Bucks Fizz – The Land Of Make Believe

land of make believe

16th January 1982 for two weeks

Ok, if you were to look at the single cover and make an assumption about the quality of the song, you’d say The Land Of Make Believe was pure cheese – dreadful. In fact, the song has an alluring quality which the cheesiness spoils. It’s pure cheese pop and one with a great melody.

It has probably not aged well but it is still nice to listen to. It’s the sort of song I expect to dad dance to at birthday parties at some point. Too slow to dance properly to, so you’d just look like a guy who likes cheesy pop.

7/10

John Lennon – Just Like Starting Over

20th December 1980 for one week

I don’t think I’ve heard this before now. I don’t know why.

It actually sounds pretty good. What worries me, is that I possibly don’t understand the lyrics yet, which probably means there’s a hippy message of peace and love that I’ve not recognised.

This was the song that went to the top of the charts after John Lennon was shot. It was cruelly knocked off the chart after a week for an appalling novelty Christmas single.

The single cover is yet another example of PDA between Lennon and Oko which would have driven me mad if I’d been around at the time. Perhaps I’m being harsh given that poor Lennon would be dead a few weeks after the release of this single.

7/10

The Police – Don’t Stand So Close To Me

27th September 1980 for four weeks

Another great song by The Police! It’s another Police song that I’ve always loved but not really understood its meaning until much later in life. Don’t Stand So Close To Me is about a schoolgirl’s crush on her teacher which leads to an affair. I had no idea it was about that. A bit like, Every Breath You Take, which is about a stalker, you have to wonder where Sting’s inspiration came from.

This is one to turn up loud and sing along to in the car.

7/10

Blondie – Call Me

Call Me

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

Blondie – Atomic

atomic

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

The Buggles – Video Killed The Radio Star

20th October 1979 for one week

Such a fun pop song – it’s almost impossible to join in!

Oh-wah-oh!

I don’t know much about the background of the song but I like the way that parts of it sound like it has been put together in a garage-type studio by a group of students.

Obviously I didn’t really notice the song until later in life. But I recall hearing that the song was the first song which was played on MTV when it was launched in 1981. It feels like the perfect song.

7/10

The Boomtown Rats – I Don’t Like Mondays

i don't like mondays

28th July 1979 for four weeks

At some point or other we’ve all had this song come into our heads on a Monday morning. It surely wins the prize for the most universally agreed song title?

Unfortunately the inspiration behind the song seems to be a tragic shooting in America, so now I just feel awkward.

It’s quite hard to keep up with the story told in the verses, so the song is actually all about the chorus – and it’s great!

The song is possibly the most different in style to all of the others from 1979 so far. I love the piano – it is brilliant!

7/10

The Village People – YMCA

ymca

I was born on 5th January 1979. Little did I know that one of the cheesiest party anthems ever created was at Number 1…

In fact, I first became aware of YMCA in 1993 when a remix was in the chart. I don’t remember owning a copy but do remember liking it.

Memories of YMCA include dancing embarrassingly in nightclubs in my late teens and never being able to do the C in the right direction.

Recently our daughter has heard the song in school discos and so I find myself practising the dance moves with her!

It’s a party classic and one that people will be dancing to in another 40 years’ time.

7/10