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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Chartography - Berlin

With the recent mammoth success of a sequel to "Top gun" it's interesting to take a look at the band that became almost inseparable from the original movie. One of the most successful US purveyors of synthpop, they had a long and illustrious carrier, releasing the best-selling EP in the US music history, working with Giorgio Moroder on several occasions (including releasing his song "Take my breath away" that went on to score heavily chart-wise all around the world), disbanding and reforming on several occasions, reuniting the "golden era" line-up (to very mixed results), establishing the brand as a touring force, creating songs that turned out to be enduring cult and mainstream successes etc. Judging by the charts they are close to "one hit wonder" status, with that song trumping everything else, but locally they were going strong for several years, not only in their homeland but in other markets too. Overall an interesting, if not wholly original band, and their story deserves attention - its twists and turns are truly remarkable.

Berlin

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Chartography - The Thompson Twins

Sadly the blog goes stale more often than not which is a shame as I have quite a lot of stuff to share. If I only had as much time and will... Well, let's try to change the situation. Here's a new chartography - for The Thompson Twins. This interesting bunch started off as underground noisemakers but within a couple of years proceeded to reinvent themselves, both in numbers and image, to become one of the brightest "New Pop" stars of their era. They impacted North America especially and managed to have bona fide hits there right into the late 1980s, while their success in other regions had waned already. It's there where TT's main man Tom Bailey still headlines the stadium-sized shows and he even managed to resurrect his recording carrier in the process, releasing his first solo album in 2018. The band occupies a curious position in the history of the 1980s pop music, being among performers who milked the opportunities presented by MTV to the fullest and yet not being much talked about from the creative angle. Yet their place is firmly established and from the chart file, I think, you can see why.

The Thompson Twins

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Chartography - Ultravox/Midge Ure/Visage/John Foxx

In the newest UK official album Top 100 there's a new entry at #48 - a deluxe reissue of the LP "Rage in Eden" by Ultravox. Midweek chart showed an even better result - #16! I'm sure we all agree that's more than respectable for the album that only recently celebrated its 41th anniversary. That also gives me a chance to present the chart collection of my favourite musicians. Ultravox are perhaps the most underrated band of their era, constantly trashed or overlooked by the press and "tastemakers" and yet they are among the very influential, perhaps the most influential of the bunch, be it music, cover design, videos etc, creating templates, setting the bars and so on. It's really quite hard to overstate their importance to the music of the last 50 years or so.

And they even managed to become pretty successful commercially almost all around the world. Their main undoing was not being able to conquer the all-important US market - much lesser bands are much better known and celebrated for having a string, or even one or two hits there. Still, their legend lives on and resonates with generations of listeners - first the 2020 reissue of "Vienna" entered the UK Top 50, now "Rage in Eden", their most artistic and experimental album. That's quite a feat.

I also included in this file chart information about the satellite acts. First for their frontmen, John Foxx and Midge Ure. The former himself created at least one highly influential album ("Metamatic"), which is now rightly praised as a milestone in the development of electronic music, while the latter had an illustrious carrier that yielded him several international hits and a growing respect with both colleagues and the public. Also, there's an info on Visage, an act of, if not equal, then clear and distinct importance and influence itself, despite sharing members with Ultravox. Of course here is the case of one huge hit trumping everything else, but their first two albums are widely held in high regard and their reissues still meet with waves of appreciation. Even their reappearance in early 2010s as a touring and recording act drew attention and received quite a bit of praise.

All in all, a very creative bunch of guys that did more than their fair share to change the music as we knew it, for better and for worse, but undoubtedly with all the best intentions in the world! Let's see how they fared in their day and beyond.

Ultravox & Co.

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Nb. Discographies: Ultravox, Midge Ure, Visage, John Foxx

Chartography - Vangelis

Sad news of Vangelis's passing. One of the most esteemed and long-standing figures of electronic music, creator of some of its best pieces, with carrier spanning close to six decades, at several points he had tremendous commercial success in every part of the world. To honour his memory I'd like to offer an overview of his (sometimes quite stunning) chart action.

Vangelis

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Chartography - Tears for Fears

Tears for Fears have reunited and released their new album "The Tipping Point" recently. Now there's a success story that in theory was highly unlikely, if not impossible - two aloof young lads singing mightily depressing songs about childhood traumas, neuroses, death. And yet millions of records sold all over the world, triumph in the, possibly, hardest market in the world to break - the USA, legendary status and numberless tributes. There must be a lesson or moral here, but let's not go there now. Instead let's have a look at their chart victories and marvel at the sight of them:

Tears for Fears

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Chartography - Propaganda

Seeing how there's a new album out by frontwomen of the German synth band Propaganda - under the title xPropaganda, let's see how they fared chartwise originally. This band is something of a footnote in music history of the 1980s, being overshadowed by their ZTT labelmates - Frankie Goes to Hollywood and (The) Art of Noise, but is arguably the must musical of the whole bunch, with their debut album "A secret wish" held in high regard to this day and re-released numerous times over the decades. Interestingly, for a seeming "flash in the pan" they had quite a bit of success in their time, impressing over countries and continents with varied, even clashing tastes. I wish the frontladies luck with their new venture and invite dear readers to check their past glories.

Propaganda

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Chartography - OMD

Not only Soft Cell are aiming for a restart. The last year saw a new compilation release from OMD in preparation for their new album in 2022. Looks like just the time to check how they did over more than four (!!!) decades of their carrier. Overall they did marvelously, remaining a presence in the international charts for an enviable stretch of time. To add to that their status as pioneers of popular electronic music - and we have an outstanding band deservedly hailed among the most important of their era. Personally I had a bit of a hard time getting into their body of work (beyond hits, that is), mainly because of the vocals, but things progressed eventually☺ Nowadays they are highly regarded and respected and perhaps their stature is at its all-time peak. So, a good time to check the lengths and breadths they went

OMD

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