First published in 1978 as Disco News, Dance Music Report was an American twice monthly music magazine focussing on the music played in nightclubs and for radio DJs who promoted dance music. It continued to be published until 1992. Alongside reporting about dance music, DMR published various charts, including a Hi-NRG chart, throughout the 80s. Here is DMR’s Hi-NRG top 80 for 1985:
Although many of these tracks appear in the other Hi-NRG charts I have posted from the UK and Europe, here are ten tracks, including a brilliant U.S. remix of Fun Fun’s “Give Me Your Love”, that didn’t make an appearance in the Record Mirror or Radio Stad Den Haag charts.
LET ME FEEL IT – Samantha Gilles – Belgian Infinity (1 wk) LET THE NIGHT TAKE THE BLAME – Lorraine McKane – Carrere (1 wk) STARGAZING – Earlene Bentley featuring Sylvester – Record Shack (3 wks) TAKE ME TO HEAVEN – Sylvester – Cooltempo (1 wk) CRUISING – Sinitta – Fanfare (4 wks) R.S.V.P. – James & Susan Wells – Fanfare (4 wks) NEW YORK CITY – Village People – Record Shack (1 wk) DATE WITH THE RAIN – Arnie’s Love – US Profile (1 wk) BOYS COME AND GO – April – Record Shack (1 wk) SORRY WRONG NUMBER – Evelyn Thomas – Record Shack (5 wks) ENDING UP ON A HIGH – Seventh Avenue – Record Shack (3 wks) UNEXPECTED LOVERS – Lime – Polydor (1 wk) ENDING UP ON A HIGH – Seventh Avenue – Record Shack (1 wk) HOMOSEXUALITY / THANK GOD FOR MEN – Modern Rocketry – US Megatone LP (3 wks) ENDLESS ROAD – Time Bandits – CBS (4 wks) VANITY – Carol Jiani – Record Shack (4 wks) REFLECTIONS – Evelyn Thomas – Record Shack (10 wks) HE’S NUMBER ONE – Fantasy – US Spring (3 wks)
Hi-NRG ARTISTE OF THE YEAR: Evelyn Thomas.
RUNNERS UP: Miquel Brown, Carol Jiani.
Hi-NRG HIT OF THE YEAR: Seventh Avenue, ‘Ending Up On A High’ (Record Shack)
RECORD AT NUMBER ONE FOR LONGEST: Evelyn Thomas, ‘Reflections’ (10 Weeks).
Hi-NRG LABELS OF THE YEAR: 1 (1) Record Shack, 2 (-) Fanfare, 3 (-) Polydor, 4 (-) US Megatone, 5 (-) Carrere.
There is no Radio Stad Den Haag Chart available this week, but using the chart positions from 14th December 1985, the following track was a new entry in the RSDH chart this week
Street Scene was a weekly dance music magazine that launched in Britain in autumn 1985. It was the brain child of Morgan Khan, who promoted upcoming dance trends through his StreetWave record label, which licenced many underground American dance tracks for release in the UK. Khan also promoted underground club music with his long running StreetSounds compilation LPs.
The Street Scene magazine pubished its own weekly Hi-NRG chart, compiled by Heaven DJ, Ian Levine. Levine did his own James Hamilton type reviews of the latest Hi-NRG tracks. Sadly, the Street Scene magazine was very short lived, and was only published for around 6 months, due to the losses it made for Khan’s StreetSounds label.
I have managed to find a few of the Hi-NRG charts, thanks to friends at Club 80s Official, and am putting them on the blog in the approximate week that they were published. The charts are pretty similar to the Record Mirror charts, although a few different tracks make an appearance.
Many nightclubs published their own weekly/monthly top 30 charts. Here is a really interesting chart from the best regarded Scottish gay nightclub, Fire Island in Edinburgh, for November 1985. Fire Island was owned by Bill Grainger, who brought Hi-NRG to Scotland and made Hi-NRG extremely popular in Scotland during the mid 80s. Bill had a guest show on Radio Clyde, from where he pushed Hi-NRG to a much wider and more mainstream audience in Scotland.
Fire Island Night Club, Edinburgh, Hi-NRG Chart 30th November 1985
80s Hi-NRG & Eurobeat 