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Jason Maloney reviews

The Breakfast Club Original Soundtrack In league with his old schoolfriend Andrew Ridgeley, George Michael had enjoyed huge chart success as Wham!; nothing the duo ever officially released would fail to hit the UK Top 10. Wham! dealt entirely in uptempo pop-soul, however, and George needed an outlet for his more reflective material. In the summer of 1984, a solo single Careless Whisper was released and became a million-selling #1 in both Britain and America (where it was credited to "Wham! featuring George Michael), and two years later A Different Corner interrupted Wham!'s final brace of chart-toppers I'm Your Man and The Edge Of Heaven. A Different Corner climbed from #2 to the summit 18 years ago this week in 1986. No fewer than five of the Top 40 singles were movie-related tracks: the highest at #4 was A Kind Of Magic by Queen, taken from the epic Highlander starring Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery although the film itself would not arrive in UK cinemas until late July. Absolute Beginners, the notorious Julien Temple-directed fiasco which sank the British studio which made it, provided two simultaneous hits; David Bowie's magnificent title song (a former #2 now at #21) and The Style Council's Have You Ever Had It Blue? (down a notch from its peak of #14). The latter had also been featured on their 1985 studio album Our Favourite Shop with a different set of lyrics and titled With Everything To Lose. Bryan Ferry was up 7 places to #22 with Is Your Love Strong Enough, taken from Ridley Scott's fantasy flop Legend. A year earlier, Ferry had been the intended choice to record Don't You Forget About Me, for the soundtrack to Bratpack flick The Breakfast Club. The ex-Roxy Music frontman declined and the track was eventually passed on to Simple Minds, who duly scored an American #1 with the song. Completing the quintet of film tie-ins, Huey Lewis & The News' The Power Of Love (from Back To The Future) was coming to the end of its second chart run, dropping 7 places to #35.

Through a Big Country: Greatest Hits Those photogenic Scandanavians a-ha had been the year's third #1 when The Sun Always Shines On TV hit the top at the end of January, but its follow-up Train Of Thought was at its high of #8 this week, having entered at #23 and then leapt to #9. One place below them, Simple Minds were up from #15 with All The Things She Said, the third single from Once Upon A Time. Not to be confused with the debut hit of the same name by faux-lesbian Russian schoolgirls t.A.T.u., it was Simple Minds' fourth Top 10 success in a row, after Don't You Forget About Me (#7), Alive & Kicking (also #7) and Sanctify Yourself (#10). Their compatriots Big Country, meanwhile, were on course for a career-best of #7 with Look Away, which was climbing from its entry position of #18 to #10. It would prove to be the last time they scaled such heights. The writing/production team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis was arguaby at its zenith during 1986. Initially breaking through with the brilliant Just Be Good To Me by the SOS Band in the Spring of 1984, they went on to make further waves within the Dance fraternity in 1985 courtesy of outstanding albums for Alexander O'Neal (an eponymous debut that included If You Were Here Tonight) and Cherrelle (High Priority, featuring the #6 smash Saturday Love). Jam & Lewis' 1986 began with Saturday Love in the Top 10, but it was their work for Michael Jackson's then little-known kid sister Janet which put them firmly on the mainstream pop map. The first fruits of their collaboration with Miss Jackson, What Have You Done For Me Lately (soaring 21 places to #16), effectively invented today's pop-dance genre while its strikingly-choreographed video did likewise for the medium. All of this rather overshadowed another Jam & Lewis creation, The Finest, which returned the SOS Band to the UK Top 20 after a two-year absence by advancing 6 places to #17.

Suzanne Vega: Retrospective Bronski Beat had survived the loss of vocalist Jimmy Somerville, who departed less than amicably to form The Communards in 1985, and appeared to be in rude chart health when Hit That Perfect Beat made #3 shortly after. With new singer Jon Jon, however, continued Top 40 action would be short-lived; the second post-Somerville single C'Mon C'Mon ditched their trademark synth sound to a less than enthusiastic response, peaking this week at #20, and bar a one-off comeback in the 90s with Eartha Kitt the Bronski boys never reached the UK Top 40 again. At the opposite end of the career spectrum, Suzanne Vega was making her first foray into the British Singles chart with Marlene On The Wall, up 13 from #40 to #27. Aside from DNA's 1990 remix of her 1987 track Tom's Diner, which made #2, Marlene On The Wall's eventual high of #21 still stands as Vega's most successful single.

It's Immaterial: Life's Hard And Then You Die Whitney Houston's cover of the George Benson ballad The Greatest Love Of All made its bow at #33, and would quickly become her third consecutive Top 10 hit, but the two highest debutants - the Grange Hill Cast (in at #26 with the anti-drug charity record Just Say No) and It's Immaterial (new at #28 with Driving Away From Home) - would join the ranks of one-hit wonders, as would UK soul duo Aurra (debuting at #39 thanks to future Top 20 hit You And Me Tonight). Maxi Priest (entering at #36 with Strollin') would go on to score a handful of other hit singles, but Some People (a new entry at #38) would be Belouis Some's second and final brush with chart fame and This Is Love was one of Gary Numan's last chart hits before his recent commercial rehabilitation brought him back from the Top 40 wilderness.

Page Content copyright © Jason Maloney, 2004.

The following is a list of Jason's Jukeboxes online for week ending:

Vol.40: The 40 Best Singles That Missed The UK Top 40 (20/12/2004)
Vol.39: November 12th 1977 (12/11/2004)
Vol.38: October 29th 1984 (29/10/2004)
Vol.37: October 15th 1987 (15/10/2004)
Vol.36: October 6th 1973 (08/10/2004)
Vol.35: September 30th 1995 (30/09/2004)
Vol.34: September 22nd 1979 (24/09/2004)
Vol.33: September 13th 1986 (16/09/2004)
Vol.32: September 9th 1989 (09/09/2004)
Vol.31: September 4th 1982 (02/09/2004)
Vol.30: August 26th 1978 (26/08/2004)
Vol.29: August 21st 1976 (19/08/2004)
Vol.28: August 13th 1983 (12/08/2004)
Vol.27: August 3rd 1985 (06/08/2004)
Vol.26: July 25th 1981 (29/07/2004)
Vol.25: July 21st 1979 (22/07/2004)
Vol.24: July 4th 1992 (08/07/2004)
Vol.23: June 24th 1965 (01/07/2004)
Vol.22: June 16th 1984 (17/06/2004)
Vol.21: June 11th 1977 (10/06/2004)
Vol.20: June 8th 1967 (03/06/2004)
Vol.19: May 29th 1971 (27/05/2004)
Vol.18: May 18th 1991 (20/05/2004)
Vol.17: May 14th 1969 (13/05/2004)
Vol.16: May 8th 1982 (06/05/2004)
Vol.15: May 3rd 1980 (29/04/2004)
Vol.14: April 19th 1986 (20/04/2004)
Vol.13: April 14th 1990 (13/04/2004)
Vol.12: April 8th 1989 (08/04/2004)
Vol.11: April 2nd 1983 (06/04/2004)
Vol.10: March 24th 1979 (23/03/2004)
Vol.9: March 19th 1988 (16/03/2004)
Vol.8: March 9th 1985 (09/03/2004)
Vol.7: March 3rd 1973 (02/03/2004)
Vol.6: February 28th 1987 (24/02/2004)
Vol.5: February 20th 1993 (17/02/2004)
Vol.4: February 11th 1978 (10/02/2004)
Vol.3: February 3rd 1966 (03/02/2004)
Vol.2: January 31st 1981 (27/01/2004)
Vol.1: January 21st 1984 (20/01/2004)

And in chronological order:

June 24th 1965: Vol.23 (01/07/2004)
February 3rd 1966: Vol.3 (03/02/2004)
June 8th 1967: Vol.20 (03/06/2004)
May 14th 1969: Vol.17 (13/05/2004)
May 29th 1971: Vol.19 (27/05/2004)
March 3rd 1973: Vol.7 (02/03/2004)
August 21st 1976: Vol.29 (19/08/2004)
June 11th 1977: Vol.21 (10/06/2004)
November 12th 1977: Vol.39 (12/11/2004)
February 11th 1978: Vol.4 (10/02/2004)
August 26th 1978: Vol.30 (26/08/2004)
March 24th 1979: Vol.10 (23/03/2004)
July 21st 1979: Vol.25 (22/07/2004)
September 22nd 1979: Vol.34 (24/09/2004)
May 3rd 1980: Vol.15 (29/04/2004)
January 31st 1981: Vol.2 (27/01/2004)
July 25th 1981: Vol.26 (29/07/2004)
May 8th 1982: Vol.16 (06/05/2004)
September 4th 1982: Vol.31 (02/09/2004)
April 2nd 1983: Vol.11 (06/04/2004)
August 13th 1983: Vol.28 (12/08/2004)
January 21st 1984: Vol.1 (20/01/2004)
June 16th 1984: Vol.22 (17/06/2004)
October 29th 1984: Vol.38 (29/10/2004)
March 9th 1985: Vol.8 (09/03/2004)
August 3rd 1985: Vol.27 (06/08/2004)
April 19th 1986: Vol.14 (20/04/2004)
September 13th 1986: Vol.33 (16/09/2004)
February 28th 1987: Vol.6 (24/02/2004)
October 15th 1987: Vol.37 (15/10/2004)
March 19th 1988: Vol.9 (16/03/2004)
April 8th 1989: Vol.12 (08/04/2004)
September 9th 1989: Vol.32 (09/09/2004)
April 14th 1990: Vol.13 (13/04/2004)
May 18th 1991: Vol.18 (20/05/2004)
July 4th 1992: Vol.24 (08/07/2004)
February 20th 1993: Vol.5 (17/02/2004)
September 30th 1995: Vol.35 (30/09/2004)
The 40 Best Singles That Missed The UK Top 40: Vol.40 (20/12/2004)

DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.

PC games reviewed by the editor are on: