Tag Archives: Stray Cats

Off The Chart: 2 March 1989

Off The Chart: 2 March 1989

We’re on our way back to this day in 1989 for this week’s Off The Chart, rounding up some of the hits you’d forgotten about or weren’t previously aware of, some of which you might even enjoy. As usual we’re mixing that up with three of the week’s new albums, a round-up of the day’s goings-on, a look at the Dutch chart and the UK’s top five in full, whether you like it or not.

  • Who scored their biggest ever hit with an EP that wasn’t?
  • Which parody group made a record with the group they were parodying?
  • And who brought in a Beatle to help him score his biggest US hit?

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.

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! In this week’s podcast we’re getting sidetracked by a punk concept album, Fine Young Cannibals’ dodgy restaurant and Holly Johnson’s Love Replacement Bus Service.

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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: 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 … read more

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: 13 January 1981

Off The Chart: 13 January 1981

We’re heading back to January 1981 on this week’s Off The Chart as Steve and Julian bring you another selection of forgotten and half-remembered hits, a look at the day’s events, three tracks from a featured album, an international hit, … read more

Off The Chart: 4 November 1981

Off The Chart: 4 November 1981

Come back to this very day in 1981 as Steve and Julian excavate the UK singles chart! There’ll be lots of forgotten and half-remembered hits, a look at the day’s events, three tracks from a hit album of the week, … read more

Review: Rewind Scotland, Scone Palace, 22-24 July 2016

Adam Ant at Rewind Scotland 2016

It’s Friday night. I’m in the grounds of Scone Palace, and a fifty-something man in a Choose Life T-shirt has just come up to me offering the largest hipflask I’ve ever seen, full of β€˜homemade’ whisky. In the distance, Pat … read more

“Blow up the TV, blow up the car” – Top of the Pops, 21 May 1981

The Human League

If you had fond memories of late April and early May 1981 and were looking forward to reliving those memories via the BBC Four reruns of Top of the Pops, you’re probably feeling pretty short changed by now. What with … 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

“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

1980 Christmas Top 40

John Lennon & Yoko Ono

Christmas 1980 was something of a subdued affair. Chartwise there was a fairly standard mix of Christmas songs, novelty records and songs that had been hanging around for a while and just happened to be caught up in the festive … read more