 (of course), 2007 (after digital purchases were added to the charts), and has then recharted each year since 2019, but never reaching higher than Number 51. For me, this isn’t the recognition that it deserves. It’s probably because of the Christian theme of the song, or maybe because people think Cliff Richard isn’t cool.

7/10

19th November 1988 for three weeks

For the second time in 1988 a song reached the top of the charts after featuring on a TV advert (The Hollies’ He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother being the other).

First Time was a song from a Coca Cola advert. I can remember liking the song in the advert. “Coca Cola is it” was the lyric to the song in the advert.

The song was released and I can remember hearing it and liking the song. It is a proper Eighties power pop song and I feel it probably hasn’t had the longevity that it deserves.

It was remixed by Sunblock in 2006 and it reached the Top Ten all over again.

Other than with this song, Robin Beck has never troubled the charts,

7/10