Song 157 - Love in the first degree by Bananarama

Put your hands up if you remember the dance moves to Bananarama's 1987 hit Love in the first degree with by Stock, Aitken and Waterman (SAW). I definitely would have my hands up if it didn't cause problems with typing!

Love in the first degree is a surreal story where the main character is dreaming they are on trial for love. The lyrics came from Siobhan Fahey and was then built upon by SAW and Sara Dallin and Karen Woodward. If you listen carefully to the music structure it can be compared to Pachelbel's Canon, which is one of my favourite pieces of classical music.

Taken from their fourth studio album Wow!, Love in the first degree was Bananarama's biggest hit in the UK, reaching number 3 in the chart. It also performed well across Australia and New Zealand. SAW was on fire in 1987 as this song was also nominated for a Brit award for best song, narrowing missing out to Rick Astley. I don't think there would have been any concerns for SAW's finances that year.

Bananarama started in 1979, where childhood friend Dallin and Woodward formed the group with Fahey, who had been on the same university course as Dallin. Influenced by the punk rock scene going on at the time, the band quickly developed their own style. After recording their first demo in 1981, they were picked up and signed to Decca until 1993. Their first mainstream hit in 1982 was Really Saying Something, which reached number 5 in the chart. With hits like Cruel Summer, Robert De Niro's Waiting, ensuring that the band became a regular feature on the British Chart. In 1986, SAW involvement with Bananarama gave the band their first number one with their version of Venus, a 1969 hit by Shocking Blue,written by Robbie van Leeuwen. Although Venus hit the top spot at the top of the US, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, Mexico and South Africa, it only reached number 8 in the UK chart.

However the success of Venus ensure that Bananarama would continue working with SAW and they would produce Wow!, and give the kids of the 1980s yet another terrific dance of the 1980s. I remember dancing around the living room to this song as my sister had bought the 45" single.  I am so glad that YouTube wasn't invented then.

If you never learnt it, here's your chance
Love in the first degree

Written by: Siobhan Fahey, Sara Dallin, Karen Woodward, Stock, Aitken and Waterman
Released: 1987
Album: Wow!

Song 156 - Respectable by Mel and Kim

About four years ago, this song, once again,  became very familiar to me as a group of friends and I put together a special hen night tribute to one of our friends and Respectable was one of the tracks we used in our surprise for her.

Recorded in 1987, Respectable became the first (and only) number one for the sister act,  Mel and Kim, and the first number one that Stock, Aitken and Waterman (SAW) had written and produced for one of their act.

Respectable  wasn't just a number one in the UK, it also topped the charts in six other countries, including Switzerland and New Zealand.

Respectable has a catchy beat and a brilliant chorus of lyrics including Take or leave us, only please believe us, we are never going to be respectable! Making a statement was Mel and Kim's calling card and their style was something that was picked up very early by SAW, who changed their song writing to ensure their hits brought out their personality. Before embarking on her music career, Mel had been a glamour model and the band is iconic with their hats being the  main focus piece of their style. Their first break through hit Showing out (Get fresh for the weekend) reached number 3 in the UK chart, with their original single demoted to the B side of this single. Respectable was their second single.

Tragically, Mel had already been treated for cancer before the band started its climb to stardom and as their popularity grew, so did speculation over Mel's health. Although they tried to keep  her fight with cancer a private matter, Mel died in January 1989 at age 23. Tragic doesn't feel a strong enough word as looking at the success the sisters' were having you have to wonder what else this sister duo would have done if Mel had lived. It shows how important it is to take each opportunity in life when you have it.

To hear the brilliant Mel and Kim sing and look at those 80s fashions
Respectable

Written by Stock, Aitken & Waterman
Recorded: 1987
Album: F.L.M.

Song 155 - So macho & Toy boy by Sinitta

This song definitely changed its meaning after the success of X-Factor and the idea that Sinitta could have been thinking of Simon Cowell when singing these lyrics! Although, without Simon Cowell, it is very unlikely that So macho would have been a hit of the 1980s. Sinitta was the first artist that signed with Simon Cowell and Fanfare records back in the 1980s, and her first hit So macho was written by James George Hargreaves. Unfortunately, just before it was due to be released, the record company changed its mind and was about to withdraw Sinitta's record contract when Simon Cowell stepped in to change the course of history, putting up the cash to finance the record production.

When So macho was released in July 1985, it was an instant hit in clubs and high energy discos, but really failed to do anything on the UK chart. As it was selling but not charting, Cowell made the decision to delete production of the single in October 1985 to allow them to re-release the single in the middle of February 1986. So macho, again didn't immediately grow into an overnight success and it took 4 months for it to emerge from the lower end of the chart, but then it started gaining commercial air play which took the single all the way up  to number 2 in the UK chart. So Macho would go on and sell over a million copies and from the £5,000 put up by the record company to get the song released, they would see  the single return a profit of £1,000,000 and helped to secure the future of Fanfare records.

With the success of So Macho, Cowell encouraged Sinitta to work with Stock, Aitken, Waterman (SAW) as her style fitted the SAW machine perfectly and this partnership led to the creation of Toy boy, which was released in 1987 and spent 14 weeks in the UK chart making it one of the best selling songs of the year. This shows the power Simon Cowell has had over the music industry and the ability he has of recognising talent.

So lets have a disco Tuesday with not one but two hits from Sinitta.
So Macho
Toy Boy

So macho
Written by James George Hargreaves
Released: February 1986
Album: Sinitta!

Toy boy
Written by Stock, Aitken & Waterman
Released: 1987
Album: Sinitta!

Song 154 - Never gonna give you up by Rick Astley

I feel as though  I am going through the tapes I had as a kid as today's Stock,  Aitken & Waterman's (SAW) is the unforgettable Rick Astley with  Never gonna give you up. First noticed by Pete Waterman in 1985, when he took over as lead vocalist of his band FBI, he would eventually signed to the PWL record label along with the rest of his band.

Never gonna give you up was released from Astley's debut album, Whenever you need somebody, in August 1987 and was number one in the UK for five weeks making it the best selling single of 1987. The success in the UK was followed up throughout the world, as it reach the top of the charts in 25 different countries, including the United States and West Germany. Its success led to Astley winning a Brit Award for Best British Single. 

Due to the phenomenal success of his debut single, it is easy to forget about the other singles that came off his debut album, which was released in November 1987. In total Whenever you need somebody contained 5 hit singles that reached a top ten position in the country's chart they were released in. His fourth single Together Forever  helped gained him a Grammy nomination in 1989 for Best New Act, which he lost out to Tracy Chapman. 

You are probably asking yourself why is she telling me all this? My answer is I think acts belonging to SAW are given a certain label and almost sneered at by some music elite, where, although I probably do have my own musical scale worked out to my own taste, it is really important to recognise every genre and the role it has in the overall makeup of the music scene. In the first six months of his career, Astley never left the UK chart, which is no mean feet. 

I was a big Rick Astley fan and I do remember reading listening to interviews with Astley at the time of his second album when he felt he was struggling to emerge from the image of being a SAW creation even though he was writing his own material after the success of his first album. His portrayal in the British Press probably helped his decision to leave the SAW machine in 1990.  The media didn't want Astley to move away from his boy next door image, but Astley did, and in 1993, he  took a decade out to look after his family. In 2002, Astley returned with a new album and has continued to record and release material since then.

Astley will never escape the success of Never Gonna give you up and I hope that no matter how far his journey in music takes him, he will always be proud of his musical roots as for many people who grew up during the late 1980s, his biggest song will always have a place in our musical memories.

Hear an absolute classic:

Never gonna give you up by Rick Astley

Written by Stock, Aitken and Waterman

Released: August 1997

Album: Whenever you need someone

Song 153 - Too many broken hearts in the world by Jason Donovan

Kylie and Jason are a bit like salt and pepper, you can't have one without the other, especially not in a jukebox where we are having a whole section of Stock, Aitken and Waterman (SAW) acts. Too many broken hearts was Jason Donovan's first solo UK number single from his album Ten good reasons. Following his co-star into the pop world, Jason Donovan signed with SAW in the late 1980s. His first single, Nothing can divide us was a top ten single, but this was followed up with  Especially for You, his duet with Kylie Minogue, that went straight to number one in January 1989. It probably reached number 1 as most Kylie and Jason's fans were caught up in the hype of whether they were a couple in real life.

 At the time any relationship between them was played down but years later it was confirmed that some of the pictures used in the video had been taken from their own personal album. I remember having a pop-poster of the two of them released to promote their single on my wall and I think the nine year kid still inside of me was absolutely delighted when it was confirmed they had been lovers.

The success of Especially for you (which is the most commercially successful song written by SAW), probably guaranteed Too many broken hearts would be number 1 when released  in  March 1989. Donovan followed this up with his album Ten Good Reasons, which also topped the top spot in the album chart and became the biggest selling album of the year. I know I had a copy on tape.

Like all SAW hits, there is a bubble gum pop element to it, and, again, I think there were probably critics who thought that Jason Donovan was just cashing in on his fame through Neighbours. But I think it is important to remember that, like Kylie, Jason Donovan, since his days with SAW, has become a international star of musical theatre. I know that I was lucky enough to see Jason perform in The King's Speech, when the play toured Edinburgh last year. Seeing my school idol perform the part of the Australian Speech Therapist, Lionel Logue, was superb and I heard him sing! It was very different to the Scott Robinson character I had loved in Neighbours but still I had never believed I would have seen him perform live.

To relive the Australian Blond Bombshell's first number one:
Too many broken hearts

Kylie and Jason's Duet
Especially for you

Written by Stock, Aitken and Waterman
Release: March 1989
Album: 10 Good Reasons

Song 152 - Kylie by Kylie Minogue

This week has been a bit of a muddle with the blog, as although I had tried to schedule posts, there has been a technical issue my end and it hasn't worked! My apologises for this, but lets get back to the music and I am going to jump straight into the 1980s and start with Stock, Aitken and  Waterman's acts. Although there are many iconic acts who signed with SAW in the 1980s, for me, I have to start with  Kylie Minogue, as I was a huge fan of Kylie when she first appeared in Neighbours and the British Charts. To give you an idea of how big a fan I was, I was a member of her fan club, posters all around my walls and I think I watched the Neighbours' episode, when Scott and Charlene married, about 100 times. I had taped it for my sister, who was on a cruise when it was broadcast.

Kylie's relationship with Britain and the pop scene exploded in 1986, when the BBC started showing the Australian soap, Neighbours, in the tea-time slot. Kylie was cast as Charlene Mitchell, who's on/off off love affair with Scott Robinson (Jason Donovan), gripped fans all over the world. When the online characters eventually married, there were 20 millions viewers in the UK alone watching Neighbours. Due to the fame of Neighbours,  Kylie had the opportunity to perform The Loco-motion by Little Eva at a Fitzroy Football benefit Concert. Off the back of one performance, Kylie was signed to Mushroom Records. The song was released in Australia and became the highest selling single of the 1980s in Australia. Due to the success, Kylie travelled to London to work with SAW, who knew very little about her and even forgot she was coming to record in their studio. When they did remember, Kylie recorded I should be so lucky in less than an hour. 

I should be so lucky was released in December 1987 in the UK, charting at number 90 but after 3 weeks, reached Number 1 and stayed there for five weeks. The single was certified Gold in the UK and became an instant hit around the world. The video of the song is as iconic as the song, with one scene of Kylie in the bath blowing bubbles.

Due to the success of her first hit, SAW never forgot about their Australian star again and Mike Stock went across to Melbourne to apologise to Kylie and record the second song Got to be so Certain. His words to Kylie must have been successful as she returned to record her debut album in early 1988 in London. 

Kylie was released in the UK in July 1988, and after 7 weeks in the album chart, it eventually reached the number 1 slot and remain there for 4 weeks. It was the biggest selling album of 1988, and by the start of 1989, it had been certified six times platinum. In the UK, Kylie became the first female singer to have their debut album sell in excess of 2 million copies in the UK (at that time). Avril Lavigne would beat the record in 2003.

For me, this album reminds me of friendship and a period in my life before everything changed and a certain innocent of childhood would be lost for ever. Kylie is an artist which I will happily listen to now and although at the time, I remember my Dad moaning about the bubble-gum pop music that I was listening to, the beats of Kylie's early work make up my own music footprint of life.

Listen to Kylie's first album here:

Kylie by Kylie Minogue

Written by Stock, Aitken and Waterman, with the exception of The Loco-motion which was written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King.

Released: 1988

Song 99 - White Diamond by Kylie Minogue

With the amount of songs going into the Jukebox to pay tribute to artists, I thought I would change tempo today and the idea of a diamond came into my head and with it this little beautiful track by Kylie Minogue. White Diamond written with the Scissor Sisters  is taken from her 10th studio album, X, and the first album she released after being treated successfully for cancer.

One of the most pleasing aspects of this song is the two different versions there are of this track; one is perfect for a slow dance and the other will help you prepare for a night out.

The album version is a slower version. Appearing as the last track of the album, the tempo is soulful making the lyrics sound very reflective and, placed in context to what Kylie was going through at that point, the word seem to reflect  the pressure of going through radiotherapy and her inner fight against the horrible disease.

Then for her Showgirls - homecoming album, which is an album of the resumed tour she started again in 2007, the version of White Diamond is a classic pop song, and it is unmistakable a track that has been written with Scissor Sisters' Jake and Babydaddy. When you hear it, all you want to do is dance.

For me, Kylie is one of those artists that I had a fondness for as I was ten when Neighbours was at the height of the Kylie and Jason mania that led to the pair of them signing with Stock, Aitken and Waterman and I remember have all the posters around my bedroom walls. But like me, Kylie grew up and her music and image changed and with it, her fan base and popularity grew and grew. She is pop royalty and an icon of pop for my generation. Kylie will be given more space and time in the jukebox over the next few months.

The pop version
Showgirl Homecoming Live Version of White Diamond

The slower version
White Diamond by Kylie Minogue

Written by: Kylie Minogue, Jake Shears and Babydaddy
Album: X,
Album released: 2007.