16 December 2022

Week commencing 16 December 1991

Welcome to the last ARIA chart survey of 1991!  And to finish things off, we have another batch of songs that I did not hear at the time.  Perhaps this is your first time hearing these tracks, too?  Let's take a look.

Gang Starr took a rest from the top 100 this week in 1991.

Top 150 debuts:

Number 129 "Grooving in the Land of Love" by The Celibate Rifles
Peak: number 123
Peak date: 27 January 1992
Weeks in top 150: 12 weeks

We last saw Sydney band The Celibate Rifles in May 1990.

Regular readers will know that inconsistencies in artist name credits involving the word 'the' (e.g. The Beatles vs. just Beatles) irk me.  Here, we have an instance of a song with an inconsistent title, which I think annoys me even more.  On parent album Heaven on a Stick (number 51, March 1992), this track is titled "Groovin' in the Land of Love"; while on the single sleeve, it is listed as "Grooving in the Land of Love."   Aaaaaggggghhh!

I'm generally not a fan of this type of music, but I found this track OK.  'OK' in a 6 out of 10 kind of way, maybe.

The Celibate Rifles will join us again in 1992.



Number 142 "Great" by Bachelors from Prague
Peak: number 130
Peak date: 3 February 1992
Weeks in top 150: 9 weeks

We last saw Melbourne band Bachelors from Prague in October 1989.
 
"Great" was the almost-title-track from the band's final studio album Great! (number 108, June 1991).  It would become the band's last ARIA top 150 entry.



Number 143 "Take a Rest" by Gang Starr
Peak: number 143
Peak dates: 16 December 1991, 23 December 1991, 30 December 1991
Weeks in top 150: 3 weeks

American hip-hop duo Gang Starr consisted of DJ Premier and Guru.  The pair landed a hit, with what would become their only ARIA top 100 entry, with "Lovesick" (number 13, November 1991).  Until writing this post, I was not aware that there were two quite different-sounding mixes of "Lovesick" - you can hear the original, and rather inferior - in my opinion, version here.
 
"Take a Rest" was originally released in Australia in March 1991, before "Lovesick".  After the success of "Lovesick", the single was re-released in December 1991.  Both "Take a Rest" and "Lovesick" were lifted from the duo's second studio album Step in the Arena (number 141, December 1991).
 
Internationally, "Take a Rest" peaked at number 63 in the UK in February 1991.
 
"Take a Rest" would be Gang Starr's final ARIA top 150 entry.  Guru, real name Keith Edward Elam, launched a solo career in 1993, while continuing to be part of Gang Starr.  Sadly, Guru died in 2010, aged 48, due to multiple myeloma, which is cancer of the plasma cells.
 


Bubbling WAY down under:

Number 168 "Road to My Riches" by Vanilla Ice
Peak: number 168
Peak dates: 16 December 1991, 23 December 1991, and 30 December 1991
Weeks on chart: 3 weeks

We last saw Robert van Winkle, better known as Vanilla Ice, in April 1991.

"Road to My Riches" was lifted from Vanilla's live album Extremely Live (number 56, September 1991).  The single does not appear to have charted anywhere else.

On the ARIA state charts, "Road to My Riches" performed strongest in New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory, where it reached number 152.

We shall see Vanilla Ice again in 1992.



Number 171 "The Sun Doesn't Shine" by Beats International
Peak: number 165
Peak date: 27 January 1992
Weeks on chart: 5 weeks

Beats International last joined us in May 1991.
 
"The Sun Doesn't Shine" was issued as the second single from the second, and final, Beats International album Excursion on the Version, which does not appear to have been released in Australia. 
 
Internationally, "The Sun Doesn't Shine" peaked at number 66 in the UK in September 1991, and number 87 in Germany in December 1991.
 
Within Australia, "The Sun Doesn't Shine" was most popular in Western Australia, where it reached number 130.
 
We shall see Beats International again in 1992.



Next post (6 January): 1992 kicks off with six top 150 debuts, plus one mystery title that nobody knows what it is...  I've also uploaded a preview of some of the singles coming up in my 1992 chart recaps in the video embedded below (spoiler alert!):


Thank you for reading my posts in 2022!

< Previous week: 9 December 1991                                        Next post: 6 January 1992 >

4 comments:

  1. Thank you for recapping another great year. Just curious did “My Girl” by The Temptations (for the My Girl soundtrack) ever chart in 1991 or 1992?

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    1. Hi, yes, The Temptations' 'My Girl' did chart. It's coming up in March 1992.

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  2. I don't often comment unless i have something to add (which shows how often i don't) but would like to thank you for the enjoyment i have had week after week reading this blog and going through 1991. Next up is what i would personally call the best year of music for the 1990s. The 90s found their footing before losing it again once grunge came around in 1993.

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    1. Thanks! I agree with you that 1992 was a good year for chart music, and that there was a dip in quality (at least, on the Australian chart; the UK one less so) in 1993.

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