Chartography - Nik Kershaw

So, finally, another installment - a chartography of Nik Kershaw. One of the biggest teen sensations of 1984, and not just in his homeland - all of Europe and most of the countries abroad fell to his appeal. And yet, very little appreciation in the USA, something even his record label couldn't comprehend. A bit too Stevie Wonder-y in the vocal department, maybe. Anyway, massive hits for year and a half, ones that are pop classics to this day - "Wouldn't it be good?", "I won't let the sun go down on me", "The riddle". All of this - with songs of substance and unusual subjects, barely a straight love song among them all. "Only in the 1980s". Unfortunately the plug was pulled rather harshly: having started in early 1984, by the end of 1985 Nik started faltering and then disappeared as a commercial force in the space of a year. Another mystery, though he never felt comfortable as a teen pop star and perhaps started to write less catchy, more grown-up songs in no small part to escape the image and adulation. In the 1990s he had another carrier as a pop hit writer, quite successful at that, but then started to perform again, of course on a much smaller scale, but still writing, releasing and playing live. Still, he's an important part of the 1980s culture (especially mid-decade), and had his fair share of hits to warrant a list.

Nik Kershaw

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Stop-gap

Hello! First of all, let me wish anyone who visits here a Happy New Year, let's hope 2020 will be nice and encouraging to all of us!

Next, I feel I owe an explanation for the prolonged silence. Of course there was work to do, and demands such as this are quite hard to ignore. But the main thing is the recent (thankfully ongoing) attempt to recreate the weekly charts of France - here it is, and let me say I'm most impressed with the amount of work put in it and recommend paying attention to it! I could, of course, use the existing chart info for a time, but I became so fascinated with that chart that I decided to use its info exclusively. Hopefully the updates will be as pacey as they are now, so quite soon we'll see the rest of it online.

However, not all of the performers I'm going to feature need to wait until the conclusion of the aforesaid project. So there'll be updates very soon and things will hopefully get in their stride henceforth ☺

And, of course, each and any contribution to this blog is most welcome!