Chartography - Heaven 17

Having featured The Human League, it's only natural to represent the successes of their friends/rivals Heaven 17. Those are nowhere near the peaks of The League, of course, but the trio managed to reach a respectable level of chart recognition around the world. Given their long-time aversion for touring it's a small miracle they did, but wonders of the new technology (primarily video) aided them quite a bit. But perhaps more important is the fact that they managed to create an album that has as much of a "classic" status as that of The League, and that ensures their place in the history of pop music. To me they are all about the first two albums, after which something went wrong and there's little of interest on later offerings, sadly. The general public seems to agree, judging by the charts, but they still had enough ammunition to go on for quite a while, and since they started touring in the late 1990s they never had trouble attracting audiences. Today they are respected elders in the field of electronic music and hopefully new "stuff" is in the pipeline.

Heaven 17

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Chartography - Thomas Dolby

Thomas Dolby is another curious success story of the early 1980s. Initially a session player, he quickly established himself as a songwriter of note and even managed to get a bit of commercial attention in UK. But it was the US and MTV that catapulted him to his breakthrough and created an audience for him across the ocean that he never could reach in his homeland. Unlike most UK performers that had their greatest success in the US, he managed to break the home market too - not as spectacularly but enough to have chart entries well into the 1990s. Of course hits dried up but he stiff retains his cult popularity and a level of respect and attention. He also worked with other artists (with varying degrees of success) and had an outstanding carrier in hi-tech.

His autobiography "The speed of sound" is well worth a read, not least because of his various run-ins with chart compilers in various countries over the years, so the mechanics of the music industry are covered in nice detail. And what a fascinating life he had!

Thomas Dolby

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Chartography - Wang Chung

There's not much to say about Wang Chung, really. A minor band in the grand scheme of things with only a couple of outstanding (at least commercially) songs to their name. What, perhaps, distinguishes them the most is the fact that, while originating in Britain, they found their biggest and most enduring success across the ocean, in the USA. For some reason their ideas were better appreciated there (as was the case with quite a few bands over the decades), which of course was ultimately for the better - both financially and as regards longevity in the collective memory of the masses: the US success is, for better or worse, the ultimate in showbiz and you seem to only need one fair-sezed hit to be fondly remembered by many and referenced regularly. Wang Chung had a string of successes (even the often UK-centric Canada appreciated them quite a bit), which enabled them to go strong for years of inactivity (through soundtracks, commercials, video broadcasts etc) and even to reform, make new music and tour on a regular basis, with much love being thrown their way every time. Little in a way of chart showing recently, but why bother when your place in history is secure?

Let's have a look at their achievements:

Wang Chung

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Chartography - Men at Work

Here's the list of successes from, probably, the biggest commercial sensation of the early 1980s - Australian band Men at Work. Their rise was nothing short of meteoric and knew no bounds, reaching all parts of the globe. For a couple of years they were the trusty hitmakers on a worldwide scale, but after a well-deserved break from late 1983 to early 1985 things were never the same again. In fact their comeback went nearly unnoticed and they couldn't deal with it, breaking up soon afterwards, with various band members attempting solo carriers to little returns. Such is a price of a total early success, it seems. Still the Men are fondly remembered and their grandes exitos are an indelible part of mass culture. That's some achievement and should not be taken lightly.

Men at Work

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Chartography - Howard Jones

Here's a peculiar case of a performer who at the top of his game seemingly appealed only to English-speaking market. Howard Jones, one man band of a synth variety, hit big immediately in the fall of 1983, taking by storm first his home country then the USA. His ascendancy was somethin to behold, and yet, the mainland Europe barely took notice, for some reason. Still he could safely ignore that, having secured the most lucrative market in the world. His fall, unfortunately, was equally as fast, he was no longer a going concern in the UK by the end of 1986 already, while in the US he continued to score hits up until (and including) 1992. During the 1990s, conversely, it was Europe that provided him with any kind of commercial acceptance, which only goes to show that mass attention moves in mysterious ways. Nowadays he's an esteemed senior gentleman of (synth)pop, still filling arenas, releasing albums and even having chart entries here and there, while his "one of a kind" legacy is proven and universally recognized. Let's see how he went about chart-wise.

Howard Jones

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Nb. Discography