Popular '88

Only four that I could vote for with any sort of enthusiasm.
What a dreadful year for UK Number 1s

The NME Critics’ poll for 1988 is a much better list;

1. The Mercy Seat – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (Mute)
2. Everyday Ls Like Sunday – Morrissey (HMV)
3. Alphabet Street – Prince (Paisley Park)
4. Suedehead – Morrissey (HMV)
5. Destroy The Heart – The House Of Love (Creation)
6. Big Fun – Inner City (10)
7. Freak Scene – Dinosaur Jr (Blast First)
8. Crash – The Primitives (Lazy)
9. Sidewalkin’ – The Jesus & Mary Chain (Blanco Y Negro)
10. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah – The Pogues (Pogue Mahone)
11. Anchorage – Michelle Shocked (Cooking Vinyl)
12. Someday – Ce Ce Rodgers (Atlantic)
13. Follow The Leader – Eric B & Rakim (MCA)
14. Left To My Own Devices – Pet Shop Boys (Parlophone)
15. Don’t Believe The Hype – Public Enemy (Def Jam)
16. Can You Party? – Royal House (Champion)
17. Reachin’ – Phase II (Republic)
18. Weekend – Todd Terry (Sleeping Bag)
19. You’re Going To Miss Me – Turntable Orchestra (Republic)
20. Fast Car – Tracy Chapman (Elektra)
21. Teardrops – Womack & Womack (4th & Broadway)
22. People Have The Power – Patti Smith (Arista)
23. What’s The Matter Here? – 10,000 Maniacs (Elektra)
24. Beat Dis – Bomb The Bass (Rhythm King)
25. Distant Relatives – Mega City 4 (Decoy)
26. Buffalo Stance – Neneh Cherry (Circa)
27. Goon Girl – Roxanne Shante (A & M)
28. Gigantic – Pixies(4AD)
29. Prize – Kitchens Of Distinction (One Little Indian)
30. Cold Metal – Iggy Pop (A & M)
31. Sometimes In Vain – The Parachute Men (Fire)
32. Theme From S’Express – S’Express (Rhythm King)
33. I’ll House You – Jungle Brothers (Gee Street)
34. I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) – The Proclaimers (Chrysalis)
35. Def Con One – Pop Will Eat Itself (Chapter 22)
36. Heart – Pet Shop Boys (Parlophone)
37. Plane Crash EP – Inspiral Carpets (Playtime)
38. Rumours – Gregory Isaacs (Greensleeves)
39. Collision – Loop (Chapter 22)
40. Love & Mercy – Brian Wilson (Warners)
41. Kidney Bingos – Wire (Mute)
42. Just Got Paid – Johnny Kemp (CBS)
43. Perfect – Fairground Attraction (RCA)
44. Nobody’s Twisting Your Arm – The Wedding Present (Reception)
45. Christine – The House Of Love (Creation)
46. Voodoo Ray – A Guy Called Gerald (Deconstruction)
47. Map Of The World – Corn Dollies (Medium Cool)
48. What Is Soul – Stereo MCs (Gee Street)
49. Victoria – The Fall (Beggars Banquet)
50. The Race – Yello (Phonogram)

Eight from me (same as 1987 – sure didn’t expect that): Pet Shop Boys, S’Express, Fairground Attraction, Timelords, Yazz, Hollies, U2, Enya. A few of those were borderline, and only two would I say I like a lot.

Here are the number ones for the year on the Australian Music Report chart, with * denoting an Australian artist. I would rate seven of these as a six or above:

Rick Astley, “Never Gonna Give You Up”
George Michael, “Faith”
George Harrison, “Got My Mind Set on You”
Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life”
*Kylie Minogue, “I Should Be So Lucky”
Billy Ocean, “Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car”
Cheap Trick, “The Flame”
Louis Armstrong, “What a Wonderful World”
*Kylie Minogue, “Got to Be Certain”
*John Farnham, “Age of Reason”
Fairground Attraction, “Perfect”
Robert Palmer, “Simply Irresistible”
U2, “Desire”
Phil Collins, “A Groovy Kind of Love”
Bobby McFerrin, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”
The Beach Boys, “Kokomo”

The ARIA charts started this year, at the time Cheap Trick were number one, but the only significant difference from the above was that Phil Collins didn’t reach the top of them.

New albums I was listening to in 1988: Temple of Low Men by Crowded House, Peace in Our Time by Big Country, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1, Now and Zen by Robert Plant, Rattle and Hum (for better or worse) by U2, and Ram it Down by Judas Priest. No hip discovery of early Pixies for me.

My pick for the 1988 number one that should have been is “Under the Milky Way Tonight” by the Church, which peaked in the low 20s in Australia and the US and at 90 in the UK, so clearly I’m dreaming.

8 out of 19 for me. Never know from that lot that it was one of the best years for music, would you?

As ever, THE FACE win with their blatant lunchtime in the pub free-for-all:

1. NENEH CHERRY Buffalo Stance
2. ROYAL HOUSE Can You Party
3. STETASONIC Talkin’ All That jazz
4. INNER CITY Big Fun
5. THE WONDER STUFF A Wish Awaya
6. SOUL II SOUL Fair Play
7. PUBLIC ENEMY Bring The Noise
8. PRINCE Alphabet City
9. TEN CITY Right Back To You
10. BLACK RIOT A Day In The Life Of
11. MANDY SMITH I Just Can’t Wait (Cool ‘n’ Breezy mix)
12. SUGAR BEAR Don’t Scandalise Mine
13. JVC FORCE Strong Island
14. DE LA SOUL Jennifer
15. THE JUNGLE BROTHERS I’ll House You
16. MLK PROJECT I Have A Dream
17. SMITH & MIGHTY Anyone
18. PHASE II Reachin’
19. S’XPRESS Theme From S’xpress
20. WILL DOWNING Love Supreme
21. THE BRAND NEW HEAVIES Got To Give
22. THE TRUTH Open Our Eyes
23. BRANDON COOKE/ROXANNE SHANTE Sharp As A Knife (Acid Remix)
24. ROACHFORD Cuddly Toy
25. EPMD Strictly Business
http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/theface.htm#1988

Haha love the token shit rock record at #5 there.

(The Eight Legged Groove Machine was the first record I ever bought with money I had earned doing a job. It was also the last time I ever believed anything Q Magazine said.)

4 out of 19 for me too. Particularly bad was the second half of the year – out of nine #1s four are currently in the readers’ bottom 25.

voted 7 from uk list (“6” is a pretty low bar)

u.s. number ones 1988

george michael – faith
whitney houston – so emotional
george harrison – got my mind set on you
michael jackson – the way you make me feel
inxs – need you tonight
tiffany – could’ve been
expose – seasons change
george michael – father figure
rick astley – never gonna give you up
michael jackson – man in the mirror
billy ocean – get out of my dreams, get into my car
whitney houston – where do broken hearts go
terence trent d’arby – wishing well
gloria estefan & miami sound machine – anything for you
george michael – one more try
rick astley – together forever
debbie gibson – foolish beat
michael jackson – dirty diana
cheap trick – the flame
richard marx – hold on to the nights
steve winwood – roll with it
george michael – monkey
g’n’f’n’r – sweet child o’ mine
bobby mcferrin – don’t worry be happy
def leppard – love bites
ub40 – red red wine
phil collins – groovy kind of love
beach boys – kokomo
the escape club – wild, wild west
bon jovi – bad medicine
will to power – baby i love yr way/freebird
chicago – look away
poison – every rose has its thorn

sweet jesus the power ballads

I’m pretty sure that Sounds didn’t do a singles list at all in 1988, going through one of their silly rockist “singles are for sissys” phases.

A few MM journalists (Chris Roberts, The Stud Brothers IIRC) really liked Jane’s Addiction before 1991, and the Stud Brothers were keen on Metallica, Megadeth, etc (perhaps they only got to share one vote between them). In a more trad vein, Steve Sutherland hailed the likes of Bon Jovi and David Lee Roth as titans of rock.

Metal didn’t impinge much on the NME worldview, its true, though Iron Maiden got a cover in 1988, and I remember sympathetic Metallica coverage in the late 1980s.

As per usual:
John Peel’s Festive Fifty 1988

1. House of Love – Destroy The Heart
2. Wedding Present – Nobody’s Twisting Your Arm
3. Jesus and Mary Chain – Sidewalking
4. Wedding Present – Take Me (I’m Yours)
5. Dinosaur Jr – Freak Scene
6. My Bloody Valentine – You Made Me Realise
7. Pixies – Gigantic
8. Wedding Present – Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now?
9. House of Love – Christine
10. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – The Mercy Seat
11. Inspiral Carpets – Keep The Circle Around
12. Morrissey – Everyday Is Like Sunday
13. Morrissey – Suedehead
14. The Fall – Cab It Up
15. Wedding Present – I’m Not Always So Stupid
16. The Fall – Bremen Nacht
17. My Bloody Valentine – Feed Me With Your Kiss
18. House of Love – Love In A Car
19. Sonic Youth – Teenage Riot
20. Sugarcubes – Deus
21. Robert Floyd & The New Four Seasons – Something Nice
22. Morrissey – Late Night Maudlin Street
23. Morrissey – Disappointed
24. The Fall – Big New Prinz
25. Billy Bragg – Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards
26. Cocteau Twins – Carolyn’s Fingers
27. The Fall – Kurious Oranj
28. Overlord X – 14 Days In May
29. Sonic Youth – Silver Rocket
30. Pixies – Where Is My Mind
31. Mudhoney – Sweet Young Thing Ain’t Sweet No More
32. Spit – Road Pizza
33. James – What For
34. Pooh Sticks – On Tape
35. Stump – Charlton Heston
36. The Fall – Jerusalem
37. Shalawambe – Samora Machel
38. McCarthy – Should The Bible Be Banned
39. Pixies – River Euphrates
40. The Fall – Guest Informant
41. Loop – Collision
42. Flatmates – Shimmer
43. Mega City 4 – Miles Apart
44. New Order – Fine Time
45. Pixies – Bone Machine
46. Primitives – Crash
47. Darling Buds – Shame On You
48. Happy Mondays – Wrote For Luck
49. Wedding Present – Don’t Laugh
50. Public Enemy – Night Of The Living Baseheads

Funf here (S’Express, PSB, Yazz, Enya, Aswad – not a list I expected to type today frankly). Isn’t Anything and Surfer Rosa are both pretty high up on my Hypothetical Best Albums EVA list, and Lovely is a good album too.
Oh and of course Introspective and It Takes A Nation Of Millions… too!

Pulled randomly from the Internet, the best-selling singles of 1988 in the UK were apparently:
1. Cliff Richard – Mistletoe And Wine
2. Yazz & The Plastic Population – The Only Way Is Up
3. Kylie Minogue – I Should Be So Lucky
4. Kylie Minogue & Jason Donovan – Especially For You (oof! Sorry Bunny!)
5. Tiffany – I Think We’re Alone Now
6. Glenn Medeiros – Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You
7. Phil Collins – A Groovy Kind Of Love
8. Wet Wet Wet – With A Little Help From My Friends/Billy Bragg ft. Cara Tivey – She’s Leaving Home
9. Hollies – He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother
10. Womack & Womack – Teardrops

We’ve made it through just under five years of charts since this time last year, from #532 to #620. On that rate of progress, we could reach 1990 around October, 2000 by the end of 2012, and 2010 by early 2016. So we’ll be completely up to date by… 2018?

That’s assuming that the next couple of months aren’t the end of us all. You thought 1988 was bad…

Rory @21…I bought Kokomo, but only for Heroes And Villains on the b-side. How sad was that?

TOTPWatch: In the studio for the Top of the Pops transmitted on 25 December 1988 were; S’Express, Pet Shop Boys (performing both ‘Always On My Mind’ and ‘Heart’), Aswad, Fairground Attraction, Yazz & The Plastic Population, The Timelords & Gary Glitter, Wet Wet Wet and The Hollies. Anthea Turner, Bruno Brookes & Gary Davies were the hosts.

“Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take ya to Bermuda, Bahama, okay then just Scarborough”

& the list from Record Mirror:

1 The House Of Love Destroy The Heart
2 Dinosour Jnr Freak Scene
3 The Pixies Gigantic
4 Pet Shop Boys Left To My Own Devices
5 Morrissey Every Day Is Like Sunday
6 Aztec Camera Somewhere In My Heart
7 The Go Betweens Streets Of Your Town
8 Danielle Dax Cat House
9 Morrissey Suedehead
10= Erasure Ship Of Fools
10= Nick Cave The Mercy Seat
12 Diesel Park West Jackie’s Still Sad
13 Inner City Big Fun
14 Sabrina Boys (Summertime Love)
15= Neneh Cherry Buffalo Stance
15= Bomb The Base Beat Dis
17 Prince Alphabet Street
18= Salt-N-Pepa Shake Your Thing
18= Guns N’ Roses Sweet Child O’ Mine
18= The Wedding Present Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now?
18= S’Express Theme From S’Express

The ‘phantom’ number ones of 1988, that topped the NME/ ILR charts but not the BBC ones;

Beat Dis – Bomb The Bass (2 weeks)
Together Forever – Rick Astley (1)
Yo Twist – The Fat Boys & Chubby Checker (1)
We Call It Acieed – D Mob (1)

Re 15/17:I remember the Melody Maker being quite keen on the po-faced metal of the time (Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax – who also had the fashionable PE connection). Don’t know what they released in 1988 specifically.
What’s interesting is that even from The Face list you wouldn’t really get the notion that there had been a huge pop cultural shift over the course of the year.

re40 para2 I seem to recall that The Face had a bit of a relaunch sometime after this – perhaps reflecting the fact that they appeared to have been caught napping by the House/Acid/Rave scene.

My highlight for 1988 was seeing Prince at Wembley on the Lovesexy tour. He performed in the round and I was in the second row – wonderful.

Only 4 from me, very poor Reeves.

I guess I was listening to Inner City, Public Enemy, Eric B & Rakim and Neneh Cherry so it must have actually been quite a good year.

I could only bring myself to vote for 3 of them, which turned out to be the leading trio on the list. Belinda Carlisle was borderline admittedly.

I think Suede were chasing the coverage they ended up getting: they had a TON of buzz, they didn’t have the songs for an album at that point, so capitalising on the buzz by putting their best songs on the debut single was a smart move. Three very different songs too – implying a range I’m not sure they really delivered on.

With hindsight I can see R’n’R Friend wouldn’t have fit on 16LL – very different vibe – but also with hindsight it seems like their best shot at an alt.rock perennial (even has the dog-whistle title)

The second half of that first Go-B’s best of with the collected early singles, B-Sides etc is a marvellous thing (well, so’s the first half, but that stuff IS all on later best-ofs). It was how I first encountered them, and I didn’t know it was a hits-then-bits deal, so of course I assumed “Rock N Roll Friend”, “When People Are Dead”, “Baby You Won’t Find It Again” et al were all well-known and loved parts of the band’s catalogue just like “Bachelor Kisses”.

Yeah, “Killing Of A Flash Boy” (off er I dunno) is probably the Suede song I still listen to most.