The S16 Contemporary Music Thread

[Stephen Morgan]

As Planet Skaro begins another of its ongoing "Season Threads" so I'll begin its contemporary music thread.
It's 1978 and the peak of Disco and New Wave, the year that Kate Bush emerged with a stunning debut album The Kick Inside, the year that ABBA dominated the world with The Album and The Movie, and the year that Saturday Night Fever and Grease became two of the highest grossing movies of the Seventies and with massive hit singles from both albums.

We begin with the top 30 w/e 2nd September 1978

30 Joe Walsh Life's Been Good
29 The Jam David Watts/A Bomb In Wardour Street
28 The Smurf Song father Abraham and the Smurfs
27 Herbie Hancock I Thought It Was You
26 The Motors Forget About You
25 Siouxsie and the Banshees Hong Kong Garden
24 The Rezillos Top Of The Pops
23 Blondie Picture This
22 New Seekers Anthem
21 Stranglers Walk On By
20 Gladys Knight and the Pips Come Back And Finish What You Started
19 AndY Gibb An Everlasting Love
18 The Who Who Are You
17 Hi Tension British Hustle
16 Sham 69 If The Kids Are United
15 Renaissance Northern Lights
14 City Boy 5-7-0-5
13 Bob Dylan Baby Stop Crying
12 Clout Substitute
11 A Taste Of Honey Boogie Oogie Oogie
10 Child It's Only Make Believe
9 Justin Hayward Forever Autumn
8 Cerrone Super Nature
7 Jilted John Jilted John
6 David Essex Oh What A Circus
5 John Travolta/Olivia Newton John Your'e The One That I Want
4 10cc Dreadlock Holiday
3 Boney M Rivers of Babylon/Brown Girl In The Ring
2 Darts It's Raining
1 Commodores Three Times A Lady

There are some long runners in that chart, The Smurf Song was on it's 13th week in the chart, it had peaked, and spent six weeks at number two, those of us following the Top Of The Pops repeats on BBC4 will be enjoying seeing it's chart run from the beginning. Another long runner comes from Travolta and Olivia with You're The One That I Want from Grease, It's success is legendary and I don't think I need to go into much detail about it but the film spawned five hit singles, two of them spending eight and seven weeks at number one, (You're The One That I Want and Summer Nights) The unlikely comedy duo of Arthur Mullard and Hylda Baker will peak at 22 with a comedy version of You're The One That I Want on the 16th September, this will be seen on a Top Of The Pops repeat in a couple of months time.
Another long runner comes from Boney M with Rivers of Babylon a cover of a reggae song first recorded by The Melodians in 1970. Boney M's version spent five weeks at number on back in May and June 1978 before slowly dropping down the chart. Radio One DJ Peter Powell mistakenly played the B side, Brown Girl In The Ring, thinking it was a new release, the gullible record buying public thought the same thing and propelled the record back up to number two, thus prolonging its chart life, this week it's on its 19th of 40 weeks on the chart.
Nice to see a ballad at number one, this one, Three Times A lady, was a welcome relief from Boney M and Travolta/Newton John. Written by Lionel Ritchie, Three Times A Lady was the fastest climbing Motown record of the seventies becoming The Commodores biggest hit.

I could go on and on, but I need to go to bed, I'll look forward to seeing your comments on this chart later today.

[Nyder]

1978 was Darts' best year. Three number 2s in a row! The one featured in this chart ("It's Raining") was the first single I ever bought!

The song was written by Darts' vocalist Griff Fender, who wrote it whilst sat on the toilet.

[Andrew Curnow]

Radio One DJ Peter Powell mistakenly played the B side, Brown Girl In The Ring, thinking it was a new release, the gullible record buying public thought the same thing and propelled the record back up to number two, thus prolonging its chart life

How interesting, I never knew that before! Amazing.

Although I've never been an avid follower of the music scene, there are a lot of songs there that I recognise. Including the first single I ever bought!!

[SiHart]

It's all spoilers for the TOTP repeats coming later this year!

[Stephen Morgan]

Although I've never been an avid follower of the music scene, there are a lot of songs there that I recognise. Including the first single I ever bought!!

What was that Andrew?

[Rob McCow]

28 The Smurf Song father Abraham and the Smurfs

Good time rock n' roll!

5 John Travolta/Olivia Newton John Your'e The One That I Want
4 10cc Dreadlock Holiday
3 Boney M Rivers of Babylon/Brown Girl In The Ring
2 Darts It's Raining
1 Commodores Three Times A Lady

Can't argue with that as a top five, I at least know all of these songs except for the one by Darts.

To be honest, I'd never heard of Darts until Dave Wilcox mentioned them.

Anyway, it's an exciting mix in the charts, there's lots of old-guard style stuff, novelty acts and the new punk waves coming in. There's even Bob Dylan in there somewhere and I have to confess I don't think I know that song either!

[Andrew Curnow]

What was that Andrew?

The Anti-Establishment Heavy Rock Anthem sitting at number 28...

[Stephen Morgan]

Darts were a great singles band. As previously pointed out, three number 2's in a row, Come Back My Love, The Boy From New York City and It's Raining, and before those a number six with their first single Daddy Cool/The Girl Can't help it. Sorry to keep banging on about Top of the Pops, but those of us who are watching the repeats on BBC4, Darts performances have been the highlight of many a show, with some fantastically manic behaviour from member Den Heggarty, who sadly left before the end of '78 for a failed attempt at a solo career, his one and only solo hit being Voodoo Voodoo in March '79 reached no. 73.
Darts themselves do get a few more top twenty hits, Don't Let It Fade Away gets to 18 in November '78, and in February '79 a no. 10 hit with Get It featuring Rita Rae on vocals, and a no. 6 hit with my very favourite, Duke Of Earl in July that year. The following year their biggest hit is a cover of The Four Seasons Let's Hang On which reaches no. 11. After that it's the law of dimishing returns as each successive release (covers of Doo Wop standards) barely scrapes the top fifty.

Steve, the Dylan song there is from his album Street Legal, I was never a fan of his and I truly detest that one.

I must make mention of the Blondie track Picture This, it reaches no. 12, a bit of a disappointment really as it's a fantastic track and their third hit that year. It's notable for being the first track of four singles from their mega successful album Parallell Lines.

[Rob McCow]

Sorry to keep banging on about Top of the Pops, but those of us who are watching the repeats on BBC4, Darts performances have been the highlight of many a show

One of the worst things about being in Qatar is missing out on these!

I agree that Blondie deserved better. They mastered the art of the killer single early on in their career and the knack rarely failed them.

[Nyder]

One of the questions Den Hegarty gets asked a lot is "why on earth did you leave Darts at the height of their popularity???"

Quite simply, his father was dying and he asked his Manager if he could have time off to care for him. The reply was "it's either Darts or your father, not both". Ever such a nice Manager wasn't he? So the rest is history. Kenny Andrews took over the bass vocals and made a great premiere singing "Duke Duke Duke Duke of Earl".....

Darts still do the occasional gig, and Mad Den is back where he belongs in the group. He is even more of a loon than ever before!

[SiHart]

What a mean ultimatum. Typical management!

[Nyder]

I know.... they also ripped off the group financially, which when you consider there 9 in the group, none of them were ever going to get rich....

[SiHart]

Nice.

[Stephen Morgan]

Let's take a look at what dominated our musical tastes during the run of The Pirate Planet, 30th Sept/21st Oct. 1978.

top 30 w/e 30th September 1978

30 John Travolta/Olivia Newton John You're The One That I Want
29 Crystal Gayle Talking In Your Sleep
28 Jacksons Blame It On The Boogie
27 Third World Now That We've Found Love
26 The Jam David Watts/A Bomb In Wardour Street
25 Ivor Biggun The Winker's Song (misprint)
24 Rezillos Top of the Pops
23 Dean Friedman Lucky Stars
22 Hylda Baker/Arthur Mullard You're The One That I Want
21 Herbie Hancock I Thought It Was You
20 Andy Gibb An Everlasting Love
19 Leo Sayer I Can't Stop Loving You
18 The Motors Forget About You
17 Darts It's Raining
16 Sylvester You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)
15 Hi Tension British Hustle
14 Status Quo Again and Again
13 The Dooleys A Rose HAs To Die
12 Blondie Picture This
11 Siouxsie and the Banshees Hong Kong Garden
10 Boney M Rivers of Babylon/Brown Girls In The Ring
9 Jilted John Jilted John
8 ABBA Summer Night City
7 Exile Kiss You All Over
6 David Essex Oh What A Circus
5 Commodores Three Times A Lady
4 Rose Royce Love Don't Live Here Anymore
3 Frankie Valli Grease
2 10cc Dreadlock Holiday
1 John Travolta/Olivia Newton John Summer Nights

A fairly mixed bag there, Punk, New Wave and Disco.
Grease still dominates the charts, at 30, 3 and 1, and will continue to do so for the rest of the year, Summer Nights is on it's first of seven weeks at the top but we've still two hits to come from the film, solo hits from both its stars.
Of the Disco hits the biggest, and best here, is The Jacksons Blame It On The Boogie, the original by Mick Jackson is hovering just below the thirty and will make an appearence soon, but sadly it'll be eclipsed by the might of The Jacksons.
Other disco hits here include the floor stomper that comes from Sylvester, one of my favourite singles then and still is now, I played it to death at the time and still give it a spin today.
I have to mention a couple of novelty hits that appear in this chart, one from Hylda Baker and Arthur Mullard and their comedy pastiche of the Grease hit.
Hylda Baker had been a music hall star in the 1930s and first appeared on tv on The Good Old Days in 1955 before moving on to Sit-Com in the early sixties with a couple of comedies that could easily fit into the obscure comedy thread recently created here to cover You Only Live Twice.
Her biggest sit-com success came between 1968/73 with Nearest and Dearest, her co-star here was Jimmy Jewel (they detested each other). The show was about their inheritance, a pickle factory, Pledge's Purer Pickles, and Baker's malapropisms became national favourite catch phrases, one of the biggest was, when looking at the time on her watch, "oooh, I must get a little hand put on this"
She teamed up with fellow comedian Arthur Mullard (biggest tv success, Yus My Dear with Queenie Watts) to record an album of pop covers, Band On The Trot, from which their cover of the Grease song originates, they famously donned wigs and costumes akin to the Grease characters to peform the song on Top of the Pops.

The other novelty hit is also quite famous in that it was banned by the BBC, always a good way to get your record into the charts.
Ivor Biggun (otherwise known as Doc Cox, later to find fame as a co presenter on Sunday night consumer show That's Life) Under the Biggun name, he fronted a humorous band that is sometimes billed simply as "Ivor Biggun", or with varying band names, e.g. "Ivor Biggun and The Red-nosed Burglars" or "Ivor Biggun and the Left-handed Wankers". His specialty is innuendo-laden smutty songs. One song, "The Winker's Song (misprint)" was Johnny Rotten's single of the week for New Musical Express when he was a guest reviewer in 1978, and sold well - reaching #22 in the UK Singles Chart - because of Rotten's interest. However, it was banned by nearly all radio stations due to its explicit content. Notoriously, it has been used in Ibiza nightclubs as a "floor clearer" at closing time.

[Stephen Morgan]

Moving through these at a rate of knots aren't we!

Top 30 w/e 18th November 1978

30 X-Ray Spex Germ Free Adolescence
29 Elvis Costello Radio Radio
28 Darts Don't Let It Fade Away
27 Dean Friedman Lucky Stars
26 Rolling Stones Respectable
25 Streetband Toast
24 Elton John Part Time Love
23 Heatwave Always and Forever
22 Patrick Juvet I Love America
21 The Jam Down In The Tube Station At Midnight
20 Buzzcocks Ever Fallen In Love
19 Sham 69 Hurry Up Harry
18 Blondie Hanging On The Telephone
17 Public Image ltd Public Image
16 Father Abraham and the Smurfs Dippety Day
15 ELO Sweet Talking Woman
14 Rod Stewart Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?
13 Queen Bicycle Race/Fat Bottom Girls
12 The Three Degrees Givin' Up Givin' In
11 Boney M Rasputin
10 The Jacksons Blame It On The Boogie
9 Donna Summer Macarthur Park
8 Dan Hartman Instant Replay
7 Showaddywaddy Pretty Little Angel Eyes
6 Frankie Miller Darlin'
5 The Cars My Best Friend's Girl
4 John Travolta Sandy
3 John Travolta/Olivia Newton John Summer Nights
2 Olivia Newton John Hopelssly Devoted To You
1 Boomtown Rats Rat Trap

Right! well as you can see the charts are dominated by Disco, not a bad thing as there are some classic Disco tracks there, The Three Degrees getting their biggest hit in four years, it's from an album that spawned three top forty singles, New Dimensions, the other two singles being Woman In Love and The Runner.
Donna Summer's cover of Richard Harris's 1968 hit Macarthur Park is an energetic rework of a song I love written by Jimmy Webb. The track is an edited version of a 16 minute trio of songs from her album Live and More.
There are also a couple of Punk/New Wave classics there, The X-Ray Spex single at number thirty is a particular favourite of mine, as are the Elvis Costello, The Bizzcocks and the Sham 69 singles.
Something for everyone in that chart, the favourite band of fellow poster Andrew Curnow is at number sixteen, while Rod Stewart jumps on the Disco bandwagon with a single that has become a classic/millstone in the Rod catalogue. Boney M are on their 7th week in the chart with their ode to a Mad Monk, their other big seller by the way is still hovering in the lower reaches of the chart.
Grease still dominates though, both its stars have their biggest hits within the top four.

Nice to see a change at the top though, Geldof's band The Boomtown Rats with a great single that replaced Summer Nights at number one.
The first single by a punk or New Wave act to do so, it is a rock ballad telling the tale of a boy called Billy who feels the depressing town he lives in is a "Rat Trap".
When the band performed the song on Top of the Pops (which is also mentioned in the song), the band members began by tearing up pictures of Travolta and Newton-John. Geldof mimed the saxophone part on a candelabra, a jest referring to the TOTP practice of bands miming to a backing track.

[Nyder]

Love that Toast song. Wasn't that the one with Paul Young on lead vocals?

[Stephen Morgan]

Ah! Yes it was, I meant to mention that.

[Rob McCow]

The charts are in real trouble this year. With the domination of Grease songs and things like 'Rasputin', The Smurfs and 'Fat Bottomed Girls' (fun but far from Queen's greatest hit) people would be forgiven that the music apocalypse had occurred.

Was punk happening at this point then?

[Stephen Morgan]

The charts are in real trouble this year. With the domination of Grease songs and things like 'Rasputin', The Smurfs and 'Fat Bottomed Girls' (fun but far from Queen's greatest hit) people would be forgiven that the music apocalypse had occurred.

Was punk happening at this point then?

Punk had already happened a year or so previously. The Punkest hits we have here are classics from X-Ray Spex, The Buzzcocks and John Lydon's new band Public Image. The rest could be labelled New Wave, Elvis Costello, The Jam, Sham 69 are quite loud too and Siouxsie and the Banshees I suppose you'd file under "Goth". very few of those get inside the top ten, Geldof was very lucky in this respect to get to the top, and not for the last time either.

[Rob McCow]

Yeah, it's like they say about punk that although it seemed huge to the media with Punk Madness gripping the streets of Britain, most of the people were at home listening to Olivia Newton John.

[Stephen Morgan]

Let's take a look at the top 30 for w/e 23/12/78

30 The Eagles Please Come Home For Christmas
29 Showaddywaddy Pretty Little Angel Eyes
28 Boomtown Rats Rat Trap
27 Funkadelic One Nation Under A Groove
26 Buzzcocks Promises
25 Mankind Dr. Who
24 Earth Wind and Fire September
23 Hot Chocolate Put You Together Again
22 Darts Don't Let It Fade Away
21 Leo Sayer Raining In My Heart
20 The Clash Tommy Gun
19 Father Abraham/Smurfs Christmas In Smurfland
18 Dollar Shooting Star
17 Blondie Hangin' On The Telephone
16 Musique In The Bush
15 Elkie Brooks Don't Cry Out Loud
14 Chaka Khan I'm Every Woman
13 Ian Dury/Blockheads Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick
12 Heatwave Always and Forever
11 John Travolta Greased Lightning
10 Elton John Song For Guy
9 Chic Le Freak
8 Rod Stewart Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?
7 Sarah Brighman/Hot Gossip I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper
6 Racey Lay Your Love On Me
5 Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond You Don't Bring Me Flowers
4 The Bee Gees Too Much Heaven
3 Barron Knights A Taste Of Aggro
2 Village People YMCA
1 Boney M Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord

Good to see that Grease is at last losing it's grip on the charts, the highest Grease hit here is Travolta's own Greased Lightning, here at its peak of number 11.
One single there that will pique your interest is at number 25 (at it's peak I might add) is Mankind's version of the Dr. Who theme. Mankind were basically a session band who put the theme to a disco beat and made it a modest hit, their performance on Top of the Pops has to be seen to be believed, look out for it come November in the BBC4 repeats.
Another single of note here is from Dollar who were David Van Day and Thereza Bazar, formerly of group Guys N Dolls who had a few hits earlier in the seventies. Dollar were popular enough to get a few hits throughout the early 80s, their best stuff being produced by Trevor Horn in 1983 who hit the giddy heights of fame himself as The Buggles in 1979.
Disco of course is apparent in this chart, again with some classic stuff from Earth Wind and Fire, Musique, Funkadelic, Chaka Khan, the Village People and Chic who, under the auspices of Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards, released some great stuff, Le Freak being the finest.

It's a Christmas chart so we can expect a Christmas topper, Boney M's number one here is a cover of Harry Belafonte's 1950's hit.