Week commencing 20 March 1989

There are a mere three debuts peaking within the 101-150 section of the chart this week, with no real common thread between them, other than (once we include the bubbling WAY down under entry) we have both a fading teen star and a new one on the rise.

Tiffany: Tiff was rocking the double denim, if not the Australian charts, in 1989.

Top 150 debuts:

 

Number 125 "All This Time" by Tiffany

Peak: number 120

Peak date: 3 April 1989

Weeks in top 150: 7 weeks

Weeks on chart: 10 weeks

Tiffany's Australian chart career started on a high, with three consecutive top 15 hits.  But single number four bombed, and the lead single from her second album (at least in Europe and Australasia) Hold an Old Friend's Hand stalled at number 65.  Tiffany's Oz chart trajectory continued its steep decline with this, the second single (though first in the US) from the album, "All This Time".  Is it just me, or does Tiff sound like she has a cold on this track?  I also thought the same thing about her vocals on "Radio Romance".

If you thought this would be Tiffany's last foray into the Australian charts, you would surprisingly be wrong.  She has a bubbling WAY down under 'hit' coming up later in the year, and will be seen again in 1990 and 1993!  Who knew?!

 

 

Number 145 "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" by The Pogues

Peak: number 111

Peak date: 3 April 1989

Weeks in top 150: 6 weeks

This single was the Pogues' first appearance on the Australian singles chart, although an earlier-released single dueting with Kirsty MacColl would more-recently nudge the top 50.  I assume the "I love your breasts, I love your thighs" lyrics are not referencing KFC...   The Pogues join us again in 1990.

Number 146 "Hiwire Girl" by Catfish

Peak: number 146

Peak date: 20 March 1989

Weeks in top 150: 1 week

Before the term 'catfish' meant someone trying to trick you into an online relationship by using somebody else's pics, it was the name of an Australian band, who scored a number 72 'hit' in Australia in late 1988 with "The Early Hours".  This follow-up didn't do quite as well.  While it's not the sort of thing I'd normally listen to, I think this track is pretty decent.  Catfish will join us again in 1991.

Bubbling WAY down under:

Number 168 "Drown in My Own Tears" by The Smithereens

Peak: number 168

Peak date: 20 March 1989

Weeks on chart: 1 week

 

American rock band The Smithereens formed in 1980.  They did not release any material until 1986, however, scoring their first chart 'hit' in Australia when their debut single, "Blood and Roses", spent one week at number 99 in January 1987.  Their debut album, Especially for You, similarly spent one week in the Australian top 100 albums chart, at number 87, in May 1987.

"Drown in My Own Tears" was issued as the second single from The Smithereens' second album Green Thoughts (number 85, June 1988), following "Only a Memory" (released locally in April 1988, did not chart).

"Drown in My Own Tears" does not appear to have registered on any other national chart, other than the pointless US Billboard Mainstream Rock Airplay chart, where it reached number 34 in October 1988.

We shall next see The Smithereens in 1990.

Also debuting this week:

Some readers may have known that before "Toy Soldiers" became an international smash hit for Martika, she had some more-subdued success with her debut single, "More Than You Know", which peaked at number 18 in the US in April 1989.  While the single would go on to peak at number 32 in Australia when re-issued in January 1990, upon its initial release, "More Than You Know" debuted at number 160 this week on the Australian singles chart.

Next week (27 March): we have six new entries, including an ex-member of Frankie Goes to Hollywood - though it's not who you might think.

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