I wanted to do a follow up to my OZ Media list by covering the thirteen years prior to when those charts were calculated, the problem of course is that no such alternate charts exist which combines the ARIA and AMR charts of 1988-1992 (as well as there being no alternate charts here prior to that since the Go-set charts ended in 1974.) As such, I've decided to rank the biggest hits of the 80's and early 90's based on how long they charted here back in the day, this means I'll be including several songs which were sleeper hits here during that time that failed to make my official lists due to charting mostly outside of the top twenty here back in the day. As usual, any commentary from returning entries on this list have been unaltered as I feel the change of their placements on this list compared to my earlier lists should speak volumes as to how their success played out here upon their initial releases.
Although "Africa" was the big hit off of Toto's grammy award winning album IV, this was its lead single which was enough of a success here in Australia back in the day for it to be a sleeper hit for the band. This is another song that is more well known these days compared to many of the songs that managed to be bigger hits upon its initial release on this list thanks to oldies stations keeping it on rotation.
26 Weeks
OK this is a song that I've always had negative feelings towards due to how misguided the execution was, I will say that there were good intentions behind this song but unfortunately the way the song guilt trips its audience into buying it to support its cause rubbed people the wrong way and continues to do so to this day.
This was a happy ending for John Farnham who has spent most of his career as an adult musician in obscurity save for a few hit singles as the front man of the Little river band from earlier in the decade. This even managed to give him a second hit throughout most parts of the world almost two decades after his initial success "Sadie the cleaning lady."
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.
Given how tragedy struck the band during the midpoint of the decade with the death of one of its members, there was a very real possibility that this signature track of theirs and the album it came from never would've come into fruition had the band decided to call it quits once they lost their key member. Fortunately, the band soldiered on which resulted in this party jam coming into fruition for them and becoming their big breakthrough in their homeland of America.
Following the mediocre success of her self-titled album outside of Australia (it was a huge hit down under due to heavy promotion on Countdown) Madonna decided to go bit with her second album by working with Nile Rogers of Chic fame on this track he originally wrote from the perspective of a guy. Needless to say, she made it her own and it became one of her several signature songs over the years.
So Cocktail isn't a good movie, granted I'm no Tom Cruise fan but I can tolerate him in films such as Rain man and A few good men provided the story is as good as those flicks. I guess the saving grace from the film is that it did revive the career of the Beach boys following a long dry spell from the mainstream (save for a medley of theirs from earlier in the decade.) Even then, there's people who don't think this song was worth their revived popularity.
If there was one band who promoted the idea of diversity in the mainstream better than anyone else in the music industry, Culture club would be that band as everything about them (right down to their inception as a band) was built for the purpose of making the world a better place through acceptance of other people. It helps that the music throughout their discography was generally fun like their biggest hit.
Well regardless of what you think of this song (it has a great bassline even if Vanilla stole it from Queen to use for his weak rapping) you can't deny this songs achievement for becoming the first hip hop track to top the Billboard charts, thankfully both MC Hammer and Young MC topped the Australian charts before this did. It's a bit of a tragedy to see how quickly Robert's fall from grace was following this songs success.
So, for whatever reason, someone decided to do a mashup of "You're the one that I want," "Greased lightning" and "Summer nights" from the Grease soundtrack where it managed to become a massive success at the start of the decade. The DJ gave full credit to both stars of the film, and as such it recharted later in the decade when the 20th anniversary of the film was released.
Roxette are one of my favourite bands of all time, so to learn that they nearly never had a career outside of their native Sweden is a bit of a disappointment from me. Fortunately, with the help of a foreign exchange student, this third single from their sophomore album managed to find massive success in America which was then translated to the rest of the world for the duo.
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.
This was the final solo hit to come from George Harrison, although the success of this cover of the obscure track from James Ray did lead to him forming the supergroup the Travelling wilburys a year after its initial release. Apparently, he cut out a verse from the original which led to two things about this track, the first is that it changes the context of the lyrics and the second is that it makes this version more repetitive than the original. No wonder many people don't like this track.
Well this is the sellout to end all sellouts, we have a band who began their career as actual hippies now singing about how corporatised the world has become set to instrumentation that has since become synonymous with the mainstream pop rock of the 80's. I get what they were going for here, and to be honest if you ignore the hypocrisy on display, this is still an awesome track from one of the older acts on this list.
This is a cover of an obscure track from Gloria Jones from the mid 60's, although I don't think anyone would know that nowadays given how this English duo made the track their own at the dawn of the MTV era. It turns out there's two videos floating around out there to this classic, although I'm only familiar with the one that has the love sprites haunting the (possibly queer) man in the video as a metaphor for how sexually frustrated he is.
This was by far the biggest hit to come from Foreigner which is a bit of a shame because these guys are best known for their more energetic rock tracks such as "Urgent," "Cold as ice" and "Hot blooded." Admittedly their second biggest hit "Waiting for a girl like you" was also a soft rock ballad, so perhaps audiences were simply more interested in these guys expressing their sentimental side more than anything.
This was one of two big hits that Feargal Sharkey had in Australia, I bring this up here because this was written by Maria McKee (of "Show me heaven" fame) and that his other hit "You little thief" was written by her ex Benmont Tench which means this guy was singing the ups and downs of their relationship throughout his album. I'm guessing this is why said album was a commercial success for him.
Want to know something interesting about these guys? It turns out that they ruined the early crossover appeal that Roxette had with their album from around this time due to this being a huge success in the UK at their fellow Swede's expense. I guess it's easy to see how they did it given how this has become a sporting anthem over the years thanks to those iconic synths, and hey these guys did score a second hit on Billboard with "Carrie."
If you thought that artists fighting for aboriginal rights is a recent phenomenon, then allow me to introduce you to Goanna who were fighting the good fight four years prior to when Midnight oil gave the marginalised group their voice with Diesel and dust. Here they are with their one and only hit in Australia which admittedly led to them having a highly successful album before they sadly faded into obscurity.
Behold the one and only hit that Pink Floyd were able to achieve during their time together (OK so "Learning to fly" also charted in Australia but still) there was little doubt this was going to become a huge hit for the band given how instantly relatable the lyrics have been to every generation of children since its initial release. Even the video is amazing as it brings these lyrics to life through stylised animation that was later used in the album's theatrical adaptation.
These guys had been active in the music industry for well over a decade before they finally got a massive hit in the form of this classic, there was no way this was going to fail anywhere in the world given how it tells an interesting story about how the narrator knew a girl before she became a glamour model, or a centrefold as he refers to her as.
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.
This was the debut single for one of the more prominent bands this decade, I would say bands that emerged this decade except this came out just as the 70's came to an end in their native UK. Nowadays this song is best known for its usage in TV commercials, specifically that for the breakfast cereal Special K due to how the word special is used throughout its runtime.
So, the Party boys were a supergroup comprised of several big names in the Australian music scene who got their start earlier in the decade with a mixtape called Live at several 21st's. Fast forward four years and they score a massive hit with this cover of the John Kongos track that led to them sparking interest in the UK which didn't end up with much success there.
This is the ballad that serves as the emotional core of the film Beaches, were it not a cover of an obscure track from Roger Whitaker (of "The last farewell" fame) I'm sure it easily would've won an academy award for best original song for Bette Midler. This has sadly come under fire over the years due to the admittedly cheesy lyrics which divorced from the context of the film, are admittedly a lot to stomach.
Following his departure from Bronski beat, Jimmy Sommerville formed this duo and seemingly picked up where he left off two years prior with his first bands album Age of consent. Here he also recruits female vocalist Sarah Jane Morris in order to semi duet with him, presumably to give him an excuse to show off his falsetto throughout the track which in turn further strengthened his queer audience.
Although they found plenty of success with their albums up until this point in Australia, this was the first genuine hit that Simply red had here as none of their singles lit up our charts like this song did throughout the decade. Their success would continue to grow in the new decade as their next two albums would break records for them in their native UK.
If you didn't know, Rocky Burnette is the son of the late Johnny Burnette who had a string of hits in the early 60's until his untimely death in 1964. Fast forward nearly thirty years and we have his son scoring a massive hit with the type of rockabilly that made him a household name during the height of his career, making this a huge success as well as a touching tribute to Rocky's late father.
Even though Londonbeat were an American band, they were based in the UK when they released their first album which is why it took them a while to find success with this track in their native America this year. A big part of that was due to this becoming a huge hit in Australia, likely due to how they blended RNB with pop rock in a way that I'm surprised hasn't been replicated that often over the years.
Deborah Harry saw plenty of ups and downs throughout the previous decade, so to see her come out of it with the biggest hit of her solo career (in Australia at least) must have been reassuring for her that she would still be popular throughout the 90's. Alas that wasn't to be as while the album this came from was successful, her popularity dwindled out once the album cycle was done.
This was the second single from John Farnham's magnum opus Whispering jack, I guess this helped reassure everyone that "You're the voice" wasn't a fluke and that he was here to stay in the adult contemporary part of the music scene. The third single from the album "A touch of paradise" was a minor hit after this, which further cemented that he was back in the mainstream and not a flash in the pan.
Peter Blakeley must have been kicking himself when he initially broke away from the Rockmelons in order to pursue a solo career right before they made it big with their debut album. Fortunately for him, his own album was a massive success two years later thanks to this lead single which has no relation to the Elvis Presley track of the same name. His success was short lived; however, it was a huge success for him regardless.
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.
This was originally released the previous year in order to promote the show of the same name, for some reason this theme song only caught on in Australia once season two premiered. Regardless of when it caught on, it remains one of the most popular TV themes of all time due to how much of a success it was.
This was the debut single for Martika as well as her only hit in her native America as the rest of her catalogue sadly bombed on the Billboard charts. Fortunately, the rest of her catalogue was a huge success internationally likely due to her emotional vocals she gives on each of her tracks, this one in particular being the most emotional due to it being an ode to a fallen friend who died of a drug overdose.
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.
It was as if they never broke up in the first place, oh yeah Dragon had broken up back in the late 70's to allow lead singer Marc Hunter to pursue a solo career that brought him no success. In any case, we have the first hit of their since they reformed and it was as if they had released it immediately after their last big hit "Are you old enough," that's how much fans loved these guys but disliked Marc's solo career.
This cover of the Tommy James classic was originally released to deafening silence earlier in the decade for Billy Idol, however it was given a second chance when he performed it live later in the decade which compelled him to release this live recording where it became a huge success for him. This broke a unique record on Billboard when it replaced Tiffany's "I think we're alone now" at number one, namely that a cover replaced another cover of a track from the same artist.
This was originally released the previous year to deafening silence in Australia, I'm guessing because we hadn't got on board with the hip hop trend despite it being a hit for Young MC in his native America. It became a surprise hit this year likely due to the success of MC Hammer's classic from the start of the list, which allowed it to become the second hip hop track to top the Australian charts.
This was the lead single to Icehouse's biggest album Man of colours; it was also the first song from the band to crack the Billboard charts as the band had been gaining buzz throughout the decade due to their earlier work. This was a return to their new wave roots after some experimentation with their previous two albums, suffice to say that we Aussies knew what we wanted from these guys, and this was it.
This was a surprise hit for Toto coelo in America, I bring this up because they were a British band who failed in their native UK and yet they saw moderate success in America by altering their name to Total Coelo (likely to avoid confusion with Toto.) This allowed the band to find success here with a song that is indeed about eating cannibals.
While this wasn't John's first hit single in Australia as he did find success in the late 70's with "I need a lover," it was his first hit internationally thanks to how anthemic this track is as well as heartland rock in general being more successful in the 80's than it was in the 70's. No doubt this led to Bruce Springsteen seeing massive success later in the decade with his magnum opus Born in the U.S.A and its singles.
This was the first of three duets that Peabo Bryson managed to score success with worldwide, although it's also the only one of his duets that wasn't attached to a Disney property meaning this was made out of passion rather than accepting a commission from the house of mouse. Here he teams up with Roberta Flack a good decade after her final hit "Killing me softly with his song" where it became a huge hit throughout Europe.
Foreigner already had moderate success here in Australia with their albums from the 70's, mainly because they were one of the earlier international artists to perform on Countdown which gave them an advantage over other non-Australian artists that decade. Here they score their second biggest hit worldwide with the second single from their fourth album with a ballad that was a typical of their rock hits.
This was the third single to be released from Taylor's second album, it's a song that took a while to take off here as her earlier entry was a bit of a sleeper hit down under, however once it did it encouraged us Aussies to check out her album which in turn helped it become a huge success as well. She would return later in the decade with a cover of a Barry White track that would become her biggest hit here.
This was mean to be the lead single from Whitney's self-titled debut, however it was a huge flop for her given how it didn't come with a music video which was a death nail for songs released during the height of MTV. Once a video was shot, it was rereleased as the third single where it performed much better worldwide, likely due to it being a shoutout to her godmother which happens to be Aretha Franklin.
This was the debut album for one of the most popular EDM artists of the decade, although people will think that these guys are a one hit wonder with this song due to how prevalent it remains in sporting events due to the line "yall ready for this." This wasn't even their biggest hit as that honour goes to "No limit" from the following year, although this was a close second here in Australia.
This was a massive hit in Tom's native Canada towards the end of the previous year, even so there was no guarantee that this song would crossover given how he had been active in his homeland for almost two decades at this point without seeing any international success. His patience was rewarded when this became a huge international success likely due to heartland rock still being one of the most popular genres of the moment.
There wasn't any indication that Poison's second album would be a commercial success for them even in their native America, however they were off to a good start in Australia when the lead single became a huge success here due to it being seen as an anthem for the weekend like many rock tracks that make it big here. The albums popularity peaked when the third single "Every rose as its thorn" topped the Billboard charts.
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.
I have no idea why this song became a success this year in Australia, it would've made more sense it if were a hit last year as it was featured in not one but two highly successful films from Hollywood. Those films of course being Ferris Bueller's day off and The secret of my success which fun fact, this song soundtracks a montage of a car being showed off to the protagonist of the films in question.
This was the second hit that Limahl managed to achieve in his career, although his first hit was with his band Kajagoogoo so technically this was his only solo hit he achieved in his career. This is the theme song to the movie of the same name which is often described as one of the best kids' films of the decade due to its timeless themes and interesting visual style, the song is also considered one of the best themes of all time due to how catchy it is.
This was the breakthrough single for New order, a band who serves as a sequel act to Joy division following the death of that bands lead vocalist Ian Curtis. Curiously, this song became the biggest hit of the decade over in NZ due to its refusal to die on their charts, I know this song has a diehard fanbase, but I didn't realise it consisted of the majority of the general public of NZ from around this time.
While this wasn't their debut single here in Australia, it was the song which got them off the ground given how the first two singles from their self-titled album were huge flops here despite the band performing them on Countdown the previous year. Naturally this was chosen as the lead single internationally once the album got off the ground here, which is why it did much better internationally than it did here.
There were quite a few Irish tracks to make it big during the first half of the decade in Australia, one of the more popular ballads was this track about how the narrator of the song reminisces about knowing someone from when they were sixteen years old. I feel this song gets right what "My eyes adored you" and especially "You're sixteen" gets wrong, reminiscing about someone from when they were younger without coming off as creepy.
Years before he became one of the leading forces of the EDM scene, Fatboy slim was a member of Beats international who scored their only hit in Australia with this remix of the S.O.S Band's hit single "Just be good to me" from 1983. The original was a decent hit here in Australia back in the day, meaning that audiences had nostalgia for that track when the band decided to rework it as a smoky jazz number.
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 this was John Cougar's first massive success in NZ, it's only fitting this would be a decent success here in Australia even if said success was largely eaten up both by strong album sales as well as "Paper on fire" being said album's lead single. Still, this did stick around for quite some time which was impressive given how the heartland rocker had been active for a decade by this point.
This was the lead single to Human league's Dare album, an album that had an unusual release schedule as the second single "Open your heart" came out mere weeks before their earlier entry regardless of where in the world you're from and months after this lead single. The album was a success once "Don't you want me" became a huge hit here due to the members performing all three tracks on Countdown.
This came very close to making the cut for my 1988 list given how it did scrap the top ten here in Australia, alas it was pushed aside in favour of many of the entries which did make the cut for that list likely due to being released at different times across the country throughout that year. In any case, he did make a huge splash with this second single from his album down under thanks to how upbeat it is.
This was the final chart topper of the 80's in Margaret Urlich's native NZ, so it stands to reason that it would be a huge success here in Australia given how we Aussies weren't able to resist how rich her vocals were on this breakthrough track of hers. It turns out she was part of a band known as Peking man who had a number one hit in their homeland with a song that had a CGI video in 1985.
This was the first taste of success that Jenny Morris had throughout her career both here and her native NZ, indeed she was largely ignored in her homeland throughout the 80's even though she managed to achieve moderate success here with members of several Australian bands of the moment including the likes of Air supply and the Eurogliders at the height of both bands’ respective popularities.
As far as the world is concerned, John Denver hasn't had a hit since "Calypso" from 1975. That's mostly the case here in Australia as well, although he did manage to have a sleeper hit here thirteen years later with the lead single to his album Higher ground for reasons I can't seem to fathom as it's far from the country pop we're all used to from his catalogue.
It appears we Aussies couldn't entirely resist this showstopper from Chess given how it managed to chart for quite some time in the lower half of the charts during the midpoint of the 80's, although we certainly didn't have the same love for this duet that the kiwis and ESPECIALLY the Brits did upon its initial release as it was one of the biggest hits of the decade in the UK.
We've looked the debut single from Simply red on the NZ side of my site, so let's now look at the big breakthrough they had in America as this managed to chart for quite some time here in Australia despite never reaching the dizzying heights of success here it had on Billboard and in their native UK. I guess the kiwis weren't too fond of this ballad from the band which is odd given how sophistopop was in full swing over there by this point.
Now if you've come from my 1992 lists, this may seem like a completely different band than the one that appeared on those lists given the noticeable absence of Deni Hines on lead vocals. This is because the band was notorious for its different lineup changes as we have John Kenny on lead vocals with their breakthrough single which only became a success due to its refusal to die on our charts back in the day.
25 Weeks
These guys were already among the more popular bands of the 70's in Australia and their native NZ going into the 80's, however it was this single to their magnum opus True colours that made them a household name and even sparked international interest in them which resulted in this being one of the first songs to be played on MTV the following year. Not bad for a band whose gimmick centred around clowns.
This was the biggest hit in Billy Ocean's career in Australia, mainly due to it being the theme to Jewel of the Nile, which for the uninitiated is the sequel to Romancing the stone and is often considered to be an inferior film to its predecessor. I agree to an extent as this film isn't as funny or adventurous as the other flick, however it does still have plenty of heart and isn't too much of an Indiana Jones rip-off.
Many will tell you this is one of the worst covers to ever exist as it took an infectious disco track from the start of the decade and turned it into a bombastic new wave track, I don't agree with this assessment as though it's very different from the original, Pseudo echo do more than enough to make it their own without turning it into a gimmick. It is a shame this remains their one and only hit in the northern hemisphere but what are you going to do?
This was originally a hit for the Righteous brothers back in the mid 60's, however when this ballad was used in a steamy love scene with Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore in the comedy horror Ghost, it became a hit all over again as the scene turned the love ballad into a raunchy sex jam overnight.
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.
A song about de stigmatising sex in the mainstream becoming big this year? Well, colour me shocked as we have this all-female hip hop trio to thank for why sex prudes became rarer as the decade went on (OK so they were far from the leading cause of this happening but still.) Strangely the girls were still yet to find success in their native America, although their fortunes would change there with their next album.
This was the lead single to Phil Collin's acting debut Buster, a film that I haven't seen but from what I can gather is absolutely terrible and rightfully lost to the sands of history. I can't say I'm that impressed with this update of the Mindbenders track from the 60's, mainly because for a song with the word groovy in its title, there doesn't seem to be much of that on this track.
While the title track to Madonna's fourth album was uncontroversial enough, after all it's merely about her questioning her own faith in religion as is the rest of the album, it was the video that got her in a lot of hot water when she released it this year. Suffice to say, Pepsi backed out of their sponsorship of her tour given all of the negative press the video received this year.
While people have questioned whether or not Samantha Fox had any business being in the music industry over the years due to her vocals not being up to par with many of her contemporaries, I don't think the vast majority cared as A: she was smoking hot and likely awakened many people's sexual fantasies and B: the music she made was well crafted similar to her 90's Disney counterpart Britney Spears.
I guess we Aussies can breathe a sigh of relief by allowing a rapper of colour (even one as goofy as MC Hammer) to claim the prize of having the first hip hop chart topper on our charts over Vanilla ice like what happened in America. I think a part of why this happened was us somehow remembering the Rick James track this song heavily samples throughout its runtime in order to create the atmosphere he was going for.
I will say that as iconic as this song remains to this day, it does feel weird that it originally came from the Dick Tracy soundtrack given how out of place it feels on that album (save for all of the shout outs to Hollywood legends she has on this song.) This was sadly Madonna's final chart topper in Australia for exactly a decade, although that didn't stop her from having some of the bigger hits of the decade here.
Well, here's a song that had novelty written all over it and yet it managed to endure the test of time regardless, here's the breakthrough single for Mi-sex who were a NZ band looking to make it big in Australia so that they could take said success back home to their homeland. They struck big with this track given how the videogame industry had taken the world by storm by the time they released this as a single.
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 originally released as a Christmas track three years prior following the success of the duo's debut album in their native Sweden, there the song had a parenthesis that read "Christmas for the broken hearted" meaning that the song was originally meant for those who knew the horrors of being alone on Christmas day. As Pretty woman wasn't a Christmas flick, the song was slightly reworked into a typical breakup ballad that was played during the emotional low point of the film.
This was the solo debut for Kate Ceberano, an Australian woman of colour who began her career as the lead vocalist for I'm talking which was a band comprising mostly of older men while she and a friend of hers provided vocals for their jazz rock instrumentation. Here she goes in a more pop direction with this song that showcases her powerful vocals bringing to life these cute lyrics about the relationship she's in.
Many people believe (me included) that this is a song about masturbation, mainly because it's the best explanation as to what Dave Fenton means when he claims that he's "turning Japanese" throughout the song. The song became a huge success here in Australia likely due to this urban legend despite only doing decently well in their native UK, although the band called it quits likely due to their novelty status not long after.
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 the only noticeable hit for Bertie Higgins even in his native America, while I'm glad this crossed over to Australia, I can't say I understand why as at least in his native America, this was one of only many soft rock ballads to make it big this year. In any case, this song did become a huge success for him before he faded into obscurity.
While this wasn't the first hit single to be produced by Stock Aiken and Waterman (that honour goes to Divine's "You think you're a man") this was the one to put the production trio on the map even though many people feel that the rest success of this song comes from Pete Burns and his provocative performance. That said, this was the only major success they had as all of their other songs didn't do that well even in their native UK.
This feels like it should've been released a few years prior, doesn't it? I guess the grunge scene didn't completely kill the 80's when Nirvana released Nevermind after all as these guys managed to get in a huge hit with an acoustic ballad that would've been a dime a dozen in the late 80's. The band even achieved moderate success with their follow ups back in America, although not so much internationally.
This was only a modest success for the duo in their native America, likely due to how sincere the pair come off on this track which admittedly makes it a really cheesy number to listen to. The Brits certainly appreciated this cheesiness as this became a huge success over in the UK which allowed it to crossover internationally for the duo. They found further success with the rest of their album in NZ of all places.
This was the biggest hit to come from Chrissie Amphlett and company, mainly because it was a clear display of Chrissie's sexual appeal which naturally turned many listeners on whenever it came on the radio. The success of this track here in Australia led to it being released internationally where it became a huge hit for the band a decade after they first broke through with the likes of "Boys in town" and "Science fiction."
This was a massive success for Concrete blonde who began the decade with lead singer Jonnette Napolitano reassuring her ex-Joey that she was no longer angry with him for all the horrible things he did to her during the relationship. For whatever reason, I always felt that these guys had a male lead singer, maybe that's just my queer brain trying to see a queer narrative in something that doesn't have one.
This is the final hit single Tina Turner managed to score in Australia, mainly because her theme to her biographical film "I don't wanna fight" was a flop here despite the film being a huge critical and commercial success in 1993. This song has since become her signature tune in Australia given how she performed it with Jimmy Barnes in 1992 and that recording allow this to become a hit again that year.
It looked like their album Blood sugar sex magik was all set to flop following the failure of its lead single "Give it away" worldwide, however the band released this as the albums second single which details Anthony Kiedis's complicated relationship with California which tugged at the heartstrings of many listeners back in the day. It remains their biggest hit to date thanks to how emotional he comes across on the track.
It may be a new decade, however that didn't mean that Jimmy Barnes needed to change his sound in order to score a massive hit with his third album. Here he is bringing us more of the same kick ass pub rock that made him and his band a household name throughout the 80's and it was one of the more successful songs of this year, although he did change his sound on his next album to avoid being seen as a one trick pony.
Mannequin is one of those films you either love or hate, it mostly comes down to its premise of a man falling in love with a store mannequin that randomly comes to life and whether or not you're on board with that premise. At least the theme song was well received even though it comes from Starship's sellout period, although those who despise "We built this city" don't often have many negative things to say about this.
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.
Mermaids is perhaps the most underrated film in Cher's filmography, mainly because it doesn't live up to the standards of her other Hollywood blockbusters Silkwood, Mask and especially Moonstruck and the Witches of Eastwick. Despite that, it's a charming coming of age story about how her daughter played by Winona Ryder comes to terms with the family she's a part of. The film has Cher's cover of the Merry Clayton track as its theme song due to it bizarrely being set in 1963.
There were no signs of Belinda Carlisle slowing down in the music industry, unless of course you're from America in which this single and album it served as the lead single to wound up being a massive flop on Billboard. I guess the Americans were tired of her passionate vocals set to upbeat pop rock, however the rest of the world certainly wasn't as this managed to be a huge success for her because of those traits.
I was surprised that this was released before the year 1999 as I do vaguely remember hearing this track when I was seven years old which just happens to be in the year 1999. In any case, Prince scored his first breakthrough hit in most parts of the world a good sixteen years prior to when the song in question was meant to take place, although with how charismatic he is on this track, does anyone really care about when it came out?
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.
This was the theme song to the long-forgotten film Electric dreams, a film from what I can gather in the music video is about a geek falling in love with an attractive woman who works at an electric store. Honestly this feels like a Human League track that Phillip Oakey kept for himself as it's clear that the song has become more iconic over the years than the film that it's based on.
This was a bit of a surprise hit for Pat Benatar since the last time she had a hit was from three years prior when "We belong" became a success for her. Then again there's little wonder that this was going to be a hit for her given how female rock stars were able to find success this year with little issues. This led to her album Wide awake in dreamland being a modest success for her before the decade came to an end.
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