CHART BEATS: A JOURNEY
THROUGH POP

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Aug 4, 20156 min read

This Week In 1985: August 4, 1985

Is it just me or are there not as many song titles as there used to be that make use of brackets? The '80s are littered with them —...

Jul 28, 20154 min read

This Week In 1985: July 28, 1985

There came a point in time where I went from being a music fan who had never heard the original versions of cover songs or the old tracks...

Jul 21, 20155 min read

This Week In 1985: July 21, 1985

You can probably count the instrumental hit singles of the '80s on the fingers of one hand. Maybe two. And songs released in 1985 would...

Jul 14, 20154 min read

This Week In 1985: July 14, 1985

This week in 1985, the global music industry united in an unprecedented show of force. The event: Live Aid, which I looked back at in a...

Jul 13, 20157 min read

Today In 1985: The Best of Live Aid

On Saturday July 13, 1985, the charity movement that had started with "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and "We Are The World" (which both...

Jul 7, 20155 min read

This Week In 1985: July 7, 1985

For Pat Benatar, it's a chore to sing "Hit Me With Your Best Shot", while R.E.M. hate "Shiny Happy People" so much they left it off their...

Jun 30, 20154 min read

This Week In 1985: June 30, 1985

When people talk about Madonna's image changes, they're usually referring to how she'd routinely go from blonde to brunette and back...

Jun 23, 20155 min read

This Week In 1985: June 23, 1985

Many of the bands that have featured in my look back at the Australian charts of the late '80s had careers that extended well beyond that...

Jun 16, 20156 min read

This Week In 1985: June 16, 1985

Gay rights might have made leaps and bounds in the three-and-a-bit decades since 1985 (when same-sex relations were still illegal in half...

Jun 9, 20156 min read

This Week In 1985: June 9, 1985

When is a hit song not a single? It happens all the time these days — for example, when album tracks flood the singles chart upon the...

Jun 2, 20154 min read

This Week In 1985: June 2, 1985

They'd been on the market for a couple of years, and by 1985, compact discs were starting to show signs of becoming the music industry...

May 26, 20155 min read

This Week In 1985: May 26, 1985

Music talent often runs in families — and over the decades, several groups of siblings have taken on the charts. Some, like The Jacksons...

May 19, 20154 min read

This Week In 1985: May 19, 1985

Music history is littered with pop partnerships — duos whose skills perfectly complement each other. So far in our trip back in time to...

May 12, 20154 min read

This Week In 1985: May 12, 1985

Music can conjure up all sorts of memories and associations — a summer holiday, a first crush, a classic movie... But it takes a certain...

May 5, 20155 min read

This Week In 1985: May 5, 1985

A band is much more than just its lead singer, but the departure of a vocalist usually has a more profound impact than that of any other...

Apr 28, 20154 min read

This Week In 1985: April 28, 1985

Earlier in the year, we saw that, despite being a major hit around the world, "Easy Lover" by Phil Collins and Philip Bailey wasn't even...

Apr 21, 20153 min read

This Week In 1985: April 21, 1985

For most of the first half of the decade, Duran Duran had been one of the biggest bands in the world — and then in 1985, the five-piece...

Apr 14, 20154 min read

This Week In 1985: April 14, 1985

For musicians, the question of what to name their band is a crucial one to get right. After all, if you do have a hit record, the last...

Apr 7, 20156 min read

This Week In 1985: April 7, 1985

Even without the chartbusting debut of "We Are The World", it would've been a big week on the ARIA singles chart this week in 1985....

Mar 31, 20154 min read

This Week In 1985: March 31, 1985

Good use of backing vocalists can make all the difference in a pop song. Just ask Jason Donovan, whose voice was practically drowned out...

A Journey Through Aussie Pop - green light.png

A Journey Through Aussie Pop is shining a light on classic Australian pop artists and releases from the 1980s, '90s and 2000s.

A Journey Through Stock Aitken Waterman is working its way through every single produced by Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman in chronological order.

Chart Beats subscribers have access to exclusive content, including extended interviews and extra discussion we can't fit in the regular episodes. Click here for more info.