Music: Six from the Seventies Part Two - An @slobberchops challenge
A few weeks ago now, @slobberchops challenged people to choose a track per year from the 1970's starting with 1970 to 1974 and now, finally, from 1975 to 1979. This time I thought I'd throw in a few facts about the year and some 'almost' tracks. There was other music going on but I have only chosen from chart stuff so it's not so obscure and more in the spirit of the original challenge. So let's kick off with......
1975
1975 was a bad year. Leeds United were cheated out of the European Cup Final. The music did little to lift the spirits too, but there were a few great tracks in there amongst the Rubettes, Showaddywaddy and The Goodies, oh lord, remember them doing the 'Funky Gibbon'? Hopefully not.
This was the year Queen released 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and I distinctly remember watching the famous video on TOTP and being amazed at the high voices and the weird Doctor Who type video effects. I liked it, but I wasn't sure why. Sadly, due to its length it wasn't always shown in its entirety on TV and watching it today, I don't actually think it's so great, just ground-breaking for the time. Amazingly, it was only the 4th best selling single in the UK that year.
The Top Ten Best Selling singles in the UK in 1975
- Bay City Rollers -Bye Bye Baby
- Rod Stewart -Sailing
- Windsor Davies & Don Estelle -Whispering Grass
- Queen Bohemian -Rhapsody
- Tammy Wynette -Stand By Your Man
- The Stylistics -I Can't Give You Anything (But My Love)
- David Essex -Hold Me Close
- Art Garfunkel -I Only Have Eyes For You
- Typically Tropical -Barbados
- Johnny Nash -Tears On My Pillow
'Sing it Lofty' - Sorry to bring back such a painful musical memory, I couldn't resist and it sold more than Bohemian Rhapsody did!
So what is my choice? Well if you were to go down to Number 37 of the year's hot 100, you would find a beautiful folk song from an English singer-songwriter by the name of Ralph McTell. I have to be honest and say that the song just happens to be from 1975 and I don't remember it from the time, it's slightly cheating as it was actually released in 1974 but hey ho!
Streets of London - Ralph McTell (Wikipedia entry)
I also feel it necessary to say that generally speaking, I hate folk music and all its happy, trippy, flowery sub-culture, but this particular song; 'Streets of London' has to be one of the most beautiful, haunting and poignant songs ever written. Another plus is that it has some very easy chord shapes so even I can almost make a tune out of it!
If you don't know the song, I hope you will take the time to have a listen and let me know in comments what you thought!
1976
1976 was hot. Bloody hot in the UK. We had standpipes and water tanks in the street due to severe water rationing caused by the drought. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the music wasn't. It was dreadful, and flicking down the top 100 sellers of the year is having the same effect on me as reading the track listing on a Justin Bieber album cover!
The Top Ten Best Selling singles in the UK in 1975
- Brotherhood Of Man - Save Your Kisses For Me
- Pussycat - Mississippi
- Elton John & Kiki Dee - Don't Go Breaking My Heart
- Abba - Fernando
- Abba - Dancing Queen
- Chicago - If You Leave Me Now
- Dr Hook - A Little Bit More
- Showaddywaddy - Under The Moon Of Love
- Tina Charles - I Love To Love
- The Real Thing - You To Me Are Everything
All together now.......'Kippers for tea, save all your kippers for tea'
A couple of things save me though. I came so close to choosing the re-released 'Leader of the Pack' by the Shangri-las but that would have possibly been cheating! Despite my intense dislike for 60's music, I loved the Shangri-las and some of the other girl bands of the time. Another stand out was Candi Stanton with 'Young Hearts Run Free' but my choice for 1976 is that incredibly funky, funk-rock classic, 'Play that Funky Music' by Wild Cherry.
Play that Funky Music - Wild Cherry (Wikipedia Entry)
At the time, and at 10 years old I loved 70s Americana, Starsky and Hutch, fur coats, flares and Funk and this track was on the old Radiogram constantly!
1977
The Queens Silver Jubilee and the year Elvis died. Sales of Bacon and Peanut butter slumped and the year that gaming would change forever as 1977 saw the introduction of the Atari 2600. Oh yes, the console with its wood veneer trim and a hole where you stuck cartridges in with games on ROMs, when you could afford them!
Musically? Oh come on, give me a break here I'm struggling, but again, a couple of standouts from the top 100 of the year would have to be the start of punk and the Sex Pistols 'God Save the Queen' deserves a mention although I was never into punk. Emerson, Lake and Palmer with 'Fanfare for the Common Man' and Ram Jam with 'Black Betty'. So before I give you my perhaps slightly surprising and rare choice, let's have a look at the top 10 best selling single for 1977.
The Top Ten Best Selling singles in the UK in 1977
- Abba - Knowing Me, Knowing You
- David Soul - Don't Give Up On Us
- Elvis Presley - Way Down
- Rod Stewart - I Don't Want To Talk About It / First Cut Is The Deepest
- David Soul - Silver Lady
- Julie Covington - Don't Cry For Me Argentina
- Donna Summer - I Feel Love
- Brotherhood Of Man - Angelo
- Leo Sayer - When I Need You
- The Manhattan Transfer - Chanson D'Amour
A murderous sandwich
And so to my choice for 1977. In 1976, Den Hegarty, who would later go to find TV presenting fame on Tiswas, founded a nine-piece Doo Wop / Rock band that leaned very heavily on close harmonies and acapella called Darts and their first release which reached No. 6 on the UK singles charts was a cover of a 1957 Rays song called 'Daddy Cool', and I absolutely loved it ! As I said before, I was already a fan of American music and particularly Rock and Roll and this was a lively up-tempo classic which was just so singalongable! My brother and I could both hold a tune so we did the harmonies quite well and were often wheeled out at parties to do our Darts repertoire!!
Take a listen and enjoy. Its just brilliant and so much fun and totally captures the 50s albeit slightly exaggerated!!
1978
1978 and things are starting to pick up a little Despite the charts being overrun by the soundtrack to the movie Grease and Boney M! I remember Boney M being a TOTP staple but I was surprised when writing this that were such a big act with so many top-selling singles.
In this year, the world's first test tube baby was born, a Bulgarian dissident named Georgi Markov was stabbed with a poison-tipped umbrella in London and died. I kid you not, I'm not making this shit up, you can check on Wikipedia!! Bakery shops started rationing bread when people started panic buying due to a baker's strike and the famous concrete cows were erected in Milton Keynes. What a year!
The Top Ten Best Selling singles in the UK in 1978
01 Boney M Rivers Of Babylon / Brown Girl In The Ring
02 John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John - You're The One That I Want
03 John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John - Summer Nights
04 The Bee Gees - Night Fever
05 The Commodores - Three Times A Lady
06 Brian & Michael - Matchstalk Men And Matchstalk Cats And Dogs
07 Father Abraham & The Smurfs - The Smurf Song
08 Abba - Take A Chance On Me
09 Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights
10 The Boomtown Rats - Rat Trap
The concrete cows of Milton Keynes, but what's really interesting about this photo is the fact that the train in the background was made up of Mark 2E coaching stock but for an old Mark 1 Restaurant First with Kitchen (RF). (thanks to the BBC for the loan of their picture...they would have agreed if I'd asked them, I'm sure!)
The cool people would I know, be picking Kate Bush at this point but I have never been and never will be cool, even in 78, her voice grated on me and I couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. Ian Drury was a possibility, Boomtown Rats were a possibilty but no, I'm going to drop right down to the 92nd best selling track of the year and choose Bob Marley and the Wailers - Is this Love. Why? No reason other than I just loved it from the minute I first heard it a school disco. It was just so hypnotic and laid back. It simply appealed to me. On the back of it, I tried listening to other Reggae but it didn't particularly turn me onto to the genre but I do love Jimmy Cliff's - Many Rivers to Cross (Except in later life when I went on holidays to the Carribean!! Suddenly everyone is a fan lol) Anyway, it's an absolute classic and I still love listening to the track as much today as I did back in the day!
1979
So finally, we get to 1979. It wasn't a great year. Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister, the Yorkshire Ripper was still on his killing spree, Interests rates were at 17%, the rate of inflation was 13.4% and the miners threatened to go on strike unless they got a 65% pay rise.............
........but the music had suddenly become incredible!
The Top Ten Best Selling singles in the UK in 1979
- Art Garfunkel - Bright Eyes
- Cliff Richard - We Don't Talk Anymore
- Dr Hook - When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman
- Tubeway Army - Are 'Friends' Electric
- Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive
- The Boomtown Rats - I Don't Like Mondays
- Blondie - Heart Of Glass
- Lena Martell - One Day At A Time
- Blondie - Sunday Girl
- Roxy Music - Dance Away
As this is my post and @slobberchops is away at Steemfest getting pissed up, I'm going to cheat slightly and choose two tracks, and even choosing just two is very difficult from this year. I was 13, hormones were kicking in, I had to stay indoors and listen to music due to the embarrassment of spots! Honourable mentions this year go of course to Blondie, Tubeway Army, The Jam, Rainbow........
My first choice then is Dire Straits and 'Sultan of Swing' because I got into Dire Straits purely by accident. My English teacher at the time was a Kate Bush lookalike, and she was being wooed by the humanities teacher with an Eastern European sounding name that none of us could pronounce.
During one afternoon's English lesson, a pupil came from another class with a present. It seemed it was Miss Bushe's birthday. She was a bit embarrassed but opened the obviously an album present and it was Dire Straits. She hastily sent a note back to the sender with the pupil and then showed the class the album and told us she'd got it already but would give it away to one of us a prize. I wrote a shit poem about trains and to my surprise ended up taking the album home and played it. I absolutely adored it and that started a love affair with Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler that remains to this day.
They were never cool were they? The rhythm guitarist is a proper numpty!
And so to my final choice. Elvis Costello and the Attractions with 'Olivers Army' It's simply a great song and the closest thing to a politically themed track I'd heard or at least understood at that age. It stood me a few points in street cred at school although it didn't last! I knew all the lyrics as I'd clipped them out of one of my music mags at the time and sang along with great gusto whenever it was on the radio. It stands the test of time and is still a great pop song and as I've got older, I've come to listen to and appreciate more Elvis Costello tracks and slowly become a bit of a fan.
Not really changed much has he?
And that was the 70's. Thanks for getting this far and I look forward to reading some of your posts and listening to some of your favourite tracks.
This was Part 1 from way back! #seventieschallenge
you really did a lot of research @nathen007, some of the songs listed in this post I haven't heard before. The famous which I knew would be abba, elton john, Bee Gees, Cliff Richard etc. And some I heard the song but not the singer :p. I always is the fan of bee gees and elton john until today. I love how they sing and they choose the song which suitable to their pattern.
Thank you for the review of the songs, now i have chance listen to some of the song recommended by you.
Youre welcome and enjoy the music :-)
Thank you for introducing these songs. I knew a lot of them from the best selling singles in the UK but I must admit that the ones that you highlighted were a bit unknown to me. I know only 3 of them. Daddy Cool, Is this love and Sultans of Swing. Now, I'm surprised to hear that Bob Marley's song is from 1978. For some reasons I thought that it was in late 80's (well, I'm a bit younger so 70's is not my cup of tea). So I'm very happy to you chose this song as now I've learned something new :)
I like that you added some historical facts as well. It's very interesting to read. The funny thing is that I remember these songs from late 90's as before 1989 foreign music was not available in Slovakia :) Maybe that's why I thought that 'Is this love' is from late 90's :D
Thank you for sharing! It was a lot of fun reading and listening to all these songs.
Thanks for such a lovely comment. As I didnt really remember that much about the early 70s, I had to do some research to work out what I liked that was from the right year. Im going to start on 8os music soon which is really my time!
Looking forward to the 80's! :) I like that music better than the music from the 70's :)
Hey @nathen007! Thanks for sharing all these tracks. This starts out about 10 years before I was born hahaha so it's a completely new discovery for me. I'm of course familiar with Bob Marley and the song Play that Funky Music. But I love the Dire Straits song! I'm still listening through it because it's quite long but I really like it! I also think it's hilarious that you wrote a "shitty poem about trains" to win the album hahahaha
Thanks for sharing! Still going through them all but I'm enjoying it. Cheers!
Thank you of actually reading this rambling my friend! Im 52 now and sometimes at my age its nice to look back every once in a while.
Thanks again for a lovely comment and if you have a further 10 minutes to spare, try this Dire Straits track...
Why dont you do a post sharing your own favourite music? Id love to hear what everyone else around then world is into!
Hahaha well I enjoyed the rambling. Especially the part about "a Bulgarian dissident named Georgi Markov was stabbed with a poison-tipped umbrella in London." lol what the hell?!? That's crazy.
Listened to both Dire Straits tracks and love them both. It's not the kind of music I grew up listening to but it's similar to what I may have heard my Dad listen to (sorry to age you in that way 🤣). It's reminiscent of driving with my Dad somewhere and him throwing on some of his favorites. I love it.
Not a bad idea to share some of my own favorites! Although I'm gonna have to say it would be wildly different than what you have listed here hahaha I don't know if I could do it by year but maybe era! Like my high-school era or something. I'll make sure to tag you if I go through with it. I've been doing a lot of photography stuff, might be nice to break it up and dive into something else I appreciate.
Gosh, this is an amazing post <3 I love it very much. It captured the world that was once, and well written, and well accompanied with appropriate pictures and clips <3 So well put together !
Love it !
Congrats for curie, as well <3
It was a deep dig through my memory banks!
I was born on 70's and most of the songs above I'd love listening to them. Even in 60's as well.
Thank you for sharing these musics.
I hope people would feel the value those musics made in the music industry.
Musics of today are much more on jamming as well but being modernized too much I guess?
I think we kinda all have our own special time and space when it comes to music. I do listen to new stuff but without having a memory to attach, it feels somewhat less important .... I don't know, there's always something good but very little grabs me these days, its all a bit same old same old I guess!
Oh yeah!
I don't know how long music will last I guess forever?
But music of old when I heard them would sink the lyrics in my spirit so to speak and I try to step in as if I'm the one singing the song, especially those songs that have a good lyrics that applies to me.
In today's music or song, there are words that I don't really understand and I guess some words are not pronounced properly that I couldn't get it.
The back drop to Wild Cherry is that they were actually a rock band and wrote the song because they were increasingly asked to play more dance music as disco was the thing at that time. Their first attempt at dance music was a hit. Fun stuff! Cheers!
Thank you for your review, I like the way you decided to present the chart, especially it was nice to know what the significant event happened that you and what the choice of your song from that particular year. When I look back I was between 1-8 y.o. in 70's that is why such music was of course not in my favorites. But I really enjoyed reading and learning new names :)
Thanks for such a lovely comment. I was born in 1966 in a very musical household so all I can remember is music from the radio and records, I have very little recollection of TV at the time! But it wasn't till the80s that I really began sitting upand taking notice of the pop music of the time. Thats for another day :-)
ja you have captured me with your musical publication, first I must say that the influence of black music in united kingdom is amazing they are really admirers and in the darkest cases the criticism has put them as the biggest plagiers of black music but I don't care, the music made in united kingdom for me is fabulous and they are very good performers of the instruments.
you have made a great selection some were left out but it is your appreciation and it is totally valid and accurate. apart from that it is noted that you researched very well about the best-selling music at that time. accompanied by reviews of the policy of the time is amazing. gave a didactic and funny touch.
Thank you for sharing, live the 70s.
Will you do more post for decades?
greetings, peace and love
What a brilliant and thoughtful comment. Thank you so much. Yes, the 80s were my time and great musical love so there will be more articles to come to bore people with lol ;-)
Hi. Nice list of 70s hits. Some criticism though. How come you didn't include Peter Framptom's 1976- supersmashing hit "Show me the way?" You missed something there. Reggarding your other thoughts I do agree on most of them. 1970s music helped us to endure a period of political turmoil and economic troubles for the ordinary people. In my case I was a teenager and used to forget "my problems and pressures of the age" by just turning the radio on. Great time, imaginative music and cool bands and entertainers...
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