I hadn't heard any of this week in 1981's three new entries that bubbled under the top 100 before. I'm guessing you probably haven't heard them, either. Let's take a listen together.
John Cougar: looking surprisingly new Romantic on American Bandstand.
Beyond the top 100:
Position 20 "I Want Your Baby" by Inger Lise
Highest rank: 12th
Peak date: 11 May 1981
Weeks on below list: 3 weeks
Norwegian singer and actress Inger Lise Rypdal had been releasing albums since 1970, but "I Want Your Baby" was her first - and only - entry on the Australian charts... well, if registering on the beyond top 100 list counts.
There are a few 'interesting' facts about this track:
- only a Dutch pressing of the single is listed on discogs at the time of writing;
- there are no videos - TV performances or otherwise - of Inger Lise performing the track on YouTube;
- the single does not appear to have charted anywhere else, although it is possible that the Norwegian and Swedish charts are not archived online going back far enough to pick this one up.
To my ears, "I Want Your Baby" sounds very much a remnant of the 1970s, rather than a track from the early 80s.
Position 25 "Ain't Even Done with the Night" by John Cougar
Highest rank: 12th
Peak dates: 25 May 1981 and 1 June 1981
Weeks on below list: 5 weeks
At this point in 1981, American singer-songwriter John Mellencamp was going by the stage name John Cougar - having previously been Johnny Cougar, a name thrust upon him unwillingly by a manager, believing that his real surname Mellencamp would be too difficult to market.
"Ain't Even Done with the Night" was the second single lifted from John's fourth studio album, and first for the 1980s, Nothin' Matters and What If It Did, which did not chart in Australia. It followed "This Time" (number 43, February 1981). John(ny)'s biggest hit in Australia, at this point in time, had been "I Need a Lover" (number 5, August 1978). His next major Australian hit, equalling his highest position on the singles chart, would come in 1982, with "Hurts So Good" (number 5, September 1982).
In John's native US, "Ain't Even Done with the Night" peaked at number 17 in May 1981.
John would undergo another, interim name-change on the way to assuming his birth name. He became John Cougar Mellencamp for his 1983 studio album Uh-Huh (number 57, March 1984).
Position 30 "Moonroof" by Sky
Highest rank: 4th
Peak dates: 25 May 1981 and 1 June 1981
Weeks on below list: 7 weeks
Sky were a British/Australian instrumental band formed in London in 1978, and dissolving in 1995. During their tenure, the group placed one single on the Australian top 100, "Toccata" (number 22, May 1980), an electronic/prog rock re-working of Johann Sebastian Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor". Interestingly, "Toccata" was also the band's only single to chart anywhere in the world, it seems, reaching number 5 in the UK in May 1980, number 83 in the US, and the top 10 in Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland.
"Moonroof" was an Australian-only single, and the only release from the band's third album Sky 3 (number 7, April 1981). The album reached the top ten despite the single stalling outside the top 100.
Next week(11 May):Another three new singles bubbling beneath the top 100.
Below is a list of all of the singles debuting in 1989 that peaked within the 101 to 150 region of the ARIA singles chart, conveniently in one location:
ARTIST
TITLE
PEAK
DEBUT DATE
WEEKS IN
10,000 MANIACS
Trouble Me
102
3/07/1989
17
2 BRAVE
Stop That Girl
142
13/03/1989
2
ABC
One Better World
122
4/09/1989
7
ADEVA
Respect
150
3/07/1989
1
ADULT NET
Take Me
137
24/07/1989
7
ALBIE WILDE & THE DAYGLOS
Hey Ciao
101
29/05/1989
7
ANDREW CASH
Smile Me Down
109
10/04/1989
7
ANDY PAWLAK
Secrets
141
29/05/1989
6
BACHELORS FROM PRAGUE
Get Smart
118
30/10/1989
5
BARBRA STREISAND
We're Not Makin' Love Anymore
111
13/11/1989
11
BB STEAL
I Believe
128
30/01/1989
4
BEASTIE BOYS
Hey Ladies
141
21/08/1989
3
BEE GEES
Ordinary Lives
131
15/05/1989
6
BEE GEES
One
101
24/07/1989
12
BEE GEES
Tokyo Nights
124
30/10/1989
7
BETTE MIDLER
I Know You By Heart
118
23/10/1989
7
BIG BAM BOO
Shooting From My Heart
122
17/04/1989
5
BIGSTORM
Rubber Love
117
30/01/1989
5
BILL MEDLEY
I'm Gonna Be Strong
114
30/01/1989
1
BILLY BRAGG
She's Got a New Spell
116
13/03/1989
6
BLACK
The Big One
123
6/03/1989
6
BLONDIE
Denis ('88 Remix)
139
20/02/1989
3
BUCKWHEAT ZYDECO
Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad
129
13/03/1989
7
CATFISH
Hiwire Girl
146
20/03/1989
1
CHAKA KHAN
I'm Every Woman (Remix)
147
18/09/1989
1
CHEAP TRICK
Never Had a Lot To Lose
118
24/04/1989
6
CHOSEN FEW
Rise
120
15/05/1989
7
CINDERELLA
Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)
145
8/05/1989
1
CLIFF RICHARD & SARAH
BRIGHTMAN
All I Ask of You
130
29/05/1989
6
CLIMIE FISHER
This Is Me
128
30/01/1989
2
CLIMIE FISHER
I Won't Bleed For You
124
27/02/1989
5
CLIVE YOUNG
Naturally
102
24/07/1989
10
CONCRETE BLONDE
God Is a Bullet
146
2/10/1989
1
CROSBY, STILLS, NASH &
YOUNG
Got It Made
134
8/05/1989
4
CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT
Name and Number
131
11/12/1989
8
CYNDI LAUPER
A Night To Remember
145
23/10/1989
1
CYNDI LAUPER
Heading West
117
18/12/1989
10
D.J. JAZZY JEFF & THE
FRESH PRINCE
Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble
142
26/06/1989
1
DAMIAN
The Time Warp II
114
4/12/1989
7
DAVID CROSBY
Drive My Car
137
1/05/1989
4
DAVID ESSEX
Rock On
150
17/07/1989
2
DE LA SOUL
Say No Go
143
20/11/1989
4
DEBORAH HARRY
Liar, Liar
141
30/01/1989
4
DEL SHANNON
Walk Away
124
15/05/1989
6
DIANA ROSS
Paradise
117
25/09/1989
8
DON HENLEY
The Last Worthless Evening
120
27/11/1989
10
DORA D
Casanova Baby
150
6/11/1989
1
DREAMS SO REAL
Rough Night In Jericho
148
15/05/1989
1
DUSTY SPRINGFIELD
Nothing Has Been Proved
145
5/06/1989
1
EDDIE MONEY
Walk On Water
126
6/02/1989
8
EIGHTH WONDER
Cross My Heart
116
30/01/1989
1
EIGHTH WONDER
Baby Baby
113
6/03/1989
9
ELECTRA
Jibaro
150
10/04/1989
1
ELLIOT GOBLET
Friday On My Mind
119
25/09/1989
4
ELVIS COSTELLO
This Town
123
10/07/1989
7
ENYA
Evening Falls...
104
10/04/1989
7
ERIC CARMEN
Reason To Try
133
30/01/1989
5
ERIC CLAPTON
Pretending
106
4/12/1989
11
EXPLODING WHITE MICE
Make It
149
31/07/1989
1
EXTREME
Kid Ego
138
18/09/1989
3
E-ZEE POSSEE
Everything Begins With an 'E'
120
25/09/1989
6
GAIL ANN DORSEY
Wasted Country
109
30/01/1989
8
GARY MOORE
Ready For Love
113
10/04/1989
8
GIPSY KINGS
Djobi Djoba
131
30/10/1989
6
GLENN MEDEIROS
Long and Lasting Love (Once In a Lifetime)
113
30/01/1989
7
GRACE JONES
Love On Top of Love (Killer Kiss)
121
27/11/1989
9
GRAEME CONNORS
A Little Further North
125
30/01/1989
1
GRAEME CONNORS
Cyclone Season
135
20/02/1989
5
GREAT WHITE
Once Bitten Twice Shy
144
11/09/1989
1
HANK WILLIAMS, JR.
There's a Tear In My Beer
118
19/06/1989
6
HENRY LEE SUMMER
Hey Baby
142
21/08/1989
2
HIPPOS
Time and Motion
128
9/10/1989
7
HIPSWAY
Your Love
103
3/07/1989
7
HITHOUSE
Jack To the Sound of the Underground
129
20/02/1989
6
HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS
World To Me
113
6/02/1989
7
HUMANOID
Stakker Humanoid
145
11/09/1989
1
HURRICANE
I'm Onto You
148
5/06/1989
1
ICE TIGER
Turn To Fantasy
121
9/10/1989
5
ICE TIGER
All I Need Is a Friend
146
20/11/1989
1
IGGY POP
High On You
114
30/01/1989
6
JABULANI
Want My Love
104
6/02/1989
9
JAMES
Sit Down
141
16/10/1989
3
JANZ
Picture
119
30/10/1989
6
JEFF DUFF
Walk On the Wild Side
150
8/05/1989
1
JEFFERSON AIRPLANE
Planes
148
27/11/1989
1
JERRY LEE LEWIS
Great Balls of Fire
101
28/08/1989
7
JIGSAW UK
Sky High (1989 remix)
101
29/05/1989
8
JIM CAPALDI
Something So Strong
126
17/04/1989
5
JIMMY SOMERVILLE featuring
JUNE MILES KINGSTON
Comment Te Dire Adieu
122
11/12/1989
9
JODY WATLEY
Friends
146
14/08/1989
1
JOE CAMILLERI
Angel Dove
129
20/11/1989
10
JOE JACKSON
Down To London
126
31/07/1989
6
JOHN FARNHAM
We're No Angels
108
1/05/1989
7
JOHN KILZER
Memory In the Making
114
30/01/1989
9
JOHNNY KEMP
Birthday Suit
117
12/06/1989
7
JOHNNY O'KEEFE
Shout (Parts 1 & 2)
146
6/03/1989
1
JUDSON SPENCE
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
133
3/04/1989
6
JULIA FORDHAM
Happy Ever After
147
30/01/1989
1
KENNY ROGERS
Planet Texas
129
17/07/1989
6
KING SWAMP
Is This Love
109
27/02/1989
3
KISS
(You Make Me) Rock Hard
101
24/07/1989
6
KOOL & THE GANG
Raindrops
123
7/08/1989
7
LEVEL 42
Heaven In My Hands
115
27/02/1989
7
LEVEL 42
Tracie
134
22/05/1989
7
LIVING COLOUR
Open Letter (To a Landlord)
116
12/06/1989
9
LIVING IN A BOX
Gatecrashing
104
21/08/1989
9
LL COOL J
I'm That Type of Guy
148
7/08/1989
1
LONDON BOYS
Requiem
149
4/09/1989
1
LUCINDA WILLIAMS
I Just Wanted To See You So Bad
122
14/08/1989
9
MACHINATIONS
Cars & Planes
105
27/02/1989
9
MARC ALMOND
Tears Run Rings
128
5/06/1989
5
MARCUS MONTANA
Tell Him I'm Your Man
146
16/10/1989
1
MARSHALL CRENSHAW
Some Hearts
140
18/09/1989
5
MARTIN KAYE
Quit This Joint
131
6/02/1989
1
MARTIN STEPHENSON
Wholly Humble Heart
136
27/03/1989
6
MASTERS APPRENTICES
Birth of the Beat
132
30/01/1989
4
MELISSA ETHERIDGE
The Angels
116
18/12/1989
8
MICHAEL BALL
Love Changes Everything
123
14/08/1989
7
MICHELLE SHOCKED
When I Grow Up
108
3/04/1989
6
MICHELLE SHOCKED
On the Greener Side
118
18/12/1989
9
MICK JONES
Everything That Comes Around
150
5/06/1989
1
MORRISSEY
Interesting Drug
111
10/07/1989
10
NEIL MURRAY
Calm and Crystal Clear
107
1/05/1989
12
NO FACE
Hump Music
132
18/09/1989
4
ON THE BALL
Let's Go Broncos
144
31/07/1989
3
ORDINARY MORTALS
Lost Souls
139
20/02/1989
2
OZ ART FOR OZONE
Our Children's World
123
4/12/1989
10
PANDORA'S BOX
It's All Coming Back To Me Now
133
13/11/1989
10
PAT & MICK
I Haven't Stopped Dancing Yet
130
29/05/1989
4
PATRICK SWAYZE
Raising Heaven (In Hell Tonight)
131
28/08/1989
6
PAUL CARRACK
I Live By the Groove
105
13/11/1989
11
PAUL KELLY AND THE MESSENGERS
Careless
116
30/10/1989
7
PAUL McCARTNEY
This One
113
21/08/1989
8
PAUL RUTHERFORD
Get Real
132
27/03/1989
1
PETE TOWNSHEND
A Friend Is a Friend
113
24/07/1989
8
PETER COMBE
Chopsticks
125
9/10/1989
5
PHILIP BAILEY/LITTLE RICHARD
Twins
116
6/02/1989
6
POP WILL EAT ITSELF
Very Metal Noise Pollution (EP)
121
18/12/1989
5
PRETENDERS
Windows of the World
117
13/03/1989
5
PRINCE with SHEENA EASTON
The Arms of Orion
108
4/12/1989
10
PRISCILLA'S NIGHTMARE
She Ain't No Woman
111
14/08/1989
7
PUBLIC IMAGE LTD
Warrior
114
28/08/1989
4
QUEEN
The Invisble Man
118
2/10/1989
7
RAINBIRDS
Blueprint
149
27/03/1989
3
RANDY CRAWFORD featuring ERIC
CLAPTON AND DAVID SANBORN
This week's chart was the last chart survey conducted by ARIA for 1989, and the final chart of the 1980s decade. Owing to the two-week Christmas break in compiling the chart, this week's chart was repeated on 25 December 1989 and 1 December 1990, although it only reflects sales for the week of 11-17 December 1989.
Since 30 January 1989, we have seen 242 singles peak within the number 101 to 150 region of the chart, and a further (at the time of writing) 55 singles peak outside the top 150 - and I've now written about all of them! Hopefully you've discovered or re-discovered some songs you liked during this nostalgic journey.
This week we have six new top 150 debuts and, for the first time since 23 October 1989, no bubbling WAY down under entries to look at.
Before delving into this week's chart, there are a couple of earlier posts from 1989 that I have recently updated, after additional bubbling WAY down under entries have been uncovered. These posts are:
- 13 March 1989, with a new bubbling WAY down under debut from Joan Jett and The Blackhearts;
- 10 April 1989, with a new bubbling WAY down under debut from Karyn White;
- 10 July 1989, with new bubbling WAY down under debuts from Pseudo Echo and Big Country.
Finally, as no new chart was produced for the following two weeks, my next chart recap will be published in three weeks' time, on 8 January 2021. I hope to see you then!
Michelle Shocked: what Karens looked like in 1989.
Top 150 debuts:
Number 129 "The Angels" by Melissa Etheridge
Peak: number 116
Peak date: 5 February 1990
Weeks in top 150: 8 weeks
Top 150 chart run: 129-(chart repeated for 2 week Xmas break)-120-123-121-117-116
Melissa's fifth single in Australia, this second release from her Brave and Crazy album (number 9, October 1989) was her first to miss the top 40. I thought I didn't know this one, but the chorus rings a bell. FM radio in Melbourne loved Melissa Etheridge during this period, and I no doubt heard it played on the radio several times.
Unfortunately, the ARIA database conflates this single with Melissa's similarly-titled "Angels Would Fall" from 1999, due to the way the database is set up - apparently, each title is assigned an eight-letter code, using the first four letters of the artist's name, and the first four characters of the song title. This occasionally leads to errors. In this instance, "The Angels" would have been listed as "Angels, The", and therefore would share the same code with Melissa's "Angels Come Down". I am therefore unable to tell you exactly how this single performed on the state charts, but can report that it appeared to do much better on the South Australia/Northern Territory chart, where it debuted at number 54, than in other states.
Chart run: 136-(chart repeated for 2 week Xmas break)-115-108-102-112-107-112-107-107
Weeks on chart: 11 weeks
Another one I probably heard at the time (and, I think, saw on Countdown Revolution), but had no recollection of... until I caught it on rage again in the late 2000s, is this one from The Jesus and Mary Chain. "Head On" is quite a poppy effort from the Scottish band - still not quite 'pop', but about as catchy and anthemic as they get, and, dare I say this, not entirely unlike Transvision Vamp if they had a male singer. I could also picture the song being used as music on Home and Away during a 'young lovers' trip to the fairground' scene. I probably would have enjoyed the song at the time had I been a little bit older (I was 11).
The more-commercial sound connected with the record-buying public... well, relatively, giving the band their first charting single in Australia. Lifted from the album Automatic (number 89, February 1990), "Head On" peaked at number 57 in the band's native UK in November 1989.
Domestically, "Head On" was most popular in South Australia/Northern Territory, where it reached number 58 on the state chart. The single peaked within the top 100 on all five state charts. "Head On" performed stronger nationally on the Australian Music Report singles chart, where it peaked at number 92.
We will see The Jesus and Mary Chain again in 1990.
Number 141 Very Metal Noise Pollution E.P. by Pop Will Eat Itself
Peak: Number 121
Peak date: 15 January 1990
Weeks in top 150: 5 weeks
Chart run: 141-(chart repeated for 2 week Xmas break)-122-121
Weeks on chart: 5 weeks
If any Pop Will Eat Itself single charted in Australia, I would have guessed that it would be "Wise Up! Sucker". I caught the video for that track several times on TV, and even on a TV screen in the music department at my local K-Mart! The English band even performed it 'live' on Countdown Revolution! But, somehow, that single did not chart at all. Instead, this extended play - that is, E.P. for short - which I had never heard of before, did...
I assume that the first track on the E.P., "PWEI-zation", which I have embedded below, was the one promoted as the 'single', but I could be wrong. A music video was made for track 3 from the EP, "Def Con One", which I have also embedded below. This latter track samples The Twilight Zone theme music, and also nicks the hook from Lipps, Inc.'s "Funkytown" (number 1, August 1980).
Very Metal Noise Pollution was an in-between albums release, and peaked at number 45 in the UK in September 1989. In Australia, the EP performed strongest in Victoria/Tasmania, where it reached number 106.
Pop Will Eat Itself also registered their first charting album in Australia with This Is the Day... This Is the Hour... This Is This! (number 128, November 1989).
Number 144 "On the Greener Side" by Michelle Shocked
Peak: number 118
Peak date: 8 January 1990
Weeks in top 150: 9 weeks
Chart run: 144-(chart repeated for 2 week Xmas break)-118-127-132-120-128-135
Weeks on chart: 9 weeks
We first saw Michelle Shocked, real name Karen Michelle Johnston, bubble down under back in April 1989, and here she was again - this time with the lead single from her second album, Captain Swing (number 58, January 1990). "On the Greener Side" does not appear to have charted on any other 'real' (sales-based) chart, though it did peak at number 19 on the US Billboard 'Alternative Airplay' chart... whatever that means, in January 1990. While Karen, sorry, Michelle will just scrape into the top 100 singles chart in 1992 with "Come a Long Way" (number 100, July 1992), this will be the last time we see her bubble down under.
Due to the apparent absence of this song on YouTube, I can only assume that Karen Michelle wants to speak to the manager whenever her videos or songs are uploaded. But, thankfully, she doesn't seem to mind having them on Vimeo - assuming the 'Michelle Shocked' account responsible for uploading the video I have embedded below is actually her. The music video, if I am not mistaken, loosely attempts to subvert the Robert Palmer 'pouting models' music video formula, showcasing a bunch of men in suits cavorting behind her nonchalantly while strumming guitars, before being revealed in Speedos, swimming goggles and not much else flexing their muscles. Enjoy.
Number 145 "You've Got It" by Simply Red
Peak: number 127
Peak date: 8 January 1990
Weeks in top 150: 7 weeks
Top 150 chart run: 145-(chart repeated for 2 week Xmas break)-127-138-140-142
Weeks on chart: 9 weeks
Just a few months ago, Simply Red topped the ARIA singles chart with their rendition of "If You Don't Know Me by Now" (number 1, August 1989). Two single releases later, they were just scraping into the top 130, with the fourth and final single release from their A New Flame album (number 2, August 1989). If not for my dad owning the album on cassette (and being subjected to it on the car tape deck), I would not have heard this song before; so a lack of promotion was probably a factor in its poor chart showing. The single performed better in the band's native UK, though still flopped, peaking at number 46 in November 1989. "You've Got It" peaked at number 14 in Ireland in October 1989, but was not a hit anywhere else. Simply Red front man Mick Hucknall co-wrote the song with Lamont Dozier, one third of Motown's songwriting and production powerhouse Holland-Dozier-Holland - not that it helped save "You've Got It" from being rather dull and unexciting.
"You've Got It" performed strongest on the South Australia/Northern Territory state chart, where it peaked at number 92. The single also peaked higher, at number 80 nationally on the Australian Music Report singles chart.
Chart run: 164-146-(chart repeated for 2 week Xmas break)-130-117-128-118-132-147-148
Weeks on chart: 11 weeks
Poor Cyndi had not had much chart success with the post-"I Drove All Night" singles from her A Night to Remember album. On a rosier note, at least "Heading West" - the fourth and final single released from the album - peaked 28 places higher than the last one. Like Simply Red, I never heard this one at the time - though remember seeing it in the shops, so lack of promotion probably hindered its success.
"Heading West" missed the top 100 on all of the state charts, though performed strongest on the Victoria/Tasmania chart, where it peaked at number 103. Internationally, "Heading West" didn't do much better on any major chart, though peaked at number 68 in the UK in December 1989. It seemed that, from this point onwards, Cyndi would struggle to achieve significant chart success, and would unfairly be relegated to being a relic of the 1980s.
Next chart (8 January): After the Christmas/New Year's break, the ARIA chart resumes on 8 January, kicking off the 1990s with four new top 150 debuts and two bubbling WAY down under entries. In 1990, we will see 272 singles peaking in the 101 to number 150 region of the chart, and (at the time of writing this) a further 29 singles debuting and peaking outside the top 150. That's at least 301 songs I have to listen to and write about next year...
Thank you for reading my posts throughout the year, and I hope you have a safe and pleasant holiday season! You can also follow my posts on instagram and facebook.
