Kent Music Report beyond the top 100: 23 November 1981

All of this week in 1981's new entries are from bands with male lead singers.  All three bands formed in the 1970s, and all three will bubble under again.  Let's take a look, on what will be the last post for 1981.

 

Models: this song was not a hit locally &/or generally.

 

 

Beyond the top 100:

 

Position 20: Models "Local &/Or General"

Highest rank: 4th

Peak date: 30 November 1981

Weeks on below list: 2 weeks

 

Forming in Melbourne in 1978, Australian band Models (no 'The') had to wait until 1981 to land their first charting single, the Cut Lunch EP (number 38, September 1981), from which "Two Cabs to the Toucan" was the most-played track.

 

Between 1981 and 1987, Models placed 12 singles on the Australian top 100, of which "Out of Mind Out of Sight" (number 1, 1985) and "Barbados" (number 2, 1985) were the biggest.  Models would land their second top 40 hit in 1983, with "I Hear Motion" (number 16, November 1983).

"Local &/Or General" was the title track from Models' second studio album, which peaked at number 30 in November 1981.

Models split in 1988, although they later reformed in 2000.

Models will bubble under again in 1984.  James Freud, who sang lead on the band's two biggest hits, bubbled WAY down under in 1989.

 

 

 

Position 21: "Talk to Ya Later" by The Tubes

Highest rank: 9th

Peak date: 30 November 1981

Weeks on below list: 2 weeks 

I hadn't heard this track before.  My first thought was that this is obviously an American production, and that hunch proved correct.  The Tubes formed in San Francisco in 1972, and released their first album three years later.

In Australia, The Tubes scored three top 100 singles, all of which peaked within the top 50.  Their biggest hit locally was "Don't Touch Me There" (number 26, January 1977), which spent 35 weeks on the chart despite its moderate peak - though it took 24 weeks to hit the top 40.

The band's third and final single to chart in Australia, "Don't Want to Wait Anymore", reached number 36 in October 1981.  Both that song and "Talk to Ya Later" were lifted from The Tubes' fifth studio album The Completion Backward Principle (number 74, September 1981).

 

"Talk to Ya Later" also bubbled under in the band's native US, reaching first position on the Billboard Bubbling Under chart.

 

Although The Tubes will not land another top 100 hit in Australia, they will bubble under again in 1983.

 

 

Position 22: "Up for Grabs" by The Radiators

Highest rank: 1st

Peak date: 30 November 1981

Weeks on below list: 2 weeks

 

Formed in Sydney 1978, Australian band The Radiators placed 10 singles on the Australian top 100 chart between 1979 and 1987.  However, only two of the band's singles made the top 40: "Comin' Home" (number 33, December 1979) and "No Tragedy" (number 27, June 1983).

"Up for Grabs" was the second single from The Radiators' second album Up for Grabs (number 29, November 1981).

The Radiators will bubble under again in 1985.

 

 

 

Next post (22 March 1982): All of the debuts bubbling under the Kent Music Report singles chart next week eventually made the top 100.  There are no further 'below' lists published again for almost four months after that, with the next one being 22 March 1982.  However, when the below lists return, the titles are listed in alphabetical order rather than by sales rank.  The ranked positions do not return until 30 August 1982.  Stay tuned for my first 1982 post in just over nine months' time...

 

< Previous post: 2 November 1981                              Next post: 30 August 1982 >