I'm sorry but I always found this song to be rather annoying, in fact it's part of the sub-genre from around this time I've dubbed as nursey pop. Basically, it's a song so childish and precocious that it can easily be mistaken for a nursey rhyme, which I'm sure was what made this type of track a success back in the day. Surprisingly, this was so huge that it managed to crossover to Europe and even top the UK charts.
I have no idea why this signature track from the Rocky horror picture show became a hit five years after the success of the theatrical adaptation, I'm guessing it was due to the scene in Fame where the characters referenced the scene that this song takes place in the film which reminded us Aussies about how awesome the song was. It became one of the biggest hits of the decade as a result, and to be fair it's not the only time and older album found success much later here than it did internationally.
This was already becoming a huge success during the final months of John Lennon's lifetime, although it's hard to deny that this song's true success came from the aftermath of his senseless assassination performed by someone who quite frankly doesn't deserve to be named on this site. Regardless of how you feel about him in retrospect, there's no denying that how he died was a tragedy and that no one deserves to go the way he did.
To think that this is the biggest hit in the Rolling stones career in Australia, granted this is mainly due to a lack of competition this song had upon its initial release here as many of their other tracks had to fight with the likes of the Beatles and other artists from the height of the British invasion but still. At least it's a song that's still well remembered by the general public to this day.
It's strange to think that Barbra Streisand's biggest hit in her career is neither a duet nor from one of her films, that's basically describes the rest of her catalogue, most of it being a combination of these two factors. That said I guess you can make the argument this is a collaboration with the Bee gees given how the Brothers Gibb do provide backup vocals on this track and the album it came from.
This remains the biggest hit in Cliff Richard's career in Australia, although I guess if we were going with sales then technically his remake of his debut single from later in the decade would claim that prize. In any case we have the crooner score a massive hit with this upbeat track right around the time MTV first launched proving he was still hip with the kids when the music scene drastically changed.
With a premise as arrogant as the one on display with this band's signature track, you'd think they'd be all bark and no bite much like most modern indie artists. Fortunately, not only is this track one of the more iconic hit singles to emerge from this year, but the rest of their catalogue follows suit with them not conforming to the trends of early MTV (for the most part that is.) That didn't stop these guys from calling it quits the following year so that Adam could pursue a solo career.
This was the only hit single that the NZ trio the Swingers were able to achieve in Australia, although they did achieve a second hit in their homeland with "It ain't what you dance, it's the way you dance it" so it's not like this is their only legacy over there. This is another novelty track whose popularity came from how incessantly catchy the song is, seriously try getting this out of your head if you can.
It's easy to forget that this was the second single from Men at work's debut album Business as usual given how it's overshadowed the actual lead single "Who can it be now" over the years, it's easy to see how it did so given that it's one of the first songs people think of when they think of an iconic Australian song. Another fun fact about this is that it helped the band become the first to top the Billboard and UK charts simultaneously with a song and album.
This was among the first songs whose music video was banned, although not by MTV as the video for this title track of Olivia's biggest album in her career was banned in her native UK due to its shameless depiction of body shaming. The song is a bop to this day; however, most people have described it as a body shaming anthem due to the (admittedly offensive) visuals in the video.
To think that this E.P was the only notable success these guys had on the Australian charts, although seeing as though it contains live renditions of two of their more iconic songs "Whip it" and "Girl you want," I guess you can consider this entry to be for those two tracks even though this is why they were popular here.
Well, this song seems to have come out of nowhere, Slim Dusty is best known for being one of the very first Australian artists to achieve any form of success in the music industry back in the 50's with his hit single "A pub with no beer." Fast forward over thirty years and he scored a surprise hit with this track he performed on Countdown which even the kiwis found amusing as it was a moderate success over there as well.
This is one of my favourite songs of the decade, to think that this was originally a song from Jackie Deshannon from several years earlier only for Kim Carnes to make it her own with her raspy vocals. This was such a success that the Hollywood legend wrote a letter of thanks to everyone involved in its creation for immortalising her as a pop culture legend (as if she wasn't already by this point.)
I haven't seen the film this duet is named after, although if its anything like this collaboration between Lionel Richie and Diana Ross then all I can say is that it certainly lives up to its reputation of being endless boredom. I'm sorry but I'm not a fan of this duet at all, sure the two artists have chemistry with each other and I'm sure it still has its fans to this day, but I don't get the hype behind this ballad.
While I'm sure there were people at the time who considered this cover to be in poor taste given how Roxy music recorded and released this mere months after John Lennon's assassination, they did make it clear that it was a tribute to the late Beatle and that they weren't trying to cash in off his sudden death. This incidentally was the first hit the band had in Australia despite how big Bryan Ferry was in the 70's.
One of the more bizarre trends of the decade was that of the mashup single, granted there weren't as many as the decade would have you believe but when one became popular, it tended to make a huge splash in the mainstream like this medley from Dutch group Stars on 45. This was so popular that it even managed to become a hit in America, although for some reason they called themselves Starsound in the UK.
This was the debut single for one of the more prominent bands to emerge from Australia, I feel that people tend to forget that "Down under" was the second single from this band given how it's easily eclipsed everything else in their catalogue with how iconic it's become over the years. This managed to top the Billboard charts the following year despite it only getting to number two here.
So, this is another song that fits into the sub-genre I've dubbed as nursery pop as this sounds like it was built off the melody of a nursery rhyme before becoming a pop tune. Despite this I find myself enjoying this track due to how playful Sheena sounds on this track, and it appears most of the world shares this sentiment as it became a huge worldwide success albeit after having its name changed to avoid confusion with the Dolly Parton track.
This was the debut single from one of my favourite pop stars of the decade, mainly because of how much I adore how well her vocals compliment the new wave production on each of her tracks. It appears the general public agreed as she saw massive success during the first half of the decade here in Australia, arguably more so than her native UK where her songs weren't as successful.
It looked like that the Game would only produce one hit single for Queen, that changed when the band released this as the albums fourth single which thanks to its funky bassline, was able to become their second consecutive chart topper on Billboard as well as a massive hit throughout the rest of the world.
So Carly Simon was still able to find success going into the 80's, admittedly there was every indication that she would be one of the most popular artists of the decade had MTV not launched this year and ruined her chances at replicating the success she had throughout the 70's. I also have to admit that outside of her magnum opus "You're so vain," I've never been that much of a fan of her music.
Although Stevie Wonder did have moderate success with "You are the sunshine of my life" in Australia back in 1973, this was the first hit single of his to see massive success here likely due to how lush the track remains to this day. Indeed, this led to his final decent album (according to his diehard fans that is) to be a huge success for him here given how inescapable this was.
You better believe this song managed to become a huge hit in Australia and NZ with this cover to promote the song, that should tell you how well loved this breakthrough single is for Canadian band Loverboy and how it's endured over the years as an oldie classic. Their big breakthrough in America was their next big hit "Working for the weekend" which sadly didn't do as well in the southern hemisphere.
I've never particularly cared for this track from Blondie, mainly because I feel that Debbie is high while on this track which I'm guessing was the point given the nature of the lyrics. Naturally I'm in the minority as this was not only a massive success for the band back in the day but it's also persisted on oldies stations to this day thanks to the reggae beat and for Debbie's vocals.
This was the song where people began to question Sting's capabilities as a songwriter, after all he references Nabokov and feels the need to mispronounce his name in order to fit the rhyme scheme he had. Fortunately, most people don't pay much attention to the lyrics when listening to the trio's music as the core appeal of the band is Sting's vocals as well as the strong instrumentation from the other two.
This was the big hit off of Billy Field's debut album, although in NZ that honour goes to the title track from Bad habits likely due to the kiwis preferring the lounge ambience of that track over this breakup ballad from him. You'd think that with all of this success that Billy would go on to massive success this decade, you'd sadly be very wrong as his popularity died off with his next album.
This proved to be a huge comeback success for Rick Springfield as it had been exactly ten years since he last troubled the charts anywhere in the world with his hit single "Speak to the sky," although it's worth noting that his newfound popularity was likely due to his role in General hospital which was taking the world by storm when this song became a hit for him. Many people feel this to be the unofficial prequel to the Cars hit single "Best friend's girl."
This was another huge success for the Police due to the strength of their musicianship, although it appears that Sting's songwriting had significantly improved on this track as I haven't seen anyone criticise it in any way over the years. This was from their penultimate album which was admittedly not as successful as the two albums it was sandwiched in between.
This was the first hit single that Mondo Rock managed to achieve in Australia, this is noteworthy because the last time lead singer Ross Wilson had any success here was as the lead vocalist for his previous group Daddy Cool from the first half of the 70's. Here he trades the pub rock from his old band for new wave for this band which helped him find massive success down under with this band.
There were plenty of rockabilly throwback artists to make it big throughout the 70's and 80's, by far the most successful (at least in the UK) was Shaking Stevens who achieved overwhelming success with his attempts at being the Welsh equivalent of 50's Elvis Presley. This was the first of his many hits in the UK, which just happens to be his biggest hit in Australia to boot.
This was indeed a good year for Shaking Stevens as his second single proved to be equally as big as his first single despite this being an original track while his earlier entry was a cover of a 50's rockabilly tune. I guess this is the formula to his release schedule, mixing up his original tracks with covers of songs in order to provide old and new experiences for his audience.
Even though they were among the most popular bands going into the 80's, Dr Hook's popularity in Australia was quickly diminishing save for this upbeat ballad which managed to become a hit for them around the time they released their greatest hits package. They did score a second hit later in the year (which we'll get to) proving that their time in the spotlight wasn't quite over yet here.
This was the first solo single to come from Phil Collins, it's a song that's had many theories to it as people believe this to be about Phil outing out a fan of his who allowed someone to drown when they had an opportunity to save that person. I think this is one of the more ridiculous fan theories in music as there's been no proof that this even ever occurred, and people are basing it on very vague lyrics.
This is another song I would describe as a nursery pop number, mainly because of how chipper both the melody and the Irish family group are during the song's runtime. This was all set to be a flop here in Australia despite how big the girls were in NZ and their native UK, however a memorable performance of this song on Countdown helped it become a surprise hit for them months after its initial release.
These guys had been active in the industry for over a decade before they finally score their first hit anywhere in the world with this soft rock classic, I guess even back in the day there was no age limit to when you could find success for the first time as most bands would've given up by this stage of their careers. These guys would score a second hit later in the decade with "Can't fight this feeling."
This was a very good year for Jona Lewie as this was his second big hit following the success of his pseudo-Christmas track "Stop the Calvary" (which we'll get to in a bit.) I always got this guy confused from Kevin Roland from Dexy's midnight runners as the two men looked similar to me for some reason, although this guy was way cheesier than Kevin could ever hope to be.
This was the only notable success that Billy Squier had here in Australia, I'm guessing because his other big hit in his native America had that infamously terrible music video which prevented anyone from taking his discography seriously. This is another sexually charged track to become a hit back in the day, in this case him wanting to stroke you is the type of foreplay that generally isn't PG 13.
This was originally a hit for Merilee Rush in the late 60's, so Juice Newton had a lot to prove with her rendition which obviously she was able to when it became a massive worldwide hit for her. It turns out she performed this track on Countdown which is why it became much bigger here in Australia than most parts of the world, this no doubt led to her second hit which is still to come on this list.
Here's that Christmas track I mentioned from earlier on this list, indeed this was written to be a Christmas chart topper in Jona's native UK despite it failing to become as such over there. I think this wound up being a bigger hit here due to us Aussies connecting with the lyrics better, that or it being a perfect candidate for what I've dubbed nursey pop due to the simplistic melody.
Kelly Marie was a Scottish pop star who scored her one and only hit throughout Europe with this disco track that was originally meant for the king of rock and roll himself Elvis Presley, that should explain why she's singing like him on the track. Here in Australia, this was her second big hit as she previously saw success with "Make love to me" just as the 70's was beginning to wind down.
Well, what's this? We have an upbeat track from Rod Stewart, and it also serves as the lead single from one of his albums as well as its title track. OK so that's only true if you're from Australia as "Young Turks" was the lead single from the album in most parts of the world, however we Aussies went a different direction by making this track the lead single which resulted in both songs being a success here.
Split Enz was on a roll as they were able to achieve massive success with the lead single to their album Corroboree/Waiata, an album which was meant to pay respect to the traditional owners of the lands of Australia and NZ despite the album not having any political tracks on there. The band would continue to spark international interest that failed to translate to actual success worldwide.
It was a collaboration that could've only been made by the rock gods themselves, we have David Bowie and Queen teaming up for a song about how times were tough in the 80's and that everyone seemed to be living under pressure. The song was an instant success for both parties involved and helped Queen overcome an otherwise rocky album that was panned by critics for its weird experimentation.
This was the other big hit that John Lennon was able to score from Double fantasy this year, although I reckon it has a similar melody to another track from a few years prior called "We do it" from R and J Stone that was a massive hit here in Australia. Naturally no one seemed to care about the similarities given how this was the first song released posthumously from the former Beatle.
This was the final hit single that ELO were able to achieve in most parts of the world, presumably because fans felt it was a return to form with their more operatic catalogue after two albums of disco hits. After this they struggled to find mainstream relevancy due to them not fitting in with MTV, this was a fate shared by many prog bands of the 70's despite their music being melodramatic enough for the era.
These women were on a roll in Australia as they were able to score another massive hit with this ballad about wanting to take it slow in a sexual relationship, it appears that our stigma towards music of colour was finally long gone by the 80's even without the assistance of MTV promoting black artists. The trio would go on to have massive success this decade, although mostly through their upbeat tracks.
This was the debut single for a man who was promised so much success this decade between this and his earlier entry on this list, as I said this was an even bigger hit in NZ proving that there was plenty of crossover appeal for Billy's lounge music that sadly didn't end up coming to be after this year. I guess he was deemed to kitschy during a time where Barry Manilow and the Captain and Tennille were superstars.
Although they had success prior to this song becoming their first top ten hit in Australia, this is the point where they went from a mere pub rock band into a huge household name here that had them spark international interest in them. Indeed, this track about wanting a relationship to continue even after its clearly over was a minor success over in NZ and even allowed the album to be a hit over there.
This was the first major hit that John Swan was able to score here in Australia, I'm guessing this became a hit for two reasons. The first was that it's a pub rock cover of the Bobby Darin classic from the 60's and the second was that he's the older brother of Cold Chisel front man Jimmy Barnes who was scoring massive success around this time with his own music. He would score another hit the following year with "Lady what's your name."
This was originally a hit here in Australia a good six months before it finally crossed over to the band's native UK, I guess Countdown came to the rescue again as I'm confident this ballad from PH. D would've never been a success anywhere in the world had it not been promoted on the show. If the vocalist on this track sounds familiar to you, you probably recognise him for his big solo hit "I should've known better" from later in the decade.
This was the winner of Eurovision for this year, boy howdy did the marketing want you to know that as it's impossible to find album art for this song that doesn't mention that it one Eurovision this year. It's easy to see how this British band won as they were effectively a British version of Abba and Abba was still one of the most popular bands throughout Europe even leading up to their breakup.
Oh, wow is this song way too catchy for its own good, this was the only notable success that Renee Geyer was able to achieve in her career likely due to it being a cover of an Eddy Grant track from before he became a household name. This was an even bigger success over in NZ which no doubt inspired international interest in Renee that sadly never translated to actual worldwide success.
This was the only notable success that Phil Seymour had in his career, admittedly this sounds completely different from everything else that got popular this year as this would've felt more at home several years prior. Australia was the only country in the world to make it a hit for what it's worth.
This was one of two hits that Midge Ure scored throughout the world this year, the other being with his other band Ultravox which wasn't as big a hit as this was (though stay tuned for it later on this list.) This was his more Avant Garde hit of the two likely due to him wanting to cash in off the success that Kate Bush and Lene Lovich had with their material from around this time.
I guess if there was a song that could tan gently be about the rights of first nation people, this would be it as while the lyrics are directly about coming out of a bad relationship, they can easily refer to how history has been unkind to these minority groups and how they don't have to worry about it repeating itself. It was a huge hit for the band regardless of what the meaning of the lyrics are.
This was the second big hit to come from Chemistry, the album that Mondo rock released this year which restored Ross Wilson's popularity in the music industry after almost a decade of silence from him. Here we have a song about how he's going to try and thaw the love of a woman he's interested in but is giving him the cold shoulder, it seems desperate until you realise that she's clearly playing hard to get.
Yeah, I'm still not convinced that the disco backlash was a thing outside of America given how this managed to be a huge success for the Jackson 5, heck this was even a hit in their native America which really makes me wonder how much impact that fiasco had back in the day. This would be the family's penultimate hit in Australia as they would score one more hit later in the decade with Mick Jagger.
This is likely the first hip hop song that many people heard of back in the day, after all it was technically the first song to top the Billboard charts that has rapping in it even though I've heard versions of this song which takes out Debbie's rap verse. If nothing else, at least America can take comfort in the fact that a woman became the first person to have a number one hit there with this genre.
This was the theme song to the film of the same name, a film that happened to be Dolly Parton's acting debut which garnered her critical acclaim for her performance as well as a Golden globe nomination for her role. The film remains a classic to this day as it's a perfect display of female empowerment as her, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin overthrow their sexist boss after refusing to give into his sexual demands.
This was the second hit that Kim Wilde was able to score here and in her native UK, the latter was because the Brits looked after their own throughout the 80's whilst the former was due to a memorable performance of it and her earlier entry on Countdown. Indeed, she was well liked during her first time on the show, which would explain how she scored two more hits the following year that weren't that big in her homeland.
This was the only hit that Jimmy and the boys managed to achieve during their time together, although they did so with by far their most normal sounding song as the band were known back in the day for being rather androgynous and no doubt a favourite among the Australian LGBT community. This is hands down the least queer track in their catalogue, which is perhaps why it was such a hit for them.
This was the only hit that country star Eddie Rabbitt was able to achieve here in Australia, likely because this was a Billboard chart topper for him but also due to how incessantly catchy this is compared to the rest of his catalogue. This was a surprisingly good time for country music given how disco had begun to lose its popularity, although country would follow suit once MTV launched this year.
Given how the Rolling Stones were back on top of the charts here in Australia, I guess it makes sense that the bassist Bill Wyman would score a massive hit here with this track about how he's a rock star which he curiously sings in French about during each chorus. I guess the novelty of him wanting to be as recognisable as Mick Jagger and Keith Richards allowed this to be a success here and in NZ.
This was the last hit that these guys had here in Australia before they broke up so that Adam Ant could pursue a solo career the following year, I guess it retains their bombastic sound that they promised from earlier on the list even though the visuals in the video are far wackier than they have any right to be. They did score a couple of more hits in their native UK before they broke up for what it's worth.
Here we are with the lead single to the band's third and final album, naturally it was a continuation from their earlier sound but with them appealing to the early MTV crowd months prior to when the program would launch later in the year. This was likely a success here for two reasons, the first was that they performed it and "Antmusic" on Countdown this year and the second was that it and their previous entry were both chart toppers in their native UK.
This was the only hit that the Bureau managed to achieve during their short time together, although I get the feeling they called it quits due to them failing to score a hit in their native UK. I'm surprise this wasn't a hit over there considering how popular ska reggae was around this time, in fact I'm even more surprised this was a hit down under considering how Madness had yet to score a hit here.
This was that other big hit that Dr Hook managed to score this year, although given how it's the story of an Irish settler in Australia that was apparently written in the first half of the century, I get the feeling this was the band's thanks for us having them be one of the biggest bands of the 70's as it was unsurprisingly released exclusively here and nowhere else in the world.
This was a stellar year for Shaking Stevens who managed to score a third hit throughout the world, although this time it's with a cover of a very well-known staple of the 50's given how the original was one of the biggest hits of the decade for Jim Lowe in 1956. Shaky would have one more hit the following year with "Oh Julie" before his time in the spotlight came to an end here in Australia.
If I had to pick a favourite track from these guys, this would be it as it's by far the bounciest song in their catalogue as well as it being an ode to the ladies who were admittedly their biggest demographic back in the day. Their next song would be their sole Billboard chart topper, although it's also the point where they became more popular in America than they did in Australia (stay tuned for it.)
Suzi Quatro had been seeing diminishing returns in her popularity since her second album in Australia, mainly because she quickly drifted away from glam rock and into a more contemporary sound as the 70's went on. Here she returned to her glam roots which got her one final hit here in Australia before she was once again seen as yesterday's news as she failed to adapt to the MTV era of music.
This was the other big hit that Midge Ure had this year worldwide, and it's the song that was blocked from the UK top spot with Joe Dolce's hit from the start of the list which angered a lot of people back in the day. It seems appropriate that it would be a hit down under, although it wasn't nearly as successful as you'd think given how it's endured over the years as well as Midge Ure's reputation in music.
This was the debut single for one of the more popular bands to come out of the 80's, although this was originally attached to a soundtrack to a film about a drug addict coping with their day-to-day struggles. It was an instant hit for the band likely due to how well Chrissie Amphlett sells the subject matter of the song and film on this track, it was even included on their debut album on its international release.
This was the only hit either artist involved was able to achieve in Australia, although Stevie Nicks did see a ton more success with her albums and during her time with Fleetwood mac, so we at least knew who she was. Tom Petty on the other hand had less success here back in the day, sure his songs have popped up on oldies stations, but none of them found much success and his albums weren't big either.
It seems odd that George Harrison would be the only member of the Beatles to record a tribute for John Lennon following his death from the previous year, although I guess both Paul and Ringo still had complicated feelings about him around this time given how they never made up with him during his lifetime following the bands demise. George would disappear from the music industry for a while before coming back in 1987.
Well, this is the trio's commentary of how songwriting had become stagnant in the music industry, let's just say Sting wasn't in a position to be making these claims considering even at the time people were calling into question his songwriting skills. The point of the song is to showcase how songs had begun to heavily rely on catchy choruses, this having a copout chorus to force audiences to pay attention to the verses.
This was the debut single for one of the most popular bands of the decade, although it's worth noting that this video is rather ordinary compared to the rest of their videography which perhaps explains why it was only a hit in Australia as there weren't any flash visuals to go with the bombastic track. True to the name of the song, this is a pro earth song made during the height of the cold war.
Given how MTV had taken over the mainstream, it only makes sense that this art rock track from Johnny Warman would be a huge success when it was. With that said, it's little wonder that it hasn't endured the test of time given how it seemed to be tailor made for the launch of the program and little else.
This was originally a hit for the French trio Gibson brothers just as the decade was starting throughout Europe, I guess we Aussies weren't interested in it at first due to it coming off as a bit too silly for us. We changed our minds a year later likely due to us wanting to support disco whenever we could given how to this day, Americans will claim that the disco backlash of 1979 forever killed the genre.
This was the other big hit that Mental as anything were able to score this year, it's not quite as silly as their earlier entry as it seems to be a role reversal of that situation which makes this a roundabout hit from the album both songs came from. The band would see a quiet period for a while as their next album underperformed on the charts, however they came back strong than ever in 1985.
This was a surprise hit here in Australia, at least it would've been were it not for the fact that the American duo performed this on Countdown as part of some competition that the show had this year. You'd be amazed how many of these songs that history has forgotten about became big due to the show over the years.
Well, here's that other hit that Juice Newton managed to score in Australia this year, this time it's a cover of a Dave Edmunds track from a few years prior which in addition to it being a bouncy number is likely why it found success here for the country singer. Although these two songs on this list were the full extent of her popularity in Australia, she found further success in her native America as the decade went on.
Just a heads up that I'll be having a bunch of two for one deal entries on this site as there were quite a few singles that were bundled together here in Australia to help boost their popularity. In any case we have our first entry which was the second and third singles from Back in black which managed to become the band's second top ten hit in the decade due to how well fondly remembered both tracks are to this day.
This was the first song that Icehouse released once they changed their name to match that of their debut album, indeed this feels like a bonus track from their now self-titled album as they released this purely to tie fans over to their second album which is where their international appeal was finally met.
This was the first of two hits that Fischer Z achieved this decade, although their second hit wouldn't come until eight years after this was released as that was with "The perfect day" in 1988. This was due to the band briefly breaking up throughout the 80's despite them having massive worldwide success with this new wave ballad, although they obviously came back and have been going strong ever since.
Oh, wow was Stephanie Mills done dirty when Diana Ross replaced her in the theatrical adaptation of the Wiz, fortunately she was able to score a hit with her singing career this year shortly after Diana scored her own comeback with "Upside down" from the previous year. Who knows how much more popular she would've been if Diana hadn't have taken her opportunity to be a Hollywood legend.
Bet you didn't know that the Royal philharmonic orchestra had a hit single back in the day, did you? They did and it was with a song that was similar to what Stars on 45 released earlier on this list except instead of songs from the 50's and 60's, the orchestra recorded renditions of classical pieces. It was a surprise hit for them and allowed them to have a highly successful album which had more mashups from them.
This was the lead single to Australian crawl's biggest album Sirocco, it's a good representation of their music as while the music continues to captivate audiences to this day, people feel that James Reyne needed to learn to enunciate his vocals as they tend to have a hard time trying to figure out what he's trying to say. For what it's worth, the song is about how the person he's singing to is in denial with things going good for them.
This was one of two hits that British band the Quick were able to achieve here in Australia, this is curious considering they never had any success in their homeland and yet they scored two hits here during the early 80's. I'm guessing the Brits didn't care for their brand of new wave dance music, perhaps if they had a dance competition like we Aussies did throughout the 80's they would've had more success.
Karen Knowles was one of the stars of Young talent time throughout the 70's, so it only makes sense that she would see massive success with this ballad given how she was still a teenager when it was released as a single. It makes you wonder why she didn't have any success once she was all grown up.
In Australia, this was the second single from Abba's penultimate album Super trouper, I bring this up here because everywhere else it was the title track which was a massive UK chart topper for the Swedish foursome. This wasn't quite as huge here likely due to it not being among their more memorable tracks, however it was a hit proving that we Aussies still loved the band until the bitter end.
This was the only hit single that Christopher Cross was able to score in Australia, I'm guessing it was due to being a theme to the Dudley Moore flick Arthur which allowed it to win an academy award for best original song shortly into the new year. I haven't seen the original version, although I have seen the remake and if the original is anything like the remake, then it's a very overrated film.
Well, here's that Billboard chart topper I brought up earlier in the list, it was also Air supply's final hit here as we Aussies moved on from them in favour of fresher local talent that would dominate our music scene while they dominate the American scene. I guess if you want a song that perfectly sums up their entire catalogue, this would be it as it has lyrics about love that most find sappy set to a simple melody.
This was the last hit that Marcia Hines had here in Australia, although interestingly enough it was also her one and only hit throughout Europe likely due to the success that she had in NZ with "Something's missing" from the start of the decade. I guess she was all geared to take the world by storm but then MTV happened, and everyone wanted to support Diana Ross instead including her fellow Aussies.
There didn't seem to be any signs of Kenny Rogers slowing down in the mainstream as he had recruited Lionel Richie to write him his first Billboard chart topper from his second greatest hits package in a row. OK so it was his first greatest hits package in his native America as the first one he had was only released here in Australia as the 70's was coming to an end. He would struggle to retain his popularity during the MTV era.
If you want to know how Hall and Oates started finding success here in the 80's despite already finding massive success in their native America throughout the 70's, it's likely due to them appearing on Countdown to promote this track which helped it become a hit for the duo around the time it topped the Billboard charts for them. They would have more permanent success as the decade went on here with their next few chart toppers.
This was a bit of a sleeper hit here in Australia, although at least these guys had this one hit over here as they otherwise would've gone on unnoticed as opposed to the rest of the world where they had a string of hits. I'm guessing we Aussies gave them a chance due to the rise of the rockabilly revival that was taking place this year.
Contrary to popular belief, "True" wasn't the first hit that Spandau ballet had as they had released two albums prior to when their signature track became a hit worldwide. That honour goes to this song which became a decent sized hit for them here and in their native UK, although we Aussies wouldn't hear from the band again until they released their magnum opus two years later.
It's strange to think that this E.P is what would bring the Reels mainstream success here in Australia, although it does contain fan favourite "According to my heart" so perhaps it was the strength of that song that helped it reach a wider audience than the likes of "Quasimodo's dream" and "Love will find a way."
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