Remembering February 1983

Current Mood: Lethargic:

It seems that this RockWiz journey that I've been riding is about to hit its climax.  Being aware that I might get much exposure over the coming days, it's going to be somewhat nerve wrecking.  With two radio interviews lined up early tomorrow morning (looks like I won't get much sleep tonight), and the premier of my doco tomorrow night, it's going to feel very much like a strange dream.

My memory for charts has impressed many people, and without gloating, I feel more that I'm now in a position to demonstrate on a whole, what Asperger Syndrome people can do.  For me, it's 70s 80s music, but for one of my friends, he can tell you every model of car and piece of trivia there is to know about motoring.  I guess his lucky that he has a good job, but I would bet for every one in his position, they would be thirty aspie's sitting on the unemployment scrap-heap,

Now that there is more awareness of the condition, there is real hope that things may change.

With this in mind, I thought I would take the opportunity to demonstrate my chart research skills, and bring out the original inspiration of this blog..... to take Triple M to task with their sloppy music research.

Triple M 104.9 COLD 30
Tuesday 21st OCTOBER 2008

For the month of February 1983

CH#  TRACK TITLE ARTIST/GROUP (correct chart date) LABEL CAT No:

30. Power and the passion Midnight Oil (28 Mar 1983) CBS / Sprint BA 223010
29. The safety dance Men Without Hats (29 Aug 1983) Big Time BTS 1000
28. Burning down the house Talking Heads (12 Sep 1983) Sire 7-29565
27. Should I stay or should I go The Clash (14 Feb 1983) Epic ES 807
26. Let's dance David Bowie (26 Mar 1983) EMI America AMI 958
25. My girl The Hoodoo-gurus (31 Oct 1983) Bit Time BTS 1072
24. Australiana Austen Tayshus (25 Jul 1983) Regular RRT 606
23. Sunday bloody Sunday U2 (Non charting track) Island (Announcer’s personal pick)
22. Always something there to remind me Naked Eyes (4 Apr 1983) EMI EMI 847
21. Overkill Men at Work (28 Mar 1983) CBS BA 223038
20. Our house Madness (31 Jan 1983) Stiff K 8933
19. Drop the pilot Joan Armatrading (4 Apr 1983) A&M K 9019
18. The swing Inxs (Non charting track) WEA (Announcer’s personal pick)
17. 1999 Prince (14 Feb 1983) Warner Bros 7-29896
16. White wedding Billy Idol (31 Jan 1983) Chrysalis K 8918
15. Electric Avenue Eddie Grant (20 Jun 1983) Ice ES 861
14. Cuts like a knife Bryan Adams (16 May 1983) A&M K 8993
13. Dance hall days Wang Chung (4 Jun 1984) Geffen GEF 3837
12. I was only 19 Redgum (18 Apr 1983) Epic ES 844
11. Read about it Midnight Oil (Non charting track) CBS / Sprint (announcer’s personal pick)
11. That's entertainment The Jam (Non charting track) Polydor (Announcer’s personal pick)
10. Sweet dreams The Eurythmics (16 May 1983) RCA Victor 104123
9. No sense Cold Chisel (24 Oct 1983) WEA 7-259773
8. Karma Chameleon Culture Club (26 Sep 1983) Virgin VS 612
7. New years day U2 (18 Apr 1983) Island K 8983
6. Let’s go to bed The Cure (6 May 1983) Sire 7-29628
5. Twisting by the pool Dire Straits (7 Feb 1983) Vertigo 6205-062
4. Reckless Australian Crawl (10 Oct 1983) EMI BUG 3
3. Billy Jean Michael Jackson (28 Feb 1983) Epic ES 823
2 Rain Dragon (15 Aug 1983) Mercury 812 763-7
1. Every breath you take The Police (20 Jun 1983) A&M K 9104

Though they are supposedly counting down the top 30 hits from February 1983, in reality, the entire chart is incorrect with songs from late 1983, the middle of 1984, and many album tracks that never charted.  I guess the biggest crack up was listening to Australiana again, followed by Ugly Phil getting the numbers mixed up.  He also noted 'Austin Tayshus' Australiana only got as high as No.24', whilst it actually reached No.1 on the ARIA Charts, and No.4 on my personal top 40 charts.

To compare notes, I have retrieved the original top 40 chart from my archives, from the week ending Sunday 27th February 1983.

Weekly National Top 40 Singles Chart
From the Week Ending Sunday 27th February 1983

CH#  TRACK TITLE ARTIST/GROUP LABEL CAT No:

1. Shoop shoop diddy wop cumma cumma wang dang Monte Video and the Cassettes (14 Feb 1983) White Label K 8906
2. Baby, I need your lovin’ Carl Carlton (7 Feb 1983) RCA Victor 104051
3. Under attack Abba (14 Feb 1983) RCA Victor 104088
4. 1999 Prince (14 Feb 1983) Warner Bros 7-29896
5. All touch Rough Trade (27 Feb 1983) Big Time BTS 697
6. Twisting by the pool Dire Straits (7 Feb 1983) Vertigo 6205 062
7. The other guy Little River Band (14 Feb 1983) Capitol CP 918
8. You can’t hurry love Phil Collins (31 Jan 1983) WEA 7-259980
9. Sexual Healing Marvin Gaye (17 Jan 1983) CBS BA 223007
10. Up where we belong Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes (27 Dec 1982) Liberation LS 900
11. Allentown Billy Joel (17 Jan 1983) CBS BA 223011
12. Science fiction The Divinyls (17 Jan 1983) Chrysalis K 8953
13. Young guns (go for it) Wham! (17 Jan 1983) Epic ES 816
14. Gloria Laura Branigan (13 Dec 1982) Atlantic 45-4048
15. Living on the ceiling Blancmange (14 Feb 1983) London BLANC 3
16. Our house Madness (31 Jan 1983) Stiff K 8933
17. Zoom Fat Larry’s Band (13 Dec 1982) Virgin VS 546
18. Love in store Fleetwood Mac (27 Dec 1982) Warner Bros 7-29848
19. On the wings of love Jeffery Osborne (31 Jan 1983) A&M K 8661
20. Peek-a-boo Devo (20 Dec 1982) Warner Bros 7-29931
21. Mirror man Human League (20 Dec 1982) Virgin VS 522
22. Shadows of the night Pat Benatar (13 Dec 1982) Chrysalis K 8931
23. Walk on by Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons (17 Jan 1983) Mushroom K 8941
24. IGY (what a beautiful world) Donald Fagen (29 Nov 1982) Warner Bros 7-29900
25. Truly Lionel Richie (6 Dec 1982) Motown 1644 MF
26. All of my heart ABC (29 Nov 1982) Mercury 6059 571
27. The traveller Big Red (20 Dec 1982) Mercury 6038 069
28. I eat cannibals Toto Coelo (29 Nov 1982) Radialchoice POW 0102
29. Stand up The Angels (22 Nov 1982) Epic ES 792
30. Can’t take my eyes off you Boys Town Gang (20 Dec 1982) RCA 104067
31. The woman in me Donna Summer (18 Dec 1982) Warner Bros 7-29805
32. Aftica Toto (29 Nov 1982) CBS BA 222906
33. Ain’t no pleasing you Chas and Dave (10 Feb 1983) Liberation / Towerbell) LS 870
34. True love ways Cliff Richard (21 Feb 1983) EMI EMI 903
35. Are you getting enough happiness Hot Chocolate (18 Dec 1982) EMI America 8143
36. The clapping song The Belle Stars (8 Nov 1982) Stiff K 8824
37. Down the line (making love on the telephone) Mi Sex (6 Dec 1982) CBS BA 223001
38. Heartbreaker Dionne Warwick (6 Dec 1982) Arista K 8883
39. Shock the monkey Peter Gabriel (20 Dec 1982) Charisma 6000 872
40. Hey little girl Icehouse (15 Nov 1982) Regular RRSP 721

Interesting to note the accuracy of each chart, when compared to the data of David Kent's Australian Chart Book.  Note the dates given after the artist/group in each chart, as these are the dates when singles first charted or debuted into a particular chart.