Artist · chart history
The Communards
Band London United Kingdom Active 1985–1988
The Communards formed in 1985 in London, United Kingdom and was active until 1988. The Communards has 4 chart appearances on 3 radio countdowns from 3 stations on RockLists, spanning 1988–1999. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Don't Leave Me This Way”, which appears on 3 lists with a best position of #436. The station that charted The Communards most often is Live 105 (San Francisco, CA), with 2 appearances.
The Communards were the London synth-pop duo of Scottish singer Jimmy Somerville and English musician Richard Coles, together from 1985 to 1988, and they took their name from the revolutionaries of the Paris Commune of 1871. That tells you they had politics on their minds; the records tell you they had the dance floor there too.
Their big move was to take soul and disco standards and rebuild them as pounding electronic anthems, with Somerville's soaring, high-flying voice riding over the top. "Don't Leave Me This Way", the Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes song that had featured Teddy Pendergrass, got that treatment on their 1986 album, Communards, released on London Records, and turned into a thundering, euphoric floor-filler. The Jackson 5's "Never Can Say Goodbye" got the same makeover, and those two covers are what they're best remembered for.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by The Communards on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Don't Leave Me This Way | 3 | #436 | – | – | |
| 2 | Never Can Say Goodbye | 1 | #467 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
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