I must have watched this, but would've been disappointed by the selection, as then I was into the Billboard Hot 100 and these songs weren't my faves on Sunshine 101.

Iggy Pop's ok, Robbie Nevill yes, Style Council I can't remember it, UB40 I loved, DOA can't remember that, Bangles love it, Elkie my memory escapes me, Reet I was sick of by then, Is a This Love is a great track.

I'd rather hear an AT40 rerun of this week in '87 than a UK top forty, nothing against Tony... just not the music I was into.

I wonder if Mrs Thatcher remembered the Style Council single.

Every time I hear that record I think back to her surreal appearance on Mike Read's Saturday Superstore back in January 1987 when the PM ended up on the "Pop Panel" judging some of the new music/video releases and was asked to pass comment on them, including It Didn't Matter by Style Council.

I didn't know that about Jackie Wilson. That's really sad, though I'm afraid it doesn't stop me finding the song irritating and was so annoyed it got the Christmas No. 1 instead of the Housemartins.

Might have been to do with the Aardman clip that accompanied it. One of Dave Sproxton and Peter Lord's first...

this weekends AT40 the 80s show was from January 17th 1987,And excellent it was

The date of this chart is the one where myself, and other contributor Keicar agree that the 80's "turned" in the wrong direction.

I heard the Silk 'Forever & Ever' track and wondered where I can get an mp3 copy of the song from?

It is available on iTunes for 79p.

I have been trying to remember who recorded a song called "Requiem". Thought it was Pilot but I couldn't find it and now I see the word "Slik" I think it was them. Thanks. On 1976, I look at some charts and they give me a warmer vibe than others. It is not normally down to the weather at the time but the summer songs of that very hot year have an inviting feel whereas that January list doesn't. That isn't to say there aren't some interesting records in there.

A couple of the age old questions are "what was your first single?" and "what was your first gig?". It is nice to reveal - or pretend - in each case that it was something cool. I sometimes say that I first saw the Teardrop Explodes live as it was the first gig I went to on my own steam. Actually, several years earlier, I was taken by my parents and uncle and aunt to the Fairfield Hall in Croydon to see Neil Sedaka. It was very cabaret. I think he was dressed in the white suit featured on "Live at the Royal Festival Hall". I rate Sedaka as a songwriter and he performed brilliantly on that night but we were only vaguely aware of the support act - R and J Stone. "We Do It" is a song that can bring back happy memories of that occasion and it isn't a bad tune although the lyrics might best be described as "awkward".

I think of my Mum in connection with Andy Fairweather Low's "Wide Eyed and Legless" as she was keen on the author Derec Longdon. The song had a key part in his book and a Screen One movie featuring Julie Walters. Both chronicled in a humourous and touching way the struggles of him and his wife, Diana, as they tried to cope with a degenerative disease which caused her occasional paralysis and blackouts. I like how the song was used in that film and gained dignity over and above its allusion to drunkenness as well as love. It's one of the best on the list.

Just caught up with Saturday's POTP. Quite a few retro charts I listen to have done the end of 1975 beginning of 1976 recently so I can't say I really enjoyed it, even though it was a great top 3. I wish they'd waited until next month to do 1976 with Donna Summer, The Four Seasons and Tina Charles in the charts. I'll no doubt be posting a critique of 1987 at some point. Don't say you haven't been warned!

For those who don't know already, next week the years are 1975 and 1988. Looking forward to the 1988 chart. I'm currently listening to a recording of Bruno doing the chart from what should be the week after the one Tony will be counting down.

R & J Stone were a husband and wife duo, Russell & Joanne. What a great record We Do It is. It was one of my earliest download purchases five years ago. I then discovered the very sad news that Joanne Stone did not live for long after this fabulous hit record, passing away of a brain tumour in 1979. What a great voice she had.

The record was produced by the POTP producer, Phil "The Collector" Swern!

Yes. Sad news. Looking at the rest of that chart, "Bohemian Rhapsody" at number one. There isn't anything new I could write about it. I do have a soft spot for Greg Lake's Christmas song and the unusual film footage that went with it. No snow. A fair few re-releases. Chubby Checker, Walker Brothers and the Small Faces. "Itchycoo Park" was then a new record to me. I was a big 10CC fan but "Art For Arts Sake" isn't one of my big favourites by them.

I've always very much liked the Paul Davidson record. It's very atmospheric. Good to see Paul Simon and Donna Summer entering the charts. The Sun ran an article on Donna in which she rejected accusations of being too racy. She said she was suffering from toothache when she went into the studio and that was why the song sounded like it did. Laurel and Hardy were fun. So too Billy Howard who I met at a local air show. I've still got his autograph. Judge Dread was probably once again banned. The one song there I don't recall is the No 35 by Claude Francois.

The wonders of the internet enabling the ability to find out about such obscure figures as the one you mention above. This has led to yet another sad discovery along the lines of R & J Stone. It turns out that Claude Francois was dead just 2 short years after his hit record in the UK, getting accidentally electrocuted in the shower in March 1978 adjusting a light switch.

Incredible.

Here's my comments on tracks played and not played on the 1987 chart. Feel free to agree or disagree

January 17 1987

32 DOWN TO EARTH - CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT - Great start! Good song, and definitely gets you in the 1987 zone.
18 REAL WILD CHILD (WILD ONE) - IGGY POP - Another good tune! I don't remember the song from this time, but from Pretty Woman.
17 BALLERINA GIRL - LIONEL RICHIE - Like Tony, I'd not heard this song in ages and can't say I'm particularly in a hurry to hear it again. Certainly not one of Lionel's better efforts.
16 LAND OF CONFUSION - GENESIS - Don't dislke this, but I definitely think the video is better than the song.
15 IT DIDN'T MATTER - STYLE COUNCIL - Like a couple of Style Council songs, but this one passed me by at the time and, hearing it again, I can understand why.
14 THE FINAL COUNTDOWN - EUROPE - Don't mind the song, although it's overplayed, but it belongs in 1986 and should have been skipped. At this point there'd been another two number ones since this had started descending the charts.
10 SURRENDER - SWING OUT SISTER - Nice song, and a change to hear it than their other hit Breakout.
08 HYMN TO HER - PRETENDERS - Not a fan of Chrissie Hynde's voice, but this isn't as annoying as Brass In Pocket, and you can undestand what she's singing.
06 C'EST LA VIE - ROBBIE NEVIL - Definitely a guilty pleasure of mine!
05 NO MORE THE FOOL - ELKIE BROOKS - This was the one I was most looking forward to hearing in the chart. Great song, though it was written for Kim Wilde, not Elkie. No offence, but I can't imagine Kim doing this song justice. It needs a gravelly vocal like Elkie's.
04 BIG FUN - GAP BAND - If you said "Big Fun" to me, I'd be more likely to think of the Inner City song or the Soctk/Aitken/Waterman created group than this song. Okay, but certainly no Oops Upside Your Head.
IS THIS LOVE? - ALISON MOYET - Not my fave Alison Moyet song, but still like it. Such a shame she came so close, but never got a No. 1.
02 JACK YOUR BODY - STEVE 'SILK' HURLEY - Dreadful! Isn't it the case that this should've been disqualified from the charts, something to do with the 12" version?
01 REET PETITE (THE SWEETEST GIRL IN TOWN) - JACKIE WILSON - Can't forgive this song for stealing the Christmas No. 1 from the Housemartins!

Not played
20 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY - GARY MOORE - I confess I had to youtube this as I thought I didn't know it. I did recognise it, though, when it got to the chorus. It's a shame this wasn't played.
19 SHAKE YOU DOWN - GREGORY ABBOTT - When I hear this on the radio, although I quite like it, I totally forget about it afterwards. I've got it on compilation CDs, I wouldn't seek out to play.
13 CRY WOLF - A-HA - Not one of my faves from A-ha, but it would have been nice to hear this one by them instead of Take On Me for the millionth time!
12 - MADONNA - OPEN YOUR HEART - Like this, but Papa Don't Preach is definitely my fave of the releases from her True Blue album. (12),
11 THE RAIN - ORAN 'JUICE' JONES - Bit cheesy, but you don't hear it on the radio a lot, so it's a shame it was was skipped.
09 ERASURE - SOMETIMES - Love Erasure and this song in particular. It grabs you from the first line.
07 CARAVAN OF LOVE - HOUSEMARTINS - They should've played this instead of Final Countdown. Fantastic song, that would've made a perfect Christmas No. 1.

Yup, the 12" version shouldn't have counted towards sales of the single as broke rules on the maximum running time of what constituted a "single" under chart rules at the time. If I recall it was about two minutes too long and should have qualified for the album chart. The record label released a chart eligible 12" version as soon as the mistake was discovered although by then the single was falling down the chart. On eligible (7" only) sales the single should have peaked at something like number 8.

Thanks for the info. Shame the error wasn't discovered sooner!

Great comments there and I agree with many of them. Once it had properly got going, 1988 was a very good year for music. I bought both versions of "Caravan of Love" - the Housemartins and Isley Jasper Isley. Other favourites from that list are the ones by the Pretenders, Iggy Pop, Gregory Abbott and Elkie Brooks. The latter is a strong song. Whatever the reservations about "Jack Your Body" it was a groundbreaking moment along with the record by Raze.

In a different way, the Curiosity record is also strikingly of its time. Yes, the Style Council and Alison Moyet had both done better things slightly earlier but I like both and am a fan of most of Paul Weller's output through the years. I take the point about Jackie Wilson but it is a good record and I liked the animated video that went with it.

At the time I was really annoyed that the IJI version got nowhere here, yet the HM (who I hated at the time) rose the charts, with their soulless version.

Cry Wolf is my second fave Aha song, after The Sun Always Shines On TV.

Open Your Heart is one of my fave Madonna songs, and I'm surprised Tony didn't play The Rain, I would have imagined he'd like that. Perhaps I'm wrong? Maybe you can play it on Magic on Sunday, Tony?

I was in a pub on Tues and was surprised to hear Burn Rubber by the GAP Band, my fave of their's, along with the fantastic You Dropped A Bomb On Me. Big Fun is a great song.

Such an anonymous No1. People that made the summit of the UK singles chart should never have been like that. This was the beginning of a direction I didn't like. I hated it as a 17 year old, hate it just as much now. Of course Reet Petite should have been top for 5 weeks and got knocked off by a straight in for George & Aretha for 3 weeks. The 5th and 1st weeks being those that Jack Your Body erroneously has. Clearly you cannot re-write mistakes from the UK singles chart much later on. It had to stand. If the error had been noticed within hours or a day or two maybe it would have been changed, like a 1976 chart once was?

For what it is worth I always thought that the George & Aretha duet was a particularly poor and ordinary song for two such good artists to have produced, and I believe they never even sang together in the same studio at the time of its recording.

Looking through the list that Clare posted up, when listening I was surprised when he missed off Shake You Down by Gregory Abbott especially, considering his tastes.

January 1987, where the 80's prematurely ended and the 90's prematurely began.

Thinking about it more, I'm sort of torn. While I don't like it and it shouldn't have had it's number one status, at least it was a new sound rather than all the reissues of old songs that got high in the charts at the time. I like the charts of summer and Autumn 1987, though.

I agree re I Knew You Were Waiting For Me. I seem to remember John Peel not being too kind about when he was hosting TOTP and it was no. 1.

The idea that the 1990s began musically in early 1987 makes quite a lot of sense to me on several levels. I went to a lot of gigs from March '87. I was wondering what other people thought could be said about the other decades.

I reckon punk in 1977 was the start of the 1980s as it is led to new wave and the romantics. Possibly 1996 or 1997 were the start of the 2000s what with Take That and the Spice Girls? I am not sure that the 1970s started in 1967, though, and might argue that they didn't properly arrive until 1971 or 1972. And are we in the current decade yet?

Do you think that thinking in terms of decades makes the most sense or is it more the case that, say, every five years is a more accurate picture? My feeling is that it was five-yearly but more like decades now in the 2000s!

My bit of "lateral thinking" on the decades;

1950's - 1955 to 1962

1960's - 1963 to 1971

1970's - 1972 to 1978

1980's - 1979 to 1986

1990's - 1987 to 1997

Hardly, the music of 1963 bears little resemblence to 1971, you could maybe group late sixties and early seventies together, but not going as far back as 1963.

Hi all - 1971 and 1981 this week- Hour 1 chart to follow.