Robbed Hit of the Week 9/2/13: Nik Kershaw's "Wouldn't It Be Good"...

Nik Kershaw - "Wouldn't It Be Good"
from the album Human Racing (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #46

This week's "robbed hit" is by English new-wave singer/songwriter Nik Kershaw, who released his debut album, Human Racing, initially to tepid response, as the anti-war first single "I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" missed the UK Top-40 at #47. However, the follow-up 45 would finally break him in Britain and tentatively in America.

"Wouldn't It Be Good", written by Kershaw and produced by Peter Collins (who would go on to helm works from prog-rock bands like Rush and Queensryche), sported a slick, cool video that MTV loved and I adored. Coupled with his good looks and the success of similar solo new waver Howard Jones, it look pretty promising...

But even though all the cards were in order, the single stalled under the American Top-40 at #46, while only scraping the rock radio chart at #58. Back in Britain, though, it was a different story, as "Wouldn't It Be Good" shot up to #4 on the singles chart, the first of five top-10 hits for Kershaw. In fact, "I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" got re-released from the buzz behind this song and did even better, going to #2 as his biggest hit to date.

His second album, The Riddle, spun off three more top-10 hits in the UK, with the title track becoming an international hit save the US, where it "bubbled under" the Hot 100 chart in 1984. Nik's third set Radio Musicola would give him his last top-40 hit in Britain with "When A Heart Beats" in 1985. He would have five more minor hits in his native country, the latest being "Sometimes" with Les Rhythmes Digitales in 1999. Nik also wrote the top-10 hit "The One and Only" for Chesney Hawkes in 1991..

Kershaw remains in my pantheon of "should've been a contender" artists (along with the likes of Five Star and Robert Hazard), and "Wouldn't It Be Good" not only is one of my favorite robbed hits of the 80s, but one of the most striking and innovative music videos of the decade.

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Here's Nik live from 1985...