THIS WEEK IN 1985
1 I Want To Know What Love Is Foreigner
2 Do They Know It’s Christmas? Band Aid
3 Last Christmas/Everything She Wants Wham!
4 Like A Virgin Madonna
5 Shout Tears For Fears
6 I Know Him So Well Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson
7 Ghostbusters Ray Parker Jr.
8 Step Off (Part 1) Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five
9 Everything Must Change Paul Young
10 Since Yesterday Strawberry Switchblade
This week’s top ten from the past provides the answer to what could be a tricky pub quiz question: which song displaced Band Aid’s ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ from the UK number one spot?
‘I Want To Know What Love Is’ gave British/American rock band Foreigner their only number one hit on either side of the Atlantic. The power ballad spent three weeks on top of the UK charts, achieving Gold status, and knocked Madonna’s ‘Like A Virgin’ out of the number one spot in the US. It also spent five weeks at No. 1 in Australia and topped the charts in Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, and Sweden.
Rolling Stone has listed it as one of their greatest songs of all time, at number 479.
‘I Want To Know What Love Is’ was recorded with backing vocals from the New Jersey Mass Choir and Jennifer Holliday (of Dreamgirls Broadway musical fame) and with guest keyboards from Thompson Twins frontman Tom Bailey.
The song was written by Foreigner founder Mick Jones and the band’s frontman Lou Gramm, although Gramm’s contribution is uncredited and difficult to gauge (he says it was around 40%; Jones claims it was closer to 5%).
• Madonna’s classic ‘Like A Virgin’ was on its way back down the chart at the time this top ten was published. Despite failing to reach number one (peaking at 3), the Nile Rodgers-produced track set the template for what was to follow from the Queen of Pop. It may not have reached the top, but with sales of 832,000 and counting, ‘Like A Virgin’ is the second biggest selling Madonna single of all time in the UK. That brings us to another pub quiz question: what’s her biggest seller?