Tag Archives: Boomtown Rats

Off The Chart: 1 February 1981

Off The Chart: 1 February 1981

White rabbits! No Jefferson Airplane or Chas & Dave on this first of the month Off The Chart, but we are going back to brutally dissect the UK singles chart from this day in 1981. We’ll have the usual brace of neglected and forgotten hits, plus tracks from three of the week’s new albums, a round-up of the day’s goings-on, a hit from the Israeli chart and the top five singles in full.

  • Whose debut solo single immediately became a much bigger hit than his band ever had?
  • What was the first rap record to reach number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100?
  • And which single was a bigger hit in the UK before it was released here than afterwards?

Tune in and find out!


Listen to Off The Chart on Noisebox Radio at 9pm every Tuesday! You can stream Noisebox Radio via their website, their apps for iOS or Android, or through TuneIn and MyTuner, or ask your smart speaker to “play Noisebox Radio” – and don’t forget to tweet along using the hashtag #OffTheChart. If you’re not around, you can hear the show again on Noisebox Radio at 10am on Friday, or catch up on Mixcloud after that.

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Our subscribers also get access to exclusive shows including Further Off The Chart in which we play some of the records that come up in conversation on the regular shows. You can even download shows to listen offline in the Mixcloud app! Please consider backing us – we really appreciate it and your subscription allows us to keep producing a new episode every single week.

Spotify playlists

If you’ve missed a previous edition they’re all on our Mixcloud page, or for a taster of the music we play, listen to our Spotify playlist Way Off The Chart including one track from each show!

We also have a Spotify playlist for our #ICEOTWF feature, including all (well, most) of the international hits we’ve played since the feature began in March 2017. There are all sorts of oddities in here, all of which were hits somewhere in the world but not in the UK!

Off The Chart: 17 December 1981

Off The Chart: 17 December 1981

Join us on a voyage all the way back to this day in 1981 on this week’s Off The Chart! As usual we’ll have a whole heap of hits you’ve forgotten about, or never knew about in the first place, … read more

Mixcloud Select: Now That’s What You Might, Hypothetically, Have Called Music

Now That's What You Might, Hypothetically, Have Called Music

This Virtual CD is actually a virtual double LP! As part of our celebrations of 100 Now That’s What I Call Music albums, we’ve come up with this hypothetical example of what the first Now of the 1980s might have … read more

Off The Chart: 7 May 1982

Off The Chart: 7 May 1982

Time for another trip back in time to resurrect some of the hits you’ve forgotten about or maybe didn’t know about in the first place – yes, it’s 1982 on this week’s Off The Chart! Join Steve and Julian as … read more

Rewind Scotland, Scone Palace, 20-22 Jul 2018

A Flock of Seagulls at Rewind Scotland 2018

Everyone’s favourite retro festival turned ten this year, so I expected Rewind to pull out all the stops. And they did just that. Regular gig pals Sarah and Pete joined me again for a jaunt to sunny Perth, where we … read more

Off The Chart: 14 July 1985

Off The Chart: 14 July 1985

It’s the day after a very famous event on this week’s Off The Chart, but it’s the closest we’ll ever get to the actual day so we’re celebrating Live Aid on our journey back to 1985! As always there’s a … read more

Off The Chart: 9 December 1980

Off The Chart: 9 December 1980

We’re going all the way back to 1980 on Off The Chart to take in one of the most depressing days in musical history. That’s just the way the dates fall. But never mind, it makes the featured album very … read more

Off The Chart: 24 December 1980

Off The Chart: 24 December 1980

All the way back to 1980 this week on Off The Chart for one of the least festive charts imaginable. As Britain faces up to rising unemployment, Christmas without John Lennon and a lorryload of inedible poultry, join Steve and … read more