S8 Contemporary Music

[Stephen Morgan]

Right, as a self confessed seventies music and TV addict I thought it only fit that I start this thread off

As we start a New Year, and new season of Doctor Who, Dave Edmunds tops the UK top thirty with I Hear You Knockin' and had been the 1970 Christmas number one. One would have thought that Clive Dunn's novelty hit Grandad would have taken Christmas but he didn't get to number one until the second week of January and stayed on top for three weeks. (incidentally, Dunn turned 91 on 9th January 2011, so 40 years ago getting to number one on ones 51st birthday would have been great for him)
One notable record during these early weeks of 1971 has to be Tyrannosaurus Rex's Ride a White Swan which by this time had been in the charts for ten weeks, bouncing up and down outside the top ten. It eventually makes number two, but is prevented from getting to number one by Clive Dunn's Grandad and George Harrison with My Sweet Lord.
By the time of Tyrannosaurus' next hit they had undergone a slight name change to become T.Rex, and with a little glitter under his eyes for a Top of the Pops performance, Glam Rock was born and Marc Bolan would become a major force in the pop world for the best part of the early seventies.

Top ten then for 9th January 1971.

1 Clive Dunn Grandad
2 Dave Edmunds I Hear You Knockin'
3 McGuiness Flint When I'm Dead and Gone
4 Ride a White Swan Tyrannosaurus Rex
5 Jackson Five I'll Be There
6 Neil Diamond Cracklin' Rosie
7 Gilbert O'Sullivan Nothing Rhymed
8 Johnny Johnson and the Bandwagon Blame It On The Pony Express
9 Glen Campbell It's Only Make Believe
10 Andy Williams Home Lovin' Man

Also of note in these weeks: Elvis has two singles in there. Vying for sales between them with the same song are Dorothy Squires and Frank Sinatra with My Way, needless to say Sinatra won by a long way with that one. Also still in the top twenty is Hendrix with a record that became a posthumous number one, Voodoo Chile, at the end of 1970 (just before Edmunds came along with his top seller) Also in the twenty was one time Opportunity Knocks winner Gerry Monroe with his third hit in a year, My Prayer, a song previously recorded by Glenn Miller, The Ink Spots and The Platters.
One more notable song just inside the top forty is by Jackie Lee, and the theme song from popular children's TV show Rupert, she does eventually climb to number 14 with that one, and the TV show does well too. Her version of the theme song is thought of as one of the best all time TV tunes.