CHART BEATS: A JOURNEY
THROUGH POP

Most bands will forever be associated with one or two key songs — and unfortunately that means their other singles become sidelined as...

There are some songs that are so much a part of pop culture that it's hard to remember a time before they came into existence. The...

Lady Gaga excepted, they just don't make pop stars like they did in the '80s anymore. Flamboyant fashion sense, overblown egos, outrageous antics... these were the key ingredients for a music star. Oh, and vocal ability — although that wasn't always crucial. Watch out, here Pete Burns comes! This week in 1985, three larger-then-life performers who could only have come to fame in the '80s hit the ARIA singles chart with their latest offerings. All three were frontmen for bands

It's an important career move to get right — when should the singer of a successful band go solo? In the last few weeks, we've seen singles by Jimmy Barnes (Cold Chisel), Don Henley (Eagles), Jim Diamond (Ph.D) and John Fogerty (Creedence Clearwater Revival), who all did very well with their solo efforts. He might have had the moves, but Mick Jagger didn't have the hits This week in 1985, the vocalist for one of the biggest groups of the rock era unleashed the first sing

When we looked back at the ARIA singles chart from 1985 last week , it was all about the guys, with new entries exclusively from male artists. This week, women get a look-in, with debuts from two of the decade's most recognisable female voices, Cyndi Lauper and Alison Moyet. Despite the title of her single, Alf was far from invisible on the ARIA chart  The two singers sounded quite different — both vocally and musically — but their careers did share one thing in common: the

It was a bad week for female performers this week in 1985, with the new entries on the ARIA top 50 singles chart performed exclusively by...

If you've looked around this blog at all, you may have noticed I have a bit of a thing about one-hit wonders — especially when acts are...

Image was everything in the '80s and this week in 1985, an artist who'd previously been known for her squeaky clean, girl-next-door look...

One of the things that annoys me most about retro music television programming is that the same old hits get wheeled out over and over —...

A few years back, when music was in the throes of a major '80s revival (think La Roux, Goldfrapp's Head First , Little Boots, Fischerspooner), there was one trend from that decade that didn't really enjoy a resurgence: the power ballad. Sure, songs like "Someone Like You", "Wrecking Ball" and a fair few Ryan Tedder compositions have given it a shot over the past few years, but for me, they've all lacked that certain something that defined an '80s power ballad. Future solo sta

For the past couple of years, I've been taking a look back 25 years to what was happening on the ARIA top 50 singles chart — and I've reached 1990 with those posts. But, 2015 marks three decades since one of the most important times in music history. Spurred on by the overwhelming success of the highest new entry on the chart this week in 1985, the music industry pulled together like never before in the name of charity. Band Aid changed the face of music as 1985 began So it