Top of the UK Pops: 1983 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Kajagoogoo

Kajagoogoo had four songs reach the UK top 40, with "Too Shy" their sole number one. It hit number five on the Billboard Hot 100. After just one album the band fired lead singer Chris Hamill - or 'Limahl' as he preferred to be known and limped on until 1981 before breaking up. There was a reunion in 2007.

Answer: Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson had seven solo number ones among 44 top 10 hits in the UK. "Billy Jean" was the second, and spent 33 weeks n the charts. Jackson had 13 number ones among 30 in the top 10 of the Billboard 100. Jackson wrote "Billie Jean" about a woman who stalked him. It won two Grammys.

Answer: Bonnie Tyler

"Total Eclipse Of The Heart" was written by Jim Steinman, who was behind many of Meatloaf's top hits. The song was offered to Meatloaf, but turned down by his record company. His loss was Bonnie Tyler's gain and she became the first Welsh singer to top the charts in the USA.

She was also the first female singer to go 'number one with a bullet' on the UK charts when the song debuted there.

Answer: Phil Collins

"You Can't Hurry Love" was a Billboard number one in 1966 for The Supremes. It was yet another record from the Holland-Dozier-Holland production. Phil Collins took it to the top of the UK charts in 1982, his first solo chart topper. If you care to explore more about the former Genesis drummer, try an internet search for "why does everyone hate Phil Collins".

Answer: Freez

Freez were an electric music band from London who had a hit with "IOU" on both sides of the Atlantic. It was a number two in the UK and a number one on the Billboard Club Play Singles chart. Although they were active from 1978 to 1985, they were never able to repeat the achievements of "IOU".

Answer: David Bowie

"Let's Dance" gave Dave Bowie his only simultaneous UK and USA chat topper. It was the title track of his15th album. The lyrics Bowie wrote were not just literally about dancing, but metaphorically about our lives. Nile Rogers - who founded Chic - wrote the musical arrangement and produced the album.

Bowie - who championed an array of styles over his career - had six number ones in the UK - three solo and three collaborations. Two songs topped the Billboard Hot 100.

Answer: KC & The Sunshine Band

KC and the Sunshine Band got together in Miami, Florida in 1973 and went on to have five chart toppers on the Billboard Hot 100. These did not include "Give It Up" which, um, gave up at number 18 on the Hot 100, but climbed to the top in the UK.

KC was Harry Casey, the lead singer and main songwriter. The US number ones were written with bass player Rick Finch, but there was to be a deep fall out. Casey gave up the business in 1991, but returned later with a renewed band.

Answer: Men At Work

The "land down under" in the lyrics was Australia and the band's lead singer Colin Hay later said:"The chorus is really about the selling of Australia in many ways, the overdevelopment of the country." The song became an unofficial national anthem when Australia won yacht race the America's Cup in 1983. Colin Hay maintained the song was not really meant to be a patriot hymn to Australia.

The song made number one in Australia and New Zealand and also in Canada, the UK and the USA.

Answer: Rod Stewart

Few singers rasped out a song better than Rod Stewart and "Baby Jane" was Stewart at his raspiest. Stewart had 46 singles reach the UK top 40, with six making the peak position. Stewart had four number ones on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 2019, he overtook Paul Simon to become the oldest male singer to have a UK chart topper : the album "You're In My Heart", recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. It was his 10th number one album.

Answer: The Police

Even Sting -who wrote it - believed there was something creepy about "Every Breath You Take". It was a song about a stalker that he wrote after after separating from his wife, Frances Tomelty. "I think it's a nasty little song, really rather evil. It's about jealousy and surveillance and ownership", Sting said in an interview with "New Musical Express".

Despite all that it topped the singles charts in both the UK and the USA.

Answer: Spandau Ballet

Gary Kemp wrote this song about an infatuation he had with singer and actress Clare Grogan. He told the "Guardian" newspaper: "I was infatuated with Clare Grogan. "I met her on 'Top of the Pops' and, at one point, travelled up to Scotland to have tea with her and her mum and dad. Although my feelings were unrequited and the relationship was platonic, it was enough to trigger a song".

And a very good song it was, too: topping the charts in the UK and hitting number four in the Billboard Hot 100 and reaching number one in 20 other countries. Over the years it was to be used in a wide variety of TV shows and movies: everything from ":The Simpsons" to "The Wedding Singer" (1998).

Answer: Paul Young

The story of "Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)" took it from a little known Marvin Gaye B side to one of the biggest-selling UK singles of the 1980s. This was a record that Paul Young had played as a teenager, and it stuck with him. With a new slowed down arrangement and out of tune bass line, it went to number one on the Official UK Charts.

This was to be Young's sole UK chart-topper. It only made number 70 in the USA

Answer: UB40

"Rd Red Wine" was written and first recorded by Neil Diamond. Tony Tribe put out a Reggae version, and this was the one that UB40 heard and recorded. Lead singer Ali Campbell later said: "The funny thing about the song is we only knew it as a reggae song. We had no idea that Neil Diamond wrote it."

This was one of three UK number ones and the first of two on the Hot 100 - on re-release in 1988.

Answer: Billy Joel

Although the song is intrinsically linked with Billy Joel's wife Christie Brinkley, it was written before he met her and was initially known as "Uptown Girls". Perhaps it was the appearance of Ms Brinkley on the video that helped the song to number three on the Hot 100. It was his sole UK number one, although he went on to have three on Hot 100.

After a busy early career, Joel stopped releasing albums of original songs in 1993. His time after that was devoted to his sell-out Madison Square Gardens concerts. With over 150 million record sales Joel became one of the world's top sellers and won five Grammys.

Answer: Culture Club

"Karma Chameleon" was to be Culture Club's biggest selling single in the UK and, like most of their songs, was written from a very personal point of view by Boy George. Phil Pickett, from Pilot, was co-writer. The band were, though, sued for plagiarism by the writers of "Handyman", a 1960 hit for Jimmy Jones. "We gave them 10 pence and an apple," George said.

"Karma Chameleon" spent six weeks at the top of the UK charts. It was also a number one on the Billboard Hot 100.