Tag Archives: Joe Dolce

Off The Chart: 9 February 1981

Off The Chart: 9 February 1981

Brace yourselves, Barnsley, we’re heading back to this day in 1981 for another edition of Off The Chart! As usual we’ve got two hours of obscure and forgotten hits, plus the day’s eye-watering news headlines, three of the week’s new albums, a quick look at the Canadian chart and the UK’s top five in full.

  • Who covered one of Stevie Wonder’s biggest hits before it was a hit?
  • Who took the Sam Fox route backwards and became a pin-up model after her pop career?
  • And who was behind the musical revue “Restless Underwear”?

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.

Get the Extended Mix!

If you enjoy Off The Chart but find it’s just not long enough, why not join us on Patreon or Mixcloud Select? For a small monthly subscription you get access to the exclusive Extended Mix of the show every week with bonus 12″ mixes, additional chatter and the week’s top ten singles in full!

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.

There’s a podcast too!

For those of you who enjoy the nonsense we talk but don’t have time to listen to the music, we’ve put the talky bits together with some exclusive extras to make a podcast! This week the #32 comedy podcast in Kenya uncovers a plan to swamp Barnsley with sex emporia. It’ll all make sense if you listen.

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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: 25 February 1981

Off The Chart: 25 February 1981

We’re going back a terrifyingly long way to this day in 1981 for this week’s Off The Chart! Join us for another two hours of hits you don’t remember very well, plus tracks from three of the week’s new albums, … read more

Off The Chart: 12 March 1981

Off The Chart: 12 March 1981

Join us for a jaunt back to 1981 on another edition of Off The Chart! As always we’ll have a brace of forgotten and half-remembered hits, a look at the day’s events, three tracks from one of the week’s hit … read more

“Like some New Romantic looking for the TV sound” – Top of the Pops, 5 March 1981

Duran Duran

Now then, here’s someone we haven’t seen since last September when he was playing second, in fact third fiddle to Leo Sayer and Russ Abbot. Now, six months later, Mike Read is Radio 1’s hottest property, having inherited the breakfast … read more

“There’s a new wave coming, I warn ya” – Top of the Pops, 26 February 1981

Kim Wilde

Never let it be said that this site doesn’t get results. After carping on for weeks about how this new look Top of the Pops needs an opening sequence instead of just crashing straight into the grinning host over the … read more

“Bless my cotton socks, I’m in the news” – Top of the Pops, 19 February 1981

The Teardrop Explodes

Doesn’t time fly? We’re certainly powering through the run on BBC Four now they’ve started showing two editions every week, and as they’re still skipping the ones hosted by Dave Lee Travis it’s possible to get through a short month … read more

“The sounds are too loud and there’s too much smoke” – Top of the Pops, 5 February 1981

Dire Straits

February already, so let’s pause and take stock of how 1981 is going so far. The charts are currently dominated by John Lennon (who remains dead) and Adam Ant (who is still very much alive), but the New Romantics are … read more