Top Alternative Songs of 1983

[Troy]

Again, in 1983 I only had countdowns available from KROQ & 91X:

RANK SONG

1 Big Country - In A Big Country

2 Duran Duran - Union Of The Snake

3 Tears For Fears - Mad World

4 Police - Every Breath You Take

5 English Beat - I Confess

6 U2 - New Years Day

7 Billy Idol - Rebel Yell

8 David Bowie - Let's Dance

9 Culture Club - Church Of The Poison Mind

10 Adam Ant - Strip

11 Culture Club - Karma Chameleon

12 Cure - Lovecats

13 Romantics - Talking In Your Sleep

14 Culture Club - I'll Tumble 4 Ya

15 UB40 - Red Red Wine

16 Duran Duran - Reflex

17 Police - King Of Pain

18 English Beat - Save It For Later

19 David Bowie - Modern Love

20 Culture Club - Do You Really Want To Hurt Me

21 Police - Synchronicity II

22 Fixx - One Thing Leads To Another

23 Cure - Let's Go To Bed

24 Peter Schilling - Major Tom (Coming Home)

25 Nena - 99 Luftballoons

26 Talking Heads - Burning Down The House

27 Echo & The Bunnymen - Never Stop

28 Madness - Our House

29 B-52s - Whammy Kiss

30 Adam Ant - Puss N Boots

31 Tears For Fears - Change

32 Icicle Works - Whisper To A Scream (Birds Fly)

33 Thomas Dolby - She Blinded Me With Science

34 Men Without Hats - Safety Dance

35 Toy Dolls - Nellie The Elephant

36 Real Life - Send Me An Angel

37 Tears For Fears - Pale Shelter

38 Elvis Costello - Everyday I Write The Book

39 Siouxsie & Banshees - Dear Prudence

40 Tim Scott - Swear

41 Echo & The Bunnymen - Cutter

42 New Order - Blue Monday

43 Oingo Boingo - Nothing Bad Ever Happens

44 Peter Godwin - Baby's In The Mountains

45 Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

46 Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way

47 INXS - One Thing

48 Depeche Mode - Get The Balance Right

49 B-Movie - Nowhere Girl

50 David Bowie - China Girl

51 Bongos - Barbarella

52 Spandau Ballet - Lifeline

53 B-52s - Legal Tender

54 Aztec Camera - Oblivious

55 Thompson Twins - Lies

56 Stray Cats - Sexy & 17

57 Burning Sensations - Belly Of The Whale

58 Midnight Oil - Power And The Passion

59 Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

60 After The Fire - Der Kommissar

61 Public Image Limited - This Is Not A Love Song

62 Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel - White Lines (Don't Do It)

63 Kajagoogoo - Too Shy

64 Duran Duran - Is There Something I Should Know?

65 Alarm - Stand

66 U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday

67 Duran Duran - Save A Prayer

68 Greg Kihn Band - Jeopardy

69 U2 - Two Hearts Beat as One

70 Polecats - Make A Circuit With Me

71 Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized

72 Rolling Stones - Undercover Of The Night

73 Police - Wrapped Around Your Finger

74 Blancmange - Living On The Ceiling

75 Culture Club - Miss Me Blind

76 Madness - It Must Be Love

77 Barbie & The Kens - Just A Gigolo

78 Sparks - Cool Places

79 Red Rockers - China

80 Pretenders - 2,000 Miles

81 UB40 - Please Don't Make Me Cry

82 Bill Nelson - Acceleration

83 Fixx - Saved By Zero

84 Style Council - Long Hot Summer

85 Thompson Twins - Watching

86 Yes - Owner Of A Lonely Heart

87 Big Country - Fields Of Fire

88 Haysi Fantayzee - Shiny Shiny

89 Reflex - Politics Of Dancing

90 Peter Godwin - Images Of Heaven

91 Eurythmics - Love Is A Stranger

92 Modern English - I Melt With You

93 Pat Wilson - Bop Girl

94 Jimmy The Hoover - Tantalize

95 NE1 - 1,2,3

96 B-52s - Song For A Future Generation

97 Berlin - Metro

98 OMD - Radio Waves

99 REM - Radio Free Europe

100 Heaven 17 - Let Me Go

101 Roman Holiday - Don't Try To Stop It

102 Rolling Stones - Too Much Blood

103 Q-Feel - Dancing In Heaven

104 Devo - Dr Detroit

105 Soft Cell - It's A Mugs Game

106 Yaz - Nobody's Diary

107 Devo - That's Good

108 INXS - Don't Change

109 Fixx - Stand Or Fall

110 Bongos - Numbers With Wings

111 INXS - Black And White

112 Freur - Doot Doot

113 Flock Of Seagulls - Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You)

114 Lords Of The New Church - Dance With Me

115 Ric Ocasek - Something To Grab For

116 Madness - Wings Of A Dove

117 Howard Devoto - Rainy Season

118 Bow Wow Wow - Do You Want To Hold Me

119 Malcolm McLaren - Buffalo Gals

120 Sparks - All You Ever Think About Is Sex

121 X - New World

122 Ultravox - Reap The Wild Wind

123 Wham! - Young Guns (Go For It)

124 Spandau Ballet - Communication

125 Pete Shelley - Telephone Operator

126 Human League - (Keep Feeling) Fascination

127 Machinations - Pressure Sway

128 Fixx - Red Skies

129 JoBoxers - Just Got Lucky

130 Flock Of Seagulls - Committed

131 Dave Edmunds - Slipping Away

[Doc Indie Party Rock]

Q-Feel "Dancing In Heaven" was my #1 song that year. Even then my top songs were usually ones from the lower half. Everyone of those songs is pure gold.

[Verisimilitude]

Radio Stats
CMJ Top Radio Cuts, September 26, 1983
(Most played album tracks or singles)
1. TALKING HEADS "Burning Down The House"
2. BIG COUNTRY "In A Big Country"
3. POLICE "King Of Pain"
4. ELVIS COSTELLO "Everyday I Write The Book"
5. THE FIXX "One Thing Leads To Another"
6. MEN WITHOUT HATS "The Safety Dance"
7. JOBOXERS "Just Got Lucky"
8. HOWARD DEVOTO "Rainy Season"
9. TRANSLATOR "Un -Alone"
10. BAUHAUS "She's In Parties"
11. AZTEC CAMERA "Oblivious"
12. TALKING HEADS "Making Flippy Floppy"
13. STRAY CATS "Sexy + 17"
14. THE CURE "The Walk"
15. TOM TOM CLUB "The Man With The 4-Way Hips"
16. BONGOS "Numbers With Wings"
17. BONGOS "Barbarella"
18. ELVIS COSTELLO "Let Them All Talk"
19. JULUKA "Scatterlings Of Africa"
20. EURYTHMICS "Love Is A Stranger"
21. ALARM "The Stand"
22. POLICE "Synchronicity II"
23. VELLO "I Love You"
24. ROBERT PLANT "Big Log"
25. EURYTHMICS "Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This"
26. PETER SCHILLING "Major Tom (Coming Home)"
27. ALARM "Marching On"
28. EBN-OZN "AEIOU Sometimes Y"
29. YAZ "The Walk"
30. TALKING HEADS "Girlfriend Is Better"
31. ASIA "Don't Cry"
32. GRAHAM PARKER "Life Gets Better"
33. NEW ORDER "Confusion"
34. MOODY BLUES "Sittin' At The Wheel"
35. HEART "How Can I Refuse"
36. INDOOR LIFE "Blue Grey Green"
37. NENA "99 Luftballons"
38. ELVIS COSTELLO "Shipbuilding"
39. TALKING HEADS "Slippery People"
40. HERBIE HANCOCK "Rockit"

October 10

1. BIG COUNTRY "In A Big Country"
2. TALKING HEADS "Burning Down The House"
3. ELVIS COSTELLO "Everyday I Write The Book"
4. BONGOS "Barbarella"
5. AZTEC CAMERA "Oblivious"
6. JoBOXERS "Just Got Lucky"
7. THE FIXX "One Thing Leads To Another"
8. PETER SCHILLING "Major Tom (Coming Home)"
9. POLICE "King Of Pain"
10. BONGOS "Numbers With Wings"
11. BAUHAUS "She's In Parties"
12. MEN WITHOUT HATS "The Safety Dance"
13. TOM TOM CLUB "The Man With The 4-Way Hips"
14. STRAY CATS "Sexy + 17"
15. TALKING HEADS "Making Flippy-Floppy"
16. JULUKA "Scatterlings Of Africa"
17. ALARM "The Stand"
18. ROBERT PLANT "Big Log"
19. HOWARD DEVOTO "Rainy Season"
20. NENA "99 Luftballons"
21. POLICE "Synchronicity II"
22. EURYTHMICS "Love Is A Stranger"
23. TRANSLATOR "Un -Alone"
24. WHAM! U.K. "Bad Boys"
25. GRAHAM PARKER "Life Gets Better"
26. TALKING HEADS "Slippery People"
27. OINGO BOINGO "Wake Up (It's 1984)"
28. POLICE "Wrapped Around Your Finger"
29. INDOOR LIFE "Blue Grey Green"
30. MOODY BLUES "Sittin' At The Wheel"
31. ROBERT PLANT "In The Mood"
32. TIM SCOTT "Swear"
33. ADRIAN BELEW "I'm Down"
34. OINGO BOINGO "Nothing Bad Ever Happens"
35. THE CURE "The Walk"
36. VELLO "I Love You"
37. ELVIS COSTELLO "Let Them All Talk"
38. EBN-OZN "AEIOU Sometimes Y"
39. NEW ORDER "Confusion"
40. HEART "How Can I Refuse"

October 24

1. BIG COUNTRY "In A Big Country"
2. BONGOS "Barbarella"
3. TALKING HEADS "Burning Down The House"
4. ELVIS COSTELLO "Everyday I Write The Book"
5. BONGOS "Numbers With Wings"
6. JoBOXERS "Just Got Lucky"
7. PETER SCHILLING "Major Tom (Coming Home)"
8. STYLE COUNCIL "Long Hot Summer"
9. HUNTERS & COLLECTORS "Talking To A Stranger"
10. GANG OF 4 "Is It Love"
11. AZTEC CAMERA "Oblivious"
12. NENA "99 Luftballons"
13. HOWARD DEVOTO "Rainy Season"
14. THE FIXX "One Thing Leads To Another"
15. POLICE "King Of Pain"
16. POLICE "Synchronicity II"
17. BIG COUNTRY "Fields Of Fire"
18. TOM TOM CLUB "The Man With The 4-Way Hips"
19. MOTELS "Suddenly Last Summer"
20. HUEY LEWIS AND THE NEWS "Heart And Soul"
21. DEPECHE MODE "Everything Counts"
22. OINGO BOINGO "Nothing Bad Ever Happens"
23. TRANSLATOR "Un -Alone"
24. TALKING HEADS "Making Flippy Floppy"
25. X "Devil Doll"
26. MEN WITHOUT HATS "The Safety Dance"
27. ROBERT PLANT ' Big Log"
28. LORDS OF THE NEW CHURCH "Dance With Me"
29. ALARM "Marching On"
30. SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY AND THE JUKES "Trash It Up"
31. JOE JACKSON "Cosmopolitan"
32. JOE JACKSON "Memphis"
33. ALARM "The Stand"
34. MOODY BLUES "Sitting At The Wheel"
35. LORDS OF THE NEW CHURCH "Live For Today"
36. NEW ORDER "Age Of Consent"
37. T-BONE BURNETT "The Sixties"
38. GENESIS "Mama"
39. X "I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts"
40. GANG OF 4 "A Man With A Good Car"

November 21

1. BIG COUNTRY "In A Big Country"
2. BONGOS "Numbers With Wings"
3. JoBOXERS "Just Got Lucky"
4. BONGOS "Barbarella"
5. UB40 "Red Red Wine"
6. TALKING HEADS "Burning Down The House"
7. PETER SCHILLING "Major Tom (Coming Home)"
8. ELVIS COSTELLO "Everyday I Write The Book"
9. X "The New World"
10. CULTURE CLUB "Karma Chameleon"
11. ROMANTICS "Talking In Your Sleep"
12. GANG OF 4 "Is It Love"
13. CULTURE CLUB "Church Of The Poison Mind"
14. HUNTERS & COLLECTORS "Talking To A Stranger"
15. BIG COUNTRY "Fields Of Fire"
16. STYLE COUNCIL "Long Hot Summer"
17. X "I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts"
18. AZTEC CAMERA "Oblivious"
19. NENA "99 Luftballons"
20. LET'S ACTIVE "Room With A View"
21. MIDNIGHT OIL "Power And The Passion"
22. X "True Love Part 2"
23. GENESIS "Mama"
24. JoBOXERS "Boxerbeat"
25. TOM WAITS "Frank's Wild Years"
26. X "Devil Doll"
27. HUEY LEWIS AND THE NEWS "Heart And Soul"
28. LORDS OF THE NEW CHURCH "Dance With Me"
29. MOTELS "Suddenly Last Summer"
30. NEW ORDER "Confusion"
31. PAT BENATAR "Love Is A Battlefield"
32. COMATEENS "Get Off My Case"
33. PETER GODWIN "Baby's In The Mountains"
34. GREEN ON RED "Gravity Talks"
35. JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP "Crumblin' Down"
36. C.S. ANGELS "Will You Stay Tonight"
37. GANG OF 4 "A Man With A Good Car"
38. GENESIS "Just A Job To Do"
39. MOTELS "Little Robbers"
40. TRANSLATOR "Un -Alone"

All that's available for now on the American Radio History site.