CHART BEATS: A JOURNEY
THROUGH POP

It only ran for 20 episodes, but ABC music drama Sweet And Sour looms large in my memories of the mid-'80s. For one thing, it had an...

Not everyone can claim to have a song written about them; even fewer people have one that specifically names them — although if you're famous, the chances are probably higher. This week in 1984, a British girl group entered the ARIA top 50 with a song that name-checks a world-renowned American actor. If someone writes a song about you, it's only polite to meet them The song isn't actually about the actor per se, but he figures as a fantasy in the story told by the lyrics. Alt

Already on this blog, we've seen the solo debuts of locally based former backing singers Kate Ceberano, Jenny Morris and Wendy Matthews. Before any of those women hit the ARIA top 50 with their own releases, one of the most recognisable female voices in '80s pop stepped out from behind the band she performed with. Helen Terry stepped into the spotlight She had the full support of the band she'd backed — they even helped write and perform her first single. Question was: would

When does a music star become a superstar? In the case of Madonna, it was with the release of Like A Virgin and her chart-dominating run...

Good things come in threes — apparently — and this week a very good song debuted on the ARIA singles chart, giving its artist a trio of...

There are some songs that, even if you'd never heard them before, you would instantly know when they were released. This week in 1984, a tune that is the epitome of mid-'80s pop debuted on the ARIA singles chart. Guess who had their teeth whitened before this video shoot? Bright, upbeat and optimistic, the track bounced all the way up the top 50 to the number 1 spot. Although already successful, the duo behind the mega-hit became one of the biggest acts in the world as a resu

Hands up who would've thought "What Is Love?" by Howard Jones was a big hit in Australia? Maybe I'm biased — we had a copy of his debut...

A number 1 single. Another single which entered the top 10 this week. A top 5 album. The Footloose soundtrack was an unstoppable force on...

Some of music's biggest songs have come about when artists are pressured to deliver a hit single. Pop history is littered with numerous...

Australia was gripped by Footloose fever this week in 1984, with the soundtrack album sitting at number 6, the movie's title track at...

I've always loved it when songs are remixed from their album versions for single release. Well, I say "always", but I actually prefer my favourite song of all time in its album incarnation than its single mix, so that's a pretty big exception to the rule. Duran Duran were back on chart form with the remixed "The Reflex" But more often than not, a single remix transforms a good song into a great one and/or gives new life to a track that's been kicking around for a while on an

Thanks to the gender-bending of Boy George and Marilyn, and the androgyny of Annie Lennox, we'd become used to seeing pop stars exploring...

I've always been more of a fan of upbeat pop hits, but I tell you what — when a ballad is done right, it can be sensational. And, like...

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark. The Human League. Ultravox. Heaven 17. Since the start of the decade, synthpop bands had flooded out of the UK and onto the Australian singles chart. By 1984, there was a growing list of homegrown electronic groups to compete with them. The faces of Australian synthpop in 1984 This week in 1984, three of the most successful Australian synthpop bands of the decade all debuted on the ARIA chart with their latest singles — and although none of

Given the number 1 single of 1983 had been a comedy release, it's hardly surprising that novelty records were big business the following...

If a picture is worth a thousand words, surely one image will introduce this week's big new entry better than I could. A photo like...

As clichés go, "third time's the charm" was never truer than in the case of Madonna. The future music megastar's third single became a...

It didn't strike me at the time — since I was only nine in 1984 and everyone in music seemed incredibly old — but the top 50 wasn't as...

As a country where the primary language spoken is English, Australia hasn't welcomed that many foreign language songs onto the singles chart. Every so often, however, a single performed in a different tongue has broken through the language barrier and become a hit. She might not have liked "99 Red Balloons", but a red jumpsuit was another matter... This week in 1984, a German song that'd topped charts across Europe shot into the ARIA top 50. And while an English-language vers

One song can change everything. There you'll be, plodding along releasing moderately successful records and then one of your singles...