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The Official Eighties Hits Book
£19.00
This book is a companion volume to The Official Albums and Singles Chart books of the 1980s that were recently published on behalf of the Official Chart Company. Those books replicate the weekly charts throughout the eighties, while this book takes the data and produces artist by artist listings of hit singles and albums. Each artist entry contains brief biographical information, including individual dates of birth and place of birth (where known), together with details of awards and honours – BRIT Awards, Grammy Awards, MTV Europe awards and Birthday and New Years Honours List awards. Singles and albums that have attained silver, gold, platinum and multi-platinum status are also identified, together with RIAA Diamond Awards. This is the ultimate chart trivia book for the 1980s!
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Additional information
| Publisher | CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (8 April 2019) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 569 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 1727147022 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1727147025 |
| Dimensions | 21.59 x 3.28 x 27.94 cm |
by D. Juden
As a big chart fanatic who used to write down the charts each week, oddly enough beginning in the 1980s when I was in my teens, I am ecstatic that these books have become available. The two chart books, Singles and Albums are pretty self explanatory with a single page of each week’s Top 75 chart positions. (Previous books have only listed the Top 40 by the way). The biggest joy for me though was the companion ‘Eighties Hits Book’ which is full to the brim of information. It lists each and every chart entry by artist in an A-Z and includes their releases chronologically – both singles and albums. The track listing on each artists’ album release is also included, along with catalogue numbers and very useful titbit info such as films the songs have come from, use in advertisements, charity ensemble gatherings and a general write up on each entry. Also included here is a full listing on Number 1’s from 1980-1989 both for singles and albums, plus all the information needed on any compilation release during the decade. At the back of the book is a Singles and albums index A-Z, if you needed more!
I couldn’t recommend this book highly enough and wait in anticipation for the future editions 50s, 60s, 70s, 90s, 00s and in 2020, the 10s.
Put together by Graham Betts & Martin Talbot of the Official Charts Company. Gentlemen, you have excelled yourselves, these books are a match made in heaven for me and im not afraid of saying so! Thank you.
by Hardtogethits
I can’t explain how excited I was when I learnt this volume was about to be published, together with the Singles and the Albums books you will also find on Amazon. I read some early reviews on different online fora for chart followers, and was surprised that people seemed to object to what I thought were reasonable editorial decisions. In essence, some seemed to think every listing in the book should be given approximately equal coverage. I couldn’t quite accept this point. To me, it seemed fair that the authors would assemble what reliable information they could, and present it in a friendly, readable way. When I received my copy, the first thing I did was check on the track listing for a fairly obscure compilation album. This wasn’t meant as a test of the book’s claims to authority – I was looking up a piece of information I wasn’t confident of finding elsewhere. I was extremely disappointed to find that the information in the book was simply wrong. The authors’ mistake would have been easily avoidable – if they could not locate the correct information, they could have explained this and left the relevant tracklisting blank.
This made me look at the book in much more critical ways.
Firstly, I thought back of the criticisms I had read. I can’t quite reconcile in my own mind the idea that we can’t rely on the information which is present, knowing that at the same time the authors were prepared to omit other information (without explanation – but presumably it would be because they did not have it or could not easily find it).
Secondly, I began to think whether I actively liked the format in which the information is presented. Put simply, I don’t. It’s messy, inconsistent and cramped. I would have forgiven all of this if I considered these weaknesses to be artistic compromises (or decisions) made in the name of producing something which is comprehensive and/or authoritative. But this book is neither.
One star may seem really petulant. I toyed with the idea of two. But ultimately, I thought of a comment Paul Gambaccini once made. ‘The point of a reference book is that you refer to it’. I can’t imagine coming back to this as a reference book – I would only trust it to tell me what I already know.
ADDENDUM: I have just discovered that this error strewn book does not include 1989 multi artist compilation albums. Why not?
by GeekCollector
This is a fantastic amalgamation of the old Guiness Hit Singles and Albums books, focussing on the 1980s. However, by including lengthy bios (some of which focus on other decades) and including album tracklists and film soundtrack information, there are a few instances I’ve spotted where the info is incorrect. Admittedly none of the series seem to be about chart positions though so if you’re after a superb reference book, this is for you.
by visa
Very informative about the best decade in music…
by John Davies
Alphabetical list of the acts who made the charts in the 80s with information on their hit albums and singles. There’s a list of the number ones but no other analysis like most hits, most number ones etc. It’s not as good as the Guinness or Virgin books covering the same subject. I was expecting more.
by Andrew Hay
Great reference book detailing every aspect of a great decade of music.
by R. Sinclair
Very clear and awesome to have complete Top 100 Album Charts in one place. One chart per page makes it very clean and easy to follow.
Can’t wait for the other decades to be released to complete the collection (hopefully 90s next).
by Barret Edelstein
So excited to delve into the world of the charts