1984 is widely – and justly – regarded as one of the strongest years in pop music.
How can you argue with a year that had critical and commercial successes for Prince, Tina Turner, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper, Huey Lewis and the News, Madonna, the Pointer Sisters, and Van Halen – among others?
And yet: The year still had its hidden nuggets from artists who wouldn’t be household names, those who inspire the question, “Who sings it?”
- Singer Deborah Allen did what very few acts were able to do that year: cross over to the Top 40 with a country hit, “Baby I Lied.”
(That year’s crossovers tended to be from artists like Kenny Rogers who hit both charts simultaneously or even Lionel Richie who crossed from pop and R&B to country with his single “Stuck on You.”)
Tracey Ullman is known far more by the public for her acting and comedy than for her moment in the pop music spotlight.
- But her cover of Kirsty MacColl’s “They Don’t Know” is a TNOCS favorite – and deservedly so, bay-bee.
1984 was a good year for British artists to hit AT40, even if they never returned:
- Talk Talk’s “It’s My Life,”
- The Style Council’s “My Ever Changing Moods,”
- And Re-Flex’s “The Politics of Dancing” were prime examples.
Longtime English rockers Slade and Australia’s Real Life did slightly better, with two Top 40 hits each:
- The former is represented here with “My Oh My,”
- And the latter by “Send Me an Angel.”
Journey lead singer Steve Perry broke out in 1984 with four Top 40 singles from his solo debut. Other prominent names from groups had more measured success:
- Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac went Top 10 with “Got a Hold on Me” but only managed one Top 40 follow-up.
- Styx’s Dennis DeYoung also made the Top 10 with the song “Desert Moon” but never had another solo Top 40 success.
- Although it just missed AT40 (peaking at No. 44), Chris DeBurgh’s “High on Emotion” resonates more with me than either of his Top 40 singles, “Don’t Pay the Ferryman” or “The Lady in Red” (a song I cannot stand).
The year had its share of left-field hits, too:
- From Chicago jokesters Jump ’n the Saddle’s “The Curly Shuffle…”
- …to Germany’s Nena with “99 Luftballons” (I preferred the English “99 Red Balloons.”)
Movie soundtracks brought us:
- Ollie and Jerry’s “Breakin … There’s No Stoppin’ Us” (with the movie title awkwardly wedged into the song title but never mentioned in the chorus…)
- and The Time’s “Jungle Love” (featured in the movie Purple Rain – though not on the soundtrack album).
The Spotify playlist…
The few songs missing are available on YouTube:
The medley “Love Songs Are Back Again” by Band of Gold…
And the Coyote Sisters’ No. 16 AC, No. 66 pop hit “Straight From the Heart (Into Your Life.)”
Which ones do you like? Hate?
Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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I don’t hate any of these songs, but It’s My Life and The Curly Shuffle are the only ones I would choose to listen to on my own. 1984 in general doesn’t do it for me the way it does for apparently everyone else.
Oh wow. I thought I would know more songs given this was peak 80s. But I was still only 3 years old at this point, so maybe it makes sense that I only know the biggest hits that were played in later years.
I wonder when I will start to recognize the lesser hits. Maybe 88 or 89?
Anyway, here I knew Nena, Real Life, and Talk Talk (who I got into after high school).
And I recognized “All I Need,” but only the chorus, and only because it was featured on commercials for Sounds of the 80s-type comp CDs in the 90s.
I’m liking “Politics of Dancing” though. Kind of a Human League vibe.
I know that officially 99 Luftballons was the hit version, but I mostly heard the English version on the radio and the video. The other videos I remember the most of the songs listed here were the ones for They Don’t Know and It’s My Life. I don’t know what any of this means if anything, just thought I’d share as a way to contribute to another great column by you, Chuck!
Getting a bit more familiar this year.
I know the songs by Nena, Tracey Ullman, Talk Talk, Style Council, Slade as they were all big hits. Re-flex made the lower reaches of the top 40 and listenng now I’ve got the vaguest memory of it.
I at least know of Chris De Burgh, Christine McVie, The Time and The Firm even if I don’t know those songs. None of them troubled the UK top 40.
Big surprises are Ollie & Jerry who I have no recollection of despite that being a #5 hit or Band Of Gold with a #24. The only Band Of Gold I know is Freda Payne.
It took a while for It’s My Life to be a hit. #46 in 1984, re-released the following year and making #93 before finally reaching #13 in 1990 when it came round again to support a best of – by which point Mark Hollis was well past straightforward pop hits
I only know one Band of Gold as well. It might not be an auspicious start to name your band after a notable one-hit wonder. Might be a predictor. Although this one hasn’t stuck around like Freda.
I probably ought to research that act a little more, but what I little I know is they’re a studio group in the Stars on 45 vein and that particular track was produced by Pete Wingfield of “Eighteen With a Bullet” fame. Of all the ’80s medleys, I think I liked it the most (and it was the least successful, just scratching the Hot 100).
I was a big fan of Deborah Allen. A few years later she was the first to record “Blame It On Your Heart”, which became a big hit for Patty Loveless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh2bvsN2E6E
Good collection, Chuck. “The Curly Shuffle,” “99 Luftballoons,” “Got A Hold On Me,” “Jungle Love,” and “They Don’t Know” are the winners here.
It’s kind of crazy that Slade essentially made an enormous stadium-sized rendition of “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain When She Comes.”
I prefer Leadbelly’s variation, especially by way of Nirvana.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyeH0V0Gvao
I knew 7 of these artists but 10 of the songs.
My favorite of the bunch is Christine McVie with a track that made my year-end mixtape two years ago. She was the earth to tempestuous fire and air of Stevie and Lindsey — the foundation that kept some sort of keel on a chaotic band.
I knew 15 of 19 of these songs! Woo-hoo! I only got stumped by
-The Style Council
-Chris DeBurgh (you don’t like “Lady in Red”? It’s kind of sweet!)
-Coyote Sisters
-Band of Gold
That Tony Carey song is one I think about from time to time, but I never remember it well enough to sing the melody.
While not loving Styx at vails levels, I usually try to stick up for them and Dennis DeYoung, but man, “Desert Moon” is cheesy
I think the winner for me has to be “They Don’t Know” by Tracy Ullman. I never don’t want to hear that song.
At this point I was definitely drifting from pop music to classic rock, discovering groups like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. “Radioactive” was a great song that sounded like a burst of 70s rock in the middle of 1980. I still like hearing that one.
Link, not only do I not like “The Lady in Red,” I loathe it. It’s an immediate “let me get as far away as I can from that” song. I think Special K did a commercial using it, and that sounds about right — I’m no fan of it, either.
From the “music is subjective” files: Lady In Red” is one of my wife’s favorite songs and was featured prominently at our wedding reception.
Absolutely! That’s why I ask each segment, “Which ones do you love? Hate?” I fully expect that some songs I enjoy might not be others’ cup of tea. Had I been at your reception, I’d have joined in the celebrating.
The Firm were a Supergroup. Paul Rodgers from Free and Bad Company, Jimmy Page from the Yardbirds and some other band, Chris Slade from Manfred Mann’s Earth Band and more session work than you can shake a stick at, and young Tony Franklin at the start of his long career playing with everybody.