Official Charts Pop Gem #46: Kim Wilde – Never Trust A Stranger

We celebrate Kim Wilde’s dramatic, bitter and twisted banger, a Number 7 hit in 1988.

Kim Wilde’s beautiful, dramatic bitter and twisted banger was a Number 7 hit in 1988 and is the latest track to get the Pop Gem honour

We love a Pop Gem – those songs that used to be massive but have somehow been overlooked or overshadowed since their heyday.

This week’s theme for our search for songs that needed a little more love was Breakups. Oh yes. The bitterer, the better.

This week’s nominations were probably the strongest we’ve had in a long time at Official Charts HQ, but we finally managed to avoid bloodshed and agreed on these ten fine contenders:

ABBA – The Winner Takes It All (No. 1 in 1980)
Alison Moyet – All Cried Out (No. 8 in 1984)
Eurythmics – Thorn In My Side (No. 5 in 1986)
Kim Wilde – Never Trust A Stranger (No. 7 in 1988)
Shakespear’s Sister – You’re History (No. 7 in 1989)
Melanie B – Tell Me (No. 4 in 2000)
Groove Armada with Mutya Buena – Song 4 Mutya (Out Of Control) (No. 8 in 2007)
Robyn – Dancing On My Own (No. 8 in 2010)
Amy Winehouse – Back To Black (No. 25 in 2007, No. 8 in 2011)
Solange – Losing You (Did not make Top 40, 2012)

Tough decision, but it had to go to someone. And that someone is the brilliant Kim Wilde. Watch the video for Never Trust A Stranger before we take a closer look at this belter of a tune.

Why it had to be Kim Wilde

Kim Wilde is a bonafide British international success story who has some fantastic songs in her back catalogue. She’s still releasing and performing, too. One very special performance Kim gave was on a packed train on her way home from a night out – only lucky commuter filmed it and the video went viral in 2012 (see below). She’s a fantastic popstar, was always great value in interviews and has wonderful hair. What other reason do you need?

The song

Most people remember Kim Wilde for You Came (which was the single before this and hit Number 3) or her debut smash Kids In America, but this tune is Kim at her best. Packed with drama, woe, bitterness and power, it’s like watching someone you really dislike falling over again and again. While it’s a tale of a nasty breakup, it’s almost joyous despite the miserable situation. At least she saw the back of that nasty man, eh? Never Trust A Stranger was a Number 7 hit in 1988. It should have been Number 1 for ever, right?

Kim Wilde’s chart story

Believe it or not, Kim has never had a chart-topper in the UK, although her punchy cover of the Supremes’ You Keep Me Hangin’ On did hit Number 1 in the US. She does have an impressive haul of hits, though: 20 Top 40 hits, including eight Top 10s.

Watch the video of Kim having a bit of a singalong on the train home. She may have had a bit of wine with lunch, if you see what we mean… Kim, you're a legend.