Week commencing 27 February 1989

A mixed bag of debuts this week - one by an act with a previous minor hit in Australia, another by an act with a decent-sized hit that they couldn't follow up, an act with a few hits under their belt's final release, and two new acts who would never go on to make the top 100 (at least in their current form).  There isn't really a common thread there that I can write about... so let's just get on to the debuts.

The State: One of them would go on to write non-hits for Collette.

Top 150 debuts:

Number 122 "Heaven in My Hands" by Level 42

Peak: number 115

Peak date: 6 March 1989

Weeks in top 150: 7 weeks 

Chart run: 155-(off chart for 2 weeks)-122-115-132-128-120-125-122

Weeks on chart: 8 weeks

Level 42 scored 20 top 40 hits in their native UK, but could chart no higher than number 43 down under, with 1987's "Running in the Family" (number 43, June 1987).  They'll be back later in the year with another top 150 entry.

 

Internationally, "Heaven Is in My Hands" peaked at number 12 in the UK in September 1988, number 9 in Ireland in September 1988, number 20 in Switzerland in October 1988, number 22 in Germany in October 1988, number 4 in the Netherlands in October 1988, number 6 in the Flanders region of Belgium in October 1988, and number 10 in Norway.

Locally, "Heaven in My Hands" performed strongest in Western Australia, where it reached number 77.

 

Number 131 "I Won't Bleed for You" by Climie Fisher

Peak: number 124

Peak date: 6 March 1989

Weeks in top 150: 5 weeks

Chart run: 131-124-139-131-134

Weeks on chart: 5 weeks

Climie Fisher returned to the top 150 this week, following in the footsteps of "This Is Me" from January,  with their second consecutive single to peak in the 120's.  Two more singles of theirs were released in Australia in 1989: "Love Like a River" (April) and "Facts of Love" (October), but both failed to chart.

Internationally, "I Won't Bleed for You" peaked at number 35 in the UK in August 1988.  Locally, the single was most popular in Western Australia, where it reached number 116.

While we won't see Climie Fisher again, singer Simon Climie will bubble under in 1992.

Number 138 "Cars & Planes" by Machinations

Peak: number 105

Peak date: 13 March 1989

Weeks in top 150: 9 weeks 

Top 150 chart run: 138-133-105-108-108-116-113-118-119

This fourth and final single from 1988's Uptown (number 50, November 1988) album was also Machinations' final single, after front man Fred Loneragan was injured in a car accident in April 1989.  "Cars & Planes" failed to connect with the record-buying public.

Number 142 "Is This Love?" by King Swamp

Peak: number 109

Peak date: 20 March 1989

Weeks in top 150: 3 weeks 

Top 150 chart run: 142-(out for 2 weeks)-109-116

Formed in 1988, UK band King Swamp scaled the lower end of the top 100 in their homeland, reaching number 92 with this track.  In Australia, they did nearly as 'well', but missed the top 100.

 

Number 150 "So Lonely Now" by The State

Peak: number 150

Peak date: 27 February 1989

Weeks in top 150: 1 week 

Top 150 chart run: 150

Before roping in Jack Jones (real name Irwin Thomas) and morphing into Southern Sons, The State had their first taste of chart 'success' with "So Lonely Now", which spent a solitary week at number 150.   CD copies of their album Elementary fetch upwards of $70 on discogs.com now!  Interestingly, Peter Bowman from the group would later go on to co-write most of Collette's second album, Attitude (number 107, April 1991).

Bubbling WAY down under:

Number 159 Ballad of the Streets EP by Simple Minds

Peak: number 159

Peak date: 27 February 1989

Weeks on chart: 1 week

From time to time, I notice what I think (sometimes it's clear; other times, more a matter of opinion) are mistakes on the ARIA chart.  This is one of them.

Ballad of the Streets was the name - across all formats - given to the single containing the track "Belfast Child" by Simple Minds.  However, the single cover also listed "Belfast Child" and the other track(s) - depending on which format, so there was no mistake it was the 'Belfast Child single' if you were browsing the stock in a record store.

My only guess - and it is just a guess - as to why ARIA have listed Ballad of the Streets separately to "Belfast Child", which was at number 23 this week, is that it represents sales of the 12" vinyl or CD single, with extra track "Biko" on it.  Sales of the 12" or CD single really should have just been added to the tally for "Belfast Child".

We will next see Simple Minds in 1992.

 

Number 166 "Eyes for the Blind" by The Everys

Peak: number 166

Peak date: 27 February 1989

Weeks on chart: 1 week 

Adelaide band The Everys only released one studio album, Everyone, which did not chart at its time of release, in February 1989.  It did, however, manage to chart... at number 1280, in June 2018, following its digital release.  I suspect the album would have peaked higher in 1989 had the chart extended lower back then.

"Eyes for the Blind" was the third of four singles issued from the album; the other three - "This Town" (January 1988, released as The Every Brothers), "Paved with Gold" (July 1988) and "Stranger You Are" (July 1989) - did not chart.

 

 

 

Number 175 "Four Letter Word" by Kim Wilde

Peak: number 165

Peak date: 13 March 1989

Weeks on chart: 3 weeks 

 

Poor Kim could only manage sporadic chart success in Australia, after her string of four consecutive top 10 singles in 1981-2.  A four letter word is what Kim might be thinking if she looked at her Australian chart history... though we at least gave her a number one hit - something she somehow couldn't manage in her home country - in 1987.

 

Elsewhere, "Four Letter Word" peaked at number 6 in the UK in January 1989, number 5 in Ireland, number 9 in the Netherlands in February 1989, number 18 in Switzerland in February 1989, number 9 in the Flanders region of Belgium in March 1989,  number 27 in Germany in March 1989, and number 23 in Austria in May 1989.

In Australia, "Four Letter Word" was most successful in South Australia/Northern Territory, where it reached number 115.

Kim will join us next in 1990.
 

Next week (6 March):  Another 5 new top 150 entries, though one of them isn't really 'new'.  Other acts debuting next week include another return act, and a double A-side from a female rap act who looked like they were going to become one-hit wonders.

Please note that next week's post will be on Friday, rather than Thursday, due to the leap day this year.  My posts for the next 4 years (assuming I continue writing these posts) will now be on a Friday.

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