This week, there are four new singles debuting and peaking within the number 101-150 region of the chart, and one bubbling WAY down under entry for me to write about. Given that I can't find a common thread among them, let's jump straight in.
But before we do that, here are couple of earlier posts I have updated recently, with newly-uncovered bubbling WAY down under entries:
* 6 November 1989 - with a new bubbling WAY down under entry from Exposé;
* 29 January 1990 - with a new bubbling WAY down under entry from Liza Minnelli.
Tim Finn comes... not even close to making the top 100 this week.
Top 150 debuts:
Number 124 "Not Even Close" by Tim Finn
Peak: number 124
Peak date: 2 April 1990
Weeks in top 150: 5 weeks
Weeks on chart: 6 weeks
Coming not even close (ho ho ho... that pun was begging to be made) to making the top 100, ex-Split Enz band member Tim Finn's latest single, "Not Even Close", was the third release from his third album, Tim Finn (number 47, May 1989). It followed "How'm I Gonna Sleep" (number 27, May 1989) and "Crescendo" (number 120, July 1989). Tim's biggest solo success in Australia was his debut solo single, "Fraction Too Much Friction" (number 8, July 1983).
Tim would go on to join Crowded House for their third album, Woodface (number 2, July 1991), though only stuck around long enough for the first three of the five singles lifted from the album. Following this, Tim returned to his solo career, and would again score top 100 success in 1993.
Tim will bubble under again in 1993, and would continue to score occasional bubbling under 'hits' until 2006.
Number 143 "I Feel Love" by Fan Club
Peak: number 105
Peak date: 14 May 1990
Weeks in top 150: 9 weeks
Not a Donna Summer cover version, "I Feel Love" was an original track from New Zealand band Fan Club (no 'the'). "I Feel Love" was the first release from their second album, Respect the Beat (number 139, September 1990), and peaked at number 8 in the band's native New Zealand in November 1989, becoming their biggest hit there by one place.
"I Feel Love" was Fan Club's second single released in Australia, following the title track from their debut album Sensation in June 1988. The "Sensation" single was also re-issued locally in August 1989, but missed the top 150.
"I Feel Love" would become the only Fan Club single to dent the top 150 in Australia.
Number 147 "Almost Hear You Sigh" by The Rolling Stones
Peak: number 118
Peak date: 16 April 1990
Weeks in top 150: 8 weeks
Weeks on chart: 9 weeks
Now onto a band with a 'the' at the start of their name... except they seem to have dropped it from their album and single artwork during this era. You can almost hear me sigh, right?
I wouldn't call myself a Stones fan, but don't mind some of their songs that I am familiar with. "Almost Hear You Sigh" is one that I like; so, naturally, it flopped in Australia.
"Almost Hear You Sigh" was the third single lifted from the veteran British rockers' nineteenth studio album (or twenty-first American album - thanks Wikipedia!), Steel Wheels (number 7, September 1989). It followed "Mixed Emotions" (number 25, September 1989) and "Rock and a Hard Place" (number 99, January 1990).
Going by its chart entry date in the UK, it appears that "Almost Hear You Sigh" was released in Australia some months prior to its UK release, where it peaked at number 31 in July 1990. The single peaked at number 50 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in March 1990.
OK, as an aside, while researching this week's new entries, I stumbled upon this on the Billboard website, and had to write something about it:
Um... what the heck? 'Google's Top Hummed Songs 2020'. Is this an April Fool's joke? (It can't be, as I wrote this post on Monday 29 March 2021.) And I thought Billboard/today's charts were generally meaningless.
We shall see The Rolling Stones again in 1991.
Number 148 "Good Things" by BoDeans
Peak: number 148
Peak date: 2 April 1990
Weeks in top 150: 1 week
The first I, and probably most other Australians, had heard of American band BoDeans was when their 1993 single, first released in Australia in April 1994, "Closer to Free" was used as the theme for the TV drama Party of Five. It became a belated number 11 hit here in September 1996, as a result. But, a decade prior to that, BoDeans scored their first chart 'hit' in Australia, with "Fadeaway" (number 76, September 1986), which I like a lot more. The group also landed another top 100 single in Australia in 1988 with "Only Love" (number 95, April 1988).
"Good Things", which isn't even listed on their Wikipedia discography, was lifted from the band's fourth album, Black and White (number 101, August 1991), which was not released until 1991. "Good Things" does not appear to have charted in any other country.
Bubbling WAY down under:
Number 171 "Shine On" by The House of Love
Peak: number 171
Peak date: 2 April 1990
Weeks on chart: 1 week
At the time of writing this post, number
171 is the lowest ARIA chart peak - or position, for that matter - I
have from 1990. Given that I have (again, at the time of writing this)
19 singles from 1989 that debuted at number 170 or lower, with the lowest of those being number 181, my impression
is that the ARIA singles chart generally did not extend as low during
1990 as it did in 1989. There is even one week in November 1990 when the singles chart stops at number 140.
We saw The House of Love bubble WAY down under back in August 1989, and here they are in the same region of the chart again, with the third single (though apparently only the second one in Australia) from their (second album with the same title!) The House of Love album (number 134, May 1990).
"Shine On" performed much better in the band's native UK, where it peaked at number 20 in February 1990, becoming their biggest hit.
I caught the video for "Shine On" on Video Smash Hits once, at the time, and its catchy "she-she-she shine on" chorus stuck with me. Something I didn't know until now is that the band released an earlier version of this track in 1987.
The House of Love would not trouble the ARIA singles chart again after this, although they had a couple of top 250 (!) albums in 1992 and 1993.
Next week (9 April): Seven top 150 debuts, and one bubbling WAY down under entry. Among them we have the final single from an almost three year-old album (and no, it's not one of the Jacksons). You can also follow my posts on instagram, facebook and twitter.
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