Getting to No. 1 on the pop charts is the dream of most acts. But the numbers game required to make it to that point is quite daunting. You have to not only come with a great song, but you also need the timing to hit the charts at a time when something else isn’t blocking your path.
Looking back at 1981’s charts, it’s fascinating how many superb songs topped out at No. 10. These four should give you an idea of our theory.
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“Watching The Wheels” by John Lennon
John Lennon envisioned Double Fantasy as the springboard back to a very active career in music. Fate had other plans. Lennon’s death cast much of the material that he wrote for the album in a strange light. For example, “Watching The Wheels”, featuring one of Lennon’s most moving melodies, gives everyone an idea of what he was doing in his time away from recording. “I just had to let it go,” he sings of his decision to get off the music merry-go-round. In the aftermath of his death, this song took on a haunting new relevance, as we all wondered if he would have been better served staying in semi-retirement.
“Hold On Tight” by ELO
You could never knock Jeff Lynne for a lack of ambition. In fact, his meticulousness and attention to detail, which had to be exhausting, probably account for the fact that he couldn’t keep ELO afloat indefinitely. On the 1981 album Time, Lynne went for the gusto with an involved concept about someone stranded in the future and trying to make his way back home. Storyline aside, Lynne and his cohorts in the band made sure that the album contained some of ELO’s particular brand of ear candy. “Hold On Tight”, the optimistic album closer, also served as an unstoppable single, even when Lynne shocks us by singing in French for a bit.
“Take It Easy On Me” by Little River Band
These Aussies don’t get near enough credit for their sharp songcraft. So impressive was it that it drew the attention of none other than George Martin, who produced the group’s 1981 album Time Exposure. “Take It Easy On Me”, found on that album and written by Graeham Goble, finds the band packing in some bittersweet sentiment among those gleaming harmonies. The narrator begs for mercy at the end of a relationship. It’s a song that featured Glenn Shorrock, who was about to leave the band, on vocals in the verses. Wayne Nelson, who would replace Shorrock, comes aboard and sings the stirring middle eight.
“Don’t Stand So Close To Me” by The Police
We all know the songs from The Police’s first two albums by heart these days. But at the time they were released, none of the singles from those first two LPs were massive hits in the US. (“Roxanne”, which peaked at No. 32, did the best of the bunch.) “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” broke down the dam as the band’s first Top 10 hit. The arrangement juxtaposes the tense atmosphere of the verses with the elated catharsis of the chorus. But we can’t say for sure that the harried protagonist ever escapes his predicament. Six years later, the band reunited briefly to record a new version of this song in one of their last official acts before their breakup.
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