1984 was a truly incredible year in pop music, and we have included more than 140 tracks on the CDs of the 1984 Yearbook, the 80-84 Final Chapter, and their extras so far in our appreciation of the year.
Those tracks were generally the bigger hits of the year, with their chart achievement a factor in their inclusion – however – that’s not the whole singles story of the year, and our celebration of 1984 wouldn’t be complete without shining a light on some of the years’ singles that have been compiled much less frequently over the past 40 years.
Welcome to THE VAULT for 1984… Some of the tracks included were Top 40 hits, some missed the chart completely. Some were representative of massive selling albums, and some were big hits in the U.S. and not in the U.K… but all are part of the wonderful pop story of 1984. 80 tracks across 4-CDs – NOW Yearbook – The Vault: 1984.
CD1 begins with some pop gems from established artists; Heaven 17, ABC, Scritti Politti and Soft Cell. A U.S. single release from Bananarama features ahead of the solo debut from Helen Terry who had sung back-up vocals on the previous years’ massive seller ‘Colour By Numbers’ from Culture Club. Early singles from Matt Bianco and Five Star follow, plus pop essentials from Level 42, Kim Wilde, Marilyn and Nena’s ‘Just A Dream’, the follow up to their #1 ’99 Red Balloons’. The first disc closes with synth-pop from Fiction Factory, A Flock Of Seagulls, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark and Blancmange with their cover of ABBA’s ‘The Day Before You Came’.
The second disc opens with the sumptuous vocal pairings of Teddy Pendergrass and Whitney Houston, and Dennis Edwards and Siedah Garrett. The smooth contemporary soul of Loose Ends leads into electro-dance classics from Sheila E., Shannon and Shalamar, and Hi-NRG floor-fillers from Miquel Brown, Evelyn Thomas and Divine – plus Hazell Dean’s cover of ‘Evergreen’. Following Arrow, UB40, and Mike Oldfield and Maggie Reilly, tracks from Marillion, Twisted Sister, Judas Priest, Scorpions and Meat Loaf take the disc in a rockier direction.
CD3 kicks off with a stunning collection of indie-pop from a plethora of hugely influential artists, including Cocteau Twins, Siouxsie And The Banshees, Malcolm McLaren, Sparks and the Top 40 debut from Everything But The Girl. A run of great tracks follow from newer acts including the Colour Field, M+M, Vicious Pink and a solo Julian Cope, alongside established chart stars including Aztec Camera, Tom Robinson, XTC, The Stranglers, Public Image Limited and The Boomtown Rats, before closing with Spear Of Destiny, The Sisters Of Mercy, and Swans Way with ‘Illuminations’, which was following up their hit ‘Soul Train’ from earlier in ’84.
The final disc focuses on singles that found chart success in the U.S. and opens with Culture Club’s ‘Miss Me Blind’, which didn’t get a single release in the U.K. Next up, a selection of U.S. new-wave hits from Corey Hart, The Fixx, Go-Go’s and The Cars. Pretenders ‘Show Me’ was a U.S. hit, but not a single in the U.K, and Daryl Hall and John Oates, Sheena Easton and Donna Summer all continued their run of Stateside hits… and Bon Jovi debuted with ‘Runaway’! Rock radio smashes from Night Ranger, Steve Perry, Rick Springfield and Huey Lewis and The News all feature before the collection is signed off by “Weird Al” Yankovic with his U.S. Top 20 / U.K. Top 40 hit ‘Eat It’.
NOW Yearbook – The Vault: 1984 – A continued celebration of this magical year in pop!
