The Top 200 Biggest Selling Female Solo Singles Of The 1980's

[gezza76]

But the lyrics of 'So macho' could quite easily be from the viewpoint of a gay man out on the pull for a big hairy macho bear. So he's off to XXL or Fire instead of the campers at GAY. In fact, that was pretty much taken as who the target audience was. The culture at the time thought it was OK to take the piss out of the effeminate (look at 'comedians' like Duncan Norvelle). I would be astounded if Sinitta, as the daughter of the singer who sang 'So many men, so little time' could be homophobic!

My argument there was NOT that Sinitta was homophobic or even knew what the subtext was, but that given the history of the writer and his thoughts on homosexuality it's unlikely to be a song celebrating gay culture, especially given it's timing in the immediate aftermath of the emergence of AIDS. It's just a theory of course.

[rashidhk81]

I always preferred Cruising to So Macho. Don't think I've ever seen a clip of it being performed though.

[letuinmybackdoor]

My argument there was NOT that Sinitta was homophobic or even knew what the subtext was, but that given the history of the writer and his thoughts on homosexuality it's unlikely to be a song celebrating gay culture, especially given it's timing in the immediate aftermath of the emergence of AIDS. It's just a theory of course.

But the fact that a song written by a rabid homphobe who we could say was using a song to promote a virile form of hetrosexual masculinity was adopted by the very people it was seeking to demean is frickin' hilarious! A delicious irony

[gezza76]

But the fact that a song written by a rabid homphobe who we could say was using a song to promote a virile form of hetrosexual masculinity was adopted by the very people it was seeking to demean is frickin' hilarious! A delicious irony

Exactly. It's an interesting record (more than I imagined it to be when first reviewing it) because it's loaded with irony in a hidden way. Stoopid homophobes! haha

[Baby Clyde]

24. Upside Down by DIANA ROSS

My loathing for Miss Ross is well known but there's no denying how great this record is. In fact I love this whole era. 'My Old Piano' is probably my favourite Diana record ever.

[Baby Clyde]

23. Kids In America by KIM WILDE
This classic was kept off number 1 by This Ole House by Shakin' Stevens. Oh the ignominy........

Shamefully I'm partly to blame as 'This Ole House' was the first record I ever bought with a record token I'd won.

Sorry.

[Baby Clyde]

Heartbreaker is such an amazing song.

The Bee Gees are underrated I think in terms of their songwriting (particularly for other artists). There's something about their lyrics that really push buttons within. I've said it before but 'Why do you have to be a heartbreaker when I was being what you want me to be?' is one of the most crushing lyrics ever. Whenever I hear it it still gives me this weird tugging feeling in the back of my throat.

But it's grammatically wrong. It changes tenses half way through. Surely it should be 'wanted me to be' which admittedly doesn't scan so doesn't work.

Sorry to be a pedant but that kind of thing always bugs me.

[passionoia]

But it's grammatically wrong. It changes tenses half way through. Surely it should be 'wanted me to be' which admittedly doesn't scan so doesn't work.

Sorry to be a pedant but that kind of thing always bugs me.

Well I've never given two shits about that thing called grammer but I think you're wrong. What she was being and what he wants are two seperate things. I've always thought the point of the song was about a woman continuously having her heartbroken by an all too often absent and uncaring lover she is still in a relationship with. He's breaking her heart in the present tense because he's absent again, she questions why because in the past tense when he is there she's what he wants her to be. And what he wants her to be is in the present tense because they're still together.

[Baby Clyde]

If that was the case them wouldn't it say "am being what you want me to be"?

Surely the more likely explanation is that 'want' fits whilst 'wanted' doesn't and they weren't concerned about anal spoilsports like myself.

[Eric Generic]

Also by 1986, Boy George was wearing suits and singing God Thank You Woman, and FGTH had gone all heavy rock. Maybe there's something to that theory, I dunno. I claim innocence due to my age and straightness!

[passionoia]

If that was the case them wouldn't it say "am being what you want me to be"?

Well no. You can't be something if he isn't there to be it too. That's what the song is about... or so I thought. Someone who picks her up and drops her, who comes and go as he pleases. He's gone again... she's heartbroken again... but he'll be back again wanting her to be what he wants her to be again. To say 'am' suggest he's still there (he isn't), to say wanted suggests he's gone (he isn't - in relationship terms).

Like you say all they'd need to change was to am... that would fit, after all the line also starts with the present tense (ie 'do' not 'did').

[The Visitor]

20. Holiday by MADONNA

Year 1984/85
UK peak #2
Sales 537,000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X7RyGBq2E8


So here is how a superstar made her debut in the UK, this peaked at number 6 first time round and peaked at number 2 in 1985 when she was held off the top spot by.......................herself. If only she had the same energy and passion for her music as she did back then.

Holiday was released for a 3rd time in 1991, peaking at number 5.

[rashidhk81]

One of the best. I love it!

[Booers]

Holiday is brilliant. I had it on yesterday on my way to work and it livened up a dull Monday morning commute.

[hudweiser]

I can't stand Holiday. It's sickly and vacuous and kept me at arms length from Madonna for years.

[The Visitor]

19. I Think We're Alone Now by TIFFANNY

Year 1988
UK peak #1 for 3 weeks
Sales 537,000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6Q3mHyzn78&ob=av2e


Here she is with her biggest hit. Trailer park trash- oops sorry, shopping mall queen .Tiffanny covered a 1960's song and took it to the top on both sides of the Atlantic. In the USA this was partly achieved by a series of shopping mall apperances. You know you're getting old when a cover of a cover comes out and people think the first cover was the original, but that's what happened when Girls Aloud covered this in 2006.

For Tiffanny though she burnt out quickly. After 1988 she had no other top 40 hits. Did she fare any better in the USA? I know she has sporadically made music

[MollieSwift21]

Classic though team Gibson!

[Eric Generic]

They rushed out the 2nd album, it didn't do very well, and then nothing (as far as I remember either!). Everyone had moved onto Paula Abdul.

I didn't mind TIffany....she had a decent rasp to her voice, the early material wasn't too bad, but I gravitated (oo-er) towards Ms. Deborah as well.

[LTG]

Just imagine what the internet would have made of a shopping mall tour.

[idratherjack]

Tiffany has actually kept making music and some of her albums are very good. From the last decade The Color of Silence is a good kind of Alanis Morisette-lite album and Dust Off and Dance is a decent modern dance record. Her third album in 1990 was never released in the UK as far as I know but I love the title track New Inside which has a kind of new jack swing sound.

Tiffany was the first popstar I was ever obsessed with as an impressionable teen and my bedroom was plastered with posters of her. I remember telling everyone at school she would be bigger than Madonna! I still love her voice to this day and it's a shame her star faded so quickly. Tracks like Hold An Old Friend's Hand from her second album deserved to be big hits. Funny how that batch of late 80s pop ladies (Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, Taylor Dayne, Martika) came and went so quickly.

[hudweiser]

Radio Romance should've been huge.

[bichard]

They rushed out the 2nd album, it didn't do very well, and then nothing (as far as I remember either!). Everyone had moved onto Paula Abdul.

I didn't mind TIffany....she had a decent rasp to her voice, the early material wasn't too bad, but I gravitated (oo-er) towards Ms. Deborah as well.

I loved Tiffany. Her debut was the first LP I ever bought, although Hold An Old Friend'd Hand is a far superior album and the title track is one of the loveliest songs ever.

It all went wrong for Tiff when the went and released the dreadful Feelings of Forever as the fourth single from her debut. It failed to make the top 40 and even the brilliant Radio Romance (#13 I believe) couldn't pull it back when it became lead single from the follow-up.

She did go on to release a third album in Asia not long after HAOFH. I think it was called New Inside. That was followed a few years laster by Dreams Never Die. Then nothing til 2000's Colour Of Silence, which Tiffany co-wrote and was a lot more rock-orientated. It was actually quite well received critically, if I remember correctly.

After that there was the awful Dust Off and Dance which was essentially released only via her fan club to cash in on the 80s revivial and her appearance on that odd X Factor-like show where all the past stars tried to win a new record contract or something.

There has been 2 more albums since then too, Just Me (2007) and Rose Tattoo (2011).

[Eric Generic]

Feelings Of Forever did certainly seem to derail her chart career. After three big hits, that was a shocker.

[bichard]

Feelings of Forever is absolute steaming pile of syphilitic discharge though, and rightly bombed. Honestly, there were so many better options on the album. The lovely Spanish Eyes, the soaring Kid on a Corner, or if they were hell-bent on another slowie then even Promises Made is far superior.

Ah....when I think of what could've been...

[Booers]

I Think We're Alone now is a choon, as was its top 5 follow up Could've Been which was a really sweet yet heartbreaking ballad. I can see why it all went downhill from there - none of the follow up singles were much cop. I remember Radio Romance being out and thinking how she barely pronounced the Rs in the title - it sounded more to me like the song was Adio Omance.