Underground Hit [Level 5]
Hey my friends overseas!! Just curious on this new fantastic book I found in the Attic. Never heard of these songs that hit # 1 over there. Are they dance, slow jam, novelty, classics?
"Hit Me with Your Rhythym Stick"- Ian Dury
" Oliver's Army"- Elvis Costello
" Bright Eyes"- Art Garfunkel (I think I've heard this one)
"Sunday Girl" -Blondie
"Dance Away"- Roxy Music
"Are Friends Electric?"- Gary Numan
"Silly Games"- Janet Kay
"One Day at A Time"- Lena Martell (Is this a Christian Song?)
Thanks to all of ya'll..............Richie Rich :P
Platinum Record [Level 8]
Most of that stuff would be categorized as New Wave. The only cut I'm familiar with is the Ian Dury track. He actually has some pretty good funky grooves going with Rhythm Stick and Reason To Be Cheerful Part 3. His cockney accent however is an acquired taste.Originally Written by pepper1dancer
Disco Funk
Gold Record [Level 7]
"Hit Me with Your Rhythym Stick"- Ian Dury
The late great Ian Dury, who had to walk with a stick because he contracted polio as a youngster, started his rock band in the early '70s which was called Kilburn and the Highroads. This later (somehow) morphed into the highly funk influenced Ian Dury and the Blockheads. They had quite a few hits during the latter part of the '70s in the UK: "I Wanna Be Straight", The heavily sampled by rappers "What a waste." and the supremely funky "Reasons to be Cheerful." "...Rhythm Stick" was a well deserved #1, highly infectious, funky, and danceable - if that word exists...
" Oliver's Army"- Elvis Costello
Costello's band was one of the so called 'New Wave' of rock-fused-with-pop groups who appeared in England during the death throes of Punk. Other groups of the genre were, The Police, The Pretenders, Blondie, and Talking Heads . Dunno why this got to #1 :-? But, there've been worse songs at that position. It's oft remembered because of the '...One less white nigger...' line in the song.
No need to explain this soppy ballad then. It rode in on the back of the movie Watership Down.
"Sunday Girl" -Blondie
The aforementioned New Wavers gave us this wispy ditty. Which wasn't a patch on their other efforts. Not as hard as "Hanging On The Telephone", or as brilliant as "Call Me." Thank you Mr. Moroder :P
"Dance Away"- Roxy Music
'Dance Away the heartache...Dance away the tears...' Bryan Ferry was/is the lead singer of this former glam rock band, who became much more sophisticated later on in their career. I suppose you could slow dance to this pepperdancer1...But I prefered "Angel Eyes." and their version of Lennon's "Jealous Guy." another #1 for them in 1981. "Slave to Love" was good too.
"Are Friends Electric?"- Gary Numan
One of the grand-daddies of modern Techno and Dance music, Gary Numan first released songs with his Tubeway Army. Then a year or so on, he gave us the brilliant 4/4 beats of "Cars". "...Are Friends Electric" was a slower song but still good IMHO. He paved the way for the many other Electro pop Brit bands who followed him: Soft Cell, Depeche Mode, Heaven 17 etc.
"Silly Games"- Janet Kay
Fantastic!! Janet Kay was a singer and actress who was also part of the now forgotten :roll: Lover's Rock scene which flourished in the charts in England for about half a dozen years during the late '70s and early '80s. Lover's as it was called for short, was a Black British version of Jamaican reggae which the first generation of black Britons had grown up with. It was a sweeter sound, and often told of unrequited love and broken hearts. The Cool Notes, Matumbi, Carol Thompson, Sandra Cross, and even Aswad were other major players in the scene. Unfortunately, Janet's label did not capitalise on her success, so she was unable to repeat the hit. However, now she is literally big in Japan.
Punk wasn't the only new form of music to take hold during the 1970s.
This was a truly awful religious song, delivered by a one hit wonder (Thank God!) and it beats me how it got to the top. Non disco...Non rock...Non pop...No good.
Hope that helps ya.
Underground Hit [Level 5]
Maybe it's the NME chart listing again, but on the official charts, "Oliver's Army", "Dance away" and "Silly games" all only got to number 2 in the UK charts.
If you don't remember "Are friends electric?", you may recognise it as the sample used throughout Sugababes' "Freak like me" which was a number 1 hit from a couple of years ago.
Chart Hit [Level 6]
Lena Martell was a staple on BBC Radio 2 playlist through the 70's and was 'Blue rinse' fodder (Easy listening). It is a Kris Kristofferson song.
Art's 'Bright Eyes' was indeed used in 'Watership Down' and was written by Mike Batt (a member and writer of the Wombles hits amungst many).
Darren is right. At that time time, there were 4 charts going around;
The official one used by the BBC and compiled by many research companies.
The Melody Maker chart.
The NME chart.
The Sounds chart.
Many of the no.1's did differ between the charts. Although when the charts started in the UK (1952) they did use the Melody Maker charts then subsequently were made by another agency.
The British book of British hit singles uses the charts used by the BBC.
Gold Record [Level 7]
i never got this record,more likely i didnt want to try to, i remember the second time the crown heights affair came here,they included this in their act and were saying how great it was :o and we were like BOO HISS sing foxy lady
Gold Record [Level 7]
You're right there. It was all very confusing back then. Top of the Pops would show their chart rundown, NME had theirs, Roger Scot on Capital Radio would do his weekly chart. :roll: etc...
Also, "Silly Games" didn't get to #1 in the National Chart but "Oliver's Army" did.
Chart Hit [Level 6]
Elvis Costello did peak at only no.2. Held off by the Bee Gees I think.
Underground Hit [Level 5]
Thank You ALL!! This was very interesting reading. I am going to search for these singles here in the States. RECORD MIRROR had the chart positions from 1954-1960. NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS had the chart positions from 1960 on, til 1982 at least. This awesome book has all the #1 charts USA and UK from 1954-1982. Thanks again :P
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