Best Canadian RPM Number 1 Singles:1984

Nema98 · October 16, 2015, 2:35pm

It’s 1984 and 25 singles hit #1, excluding “Say Say Say”. No Canadian artist had a #1 hit on this Canadian pop charts but two Germans did.
Which would you vote for?

Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil · October 16, 2015, 4:12pm

Time After Time and When Doves Cry are the clear winners here but I also voted for Girls Just Want To Have Fun (it was definitely Cyndi Lauper’s year) and 99 Red Balloons although in latter’s case I prefer the original version in German.

I didn’t vote for Talking In Your Sleep, Jump, Against All Odds, Hello, Self Control or Caribbean Queen but they’re good songs, too. And of course Ghostbusters brings back great childhood memories.

So, another good year, the third in a row. Hey, the 80s were not that terrible after all (not that I ever believed it in the first place).

However, and rather amazingly, the 1984 list also features one of the worst songs ever: Red Red Wine. Like Pass The Dutchie in 1983. Ugh.

Ponch8 · October 16, 2015, 4:14pm

Similar to 1983, there are a ton of good ones and few bad ones, so I again limited myself to the best three: Say Say Say, When Doves Cry, and Footloose. It’s funny that Red Red Wine is on this list, when it didn’t become a US hit until four years later.

Nema98 · October 16, 2015, 9:54pm

Peter Schilling got my vote as did Nena, and I prefer the English “99 Red Balloons” to the German “99 Luft Balloons”, which I find terrible. Ugly language to my ears.
Yes UB40 got my vote, it’s a fun song.
Phil Collins, Lauper’s "Time After Time, John Waite, Deneice Williams, Scandal, Wham! and Night Ranger got my vote. Steve Perry squeezed into getting my vote, and the Willie Nelson/Julio Iglesias duet only got my vote because my mom likes it.

The Romantics and Vsn Halen did not make the cut.

Unlike “Time After Time”, “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” is terrible and Prince did not get my vote. I just dislike the man.

Nema98 · October 16, 2015, 9:55pm

Yes it was originally released this time and was a #1 in Canada and UK in 1983-1984. The U.S only sent the rerelease to number one in 1988.

Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil · October 17, 2015, 6:44am

I couldn’t disagree more, both on the song and the language. The English version sounds watered down and clumsy to me.

As for the language… have you ever read/heard poetry in German? I find it beautiful. Not in a singing kind of way like Italian but… noble.

Nema98 · October 17, 2015, 9:35pm

I did not mean to say that German is an ugly language, but her singing on “Luft” hurts my ears and is more loud.

The English “Red” version is soothing and nice. I like the opening lyrics:
“You and I in a little toy shop
I’ll buy a bag of balloons with the money we’ve got
Set them free at the break of dawn
Till one by one they were gone
Back at base bugs in the software
Flash the message something’s out there
Floating in the summer sky
99 red balloons go by”
But hey, different strokes for different folks my friend. I DO LIKE the German version of “Rock Me Amadeus” by Falco, but Nena-not so much.

Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil · October 18, 2015, 8:30am

A yes, Rock Me Amadeus is such a fun song and the German rap verses are a huge part of it.

For some beautiful German “songs”, there’s Schubert:

Ständchen
Gute Nacht
Der Leiermann

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Best Canadian RPM Number 1 Singles:1984

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