Week commencing 8 June 1992

This week in 1992 saw a meager three new entries peaking in the 101-150 region of the Australian singles chart.  Before taking a look at them, I have updated the following previous posts:

* 11 February 1991 - with a new bubbling WAY down under entry from Adamski;

* 13 January 1992 - with a new bubbling WAY down under entry from Adamski.

 

Nina Hagen got her body, but not really a 'hit' with this track.

 

Top 150 debuts:

 

Number 132 "Hang on in There Baby" by Curiosity

Peak: number 127

Peak date: 15 June 1992

Weeks in top 150: 5 weeks

Weeks on chart: 8 weeks

We last saw British band Curiosity Killed the Cat in 1989.  Since then, bass player Nick Thorpe had quit the group, and the remaining members shortened the band's name to just Curiosity.

"Hang on in There Baby", a cover version of a song originally written and recorded by Johnny Bristol (number 37, December 1974), was issued as the first single from the band's third album Back to Front, which does not appear to have been released in Australia.

Internationally, "Hang on in There Baby" peaked at number 3 in the UK in May 1992, number 10 in Ireland in May 1992, number 26 in Austria in June 1992, number 42 in Germany in June 1992, number 31 in Sweden in July 1992, number 38 in the Flanders region of Belgium in July 1992, and number 32 in New Zealand in July 1992.

Within Australia, "Hang on in There Baby" performed strongest in Western Australia, where it reached number 81.

 

Curiosity would release one further single in Australia, "I Need Your Lovin'", in October 1992, but it failed to chart.  "Hang on in There Baby" would be the band's final release to chart within Australia.

 

Number 134 "Feel So Real" by Dream Frequency featuring Debbie Sharp

Peak: number 113

Peak date: 29 June 1992

Weeks in top 150: 7 weeks

Weeks on chart: 10 weeks

 

Dream Frequency were English musician Ian Bland and American singer Debbie Sharp, although the latter was credited as a featured artist on this release.  "Feel So Real" was the act's third single release in the UK, but their first in Australia, following two minor UK top 100 singles with "Live the Dream" (UK number 99, May 1990) and "Love, Peace and Harmony" (UK number 71, January 1991).

 

Internationally, "Feel So Real" peaked at number 23 in the UK in February 1992, and number 26 in Ireland in February 1992.

In Australia, "Feel So Real" was most popular in Western Australia, where it reached number 70 on the state chart.

The track was lifted from Dream Frequency's debut album One Nation (number 160, January 1993).  Dream Frequency would land their biggest 'hit' in Australia with their next single, "Take Me", which reached number 62 in September 1992.  We shall see a remixed version of that track bubble under in August 1992.

Number 135 "Get Your Body!" by Adamski featuring Nina Hagen

Peak: number 114

Peak date: 22 June 1992

Weeks in top 150: 5 weeks

Weeks on chart: 8 weeks

 

We last saw English artist Adamski in January 1992.  "Get Your Body!" was the second single lifted from Adamski's second album Naughty (number 186, July 1992).

For this track, Adamski collaborated with German singer-songwriter Nina Hagen, who had been releasing material since 1978, but had never landed a charting release in Australia until now.  If you're unfamiliar with Nina (real name Catharina Hagen), I recommend checking out the crazy video for her 1982 single "Smack Jack", which is one of the videos I chose when I won a competition to program an hour of the Australian music video program rage in 2010.

Internationally, "Get Your Body" peaked at number 68 in the UK in March 1992.  Within Australia, the single performed strongest in Queensland, where it reached number 92.

 

This would be Adamski's final single to chart in Australia.

Next week (15 June): Five top 150 entries and four bubbling WAY down under debuts.

< Previous week: 1 June 1992                                     Next week: 15 June 1992 >

Week commencing 11 December 1989

Welcome to the second last chart for 1989.  This week, there are three top 150 debuts, and one bubbling WAY down under entry.  Let's take a look:

 

Skid Row: If the rock star thing didn't work out for Sebastian Bach, a promising career in shampoo commercials beckoned.

 

Top 150 debuts:

 

Number 133 "18 & Life" by Skid Row

Peak: number 126 

Peak date: 8 January 1990

Weeks in top 150: 5 weeks

Weeks on chart: 8 weeks

 

We saw Skid Row back in July with their debut single, and here they were again with the second release from their Skid Row album (number 12, May 1990).  Debuting at number 156 on 9 October 1989, "18 & Life" took nearly two months to crack the top 150, and would take almost another month to reach its peak, on 8 January 1990.  The single also had a minor resurgence following the success of the band's third single, "I Remember You" (number 12, May 1990), re-entering the chart in June 1990 and climbing back to number 144.  None of "18 & Life"'s five weeks in the top 150 were consecutive, and the single was still charting in late July 1990.  Despite all of this, "18 & Life" only managed to notch up eight weeks on the chart.

"18 & Life" had much greater success in the band's native America, where it reached number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1989, becoming their first major hit.  In the UK, the single peaked at number 12 in February 1990.

"18 & Life" tells the tale of wayward teen 'Ricky', who is sentenced to life imprisonment after accidentally killing another teen with a firearm while in a drug/alcohol-induced haze.

We shall see Skid Row again in 1991.

 

 

 

Number 135 "Comment Te Dire Adieu" by Jimmy Somerville featuring June Miles Kingston

Peak: number 122

Peak date: 22 January 1990

Weeks in top 150: 9 weeks 

Weeks on chart: 9 weeks

Jimmy Somerville was the falsetto-voiced singer in Bronski Beat (biggest hit during his tenure with the group: "Smalltown Boy" - number 8, August 1984) and The Communards (biggest hit: "Don't Leave Me This Way" - number 2, November 1986).  His solo career yielded much less success on the Australian chart, with his biggest hit locally being "Dark Sky", which peaked at number 62 in February 1998.

"Comment Te Dire Adieu" (French translation: how to say goodbye to you) was Jimmy's first solo release... well, if you ignore that it was a duet with June Miles Kingston, who was the drummer in The Communards.  The single was a French-translated cover version of the Margaret Whiting song "It Hurts to Say Goodbye", and was originally recorded by Françoise Hardy in 1968.  The track was lifted from Jimmy's Read My Lips album (number 114, January 1990).

 

"Comment Te Dire Adieu" was a success in Jimmy's native UK, where it peaked at number 14 in December 1989.  The single also peaked at number 3 in Ireland and France.

 

On the ARIA state charts, "Comment Te Dire Adieu" performed strongest in South Australia/Northern Territory, where it reached number 89.

We will next see Jimmy in 1991.

Number 144 "Name and Number" by Curiosity Killed the Cat

Peak: number 131

Peak date: 29 January 1990

Weeks in top 150: 8 weeks

Weeks on chart: 8 weeks

 

While Curiosity Killed the Cat (later known as just Curiosity) had reasonable success in the UK, where they racked up three top 10 hits between 1986 and 1992, they never quite took off in Australia.  In fact, only two of their singles dented the top 100, and the biggest of those, "Down to Earth", peaked at number 88 in June 1987.  "Name and Number" was the lead single from the band's Getahead album (number 136, April 1990), and peaked at number 14 on the UK singles chart in October 1989.

While you may not be familiar with this track, you've no doubt heard the "Hey, how you doin'?" chorus before, which was recycled on De La Soul's "Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)" (number 4, July 1991) after some slight tweaking of the lyrics.

We shall see Curiosity Killed the Cat again in 1992, albeit under a different name.

Bubbling WAY down under:

 

Number 163 "Superheroes" by The Firm

Peak: number 163

Peak date: 11 December 1989

Weeks on chart: 1 week 

 

The Firm scored a novelty hit in 1987 with "Star Trekkin'", which reached number 1 in the UK in June 1987, and number 3 in Australia in October of the same year.  "Superheroes" was released as the follow-up - at least in the UK - where it flopped, peaking at number 99 in September 1987.  In Australia, "Superheroes" was not released as a single until November 1989.  I am not sure why it took more than two years for the single to receive a release locally, but I am guessing that perhaps the record company were hesitant to release it in 1987 after it's poor chart performance in the UK, and felt now was the right time to release it, given the general popularity of the Batman movie in 1989.  Batman does get a mention in this song.

Like "Star Trekkin'", the music video for "Superheroes" is another clay animation production.  Both tracks were lifted from the album Serious Fun (number 81, March 1988), which - surprisingly, given it charted here - missed the top 100 in the UK.

Next week (18 December): The final chart for 1989, and the decade.  There are six top 150 debuts - among them is a band who scored a number 1 single only a few months ago, and an 80s icon who seemed to be struggling with her most-recent releases.  You can also follow my posts on instagram and facebook.

 

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