Lookin' Fine '89. 18th June. Can I Get A Bed In The Air as Electric Youth's Rooms is On Fire!

Well this week was a busy one especially in the top ten and again right at the very top so let's not waste any time and get on with the top ten where the revolving door at number one continues because "Wind Beneath My Wings" by Bette Midler returned to number one thanks to a sales surge this week...lovely.

Anyway, it did push "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles back to number two as it couldn't match "Wind Beneath My Wings" sales. 

Both held up over "Bedroom Eyes" by Kate Ceberano stalled at number three and "Hand on Your Heart" by Kylie Minogue paused at number four.

Rising two places to number five is "The Look" by Roxette, look this is heading for number one as it stands right now, I think it's the biggest challenger to the top two as it stands right now.

Joining the top ten is "Express Yourself" by Madonna which took a six place climb to number six. Kind of annoyed that this is here tbh.

"Good Thing" by Fine Yoiung Cannibals jumped four places to number seven...kind of happy about this, I still do like the song. "Now You're In Heaven" by Julian Lennon remains steady at number eight.

Jumping from 16 to 9 this week is John Cougar Mellencamp's "Pop Singer"  as it got a surprising surge this week. Nice!

Wrapping up the the top ten is "Lost in Your Eyes" by Debbie Gibson which is only just hanging on at number ten.

Gains

So let's look outside the top ten, there's a twenty place gain for Queen's "I Want It All" up off it's debut of 35 to 15 while "House of Cards by James Reyne broke into the top twenty rising from 21 to 17. 

"Patience" by Guns 'n' Roses is being rewarded for it's patience with a six place gain to 21. 

"Hurricane" by James Freud rose two places to 20 while "You Got It (The Right Stuff)" by New Kids on The Blockc jumped from 36 to 23 and "I Won't Back Down" by Tom Petty scored a seven place gain to 24. 

"Come Anytime" by Hoodoo Gurus climbed from 39 to 31 and "Rocket" by Def Leppard is another to climb off its debut last week up from 46 to 32.

Losers

A song that isn't quite taking off the way I would like is "One' by Metallica which fell seven places to 50 this week while "The Crack Up" by The Black Sorrows stopped laughing down six places to 46. 

"One Summer" by Daryl Braithwaite is on the way out as it is down ten places to 43 while "Help" by Bananarama is down from 37 to 42. Dragon's "Young Years" has stopped breathing fire as it tumbled twelve to 37.

It continued to not be a good week for Daryl Braithwaite as "Let Me Be" slipped nine places to 35 while Paula Abdul's is doing the straight opposite as "Straight Up" went straight down from 28 to 34.

The Black Sorrows got unchained ten spots to 33 with "Chained to The Wheel" while "Wild Thing" by Tone Loc stumbled six places to 30. "Compulsory Hero" by 1927  fell ten places to 29 and "Stop!" by Sam Brown fell from 18 to 25.

"Cry in Shame" by Johnny Diesel & The Injectors cried it's way down from 15 to 22 while former number one "Like a Prayer" by Madonna fell out of the top ten down from 6 to 14. 

Two other songs also got booted from the top ten with "The Living Years" by Mike + The Mechanics down three places to 12 and "Stuck On You" by Paul Norton down six places to 11. 

New Entries

49. "Bed of Nails" by Ross Wilson

So this is one of those rare occasions where I cannnot find too much informationn about the song but according to Google, this song is from Ross Wilson's solo album called "Dark Side of the Man" and yeah, it's fine? The chorus is catchy even if the lyrics are quite dark which can be the norm for a song written  by Ross Wilson, It's fine but it's not a song I am going to remember that much going forward.  

48. "Can I Get a Witness?" by Sam Brown

Argh. I knew given the success of "Stop!" that we were bound to get a follow up single from Sam Brown but did it have to be a cover of a 1963 hit recorded by Marvin Gaye and let's not mince words here, this cover sounds like ass, it's this thinly disguised pop slurry that sucks any element of soul out of it like a Dyson vacuum cleaner sucks up cracker crumbs after a toddler got into them. Sam Brown literally has to shout to be heard above the production in this monogenre clusterfuck of a cover. Not the biggest desecration of the soul legend that is Marvin Gaye (Hi, Charlie Puth and Megan Trainor in 2015) but man, I do not want to hear this again. 

47. "In The Air Tonight ('88 Remix)" by Phil Collins

Alright so a remix of Phil Collins 1981 hit "In The Air Tonight" and I actually like this version a bit better than the original? Yeah, the original always felt a bit too sterile and didn't quite match the content of the song which is about the grief Collins felt following his divorce with the instrumention on the remix especially the guitars and drums sounding a lot sharper and reflecting the anger and frustration that Collins felt. I don't see this being a hit but hey, it works for me, check it out.

41. "Electric Youth" by Debbie Gibson

Ahh so the latest single from Debbie Gibson, this time the title track of her sophomore album, a fizzy electro pop song that's basically an empowerment song to the youth of 1989 and how the beliefs of teenagers of the time are just as important as adults. It's just a shame the song just doesn't feel all that empowering with the generic washed out 80s pop production and Debbie Gibson having all the power in her vocals of a NSW power station in the 2020s, she can't possibly sell an empowerment song. 

40. "Baby, I Don't Care" by Transvision Vamp

The last time I wrote about this band it didn't go well but anyway this is Tranvision Vamp's second single from their album 'Velveteen' and well...at least this song feels like an improvement with Wendy James being able to work up a pretty good scream to open the song and the song has enough of a sharp guitar presence to lend the song some weight as a rock song plus the exuberant yell of "Baby, I Don't Care" on the hook is exultant and does make me think she really doesn't care all that much. Yeah, this is pretty solid. Check it out.

36. "Rooms on Fire" by Steve Nicks

The final song for this week comes from Stevie Nicks and serves as the lead single from Nicks album "The Other Side of the Mirror" and I have to say I like the slow build up before the drum beat sees the song step it's tempo up a bit, also Stevie Nicks sounds fantastic here.,..finally a song that's somewhat decently produced this week. The content also works as well with the song being about a girl accepting that with the kind of life she leads that she won't be able to experience all the stuff other people do like getting married or having children, it's a pretty devastating and sombre song despite how somewhat upbeat it is.

And yeah, it's the best of the week this week, as for the worst of the week...that's going to Sam Brown for her cover of "Can I get a Witness?",

ARIA Top 50 Top Ten/Chart Review: 13th June. Wasting Vegas Angels 2Step to A Happier Song

 So this week felt underwhelming, sure we got a couple of songs from that new Post Malone album hitting the chart but that was about it however we do have some big news that pertains to the very top of the charts and that is there is a new number in the form of "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)" by Kate Bush, now it got to number one with the perfect mix of being top on sales, streaming and even Youtube, it's her first number one under ARIA charts but her second in Australia overall, her first was "Wuthering Heights" which reached number one in 1978 on the Kent Music Report charts. 

It pushed "As It Was" by Harry Styles back to number two, it could still get back to number one but that  is going to require streaming momentum to pick back up again, I would say it's under pressure from "First Class" by Jack Harlow at number three but that lost more ground on sales this week.

Sllipping back a place to number four is "About Damn Time" by Lizzo which looks to be just hanging in there even as it does feel like the momentum for this song has died rather prematurely.

Rising one place to number five is "Thousand Miles" by The Kid Laroi because it's filling gap left by the exits of Harry Styles songs from the top ten. The same can be said for The Kid Laroi's other song in the top ten "Stay" featuring Justin Bieber which rose one place to number six. 

Then at number seven is a new entry to the top ten with "I Like You (A Happier Song)" by Post Malone feat. Doja Cat, I will have more to say on the song later but it's here thanks mostly to streaming. 

Continuing to hang around is "Heat Waves" by Glass Animals at number eight while "Late Night Tslking" by Harry Styles slipped four places to number nine.

Boosted by the release of the album is "Cooped Up" by Post Malone feat. Roddy Ricch which got a thirteen place boost to number ten.

Gains

"Cooped Up" by Post Malone feat. Roddy Ricch was the biggest gain of the week with it's thirteen place gain to number.

"Wait for U"  by Future feat. Drake and Tems climbed six places to 18 while "Bam Bam" by Camila Cabello feat. Ed Sheeran rose eight places to 23 while "Enemy" by Imagine Dragons feat. J.I.D & League of Legends rebounded eight places to 24.

"Without You" by The Kid Laroi and Miley Cyrus rebounded ninentto 34 while "Wait a Minute" by Willow also climbed nine to 35 and "That's What I Want" by Lil Nas X jumped six places to 36

"Die Young" by Sleepy Hallow feat 347aiden jumped up ten places off it's debut to 38.

Re-Entries

Two returning entries this week with "No Role Modelz" by J Cole at 49 (I am bewildered about this one) while the one that does make sense is the return of "One Right Now" by Post Malone and The Weeknd at number 42 due to the release of Post Malone's album. 

Losers

All the losers are album bomb tracks so let's begin with Harry Styles with "Grapejuice" spilling 28 places to 47, "Satellite" crashing 19 to 37,  "Little Freak" slipped over nine places to 25, "Daylight" had it's sunset seven places to 21, the same goes for "Music for a Sushi Restaurant" down to 19 and "Matilda" to 16

Kendrick Lamar's "N95" saw it's mask slip 26 places to 46.

Drop Outs

Nothing too major to note here with five of the six drop outs being Harry Styles album tracks along wirh "Potion" by Calvin Harris feat Dua Lipa and Young Thug.

New Entries

44. "2Step" by Ed Sheeran feat. Lil Baby

Ed Sheeran, you are four singles from "=" in, pop/rock is back in vogue, you could have given us "Tides" as a single already but no, instead we get "2Step" and in order to get it onto the charts, multiple remixes with artists around the world including Australia's own Budjerah but seeing as the version that charted is the version with Lil Baby, I am going to talk about that one instead and look, "2Step" isn't helped by the fact that it's one of the songs that I didn't like from "=" in the first place, yeah the guitar that opens the song is pretty but the percussion that overwhelms that pretty guitar rif bugs me...it's like it's not mixed properly and Lil Baby's verse sounds like an insert here verse that he could put any pop song. Next...

30. "Wasting Angels" by Post Malone feat. The Kid Laroi

So we only got two new songs from the new Post Malone album which considering he landed nine new songs from Hollywood's Bleeding on the ARIA singles chart in 2019 is kind of telling that even with the label drama, apart from Drake, people have moved on from artists who weren't particularly active during the pandemic shutdowns of 2020 and 2021 to acts in Post Malone's lane like his counterpart on this song.

Okay, the decreasing public interest in Post Malone aside, I love the production on this track even if Post Malone's vocals are the worst part of the song but the choir on the final part of the song sent shivers down my spy. Post Malone and The Kid Laroi lyrically pontificate about their lives before they got famous and how they are enjoying the ride that comes with fame but are aware of the pitfalls and are doing their hardest to not lapse into any of those pitfalls, it's a better than I expected song from both Post Malone and The Kid Laroi. It's good without being great. 

17. "Vegas" by Doja Cat

So this is the lead single for the soundtrack of Baz Luhrmann's Elvis Presley biopic called "Elvis" and I kind of get the feeling that this song would work better within the context of the movie (which is getting very mixed reviews). Yeah, Doja Cat is having some fun that includes a sample of Elvis's hit "Hound Dog" being sung by Big Mama Thornton. Look, it's fine but if it sticks around for awhile I could see this song souring on me hard especially as the repeated "I get it" does get really damn annoying however we ain't done with Doja Cat yet because...

7. "I Like You (A Happier Song)" by Post Malone feat. Doja Cat.

The only other song to chart new this week from "Twelve Carat Toothache" and look, it's a smooth hook up song that lacks any kind of interplay between Post Malone and Doja Cat even if Post Malone's crooning on the hook is a lot better than usual. Also the production does feel a bit one note and derivative. It's cute and it might be the song from "Twelve Catat Toothache" to stick around because of the Doja Cat feature but I am not feeling this one.

And that ends a rough week...the worst is going to "2Step" by Ed Sheeran feat. Lil Baby...when there's better on the album, Ed has no excuse for releasing this. As for the best, it's rough but I am going with "Wasting Angels" by Post Malone feat. Kid Laroi because hey that choir at the end solid it for me.

Next week, BTS and possibly Joji, we'll have to see when the chart updates at 5pm AEST on Friday.

Lookin' Fine '89. June 11th. I Want a Rocket to Come Anytime After All

 So this week finally feels some form of normal even if there's not really any consistency with the revolving door going on number one and that's evident this week because if we look at the top ten, "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles returned to the number one spot thanks to a decent sales week but it's all margins because right behind it "Wind Beneth My Wings" by Bette Midler, this is still a player to return to the top spot.

This all pushed "Bedroom Eyes" by Kate Ceberanp back to number three, it's not really as competitive for the top spot though, it did hold up over "Hand on Your Heart" by Kylie Minogue which remains at number four and "Stuck On You" by Paul Norton which rebounded one place to number five.

The same goes for "Like a Prayer" by Madonna which moved up one spot to number six however it could come under pressure from our latest arrival in the top ten which is Roxette's "The Look" which leapt nine places ti number seven...I'm not complaining about this, the song is fantastic.

All it did was help further push "Now You're in Heaven" by Julian Lennon back three places to number eight while former number one "The Living Years" by Mike + The Mechanics slipped back one to number nine.

Returning to the top ten is "Lost in Your Eyes" by Debbie Gubson which rebounded two places to number ten.

Gains

Outside of the nine place gain into the top for "The Look" by Roxette, what else gained? Madonna's "Express Yourself" made one of the biggest gains in a while leaping from 36 to 12 while "Iko Iko" bt The Belle Stars climbed five places to 14

"I Drove All Night" by Cyndi Lauper climbed six places to 20 while "Let Me Be" by Daryl Braithwaite climbed from 32 to 26.

"Lullaby" by The Cure jumped from it's debut of 37 last week to 32 while "You Got It (The Right Stuff)" bb New Kids On the Block jumped from 44 to 36.

At least "The Crack Up" by The Black Sorrows gained ten places to 40. 

Re Entries

Just the one return this week courtesy of Jason Donovan's former top ten hit "Too Many Broken Hearts" at number 47

Losers

So unfortunately most of the good songs took hits this week starting with "Leave Me Alone" by Michael Jackson which tumbled from 49 to 43 while "When Love Comes to Town" by U2 with B.B. King tripped over twelve places to 33.

Mercifully some crap did take a hit with "Wild Thing" by Sam Kinison down nine places to 48 and "Help" by Bananarama down ten places to 37. 

"I'm On My Way" by The Proclaimers is on it's way out of the top fifty as it tumbled twelve places to 42 while "How'm I Gonna Sleep" by Tim Finn slid from 35 to 41.

Daryl Braithwaite's "One Summer" looks set to be coming to a close as it stumbled nine places to 33 unfortunately but in better news Samantha Fox's terrible cover of "I Only Wanna Be With You" tumbled nine placess to 29. 

The Black Sorrow's former top ten hit "Chained to the Wheel" slipped from 18 to 23 while "Stop!
 by Sam Brown hit an eight place skid to 18 and "Ring My Bell" by Collette stumbled five places to 13.

New Entries

Four new entries this week starting with...

50. "After All" by Cher & Peter Cetera

Ugh...what a way to start the new entries this week, Anyway, we've got Cher and former Chicago frontman Peter Cetera collaborating here on the love theme for the film "Chances Are" a nd make no mistake, the song sucks..the piercing flute or recorder that opens the song, Cher and Cetera have about as much chemistry as a bowl of oatmeal with no milk or anything else substantial to flavour it, Also why does this sound like both of them recorded the song in separate rooms and it sounds like the instrumentation is overpowering the vocals...yeah, no chance in hell, will I be coming back to this...hit the fast forward on this one. 

46. "Rocket" by Def Leppard

Well we can only go up from here, I doubt we'll hear anything as bad as that love ballad so what do Def Leppard bring us with the sixth single from "Hysteria"...well turns out they bring a pretty damn catchy song even if the chorus is as basic as hell and yeah the guitar solo does sound pretty lazy but I do think this is a song that could play well to a live audience hence I really don't hate this as much as the critics do because I don't think it's designed to be an overt serious slice of music, I enjoyed this for what it is. 

39. "Come Anytime" by Hoodoo Gurus.

The lead single from the Hoodoo Guru's fourth album "Magnum Cum Louder" and on a 2022 sidenote: I am now really fucking nostalgic for "Thank God You're Here" but anyway back to the actual business of talking about the song and yeah, it's good but it's also exactly what you'd expect from a band in their fourth album cycle  with that pretty damn awesome guitar riff that opens the song before the song goes into full gear. The lyrics being quite romantic about a rather unromantic subject according to Hoodoo Gurus frontman Dave Faulkner, this is pretty damn good, check it out.

35. "I Want It All" by Queen

Ahh I have been looking forward to this one, this is the lead single from Queen's album "The Miracle, it was written by Brian May but credited to the band and yeah...it's everything I expected with the defiant tone of the production with the instrumentation sounding overall rather defiant and Freddie Mercury just taking an infinitely more defiant tone in his voice, May says the song is more about having ambitions and individuals fighting to achieve their own goals, All in all this is one of my favourite Queen songs because I do love what it represents in many ways and it can be argued that it reflects the time that it was made with the political upheaval recently in China and other places. 

And yeah, Queen's "I Want It All" easily wins the best of the week. Worst also falls out easily "After All" by Cher and Peter Cetera...I have no use for flavourless mush.

ARIA Singles Top 50/Chart Review. 6th June. Young True Love Potion

 So this week turned out to be a cooldown from the album bombs we've had at least until Post Malone turns up next week (although that one I am not so sure about  given Post has struggled to really capture any attention this year) but regardless of that..."As It Was" by Harry Styles, it had streaming, sales and youtube on lock for most of this week untiil our new number two came along.

Speaking of which that new number two is Kate Bush's 1985 hit "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)" which thanks to hit TV show Stranger Things, it got a boost on sales and streaming to outpeak it's 1985 performance on the Kent Music Report charts where it peaked at number six at the time however it's not certain to stick around when the hype from Stranger Things dies down, there's a small chance that this could take the number one spot next week because it's momentum is enormous.

Rebounding four places to number three is "About Damn Time" by Lizzo as it surprisingly surpassed "First Class" by Jack Harlow which climbed one place to number four.

"Late Night Talking" by Harry Styles slipped back three places to number five. "Thousand Miles" by The Kid Laroi rebounded a full fourteen places to number six while Laroi's other hit "Stay" featuring Justin Bieber also returned to the top ten up 11 places to number seven.

Up three places to number eight is the malingering fart that won't go the fuck away, "Heatwaves" by Glass Animals up three places to number eight.

"Matilda" by Harry Styles slipped six places to number nine while "Big Energy" by Latto feat. Mariah Carey and DJ Khaled climbed seven places back inside the top ten at number ten.

Gains

So let's deal with the double digit gains here first with "Bad Habits" by Ed Sheeran up ten places to number 11. "She's All I Wanna Be" by Tate McRae rebounding with the album boost to 26.

Then there's a nine place gain for "Where Are You Now" by Lost frequencies and Calum Scott to number 12  while "Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)" by Elton John and Dua Lipa climbed eight to 13.

Re Entries

So there are three return entries this week including Kate Bush's ""Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)" at number two. The other returns are courtesy of Lady Gaga's "Hold My Hand" at 47 (you can thank the noise around the new Top Gun movie for this) and somehow "Without You" by The Kid Laroi feat Miley Cyrus came back at number 43...

Losses

All of the losses are basically just album bombs falling away so let's deal with Kendrick Lamar first with "Die Hard" feat B;xst and Amanda Reifer  down 23 places to 50 while "N95" only dropped the one place to 20.

From Harry Styles though, "Boyfriends" got dumped 24 places to 34,  "Daydreaming" got ssplashed down with cold water eighteen spots to 30, "Kee[ Driving" crashed fifteen to 29, "Love of My Life" got crushed fifteen to 28, "Cinema" had its doors shut 16 places to 27, "Grapejuice" went sour down ten to 19, "Satellite" crash landed eight places to 18, "Little Freak" freaked out ten places to 16, "Daylight" is starting to see the sunset down six to 14  and "Music for a Sushi Restaurant recieved negative reviews so it's down eight to 12.

Drop Outs

Not complaining about our drop outs this week because all of them either suck or overstayed their welcome with "Starlight" by Dave, "Watermelon Sugar" by Harry Styles, "Dua Lipa" by Jack Harlow, "No Role Modelz" by J Cole, "Say Nothing" by Flume feat. MAY-A and "In the Stars" by Benson Boone all taking their exits...thank goodness.

New Entries

Three new entries this week, beginning with....

48 "Die Young" by Sleepy Hallow feat. 347aidan

Okay so Sleepy Hallow are back on the chart, I think I liked "2055" a bit more than a few other people did however this time around he has brought Canadian rapper 347aidan on board and unfortunately this song is not as good as "2055" mostly because of that hook where the production makes 347aidan sound terrible or there was a complete misfire in the studio because either way the vocal effect isn't flattering even with that really good guitar line that they don't seem to do anything with. Also Sleepy Hallow's content here isn't worth noting mostly just him not wanting to die young and empty flexing, either way I am going to forget this exists.

32. "Potion" by Calvin Harris feat. Dua Lipa and Young Thug

I can't have been the only one excited to hear that Calvin Harris is making "Funk Wav Bounces Volume 2", right? So of course it makes sense that Harris would bring in Dua Lipa, who helped him make one of the biggest hits of 2018 with "One Kiss", and Young Thug (He was on 2017's "Heatstroke" with Pharrell Williams and Ariana Grande) although it does feel weird that he is on a song now given his current situation and well..."Poition" is absolutely what you would expect from Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa in that it sounds like a song that could have fit on "Future Nostalgia" because Dua Lipa sounds great here but the production isn't nearly as rich enough as it was on "Heatstroke" for Young Thug to work here and while he harmonises well with Dua Lipa...I am kind of wondering if this song might have benefited with just Dua Lipa on it, it's a decent to good song but it could have been better.

21. "True Love" by Kanye West and XXXtentacion

Uhh...no...can we stop this? Can we stop digging up XXXtentacion, who is dead by the way, fragments to put on undercooked rap songs because this from Kanye is literally just one verse with several choruses as Kanye complains about not being able to see his youngest daughter, how he doesn't like the current custodial arrangement following the divorce from his ex wife etc...it's really not worth much of anything. 

It's also the worst of the week because really it's a fragment of a song and a pretty crappy one at that too. Best in a rough week is going to "Potion" by Calvin Harris feat. Dua Lipa and Young Thug.

Next week, Post Malone album bomb maybe, we'll have to see when the charts update at 5pm AEST on Friday

Lookin' Fine '89. 4th June. If You Don't Know You Express Yourself with a Heart Lullaby

 Wow....1989, you are just exhausting at this point, we have got several major stories within our top ten and large number of new entries. One of those stories is right at the very top because leaping five places to take the number one position is..."Wind Beneath My Wings" by Bette Midler because somehow some Australians think the sound of horny cats in a bag sounds good...ugh...anyway it got to number one thinks to strong sales.

Those sales were enough to stop a quite amazing surge from "Bedroom Eyes" by Kate Ceberano which jumped nine places to take the number two slot this week. The song definitely worthy of being a hit however it is still a surprise it jumped to number two this fast.

Last week's number one "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles got pushed back to number three but remains a strong chance of returing to number one next week as it's still as strong as the two songs above it right now.

There's a new entry to the chart at number four via Kylie Minogue with "Hand on Your Heart", we'll talk more about the quality of the song later but it had good enough sales to ensue a top five debut.

Rising three places to number five is "Now You're in Heaven" by Julian Lennon. Now I am happy to see this doing so well, the song has only gotten better every week it's spent on the chart.

From there it's a bit of a mess with Paul Norton's "Stuck On You" slipping two places to number six, "Like A Prayer" by Madonna slumped from number two to number seven and "The Living Years" by Mike + The Mechanics tumbled five places to number eight.

Mercifully "Ring My Bell" by Collette got thumped down four places to number nine while "Stop!" by Sam Brown tumbled three places to number ten.

Gains

On the cusp of the top ten is "Good Thing" by Fine Young Cannibals which climbed four places to number eleven.

The big surprise this week is "Pop Singer" by John Mellencamp which jumped from it's debut of 46 last week to number 15! Seems like this song is connecting with the public which is nice to see.

Also connecting with the public is "The Look" by Roxette which climbed from 23 to 16 while 
"Patience" by Guns 'n' Roses climbed from 34 to 29.

 "I'll be There for You" by Bon Jovi got a nine place gain to 31...ugh...less said the better...the same goes for the six place gain for "Satisfied" by Richard Marx and for the eight place gain for "Changed His Ways" by Robert Palmer to 42.

Losses

Alright, "Fire Woman" by The Cult tumbled from 36 to 49 this week as interest in this song ebbs away while "Something's Got a Hold of My Heart" by Marc Almond and Gene Pitney tumbled six places to 47.

Former number one, "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by The Proclaimers stumbled 16 places to 46 this week while mid chart hogger "Veronica" by Elvis Costello sliped twelve to 45.

"Leave Me Alone" by Michael Jackson tripped down from 39 to 43 while former top ten hit 'Tucker's Daughter" by Ian Moss fell from 35 to 41.

Sam Kinison's cover of "Wild Thing" got hit with a plunge from 32 to 39 while "When Love Comes to Town" by U2 with B.B King slid from 26 to 33. 

The Proclaimers other hit "I'm on Way" collapsed from 16 to 30 while "One Summer" by Daryl Braithwaite took a dip from 17 to 24 and "Wild Thing" by Tone Loc fell from 18 to 22.

New Entries

Six new entries thss week beginning with...

48. "If You Don't Know Me By Now" by Simply Red

You know I am beginning to think that it's almost guaranteed that I will have to cover a cover version every week in the new entries with this one coming from Simply Red who have covered Philadelphia soul group Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes 1972 single "If You Don't Know Me By Now", the song was originally written by Labelle but they never recorded it so what we needed was Simply Red in 1989 to record a new version of the song so how did it pan out?

I don't know, there's something special about the original version in there's passion in the vocal delivery with the pent up frustration with this partner and I do love the backing vocals on the original as well, Mick Hucknall and Simply Red do try hard wuth the more beefed up late eighties production but I feel like Hucknall isn't quite there on the emtional level for cover to connect for me, it's not bad but it's also not a cover that I am actively going to seek out. 

44/. "You Got It (The Right Stuff" by New Kids On The Block

The second single from the boy band's second album "Hangin' Tough" and wow, the production is more percussion than melody that's not even close to the mood that New Kids on the Block are going for with the drums and oh the lyrics are the usual pandering to their fanbase of teenage girls who no doubt will love this song, also it took this dude three dates to actually fall in love with this girl and now he is getting clingy? Ew. Look, it's a catchy pop song if you ignore the blatant fangirl pandering that every boy band is guilty of, it's just not my thing at all.

37. "Lullaby" by The Cure

This is the latest single from The Cure's eighth album "Disintegration" and wow, I actually like the production here with the guitars and piano combining to create a calm and actually serene atmosphere even as Robert Smith's hushed vocal delivery paints an uneasy picture of the songs that his father used to sing to him at night before he went to sleep and how these songs would have a horrific ending so yeah this is very much one of those very unnerving songs despite how bright the production is but it's still worth checking out.

36. "Express Yourself" by Madonna

The follow up to "Like A Prayer" from the album called "Like a Prayer" and it's a song all about female empowerment,, to never settle for sloppy seconds and to always express her inner feelings and look while I get and like the song's message in the lyrics, the music doesn't feel as empowering especially with that production that is becoming so god damn overused in 1989.  Not saying this is bad by any matter of means but I definitely wouldn't place this among Madonna's best songs this decade.

34. "I Won't Back Down" by Tom Petty

Uhh...this was released in April and is only now just charting? What the hell? Anyway this is the lead single from Petty's solo album "Full Moon Fever" and was co written by Petty with ELO's Jeff Lynne and this sounds exactly like a Travelling Wilbury's song which is maybe why I like it so much. Lynne's production gives this a solid heartland rock vibe that really matches the message of the song which is defiant and standing against oppression and difficulty, a message that in 1989 resonates pretty loudly and it's a message I hear loud and clear because yeah, this song is excellent.

4. "Hand On Your Heart" by Kylie Minogue.

Alright, the biggest new release of the week comes from Australia's own pop princess and it's yet again another Stock, Aitken and Waterman effort, it comes from Kylie's second album "Enjoy Yourself" with the song being where Kylie wants this guy to be honest with her about where their relationship is at, is it over or what and if it's over does he truly mean it  or is he trying to convince himself that the relationship is done hence Kylie not believing him and wanting him to say the relationship is over with his hand on his heart. 

It's a pretty cute pop song from Kylie, she definitely has the habit of releasing pretty good without being excellent pop songs but hey, check this one out.

And that ends our week, the best falls out pretty easily here with that going to "I Won't Back Down" by Tom Petty. As for the worst? Ugh, nothing to egregiously bad but I'm giving it to "You Got It (The Right Stuff)" by New Kids on the Block for basically being a piece of pandering. 

ARIA Top 50 Top Ten/Chart Review. 30th May. When Harry's House Meets the ARIA Singles Chart.

Look...this week is going to be a Harry Styles avalanche...we're going to be doing nothing other than talking about Harry Styles songs for the most part beause all twelve new songa from "Harry's House" made the ARIA singles chart all in the top fifteen with seven of them joining reigning number one "As It Was" in the top ten, it was a blitzkrieg that I am not convinced did all that much damage anyway given Kendrick cleared out the chart for the most part last week but like I said "As it Was" by Harry Styles spends a sixth week at number one thanks to massivc streaming off the back of the album release.

Now this massive streaming is pretty much the same for all the Harry Styles songs in the top ten so I am going to blow through those quickly with "Late Night Talking" at number two, "Matilda" at number three and "Music for a Sushi Restaurant" at number four.

Jack Harlow's "First Class' managed to stem the surge of Harry songs slightly by only falling three places to number five. 

"Little Freak" by Harry Styles debuts at number six ahead of Lizzo's "About Damn Time" which dropped three places to number seven (this song is still strong and should rebound next week).

The rest of the top ten is all Harry Styles though with "Daylight" at number eight, "Grapejuice" at number nine and "Satellite' at number ten.

Gains

So we do have some small gains this week with two place gains for "No Role Modelz" by J Cole to 48, "Woman" by Doja Cat to 47 and "Good 4 U" by Olivia Rodrigo to number 37.

"Cooped Up" by Post Malone feat. Roddy Ricch rose one place to 26.

Re-Entries

Two returns this week with one being "Say Nothing" by Flume and MAY-A at 49 and the unsurprising return of "Watermelon Sugar" by Harry Styles at number 44.

Loses

There are a LOT of losers this week as you would expect so in an effort to keep this short, I am only going to go through the double digit losses and really given Kendrick did most of the damage last week, this list of double dgit losers isn't as big as you would think.

We'll begin with Kendrick Lamar album cuts that somehow remained the chart with "Die Hard" fear Blxst and Amanda Reifer sliding 22 to 27 and "N95" down 16 to 18.

"Thousand Miles" by The Kid Laroi slumped eleven places to 20 while "Heat Waves" by Glass Animals fell 10 to 16. 

Finally "Dua Lipa' by Jack Harlow fell fifteen to 46. 

Drop outs

Harry Styles took out the rest of Kendrick Lamar album tracks and two other songs that were already on the way out anyway with "Churchill Downs" by Jack Harlow feat. Drake and "Hurtless" by Dean Lewis.

New Entries

So we did get a Harry Styles album bomb so here are the songs that I won't be covering in full...

"Boyfriends" at 15, "Keep Driving" at 14, "Love of My Life" at 13, "Daydreaming" at 12,  "Cinema" at 11, "Satellite" at 10,  "Grapejuice" at 9, "Daylight" at 8 and "Little Freak" at 6.

That leaves us with just three songs to cover beginning with...

4. "Music for a Sushi Restaurant" by Harry Styles

Ahh yes, the vaguely annoying album opener with blaring horns that really do end up becoming aggravating before getting ridiculous and completely annoying. Then there's the lyrics where Harry sings that he could cook an egg on this girl...what the hell, Harry? Proceeds to call her sweet ice cream and then claim she needs a flake put in her which is all sorts of questionable. This song is the song of gross food and sex double entendre that like Timbaland and Justin Timberlake's "Carry Out" winds up disgusting. Next!

3. "Matilda' by Harry Styles

Ahh so this might be one of my favourite songs on "Harry's House", the plucky guitars and Harry Styles telling the story of this girl he knows and how she grew up an abusive or at leastt troubled household and Harry is the one to show empathy and encourage this woman to move forward with her life...travel the world and achieve everything she wants in life despite her upbringing. It's a sweet and well written song using hiding this woman's identity in the main character Roald Dahl's book "Matilda". Yeah, this is excellent. 

2. Late Night Talking" by Harry Styles.

Last of the songs to deal with here and well, it's a bit of a shame that the somewhat wonky production on the verses kind of rules the vibe that Harry Styles is going for here, he is going for the late 70s/early 80s sound that really doesn't work here or have the the late night vibe that the song seems to need and what but can't reach which is a shame because that chorus is actually really catchy but you win some, you lose some, I guess.

So yeah, in a week dominated by Harry, he gets worst of the week for "Music for a Sushi Resraurant" but he also gets the best for "Matilda"

Next week...the fall out of all this which ARIA will reveal on Friday at 5pm AEST

Lookin' Fine '89. 28th May. Satisfied Patience Changed His Ways For You

Well knock me over with three dozen bulldozers, we've got a doozy of a week here and it all starts right at the very top where out of it seems completely nowhere, "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles has taken the number one spot, it stormed six places to the top of the chart thanks to sales that were strong enough to unseat "Like A Prayer" by Madonna back one to number two and "The Living Years" by Mike + The Mechanics back to number three as both songs are weakening and both ready to gracefully slide their way out of the top 50.

It also meant that "Stuck On You" by Paul Norton took a one place to number four while "Ring My Bell" by Collette remains steady at number five somehow.

What I am not thrilled about is the continued rise for Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath My Wings" which climbed three places to number six and looks unfortunately well positioned for a run at the top five.

All that did was help send "Stop!" by Sam Btown on a three place plummet to number seven and it's going to come under threat from our latest arrival to the top ten "Now You're In Heaven" by Julian Lennon up three places to number eiight.

At least it pushed "Lost in Your Eyes" Debbie Gibson back one place to number nine while "She Drives Me Crazy" by Fine Young Cannibals gets a three place push down to number ten. 

Gains

Kate Ceberamo's "Bedroom Eyes" have the attention of the charts this week, it's darting up five to number eleven this week. 

Breaking into the the top twenty this week is "Iko Iko" by The Belle Stars which climbed one place to twenty

"The Look" by Roxette is up ten places to number 23 as it looks set for a run toward the top ten while "House of Cards" by James Reyne climbed big off it's debut as it climbed from 50 to 26!

"Straight Up" lived up to it's name for Paula Abdul as it rose from 34 to 27 while "I Drove All Night" climbed from 35 to 28.

Daryl Braithwaite's "L:et Me Be" rose ten places to 29 and "One" by Metallca jmped nine places  to 38 while "Something's Got a Hold of My Heart" by Marc Almond feat. Gene Pitney rebounded back to 41...shame, thought that song was done.

Losers

We start with "Soul Revival" by Johnny Diesel & The Injectors which stumbled down from 41 to 49 this week while "Twist in My Sobriety" by Tanita Tikaram slipped eleven places to 43.

"She's A Mystery To Me" by Roy Orbison slipped twelve places to 42 while "Belfast Child" by Simple Minds fell back from 31 to 37 and "Fire Woman" by The Cult slimped nine places to 36.

Fprmer top five hit "Tucker's Daughter" by Ian Moss slid ten places to 35 and former number one "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by The Proclaimers slipped six places to 30.

New Entries

Six pieces of fresh meat in the top fifty this week, let's begin with...

50. "Change His Ways" by Robert Palmer

So we're starting with the fifth single from Robert Palmer's album "Heavy Nova" and this is not one of Palmer's better singles to date, it's messy conglomeration of genres into something that doesn't work at all and then there's Palmer yodelling which doesn't even fit with the vibe he is going for here! Yeah, not good!

47. "Simple Man" by Noiseworks

Hopefully this third single from Noisework's second album "Touch" is better than what we've heard from Robert Palmer and yeah, it is but that's mostly because the instrumentation is more organic and sounds really damn good but why is Jon Stevens placed that low in the mix and the lyrics incredibly basic? I get he is just a simple man wanting the touch of another human but I am going to struggle to remember any of this song going forward. 

46.  "Pop Singer" by John Cougar Mellencamp

So I actually really like John Cougar Mellencamp's brand of heartland rock and I was looking forward to hearing his new single from album "Big Daddy" and yeah, this is a sassy clapback at a music industry that was more interested in burying Mellencamp's identity and turning him into their ideal pop singer and that he realized he couldn't be himself with all the deals that were being made. The song is definitely catchy and sounds great even if it does sound like somewhat of a detour from Mellencamp's usual sound even if it makes sense for this sort of song. Check it out.

44. "Satisfied" by Richard Marx

Brand new single from Richard Marx coming from his album "Repeat Offender" and oh wow...this sounds as dated to 1985 or 1986 in the production, sure that hint of guitar on the end of the hook sounds nice but dear god, this song could have used some genuine rock energy and some fire in the belly because yeah this ain't doing it for me especially if Marx isn't going to stop until he is satisfied. Sadly he'll be waiting awhile to satisfy me.

40. "I'll Be There For You" by Bon Jovi

Sigh...I miss the Bon Jovi that made songs like "Livin' On a Prayer" and "Bad Medicine" because this third single from "New Jersey is the corniest simp song I have ever heard. You'll be the air she breathes for her? Did nobody realize how desperate and pandering that sounds or that you might actually be smothering her with unwanted affection? This isn't good either...NEXT!

34. "Patience" by Guns 'n' Roses.

Okay so we wind up a pretty rough week with a single from Guns 'n' Roses which comes from the album "G N' R Lies" and much to my surprise, it's a gentle acoustic guitar ballad and features. Axl Rose whistling and not yetlling for once, he actually sounds great in this vocal timbre and it kind of makes sense when the song is about a relationship that's on the brink of falling apart and how he and this woman need a little time and patience to sort things out. I needed Guns 'N' Roses to come through with a good song and they have...check this song out.

Of course, "Patience" is the best of the week ahead of John Cougar Mellencamp's "Pop Singer". As for the worst of the week, monogenre clusterfuck v simp anthem, I think I'll give it to the monogenre clusterfuck that is "Changed His Ways" by Robert Palmer.