- The Hollies: He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
- Phil Collins: Groovy Kind of Love
- Womack & Womack: Teardrops
- Bill Withers: Lovely Day [sunshine mix]
- Jason Donovan: Nothing Can Divide Us
- Bros: I Quit
- Yello: The Race
- Inner City: Big Fun
- Pet Shop Boys: Domino Dancing
- Yazz & The Plastic Population: The Only Way Is Up
- Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine: Anything for You
- The Proclaimers: I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)
- Brother Beyond: The Harder I Try
- Bomb the Bass: Megablast / Don't Make Me Wait
- The Commodores: Easy
- Rick Astley: She Wants to Dance with Me
- Jane Wiedlin: Rush Hour
- Bon Jovi: Bad Medicine
- Michael Jackson: Another Part of Me
- The Pasadenas: Riding on a Train
- Coldcut featuring Junior Reid: Stop This Crazy Thing
- Salt 'n' Pepa: Shake Your Thang (It's Your Thing)
- Julio Iglesias featuring Stevie Wonder: My Love
- Whitney Houston: One Moment in Time
- Breathe: Hands to Heaven
- Kylie Minogue: The Loco-Motion
- a-ha: Touchy!
- Marc Almond: Tears Run Rings
- Spagna: Every Girl and Boy
- Transvision Vamp: Revolution Baby
- Bananarama: Love, Truth and Honesty
- Bruce Springsteen: Spare Parts
- Hazell Dean: Turn It Into Love
- Belinda Carlisle: World Without You
- BVSMP: I Need You
- Level 42: Heaven in My Hands
- Alexander O'Neal: Fake '88
- Bill Medley: He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
- Guns N' Roses: Sweet Child O' Mine
- The Wonder Stuff: It's Yer Money I'm After Baby
This week's chart survey is one I could have compiled reasonably adequately from my admittedly dispersed collection of cassettes and CD's. From He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother on Now That's What I Call Music 13 all the way down to It's Yer Money I'm After Baby on The Wonder Stuff's stupidly-titled best of If The Beatles Had Read Hunter, I've owned twenty-nine of the forty singles listed in one capacity or another. While plenty of these tracks were acquired much later (the aforementioned It's Yer Money, Springsteen's Spare Parts, which I've always considered the closest thing to filler on The Boss' otherwise flawless masterpiece Tunnel of Love), more and more of them I had become conscious of at the time. Almost all the holdovers from before we arrived have been purged from the charts.
This week's new chart entries make me wonder about how fleeting this level of success can be, even for established acts. It's probably safe to say that the triumvirate of Pet Shop Boys, Rick Astley and Bon Jovi were disappointed by their respective placements; all three had enjoyed worldwide hits over the previous year or two and had all released brand new singles that were expected to keep the party going. But if they were all disappointed by the relative failure of their releases, they shouldn't have been surprised: each number is a significant step down from previous heights.
Domino Dancing is considered a favourite among Pet Shop Boys' fans (although not so much this one; I liked it a lot at the time but now I think of it as a nice little time marker between their early batch of superb singles and their more mature, reflective period of their best work) but must have left the public feeling somewhat indifferent after their run of extraordinary chart toppers West End Girls, It's a Sin and Always on My Mind and its Latin grooves were somewhat out of step with the prevailing Acid House trends. Bad Medicine, on the other hand, is a song I've always thought of being popular among people who otherwise don't care much for Bon Jovi - but I may well be giving it too much credit in that regard. Metal enthusiasts likely saw through through the group's ham fisted attempt to return to a heavier sound and I've always considered Elvis Costello's remark that this is a terrific pop song to be something of a backhanded compliment. Finally, She Wants to Dance with Me was notable for being Rick Astley's first self-penned single but its pop textures were a clear step down from the Stock Aitken Waterman numbers that made his name a few months earlier. While similarly juvenile - the M.O. of the many, many SAW hits we would come across over this year - this was marked with a naivety that seemed to betray his supposed creative growth.
Still, they all moved on and continued to achieve success over the years (though not so much Rick Astley despite the short-lived Rickrolling phenomenon from a few years back). They just ceased to be seminal from there on in. Being at the top is fleeting.
This week's new chart entries make me wonder about how fleeting this level of success can be, even for established acts. It's probably safe to say that the triumvirate of Pet Shop Boys, Rick Astley and Bon Jovi were disappointed by their respective placements; all three had enjoyed worldwide hits over the previous year or two and had all released brand new singles that were expected to keep the party going. But if they were all disappointed by the relative failure of their releases, they shouldn't have been surprised: each number is a significant step down from previous heights.
Domino Dancing is considered a favourite among Pet Shop Boys' fans (although not so much this one; I liked it a lot at the time but now I think of it as a nice little time marker between their early batch of superb singles and their more mature, reflective period of their best work) but must have left the public feeling somewhat indifferent after their run of extraordinary chart toppers West End Girls, It's a Sin and Always on My Mind and its Latin grooves were somewhat out of step with the prevailing Acid House trends. Bad Medicine, on the other hand, is a song I've always thought of being popular among people who otherwise don't care much for Bon Jovi - but I may well be giving it too much credit in that regard. Metal enthusiasts likely saw through through the group's ham fisted attempt to return to a heavier sound and I've always considered Elvis Costello's remark that this is a terrific pop song to be something of a backhanded compliment. Finally, She Wants to Dance with Me was notable for being Rick Astley's first self-penned single but its pop textures were a clear step down from the Stock Aitken Waterman numbers that made his name a few months earlier. While similarly juvenile - the M.O. of the many, many SAW hits we would come across over this year - this was marked with a naivety that seemed to betray his supposed creative growth.
Still, they all moved on and continued to achieve success over the years (though not so much Rick Astley despite the short-lived Rickrolling phenomenon from a few years back). They just ceased to be seminal from there on in. Being at the top is fleeting.
I didn't think of it at the time but one of the benefits of being on exchange was occasionally getting pulled out of school to attend functions for teachers and their families. I had this get out of school free pass at least three times over the year: later there would be a Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey with the Queen and a trip to Belfast but for now we were off to Brighton for an exchange teacher's conference at the University of Sussex. The fact that I'd be missing a dreary, tedious Friday - a not-as-much-fun-as-it-was-back-home P.E.; the sheer thrill of jotting down observations of boiling water in General Science; the tinge of resentment that this would be my fourth Maths class of the week; suspecting that French teacher Mr Oxenham was out to show the class that we was more proficient in the Language of Love than me; the utter pointlessness of being shouted at by the bitter Mr Pountney while flipping through an Asterix comic in Library - made it all the better.
But beyond the chance to get out of classes for a day, the trip to Brighton gave my sister and me a chance to meet other kids who were going through many of the same experiences as us. There were many exchange club outings and trips to come and we'd meet kids at almost all of them but I have to say that this first batch expat exchange kids (along with the one that followed shortly after when we went to a Medieval experience in Colchester) was the best group we'd encounter.
With respect to Tim, his sister whose name escapes me, Alison and Jessica, however, it was probably more to do with the circumstances than the individuals themselves. The term at Mayflower was in just its third week and it was nice to compare notes with some kids who were going through very much the same type of baptism by fire that we were. We could all wax about friends and places we missed back home and feel reassured that they understood our situation just as much as we understood their's.
These were the first of the fleeting friends we'd make. Previously, I wrote about meeting Chris and Sam and feeling relieved that I had forged friendships in just the first few days of our time in England; only later did I realise that these were temporary ententes. And so it was here in Brighton, only it never occurred to me that these were similarly fleeting. Perhaps we'd see Tim and his family at an exchange event in a few weeks; maybe we'd bump into Alison and Jessica in London or Scotland at some point. Plus, I was really hitting it off with these people. Tim and I got up to some mischief in the campus dining room and I began to fancy Jessica: of course I was going to see them again! (As it turned out, we'd never see Tim and his sister again - although I'm pretty sure they stayed at our place while we were away for Easter and we saw Alison and Jessica just once more when we were just weeks away from returning to Canada)
That Saturday night I went to bed in the University of Sussex residence. It was nice having a room to myself for once. Looking out my window, I waved good night to Alison and Jessica. I thought about 1988 Olympics and if Ben Johnson could win the 100 meters race. Speaking of fleeting...
~~~~~
young Paul's favorite: Domino Dancing
older Paul's retro pick: Big Fun
These were the first of the fleeting friends we'd make. Previously, I wrote about meeting Chris and Sam and feeling relieved that I had forged friendships in just the first few days of our time in England; only later did I realise that these were temporary ententes. And so it was here in Brighton, only it never occurred to me that these were similarly fleeting. Perhaps we'd see Tim and his family at an exchange event in a few weeks; maybe we'd bump into Alison and Jessica in London or Scotland at some point. Plus, I was really hitting it off with these people. Tim and I got up to some mischief in the campus dining room and I began to fancy Jessica: of course I was going to see them again! (As it turned out, we'd never see Tim and his sister again - although I'm pretty sure they stayed at our place while we were away for Easter and we saw Alison and Jessica just once more when we were just weeks away from returning to Canada)
That Saturday night I went to bed in the University of Sussex residence. It was nice having a room to myself for once. Looking out my window, I waved good night to Alison and Jessica. I thought about 1988 Olympics and if Ben Johnson could win the 100 meters race. Speaking of fleeting...
~~~~~
young Paul's favorite: Domino Dancing
older Paul's retro pick: Big Fun
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