Hi Everybody, as promised, we are back with another countdown this week! The twist this week is that this will be a Top 40 from the U.K. charts. I have a lot of friends from the U.K., so I wanted to do a little something for them. And I thought it would be pretty cool for those of us in the U.S. There were a lot of awesome songs in other countries that did not make it over here for some reason or other. I have a feeling that a lot of us will be discovering new music this week. And ’80s kids from the U.K. will get to relive their glory days. As usual, if you’d like to purchase the song from Amazon, you can click on the album cover. And to watch the video/listen to the song, you can click on the song title. So, let’s get to it, Return to this week in 1983, and begin this week’s countdown from the U.K.

40. “Garden Party” by Mezzoforte

Right off the bat, we a get a song like I have never heard on a U.S. top 40 countdown. The closest may be Kenny G. Mezzoforte is an instrumental jazz-funk fusion band from Iceland. This would actually be the band’s biggest hit, and would chart all the way up to #17 on the U.K. charts. I am loving this song, and it’s a great way to kick off this countdown.

39. “Maggie” by Foster and Allen

Foster and Allen are a musical duo from Ireland consisting of Mick Foster and Tony Allen. This definitely has an Irish feel to it. But, it also sounds like an old school country song.

38. “Joy” by Band AKA

Despite this band being from Los Angeles, I had never heard of them. This is little disco/funk tune.

37. “Fields of Fire (400 Miles)” by Big Country

This is the first band I know of so far. However, I have never heard this song. If you like the song, “In a Big Country”, then you will like this one. It has a very similar sound.

36. “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life” by Indeep

This is another U.S. based group (out of New York) that I had not heard of. This is a cool disco/funk song. Now I can see why I never heard of this song. While it would land all the way up to #13 on the U.K. charts, it topped out at #103 on the U.S. charts.

35. “Midnight Summer Dream” by The Stranglers

When I saw the band name, I was hoping this was a punk rock band. I was correct. However, at this time, The Stranglers decided to change direction, so this is more of a new wavey sound. The music itself sounds like it could come from a Tarentino film. But, the “singer” talks through the entire song. Then almost 5 minutes in somebody is singing the same lyrics in the background as the narrator who is speaking. No thanks.

34. “Christian” by China Crisis

This song brought this new wave band into prominence in the U.K. as it went up to #12 on the charts. This is good if you like slow new wave music. I would have hated it back in the day, but I’m liking it now.

33. “Soweto” by Malcolm McLaren

I’m kind of digging this song. I never heard of Malcolm McLaren, but he sounded like quite the character. He was a visual artist, performer, musician, clothes designer and boutique owner. He was best known for being the promoter and manager of bands such as the New York Dolls and the Sex Pistols. This song sounds like it has an upbeat reggae beat.

32. “Down Under” by Men At Work

The first song I know! Do I really need to say anything about this? I’ll just smile and give you a Vegemite sandwich.

31. “Run for Your Life” by Bucks Fizz

Great way to end today’s list! I thought this was going to be a cover of the Beatles classic. But, it’s a different song. It sounds like Abba covering an ELO song. Very cool! I may need to look more into this group.

Well, that was a very cool start of the week. What do you think so far? If you know any interesting facts about the artists we have seen here, please comment below. I’d love to hear from you, and be educated. It’s looking like we will continue the countdown on Wednesday. Hope to see you then!