Need Help Finding Charts

[pannythief]

Hello friends,

I am searching for the U.K. funk/disco charts from the late 70's and early 80's, does anyone know if/where these can be found, and who the publisher was? I have spent a couple of hours browsing sites through Google to no avail. I have the Billboard Disco charts from the U.S. and the U.K. Top 75 Singles charts which are great resources, but I have yet to find the U.K. dance listings.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

-Pannythief

[QUINNY]

Hello friends,

I am searching for the U.K. funk/disco charts from the late 70's and early 80's, does anyone know if/where these can be found, and who the publisher was? I have spent a couple of hours browsing sites through Google to no avail. I have the Billboard Disco charts from the U.S. and the U.K. Top 75 Singles charts which are great resources, but I have yet to find the U.K. dance listings.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

-Pannythief

Record Mirror is the magazine you have to look out for. Try some reference libraries in big cities.

[SandraDee]

As Quimmy says, Record Mirror was fab for disco/dance charts. Also, Smash Hits had a good disco chart featured in its early days in the late 70s.

[pannythief]

Thanks for your help! I will check on eBay to see what issues are available. If you know of any independent sellers outside of eBay please let me know.

Unfortunately I don't think any U.S. libraries would carry those publications

-Pannythief

[QUINNY]

Thanks for your help! I will check on eBay to see what issues are available. If you know of any independent sellers outside of eBay please let me know.

Unfortunately I don't think any U.S. libraries would carry those publications

-Pannythief

I wouldn't totally rule out there being a US city libary with UK dance charts. Maybe one in the dance centres of NY, LA, Chicago, San Francisco, Miami might have had an enlightened librarian at the time. After all, our UK reference libraries carry plenty of US publications and vice versa.

[disco-disc]

Hi Panny Thief....R U REALLY in Florida...if so WHY u want UK charts ???
In the UK, RM can be acessed at the London Library...BUT they cost a small fortune to photocopy I KNOW ..
Blues and Soul mag did charts , but mostly Soul !

What u REALLY after ? perhaps I could help

[pannythief]

Hi Quinny - Thanks again, I will look into the library situation, although if I had to drive or fly to any of those places, I would rather just make the trip to the U.K.!

Starsky - I collect charts and records. I grew up in England during the disco/post-disco era and the scene was completely different from what was going on in the U.S. at the time. Just trying to obtain some info and hopefully some good tunes and memories down the line. BTW, panny cabinet is fully stocked right now :icon_lol:

-Pannythief

[disco-disc]

Panny, Stick around....Read Greg Wilson's Time Capsule..just starting '77 now...Yes I agree charts were TOTALLY different BUT the only option is RM at London Library on Microfiche....BUT as I said I will answer any queries u have
S
...not interesterested in u're CABINET :icon_confused:

[pannythief]

...not interesterested in u're CABINET :icon_confused:

Sorry Starsky, thought you were poking fun at the screen name. It should have beeen fairly apparent from my first post exactly what I was looking for.

[funky munky]

The RM disco charts were a top 100 every week, based on DJ playlists but were very unwieldy and not entirely representative of what was happening that week. e.g. records would hang around for months and months, while the #1 wasn't particularly the biggest sound around (IMO).

A trade mag called 'Record Business' published a weekly disco chart based on sales at specialist shops (Groove, Record Shack etc) which was more meaningful and was broadcast on Radio Luxembourg. Drawbacks - it was singles only (no LP cuts), and sometimes included dodgy artists such as Wham. Smash Hits published this same chart in the early 80's.

Possibly the best chart was Tony Munson's 'Street Sales Chart', which was printed in 'Black Echoes' mag. This was really upfront and provided a really useful checklist of new releases/imports/LPs etc.

[pannythief]

Thanks for the help, very informative! And welcome to the board Funky Munky :icon_razz:

[disco-disc]

Hi FM...Good info...any charts u could put up ?
Panny ....good to hear from u again don't know what a Panny is...:icon_surprised:

Let me know if u have a specific question, I would like to compare my answer to FM's...IF FM is willing (e.g. RM vs BE reviews)
....Write soon :icon_smile:

[funky munky]

Hi Starsky
Firstly I should say I'm new to this forum, but from what I've read of the threads so far this is a really interesting place to visit.
Like I said in my previous post, there wasn't one particular 'definitive' UK disco chart, and all of them had their faults. We are going back some 25 years now, but I used put together my own monthly top 20, which I still have documented. My aim was to look at the various published charts and then come up with something that was overall representative of the different sources. Here's a couple of examples -
AUGUST 1982
1 ROCKERS REVENGE - WALKING ON SUNSHINE London 12
2 GRANDMASTER FLASH - THE MESSAGE Sugarhill 12
3 SHARON REDD - BEAT THE STREET (LP - Redd Hot) Prelude LP
4 AFRIKA BAMBAATAA - PLANET ROCK Polydor 12
5 KOOL & THE GANG - BIG FUN DeLite 12
6 SYLVESTER - DO YA WANNA FUNK Megatone 12
7 RAW SILK - DO IT TO THE MUSIC West End 12
8 ARETHA FRANKLIN - JUMP TO IT Arista 12
9 JAY W McGEE - WHEN WE PARTY Scorpio 12
10 HOWARD JOHNSON - KEEPIN' LOVE NEW A&M 12
11 ZAPP - DANCEFLOOR (LP - Zapp II) Warner Bros LP
12 EVELYN KING - LOVE COME DOWN RCA 12
13 GALAXY - HEAD OVER HEELS Ensign 12
14 STANLEY CLARKE - NEW YORK CITY (LP - Let Me Know You) Epic LP
15 SUGARHILL GANG - THE LOVER IN YOU Sugarhill 12
16 I-LEVEL - GIVE ME Virgin 12
17 LEROY HUTSON - PARADISE/SHE'S GOT IT Elektra LP
18 LJ REYNOLDS - SPECIAL EFFECTS (LP - Travellin') Capitol LP
19 FATBACK - SHE'S MY SHINING STAR Polydor 12
20 STARPOINT - BRING YOUR SWEET LOVIN' BACK Casablanca 12

DECEMBER 1983
1 DAYTON - THE SOUND OF MUSIC Capitol 12
2 MADONNA - HOLIDAY Sire 12
3 SHANNON - LET THE MUSIC PLAY Club 12
4 MICHAEL JACKSON - THRILLER Epic 12
5 WORLD PREMIERE - SHARE THE NIGHT Easy Street 12
6 HASHIM - AL NAAFIYISH (THE SOUL) Streetwave 12
7 GRANDMIXER D.ST - CRAZY CUTS Island 12
8 XENA - ON THE UPSIDE Streetwave 12
9 B BOYS - CUTTIN' HERBIE/ROCK THE HOUSE Vintertainment 12
10 LUTHER VANDROSS - I'LL LET YOU SLIDE/I WANTED YOUR LOVE Epic LP
11 RUFUS/CHAKA KHAN - AIN'T NOBODY Warner Bros 12
12 CIRCLE CITY BAND - MAGIC Circle City 12
13 WOMACK & WOMACK - BABY I'M SCARED OF YOU/LOVE WARS Elektra LP
14 JAMES INGRAM - YAH MO B THERE Qwest LP
15 IRT - WATCH THE CLOSING DOORS RCA 12
16 MALCOLM X - NO SELL OUT Tommy Boy 12
17 LEFTURNO - OUT OF SIGHT Ascot 12
18 JAIME LYNN - YOU AIN'T GOT NO MONEY Salsoul 12
19 BARBRA MASON - ANOTHER MAN Streetwave 12
20 RON BANKS - THIS LOVE IS FOR REAL CBS Assoc LP

[Energyguy]

Thank you for listing your charts - Its always interesting to read through them and they are a good source of information

[funky munky]

Record Business Disco Chart 27 Sept 1981
1 IMAGINATION - IN AND OUT OF LOVE
2 LINX - SO THIS IS ROMANCE
3 DIANA ROSS/LIONEL RICHIE - ENDLESS LOVE
4 DONALD BYRD - LOVE HAS COME AROUND
5 CENTRAL LINE - WALKIN INTO SUNSHINE
6 OTTAWAN - HANDS UP
7 HI GLOSS - YOU'LL NEVER KNOW
8 EVELYN KING - IF YOU WANT MY LOVIN
9 BEGGAR & CO - MULE CHANT NO 2
10 SAVANNA - I CAN'T TURN AWAY
11 ARTHUR ADAMS - YOU GOT THE FLOOR
12 ARETHA FRANKLIN/GEORGE BENSON - LOVE ALL THE HURT AWAY
13 TREVOR WALTERS - LOVE ME TONIGHT
14 STARSOUND - STARS ON 45 VOL 3
15 MODERN ROMANCE - EVERYBODY SALSA
16 HUMAN LEAGUE - LOVE ACTION
17 MIKE T - DO IT ANY WAY YOU WANNA
18 WHISPERS - THIS KIND OF LOVIN
19 JONESES - SUMMER GROOVE
20 AL JARREAU - WE'RE IN THIS LOVE TOGETHER
21 HI TENSION - YOU GOT THE FUNK
22 DR YORK - SHAKE'N'SKATE
23 KENI BURKE - YOU'RE THE BEST
24 MAZE - JOY AND PAIN
25 KID - NUMBER 1
26 STRIKERS - INCH BY INCH
27 T LIFE - SOMETHING THAT YOU DO TO ME
28 PHYLLIS HYMAN - YOU SURE LOOK GOOD TO ME
29 FUNKAPOLITAN - AS TIME GOES BY
30 ODYSSEY - IT WILL BE ALRIGHT