On Friday, July 23, 2021 at 8:41:21 PM UTC+1, Mark Goodge wrote:
On Fri, 23 Jul 2021 10:48:30 -0700 (PDT), Chris Brown
<extrem...@yahoo.com> wrote:
I should have posted this at the weekend but it’s already old.
Maybe that’s what’s up with all the YouTube clips.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J87jeSqQ2Idgqn0uD5L3g?si=fcxOb4oETOWYwF9xlPFcww&utm_source=copy-link&dl_branch=1
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdiUvgvgpgNqxLQF6J9LJ8vR5WxQ1-Zdf
Chart dated 22nd July 1978
This is an interesting chart. There are some very good songs in here, as well as some songs by acts that are more famous for their very good
songs. And there are also some very bad songs, but then every chart has
at least some of those.
There are some songs that are theoretically good but that I’m so tired of I don’t care.
1 (1) John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John - You’re The One That I Want
I saw the movie in the Rex Cinema in the High Street of my nearest town.
A year later it was demolished and replaced by a Boots store. I don't
think there was any causal link.
I’ve never seen the film in its entirety, in Boots or elsewhere.
2 (2) Father Abraham & The Smurfs - The Smurf Song
Little known trivia fact: this single holds the record for the longest continuous time spent at No.2 in the chart.
It did at the time but All-4-One and Maroon 5 overtook them. Possibly still the longest run by an act without a digit in their name though?
Another little known trivia fact: The Smurfs are, arguably, the most
famous set of cartoon characters to originate in Belgium. Or, at least, would be if people realised that's where they came from.
If we discount Tintin as being better known than his ancillary characters, that seems fair.
3 (3) Marshall Hain - Dancing In The City
Not particularly memorable.
Enough to get a couple of remixes.
4 (17) Clout - Substitute
The video you originally picked for the YouTube playlist turns out to be blocked for me. So here's an alternative:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fgA_yNCeq4
Little known trivia fact: the above video, despite being from the Dutch "TopPop" show, was used on TotP rather than the band performing/miming
in the studio. That's because the band were South African, and at the
time, Equity had an official boycott of South African performers which prevented them from appearing in person.
I can just about remember those days.
5 (8) Showaddywaddy - A Little Bit Of Soap
Not one of their best. Or one of their best remembered.
I struggle with the idea that any Showaddywaddy single is better than any other. But I totally agree on the second part.
6 (6) The Boomtown Rats - Like Clockwork
An interesting early Rats single, before they're really made up their
minds about what direction to take. This is actually a pretty good song,
…but then they decided to go in a different direction afterwards.
it's just that it has, of course, been massively overshadowed by its successor.
And that has in turn been overshadowed by another one.
7 (19) Electric Light Orchestra - Wild West Hero
Possibly a little surprisingly, this reached exactly the same chart peak
as both its immediate predecessor and immediate successor - a straight
run of three consecutive number 6s. But nobody remembers this now,
whereas those either side have become gold format staples. And one of
those is now considered an all-time great.
And they’re all on the best-of albums so it’s not like people haven’t had the chance to hear them.
8 (5) The Motors - Airport
Early new romantic/synth pop vibes from a band that didn't last long
enough to cash in when it hit the big time.
I guess they did alright from sync rights every time someone mentioned an airport on TV for the next 30 years though.
9 (9) Kate Bush - The Man With The Child In His Eyes
Classic song. Is there any early Kate Bush song that isn't a classic?
I guess there are a few that only really make sense in context.
10 (11) A Taste Of Honey - Boogie Oogie Oogie
This time, you've managed to select a deleted video for the playlist! So here's an alternative: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9IYWwWnpuA
Ah, I realise what’s happened - because YouTube finds it so difficult to show playlists in the right order in the library, I inadvertently linked to an earlier incarnation of the playlist where quite a lot of the videos have gone.
11 (7) The Sex Pistols - No One Is Innocent/My Way
If the Pistols can be said to have jumped the shark, this is probably
where they jumped it.
Yeah, I suppose the question is whether there was ever a shark for them to jump.
12 (13) The O'Jays - Use Ta Be My Girl
Or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj8SBcGNRWc if you prefer an
unblocked version :-)
I mean, it’s no Back Stabbers.
13 (4) James Galway - Annie's Song
Probably the best novelty song in this chart. Well, it's not really a novelty as such, but an acoustic cover of a C&W staple performed on the flute probably pushes it into that category.
More novel than novelty, you might say.
18 (16) Blue Öyster Cult - (Don't Fear) The Reaper
Good song. For some reason, I thought this was older than this.
From a 1976 album (and I think it was a US hit at that time). Not sure why it took so long to take off here.
36 (27) The Bee Gees - Night Fever
All time disco classic.
Yep, I think this might be my favourite of their Saturday Night Fever songs.
By the way I think the Foo Fighters version was Okay, but wouldn’t have been worth £27 plus train fares to me.
41 (63) Renaissance - Northern Lights
One of my favourites at the time. So much so, in fact, that this was the first single I ever bought.
Took me over 40 years to buy it, but I bought it on my way home from a job interview and I got the job so I have quite a soft spot for it.
43 (45) Genesis - Many Too Many
Another one of my favourites from the time.
Failing to repeat the success of Follow You Follow Me. I guess actual Genesis fans weren’t really into buying singles.
47 (33) Plastic Bertrand - Ça Plane Pour Moi
As was this. Probably the most famous musician ever to come out of
Belgium (and no, the Smurfs don't count, because although their
cartoonist was Belgian the music was Dutch).
I guess the Belgian house acts who had hits in the 80s and 90s weren’t personally famous.
Apparently this song doesn't mean anything in French either. It's just a
set of random words and phrases set to music.
https://tinyurl.com/hsptv9a3
They are at least actual words though.
63 (70) Julie Covington - Don't Cry For Me Argentina
A slightly left-field hit, but nonetheless a very good one.
Wasn’t the World Cup in Argentina at the time of this chart?
65 (52) Yvonne Elliman - If I Can't Have You
Apropos nothing in particular, Yvonne Elliman was Andrew Lloyd Webber's first choice to perform Don't Cry For Me Argentina, but she wasn't available.
She didn’t get to be in the film did she?
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