In sales terms, Numan's only major hits were 'Are Friends Electric?' and 'Cars' - even though he scored other Top Ten hits, none of them spent much time there, cementing a niche status that he never really recovered from.

Numan may have grabbed some of Bowie's limelight in 1979 with his TOTP-fuelled arrival, but Bowie quickly reversed that in 1980, and even the latter's relatively low single chart profile in 1981/1982 (no new album, random single releases) did not work to Numan's favour. Then Bowie did the unexpected (as ever) and pursued a more commercial route that made him an even bigger artist, in sales terms.

So Numan ended up in a shrinking bit of backwater where his loyal fans would stick by him, no matter what, but he struggled to win over a mainstream audience, who had grown increasingly immune to him.

Creatively, I'd agree that 'She's Got Claws' and 'Music For Chameleons' are probably his last really strong singles … but that's just me!

Here comes the multiquote!!!


It wasn't Michael Hurll's policy though was it. The same basic rule for singles applied throughout much of the time of TOTP as far as I can make out. I do agree with you Andy that it can become very irritating when you get big hits that get lesser plays than minor ones that come back again and again, like the Jets which only made No25. It's definitely a flaw. It favours slow movers in the lower reaches over rapid climbs into the top ten.


I agree with you about 1982-84 but am not so sure about your assertion that 1983 is the year of biggest change since the early 60's. Surely that was 1977-79, with 1979 the year? Why do you say 1983? I will say that 1983 is my favourite summer of hit records though.


Agree strongly. The moment Band Aid hit the charts is the starting gun for the late 80's slide, and defines the difference between the first half and the second half of the decade at one point in time exactly half way through.


Make that 5 of us. CLASSIC!


Sorry Sir.


Very much appreciated this wonderful post Andy - 11/10.


There are genuine "ghost trains" that run on the rail network apparently, which have no passengers but are kept running. Yet it is possible to get a ticket for one and be the only passenger. I saw this on the recent BBC4 Trainspotting Live shows they did a couple of weeks back.

Weird video for the track though by George Benson.


Met Mickey Rooney at panto 6 years ago in MK. Fabulous treat. I went to the same show that Amy Winehouse was at when she got thrown out for heckling and being a nuisance, which made the news as she went to court over it. 5 years today since she passed.


Memory playing tricks Jedikiah? Top ten video countdowns were being seen right up until the summer of 1981 and for a short time after the July '81 revamp as well. I agree that the show was a poor one with that top ten countdown taking far too long and much of the show up. Two full singles could have been played during all the time that took. It made the show seem very disjointed to me.


Paul Weller looks like he must be a very heavy smoker with the features he now has. Remarkable how such a smooth skinned very young looking adult he was has ended up the exact opposite with horribly wrinkled and worn out features. It's like he's aged at twice the rate he should have done. Life can't have been that hard for him since the 80's surely?


I agree on Long Hot Summer. It helped that it was also a hit single in an actual long hot summer too, in 1983. Always remember being surprised to see him barechested in that video with a touch of the homoerotic about it. Beating Take That by a decade, who'd have thought it!


It Didn't Matter by Style Council - whenever I think of this record I am immediately reminded of the Prime Minister Mrs Thatcher in January 1987 reviewing it as a guest on Mike Read's Saturday Superstore. Quite a surreal moment to be honest. Unfortunately in the clip below it does not include the Style Council part but is well worth watching for her view on Pepsi & Shirlie's Heartache. Plus she liked a track by an indie band called Thrashing Doves which was their kiss of death for credibility and success afterwards!

https://youtu.be/YdTkNz2KgcI


On the subject of synth and electropop, the wonderful Jean-Michel Jarre popped up rather unexpectedly on late night live BBC1 on Thursday on Andrew Neil's This Week. He looked shockingly good for a man who is 68 next month. Obscenely so infact. Check it out and be amazed.


I wonder if Mrs M can do the same?

We've gone full circle. Almost back to how things were in 1982. A Tory woman PM and an unelectable opposition led by a principled but scruffy senior citizen. Now I want the music scene to go the full circle too and be just as imaginative and interesting again please.

I don't think the Number 1s argument stands up to any kind of scutiny. There were loads of Number 1s in the 1970s which were of questionable quality, just a few off the top of my head: Long Haired Lover, Young Love, Angelo, Figaro, No Charge, Forever and Ever, Float On and lots, lots more.

Yes, the number ones haven't always been great, of course, but "Float On", especially, from your list, i think is a classic. There are less memorable number ones on average from the early eighties onwards, for me, though.

Really shocked by that Jedikiah! For me, it's one of the worst Number 1s ever! Also, forgot to include on my list of poor 70s Number 1s Mull of Kintyre.

Yes, quite right Rich Tea, those video countdowns did go on a little longer through to the summer of 1981. My mind isn't always fully awake!

When i think of the summer of 1983, ''Long Hot Summer'', and The Lotus Eaters ''First Picture Of You'' immediately springs to mind. Both songs immediately evoke leaving school, and losing connections with many old schoolfriends and acquaintances, and the summer feeling very much like a watershed in my life. Both of those, for me, were wonderful songs, the likes of which wouldn't always be a guarantee in the years ahead.

Paul Weller very intentionally wanted to break free from the shackles of his perceived role of spokesman of his generation etc. and was determined to get away from what he considered a rather limiting position, and have a little fun for a change. I think he was the first to admit, mind, that he tried a little too hard at times to appear rather more frivolous, and the fun could seem a little too contrived. I admired him, though, for at least having a strong enough conviction to break free from what had previously been successful. Some of his fans found it hard to forgive him, for what they may have seen as an act of betrayal, but listening more closely to his Style Council albums, the old Paul wasn't so far away, at least at times, in what he had to say.

Boz, 1977, was such a great year for soul. It always amazes me how many black acts seemed to be dominating the charts, in that year, with many of their songs, proving truly memorable. I always loved ''Float On'', as well as Deniece Williams ''Free'', and Hot Chocolate's ''So You Win Again''. What is it you don't like about ''Float On'' - the spoken introductions?

I've now watched the full edition from Thursday and can now answer the question that was posed as to whether you prefer "The Lion Sleeps Tonight " or "Seven Tears". Without any doubt it is "Lion" - it at least sounds like an attempt to make a decent modern pop record. "Seven Tears" sounds like the cheapest Boney M knock-off imaginable. If Moldova had been in Eurovision in 1982 their entry might have sounded something like that. A shockingly poor no. 1.

I enjoyed Imagination's "Just An Illusion" - might be their best single so far, and the bassline wasn't too far away from that on "Music For Chameleons".

Did Flick Colby direct the Madness video? Some overly-literal touches in there - e.g. I think we know what a telephone, desk and chair in an office look like without needing to be shown it.

Really, really fed up with The Jets now - just when you think it's mercifully finished they go into a fourth verse. And it's still only reached 26 after three appearances!

There wasn't a lot of dance going on with the Goombay Dance Band was there. Looking back at it in hindsight it actually does look out of place as a massive No1 hit in 1982 and more like the kind of song that would have topped the chart in the 1974 to 1977 period, even pre-Boney M. Personally I don't mind all this diversity in the charts which remain a true melting pot even in 1982.

Goombay Dance Band had already topped the chart in quite a few European countries back in 1980 with Sun Of Jamaica, including 4 weeks in Holland in May 1980. The amusing thing is that Seven Tears made No1 in the UK and also Ireland but did not top the charts anywhere on the continent where they already had a profile, including their home country Germany. Infact it didn't even make the top five anywhere else. Still together with much the original line up apparently, here is the website - http://goombaydanceband.info

If I had to choose which song to listen to right now I'd likely go for Seven Tears over The Lion Sleeps Tonight...by a whisker. Incidentally, the chap in the lion costume didn't seem to be doing much sleeping during the performance did he.

Imagination's Just An Illusion is a dance classic. I had it as my ringtone for about 2 years around the 2005 period. It never dates and always sounds contemporary.

I was half expecting Reg Varney to show up during that Madness video. The single really was "Madness by numbers" and nothing too memorable. Infact until it began playing I could not remember it from the title alone.

The Jets, so lightweight I think they would have been better off known as the Micro-Lights.

All those appearances and yet still languishing down at No26. Once again, so much for the TOTP effect. This one had a very crazy chart run - 47, 55, 28, 45, 26, 21, 22, 34, 62. They had another five entries into the Top 75 without breaking the fifty. I really hope we don't see them popping up again as filler with one of those.

Thank Swain and Jolley for Imagination's peerless sound - Magicians behind the mixing desk. I must've played the Night Dubbing extended play cassette hundreds if not thousands of times back in the day.

Float On by The Floaters is a great song and production - as long as you mostly ignore the lyrics and try and forget the silly name of the group. I'm sure I must have mentioned something similar back on the TOTP 1977 thread 4 years back. I do remember saying that it should have been a No2 rather than a No1.

Likewise, with one of the best Dutch songs of all time, as mention was made of Dutch groups on here in recent days postings. I give you the Teach-In, with Ding-A-Dong, winner of the 1975 Eurovision. Yes it's a naff title with banal lyrics but the actual tune is top class and just so damned catchy.

Nonsense of course

All of Float On really, just don't like it at all. I quite like Free (though again surprised it got to Number 1) and absolutely love So You Win Again, so at least we agree on that one!

Rich Tea has contradicted himself by praising Summer 1985 on the POTP thread!

The slide began well before Band Aid, in my opinion, but it seemed to accelerate from 1984 onwards. I don't see the eighties as such a contrast between before Band Aid, and after, like Rich Tea does, because the decline really didn't happen over night. It was a very gradual process, starting in around mid 1981. I thought the Pick Of The Pops chart was poor from this week in 1985, but i loved 1976, which in my mind wasn't as great a year as many of the years of the seventies, but there really are few absolutes, when analysing the quality of the charts, in a particular week, and i imagine that is the way Rich Tea feels about 1985. The production values from the mid eighties i find hard to swallow generally, more than anything. Pop begins to sound much blander at this point, but the acts were still talented, and the songs weren't bad generally. The disposable pop sounds grew much more prominently from 1986 onwards.

Music slides have a lot to do with age. I know people who have little interest in music over a few years old,others think it is dying now,some around 2000,some around 1985,some around 1965 and there were many people who thought rock 'n' roll was just a noise in the fifties. I have said before though that by the 1980s it is more difficult to do something new because technology has peaked. Music at this point is like the VCR which has been in the news this week. The VCR was original whereas DVDs,PVRs are just more modern versions which is like music everything once computers were involved has been done before.

MTV gave the option also of selling bucket loads of records, by simply using a pretty face. Not of course that that hadn't ever been tried before, but the extra importance placed on the new medium of video, gave far far greater opportunities to sell almost by looks alone, which in the longterm greatly affected the quality of the music. The songs did quite often become secondary. Pop had always been an industry by nature, but in the eighties, acts could become global superstars almost without ever having to have proved themselves in a live setting. Those acts that had been slogging away in the sixties and seventies year in, year out, must have felt they had been born too soon.

The Tory government of the day had absolutely nothing to do with unleashing the talents of British musicians in the way you seem to imply (unless you are being ironic?!?) - their infamous 'Nuremburg on Thames' rally of 1983 couldn't manage anyone more current than Lulu (whose appearance there cost her the chance to cover The Style Council's 'You're The Best Thing').

What their leader inspired among musicians - at least, the ones who spoke out - was dissent: from 'The Land Of Make Believe', through 'Shipbuilding' and 'Walls Come Tumbling Down' to 'Nelson Mandela'. And that's before we get to 'Margaret On The Guillotine' …

The 80s were the decade when the government allowed accountants to take control, all ready for the 90s, when they would relentlessly attack creativity … ending us up with the largely sterile singles charts we now have today.

Ironically, in the post-Brexit world we now find ourselves, I'd say by far the most interesting artist right now is France's Christine & The Queens, who seem to have come via 6Music into the Top Ten albums chart. Shades of Kate Bush and Goldfrapp, with a smattering of Michael Jackson for visual appeal.

I'm another who cannot see anything wrong with 'Float On'. To be honest I'm surprised The Floaters never had more hits - as that single fitted in nicely with the mood of other late 70s soul songs!

There was another perfectly good song that Boz mentioned ( a few weeks back) which he said was one of the worst he'd heard - but I cannot for the life of me think what it was now!!

P.S - yes I also agree about 'Ding a Dong' - great catchy Eurovision tune, from the years when Eurovision was still fun to watch!

Despite both clips existing in the archives, neither Ding A Dong or Blacklace's Mary Ann never got a Totp2 Eurovision special repeat, although Mary Ann did get a repeat as part of the 1979 run.

On the subject of Float On, surely the Lenny Henry version deserves a honourable mention?

Unfortunately Jolley ended up in jail in 2001.

I remember in my Our Price days a number of customers asked for "Tom's Dinner" by Suzanne Vega, which used to raise many a guffaw from record shop staff

Knowing Suzanne Vega the dinner must've had lentils in it...

So Maggie is responsible for the state of today's singles chart...... I've heard it all now!

On the contrary, I would say 1976 was one of the best chart years of the 70s, perhaps beaten only by 1975.

Blimey Rich, no half measures again with the multiquoting! Thank you for the compliment Sir & welcome back from wherever you've been