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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...
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...
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....
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
