TOP 40 GREATEST MISSES3O
MAYOR OF
SIMPLETON
XTC
An elaborate nod to the
rise of jangle pop in the
late 80s from a band
who embraced Englishness.
Andy Partridge took some fl ak
for thematic similarities to
Wonderful World by Sam Cooke
when writing a lyric about
having no education, but
musically it’s an alternative
masterpiece. XTC were a
misunderstood group in the 80s,
and with this song’s stalling at
No.46, that would continue.26
YOU’VE GOT IT
SIMPLY RED
Mick Hucknall was a
world megastar by the
end of the 80s, but it
was still relatively common for
isolated Simply Red singles to
fl op around some really big hits.
In 1989, this gentle, rich soul
groove showcased his terrifi c
range but the public had bought
enough of his balladeering over
the previous two years, giving it
just three weeks on the
chart and a
meagre peak of
No.46.29
LENINGRAD
BILLY JOEL
Among the most moving
songs in Billy Joel’s
discography, this was
about a Russian fan called
Viktor, a contrast and
comparison of their early lives on
either side of the Iron Curtain
and detailing Viktor’s military
struggles while making Russian
kids laugh as a professional
clown. It’s a stylish piano-led
opus with a solemn vocal and
big orchestral crescendo that
deserved much higher than its
No.53 peak in 1989.25
BACK IN THE HIGH
LIFE AGAIN
STEVE WINWOOD
Numerous Winwood
singles qualifi ed for this.
Likely the most familiar
comes from the album that also
spawned Higher Love, his big hit
that proved an exception to a
regrettable rule that America
would embrace this proudly
British artist while his homeland
ignored him. Back In The High
Life Again was clever, grown-up
pop that climbed from 90 to 53
in one week of 1987, but went
no further.31
YOU MIGHT THINK
THE CARS
Though we’d imported
the power pop shtick
of The Cars at the
end of the 70s, they created
a different impression when
the synthetic soft rock of Drive
made people cry and buy
in 1984, so this ill-timed
follow-up fuelled confusion
over the band’s expected
sound. A terse Ric Ocasek
vocal and a tuneful but
disquieting post-punk setting
didn’t fi t the received wisdom,
and it only got to No.88.27
WAITING ON
A FRIEND
THE ROLLING STONES
A moment of wisdom
from Mick Jagger as he
eschewed reliance on
women and liquor and sang
about actual comradeship,
characterised in the video by a
street rendezvous with Keith
Richards, before meeting the
others in a bar. The most
conspicuous contributions are by
non-Stones, through Nicky
Hopkins’ superb piano and
Sonny Rollins’ exultant sax.
It made No.50 in 1981.32
DEEP & WIDE
& TALL
AZTEC CAMERA
A determined Roddy
Frame saw this single
stall outside the Top 40
at the end of 1987, so after three
follow-ups succeeded, he had
another go, clearly believing in
it. Eventually it peaked at No.55.
Like all the singles from the Love
LP (which reached No.10 on the
album charts), it was glossier
than previous Frame material, as
he aimed to crack America, but
for whatever reason, it didn’t
work on any count.
28
SNEAKING OUT THE
BACK DOOR
MATT BIANCO
After the smoky, sinister
sophisti-pop of Get Out
Of Your Lazy Bed made
the Top 20, the Latin-fl avoured
jazz-funk of the follow-up was
arguably more melodic, and
certainly more wry, with a bigger
role for the outstanding, piercing
voice of Basia Trzetrzelewska,
and a fetching trumpet solo at
the end. Three weeks at No.47
followed by a peak at 44
suggested the record-buying
public couldn’t make its mind up.