Week commencing 4 February 1991

Ah, readers, we're into February 2022 and what a joy this year has been so far!  Let's step back in time to 1991 to remember the 'good old days' with another six Australian chart flops served fresh for you here.  Except, one of the six songs is from 1977, and two are from albums released in 1989.  Not exactly '90s', hey?  But here's what the Australian public were buying... or rather, not buying in bucket loads, this week in 1991...

 

Peter Gabriel sporting a hair-don't that looks like it came from the 70s, just like his latest single, in 1990.

 

Top 150 debuts:

 

Number 125 "Storm Front" (live at Yankee Stadium) by Billy Joel

Peak: number 114

Peak date: 11 February 1991

Weeks in top 150: 7 weeks

Chart run: 125-114-118-116-122-122-133

Weeks on chart: 7 weeks

 

Despite Billy Joel's Storm Front (number 1, November 1989) album topping the Australian albums chart, the singles released from it after "We Didn't Start the Fire" (number 2, November 1989) were all flops, with "I Go to Extremes" (number 48, February 1990) being the only other one to crack the top 100.

 

That didn't stop the record company issuing umpteen singles from the album, however, and "Storm Front" - this time, an Australian exclusive live single to coincide with his early 1991 Australian tour - was the fifth (!) in a row to miss the top 100... with still one more single from the album to come!  We last saw Billy bubble under in December 1990.

Technically, this live version of "Storm Front", performed at Yankee Stadium, was taken from disc two of Billy's Australian-only Souvenir: The Ultimate Collection (number 1, February 1991) compilation box set, which contains two Greatest Hits discs, the Storm Front album, a disc with five live tracks at Yankee stadium, an interview disc, and a free set of steak knives.  OK, well, not the last one, but they might as well have include those too.

Still, with both Souvenir and Storm Front topping the ARIA albums charts, I doubt the record company were too bothered by most of the singles flopping... and so they kept churning them out.

"Storm Front" performed strongest in Queensland, where it reached number 72 on the state chart.

 

You can listen to the studio version of the track, for contrast, here.

We will see Billy again in early 1992 with the eighth and final single lifted from Storm Front, and (spoiler alert... though not really, as I wouldn't be writing about this song otherwise), yes, it was another one to miss the ARIA top 100.

Number 133 "Solsbury Hill" by Peter Gabriel (1991 release)

Peak: number 121 (in 1991); number 45 (in 1977)

Peak date: 4 March 1991

Weeks in top 150: 10 weeks (1991 release)

Top 150 chart run: 133-127-135-132-121-133-142-136-142-149

Weeks on chart: 11 weeks (1991 release)

This single originally peaked at number 45 in Australia on 4 July 1977, and spent 12 weeks on the top 100.

Prior to Phil Collins taking over vocal duties, Peter Gabriel was once the lead singer in the English progressive rock band Genesis.  He left the group in 1975, embarking on a solo career.  "Solsbury Hill" was Peter's debut solo single, released in 1977.

 

Surprisingly, "Solsbury Hill" only peaked at number 45 in Australia in July 1977.  I say "surprisingly" because the song was still in high rotation on radio during the 1980s.  I knew the song for years, aged in single digits, before I knew the song's title or who performed it.  That's not something I can say about many singles from 1977 that missed the top 40.

"Solsbury Hill" fared much better in Peter's native UK, reaching number 13 there in May 1977.  The song was an apt choice to launch Peter's solo career, as its lyrics deal with, in Peter's own words, "being prepared to lose what you have for what you might get... It's about letting go."

 

At this point in time, Peter had placed seven singles on the Australian top 100, with his biggest hits being "Sledgehammer" (number 3, June 1986) and "Don't Give Up" (number 5, April 1987); the latter being a duet with Kate Bush.  Both tracks were lifted from Peter's fifth studio album So (number 5, June 1986).  Peter also bubbled under with "Red Rain", another single from So, in August 1987, and we last saw him teaming up with Youssou N'Dour in July 1989.

"Solsbury Hill" originally appeared on Peter's debut album Peter Gabriel (number 25, June 1977).  The single was re-released to promote Peter's greatest hits compilation album Shaking the Tree (Sixteen Golden Greats) (number 41, December 1990).  This time around, a music video was made for the song, although Peter does not appear in it.

 

Internationally, the re-issue of "Solsbury Hill" peaked at number 57 in the UK in December 1990, and number 26 in the Netherlands in January 1991.

On the ARIA state charts, "Solsbury Hill" performed strongest in Victoria/Tasmania, where it reached number 90.

We shall next see Peter in 1993.

 

 

Number 145 "Think" by Information Society

Peak: number 132

Peak date: 18 February 1991

Weeks in top 150: 10 weeks 

Top 150 chart run: 145-143-132-142-138-145-141-139-147-143

 

Information Society hail from Minnesota, and formed in 1982.  "Think" was the lead single from their second studio album Hack, and the band's second single issued in Australia, following "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)", released in December 1988.

 

"Think" peaked at number 28 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and number 20 in the Netherlands in March 1991.

I have heard this one before.  Someone on a music forum recommended it to me about a decade ago, but I've got a feeling that I probably heard it on the American Top 40 radio program at the time.  I like the song, but don't love it.

"Think" was Information Society's only single to dent the ARIA top 150.

 

 

 

Number 147 "If I Have to Stand Alone" by Lonnie Gordon

Peak: number 147 

Peak dates: 4 February 1991 and 11 February 1991

Weeks in top 150: 2 weeks

Top 150 chart run: 147-147

Weeks on chart: 4 weeks

American-born though at this point English-produced (hello Stock Aitken Waterman!) Lonnie Gordon graced our presence in September 1990, with her second single released in Australia.  Here she is again, with the third.

 

"If I Have to Stand Alone", the title track from Lonnie's debut album If I Have to Stand Alone (number 173, April 1991), was an uptempo number more akin to "Happenin' All Over Again" (number 33, August 1990) than her previous single, which was a ballad.  Not that it helped Lonnie's chart fortunes - here or in the UK - where the single stalled at number 68 in November 1990, leading to the album being shelved by the much more-fickle/risk averse UK record company.

 

You have to love Australian record companies from this era, seemingly releasing whatever product they could license, regardless of its success on the chart (or were they just clueless, rather than being good-willed?).  I remember seeing loads of copies of Lonnie's album in a bargain bin at JB Hi-Fi, which had just opened in my city, in early 1992 - although I did not purchase the album until the 2009 expanded, remastered re-issue.

Working against "If I Have to Stand Alone"'s favour was the fact that Stock Aitken Waterman were definitely perceived as being 'uncool', if not much worse things, at this time.  Their commercial heyday had well and truly passed.

Speaking of 'uncool', I loved a comment I read on the music video embedded below (which turns out to be one of my YouTube uploads) some years ago, which referred to Lonnie's "office lady look" in the video.

On the ARIA state charts, "If I Have to Stand Alone" performed strongest in Queensland, where it reached number 104.

 

I didn't actually hear this track at the time, though remember seeing the single in the shops.

We will next see Lonnie in July 1991, with a new sound and a radically different look.

Number 150 "Too Tired" by Gary Moore featuring Albert Collins

Peak: number 130

Peak date: 4 March 1991

Weeks in top 150: 7 weeks

Top 150 chart run: 150-137-133-134-130-147-144

Weeks on chart: 9 weeks

 

By this point, Northern Irish singer and guitar maestro Gary Moore had landed two decent-sized hits in Australia, with a cover version of The Easybeats' "Friday on My Mind" (number 25, September 1987), and the original "Still Got the Blues (For You)" (number 18, July 1990).  Gary last joined us in April 1989.  My favourite Gary Moore track that I know is "Over the Hills and Far Away" (number 94, April 1987).

"Too Tired" was the fourth and final single lifted from Gary's eighth studio album Still Got the Blues (number 5, July 1990).  It followed "Oh Pretty Woman" (number 50, June 1990), "Still Got the Blues (For You)", and "Walking by Myself" (number 55, November 1990).  This time, Gary teamed up with American blues guitarist Albert Collins, covering a song originally recorded by Johnny Guitar Watson.

Internationally, "Too Tired" peaked at number 71 in the UK in December 1990.

 

On the ARIA state charts, "Too Tired" performed strongest in South Australia/Northern Territory, where it reached number 87.

Sadly, Albert died from lung cancer in 1993, aged 61.  Gary has also since passed on, aged 58, following a heart attack linked to alcoholism, in 2011.

We will next see Gary in 1992.

 

Bubbling WAY down under:

Number 169 "It's OK (It's Alright)" by Fine Young Cannibals

Peak: number 169

Peak date: 4 February 1991

Weeks on chart: 1 week

British band Fine Young Cannibals have joined us twice previously, in February and April of 1990.  After a ten month gap, "It's OK (It's Alright)" was issued as the sixth and final single from The Raw & The Cooked (number 1, July 1989) in Australia in January 1991.  It came just short of two years since the album's first single "She Drives Me Crazy" (number 1, March 1989) was released in Australia, in early February 1989.

 

"It's OK (It's Alright)" was, however, presumably released as a single at this point to promote the band's remix album The Raw & The Remix (number 114, March 1991).

"It's OK (It's Alright)", while being a decent track, presumably did not chart that well because it was from an already two years-old album that most people who liked the band probably already owned.  I also did not hear the track at the time, so it presumably received very little promotion.

 

No proper music video was filmed for "It's OK...".  In lieu of a video, a live performance was used.  The studio version of the track is embedded below.

 

"It's OK (It's Alright)" did not chart in any other country.  On the state charts, "It's OK (It's Alright)" performed strongest in New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory, where it reached number 154.

 

Fine Young Cannibals quietly disbanded in 1992.  I was unaware of any official announcement of their split happening.

 

The group returned in 1996 for a best-of compilation The Finest (number 56, December 1996) - despite only having released two studio albums.  They also had one further charting single in Australia with "The Flame" (number 85, November 1996).

Next week (11 February): Six top 150 debuts and five bubbling WAY down under entries.

 

< Previous week: 28 January 1991                                     Next week: 11 February 1991 >

Week commencing 23 April 1990

This week, there are only two new top 150 debuts; both are from artists we have seen previously in the 101-150 region of the chart.

 

Fine Young Cannibals probably wouldn't be 'satisfied' with their chart placing this week.

 

 

Top 150 debuts:

 

Number 136 "I'll Be Your Everything" by Tommy Page

Peak: number 103

Peak date: 21 May 1990

Weeks in top 150: 7 weeks

Top 150 chart run: 136-117-124-115-103-107-109

 

Nineteen year-old American singer Tommy page never broke into the ARIA top 100, but placed three singles in the 101-150 region of the chart between 1989 and 1991, and "I'll Be Your Everything" was the second of those.  We saw Tommy previously in May 1989.

"I'll Be Your Everything" was the lead single from Tommy's second album, Paintings in My Mind, which missed the top 150 albums chart in Australia.  In the US, however, it was a different story, and "I'll Be Your Everything" topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for a solitary week in April 1990.  The album was less-successful there, however, peaking at number 38 during the same month.

 

"I'll Be Your Everything"'s success was no doubt helped by teen idols New Kids on the Block providing backing vocals on this track.  Jordan Knight and Danny Wood from New Kids also co-wrote the track with Tommy, with Jordan and Donnie Wahlberg co-producing it.  To my ears, it sounds like part 2 of New Kids on the Block's sappy "I'll Be Loving You (Forever)".

Tommy had more luck with this single on the Australian Music Report singles chart, where it peaked at number 89.

Tommy left us in 2017, aged 46, leaving behind a husband and three children.  Tommy will bubble under again in 1991.

 

 

 

Number 145 "I'm Not Satisfied" by Fine Young Cannibals

Peak: number 145

Peak date: 23 April 1990

Weeks in top 150: 1 week 

Top 150 chart run: 145

Weeks on chart: 3 weeks

We saw Fine Young Cannibals back in February, and here there are again with the the fifth - or sixth, if you count their earlier Something Wild soundtrack release "Ever Fallen in Love" (number 20, May 1987), which was tacked on as the last track - single issued from their triple-platinum album The Raw & The Cooked (number 1, July 1989).  The first two singles from the album, "She Drives Me Crazy" (number 1, March 1989) and "Good Thing" (number 7, June 1989), were top 10 hits, but "Don't Look Back" (number 38, October 1989) just scraped into the top 40, and "I'm Not the Man I Used to Be" (number 109, February 1990) missed the top 100.  "I'm Not Satisfied" continued this downward trajectory.

 

"I'm Not Satisfied" was the first single from The Raw & The Cooked to miss the top 40 in the Cannibals' native UK, peaking at number 46 there in February 1990.  The single also flopped in Germany, where it peaked at number 66 in April 1990, and in the US, where it peaked at number 90 in March 1990.  "I'm Not Satisfied" had more success in Ireland, where it peaked at number 19 in February 1990.  Rather than reflecting a lack of quality with the song, I assume that "I'm Not Satisfied"'s lower peak was due to people already owning the album.

 

On the state charts, "I'm Not Satisfied" performed strongest in Western Australia, where it peaked at number 95.

 

Oddly, as sometimes happened in those days, "I'm Not Satisfied" received heavy rotation on Melbourne FM radio around August 1989, as though it was a contender for third single from the album.  Had it been up to me to make these decisions, I would have released "I'm Not Satisfied" as the second or third single from the album, as it is one of my favourite Fine Young Cannibals tracks.

Fine Young Cannibals will join us again with another track from The Raw & The Cooked in early 1991.

Bubbling WAY down under:

Number 162 "Walk on By" by Dina Carroll

Peak: number 162

Peak date: 23 April 1990

Weeks on chart: 2 weeks

English singer Dina Carroll, born Geraldine Carroll, landed 13 UK top 40 singles between 1991 and 2001, with three of those reaching the top ten.  Her UK chart career began in a more-understated fashion, however, with this cover version of the Burt Bacharach classic made famous by Dionne Warwick reaching number 95 there in February 1989.

Dina's version of "Walk on By" found greater, though still modest, success in the Netherlands, where it reached number 53 in March 1990.

Within Australia, Dina's version of "Walk on By" was most popular in Western Australia, where it reached number 125.

Dina never landed a top 100 single or album in Australia, although she came very close in 1994.

We shall next see Dina in 1992.

Next week (30 April): Five new top 150 debuts, including three artists we have seen bubbling down under previously.

< Previous week: 16 April 1990                                     Next week: 30 April 1990 >

Week commencing 5 February 1990

This week's post is a bumper week for new entries, with no fewer than 11 top 150 debuts and one bubbling WAY down under entry!  I had a look at the rest of the year, and 11 is the record for top 150 debuts in 1990.  At the other end of the spectrum, there is only one new top 150 debut one week in August 1990.  Interestingly, this week's post contains more debuts peaking between number 101 and 150 than we will see for the entire month of August 1990!  Let's dive in to this week's 12 new entries.

Transvision Vamp: the Australian record-buying public were not quite 'sold' on this release.

 

Top 150 debuts:

 

Number 111 "I'm Not the Man I Used to Be" by Fine Young Cannibals

Peak: number 109 

Peak date: 12 February 1990

Weeks in top 150: 6 weeks

Top 150 chart run: 111-109-114-129-125-134

Weeks on chart: 8 weeks

 

Up until this point, all eight of Fine Young Cannibals' previous singles had made the Australian top 100, with six of those making the top 20.  The group's biggest single down under had been "She Drives Me Crazy", which was number one for three weeks over two separate stints at the top, in March and April 1989.

The Cannibals' hit-making streak in Australia came to a crashing halt with "I'm Not the Man I Used to Be", the fourth single lifted from The Raw & The Cooked (number 1, July 1989).  Quite why this single stalled, I am not sure, although most people who wanted to own it had probably already purchased the album.

 

"I'm Not the Man I Used to Be" performed stronger on the Australian Music Report chart, where it peaked at number 96.  On the state charts, the single was most popular in Queensland and Western Australia, peaking at number 85 on both charts.

 

While the single was a modest hit (given their fast-paced charts at the time) in the band's native UK, peaking at number 20 for two weeks in December 1989, it was, at least, an improvement on the number 34 UK peak of previous single "Don't Look Back" (number 38 in Australia, October 1989).  Internationally, "I'm Not the Man I Used to Be" was a top 30 hit in the Netherlands and Austria, a top 40 hit in Germany, and had its greatest success in Ireland, where it peaked at number 8.

What few people would have predicted, including myself, is that there would be no more top 40 singles for Fine Young Cannibals - in Australia, anyway - owing largely to The Raw & The Cooked being the band's final studio album.  The band only released two studio albums during its existence, plus a greatest hits compilation in 1996, for which they recorded a new song, "The Flame" (number 85, November 1996).

Fine Young Cannibals will be back with another single from The Raw & The Cooked in April.

Number 115 "Prayer for You" by Texas

Peak: number 101

Peak date: 12 February 1990

Weeks in top 150: 5 weeks

Chart run: 151-(off chart for 1 week)-115-101-117-125-121

Weeks on chart: 6 weeks

I have written about this one previously in my special post on singles peaking at number 101 between 1989 and 1991.

Hailing from Glasgow, Scotland - in spite of the band name - Texas burst onto the ARIA singles chart in 1989 with "I Don't Want a Lover" (number 4, September 1989).  Follow-up singles "Thrill Has Gone" (number 60, September 1989) and "Everyday Now" (number 52, November 1989) struggled to replicate this success.  "Prayer for You", released as the fourth and final single from Southside (number 14, November 1989), had even less success, just falling short of the top 100.

 

It was a similar story in the band's native UK, where "I Don't Want a Lover" peaked at number 8 in March 1989, and subsequent Southside singles all missed the top 40.  "Prayer for You" continued the pattern of diminishing returns, peaking at number 73 in the UK in December 1989.

 

On the state charts, "Prayer for You" performed strongest in South Australia/Northern Territory, where it peaked at number 76.

 

Although Texas would return to the ARIA top 100 singles chart a couple of times in the early 90s, they would not score another sizeable hit in Australia again until 1997, with "Say What You Want" (number 11, June 1997).  We shall next see Texas bubble under in 1992.

 

 

Number 136 "Make Believe Mambo" by David Byrne

Peak: number 136

Peak date: 5 February 1990

Weeks in top 150: 3 weeks

Top 150 chart run: 136-144-145

 

David Byrne was the lead vocalist in Talking Heads, who notched up nine top 100 singles in Australia between 1979 and 1986, with three of those making the top 20; the highest-peaking of which was "And She Was" (number 10, March 1986).  Although the band's 1988 album Naked peaked at number 8 in Australia, it spawned no charting singles.  Talking Heads disbanded in December 1991, after band members learnt that Byrne had left through an article published in the Los Angeles Times; he had not otherwise informed the group of his intention to quit.

David Byrne released a solo album 1981, and the follow-up studio album Rei Momo (number 96, January 1990) was released in the last quarter of 1989, from which this track is lifted.

While David's solo career didn't exactly set the Australian charts alight, we will see him again in 1992.

 

 

 

Number 137 "Heat of the Moment" by After 7

Peak: number 107 (number 123 in 1990; number 107 in 1991)

Peak date: 8 April 1991

Weeks in top 150: 15 weeks (9 weeks in 1990; 6 weeks in 1991)

Top 150 chart run: 137-140-(out for 9 weeks)-128-134-135-129-123-125-133.

Re-entered 25 March 1991: 125-131-107-128-125-126

Weeks on chart: 18 weeks

 

If my memory serves me correctly, here we have the first instance of a single peaking outside the top 100 that had two separate (as in a year apart) chart runs.

"Heat of the Moment" was first released in Australia in January 1990, and peaked at number 123 in May 1990.  But even its first chart run was split in two, spending two weeks in the top 150 in February 1990, and then re-entering towards the end of April 1990, spending a further seven weeks in this region of the chart.   The group then released the singles "Ready Or Not" in August 1990 - which did not chart in Australia, and "Can't Stop" in December 1990 (number 80, February 1991).  "Heat of the Moment" was then again issued in March 1991, reaching its peak of number 107 in April 1991, and spending another 6 weeks on the chart.  "Heat of the Moment" fared much better in New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory, where it reached number 61 in April 1991, than elsewhere.  Its next-highest state chart peak was number 100 in Victoria/Tasmania, where it peaked in May 1990.

Listening to "Heat of the Moment" for the first time as I write this, I am struck by how similar the music backing sounds to Pebbles' "Giving You the Benefit" (number 48, January 1991).  Both tracks are L.A. Reid/Babyface compositions and productions, though.

"Heat of the Moment" is lifted from the After 7 album, which peaked at number 124 in Australia in February 1990.

We will see After 7 again in 1992.

Number 139 "Born to Be Sold" by Transvision Vamp

Peak: number 108

Peak date: 12 March 1990

Weeks in top 150: 7 weeks

Top 150 chart run: 139-(out for 1 week)-140-116-112-108-126-120

Weeks on chart: 8 weeks

During 1988 and 1989, Transvision Vamp placed seven singles in the ARIA top 100, with two of those reaching the top 10: "I Want Your Love" (number 7, December 1988) and "Baby I Don't Care" (number 3, August 1989).  The group's popularity down under was cemented with two platinum-certified albums, Pop Art (number 13, February 1989) and Velveteen (number 2, July 1989).

Despite this success, Transvision Vamp's singles chart peaks seemed to drop off quickly by the time it got to the third and fourth single releases from their albums, with "Tell That Girl to Shut Up" (number 44, February 1989), "Sister Moon" (number 95, June 1989), and "Landslide of Love" (number 70, November 1989) all missing the top 40.  "Born to Be Sold" would continue the trend, becoming the band's first release to peak outside the ARIA top 100; although it just scraped into the Australian Music Report top 100 singles chart at number 97.

 

Speaking of trends, "Born to Be Sold", like Billy Joel's recent hit "We Didn't Start the Fire" (number 2, November 1989) and The Beloved's upcoming flop "Hello" (number 94, May 1990), was a 'list' song.  That is, its verses list a number of cultural icons - in this instance, pop singers, film stars and politicians.  Among others, Elvis, Madonna and Morrissey get name-checked, and Transvision Vamp singer Wendy James (well, via songwriter and bandmate Nick Christian Sayer) declares herself, like the other people listed, as being "born to be sold".

 

Wendy, who loved to court controversy, copped some flack for comparing herself to 'the greats' with this song in at least one of the pop magazines I read at the time.  Those who followed pop music in the late 80s will no doubt remember some of Wendy's infamous comments slagging off other pop stars, particularly Kylie Minogue, who she once described as "pollution of the mind."  Ouch!  Still, at least Wendy had opinions, unlike many heavily stage-managed and media-trained artists.

On the state charts, "Born to Be Sold" performed strongest in Victoria/Tasmania, where it peaked at number 71.  Internationally, the single peaked at number 22 in the group's native UK in November 1989, and at number 12 in Ireland.

 

Fun fact: I bought this single on cassette at the time; just as I had bought Transvision Vamp's last single, "Landslide of Love", on the same format.  I obviously showed a precocious interest in flop singles as an 11 year-old.  One of the B-sides on the "Born to Be Sold" single, a live rendition of "Last Time", contained some naughty S and F-words delivered by Wendy when speaking to the audience during the intro - but there was no parental advisory sticker on the sleeve!  Ooh-er!

We won't see Transvision Vamp bubble under again, as the two singles from their third and final studio album in 1991 both made the top 100.  We will, however, see Wendy James in 1993, when she embarks on a solo career, after the demise of the band.

 

As a special treat, because I find it so funny - and it seems to have been taken down everywhere online - embedded below is French and Saunders' parody of Transvision Vamp/Wendy James' Star Test interview.  The song in the clip parodies the list-song format of "Born to Be Sold", with everything relating back to Wendy and her faux modesty (check out the "me me me me" chorus).

 

 

 

Number 143 "Insect" by Boxcar

Peak: number 143

Peak date: 5 February 1990

Weeks in top 150: 3 weeks

Top 150 chart run: 143-(out for 7 weeks)-149-(out for 1 week)-145

Weeks on chart: 4 weeks

Boxcar, hailing from Brisbane, were Australia's answer to New Order.  Well, minus the commercial success, unfortunately.  Their debut single, "Freemason (You Broke the Promise)", released in November 1988, failed to chart locally, but made some ripples on the US Billboard Dance chart, where it peaked at number 8.  OK, I know I've said before that such genre-specific Billboard charts, based on god knows what, are not 'real' charts, but I'm trying to be generous here, for an act responsible for some songs that I like.

"Insect", the band's second single, was released locally in November 1989, but took until now to register on the chart.  Fitting with the song title and the lyrical theme of being "crushed" like an insect by an ex, the music video contains numerous scenes of praying mantises, ants and the like, and is not one recommended for those with entomophobia (look it up!).  But the song itself is definitely worth a listen.

Released on Australian dance music label Volition, "Insect" was produced by pioneering Australian electronic/dance music producer and remixer Robert Racic, who was involved with many late 80s/early 90s home-grown dance releases, such as the 1994 remix of Severed Heads' "Dead Eyes Opened" (number 16, January 1995), Beatfish "Wheels of Love" (number 26, September 1991), and Sexing the Cherry's "Steppin' On" (number 42, May 1994).  Racic, sadly, passed away in 1996 from AIDS.

Boxcar would criminally peak no higher than number 82 on the ARIA singles chart, with "Gas Stop (Who Do You Think You Are)" reaching that position in January 1991. "Insect", "Freemason" and "Gas Stop" all appear on the band's debut album Vertigo (number 118, February 1991).  I don't think that Australia was ready to embrace electronic music made by local bands yet - radio certainly wasn't, instead preferring to stick with a staple of pub rock bands, "classic rock" and Cold Chisel.  Ugh.

 

Boxcar will bubble under a number of times in the coming years, with the next occasion being in 1991.

Number 144 "Don't Make Me Over" by Sybil

Peak: number 144

Peak date: 5 February 1990

Weeks in top 150: 2 weeks

Top 150 chart run: 144-(out for 2 weeks)-148

Weeks on chart: 5 weeks

Sybil Lynch, known mononymously as just Sybil, hails from America, and is Maxine Jones from En Vogue's cousin.  Although her version of Dionne Warwick's "Don't Make Me Over" was a number 20 hit for her on the US Billboard Hot 100 in December 1989, Sybil had the most career success in the UK, where she notched up three top 10 hits, and this song peaked at number 19 in October 1989.

 

The album this track is lifted from, Sybil, also contains a cover of Dionne Warwick's "Walk on By", which was a number 6 hit for her in the UK in February 1990.  Both the album and that single failed to chart in Australia.  Sybil later worked with Stock Aitken Waterman, or their Stock/Waterman incarnation, and some of the songs they produced made the ARIA chart.

While Sybil never peaked higher than number 144 in Australia, we will see her bubble under a few more times in the coming years, with the next occasion being in October.

Number 145 "It's Gonna Change" by Blow featuring Roy Hamilton

Peak: number 145

Peak date: 5 February 1990

Weeks in top 150: 1 week

Top 150 chart run: 145

 

I can't tell you much about Blow, other than it's an alias of house music producer and DJ, Gordon Edge, whose real name is Gordon Laing Matthewman.  Likewise, I can't tell you much about Roy Hamilton, other than his father, also named Roy Hamilton, was a singer from Jamaica.  Together, they released this acid house track, which does not appear to have charted anywhere else.

Number 146 "The Yuppie Rap" by Club Veg

Peak: number 146

Peak date: 5 February 1990

Weeks in top 150: 1 week

Top 150 chart run: 146

Here's an Australian comedy release I missed at the time, probably due to being too young to listen to Triple J.  Club Veg were duo Vic Davies and Malcolm Lees, and they started out as The Morning After Show on radio station Triple J in 1984, before migrating to 2SM in 1986, and then Triple M in 1988.

"The Yuppie Rap" was issued as a single in September 1988, featuring Barry Dink on vocals.  I am not sure why the single charted nearly 18 months later.  The B-side featured New Zealand singer Dave Dobbyn on vocals.

Vic Davies died from lung cancer in 2009.
 

Number 147 "We Almost Got It Together" by Tanita Tikaram

Peak: number 116

Peak date: 19 March 1990

Weeks in top 150: 7 weeks

Chart run: 165-147-124-139-126-134-133-116

Weeks on chart: 8 weeks

 

Tanita graced our presence twice in 1989, with "Good Tradition" (number 142, January 1989) and "Cathedral Song" (number 120, July 1989).  Her biggest, and only real hit in Australia was "Twist in My Sobriety" (number 23, April 1989).

"We Almost Got It Together" was the lead single from Tanita's second album The Sweet Keeper (number 68, February 1990), and peaked at number 52 in the UK in January 1990.  The single was also a top 30 hit in Ireland, a top 40 hit in the Netherlands and the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium (Flanders), and a top 50 hit in Germany.  One interesting thing about "We Almost Got It Together"'s chart run in Australia - if you're a chart freak, anyway - is that it didn't reach its peak until its final week on the chart, after which, it dropped out.

Subsequent singles released in Australia from The Sweet Keeper, "Little Sister Leaving Town" (May 1990) and "Thursday's Child" (August 1990), failed to chart.  Tanita will join us again, however, in 1995.

Number 149 "Quicksand" by Jimi the Human & Spectre 7

Peak: number 137

Peak date: 16 April 1990

Weeks in top 150: 9 weeks

Top 150 chart run: 149-(out for 1 week)-147-(out for 1 week)-138-144-140-143-139-141-137

 

Listening to this song as I write this, I didn't expect to know it, but the "walking in the quicksand" chorus sounds familiar. "Quicksand" was released back in early December 1989, but took until now to dent the top 150.

 

If you read the video description blurb for the clip embedded below - which appears to be uploaded by Jimi (Hocking) himself, you would be led to believe that the album this track is from, No Turning Back, was a top 20 success.  Um, hate to burst your bubble, man, but it wasn't.  In fact, the album peaked at number 101 on the ARIA albums chart in March 1990.  Top 20... on the Australian artists chart (another meaningless one), perhaps?  I have noticed that artists often have mistaken beliefs about their chart positions, and that they are prone to inflation.

This would be Jimi the Human & Spectre 7's only top 150 charting single.  "Quicksand" performed much better on the Australian Music Report singles chart, where it peaked at number 86.  You have to wonder, though, when there is a 51-place discrepancy between the ARIA and AMR peaks...

Bubbling WAY down under:

Number 153 "Action" by Steve Stevens Atomic Playboys

Peak: number 153

Peak date: 5 February 1990

Weeks on chart: 1 week

We saw Steve Stevens Atomic Playboys bubble under in November 1989.  "Action" was the second single lifted from the Steve Stevens Atomic Playboys (number 67, October 1989) album, and, likes its predecessor, appears to have only charted in Australia!  The song was a cover version of a song The Sweet took to number 4 in Australia in November 1975.

 

This was the band's final release.

Next week (12 February): I would normally expect a quieter week after one with 11 debuts, but no, next week there are another 9 top 150 debuts!  Obviously, a clear-out was happening in the lower region of the charts.  On top of that, there are 3 bubbling WAY down under entries for me to write about.  I had better get cracking...  You can also follow my posts on instagram and facebook.

 

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