SMASH HITS Singles - May 1984

Oh, and at the time, cappuccino was a pure cafe/Italian thing, but subsequently.. I'm sure the Style Council had a lot to do with it!

It's "You're The Best Thing" vs. "Panama" over here. Mike, great hearing about that era, and agree on '83-'84 Style Council (and EBTG and Carmel from those same years).

Re. Wham!, they were originally seen as somewhat conceptual, witty and subversive, playing ironic games with male archetypes. "Wake Me Up" felt like a sharp break from all that, shedding nuance in favour of banal mass appeal. We'd expected more.

― mike t-diva, Saturday, July 24, 2021 7:26 AM

Until the ebullience and craft of "Careless Whisper" and "Everything She Wants" and "Freedom" made you renounce this apostasy.

I disliked "Wham Rap" at the time. Haven't heard it for years. "Wake Me Up" I seem to remember thinking was a record I would never like enough to buy but it was pleasant enough if it came on the radio. I've always liked that bit where it breaks down to organ chords and the singing comes back in with "I wanna hit that high...". "Careless Whisper" I found irritating at the time but now think is a masterpiece. "Freedom" I can hear in my head now and I like it. "Everything She Wants" I can't bring to mind.

Hated "Careless Whisper", thought it was such a dreary dirge; I'm sort of OK with it now, but I'd take "Nothing Looks The Same In The Light" off the debut album every time. I identified with it very strongly, and decided there and then that only a gay man could have written it.

Didn't rate "Freedom", couldn't see past the surface jollity, but there's no arguing with the majesty of "Everything She Wants".

I never knew Wham did a song called "Nothing Looks the Same in the Light". When you mentioned it I immediately thought of "U Sure Do" by Strike (1994). That same phrase occurs in the lyrics. I guess they must have stolen it from Wham.

'nothing looks the same in the light' is so good, but i think i like this one even more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AuEbm6hD7s

wow, I'd completely forgotten about that track. Thanks for the reminder!

I actually found a bootleg extended edit of it that's good. Pretty true to the original which is a bit too short. I can't send that to you (or anyone else) if you care for that kind of thing.

These threads are a bright spot on ilx atm

*thumbs up emoji*

This is an interesting one because I remember hardly any of these singles.

Sorry to be a bonehead but I have to vote for Van Halen. The PiL would be #2. For a long time I've owned the Commercial Zone record, on which "Bad Life" is called "Mad Max," as well as the This Is What You Want... record, and I have to say I much prefer the latter.

George produced that amazing track Blue (Armed With Love) that NickB posted. Really gorgeous production.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

'State Of Love' - didn't know it as a kid but holds up v well

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Eddie's guitar was mostly red, just like Sylvian's.

What on earth...

I got hard thinking of David Sylvian singing "Panama."

wake me up before you cum-cum

That's a rough result for Divine Sounds and The System.
Are we doing another one? Please?

will try to post one before or during the weekend.

SMASH HITS Singles - September 26 1984