The Top 40... Back to 1996!

Let's take a short trip in the TARDIS and go slap bang back to the middle of Britpop, and this week in 1996. Ahh. Great days. Or were they? Time to put the Mark Goodier mask on and see what was bothering the Top 40 17 years ago...

What you might have noticed at the time was the Oasis back catalogue hanging around the lower reaches of the Top 75. The brothers Gallagher were in their "imperial phase" now, having lost the previous years Battle Of Britpop but won the war, with the LP "(What's The Story) Morning Glory" selling by the shedload whilst Blur's "The Great Escape", despite getting the better reviews, didn't connect with the great unwashed in the same way as 94's "Parklife", mainly because it wasn't as good. Too clever by half.  The popularity of Oasis and the "Wonderwall" single propelled their previous singles back into the charts over the Christmas period, which I suppose was a good thing overall. But we're not here to dwell on the noisy citeh fans. Until later. In passing we shall also note very quickly at number 47, Frank Bruno with "Eye Of The Tiger". What on earth was going on there? Nope, let's not go there. And move on.

In at number 40! Paul Carrack, ex-singer of Ace, Squeeze and Mike and The Mechanics with "Eyes Of Blue", old fashioned Radio 2 fodder written by Peter Van Hooke, also in the Mechanics and responsible for many a duff London Weekend Television programme theme over the years. At number 37 is a blast from the past as Nick Heyward has a new entry with "Rollerblade", a song which made no impression on me whatsoever. Sorry Nick, nice bloke and all that but Haircut 100 was a long time ago, even then.

The Jeff Lynne All-Stars

There's a great deal of Christmas shite hanging around in this chart, and not much in the way of good stuff going up the chart. There's TAFKAP (Prince in old money) slipping down at 26 with the excellent "Gold" , and a popular beat combo called The Beatles slipping down to 25 with an Electric Light Orchestra reject "Free As A Bird". They never had another big hit* and history rightly forgets them. However, at 24 we have an absolute classic from Dreadzone, with "Little Britain". Dreadzone arose from the ashes of Big Audio Dynamite, and this was their one and only Top 40 hit, rising to the giddy heights of 20. Really, the British record buying public need to take a good hard look at themselves over this debacle. Fools! They're still going today by all accounts, having a loyal live following. Good on 'em.

Amos: "Nay Mr Wilks"

At 20 we've got a new entry! The decidedly odd and possibly completely hatstand Tori Amos who, at this point in her career, had decided to up-sticks and move over here to good old Blighty from the US of A. Her single "Caught A Lite Sneeze", which was not very good IMHO, featured Amos's very own Chas and Dave tribute as extra tracks on the CD ("London Girls" and "That's What I Like Mick (The Sandwich Song)" if you're interested). As I said, odd. She wouldn't set the charts alight with anything from the accompanying "Boys For Pele" album until the following year when Armand Van Helden's remix of the otherwise dull album track "Professional Widow" turned it into a massive dancefloor stompathon. After six months as a staple in any half decent DJ's setlist, Warners re-released it in the UK and it became an immediate Top Ten hit. Good work UK! Forgiven!

At 19 there's a bit of quality Britpop for once with Dubstar! And their sublime third single "Not So Manic Now", with the glamorous subject matter of an assault on a OAP in her tower block flat. Come back Morrissey, all is forgiven. Dubstar were a three piece band (Sarah Blackwood, Steve Hillier and Chris Wilkie) from Yorkshire and the North East, lazily given the title by journos of the time as being like a "Northern Saint Etienne", but it's a comparison which works in part. They both had fanciable singers called Sarah, the rest of the band were two blokes, they released quality electro pop... and that's it. Okay, it's a shit comparison then. But for me, Dubstar filled a gap left by a Saint Etienne recording break, and they were delightful.

Dame Sarah of Blackwood pictured earlier looking wistful

"Pencil case"

"Slipper"

Their debut album was disgraceful. Sorry, their debut album was "Disgraceful", a top notch concoction of pop gems complete with the customary lush Stephen Hague (New Order/Pet Shop Boys) production. Plus a cover of a Billy Bragg track which, as always, happens to be better than his original. Sorry Bill. You sing like you're a newspaper vendor on the street: "E'ning Stanud!!!" The album cover featured a pencil case that looked like a bit like "women's bits" from above. I had that as a t-shirt but strangely didn't feel I could get away with wearing it. The record company got them to change the for the re-release later on in the year. The new design features a fluffy slipper... which looks a bit like "women's bits" from above. "LOL". To be honest most of their record sleeves were borderline disturbing. Toy chimps making rude gestures, strange dolls, rubber ducks... distinctive but very strange indeed, dear reader.

Their debut single "Stars" would get a re-release following this release, and that would go on to prove to be their biggest hit. They were half decent live as well, I remember seeing them at Manchester University in '96, where they came on late keeping an impatient crowd waiting for 50 minutes due to technical difficulties, and I had to bail out early so as not to miss my train. Booo. They were a bit more pro later in the year with a support slot to Erasure. Dubstar carried on with another two albums until 2000, when the usual creative differences meant they went their separate ways. After Sarah spent much of the noughties in the dour electro-band Client, they got back together. Still waiting for new material though.

The Levellers. Probably.

Onwards into the upper reaches of ver top 20, and (heavy sigh) it's The Levellers at 13. Like the poor and the Welsh, it seems they shall always be with us. Those gyppos were back with another one of their trusty dog-on-a-bit-of-string-campsite-bothering-pinch-your-washing type singalongs. Only this one isn't any good. "Just The One" is a comedy drinking anthem which even Joe Strummer guesting on piano can't elevate above being "meh". Less "Hope Street", more "No Hope Street". Ha ha. See what I did there? A quick shout out to Presidents of the USA at number 15 with the bizarrely titled "Lump". Never could get my head round them, but then again I was a bit anti-American bands back then, for some strange reason which won't become readily apparent now. It wasn't as good as the follow-up "Peaches" anyway.

"Wondershite" more like

I'll nail my colours to the mast now. I hate "Wonderwall". Yes, the Noel Gallagher song that Joe Public seem to like the most is the one I can't stick. Doesn't matter if Noel OR Liam sing it. Even the easy listening-esque cover Mike Flowers Pops did (down to number 12 pop-pickers) is frankly shite, although I didn't like THAT as it was taking the piss out of a genre I took quite seriously, but that's a blogpost for another day. Anyway, to recap: "Wonderwall" is crap. Sorry but I have spoken.

Stewart Lee and Terry Hall relaxing earlier

So to the Top Ten. It's bloody awful. When "Wonderwall" is one of the best things in it, you can tell I'm not joking. We'll pause to applaud Bjork's biggest hit "It's All So Quiet", whilst at the same time slagging it off as it is her worst single - it worked in the context of the album but just looks now like a novelty pre-Christmas hit. That was the big hit whilst superior singles didn't hit the Top Ten - it's a familiar depressing story. And at Number 4 there's bedsit gloomsters Everything But The Girl having a massive hit with "Missing", a typically dour song basically about stalking an ex, given a sleek house makeover by legendary Chicago DJ Todd Terry, and thus pushing Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn into the dance arena. There next album would be in a drum'n'bass stylee, and it bloody well worked. Well done you 80's indie popstars for being down with the kids.

A gratuitous picture of Louise that doesn't really illustrate any point. Sorry.

The rest? Shite. A Louise-less Eternal with "I Am Blessed", with Miss Nurding being pushed out allegedly because an all black RnB girl group would be more acceptable in the US - correct me if I'm wrong, experts. Eventual Celebrity Big Brother contestant Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise". Baby D (how? Who?). TLC with a Radiohead cover**, and Boyzone, who's redeeming feature looking from today's perspective is that they weren't Westlife. And Britain's NUMBER ONE! This fine tune***:

* okay, "Real Love". But that was shit.
**not really

*** again, not really

The Return Of David Bowie

The other day, David Bowie celebrated his 66th birthday. No a wholly remarkable event in itself, seeing as he'd celebrated 65 birthdays previously, but this was a special one for fans and those who've followed his career with interest over the past 40 or so years. Mr Bowie announced that a new album was to be released in March, "The Next Day" and unveiled a new single immediately, "Where Are We Now?" on iTunes along with an accompanying promo video. "Well, that's nice" you might say, "but so? Rock stars do that all the time." Ah. Not so in this case.

David Bowie had, to all intents and purposes, disappeared for the past 8 or so years. His last studio album "Heathen" was released in 2003. His last live tour appearance was 2004. Since then... nothing, bar a cameo "acting" appearance as himself in Ricky Gervais's mediocre comedy "Extras". Nada. Zilch. Not a peep. No public appearances of note. A polite refusal was given to Danny Boyle when asked to perform at the London Olympic ceremony. Rumours went about him having had a stroke and/or some serious illness preventing him ever working again. Effectively, the longer the silence, the more it seemed he'd retired, though no statement had ever been made to explicitly say this. He'd become a mystery.

So when people woke up on the 8th of January to hear the surprise announcement of an album and single, it was BIG news. In fact it was on the bloody news bulletins. This came from absolutely nowhere. How it was kept quiet in this day and age is a miracle. In a world when the slightest thing is hyped beyond all expectation, what Bowie achieved here is... well, textbook Bowie. And it was quite comforting in a way. It felt right. It wouldn't have mattered if the new single had been crap, which it isn't by the way, because it just felt good that he was back.

So why am I blathering on about Dame David here? This is a nostalgia blog, I hear you shout (as if anybody actually reads this anyway). Well, let's go back to Christmas 1981. You may recall that Record Tokens were all the rage back then, as they were always a good default present for someone who was music mad but you had no idea what to buy them. Such as myself, troublesome child that I was. I had a token burning a hole in my trouser pocket. Not literally, that would be awful. But what to buy? Well, being down with ver kids I'd already bought a copy of the top album of the time "Dare!" by The Human League, and having received a copy of the underwhelming Adam And The Ants' "Prince Charming" for my birthday, there was little else jumping out at me from the racks of Soundtrack record emporium in downtown Fleetwood.  You might ask why I didn't save the token and wait for something I did want to be released. And that would be a sensible question - however I was 11 and the idea of waiting don't really make sense. I HAD to use it.  Durrrr.

But there was this Bowie album. Now, my Dad had a copy of "Changesonebowie" on cassette, a compilation of Dave's greatest hits going up to about 1976, which was all okay I wasn't mad keen - mainly because I was only about 8 when I first heard that album, and I only really liked "Space Oddity" and "Laughing Gnome". One of which wasn't on that album. Can you guess which one? So why on Earth did I decide to buy the second Bowie compilation, "Changestwobowie"?

Several reasons, none of which are anything along the lines of trying to make a connect between myself and my father, so you can take your psychology hat off right now, dear reader. The main reason for purchasing being that it had a track I always loved on it. "Sound and Vision" came out in 1978 and it was just one of those tracks that gave me goosebumps, like "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer or "Wombling Free". Okay, maybe not the latter. I think it might have been the synths. I loved a bit of synthesizer. Still do. So it had that track to start with. Plus the pop-tabulous "Ashes to Ashes" and "Fashion", his recent-ish singles from the "Scary Monsters" album, which were bloody fab. That was enough for me to hand over the readies. And what a winner it was. Okay, "Aladdin Sane" was a bit odd but hey! I like odd. "Oh! You Pretty Things" was jolly enough but then there was "Starman", a song which I'd never heard stumbled across before, and it was fantastic. The rest were okay but I think I wore out the grooves on that track and "Sound and Vision". A record token well used, I'd say.

This album connected as it had Bowie tracks on it I'd actually heard on the radio - therefore they belonged to me, they were MY Bowie tracks - my era, if I'd have thought of things like that back then. From thereon, I wouldn't call myself a fan as such - there were always too many songs which I didn't care for too much, and his acting attempts were a bit dodgy but I'd always be interested in what he's doing. Even during the terrible "Glass Spider" era in the late 1980s, and the films such as "Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence" and the wig-fest that was "Labyrinth".

So, as you didn't ask for it, here's my Top 10 Bowie tracks... as of this moment. It might be different next week. Anyway, it's not what you'd expect. Unless you know me. In no particular order...

1. "Sound and Vision"

Why? Because! Oh, you want a bit more? Err, okay... it's got great drums, it's bouncy, easy to sing along to, doesn't outstay it's welcome, and it's just great pop. Always sounded great as a backing track for "Tonight's Programmes on BBC1" type trailers in 1978. Franz Ferdinand covered this a few years back with Girls Aloud doing the "doo-do-doo" backing vocals, which really is as good as pop gets. Truly.

2. "Absolute Beginners"

It's a shite film. Well, it's got Patsy Kensit AND Lionel Blair in it, so what do you expect? This was Thatcher's Britain, kids. However, hurrah for Dave Bowie, as he rescues the film by being great and contributes  this fantastic song, recorded as a one-off with the band he put together for Live Aid. Covered by Saint Etienne, who left the chorus out, and it's still brilliant.

3. "Life On Mars"

By law, I'm not allowed to exclude this. Fortunately I would have included it anyway. Obviously by now I've got over my younger self's resistance to Bowie's early tunes. Even before being appropriated by Sam Tyler and Gene Hunt, this was a classic tune, building from that simple piano intro to that euphoric chorus. The lyrics are bollocks, mind you. "It's on America's tortured brow, that Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow". Right, David.

4. "The Man Who Sold The World"

I'm a bit perverse here because I prefer both Lulu and Nirvana's cover versions to Bowie's original. Even Bowie preferred Lulu's. No idea what it's all about, but a great song though no matter who sings it. Well, apart from Simple Minds' Jim Kerr, who murdered it and several other classics on their covers album.

5. "This Is Not America"

...talking of Mr Kerr, here's a track from Bowie I wore out on "Now 5" back in '85, where it was wedged tastefully between the aforementioned Fat Jim-era SM's "Don't You (Forget About Me)" and "Slave To Love" by the Ferry Man. A collaboration with Pat Metheny (who he?), this is sublime. Sha-la-la-la-laaa indeed.

6. "Underground"

See? You can't trust me with a best of Bowie can you? Ahh, except you can, because this is fucking ace. Fact - much of 80's Bowie actually is great, contrary to popular opinion i.e. arseholes on forums. It's just unfavourably compared with the giddy heights of his 70's output, and how can you compete with that? This track is from the "Labyrinth" movie soundtrack, as you can see from Dave's Bonnie Tyler impression on the sleeve to the left of this. Best bit is the gospel singalong in the chorus.

7. "Heroes"

I have to own up and say I'd never heard this track until he performed it at Live Aid, so to me the original sounds a bit slow and odd, especially without the saxophone. Untainted by over-use at the Olympics last year, or a teriible cover version by Oasis during their "Noel's run out of good songs for extra tracks on CD singles" era. Robert Fripp's guitar on this track is still amazingly weird.

8. "Speed Of Life"

I was introduced to this instrumental when I heard it on a mixtape by the once decent French electronic noodlers Air, and I thought it was brilliant. But who the hell was it? I was a bit taken aback when I discovered it was Bowie, so I went out and bought the album it came from, "Low", which of course had "Sound and Vision" on it. Brian Eno, Berlin, blah blah - you know all that. Top stuff. The Manics had it as intro music at their gigs, which shows they have great taste despite being Welsh.

9. "Space Oddity"

Predictable I know. Well, it was either this or "Ashes To Ashes" but this track wins as it reminds me of being five years old sat in the bath on a Sunday night, listening to Tom Browne on Radio One counting down the Top 20. Great days. "Hey look, the planet Earth is blue and there's nothing we can do". It even survived being "covered" by The Shirehorses as "Bill Oddity". "Ground beef Whiskas for Ginger Tom... take your worming pills and put your flea collar on"

10. and finally... "Hallo Spaceboy"

Yeah, so? My chart - my rules. Bowie plus Pet Shop Boys singing another song about Major Tom? It's a no-brainer. Tennant and Lowe didn't release a song this good for about another 9 years afterwards.  Dressing like a preacher at the Brits though? Hmmm.Oh, and beware the album version as it's nothing like this.

Hey! I didn't use the word "chameleon" once. Okay, I may have missed classics like "Fashion", "Fame" (1990 version of course), "The Heart's Filthy Lesson", "Jean Genie", "Time Will Crawl", "Boys Keep Swinging", "Golden Years", "Blue Jean", "Modern Love", "Changes", "Ziggy Stardust"... even "Let's Dance" if you must.  But it just goes to show how good Bowie's been for so long. Just buy the "Best Of Bowie" CD and play at random. Maybe skip "Dancing In The Street" though, unless you're in the mood. And this is just singles - his albums I'm less familiar with (I said I wasn't a "fan") but I'm sure there's wonderful stuff I've yet to discover. This is why I've broken my cardinal rule and pre-ordered his album off iTunes. And I never do that...

Bowie. Genius.

He can shove Tin Machine up his arse mind you.  

Remember Free Music Festivals?

Ahhh, Back to the Nineties... a simpler time before promoters realized they could charge punters a fortune for standing in a field listening to a succession of average bands whilst waiting for the group they'd actually wanted to see. This is a flyer publicising something which wasn't to last too much longer... a free music festival.

1994 was, I think, the second year the Heineken Music Festival had been held in Preston, and as you can see, a magnificent line up of artists had been assembled. Okay, maybe not, but there was some good stuff on and you can't complain if it's free.

Of course, idiot me doesn't go on the Saturday night to see the (at that time) one hit wonders Oasis. Oh no. Even though I was quite keen and bought "Supersonic" on the day of release.  I think it must have been The Boo Radleys headlining that must have put me off, along with pikey crusties Back To The Planet.  In retrospect, what the hell was I thinking?

But on the Thursday night after work, I did bother to hop on the train from Blackpool and pottered over to Avenham Park, braving the inclement weather to see one of my then fave bands, Oldhams's mighty Inspiral Carpets, who I'd seen twice already. In my mind then, then were better than both The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays because they a) were still making records and b) hadn't turned crap. The Inspirals were promoting their latest single "Uniform" from their fourth and what turned out to be their final album "Devil Hopping" and were in fine form for a band close to packing it all in.

Supporting them were the (then) little known Shed Seven, who I'd stumbled across earlier in the year supporting Suede at the Blackpool Tower Ballroom. Bloody good they were as well live. They'd never be mentioned in the same breath as the bands that were to become massive over the next few years (Blur, Pulp, Oasis, Fat Les) but built up a solid body of work. One of those bands who when they release a greatest hits, you forget how many songs you liked of theirs.

Due to arriving late, I missed the delights of Slightlydelic and Fat Black Cat. They might have been brilliant, but more likely they were some generic pre-Britpop indie sounding combos signed to a subsiduary of a major label as some sort of tax write-off. Much like Baby Chaos, who I did manage to see, though they didn't make much of an impression. The internet has them down as being "a slinky, sexy, Glasgow based Scottish/English 4 piece Rock‘n’Roll beast" which goes to show you can't believe anything you read on the web. Including this. Probably.

Anyway, the Sheds and Inspirals were both excellent, soldiering on despite the torrential downpour outside leaking into the big tent rather alarmingly. Overall, a cracking night out which these days you'd be paying £40 for.

Most important though, don't forget - large cans from only 89p. But it was Heineken. Swings and roundabouts. 

The Top 40... 25 Years Ago This Week Ending Nov 21 1987

Let's have a look at what was in the hit parade a quarter of a century ago, eh kids? I shall adopt the guise of Bruno Brookes for the next few paragraphs...

Let's pause a moment first and pay respect to Sting, climbing one place to 41 after three weeks in the chart. Oh dear. That was as high as it got. I bought that on 12 inch as well. Albeit a month later, from the cheap rack. Sorry, Sting. Anyway, moving onto the top 40 proper... nowt much doing in the 30's to 40, with climbers from poodle rockers WASP and the long forgotten Blue Mercedes, but straight in at number 30 there's the classic "Build" by the Housemartins, possibly my fave song about town planning and building regulations. Ex-junkie Boy George is in at number 26 with "To Be Reborn", a long forgotten effort trying to capitalize on the pre-Xmas marketplace with limited success. Well, it reached 13 so I suppose it must have sold a few. But who's this at number 25, up 26 places? The classic "Letter From America" by the Proclaimers. "Bathgate no moooore" indeed. It would get to Number 3 in the end and probably will be, along with "500 Miles", their pension top up.

The Smiths (pictured right) are up six at 23 with "I Started Something.." but by this stage songwriters Morrissey and Marr had long since entered the endgame for the group, with a catalogue of misunderstanding and terrible communications in the summer causing the breakup of the band, after what was a massively successful and productive 5 years. They'd long since ceased to be by the time this single was released, with Mozza already hard at work recording his first solo album. Fat Barry White is doing alright at 20 up 18 places, with a bit of a comeback for him. It's all a bit urban really, with serial chart botherer Maxi Priest covering Robert Palmer in a reggae style, Donna Summer's oddly brilliant "Dinner With Gershwin" and Alexander O'Neill's mighty Jam and Lewis produced "Criticize", all storming up into the top 20, capped off with Whitney's "imperial" phase continuing with the dancefloor stormer "So Emotional" climbing up to number 9.

So we're into the ten biggest singles of the week... Mirage's "Jack Mix IV"? Up to number 8? Anybody remember that one? Thought not. Probably not even they do. Otherwise it's all a bit safe this week, with the Bee Gees and Freddie on their way out (in more ways than one). There's the soon-to-be-Xmas-and-Wedding-Do staple "I've Had The Time Of My Life" up to 6; Nina Simone at 5 spurred on from seemingly nowhere with an Aardman animated cat video; the better of the two Communards covers at 4; Rick Astley at three probably wearing a suit from Top Man; at two returning from the rock wilderness, George Harrison with the Jeff Lynne produced "Got My Mind Set On You" (Wilburys are just around the corner...) and...

Britain's Number One!!!

Shropshire's finest, T'Pau with "China In Your Hand". A song so 80's it hurts, complete with obligatory too long sax solo (see also "Will You" by Hazel O'Connor six years earlier). Still, feisty redhead Carol Decker was fun, being the obligatory redheaded gobshite in the music press, in a proto-Halliwell style, and the "Bridge Of Spies" album was passable MOR rock. Five weeks at number one though was probably two weeks too long, and these giddy heights were never reached again.

So that's the chart. Shocking how many of these acts are no longer with us. Twenty five years... it's like another world isn't it?

Back to the Sweet Shop - No 1: Black Jacks

Hmmm. I'm not sure, but is it just a little bit possible that this sweet wrapper might have been considered just a tiny tiny bit racist? How did we not spot it? Ahh, the Seventies. Oh dear.

"He's black. He's called Jack. What's the problem? Oh." 

Back! Back! BACK! Smash Hits Covers Dissected #1

Back in my other blog I used to do some nostalgic stuff about old SMASH HITS covers, which amused about 5 people. What better way to pad out this new blog than to continue to take the piss celebrate those magazine covers of yesteryear in a similar manner... 

"Tee hee... psssst. Martin's turned poofy. Pass it on."

We're back to 1984, and the end of November, with electro doom merchants Depeche Mode on the cover. Chief songwriter and leather perv Martin Gore is seemingly the centre focus for this cover, with Dave Gahan, Fletch and Alan "Wild"er having a a good laugh about him in the background. Martin's been hanging around Hamburg again, can you tell? This would have been a cover feature to accompany their latest barrel of laughs, the double A-side single "Blasphemous Rumours / Somebody". Increasingly becoming darker lyrically, with mentions of life support machines, wrist slashing and road accidents, this was a gloom fest that made The Smiths seem like Bucks Fizz in comparison. Which can only be a good thing. Right kids?

What else then? U2 are mentioned, presumably on the back of major top ten chart success with "Pride (In The Name Of Love)". Well, they even made it onto a NOW album for the first time therefore were now officially "pop". Then there's Limahl, no longer with Kajagoogoo, with his second hit single, the massive "Never Ending Story" from the kids film of the same name. This was a enormous hit all around the world, but the film did disappointing business. However, like many films that underperform, it found it's audience with the kids on video where it sold by the shedload over the following years, and now is one of those Christmas  staples. Limahl's hair though as you can see hasn't improved, looking like a fibre optic spider plant.

Prince! I'll do more about him in a separate post later on, but he's hitting his commercial height here with the "Purple Rain" soundtrack, an absolute classic. Wham! (always with an exclamation mark please) are featured, with George and Andrew well into their imperial phase now, though I can't listen to most of their stuff now. It's all gone from naff to credible to nostalgia back to naff again. Prefab Sprout are mentioned, so that will be to promote their second flop single "When Love Breaks Down", a number 88 disaster first time around, now recognized as a classic. Paddy McAloon always gave a good interview though so I can see why he'd be featured. Frankie refers of course to the mighty Scouse hit machine Frankie Goes To Hollywood (SMASH HITS were always ones for shortening) who were, of course, well into their own imperial phase with future third Number One single "The Power Of Love" released the previous week in a variety of formats by the mental ZTT records. Siouxsie's there as well, not sure why. Possibly because of the "Thorn EP" the Banshees released the previous month. Or maybe it was just a nice poster. 

Have I missed anyone? Oh yes, Thompson Twins. Well they can just fuck right off. "Lay Your Hands On Me"... I'd like to lay some paving slabs over you, more like.

A Testcard From The Boosh