90's Uk Chart Sales & Info (90 - 94)

[tottenhammattspurs]

Radio airplay. Which singles were supported by Radio 1 and commercial stations?

From memory PSB were supported on Radio 1 right up to (and including) Bilingual. I think I don't know what you want but I can't give it any more got a few plays (C-list?) but that was about it.

New York City Boy was their last single to be A-Listed on radio one.

[PSBForTheMasses]

I think "Somewhere" had some support from Radio 1. It was a Top 10 single, by the way. It was a amazing single that I think it could have been a good single for a compilation album.

Somewhere is when they become a cliche.

Agreed. The run of singles of 'A red letter day', 'Somewhere', 'I don't know what you want but I can't give it any more' (less so) and 'New York City Boy' did a lot of damage to the PSB brand in my opinion, with three of the four very clearly 'inspired' by the previous success of Go West in instrumentation, pacing, and/or lyrical theme. To the non-fan, it sounded like PSB were out of ideas, even though there were still diverse sounds and song-writing on both Bilingual and Nightlife.

I think they were also aware of the dire situation they had stuck themselves into and were looking for an escape. I have always believed that when Drunk was the only Nightlife single that reached top ten, it was then that they decided to release "Release". Interestingly, while Release received positive feedback from non-PSB fans, it got very harsh reactions from Petheads. I remember an Amazon reviewer, a Pethead, proudly boasted to have thrown his entire PSB catalog out of the window just because he deeply hated Release.

[markus]

It'd be Intresting with statistic from other radio stations than Bbc. It's a good measurment of hit potential and popularity when a commercial station plays a song. I remember Paninaro 95 was played every hour on swedish radio NRJ but other than that only the state owned channels supported them. MTV also still loved Psb throughout the 90's

[Patrick Bateman]

Agreed. The run of singles of 'A red letter day', 'Somewhere', 'I don't know what you want but I can't give it any more' (less so) and 'New York City Boy' did a lot of damage to the PSB brand in my opinion, with three of the four very clearly 'inspired' by the previous success of Go West in instrumentation, pacing, and/or lyrical theme. To the non-fan, it sounded like PSB were out of ideas, even though there were still diverse sounds and song-writing on both Bilingual and Nightlife.

Yes, they really seemed out of step with everything and not in a good way. An 80s group churning out derivative, inferior versions of their old material. It happens to most pop artists when they go down the dumper, so fair play to them for regenerating in the next millennium. There is a definite alternative reality where they split during the Nightlife tour and the second disc of their (chronological) greatest hits collection reflects the diminishing returns of their chart career.

[Gabby]

Agreed. The run of singles of 'A red letter day', 'Somewhere', 'I don't know what you want but I can't give it any more' (less so) and 'New York City Boy' did a lot of damage to the PSB brand in my opinion, with three of the four very clearly 'inspired' by the previous success of Go West in instrumentation, pacing, and/or lyrical theme. To the non-fan, it sounded like PSB were out of ideas, even though there were still diverse sounds and song-writing on both Bilingual and Nightlife.

If they'd never covered Go West but still gone on to do A red letter day and New York city boy its easy to imagine how those two would be regarded more highly as great homage to that era.

I was always annoyed that each subsequent album after Very would tap into that style on at least one song, and maybe that would have been OK if they had remained album tracks only. It's not a huge leap of the imagination to understand people growing tired of PSB around this time with that list of single releases.

[Spittingcat]

I have always believed that when Drunk was the only Nightlife single that reached top ten, it was then that they decided to release "Release".

While Drunk is one of my favourite singles, let's be honest, it only charted due to timing and multiformat shenanigans. The post Christmas lull is a great time to get a "fans only" single high in the charts. The 3 CD set is a very lovely thing though. It was a good "linking" song for their next step, Release... being so guitar focused.

[Undertaker]

I thought A Red Letter Day was a cracking single. Typical PSB by numbers. Good video, on Top of the Pops looking like they usually do. It should have either been the first or 2nd song released, instead of 'Before' imo.

Then it all went wrong. New York City Boy was a disaster. I think they were expecting a big hit, similar to how Domino Dancing let them down a bit.

The totps performance of New York City Boy just opened them up.for ridicule. Its not even a good record, really. It looked like they wanted a Go West 2.0.

[Patrick Bateman]

I thought A Red Letter Day was a cracking single. Typical PSB by numbers. Good video, on Top of the Pops looking like they usually do. It should have either been the first or 2nd song released, instead of 'Before' imo.

Then it all went wrong. New York City Boy was a disaster. I think they were expecting a big hit, similar to how Domino Dancing let them down a bit.

The totps performance of New York City Boy just opened them up.for ridicule. Its not even a good record, really. It looked like they wanted a Go West 2.0.

Yes, A Red Letter Day is decent. A typical Tennant lyric and an anthemic Lowe melody. If they'd gone away for a couple of years and then come back with something like Miracles, it would have been 'wow'. It always gets mentioned but writing the musical and album at the same time really diluted the quality.

[Propertius]

Agree the musical distracted from the albums. Have to agree, too that A Red Letter Day and especially Somewhere were cliche. The Boys seemed overeager for another hit in the vein of Go West. That extends to New York City Boy, too, but it actually is a fun track and has held up better over the years than the other two. It’s grown on me over time. I hated it at first.

Interesting to see in the sales figures Being Boring outsold Jealousy and DJ Culture but charted much worse. We know Drunk got to number 9 because it was released in a dead week of January, but it’s eye-opening to see how a couple months’ difference in ‘90–‘91 affected the Behaviour-Discography chart rankings.

[jasonjohn]

I love A Red Letter Day, but not sure the filmclip ages great. It's a bit grey, and they're acting as cliches of themselves in that one.

[markus]

What were Madonna's sales for this period of time?

[PSBForTheMasses]

***

[Tentenlad]

As requested...

Madonna 1990 - 1994 Singles Ranked By UK Sales

Vogue 445,085
Justify My Love 252,537
Hanky, Panky 188,666
Crazy For you (Remix) 179,344
This Used To Be My Playground 154,215
Secret 141,253
I’ll Remember 128,554
Rescue Me 124,512
Deeper and Deeper 117,045
Erotica 116,910
Rain 108,600
Holiday (Re-release) 81,712
Take A Bow 79,169
Fever 74,715
Bad Girl 64,110

Combined 1980's and 1990 - 1994 UK Sales

Into The Groove – 717,774
Like A Virgin – 678,810
Papa Don’t Preach – 522,291
Holiday – 482,766
Crazy For You – 472,396
True Blue – 450,449
Vogue – 445,085
Like A Prayer – 406,861
La Isla Bonita – 351,832
Who’s That Girl? – 326,502
Material Girl – 278,919
Borderline – 259,352
Justify My Love – 252,537
Gambler – 239,258
Live To Tell – 220,609
Dress You Up – 215,934
Open Your Heart – 214,693
Angel – 208,998
Causing A Commotion – 186,507
Hanky, Panky – 188,666
Crazy For You (Remix) – 179,344
Express Yourself – 162,435
Cherish – 160,463
This Used To Be My Playground – 154,215
Dear Jessie – 153,884
Secret – 141,253
I’ll Remember – 128,554
Rescue Me – 124,514
Deeper and Deeper – 117,045
Erotica – 116,910
The Look Of Love – 111,010
Rain – 108,600
Lucky Star – 102,544
Holiday (Re-release) – 81,712
Take A Bow – 79,169
Fever – 74,715
Bad Girl – 64,110

[markus]

Thanks. Such a bliss reading her numbers.