Welcome to 1993! What were you doing that year? 1993 was an eventful year for me. I was in year 9 at high school and officially entered adolescence. At the time, I didn’t think 1993 was that great a year for chart music - there seemed to be many hangover songs from late 1992 clogging up the charts for the first few months of the year, and a dearth of female lead vocal songs in the top 50. In retrospect, there was a lot of new music I enjoyed from 1993; just most of it didn’t chart so well in Australia! But that’s what this blog is about: exploring the music that didn’t perform so well on the Australian chart.
The first chart survey of 1993 sees a number of veteran acts who had been around since at least the 1970s debuting.
I have updated a bunch of earlier posts:
* 31 July 1989 - with new bubbling WAY down under entry from Baby Ford;
* 7 August 1989 - with new bubbling WAY down under entry from Carole King;
* 5 March 1990 - with new bubbling WAY down under entry from Van Morrison;
* 12 March 1990 - with new bubbling WAY down under entry from Rita MacNeil;
* 2 July 1990 - with new bubbling WAY down under entry from Eric Clapton;
* 11 February 1991 - with new bubbling WAY down under entry from Grand Plaz;
* 18 February 1991 - with new bubbling WAY down under entry from Yazoo;
* 16 March 1992 - with new bubbling WAY down under entry from Rita MacNeil.
Deborah Harry would probably feel blue over this chart position.
Top 150 debuts:
Number 135 “That’s the Way God Planned It” by The Party Boys
Peak: number 132
Peak date: 11 January 1993
Weeks in top 150: 5 weeks
Top 150 chart run: 135-132-133-136-140
We last saw Aussie band The Party boys in 1989. Since then, they scored a minor hit with their version of "Do-Wah-Diddy" (number 81, September 1990).
"That's the Way God Planned It", a cover of the Billy Preston song which peaked at number 22 in Australia on the Go Set chart in September 1969, was recorded to raise money for charity - I remember seeing a TV commercial featuring the song at the time, but can't remember now which charity it was for. Clearly, not much money was raised, given that this single stalled at number 132!
The single, featuring Jon 'Swanee' Swan - whom we saw bubble under in 1990 - on lead vocal, was released in September 1992 and took almost four months to dent the top 150.
This was The Party Boys' final single.
Number 145 “All Alone on Christmas” by Darlene Love
Peak: number 145
Peak date: 4 January 1993
Weeks in top 150: 1 week
Top 150 chart run: 145
American R&B singer and actress Darlene Love, real name Darlene Wight, was the lead singer in the female vocal trio The Blossoms. She previously landed one entry on the Australian chart, all the way back in 1963, with "(Today I Met) The Boy I'm Gonna Marry", which peaked at number 78.
"All Alone on Christmas" appears on the soundtrack album for the movie Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, which was also issued as Home Alone Christmas (number 148, January 1993). The single peaked at number 31 in the UK in December 1992, and at number 83 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in January 1993. "All Alone on Christmas" also peaked at number 52 on the US Billboard Radio Songs chart in January 1993.
Darlene would finally crack the ARIA top 50 in 2023 with another Christmas song, "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)", which was recorded in 1963 and, to date, has peaked at number 26 in December 2024.
Number 148 “Summertime Blues” by Deborah Harry
Peak: number 138
Peak date: 11 January 1993
Weeks in top 150: 5 weeks
Top 150 chart run: 148-138-141-140-(out for 1 week)-150
Weeks on chart: 11 weeks
We last saw Deborah Harry in 1991.
"Summertime Blues" is a cover version of the Eddie Cochran song from 1958, which peaked at number 18 in Australia. Deborah's version was recorded for the That Night soundtrack, and appears to have only been released as a single in Australia, where it performed strongest on the Queensland state chart, reaching number 109.
I remember catching the music video for this track on rage as a new release in late 1992.
We'll next see Deborah in October 1993.
Number 149 “Happy Valley” by Richard Clapton
Peak: number 110
Peak date: 1 February 1993
Weeks in top 150: 8 weeks
Top 150 chart run: 149-139-125-137-110-122-125-136
We last saw Australian singer-songwriter Richard Clapton in 1989. "Happy Valley" was the lead single from Richard's tenth studio album Distant Thunder (number 37, July 1993).
I hadn't heard this one before. I didn't mind it; the female backing vocals were good.
Richard will join us again in August 1993.
Bubbling WAY down under:
Number 186 “I Still Believe in You” by Cliff Richard
Peak: number 176
Peak date: 25 January 1993
Weeks on chart: 3 weeks
'Sir' Cliff last joined us in 1991.
Christmas time in this era often meant a new Cliff Richard single was released. "I Still Believe in You" was the lead single from Cliff's imaginatively-titled 31st (!) studio album, The Album (number 72, May 1993).
Internationally, "I Still Believe in You" peaked at number 7 in the UK in December 1992, and at number 18 in Ireland in December 1992.
In Australia, "I Still Believe in You" was most popular in Western Australia, where it reached number 160 on the state chart.
Cliff will join us next in July 1993.
Number 188 “Oh No Not My Baby” by Cher
Peak: number 188
Peak date: 4 January 1993
Weeks on chart: 1 week
Pop veteran Cher last paid us a visit in 1991.
"Oh No Not My Baby", a cover version of the Maxine Brown song from 1964, was written by Carole King and Geoffrey Goffin, who also wrote "The Loco-Motion" for Little Eva (which was of course later covered by Kylie Minogue, among others). Cher's version was issued as the first 'new' single to promote her Cher’s Greatest Hits: 1965-1992 (number 48, December 1992) compilation.
Internationally, Cher's version of "Oh No Not My Baby" peaked at number 33 in the UK in November 1992, number 52 in Germany in January 1993, number 30 in Austria in January 1993, and number 19 in Switzerland in February 1993.
Locally, "Oh No Not My Baby" performed strongest in Western Australia, where it reached number 162 on the state chart.
I recall hearing a snippet of this track as a preview on Take 40 Australia, but hadn't heard the full song until writing this post. It's not among Cher's best.
Cher will join us next in April 1993.
Next week (11 January): Five top 150 entries and two bubbling WAY down under debuts.
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