Recently BBC4 were showing Top of
the Pops from 1984. I wasn’t alive in 1984, so it was interesting to see a lot
of the music in a historical context for the first time. Especially when you
see some 1980s bubble-pop, and then John Peel or someone announces “and new in
at number 25, a new song by Stevie Wonder, I Just Called to Say I love you” (!)
or something along those lines. The charts are usually filled to the brim with
shit. This is not a nostalgia thing. I look back at 1993-4, the era I grew up
in for pop, and spot so much bloody rubbish in the top ten. That’s not a surprise.
What was a surprise was that, if you looked beyond the tosh, there was a lot of
really good songs in there too.
Hell, there was at least 40 of them. So I
thought, hey, why not do a Top 40 of 1984? So here it is! I wound up with a
shortlist of 70 songs and cut down from there. Some songs which tried to sneak
a spot on the list but just missed out include: Berserker by Gary Numan, Never
Ending Story, I’m So Excited, The Wanderer, The Riddle, Too Late for Goodbyes,
Dr Beat, Love Kills or The Killing Moon. Sadly. There’s also no room whatsoever
for Band Aid, because I fucking hate that song. It wont come up much though.
For a song to qualify for
contention, it had to be in the UK top 40 at some point in 1984.
And without further do, on to 40th
place…
