My Favourite 45s of the Year: 1982 Quiz

Answer: Joe Jackson

Having heard "Is She Really Going Out with Him" and "It's Different for Girls", all of a sudden I realised that I really liked Joe Jackson's jazz-influenced music.
This record, "Steppin' Out" was for me really top class. It's all about the excitement of getting ready to go out on the town, with a repeated eight-note riff and snare drum beat underlying the piano and Jackson's lyrics. It boogies along nicely, but what really makes it so very special is the wonderful sense of optimism and anticipation set out in the lyrics. Jackson plays all the instruments apart from the snare drum!
Even though Jackson himself didn't want to do it there's a super video for the song, set in a New York hotel. It starts with the lights going on in the crown of the wonderful Art Deco Chrysler Building - a glorious sight!
It went to number six in the UK Singles Chart and also to number six on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The follow-up single, "Breaking Us in Two", wasn't as successful but was absolutely beautiful. I was fortunate enough to see Jackson in concert in Belfast in 2001, in front of a very small but very appreciative audience - he was brilliant!

Answer: Roxy Music

Another slow and smoochy Roxy Music single, "Avalon" is astonishingly lifted out of the ordinary by the addition of backing vocals by the Haitian singer Yanick Étienne. After hearing her vocals, recorded in one take, Brian Ferry felt constrained to re-record his!
It went to number 13 in the UK Singles Chart but failed to feature on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Answer: Prince and the Revolution

I'd heard the buzz about Prince when I'd stayed in Minneapolis for a couple of months in early 1981 - I wish now I'd taken advantage of the opportunity to see him play! "1999" is a phenomenal record, a great riff heavy on the drums and synthesisers, a brilliant dance tempo and good lyrics. On its initial release it went to number 25 in the UK Singles Chart and to number 44 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. Subsequent re-releases in the US went to number 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1983, to number 40 in 1999 and to number 27 in 2016. UK re-releases went to number two in the UK Singles Chart in 1985, to number ten in 1999 and to number 49 in 2016.

It was also ranked at number 339 in the 2021 "Rolling Stone" list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

Answer: Icehouse

Icehouse were an Australian band, formed in Sydney in 1977 who progressed from New Wave to Synth. "Hey Little Girl" comes from their second album, "Primitive Man", and is a moody, magnificent piece of music. The production is superb, with a lovely little instrumental break at around 3'00" before a long fade-out ending.

It went to number 17 in the UK Singles Chart but failed to show on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Answer: Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five

Looking back, it's clear that "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five was one of the most important records of the 1980s. I was vaguely aware of rap and hip hop through listening to Jamaican DJ toasting, but this gripped me straight away. With its blistering social commentary it brought home to the record-buying and music-listening public the horrors of urban life for young black communities, and also opened their ears to an entirely new form of music.

The music was justifiably described as stifling and claustrophobic, and its slow beat allowed the lyrics to come to the forefront. It went to number eight in the UK Singles Chart and to number 62 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

It was also ranked at number 51 in the 2004 "Rolling Stone" list of the 500 greatest songs of all time, and in 2012 the same organ rated it as the greatest hip-hop song of all time.

Answer: ABC

ABC formed in Sheffield in 1977 and their first album, "The Lexicon of Love", reached number one in the UK Albums Chart in 1982. It generated four excellent singles, of which this track, "All of My Heart", is my favourite.
It's a classic "break up" song, set to a wonderful arrangement of lushly swooping orchestral strings and heavy bass. The lyrics are stunning; the song starts with Martin Fry singing "Once upon a time when we were friends, I gave you my heart - the story ends; no happy ever after". I might be getting over-sentimental in my old age, but that just tears me up. And the fade-out at the end of the track is a thing of beauty.
It got to number five in the UK Singles Chart but didn't chart in the US.

Answer: Japan

Japan's version of "I Second That Emotion" was a favourite of mine in 1980, but this wonderful, weird track, "Ghosts", was to my mind the best thing they ever did. The strange, minimalist arrangement using lots of synthesisers (but no drums) formed an appropriate backdrop to David Sylvian's highly introspective and personal lyrics. Rock critic Sunie Fletcher nailed it when he described the track as "the most stunningly original single you've heard for a very long time". It went to number five in the UK Singles Chart but it wasn't released in the US.

It was the band's biggest hit in the UK, but sadly only heralded a break-up eight months later.

Answer: The Clash

"Should I Stay or Should I Go" is an excellent single, written and sung by Mick Jones for the greatest rock'n'roll band in the world, the Clash. Apart from having a tremendous riff, its most unusual feature is the backing vocals sung in Spanish by Joe Strummer and Joe Ely. It went to number 17 in the UK Singles Chart and to number 45 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

However, the song was re-released in the UK in 1991 after it was used in a TV advert for Levi's Jeans, getting to number one in the UK Singles Chart.

It was also ranked at number 228 in the 2004 "Rolling Stone" list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

Answer: Simple Minds

I came across Simple Minds almost by accident when a friend of mine who'd seen them play lent me the "New Gold Dream 81-82-83-84" album - actually their fifth album but the first I'd heard. I just loved Charlie Burchill's lead guitar work and the funky bass lines of Derek Forbes, especially on the first single released from that album, "Promised You a Miracle".

It went to number 13 in the UK Singles Chart but didn't chart in the US.

Answer: The Pretenders

The Pretenders went through massive problems in mid-1982: firstly the band fired bass guitarist Pete Farndon because of his drug problem, and then two days later lead guitarist James Honeyman-Scott died of a drugs overdose. Despite this Chrissie Hynde and drummer Martin Chambers went back into the studio and, with help from various friends and session musicians, recorded this great pop song. It's a memorial to Honeyman-Scott, but with a wonderful up-beat tempo and feel.
It went to number 17 in the UK Singles Chart and to number five on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.