Capital 604 – 1990

Having featured all the South African songs to have charted on the Capital Radio Top 40 countdown in the 1980s we have decided to continue into the 1990s, although we only have compete lists for 1990 and 1991. Capital Radio continued to function until 1996, but we do not have complete chart listings from 1992 until the station closed down.

In order to provide a full reflection of the 1980s songs which charted on the Capital countdown, our 1989 playlist included four 1989 songs which entered the Capital charts in the first two weeks of January 1990. These will not be included in the 1990 playlist, but for the record these were: “Special Star” by Mango Groove, “Dance To Me” by Edi Niederlander, “Matchbox Full Of Diamonds” by David Kramer and “Sorrow (Your Heart)” by Trevor Rabin. Apart from these songs there were 11 South African songs which charted on Capital Radio in 1990, several of which had very successful runs in the Top 40.

“Boyz B Boyz” by MarcAlex and Little Sister’s “Dear Abbie” both spent two weeks at number one while Little Sister’s “Young Hearts” and Cinema’s “The Fire Of Love” spent one week at the top of the charts. All three Mango Groove songs peaked at number two: “Too Many Tears”, “Hometalk” and “Island Boy” (following “Special Star” which had reached number one earlier in the year). “Little Sister” by Little Sister and Jonathan Butler’s “Heal Our Land” both peaked at number 5,   while “Waiting For The Dawn” by Big Sky reached number 17. Cinema’s “Dancing Away With My Heart” only reached number 22, where it spent two weeks.

With the exception of Big Sky and Little Sister, who were newly formed bands, all these artists had charted on Capital in the 1980s, although Steve Louw of Big Sky had been part of All Night Radio, who did not chart on Capital but were around in the mid-1980s. Jonathan Butler first charted on Capital in 1985, Cinema and Mango Groove in 1987 and MarcAlex in 1989.

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Capital 604 – 1988

There were only nine South African songs that charted on the Capital Radio Top 40 Countdown in 1988 but for the first time all the South African songs made the top 10. Several of the artists to chart were not new to Capital: Jonathan Butler, Bright Blue, Wendy Oldfield and The Passengers had all made previous appearances; but there were debuts from South Africa veterans The Rockets (who had been around since the late 1960s), Cinema, The Spectres and The Believers.

We periodically have had difficulty tracking down copies of the South African songs that charted on Capital Radio, which has brought home how terrible the archiving of South African popular music has been. This week was especially difficult. We tried all our usual avenues and nobody we approached had a copy of Wendy Oldfield’s “Dancing in the Forest”, not even Wendy Oldfield herself.!

In the end we managed to track down a snippet of the song from the film in which it appeared, Mark Roper’s Dancing in the Forest (1989), chainsaw sound effects included!*

We also could not easily track down a copy of the “Papa, Please Come Back Home” by The Rockets but fortunately their manager, Alison Watt, was able to send us a copy of the song. It is difficult to imagine songs that reached the Top 10 on national radio station charts in the UK or the USA no longer being available, yet that is the situation in South Africa. We think it is both sad and shocking.

Of the South African songs to chart on Capital in 1988, “Papa, Please Come Back Home” by the Rockets spent two weeks at number 2.

Cinema very narrowly missed out on number 1 on two occasions with both “My Kind Of Girl” and “Inside And Out” peaking at number 2, and each staying there for just one week. Also reaching number 2 for one week was “Teddy Bear” by The Spectres.

Bright Blue’s “Where Would I Go?” spent two weeks at number 6, which was also the highest position reached by Jonathan Butler’s “Take Good Care of Me”, where it spent one week. Wendy Oldfield’s “Dancing in the Forest” spent two weeks at number 7 while “Got to Get Away” by The Passengers reached number 8 and “Romance” by The Believers peaked at number 9.

  • UPDATE: One person on the planet did have a copy and kindly posted it: Marq Vas – South African music super-collector – found a copy in his archive! Astounding! Thanks so much for digging this one out, Marq!
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