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Aug 5, 20174 min read
This Week In 1984: August 5, 1984
It only ran for 20 episodes, but ABC music drama Sweet And Sour looms large in my memories of the mid-'80s. For one thing, it had an...
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Jul 29, 20174 min read
This Week In 1984: July 29, 1984
Not everyone can claim to have a song written about them; even fewer people have one that specifically names them — although if you're...
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Jul 22, 20174 min read
This Week In 1984: July 22, 1984
Already on this blog, we've seen the solo debuts of locally based former backing singers Kate Ceberano, Jenny Morris and Wendy Matthews....
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Jul 15, 20176 min read
This Week In 1984: July 15, 1984
When does a music star become a superstar? In the case of Madonna, it was with the release of Like A Virgin and her chart-dominating run...
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Jul 8, 20173 min read
This Week In 1984: July 8, 1984
Good things come in threes — apparently — and this week a very good song debuted on the ARIA singles chart, giving its artist a trio of...
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Jul 1, 20175 min read
This Week In 1984: July 1, 1984
There are some songs that, even if you'd never heard them before, you would instantly know when they were released. This week in 1984, a...
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Jun 24, 20174 min read
This Week In 1984: June 24, 1984
Hands up who would've thought "What Is Love?" by Howard Jones was a big hit in Australia? Maybe I'm biased — we had a copy of his debut...
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Jun 17, 20173 min read
This Week In 1984: June 17, 1984
A number 1 single. Another single which entered the top 10 this week. A top 5 album. The Footloose soundtrack was an unstoppable force on...
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Jun 10, 20175 min read
This Week In 1984: June 10, 1984
Some of music's biggest songs have come about when artists are pressured to deliver a hit single. Pop history is littered with numerous...
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Jun 3, 20174 min read
This Week In 1984: June 3, 1984
Australia was gripped by Footloose fever this week in 1984, with the soundtrack album sitting at number 6, the movie's title track at...
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May 27, 20174 min read
This Week In 1984: May 27, 1984
I've always loved it when songs are remixed from their album versions for single release. Well, I say "always", but I actually prefer my...
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May 20, 20174 min read
This Week In 1984: May 20, 1984
Thanks to the gender-bending of Boy George and Marilyn, and the androgyny of Annie Lennox, we'd become used to seeing pop stars exploring...
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May 13, 20175 min read
This Week In 1984: May 13, 1984
I've always been more of a fan of upbeat pop hits, but I tell you what — when a ballad is done right, it can be sensational. And, like...
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May 6, 20174 min read
This Week In 1984: May 6, 1984
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark. The Human League. Ultravox. Heaven 17. Since the start of the decade, synthpop bands had flooded out...
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Apr 29, 20173 min read
This Week In 1984: April 29, 1984
Given the number 1 single of 1983 had been a comedy release, it's hardly surprising that novelty records were big business the following...
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Apr 22, 20174 min read
This Week In 1984: April 22, 1984
If a picture is worth a thousand words, surely one image will introduce this week's big new entry better than I could. A photo like...
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Apr 15, 20175 min read
This Week In 1984: April 15, 1984
As clichés go, "third time's the charm" was never truer than in the case of Madonna. The future music megastar's third single became a...
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Apr 8, 20174 min read
This Week In 1984: April 8, 1984
It didn't strike me at the time — since I was only nine in 1984 and everyone in music seemed incredibly old — but the top 50 wasn't as...
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Apr 1, 20174 min read
This Week In 1984: April 1, 1984
As a country where the primary language spoken is English, Australia hasn't welcomed that many foreign language songs onto the singles...
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Mar 25, 20175 min read
This Week In 1984: March 25, 1984
One song can change everything. There you'll be, plodding along releasing moderately successful records and then one of your singles...