Back in the early 90's, Fox FM in Melbourne used to air a radio show called 'UK Chart Attack' on Sunday nights, at 9:30pm or thereabouts, following American Top 40. Although I listened to American Top 40 sometimes (usually not the whole show though), unfortunately I didn't discover UK Chart Attack until May 1992. I've always generally liked UK/European music the best, and the UK Chart Attack radio show aired an hour's worth of new releases from UK/European acts, as well as singles charting in the UK that hadn't yet been released/become hits in the US (for whom the show was primarily designed).
Back in those days, singles by UK/European artists (particularly the more obscure or less successful ones) were not released in Australia until usually 3, and sometimes 6 or more, months later (if at all for the less-successful/well-known artists). So there were many tracks I heard via UK Chart Attack months before they were released here, and also quite a few that didn't ever get a local release.
One of the first new tracks I heard on UK Chart Attack was the single version of Shakespears Sister's 'I Don't Care', which was completely re-recorded and radically different to the album version on the 'Hormonally Yours' album I already owned:
Eventually I'd have my blank cassette tape ready to record any new tracks that I liked from UK Chart Attack. I still have that cassette somewhere.
Another track I heard first on UK Chart Attack (in September 1992, ahead of its December 1992 release here) was Tasmin Archer's 'Sleeping Satellite'. Not yet having seen the video, I assumed Tasmin was white. I was quite surprised when I first caught the video on Rage as a new release 3 months later:
I also heard Utah Saints' 'Something Good' on UK Chart Attack for the first time, and was pleasantly surprised when it became a #10 hit in Australia a few months later.
Unfortunately, Australia was still in the grip of 'classic rock' on FM radio at the time, and to hear music such as this on the radio outside of the top 40 was a rarity.
And one track I probably never would have heard if not for UK Chart Attack was Ambassadors of Funk's 'Supermarioland' (another one I have to link here, as only duplicates of my upload appear in the embedding search results... despite my video being the first search result for the track on youtube iteself - what's up with this?!) - yes, heavily based on the Nintendo game music. Eighteen months earlier, someone at school had dubbed me 'Nintendo Nath'.
Like all good things, UK Chart Attack's broadcast on Fox FM unfortunately came to an end in January 1993, to be replaced with Dr Feelgood's 'Pillow Talk' radio show. Sure, while I also listened to this sometimes, I was gutted that my favourite radio show wasn't coming back. As usual, there was no announcement that the last UK Chart Attack show to air on Fox FM would be the last. Coincidentally, I encountered someone who worked behind the scenes as an audio engineer on the 'Pillow Talk' radio show (among other things), earlier this year at work. He had some interesting tidbits to reveal on how the show was put together and broadcast.
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