Musical Monday - Making Your Mind Up by Bucks Fizz

#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Never.

#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Never.

#1 on the U.K. Chart: April 18, 1981 through May 2, 1981.

Making Your Mind Up is the second Eurovision Song Contest winner to reach number one on the U.K. chart in the 1980s, the first being Johnny Logan's What's Another Year. Other than that, it would be difficult for the two songs to be more different. Whereas Logan's song is a kind of introspective look at getting old and the kind of loss that comes with it, Making Your Mind Up is an almost meaningless piece of pop fluff that is mostly notable for its choreographed dance routine.

The odd thing about the notability of the dance routine that goes with this song is just how silly the reason it is notable. The Eurovision Song Contest is a kind of goofball pop circus, and Making Your Mind Up is just another example of this fact. What made this dance routine notable takes place at about 1:31 in the video, when the two male members of the band pull the skirts off the two female members of the band, revealing that they are wearing shorter skirts underneath. This was considered to be a particularly clever touch that swung the Eurovision vote in the band's favor and is regarded by some as a defining moment in the competition's history. To me, the fact that "pulling skirts off some band members" could be considered a "defining moment" of the competition indicates that the Eurovision Song Contest is basically ludicrous.

After winning the Eurovision Song Contest, Making Your Mind Up went on to become one of the most successful singles in the U.K. for 1981. The song was so notable that the annual U.K. competition to determine who would represent the U.K. in the Eurovision Song Contest was named "Eurovision: Making Your Mind Up" for four years from 2004 through 2007.

Sometimes the U.K. is just a little bit ridiculous, and everything relating to this song is just evidence confirming this.

Previous Musical Monday: Kiss On My List by Hall and Oates

Subsequent Musical Monday: Morning Train (Nine to Five) by Sheena Easton

Previous #1 on the U.K. Chart: This Ole House by Shakin' Stevens

Subsequent #1 on the U.K. Chart: Stand and Deliver by Adam and the Ants

List of #1 Singles from the Billboard Hot 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles from the Cash Box Top 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles on the U.K. Chart for 1980-1989

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