NME Singles/Albums Chart Breakers

[TOMMYROCKLAND]

THANK YOU METAL WEB, AND ALL.

RNR NEVER DIE.

[Metalweb]

6 Aug 83

51 (-) Feel The Love - 10cc
52 (-) Six Months In A Leaky Boat - Split Enz
53 (-) Bad Day - Carmel (entered 13 Aug)
54 (-) I Don't Remember - Peter Gabriel
55(53) She Blinded Me With Science - Thomas Dolby
56 (-) I Get The Sweetest Feeling - Jackie Wilson
57(64) Just Fascination - Cabaret Voltaire
58(65) Gary Gilmore's Eyes - Adverts
59(44) Blue Monday - New Order
60(56) Stop In The Name Of Love - Hollies
61(57) Pieces Of Ice - Diana Ross
62(75) Never Too Late - Lonnie Liston Smith
63(60) Trouble In Paradise - Al Jarreau
64 (-) He Is Sailing - Jon & Vangelis
65 (-) Just Can't Help Believing - Boystown Gang
66 (-) Watching You Watching Me - David Grant (entered 20 Aug)
67(48) Love To Stay - Altered Images
68(63) Whodunnit - Crass
69 (-) Come Dancing - Kinks (entered 13 Aug)
70(45) Happy - Michael Jackson
71(30) I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues - Elton John
72(26) Give It Some Emotion - Tracie
73 (-) Get Down Saturday Night - Oliver Cheatham (had already charted)
74(41) When We Were Young - Bucks Fizz
75 (-) Never Gonna Let You Go - Sergio Mendes (had already charted)

[Robbie]

'Feel The Love (Oomachasaooma)' was 10cc's last single prior to Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman deciding to mothball / end the band. They would later reform and record an album in 1991 along with former members Kevin Godley and Lol Creme.

'Six Months In A Leaky Boat' by Split Enz was a re-issue. It had originally been released during the Falklands War in April 1982 and had been banned by the BBC becuase of its inappropriate title.

It was also second time around for 'She Blinded Me With Science' by Thomas Dolby. The record had previously peaked at number 49 on the Gallup chart in November 1982. This time around it would peak at number 56.

[Metalweb]

13 Aug 83

51 (-) Indian Summer - Belle Stars (entered 27 Aug)
52(64) He Is Sailing - Jon & Vangelis
53(60) Stop In The Name Of Love - Hollies
54 (-) Johnny Friendly - Jo Boxers (entered 27 Aug)
55 (-) Lean On Me! - Redskins (entered 3 Sept)
56 (-) Always Something There to Remind Me - Naked Eyes
57 (-) Busy Doing Nothing - Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin
58 (-) Party Time - Kurtis Blow
59(65) I Just Can't Help Believing - Boystown Gang
60 (-) We're Gonna Groove Tonight - The Biz
61(59) Blue Monday - New Order
62 (-) Don't Cry - Asia (entered 20 Aug)
63(28) Tantalise - Jimmy The Hoover
64(50) Put Our Heads Together - O'Jays
65(66) Watching You Watching Me - David Grant (entered 20 Aug)
66(52) Six Months In A Leaky Boat - Split Enz
67(46) Shine - Motorhead
68 (-) Stay On Top - Uriah Heep (entered 27 Aug)
69(49) Crazy - Manhattans
70 (-) Blue Skies - Jets
71(42) Death Cult EP - Death Cult
72(39) The Sun Goes Down - Level 42
73 (-) Wrap Your Arms Around Me - Agnetha Faltskog
74(38) For You _ Farmers Boys
75(51) Feel The Love - 10cc

[Metalweb]

20 Aug 83

51(51) Indian Summer - Belle Stars (entered 27 Aug)
52 (-) Changing For You - Chi-Lites
53(54) Johnny Friendly - Jo Boxers (entered 27 Aug)
54(57) Busy Doing Nothing - Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin
55 (re) Garden Party - Marillion
56(47) The Man With Four Way Hips - Tom Tom Club
57(68) Stay On Top - Uriah Heep (entered 27 Aug)
58 (-) Save A Little Love For Me - Dennis Brown
59 (-) Ticket To The Tropics - Coconuts
60 (-) Holy Diver - Dio
61 (re) Him - Sarah Brightman
62 (-) What Am I Gonna Do - Rod Stewart (entered 27 Aug)
63(35) Walking In The Rain - Modern Romance
64(38) Rock'n'Roll Is King - ELO
65(71) Death Cult EP - Death Cult
66 (-) Cheerio Toodlepip - Toy Dolls
67(55) Lean On Me! - Redskins
68 (-) Popcorn Love - New Edition (entered 27 Aug)
69 (-) Crazy - Manhattans (had already charted)
70(49) Prime Time - Haircut 100
71 (-) To A Nation Of Animal Lovers - Conflict (entered 3 Sept)
72(44) Nightmare - Saxon
73(45) Forbidden Colours - Sylvian & Sakamoto
74(31) Bad Boys - Wham
75(67) Shine - Motorhead

[Robbie]

Ah, the Toy Dolls, a local group to me. Unfortunately they support the wrong team, they're red and white rather than black and white!

[Metalweb]

27 Aug 83

51 (-) You're The One - Katie Kissoon
52 (-) Half The Day's Gone - Kenny Lynch (entered 10 Sep)
53(re) Put Our Heads Together - O'Jays
54(54) Busy Doing Nothing - Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin
55(45) Baby Jane - Rod Stewart
56 (-) You Can't Stop Rock'n'Roll - Twisted Sister
57(40) Mean Streak - Y&T
58(23) Do It Again /Billie Jean - Club House
59(52) Changing For You - Chi-Lites
60 (-) Blue World - Moody Blues (entered 3 Sep)
61(67) Lean On Me! - Redskins
62 (-) Tahiti - David Essex (entered 17 Sep)
63(71) To A Nation Of Animal Lovers - Conflict (entered 3 Sep)
64(re) Wrap Your Arms Around Me - Agnetha Faltskog
65 (-) Lined Up - Shriekback
66(29) Never Stop - Echo & The Bunnymen
67(30) It's Over - Funkmasters
68(60) Holy Diver - Dio
69 (-) It's Raining Men - Weather Girls (entered 17 Sep)
70(39) Flashdance - Irene Cara
71(56) The Man With Four Way Hips - Tom Tom Club
72 (-) Rock Of Ages - Def Leppard (entered 3 Sep)
73(47) War Baby - Tom Robinson
74 (-) Just Outside Of Heaven - H2O
75 (-) You're Lookin' Hot Tonight - Barry Manilow (entered 17 Sep)

[TOMMYROCKLAND]

thank you.

RNR NEVER DIE.

[Robbie]

The Kenny Lynch records 'Half The Day's Gone And We Haven't Earned A Penny' was expected to be a massive hit. Very popular in clubs it was championed by Record Mirror Disco columnist James Hamilton who tipped it to be a top 40 hit. Normally he was quite good at tipping dance tracks turning into pop hits but in this case he was wide of the mark. The single stalled at number 50 on the Gallup chart.

It took The Weather Girls three attempts to turn 'It's Raining Men' into a big hit. It was first released in December 1982 but was a flop. It was then re-released in July 1983 but underperformed. It was then re-promoted in February 1984 when it became a number 2 hit. It even re-entered the chart in 2001 and 2014, the latter as a download. I can't remember why it charted in 2014. It reached number 31 with just one week on the chart but it was a bit too late to have charted off the back of, say, The X-Factor.

[Metalweb]

Must admit I've no memory at all of the Kenny Lynch track.

Listening back it's pleasant enough but hardly sounds like a nailed-on hit to me....

[Robbie]

Must admit I've no memory at all of the Kenny Lynch track.

Listening back it's pleasant enough but hardly sounds like a nailed-on hit to me....

It was more popular with the London and south east jazz-funk crowd and wasn't really the sort of dance music that would sell in the north and Scotland. I sometimes used to think that James Hamilton (as great as I thought he was) was too London centric in his write ups. It probably was a bigger hit in the south but I doubt it sold much in the north.

Looking at the comments on YouTube just about everyone who is reminiscing about the record are from the London area. I also forgot that Kenny had died last December, exactly one week before Christmas.

[Metalweb]

3 Sept 83

51(62) Tahiti - David Essex (entered 17 Sept)
52(29) Don't Cry - Asia
53 (-) If You Could See Me Now - Skakatak
54(30) Freak - Bruce Foxton
55(51) You're The One - Katie Kissoon
56(35) It's Late - Shakin' Stevens
57(54) Busy Doing Nothing - Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin
58(37) Ballerina (Prima Donna) - Steve Harley
59 (-) Dr Jam (In The Slam) - Men At Play
60(38) Every Day I Write The Book - Elvis Costello
61 (-) Until I Get You - Hanoi Rocks
62 (-) Night And Day - Everything But The Girl
63(39) Popcorn Love - New Edition
64(53) Put Our Heads Together - O'Jays
65(65) Lined Up - Shriekback
66(42) Wrapped Around Your Finger - Police
67(75) You're Lookin' Hot Tonight - Barry Manilow (entered 17 Sept)
68(52) Half The Day's Gone - Kenny Lynch (entered 10 Sept)
69 (-) Ray-gun-omics - Project Future
70(43) Come Live With Me - Heaven 17
71 (-) Don't You Get So Mad - Jeffrey Osborne
72(44) Stay On Top - Uriah Heep
73 (-) Fool For You - Julie Roberts
74(45) Indian Summer - Belle Stars
75(48) Johnny Friendly - Jo Boxers

[Metalweb]

10 Sept 83

51 (-) It's Raining Men - Weather Girls (entered 17 Sept)
52 (-) Band Of Gold - Sylvester
53 (-) Jam On Revenge - Newcleus (entered 1 Oct)
54(51) Tahiti - David Essex (entered 17 Sept)
55(37) To A Nation Of Animal Lovers - Conflict
56(35) It's Late - Shakin' Stevens
57(55) You're The One - Katie Kissoon
58(75) Johnny Friendly - Jo Boxers
59(33) Who's That Girl - Eurythmics
60(44) Trees And Flowers - Strawberry Switchblade
61(45) Lean On Me! - Redskins
62 (-) And The Band Played On - Flash & The Pan
63(43) Is It Love - Gang Of Four
64(67) You're Lookin' Hot Tonight - Barry Manilow (entered 17 Sept)
65(48) Blue World - Moody Blues
66 (-) Solidarity - Little Steven
67(29) Give It Some Emotion - Tracie
68 (-) Come Back And Stay - Paul Young (entered 17 Sept)
69(49) Will You Stay Tonight - Comsat Angels
70(39) Moonlight Shadow - Mike Oldfield
71 (-) The Crusher - Bananamen
72 (-) Go Deh Yaka - Monyaka (entered 17 Sept)
73(71) Don't You Get So Mad - Jeffrey Osborne
74(57) Busy Doing Nothing - Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin
75(re) Wrap Your Arms Around Me - Agnetha Faltskog

[Robbie]

Interesting that NME charted the Flash & The Pan single under it's original 1978 title 'And The Band Played On' as it was re-issued in 1983 under the title 'Down Among The Dead Men'. The latter title was in fact the original 1978 title of the song in every country the record was released except in the UK where it's full title back then was 'And The Band Played On (Down Among The Dead Men)'. Whatever the title it's a great song that I recall from 1978. The inspiration for the song was the sinking of the passenger liner RMS Titanic in 1912 where, according to legend, as the liner was sinking "the band played on" (the last song played was said to be the hymn 'Nearer, My God, To Thee').

[Metalweb]

^

Oops...my mistake!

NME did have DATDM as the title but I seem to have "corrected" it back to the title I was more familiar with!

Agree it's a great track and surprising it wasn't a proper hit even after the surprise success of Waiting For A Train earlier in the year....

[Robbie]

Sadly Flash & The Pan struggled to have hits in the UK. Perhaps they were just too quirky though at least 'Waiting For A Train' did catch on. I remember their first single, 'Hey St Peter', from one of its releases (it was released in April 1977, February 1978 and August 1979!) as it got a few plays on Radio 1. With 'Hey St Peter' being released three times and 'And The Band Played On' twice they certainly tried in vain to have more than a fleeting moment of success.

[Metalweb]

I liked Flash and The Pan too (Hey St Peter in particular).

A lot of their material reminded me of The Days Of Pearly Spencer but even that wasn't a hit here until Marc Almond's version in '92!

[Passing_Strang]

Fun fact: apparently NME still compiled Top 75 (at least for albums) after 1984 - I judge by a couple of errors I've seen while looking through their lists, as they listed a position below #50 for re-entering LPs instead of "RE" sign. One I remember clearly is Culture Club's "Waking up with the house on fire". Also The Network Chart they published since 1988 was also Top 75, judging by the same instances. Strange they only printed the Top 50s.

By the way, anybody know if NME chart books used Top 50 or Top 75 since 1988? Oh, and does anybody know when NME stopped publishing The Network Chart? I cannot find any since Spring 1995...

[Woz1234]

Both of these songs did reach the Gallup Top 100

2 July 83
Here We'll Stay - Frida & Phil Collins [#100, June 25th]

10 Sept 83
Is It Love - Gang Of Four [#88, August 27th]

& the last one not your error but what was printed in No1 Magazine

Rock The Message - Grandmaster Flash [25 Jun 83]

it should be called "Rock The Message Rap" by Grand Master Chilly-T & Stevie G

[Metalweb]

The NME chart books only used the Top 50...…

[Metalweb]

Both of these songs did reach the Gallup Top 100

2 July 83
Here We'll Stay - Frida & Phil Collins [#100, June 25th]

10 Sept 83
Is It Love - Gang Of Four [#88, August 27th]

& the last one not your error but what was printed in No1 Magazine

Rock The Message - Grandmaster Flash [25 Jun 83]

it should be called "Rock The Message Rap" by Grand Master Chilly-T & Stevie G

Thanks - now corrected!

[Metalweb]

17 Sept 83

51(62) Down Among The Dead Men - Flash & The Pan
52(69) Will You Stay Tonight - Comsat Angels
53 (-) This Is The Day - The The
54(38) She Loves You - Beatles
55(41) Half The Day's Gone - Kenny Lynch
56(67) Give It Some Emotion - Tracie
57(73) Don't You Get So Mad - Jeffrey Osborne
58(26) Double Dutch - Malcolm McLaren
59(52) Band Of Gold - Sylvester
60 (-) Let Them All Talk - Elvis Costello
61(45) Racist Friend - Special AKA
62 (-) Save It For Later - Beat
63(27) The Crown - Gary Byrd
64 (re) The Man Whose Head Expanded - The Fall (had already charted)
65 (-) One Lover - Forrest
66(47) Gimme All Your Lovin' - ZZ Top
67 (-) Munsters Theme - Escalators
68(53) Jam On Revenge - Newcleus (entered 1 Oct)
69 (re) Until I Get You - Hanoi Rocks
70(48) Guilty Of Love - Whitesnake
71(61) Lean On Me! - Redskins
72(60) Trees and Flowers - Strawberry Switchblade
73(35) Secret Messages - ELO
74(re) Popcorn Love - New Edition (had already charted)
75(75) Wrap Your Arms Around Me - Agnetha Faltskog

[Metalweb]

24 Sept 83

51(60) Let Them All Talk - Elvis Costello
52(54) She Loves You - Beatles
53(53) This Is The Day - The The
54 (-) Blue Hat For A Blue Day - Nick Heyward (entered 1 Oct)
55 (-) Show Me The Way - New York Skyy
56 (-) Hip Hap - Hurrah
57 (-) Maniac - Michael Sembello
58 (-) Cheap Thrills - Planet Patrol
59 (-) Chi Mai - Ennio Morricone
60(61) Racist Friend - Special AKA
61 (-) Another Typical City - UK Subs
62 (-) Bat Out Of Hell - Meat Loaf
63(57) Don't You Get So Mad - Jeffrey Osborne
64(39) You're Looking Hot Tonight - Barry Manilow
65 (-) Gimme All Your Lovin' - ZZ Top (had already charted)
66 (-) Telefone - Sheena Easton
67 (-) Street Justice - The Rake
68 (-) The Singles 81-83 - Bauhaus (entered 5 Nov)
69 (-) Die Hard - Venom
70 (-) Song To The Siren - This Mortal Coil (entered 8 Oct)
71 (-) IOU - Freeez (had already charted)
72 (-) 68 Guns - The Alarm (entered 1 Oct)
73 (-) Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence - Ryuichi Sakamoto
74(38) What I Want - Dead Or Alive
75(71) Lean On Me! - Redskins

[Robbie]

The Bauhaus single (which is titled 'Six Track EP' in Music Week and Record Mirror) wouldn't be chart eligible under current chart rules as it contains (unsurprisingly) 6 tracks. I don't know when the track limit was reduced to 4 but it had happened by the time the 90s came around. Perhaps it was in August 1987 when a number of new chart rules were introduced.

[Metalweb]

1 Oct 83

51 (-) Love In Itself - Depeche Mode (entered 8 Oct)
52(57) Maniac - Michael Sembello
53 (-) Your Dress - John foxx (had already charted)
54(68) The Singles 81-83 - Bauhaus (entered 5 Nov)
55(50) New Song - Howard Jones
56 (-) In Your Eyes - George Benson (entered 8 Oct)
57 (-) I Think I Want To Dance With You - Rumple-Stilts-Skin
58 (-) Pop Goes My Love - Freeez (entered 8 Oct)
59(25) Bad Day - Carmel
60(63) Don't You Get So Mad - Jeffrey Osborne
61(46) Just In Time - Raw Silk
62(70) Song To The Siren - This Mortal Coil (entered 8 Oct)
63 (-) Don't Forget To Dance - Kinks
64(30) Johnny Friendly - Jo-Boxers
65(53) This Is The Day - The The
66 (-) Every Breath Of The Way - Melanie
67(32) Disappearing Act - Shalamar
68(37) (She's) Sexy And 17 - Stray Cats
69(67) Street Justice - The Rake
70 (-) Incubbus Succubus - Xmal Deutschland
71(49) One Mind Two Hearts - Paradise
72 (-) Soul Shakedown Party - Bob Marley
73(23) Give It Up - KC & The Sunshine Band
74 (-) I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair - Weather Girls
75 (-) Motormania - Roman Holliday