I remember Karl Van Est… with his trademark pauses… ‘So… much… for… love…’
Pretty true comments on state differences…according to Thomas Guest’s Thirty Years of Hits book for the Melbourne Top 40s from 1960-1990:
Venetians - So much for love…No 60 for 1986. Highest position no 9
Adventures - Sea of love…nada, we only got the Honeydrippers song of the same name. They did at least get Broken Land as a one hit wonder to the position of No 16 in 1988
Glass Tiger - another one hit wonder for Melbourne…with Don’t forget me reaching No 5 in 1986
Elton John - I don’t wanna… only made it to No 13 in 1988 - but I swear I heard it heaps…
Martha Davis made it to No 8 in the same year.
My nomination for a lost song: Arcardia - The Promise. it never made the charts in Melbourne although I can remember it being in EON-FM’s Top 8 at 8. Did it make much of an impact elsewhere?
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re Arcadia - no, I only remember “Election Day” being a hit here in NSW
Thanks for your research… much appreciated…
I can’t comment much on regional differences between states but certainly between NZ and Australia there were some variations in CHR airplay in the mid-late 1980s (and I’m not just talking local acts). And nah… ‘election day’ was all we had in NZ…
I remember Dxing to 2SM and Magic 11 (particularly with the Stimrol Take 40 on Sunday nights with Trevor Sinclair)… and hearing songs like:
I should have known better - Jim Diamond
You’re a friend of mine - Clarence Clemons (w/Jackson Browne)
I can dream about you - Dan Hartman
Never heard on NZ radio - even to this day…
There were also plenty of songs that received airplay in NZ but not in Australia (but as a teenage listener they were probably harder to detect). Interestingly, Time Bandits ‘Only shooting love’ was #1 in NZ a full six months before receiving any airplay in Australia (where it also became a big hit).
One of the biggest songs worth mentioning that was a hit in NZ but hardly anywhere else is one by the Hollies - Magic Woman Touch. I remember as a kid hearing it thrashed on 2ZA. In those days they had a ‘Dou-dou-dou-double play’ where they would play the same song back to back (two 45s). It was also a staple of 3ZB when my family moved to Canterbury in the 1970s… it was pretty much always a part of the Classic Hits playlist and now the Sound throw it in regularly…
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All 3 are great songs… The Dan Hartman song still gets a bit of an airing on WSFM or 2GO, but I have wondered why the Clarence Clemons/Jackson Browne song doesn’t get more airplay these days… I guess it’s just another great unsolved mystery of the puzzle that is Australian radio.
It’s a great song… but when my kiwi friends hear it, they go ‘what’s this cheesy sh*t?’…
As well as on Smooth & Star 104.5 (Central Coast NSW).
According to Wikipedia ,“Magic Woman Touch” reached #33 in Australia, which was a moderate hit here, but was much bigger in NZ, where it reached #4. In fact, The Hollies had a lot of Top 10 hits in NZ, 24 of them in fact, which is more than in their home country of the UK, where they had 17 Top 10 hits (18 if you count the 1988 re-issue of “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”). In Australia, they had only 8 Top 10 hits, whilst in the US, they had only 6 Top 10 hits.
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Thanks - I appreciate those insights… I knew Magic Woman Touch was bigger in NZ but never appreciated that overall the Hollies were comparatively bigger in NZ than elsewhere… 24 top 10 hits compared to 8 in Australia… that’s huge…
No wonder I have so much trouble with you Aussies when it comes to the lyrics of this…
You’re a friend of mine/Jackson Browne and Clarence Clements was HUGE on the airwaves in Brisbane. FM104, Stereo 10 and even 4BK flogged it. Must admit I still love the song.
Jackson Browne in general got a lot of airplay in the mid-80s on 104. They played a lot of album tracks of his, think the album was Lives in the Balance. I’m a big fan.
Magic Woman Touch still gets a spin on 4KQ and used to be played occasionally on 4BH but yes not a huge hit here.
I think Australia and NZ were the only countries the Time Bandits had success outside their home country (Netherlands I think?) Endless Road was also a big hit and much played on Stereo 10 and even (once or twice) on 104.
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Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress and Magic Woman Touch are both in the 4KQ top 1,000 songs in Brisbane between approx 1960 and 89 as per their usual Easter Countdown based on the Brisbane charts. That would imply they must have been big hits in Brisbane.
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That’s great - I never knew that… much appreciated (I’ll have to listen to the whole countdown this year!)
I used to write letters to various stations when I was a kid (mainly to get stickers) but sometimes I’d write feedback if I was Dxing…
Julie Brodsky was doing nights at 2SM (circa 1986) and sent me a 45 of the Machinations ‘No say in it’…
I love it - even though they received no airplay in NZ…
In 1988, in the dying days on Stereo 10, I remember them playing this track… (I have a cassette somewhere with this track followed by the JAM ‘Stereo 10’… great Aussie band but sadly now inhabiting radio obscurity…
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Great band!
Fred Loneragan was a great frontman for the band too.
“Pressure Sway” and “My Hearts On Fire” are other great songs of theirs too…
I remember reading somewhere that their LP “Big Music” would sell for $400 on eBay because it’s so rare now.
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There was a time when 2Day FM would feature this track (well at least the instrumental version of it) as their Black Thunder bed…
1991? 92? It was so good I think as a bed it even made its way to breakfast and ‘time saver traffic’…
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I think that song was released in 1990.
As I remember it being played A LOT on Gosford’s “Coast Rock FM” when that station was first launched, which was September 1990.
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Great song.
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I just remember Ray Macgregor’s voice ‘2Day FM Black Thunders…’ over that pounding intro…
I can’t believe this track is almost 20 years old! Still sounds so fresh…
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When KROQ became Gold 92.5… good time oldies of the 50s and 60s… they played this track…
Awesome song… I’ve never heard it on 4KQ though…
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It has been played as part of the 4KQ Easter countdown of 1,000 songs.