CHART BEATS: A JOURNEY
THROUGH POP

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About Chart Beats

Chart Beats: A Journey Through Pop has been looking back at music from the '80s, '90s, 2000s and 2010s since 2012. Run by freelance journalist and content creator Gavin Scott in Sydney, Australia.

Mar 15, 2021
4 min

This Week In 1981: March 15, 1981

As I write this, massive Women's March 4 Justice protests are occuring around Australia demanding "an end to the issues of sexism,...

Mar 8, 2021
4 min

This Week In 1981: March 8, 1981

Last week, we saw dandy highwayman Adam Ant make his Australian top 50 debut, and this week in 1981, there were new entries from another...

Mar 1, 2021
4 min

This Week In 1981: March 1, 1981

The new decade might have started in 1980, but it took a while for music to move beyond the sounds that had defined the late '70s,...

Feb 22, 2021
4 min

This Week In 1981: February 22, 1981

French musicians haven't ventured towards the top of the Australian singles chart that often. And over the years, those that have been...

Feb 15, 2021
3 min

This Week In 1981: February 15, 1981

Mi-Sex had done it in 1979 as had Split Enz in 1980, and in 1981, another band from New Zealand made it a hat-trick by going all the way...

Feb 8, 2021
4 min

This Week In 1981: February 8, 1981

From "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" to "Blue (Da Ba Dee)", and "Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)" to "La La La", music history is littered with...

Feb 1, 2021
4 min

This Week In 1981: February 1, 1981

Anyone who grew up with an older sibling will no doubt have had their taste in music influenced by them to some extent. That was...

Jan 25, 2021
4 min

This Week In 1981: January 25, 1981

There's a big difference between a covers band (think The Beatnix, Björn Again) and a band that has its biggest hits with remakes...

Jan 17, 2021
4 min

This Week In 1981: January 18, 1981

I'm sure I've mentioned this before — I'm nearing 700 posts, so it's likely — but I have many best of CDs in my collection that I bought...

Jan 10, 2021
4 min

This Week In 1981: January 11, 1981

How many bands from Tasmania can you name? Serious question, because I could only think of two: The Innocents, who we saw miss the top 50...

Chart Beats has launched its first podcast: A Journey Through Stock Aitken Waterman, which is working its way through every single produced by Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman in chronological order. Each episode, hosts Gavin Scott and Matthew Denby cover a handful of tracks, discussing the stories behind them, debating whether they were as big as they deserved and speaking to some of the talent involved.

Chart Beats subscribers have access to exclusive content, including extended interviews and extra discussion we can't fit in the regular episodes. Click here for more info.