 |
| pic: @sotc80s |
Madness - My Girl (chart rundown)
After last week's debut and prestigious 'first band on' spot, Madness stormed into the charts at no. 14, and so obviously deserved the no less prestigious chart-rundown backing music spot.
UFO - Young Blood
And this week's prestigious first band on spot goes to....UFO! Who? Predominantly a seventies 'heavy metal' album and live group, they attempted to re-invent themselves in 1979 with a change of lead guitarist and the George Martin produced LP No Place to Run. The poor Young Blood single would scrape into the Top 40 after this dire performance which wreaks of 1970s 'c*ck-rock' posing. Brightly coloured 'eighties' clothes do not a modern band make.
Abba - I Have a Dream
Back among the big guys now with mega-stars Abba giving Pink Floyd a run for their money with this sentimental track from their super-selling disco-orientated Voulez-Vous album. Much like Floyd's single, Abba's song also feature a children's choir, albeit expressing a rather different sentiment. The clever thing about this song was that it sounded Christmassy without actually being about Christmas, therefore giving it lasting power long after the last turkey scraps had been thrown out. That said, it dropped down the charts the following week.
(The BBC programme website lists Rose Royce - Is It Love You're After here but it was not featured on this repeat showing).
Joe Jackson - It's Different For Girls
Back onto the British new-wave groove now with this new-croon number from Joe Jackson and his merry men. Jackson had already enjoyed chart success in 1979 with Is She Really Going Out With Him (a re-issue from the previous year), and this was a worthy successor taken from the I'm The Man album. The interim single release of said album's title track had failed to chart.
Sheila B. Devotion - Spacer
A rare trip to the Continent now with sexy Sheila (née Annie Chancel) & B Devotion (supposedly the group) and their sci-fi disco hit. It was a tardy follow up to 1978's euro-kitsch version of Singin' in the Rain, but the Nile/Rodger's (Chic) production team had given them a kick up the derrière, ensuring steady progress up the charts and into the annals of Euro-disco. Sheila and pals give Legs & Co. a few hi-tech ideas with some flashy silver jumpsuits, 'spacey' visual effects and some strategically placed laser beams.
The Skids - Working For the Yankee Dollar
Some proper 'new wave' at last! In the crazy world of TOTP the jump from Sheila B's disco posing to Richard Jobson's on-stage "dancing" is but a small one. Dunfermline's finest were no strangers to the charts or indeed to TOTP having already had three hits over the course of 1979. Yankee Dollar had been hovering around the lower end of the Top 30 since early December, so undoubtedly this studio performance was a repeat, but nonetheless enjoyable. From their Bill Nelson-produced album Days in Europa.
KC & The Sunshine Band - Please Don't Go
Back down to earth with a thud with this wearisome piece of American MOR which had been creeping up the charts for some time, now at no. 7. Made slightly more interesting with this Legs & Co. performance although quite what the ballet-esque costumes and moves have to do with anything is anyone's guess. The song's 'last dance at the disco, possibly with snog' appeal meant it was destined to go even higher. Short interview with 'KC' afterwards, who also gets to introduce...
Dollar - I Wanna Hold Your Hand
I was surprised to see this come up as Dollar's shiny glossy pop surely belongs to 1981 rather than '79 into '80. Full credit to them for being somewhat ahead of their time, and for this tasteful minimalist cover of the Beatles' classic which I'd quite forgotten about. Thereza Bazar's dress is a clever nod to both current ska-style fashion as well as 1960's Beatles-chic. Also noted that Dave 'n' Thereza have the same hair.
The Nolans - I'm in the Mood For Dancing
More home-grown talent in the form of the all singing, all dancing Nolan Sisters (the change of name imposed by Epic Records after signing for them in '79) who would go on to score one of their biggest hits with their version of Brit-disco, with an Irish flavour no doubt favoured by Terry Wogan. TOTP production went all out on this one editing together video of the Nolanettes performing both on the regular stage and on the raised platform, the latter angle also incorporating some male bottoms.
Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall (Pt. 2) (promo)
Amazingly still at the top spot, with its parent LP also at no. 3 in the album charts. The single sold over one million copies in the space of just over one month. Such popularity even earned them this rather odd centre spread in Smash Hits. This was the last of its five-week's stint at the top, although in March the single would make it to the top state-side for a further four. It would get banned in South Africa later in the year on the grounds that black children were using it to condemn apartheid education in Soweto.
Back on TOTP and it's the promo-film again of course, the opening shot showing London in all its grim and gritty fin-de-seventies glory.
Booker T & The M.G.'s - Green Onions
It was presumably the nation's new-found love of ska music which had led some record company to dig out this old hit from 1962 for the pop-pickers, who now had it creeping back into the Top 30. Even yer Granny could tap her foot to this one.
Enjoy the Circus Championships and I'll see you next week.
Year 2020 edit: The Skids' performance was not a repeat, whereas Dollar's was.
No comments:
Post a Comment