shakin stevens

Today’s Top 10 – April 19th 1984

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In going through the chart-toppers of the time, I was always a bit down on the early to mid-eighties. 1980 was a great year for #1s, one of my favourites, but between 1982 and ’86 things went a bit gloopy.

And yet. Multiple sources claim 1984 as the best year in pop music history. Rolling Stone, Billboard, and the BBC have all pushed the theory, among several others. And on the surface you can see why: Prince, Madonna, Michael Jackson all at the peak of their powers, Springsteen’s ‘Born in the USA’, the rise of MTV, ‘the second British Invasion’…

There’s only one problem with this. It’s all very US-centric. It didn’t seem to translate back across the Atlantic, at least in terms of number one singles. But maybe if we zoom out a little, and take a random Top 10, I might become a mid-1980s convert. Here then, is the UK Top 10 as it stood on this day in 1984, AKA forty-two years ago.

10. ‘Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)’, by Scritti Politti (up 7 / 8 weeks on chart)

A bit of a litmus test at #10, because this is as 1984-sounding as it gets. I know very little about Scritti Politti, other than they’re the sort of band you might name drop as eighties-by-numbers, like Kajagoogoo or Blancmange. And I’ll admit that this track isn’t converting me to their cause. It’s got an interestingly funky bassline and synth riff, but the vocals are buried in the mix. And where the hell does Aretha Franklin come in…? (Okay, there’s a line in the bridge that alludes to ‘Say a Little Prayer’) Part of my problem with mid-eighties pop is that it took itself very seriously, and I’d say this is an issue here. But this was Scritti Politti’s breakthrough record, and first of two UK Top 10s.

9. ‘Nelson Mandela’, by The Special AKA (non-mover / 6 weeks on chart)

This is a bit more like it. Nelson Mandela was already twenty-one years in captivity when the Specials released this, and brought his name to the wider British public’s attention. Jerry Dammers, who wrote the song, had only found out who Mandela was the year before, when he attended his first anti-apartheid rally. Around the same time as Margaret Thatcher – ever on the wrong side of history – denouncing him as a terrorist.

As protest songs go this is very danceable, with lots of authentic African musical influences. One of the backing singers was Caron Wheeler, who would go on to provide lead vocals for Soul II Soul’s 1989 #1 ‘Back to Life’. It was released as the Special AKA, as The Specials had technically split in 1981, with three members going on to found Fun Boy Three. This was the band’s first Top 10 hit since ‘Ghost Town’, and would be their final UK Top 10.

8. ‘Ain’t Nobody’, by Rufus & Chaka Khan (up 5 / 4 weeks on chart)

Vaulting up into the Top 10 this week, a bona-fide classic. If someone cites a track like this as an example of 1984’s musical pedigree, I will wholeheartedly agree. #8 was this record’s peak, which feels low, though Chaka Khan would outdo it with a chart-topper later in the year.

The enduring popularity of ‘Ain’t Nobody’ is proven by the fact that it has returned to the upper reaches of the UK charts on five occasions over the years through various covers, remixes and samples, including a belated appearance at #1 through LL Cool J in 1997, and a re-peak for Chaka at #6 when re-released in 1989.

I will admit, though, that I always though the ‘Rufus’ credited on the record was a man, Rufus Khan… Chaka’s brother, or husband, perhaps…? Colour me surprised to learn today that Rufus were a funk act with three Top 10s on the Billboard Chart. At least I don’t get paid for this…

7. ‘Glad It’s All Over’ / ‘Damned on 45’, by Captain Sensible (down 1 / 5 weeks on chart)

Captain Sensible, founder of the Damned (releasers of officially the first ‘punk’ record in 1976), had maintained a side solo career since the late-seventies, and had scored an unlikely chart-topper in ’82 with a cover of ‘Happy Talk’. He was also a committed pacifist, and ‘Glad It’s All Over’ refers to the Falklands conflict (more South Atlantic than ‘South Pacific’), making for two protest songs in this week’s hit parade. As nice as the sentiment is, this is a fairly pedestrian number. It could do with some punkish spit and vinegar…

Luckily then we have the flip-side of this double-A. It’s a riff on the popular ‘Stars on 45’ singles, but with a medley of around fifteen Damned and Captain Sensible tunes (including a reprise of ‘Happy Talk’). I’m not going to claim that it works particularly well, or that I enjoyed all seven and a half minutes of it, but at least it injects a bit of variety into this Top 10!

6. ‘People Are People’, by Depeche Mode (down 2 / 4 weeks on chart)

In some ways, Depeche Mode are as ‘eighties synonymous’ as Scritti Politti. However, Depeche Mode outlasted their new-wave roots to become one of Britain’s most succesful chart outfits. I’ve already covered them in my ‘Never Had a #1’ series, as one of the non chart-topping acts with the most Top 10 singles, and this #4 hit remains their joint-highest hit.

Why? Well, I’d say contrast this clanking, choppy, industrial hook-filled track to the weedy ‘Wood Beez’ further down the chart. Yes it’s very of its time in terms of its sound and production – your tolerance for harsh mid-eighties synths will determine if that’s a positive or not – but it’s undeniably catchy. And it’s another somewhat political number: People are people so why should it be, You and I should get along so awfully…?

5. ‘I Want to Break Free’, by Queen (up 13 / 2 weeks on chart)

Breaking into the Top 5 this week, and on its way to a #3 peak, it’s one of Queen’s most famous songs. Famous because it’s a catchy hit, but probably more so because the band do drag in the ‘Coronation Street’ inspired video. In the US this video is widely blamed for ‘ending’ their career – until Wayne’s World resurrected them in the early ’90s – as Reagan-era Americans just couldn’t handle men in dresses (luckily we now live in much more enlightened times…) I don’t know if that narrative is all completely true, as Queen were never guaranteed hit makers in the States, with some smashes alongside a lot of misses. It was banned by MTV, though.

And it could be argued that this is yet another political statement of a song, and not just because of it’s gender-bending. In South America and, in particular, South Africa the I want to break free… refrain was taken up in various fights against repression.

4. ‘Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)’, by Phil Collins (up 4 / 3 weeks on chart)

Two classics of the decade in a row then, as here comes eighties chart mainstay Phil Collins with one of the ultimate power-ballads, in an era chock full of fist-clenchers. The moment before the second verse, when the drums come clattering in, is hard to deny even if you find the rest of the song overwrought.

I’d say that this song has lasted far longer in the public imagination than the Rachel Ward and Jeff Bridges film of the same name, the soundtrack to which this comes from. We have of course already met a cover version of this at #1, from Mariah Carey and Westlife, and we have another chart-topping cover to come very soon. Can’t wait!

3. ‘A Love Worth Waiting For’, by Shakin’ Stevens (down 1 / 5 weeks on chart)

Of course, Britain’s highest selling singles act of the entire decade had to put in an appearance! Shakey might have been beyond his ’81-’82 heyday here but he was still good for a big hit, and this one had been at #2 the week before.

Without doing any research on it, I was convinced that this must be a cover of an oldie by someone like Emile Ford. But no, it’s an original. Which in my opinion makes all the cheesy old rock ‘n’ roll flourishes less enjoyable. Had Emile Ford released this in 1959, I’d have enjoyed it. For Shakin’ Stevens to have churned it out in 1984 feels… meh. Still we can’t knock Shakey too much. This was his 13th of twenty-five career Top 20 hits, and he remains a legend of British pop.

2. ‘You Take Me Up’, by The Thompson Twins (up 1 / 4 weeks on chart)

Like Scritti Politti, the Thompson Twins exist to me as an act that evoke a distant vision of the mid-eighties, rather than as an act I’ve ever really listened to. I can’t help but pin this song as the biggest disappointment in this entire Top 10. In 1984, the year in which I was promised Prince, Madonna, Springsteen and/or Michael Jackson, I ended up with Scritti Politti and the Thompson Twins.

No, I don’t particularly like this. The overwrought vocal delivery, the clunking beat, the processed harmonica… All very of their time. I think that this might also be political in theme, especially going by the video featuring chain gangs, and lyrics about working in a factory. What was it about the 1980s that made everyone take themselves so seriously?

1. ‘Hello’, by Lionel Richie (non-mover / 7 weeks on chart)

Speaking of taking things a bit too seriously… My original post on Lionel Richie’s ‘Hello’ details why I dislike this song, and why I named it as one of my Very Worst Number Ones. It really is tripe. I’ve never been able to enjoy it ironically even, like so many power ballads of the time, because there is nothing, not even a glimmer, in this song (and the preposterous video) to suggest that it isn’t intended as 100% sincere. Yet here it stands, in its fifth of six weeks at #1.

Lionel Richie is a name that sits in the eighties pantheon, at least, alongside Phil Collins and Queen elsewhere in this countdown. They were perhaps what I might have expected to find in this Top 10. Of course, a random week does not sum up an entire decade, but this hasn’t gone any way to explaining why 1984 is considered by many to be the Best Year in Pop Music History.

What is interesting, though, is the fact that two of these songs are overtly political, while three more can be argued to have political (or at least somewhat provocative) themes. That’s half the Top 10! Apartheid and the Falklands conflict are mentioned explicitly, while it’s clear that the Cold War and the Thatcher government were on many musicians’ minds (either side of this Top 10 we had ’99 Red Balloons’ and ‘Two Tribes’ hitting the top of the charts…) I’m not one to argue that pop music shouldn’t be political, as art will always end up reflecting the values of the people making it, but at the same time I’m not one to accept something ‘deep’ as automatically being ‘better’. The mid-eighties does feel like a time when pop acts tried to go ‘deep’, for better or worse. Compared to modern pop music this feels unusual. But also, look ten years further back, to the mid-seventies and the height of glam, and you’d see a chart full of shallow but catchy pop. These things are never linear.

One other notable thing about this chart is that there is only one chart-topping single in it, but seven of the acts in the Top 10 are chart-topping acts.

So, if 1984 has not proven itself to be my favourite year for music, then what is…? In terms of chart-toppers – which is what this blog is all about after all – I have a Top 3, and a definite bottom. I’m planning to reveal them in a special post when we get to the 1000th #1. In the meantime, let me know what your best musical/chart-topping years are!

Cover Versions of Christmas #1s

/ UK #1s blog / 5 Comments

For our last post of the year, let’s take a look at some classic Christmas number ones, but in versions you might not have heard before… Some good, some not so good, some just plain odd.

Starting with the daddy of all festive chart-toppers, Slade’s ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’. Noel Gallagher recorded a cover for the ‘Royle Family’ Christmas special in 2000 (a sitcom that his band had famously contributed the theme song for). It sounds exactly as you’d expect Noel Gallagher doing a cover of Slade’s Christmas classic would. Except it lacks the raucous energy of the original, instead opting for a woozy drone. And there’s no It’s Chriiiiissssttttmmmmmaaaaasssss…. So shame on you, Noel.

That same year, way over on the other side of the pop spectrum, Steps recorded their own version, and is it wrong that I’m enjoying this version more…? For a start, they lead with It’s Christmaaaaaas… so bonus points there. But there’s also something in the propulsively camp beat, and the faux-Cher autotune, that is more in keeping with the anarchic original.

Or if neither of those straight covers do it for you, then how about this remix that made #30 in 1998? It’s a bizarre record: a fairly anonymous trance beat over which Slade occasionally pop up. Flush were a Swedish act, and this was presumably made with Slade’s permission, given that it’s Noddy Holder’s vocals.

Christmas #1 the year following Slade’s colossus, Mud took a more sombre approach to festive pop on ‘Lonely This Christmas’. In 2013 Traitors! recorded this fun pop-punk version for a charity album called ‘It’s Better to Give than to Receive’. And that’s about all I know. The band don’t have a website or Wiki page, and their only other release seems to have been a four track EP. I don’t even remember where I heard this version first, but it’s been on my festive playlist for a few years now. So thank you Traitors!, whoever you are/were.

Of course, Christmas is actually about more than just presents and gluttony… There’s also ‘Die Hard’. I mean, there’s also the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus H Christ. And sometimes religious songs have made Christmas number one, such as in 1976. Johnny Mathis’s version of ‘When a Child Is Born’ is fairly gentle and respectful, not enough to wake the sleeping babe in his crib. The same cannot be said for larger than life Greek Demis Roussos, who rattles the gates of heaven with his bombastic take. If I were Jesus, I know which approach I’d prefer.

And then there are the times when the festive number one isn’t about Christmas at all. in 1979, Pink Floyd made number one with their first chart hit in over a decade, ‘Another Brick in the Wall Pt II’. In 2004, nu-metal band Korn covered all three parts of the song (Pt II starts around the 1:30 mark). It was described as “one of the worst classic rock covers of all time” by Ultimate Classic Rock magazine, but I suspect they might be a tad biased against anything released post-1980. I’d call it a brutally efficient cover version.

‘Another Brick in the Wall Pt II’ then returned to the charts in 2007 when remixed by Swedish DJ Eric Prydz. His take, ‘Proper Education’, made #2, and gave us an interesting video in which a group of young hooligans break into some flats and… turn off all the energy wasting devices.

Our final cover is a 2015 remake of Shakin’ Stevens’ 1985 Xmas #1 ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’, by Shaky himself. ‘Echoes of Merry Christmas Everyone’ is a completely re-imagined bluegrass version, with lots of banjo and harmonica, recorded to raise money for the Salvation Army, and it’s amazing how a jaunty, slightly irritating original, was transformed into a melancholy, slightly haunting cover.

That’s it from the UK Number Ones Blog for 2024! I’m going to take a couple of weeks off, before returning in the first week of January, when I’ll be launching a couple of new features to mix things up in amongst all the usual chart toppers. I’d like to thank everyone who has read, followed, liked and commented this year, and wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!

#1s poll! Choose your best (and worst) Christmas Number Ones…

/ UK #1s blog / 12 Comments

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, at least according to Andy Williams, which means stockings above the fireplace, geese getting fat, goodwill to all… And the annual race for Christmas Number One.

By now it’s certainly a British tradition, and the one time of the year that the singles chart is guaranteed to make the news, but most people would say that the honour of being the nation’s biggest-selling song on December 25th has lost a lot of its lustre. I’d agree. In fact, I’d say that we’ve already covered the heyday of the Christmas Number One in my regular blog… The most recent festive #1 was 1994’s: East 17’s ‘Stay Another Day’, a classic that I’ve just named one of the Very Best. From here on its a slippery slope, past The Spice Girls, endless X-Factor winners, countless charity singles, to the very bottom of the barrel, and the dreaded LadBaby.

Now it’s time for you to decide: what is the greatest Xmas #1? And, perhaps more importantly, what is the worst?? See below two polls, in which you can choose as many or as few songs as you like, for both honours.

Perhaps controversially, I’ve not listed every Xmas #1 since 1952. Until the early seventies, the idea of a ‘Christmas Number One’ wasn’t particularly relevant, so the only pre-1973 hits I’ve included in the vote are specifically Chistmassy, or novelty songs that probably wouldn’t have made #1 at any other time of year (so, sorry, no Beatles…) Even post-1973, I’ve excluded pop songs that just happened to be #1 at Christmas (so no Human League, or Pet Shop Boys). However, there is space at the bottom for you to nominate any Xmas #1 you think I’ve unfairly missed off the list. You may, for example, feel very strongly that ‘Two Little Boys’ deserves the title…

Here’s the poll for the best…

And the worst…

I’ll announce the results on Christmas Eve, so you have until then to cast your votes. Have at it!

562. ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’, by Shakin’ Stevens

/ UK #1s blog / 6 Comments

Oh what sweet joy it is to be listening to this next chart-topper on a sweltering August day…

Merry Christmas Everyone, by Shakin’ Stevens (his 4th and final #1)

2 weeks, from 22nd December 1985 – 5th January 1986

From the glossy, classy soul of Whitney Houston, to Shaky’s festive smash. Cheap and cheerful, that’s the order of the day here. In fact, this might be one of the cheapest, and the cheerful-est, #1s of all time. There’s an oompah beat, a rock ‘n’ roll sax, some shoobeedoobees and, of course, liberal helpings of sleigh bells.

It harks back to both the old fifties classics – ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ etc. – and the glam Christmas hits from Slade, Wizzard and Mud. The lyrics are a check list of cliches: the season of love and understanding, girls under the mistletoe, wishing every day was Christmas, parties, presents, and snow falling all around. Except it lacks both the class of the classics, and the anarchy of the glam hits. And even though it’s a very retro sounding song, the long fingers of the ‘80s can still be heard in the tinny production and the drum machine.

It’s basic, is what it is. It’s never been one of my festive faves, but it’s fine. It’s catchy and light-hearted. Hearing it a few times every year, when well-oiled on mulled wine, and you could almost become fond of it. Except, for some reason, ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’ has in recent years become one of the big Xmas perennials, surpassing the likes of Slade, and settling in behind the untouchables: Mariah, Wham! and The Pogues.

Sadly, I think this is indicative of what modern pop music has become, where inoffensive and blandly streamable is the order of the day. Is ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’, then, actually a hugely important record, and Shakin’ Stevens a man thirty years ahead of his time? Did he somehow predict that nobody would bother to skip this trifle when it popped up in a festive Spotify playlist…? Maybe, maybe…

The fake ending, and the ensuing key change, have always annoyed me. It would be the perfect time to end the song, keep it short and sweet, but no. It keeps going for another chirpy minute. However it’s hard to begrudge Shaky one last number one, as he does seem like one of the good guys. It may have been almost four years since ‘Oh Julie’, but he’d been consistently scoring Top 10 hits in between, making him the UK’s biggest singles-seller of the decade! Post-‘Merry Christmas Everyone’ he still had six Top 20 hits in his locker, until the singles dried up in the early 1990s. Interestingly, this record had actually been recorded and was ready for release the year before, but was shrewdly shelved to avoid it clashing with Band Aid.

Stevens is still touring and recording, and he even remade his big festive hit in a bluegrass style in 2015. To my ears, it’s much more palatable than the original – partly because I haven’t heard it five hundred times, and partly because it isn’t so darn perky. Anyway. Here ends 1985 – an interesting year which has brought us some of the best and the worst excesses of the entire decade. Roll on ’86…

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500 Number Ones Down…

/ UK #1s blog / 11 Comments

The last chart-topping record I featured was as average as you can get: ‘A Little Peace’. A nice acoustic pop song with nice sentiments sung by a nice girl… Except, it was actually quite a notable chart milestone – the UK’s 500th number one single.

Which means, in just over four earth years we have covered almost thirty chart years! From Al Martino belting out the very first chart-topper, ‘Here in My Heart’ in 1952, past the pre-rock years, rock ‘n’ roll, Elvis, Merseybeat, four lads from Liverpool, the Summer of Love, the come-down, glam, disco, post-punk and new wave… To the spring of 1982.

Which means, at the current pace, we’ll hit the 1990s early next year, and we’ll meet the 1000th UK number one (although, actually, that’s a song which has already featured in the first 500… don’t ask…) sometime in early 2026! But, really, it’s dangerous to look that far ahead in life. I’m in no rush.

The pleasure here is to be had from the slow stroll: the discovery of lost gems, the re-discovery of all-time classics, a shrug of the shoulders at the boring ones, and a crack of the knuckles before I dive in studs-up on an absolute shocker of a song. And, of course, the fact that I’ve picked up so many dedicated followers, readers and commenters, without whom this pursuit would be pointless…

To celebrate this minor achievement, I had a look at my stats, and can now reveal the most viewed posts from each decade I’ve covered. I may have my favourites, but these are apparently the #1s that the good followers of WordPress (and beyond) want to know about…

The 1950s:

‘She Wears Red Feathers’, by Guy Mitchell

The most viewed post from the decade of Elvis, Buddy and the Killer is a song from the days when barely anyone had heard the phrase rock ‘n roll. It was just the 6th song I covered, so I guess it has had a bit of a head start. Read my original post here. (I wasn’t kind…)

The 1960s:

‘House of the Rising Sun’, by The Animals

Probably not the first song you’d guess for the sixties, but an undeniable classic nonetheless. The longest, and possibly the most risqué, song to have topped the charts at that point. Read my original post here.

The 1970s:

‘Rivers of Babylon’ / ‘Brown Girl in the Ring’, by Boney M

Despite coming towards the end of the decade, this one gets all the hits. It’s actually my most viewed post… ever. It’s also one of the best-selling singles of all time. Underestimate Boney M at your peril would be the lesson! Read my original post here.

The 1980s (so far):

‘Green Door’, by Shakin’ Stevens

Despite publishing it barely a month ago, ‘Green Door’ is already my most viewed post from the 1980s. Interestingly, of the four songs, only ‘House of the Rising Sun’ is one that you could find much critical acclaim for. Guy Mitchell, Boney M and Shaky all had something much more elusive (and lucrative)… popular appeal. And apparently still do!

And finally, before I go, a bonus. My least viewed post and, by these metrics, the least popular of the first 500 #1s…

‘Dance On!’, by The Shadows

Yes, this one-week number one from early 1963 has had barely any views. That could be comment on the state of popular music in the months just before the Beatles went supersonic. Or a comment on my writing. But I quite like the tune. Give it some love here.

Thanks everyone for reading and commenting over the past four years. For the rest of the week, I’ll be posting some cover versions of classic #1s. Here’s to the next 500!

493. ‘Oh Julie’, by Shakin’ Stevens

/ UK #1s blog / 15 Comments

Shaky’s back, the biggest selling British artist of the decade (!), with his third chart-topper in less than a year.

Oh Julie, by Shakin’ Stevens (his 3rd of four #1s)

1 week, 24th – 31st January 1982

While his first two #1s lent heavily (and happily) on the sounds of the 1950s, his third lends very heavily on the sounds of a German Bierfest. As, for better or for worse, there is a lot of accordion involved here. (Though according to folks who know better than me – i.e. Wikipedia – it is more Cajun than German. Just FYI)

It’s another short and sweet slice of retro rockabilly but, compared to ‘This Ole House’ and ‘Green Door’, Stevens has lost his edge. (Whatever ‘edge’ Shakin’ Stevens ever had – these things are all relative!) It’s very middle of the road, very schlager – which fits with the Bierfest vibe, I suppose – and just a little bit safe. He’s coasting here. Again, I’m not claiming that ‘Green Door’ was punk, or anything, but it was a fun moment of rock ‘n’ roll revival at the top of the charts. This isn’t.

‘Oh Julie’ improves after the midway point, when the guitars start to drown out the accordions and it starts to show the charms of his earlier hits. But it’s not quite enough. And again, Shaky gives it his all. He sells it like the seasoned pro he is. I’m getting Elvis, of course, and Orbison, but most of all Jerry Lee Lewis in this one. The way he oooohs, and then yelps the line honey don’t leave me alone… Pure Killer.

I had assumed that this must have been a cover of an oldie, as his first two #1s were, but no. It’s a Shaky original, and it is impressive how authentic this record sounds. I can’t hate it: it’s catchy, it’s well-performed, it’s thankfully short. But nor can I love it. And I feel this is another type of January hit… ‘The Land of Make Believe’ was a Christmas leftover that belatedly made the top; this is an early in the year release that, perhaps, sneaked a week at #1 without too much competition. Of course, stick a girl’s name in a song and you’ll always sell a few more copies – Julie joins Annie, Clair, Maggie May, Rosemary, Juliet, and quite a few others, in having a song written just for her.

I have no proof for these cynical theories, though. My apologies to Shaky if this turns out to have been his biggest-selling hit (apart from, you know, that other one). Either way, ‘Oh Julie’ was a hit across Europe. Stevens went on scoring Top 10 hits throughout the early to mid-eighties, but it’ll be a little while before he’s back with his final chart-topper. A song that British readers, at least, may have heard once or twice before…

483. ‘Green Door’, by Shakin’ Stevens

/ UK #1s blog / 16 Comments

Proving that the British public can only remain serious for so long (three weeks, to be precise) here is Shakin’ Stevens knocking The Specials’ ‘Ghost Town’ off the top with another slice of old-style rockin’ and rollin’…

Green Door, by Shakin’ Stevens (his 2nd of four #1s)

4 weeks, 26th July – 23rd August 1981

‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ was obviously the motto pinned to the wall of Shaky’s recording studio. He takes the fun rockabilly of ‘This Ole House’, and ups both the fun and the rockabilly. A boogie-woogie piano and some clicking fingers lead us in to a tale of mystery and intrigue… Just what is behind the green door?

There’s an old piano and they’re playin’ hot, Behind the green door… Is it a bar? Don’t know what they’re doin’ but they laugh a lot, Behind the green door… Is it more than a bar…? A speakeasy? A strip-club? A brothel?? And why does it sound like the door leads directly off from Shaky’s bedroom, as he lies awake all night…?

It’s not a record that holds up much under scrutiny. But, you suspect, that was never the point. This wasn’t written with an eye on it being dissected in literature classes. The grannies and the kids ran out and bought Stevens’s first #1 in their droves, and this is aimed at the same crowd. And I personally can’t say no to some good ol’ fashioned rock ‘n’ roll, especially in an era where traditional ‘guitar’ music was in short supply at the top of the charts. There’s a great, twangy solo too, which ends in a note for note replica of the solo from ‘That’ll Be the Day’.

Shaky tries his best to get in to this here club, but has the door slammed in his face each time. I do like the hospitality’s thin there… line. It’s never specified why he isn’t allowed in – maybe the singer’s just got a baby face? I can sympathise, having spent most of 2002-03 trying, and largely failing, to get into nightclubs with a fake I.D. Wikipedia lists the song’s possible inspirations as including a Chicago speakeasy, London’s first lesbian bar, and a short story by H.G. Wells, among others.

‘Green Door’ is a cover – it had to be, right? – of a 1956 US #1 originally recorded in fairly pre-rock fashion by Jim Lowe. Frankie Vaughan took a fun big-band version to #2 over here. But I like Shakin’ Stevens’ version just as much. It rocks. And I don’t mean in a karaoke-ish, Elvis-impersonating way. It rocks, in a way that I wish more of the mid-seventies rock ‘n’ roll revival hits from the likes of Mud, Showaddywaddy and Alvin Stardust did. It still sounds completely out of place, considering ‘Ghost Town’ before, and the record coming up next, but who cares? Variety is, as they say, the spice of life, and in 1981 Shaky was bringing it to the top of the charts. He was in the middle of a red-hot streak here, and will be back in pole position again soon.

477. ‘This Ole House’, by Shakin’ Stevens

/ UK #1s blog / 20 Comments

How to explain Shakin’ Stevens, to readers from foreign shores, or to readers not old enough to have experienced him in real time…?

This Ole House, by Shakin’ Stevens (his 1st of four #1s)

3 weeks, 22nd March – 12th April 1981

The twanging rockabilly in this take on ‘This Ole House’ sounds completely out of place in early 1981, after two years of sharp, spiky new-wave, and just before the New Romantics came along. Stevens’ delivery too – all energy and cheesy grins – is an outlier in this too-cool-for-school world. But while this is an unlikely hit record, it’s not unwelcome.

I can never say no to some old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll. The production may be glossier, the guitars coming through in a warm stereo, but this is a step back to the 1950s. Is it better than Rosemary Clooney’s original, from way back in 1954…? No, probably not. But it is equally manic. That had an out of control honky-tonk piano, Shaky’s take has a distorted guitar solo: this version’s only concession to modern sounds.

He sounds like he’s having a lot of fun singing this – a song stuffed with nonsense lyrics about fixing shingles and mending window-panes – and because of this it is very hard not to have fun while you listen. The hipsters may have rolled their eyes, and turned their Ultravox records up, but the grannies and the kids clearly lapped it up. Just think… The young ones who bought Clooney’s version would have been hitting fifty by now. We have covered a lot of ground here!

I did wonder if this might have been Shakin’ Stevens debut: a smash hit from nowhere, perhaps after winning a TV talent show. But I couldn’t have been more wrong – he had been plugging away for well over a decade, releasing singles in the UK and Europe throughout the ‘70s. Born in Cardiff, he’d been a milkman, before forming his band The Sunsets. They’d supported The Rolling Stones of all people, in 1969. By the mid-seventies he was impersonating Elvis in the West End before finally scoring a minor chart hit with ‘Hot Dog’ in early 1980.

After that the rise was meteoric, and it’s hard to begrudge someone who’s waited that long and worked so hard for success. But. This still doesn’t explain why this Welsh Elvis finally became one of the biggest stars in the land… Maybe the rock ‘n’ roll revival that was gave us Showaddywaddy and Mud a few years back never truly went away? Maybe he was the chart-friendly face of the post-punk rockabilly scene? Or maybe it’s another ‘Shaddap You Face’: some light-relief after weeks of mourning John Lennon? I don’t know.

One thing’s for sure – if this cover of a near thirty-year-old song was a one-hit wonder then it would make perfect sense. A flash in the pan, a moment of frivolity. Except, it’s the first of four chart-toppers for a thirty-something ex-Elvis impersonator, who was on his way to becoming the biggest-selling British singles artist of the decade. More from Shaky, then, very soon…