Thirty years ago, these were the CDs, LPs and cassettes we had on high rotation – and they still sound pretty great today!
 
Cosmic Thing by The B-52’s

They’d started the decade leading the new wave charge, landing two big hits in Australia in the form of “Rock Lobster” and “Private Idaho”, and The B-52’s ended the 1980s heading towards number 1 on both the singles and albums chart with “Love Shack” and Cosmic Thing. Their fifth album, Cosmic Thing was released exactly 30 years ago in mid-1989, following a lengthy hiatus during which the band mourned the death of founding member Ricky Wilson. 

Featuring production by Nile Rodgers on six of the tracks (including number 11 hit “Roam”) and Don Was on the other four, the album took its time to take off in Australia, with lead single “Channel Z” missing the top 100 completely. Things kicked into gear once their party-starting, imminently quotable (“tin roof rusted”), eight-week chart-topper, “Love Shack”, was released, with Cosmic Thing ultimately spending three weeks at number 1 in early 1990.

A special 30th Anniversary expanded edtition has just been release, available here. 

 
Like A Prayer by Madonna

Not a peep was heard from Madonna musically in 1988, and so the world was more than ready for her return when her fourth studio album, Like A Prayer, released in March 1989. And she did not disappoint. Her most ambitious and mature album up until that point, Like A Prayer was prefaced by the single of the same name, with which Madonna set a new benchmark for creating controversy thanks to its religious-themed music video. 

The album produced four more singles:  “Express Yourself” (number  5), which established a new record for the most expensive music video made; “Cherish” (number 4), which has become one of her most overlooked hits in the years since; heartfelt ballad “Oh Father” and the whimsical “Dear Jessie”. Also featuring a duet with Prince (“Love Song”) and a track dealing with domestic violence (“Till Death Do Us Part”), Like A Prayer was the sound of a pop star becoming a music legend.

Look Sharp! by Roxette

Stars in their native Sweden since 1986, the duo comprised of Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle went global in 1989, all thanks to an American exchange student, who returned to the States with a copy of Look Sharp!, which had been released in Sweden in late 1988, and gave it to his local radio station. The power pop/rock of “The Look” was irresistible to radio programmers, and the song stormed to number 1 there and also in Australia. 

After “The Look” came two of the duo’s previous Swedish singles “Dressed For Success” (number 3) and big ballad “Listen To Your Heart” (number 10), with all three songs in the ARIA top 40 simultaneously in October 1989. The album was packed with potential singles, all with the type of catchy choruses that could only have come from Scandinavia, and “Dangerous” (number 9) was chosen as the album’s final release, becoming another huge hit for Roxette.

 
Matchbook by Ian Moss

His band-mate Jimmy Barnes had been racking up number 1 albums since 1984, and in 1989 it was the turn of Cold Chisel’s guitarist and sometime singer Ian Moss to do the same with his solo debut, Matchbook. The album featured nine tracks written or co-written by another Cold Chisel member, keyboard player Don Walker, including lead single “Tucker’s Daughter”, which narrowly missed out on giving Ian a chart-topping debut solo hit.

Co-produced by Chris Lord-Alge, who would go on to produce for Rick Price, Stevie Nicks and Tina Turner, Matchbook also featured the singles “Telephone Booth” (number 7) and “Out Of The Fire” (number 29), and was showered with awards at the 1990 ARIAs, with Ian winning three trophies specifically for the album and another two for “Tucker’s Daughter”.

 
Johnny Diesel And The Injectors by Johnny Diesel And The Injectors

Another musician with a link to Jimmy Barnes also released his debut album in 1989 – American-born, Australian-raised Johnny Diesel (real name: Mark Lizotte), who had played on Jimmy’s Freight Train Heart album and toured as part of his band. Together with his own band, The Injectors, the singer/guitarist reached number 2 with their eponymous long-player. 

Produced by prolific musician and producer Terry Manning in Memphis, Johnny Diesel And The Injectors was the perfect mix of American rock, soul and R&B and Australian pub rock, and was previewed in 1988 by debut single “Don’t Need Love”, a top 10 out of the gate. The hits continued in 1989 with “Soul Revival” (number 9), “Cry In Shame” (number 10) and “Lookin’ For Love” (number 29). It was the perfect musical introduction for Diesel who, after a stand-alone soundtrack single in 1990 with The Injectors, went on to enjoy a very successful solo career in 1991.

 
The Raw And The Cooked by Fine Young Cannibals

The second and final studio album by the trio comprised of Roland Gift, Andy Cox and David Steele, The Raw And The Cooked came four years after the band’s self-titled debut album. And it was worth the wait, with the album yielding hits like “She Drives Me Crazy” (a three-week number 1) and “Good Thing” (number 7), as well as other singles “Don’t Look Back”, “I’m Not The Man I Used To Be” and “I’m Not Satisfied”.

Also included on the album was their cover of Buzzcocks’ “Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)”, which had reached the ARIA top 20 in 1987 (with the shortened title of “Ever Fallen In Love”). In fact, four of the tracks had been recorded during 1986-87 for films Something Wild and Tin Men, and the remainder completed during sessions at Paisley Park with producer David Z (brother of The Revolution dummer Bobby Z).

 
Brave by Kate Ceberano 

She’d been part of the Australian musical landscape for years thanks to her time as singer for I’m Talking, and her jazz and blues releases after the break-up of the pop/funk group. And in 1989, Kate Ceberano released her debut pop album, Brave, which became the highest-selling album by an Australian female artist that year, despite only reaching number 2.

The album’s lead single, the sultry “Bedroom Eyes”, also got stuck in the runner-up slot – for six non-consecutive weeks – out-selling many of 1989’s number 1 hits to become the year’s seventh highest-selling single. Further successes followed: “Love Dimension” (number 14), “Brave/Young Boys Are My Weakness” (number 15) and “That’s What I Call Love” (number 30), while Kate reinterpreted classics “Quasimodo’s Dream” (The Reels) and “Higher Ground” (Stevie Wonder) in her slickly produced pop/dance style.

 
…But Seriously by Phil Collins

In between his work with Genesis and his solo efforts, Phil Collins’ output during the 1980s was impressive. He rounded out the decade with the release of his fourth studio album in November 1989 – a collection of songs that, as the title indicates, tackled more serious concerns than the likes of “Two Hearts” and “Invisible Touch”. 

On lead single “Another Day In Paradise” (number 11), Phil sang about homelessness, while elsewhere, he addressed the political situations in South Africa (“Colours”) and Northern Ireland (“That’s Just The Way It Is”). Co-produced once again with Hugh Padgham, …But Seriously debuted at number 1 in Australia in December 1989, not leaving the top 10 until June 1990.