While I have come to know some of this week in 1993’s new entries peaking outside the Australian top 100, I only knew one of these songs at the time. Perhaps this is your first time hearing most of them, too? Let’s take a look.
Margaret Urlich had to settle for being 132nd best this week in 1993.
Top 150 debuts:
Number 112 "Angel" by Jon Secada
Peak: number 112
Peak date: 8 March 1993
Weeks in top 150: 5 weeks
Chart run: 112-115-113-116-117
Weeks on chart: 5 weeks
Cuban-born American singer-songwriter Juan Francisco Secada Ramírez, better known as Jon Secada, started his career by completing Bachelor and Master degrees in jazz vocal performance at the University of Miami. Through his university connections, Jon became acquainted with Emilio Estefan, then of Miami Sound Machine, and Gloria Estefan's husband. He worked as a teacher at a senior high school for some years before co-writing and singing backing vocals on Gloria's "Coming out of the Dark" (number 56, February 1991).
Jon launched his solo recording career in 1992, with the single "Just Another Day" (number 12, November 1992), which was a slow burner on the Australian chart, taking 14 weeks to reach the top 40 after debuting at number 186 in mid-June 1992, finally peaking at number 12 on its 25th week on the chart. Jon followed that up with the less-successful "Do You Believe in Us?" (number 38, January 1993). "Angel" was the third single lifted from his debut album Jon Secada (number 89, March 1993).
Internationally, "Angel" peaked at number 23 in the UK in January 1993, number 35 in the Netherlands in March 1993, number 72 in Germany in April 1993, number 4 in Canada in April 1993, number 18 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in April 1993, and number 45 in New Zealand in May 1993. "Angel" also registered on several US Billboard genre-specific charts, peaking at number 1 on the Hot Latin Songs chart in October 1992, number 3 on the Adult Contemporary chart in April 1993, number 9 on the Pop Airplay chart in May 1993, number 10 on the Radio Songs chart in May 1993, and number 11 on the Latin Digital Song Sales chart in March 2011 (!).
Locally, "Angel" was most popular in Western Australia, where it reached number 86 on the state chart. "Angel" performed better nationally on the Australian Music Report singles chart, where it reached number 98.
A fourth single from Jon Secada, "I'm Free", was released in Australia in August 1993, but did not chart.
I hadn't heard "Angel" until listening to it while writing this post. I can see why it was less successful than the first two singles - it's a bit sappy.
I caught a live TV performance Jon did in around 2010 on YouTube some years ago, and it struck me how his voice wasn't nearly as good as it was during the height of his career. It must be difficult when that happens to artists who can actually sing.
We'll next see Jon in 1995.
Number 117 "Comes a Time" by Spy V Spy
Peak: number 117
Peak date: 8 March 1993
Weeks in top 150: 5 weeks
Top 150 chart run: 117-126-126-129-135
Weeks on chart: 9 weeks
Sydney band (v) Spy V Spy last joined us in January 1993. "Comes a Time" was the second single lifted from the band's fifth and final studio album Fossil (number 42, May 1993).
On the state charts, "Comes a Time" performed strongest in Western Australia, where it reached number 77.
I hadn't heard this one before. It deals with the subject of alcoholism. It would be the band's last top 150 single.
A further single, "One Way Street", was released in June 1993 but did not chart. We will see Spy V Spy once more in September 1993.
Number 128 "Alive & Kicking" by East Side Beat
Peak: number 127
Peak date: 15 March 1993
Weeks in top 150: 5 weeks
Top 150 chart run: 128-127-128-135-132
Weeks on chart: 8 weeks
East Side Beat were an Italian dance project, fronted by singer Carl Fanini, who would later go on to front Clubhouse, with a 'featuring Carl' credit, who had a hit here with "Light My Fire" (number 26, August 1994). Carl was donning a pair of spectacles when he was fronting East Side Beat, in contrast to his later performances with Clubhouse. As you might have guessed, this song was a cover version of Simple Minds' "Alive & Kicking" (number 21, November 1985), with a K.W.S.-esque backing.
Internationally, East Side Beat's version of "Alive & Kicking" peaked at number 26 in the UK in December 1992, number 28 in Ireland in December 1992, number 20 in the Netherlands in February 1993, and number 19 in the Flanders region of Belgium in February 1993.
In Australia, "Alive & Kicking" performed strongest in Western Australia, reaching number 96 on the state chart.
If a music video exists for "Alive & Kicking", it has not yet found its way onto YouTube. You can view a(n actually) live vocal performance of the song on Top of the Pops here. The host mentions at the end that one of the pair was studying to become a lawyer, the other a psychiatrist. I'm not sure how their career ambitions turned out.
"Alive & Kicking" was actually the group's second single, although their first Australian release. We shall see their first international single, released rather belatedly in Australia, bubble under in May 1993.
Number 129 "Somebody to Shove" by Soul Asylum
Peak: number 123
Peak date: 15 March 1993
Weeks in top 150: 7 weeks
Top 150 chart run: 129-123-135-134-124-126-130
Weeks on chart: 8 weeks
Like most people, I first became aware of American band Soul Asylum through their hit "Runaway Train" (number 11, November 1993), which was promoted by a memorable music video containing images of missing children, teenagers and young adults, with different missing people featured in different edits of the video for each country the single was released in. You can view excerpts of the Australian videos (two different edits were made - it was re-edited after some of Ivan Milat's murder victims, featured in the first edit, were found in the Belanglo State Forest during the song's chart run) here. Soul Asylum actually formed in 1981, I was surprised to read on their Wikipedia page. The band did not achieve chart success until their sixth studio album Grave Dancers Union (number 63, February 1994), from which "Somebody to Shove" was the lead single.
Internationally, "Somebody to Shove" initially peaked at number 34 the UK in August 1993, before being re-issued after the success of "Runaway Train" and reaching a slightly higher peak of number 32 there in March 1994. "Somebody to Shove" also registered on two US Billboard genre-specific charts, reaching number 1 on the Alternative Airplay chart in December 1992, and number 9 on the Mainstream Rock chart in February 1993.
Domestically, "Somebody to Shove" was most successful in Queensland, where it reached number 102 on the state chart.
I didn't know "Somebody to Shove" at the time, but have caught the video on rage a couple of times in recent years.
We'll next see Soul Asylum in June 1993.
Number 132 "Second Best" by Margaret Urlich
Peak: number 132
Peak date: 8 March 1993
Weeks in top 150: 10 weeks
Top 150 chart run: 132-149-137-143-148-150-146-144-133-148
Weeks on chart: 11 weeks
Now, here's the one song from this lot I did know at the time! The video embedded below is my recording of it from Video Smash Hits, spliced at the beginning and end with some of the missing seconds, sourced from a Video CD (does anyone remember those?) made for nightclub play.
Margaret Urlich was born in Auckland, and launched her recording career in New Zealand fronting the band Peking Man, landing a number 1 single there in December 1985-January 1986 with "Room That Echoes". Peking Man landed three hits in New Zealand before splitting. Margaret was then part of the Kiwi all-girl group When the Cat's Away, whom we saw bubble under in 1989. The group scored a number 1 hit in New Zealand with their version of "Melting Pot" in December 1988.
Margaret finally launched her solo career in 1989 with "Escaping" (number 17, May 1990), giving her another number 1 in New Zealand in December 1989. While "Escaping" would become Margaret's biggest single in Australia, her solo debut album Safety in Numbers (number 5, December 1990) reached the top 5, achieving triple platinum sales, and four top 100 singles here. Between 1990 and 1995, Margaret notched up 11 top 100 singles in Australia.
"Second Best" - as it's titled on the album and spine and back inlay card on the CD single, was also titled "(I Don't Want to Be) Second Best" on the front cover of the CD single. Such inconsistencies annoy me! It was the third single lifted from Margaret's second solo studio album Chameleon Dreams (number 5, September 1992), following "Boy in the Moon" (number 21, September 1992) and "Human Race" (number 55, January 1993).
Internationally, "Second Best" peaked at number 39 in New Zealand in May 1993. In Australia, the single performed strongest in Western Australia, where it reached number 100 on the state chart.
Despite being a radio-friendly artist (when Australian radio was rather 'safe'), I don't recall hearing "Second Best" on the radio at the time, which probably hampered its success.
Margaret sadly passed away in August 2022, aged 57, after a two and a half year illness with an unspecified type of cancer. She had worked as a music teacher in a school in New South Wales since abandoning her recording/performing career in the late 1990s. Margaret said in an interview on being a teacher that she enjoyed being anonymous again.
We'll next see Margaret in September 1993.
Number 136 "How Does It Feel?" by Electroset
Peak: number 132
Peak date: 22 March 1993
Weeks in top 150: 4 weeks
Top 150 chart run: 136-137-132-138
Electroset were Alex Bell and James Diplock, whom we saw under the name of Hyper Go Go in October 1992. "How Does It Feel?" prominently samples the "how does it feel, tell me now how do I feel" lines from New Order's "Blue Monday" (number 13, August 1983); a version of which we saw bubble under in 1991. The music video also features snippets of New Order's "Blue Monday 1988" (number 3, June 1988) video. The song also samples the riff from The Prodigy's "Everybody in the Place", which we saw bubble under in June 1992.
Internationally, "How Does It Feel?" peaked at number 27 in the UK in November 1992.
I didn't hear this one at the time, but it appeared on a UK VHS compilation I digitised over a decade ago.
Electroset released another single, "Sensation", in the UK in 1995, which samples INXS' "New Sensation" (number 8, June 1988), but it did not receive an Australian release.
Number 147 Seafood EP by Chocolate Starfish
Peak: number 114
Peak date: 15 March 1993
Weeks in top 150: 5 weeks
Top 150 chart run: 147-114-121-121-143
Weeks on chart: 8 weeks
Aussie band Chocolate Starfish formed in Melbourne in 1992. The Seafood EP was their debut release, containing six tracks, one of which is a 12" version of another. A music video was filmed for "On This Day", the first track on the EP, which I have embedded below.
The EP performed strongest on the Victoria/Tasmania state chart, where it reached number 44; its next-highest state chart peak was number 156, in New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory. ARIA initially placed the Seafood EP on the albums chart, where it spent a solitary week at number 181 on 8 February 1993, before entering the singles chart the following week at number 178. The Seafood EP peaked higher nationally on the Australian Music Report singles chart, where it reached number 62.
Although I live in Victoria, I wasn't aware of Chocolate Starfish until their next release, a cover version of Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" (number 1 for two weeks in February 1973 on the Go Set chart). Chocolate Starfish's version of "You're So Vain" (number 11, September 1993) gave them their commercial breakthrough, and highest-charting single. Only "In Me" from the Seafood EP made its way onto the band's debut album Chocolate Starfish (number 2, April 1994), but the song is 20 seconds shorter on the album than on the EP, so I am guessing it was re-recorded.
Somehow, I didn't realise what the band's name meant until several years later... The band's guitarist, Zoran Romic, died from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2012.
We'll next see Chocolate Starfish in 1994.
Bubbling WAY down under:
Number 155 "Nothing Can Bring Me Down" by The Dukes
Peak: number 155
Peak date: 8 March 1993
Weeks on chart: 5 weeks
Aussie band The Dukes formed in Sydney in 1991, and were originally called Sean Kelly and The Iron Dukes. The band's line-up included former Models singer Sean Kelly on lead vocals, and Geoffrey Stapleton of GANGgajang.
"Nothing Can Bring Me Down" was the third single released from the band's only album Harbour City (number 88, December 1992). It followed "Gonna Get High" (number 60, July 1992) and "Faith" (number 29, November 1992), which were moderate chart hits. Although "Gonna Get High" only managed to creep into the national top 60, it was quite popular in Western Australia, reaching number 9 on the state chart. Its next-highest state chart peak was number 42 in South Australia/Northern Territory.
"Nothing Can Bring Me Down" was most popular in South Australia/Northern Territory, where it reached number 123 on the state chart.
The band's trumpet player, Kevin Dubber, fortunately uploaded the music video for "Nothing Can Bring Me Down" to YouTube, but was certain that the single did not receive a commercial release, as he posted in the comments on the video. Well, sometimes artists get it wrong, and this did actually receive a commercial release, or else it would not have been able to chart (back when our chart was 100% based on sales).
The Dukes managed one further minor 'hit' with their version of "I Fought the Law" (number 88, May 1993), recorded for the Reckless Kelly soundtrack album (number 22, April 1993) - not to be confused with Australian former political advisor and probable rapist Bruce Lerhmann's karaoke rendition of the song. The song was added to a re-released version of the Harbour City album.
The Dukes disbanded in early 1994.
Number 158 "Will You Be There" by Fischer-Z
Peak: number 153
Peak date: 22 March 1993
Weeks on chart: 6 weeks
We saw English band Fischer-Z (pronounced 'fish's head') in 1989.
"Will You Be There" was the lead single in Australia from the sixth Fischer-Z studio album Destination Paradise (released in Australia in May 1993, did not chart). Internationally, "Will You Be There" peaked at number 95 in Germany in November 1992. In Australia, the single performed strongest in Queensland, where it reached number 135 on the state chart.
I hadn't heard this one before, but liked it. "Will You Be There" was the last Fischer-Z single to chart in Australia, although they had one later low-charting album with The Best (number 172, June 1996).
Number 193 "What's in a Word" by The Christians
Peak: number 193
Peak date: 8 March 1993
Weeks on chart: 1 week
We last saw English band The Christians in 1990.
"What's in a Word" was the lead single from the band's third studio album Happy in Hell (number 143, March 1993). Internationally, the single peaked at number 33 in the UK in September 1992, number 38 in the Netherlands in October 1992, number 60 in Germany in November 1992, and number 17 in France in December 1992.
In Australia, "What's in a World" was most popular in New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory, where it reached number 174 on the state chart. The single was released locally on 25 January 1993, and took more than a month to register on the chart.
I hadn't heard "What's in a Word" until writing this post, but liked it a lot. I think this could have done much better on the chart if it had received decent promotion.
"What's in a Word" appears to have been The Christians' last single released in Australia. The band released a compilation album The Best of the Christians in late 1993, but it does not appear to have been released in Australia. The band's lead singer, Garry Christian, released a solo album Your Cool Mystery in 1997, which was not released locally. Founding member Roger Christian died from a brain tumour in 1998, aged 38. The Christians have continued recording and releasing music, with their most-recent studio album We being released in 2015.
Number 194 "Understand This Groove" by Frankë
Peak: number 194
Peak date: 8 March 1993
Weeks on chart: 1 week
Now this release has a convoluted history. Originally released in 1990 under the name of "Understand This Groove (I Really Love You)", credited to UFI or The U.F.I. (short for Universal Funk Industry) featuring Franke (no umlaut), this single peaked at number 148 (number 113 on the compressed chart) in the UK in March 1990.
The single was remixed and re-released in 1992, as separate UFI (no featuring credit) and Frankë (note the umlaut) releases, as just "Understand This Groove". The Frankë in question was American singer Frankë Pharoah, who hailed from Arkansas. The 1992 UFI version peaked at number 131 (number 97 on the compressed chart) in the UK in October 1992, while the Frankë release peaked at number 60 in the UK in November 1992.
In Australia, we only got the Frankë version. The single performed strongest in New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory, where it reached number 175 on the state chart.
I wasn't aware of this track in 1993, but caught the video in the last quarter of 1994 on the short-lived Hitz TV, a spin-off of the Melbourne dance music youth-orientated temporary licence radio station Hitz FM.
We'll see Frankë again in May 1993.
Number 200 "Heartbeat" by The Grid
Peak: number 188
Peak date: 22 March 1993
Weeks on chart: 3 weeks
English duo The Grid last joined us in 1990.
"Heartbeat" was the third single released from The Grid's second studio album 456 (number 199, March 1993). It followed "Boom!" (released locally in October 1991) and "Figure of Eight" (released locally in September 1992), neither of which charted in Australia.
Internationally, "Heartbeat" peaked at number 72 in the UK in October 1992. In Australia, the single performed strongest in Western Australia, where it reached number 165 on the state chart.
We shall see The Grid bubble under once more, in 1995. Before then, The Grid had their commercial breakthrough in Australia with "Swamp Thing" (number 3, September 1994), and followed it up with two further top 100 singles, "Rollercoaster" (number 59, October 1994) and "Texas Cowboys" (number 74, January 1995). "Texas Cowboys" was originally released in Australia in November 1993, and entered the chart at number 186 on 15 November 1993. It was re-issued locally in November 1994, after the success of "Swamp Thing".
We shall see The Grid once more, in 1995.
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