Tag Archives: Nolans

Off The Chart: 12 April 1981

Off The Chart: 12 April 1981

It’s an unusually violent edition of Off The Chart this week as we get dragged all the way back to this day 1981! We’ll be bombarded with obscure, forgotten and neglected hits from that week’s chart, pummelled with three of the week’s new albums, walloped with a look at the day’s events, smacked around the head with the Japanese chart, and left to endure the top five in full.

  • Who had a hit single based on a genuine near death experience?
  • Whose only hit was used as the theme to a British drama series and a French dog food ad?
  • And who was the first European act to win the Tokyo Music Festival?

Tune in and find out!



Listen to Off The Chart on Noisebox Radio at 9pm every Tuesday! 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 11am on Friday, or catch up on Mixcloud after that.

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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: 21 April 1982

Off The Chart: 21 April 1982

Despite popular demand we’re back with another edition of Off The Chart looking at the UK singles chart of Wednesday 21 April 1982! Along the way we’ll uncover some forgotten hits, relive some of the day’s events, play tracks from … read more

Off The Chart: 21 January 1980

Off The Chart: 21 January 1980

It’s almost a 1970s special on your favourite ’80s chart show this week, as we go back a whole forty years to this day in January 1980! As usual there’s two hours of hits you might just about vaguely remember, … 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: 21 May 1981

Off The Chart: 21 May 1981

Come all the way back to this day in 1981 with us on another Off The Chart! As usual we’ll have two hours of hits you might not remember, as well as some of the week’s new hit albums, a … read more

Off The Chart: 5 February 1980

Off The Chart: 5 February 1980

We’re going all the way back to 1980 on this week’s Off The Chart for another two hours of hits, headlines and hokum. As always we’ll bring you a brace of forgotten and half-remembered hits, three tracks from one of … read more

Off The Chart: 11 August 1981

Off The Chart: 11 August 1981

Things have changed on this week’s Off The Chart, but only ever so slightly. In fact you might not even notice the difference as Steve and Julian whisk you back to 11 August 1981 for two hours of not-very-well remembered … read more

Off The Chart: 13 May 1980

Off The Chart: 13 May 1980

All the way back to 1980 this week on Off The Chart as Steve and Julian disassemble this week’s UK singles chart. You’ll hear lots of hits you don’t hear very often, three tracks from the week’s featured album, a … read more

Off The Chart: 28 January 1981

Off The Chart: 28 January 1981

All the way back to January 1981 on this week’s Off The Chart as Steve and Julian play some of the week’s less remembered hits, three tracks from a featured album of the week and the top five singles in … read more

Off The Chart: 15 October 1980

Off The Chart: 15 October 1980

All the way back to the dim and distant days of 1980 this week as Steve and Julian play some forgotten hits, three tracks from the week’s featured album and the top five in full, including probably the strangest number … read more

“The devil take your stereo and your record collection” – Top of the Pops, 7 May 1981

Ossie Ardiles

By this stage of the BBC Four reruns the audience has formed itself into two distinct groups. One one hand there’s the casual viewer who isn’t really following the timeline but will greet every deviation from the norm – anything … read more

“The more we know, the less we show” – Top of the Pops, 16 April 1981

Department S

“Hi.” Hi yourself, Peter Powell, in your monogrammed shirt, white blazer with the sleeves rolled up and, let’s not beat about the bush here, beige slacks. Powell seems to have taken on the mantle of “senior presenter” of TOTP recently, … read more