I must admit that these sort of shows are a guilty pleasure of mine. I hope after this one they do a Nation's Favourite 80s No. 1. From 1980 I think there'd be a few contenders.
I must admit that these sort of shows are a guilty pleasure of mine. I hope after this one they do a Nation's Favourite 80s No. 1. From 1980 I think there'd be a few contenders.
Probably not that controversial - I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks "Going Underground" is the greatest ever no. 1, but then I'm sure there will be plenty that disagree!
To me, 'Going Underground' isn't just the greatest ever number 1 but also it's my all-time favourite single too!
I know it's a 1980 forum - but those of us who love the 70s have a "Best of the 70s No 1s" show coming up on Thursday after TOTP. ( Think it's on ITV though).
So it's gonna be a good night of viewing tomorrow!!
To me, 'Going Underground' isn't just the greatest ever number 1 but also it's my all-time favourite single too!
Yep, I was 14 years old when it came out, and I remember the impact of hearing it on the radio for the first time, and then when it went straight in at no. 1 - something which hadn't happened for years.
What makes "Going Underground" special for me, is that it is purely a single - which means I hear it a lot less than say, "The Eton Rifles" or "Start" which come up whenever I play their respective albums. Thus it has always retained its freshness and dynamism. Throw in the fact that it was actually a double-A side with the also excellent "Dreams Of Children", and you have a classic 45!
I know it's a 1980 forum - but those of us who love the 70s have a "Best of the 70s No 1s" show coming up on Thursday after TOTP. ( Think it's on ITV though).
So it's gonna be a good night of viewing tomorrow!!
I must admit that these sort of shows are a guilty pleasure of mine. I hope after this one they do a Nation's Favourite 80s No. 1. From 1980 I think there'd be a few contenders.
Just realised you might have to subscribe to read the above article, to avoid that the first 2 paragraphs are...
Come Dine With Me producer Shiver has won a raft of factual commissions from ITV with a number of one-offs and a three-part series about the Carry On… films.
The ITV Studios-owned indie will expand its Nation’s Favourite… strand with two 90-minute films, The Nation’s Favourite 70s Number Ones and The Nation’s Favourite 80s Number Ones. Both will TX in 2015.
The 70's one tomorrow should be good, even if we probably all know already what's going to be the overall number 1!! ;-) I'm wondering what else will be in the top 5 though? 'Maggie May', 'Dancing Queen', 'Mull of Kintyre' and 'Rivers Of Babylon' are my guesses.
To me, 'Going Underground' isn't just the greatest ever number 1 but also it's my all-time favourite single too!
This was a huge talking point at the time. I was at college and the day after it went straight in at number one we were all discussing it at college. None of us had ever heard of it. Remember at that point no single had entered at number one for seven years. In fact in the few years running up to that point singles rarely entered the top five. So for this to come from nowhere was huge. At the time a lot of people thought it was rubbish. I wasn't overkeen on it if I recall. It seemed ok but I couldn't understand why it went straight in at number one. But actually it has stood the test of time and it is a great rock song.
Just realised you might have to subscribe to read the above article, to avoid that the first 2 paragraphs are...
Come Dine With Me producer Shiver has won a raft of factual commissions from ITV with a number of one-offs and a three-part series about the Carry On… films.
The ITV Studios-owned indie will expand its Nation’s Favourite… strand with two 90-minute films, The Nation’s Favourite 70s Number Ones and The Nation’s Favourite 80s Number Ones. Both will TX in 2015.
The 70's one tomorrow should be good, even if we probably all know already what's going to be the overall number 1!! ;-) I'm wondering what else will be in the top 5 though? 'Maggie May', 'Dancing Queen', 'Mull of Kintyre' and 'Rivers Of Babylon' are my guesses.
Both are brilliant songs. I really can't decide which I like best. Possibly 'Underground'.....just.
Great news! I reckon from 1980 The Winner Takes It All, Going Underground, and Ashes To Ashes are in with a good shout. As it's usually one nominaton per act, I think Ghost Town would be ahead of Too Much Too Young for The Specials.
I hate these list programmes. They are just lazy and cheap, with a predictable shortlist which might not actually include your favourite in the first place, and the end results are more often than not utterly predictable and a bit of a yawn. You'll get the usual suspects of easily available talking heads, or totally inappropriate people who are too young to recall the music who will speak as if they do recall it originally. Pete Waterman's head will no doubt pop up at some point like it always seems to do. Plus they will no doubt use it to put out an associated album. It doesn't excite me much.
What makes "Going Underground" special for me, is that it is purely a single - which means I hear it a lot less than say, "The Eton Rifles" or "Start" which come up whenever I play their respective albums. Thus it has always retained its freshness and dynamism. Throw in the fact that it was actually a double-A side with the also excellent "Dreams Of Children", and you have a classic 45!
Yes, those were the days!
I think the Jam were heavly influenced by not just the music/fashion of those 60s groups like The Beatles, Kinks and The Who etc. but also in the way not all singles from the sixties period were necessarily included on the long playing albums of the time, and the B sides sometimes possessed songs that if anything, were even occasionally more interesing than that of the A side (I'm thinking especially of a track like The Beatles ''Rain'' for example, which was the B side to ''Paperback Writer''). I recall reading somewhere that ''Dreams Of Children'' was actually meant to be the A side, but some mistake was made at the pressing plant, and ''Going Underground'' was promoted to a double A side. The vast majority of radio stations tended to have a preference for ''Going Underground'' (it was perhaps thought more radio friendly). It seems quite hard to believe though, for me, that a song of the quality of ''Going Underground'' hadn't immediately been considered A side material.
The Jam were a great melting pot of styles (60s pop/soul/ 70s punk etc), and although i think it is quite obvious that they were occasionally deeply indebted to the instrumental dynamism of the early Who, and a certain ''Start'' guitar riff is remarkably similar to that of The Beatles ''Taxman'', they still very much managed to transcend those influences to produce something that also possesed some great individuality. When Oasis came along in the mid nineties, i believe they were far less successful in managing to move out of the shadow of their influences, because they were rather more blatant in their 'lifting' (especially following their rather less derivative sounding debut album ''Definitely Maybe'').
I hate these list programmes. They are just lazy and cheap, with a predictable shortlist which might not actually include your favourite in the first place, and the end results are more often than not utterly predictable and a bit of a yawn. You'll get the usual suspects of easily available talking heads, or totally inappropriate people who are too young to recall the music who will speak as if they do recall it originally. Pete Waterman's head will no doubt pop up at some point like it always seems to do. Plus they will no doubt use it to put out an associated album. It doesn't excite me much.
I will not be watching. ^_^
The lists don't necessarily mean a great deal to me with regard to their order. However, i do like to hear much of the trivia which is on offer, when the songs are being reviewed/discussed. On occasions, the original artists chip in with some interesting nuggets of information, too, aside from the likes of Pete Waterman etc. which i always tend to find rather fascinating. I thought the Bee Gees and Queen shows were endlessly fascinating, although the seventies list is a rather more general overview, so it may prove more difficult to round up so many of the participants for the individual songs. I see your point though with regards to some of the younger celebrities who give their opinions. The worst example of what you are on about, doesn't necessarily belong to the series in question (from those i have seen, anyway), but to the Rolling Stones 'Stones In Exile' DVD release, where a younger generation of acts give their views on the Stones classic album ''Exile On Main Street'', but aside from everything surrounding the album appearing ''cool'', they have very little of substance to say.
I only get the chance to watch TV in the evening at weekends or when I'm not working (which I'm not this week) so anything that isn't a crime drama or soap is fine by me, especially if it's music related. I do think these shows sometimes throw up some facts that you didn't know and usually sparks up some debate online.
Those 3 tracks would be in my Jam top 5, but Going Underground would not.
Town Called Malice/Precious was number one (straight in as well) on my 14th birthday, I had a huge crush on Paul Weller as well. Loved the Gift LP too.
Going Underground also a classic and really propelled the Jam but I have to say it's a bit overplayed these days. That's entertainment is probably Weller s finest hour lyrically.
Great news! I reckon from 1980 The Winner Takes It All, Going Underground, and Ashes To Ashes are in with a good shout. As it's usually one nominaton per act, I think Ghost Town would be ahead of Too Much Too Young for The Specials.
Probably the #1 song. Cue a lot of Z-listers 'aaah-ring' and 'oooh-ing' over a certain divorce, probably Mr Ulvaeus' usual narrative and Pete Waterman booming that 'it's the greatest song about love EVER'.
Town Called Malice/Precious was number one (straight in as well) on my 14th birthday, I had a huge crush on Paul Weller as well. Loved the Gift LP too.
Going Underground also a classic and really propelled the Jam but I have to say it's a bit overplayed these days. That's entertainment is probably Weller s finest hour lyrically.
I'd thoroughly agree with that. 'That's Entertainment' would easily be in my personal Jam top 5. He's a great lyricist and in that respect I'd include 'Man In The Corner Shop', which I think was only ever an album track in a top 5 too.
Anyone watching the one show, Lulu from Legs & Co is on it, showing off her Alpaca.
No way! I had it on and was only half listening in the background... I heard them talk to a lady called Lulu, but never even thought it would be that Lulu
BIB - at that rate the £10 million paid out by the BBC over recent years in redundancy payments to staff it subsequently went on to re-employ would have covered the cost of the Quad tapes for every wiped edition of TOTP broadcast between 1970 and 1977 THIRTY-SIX TIMES OVER. >:(
That's entertainment is probably Weller s finest hour lyrically.
I first heard 'That's Entertainment' when it was played on the Sunday evening Top Forty countdown in February 1981 - during the fadeout Tony Blackburn said (from memory) "I believe that's the record which the Jam didn't want released as a single here in the UK - can't understand why - I think it's one of their best yet ". I remember thinking from the intonation he used that it was probably the first and only Jam song he had ever liked. ;-)
Comments
I hope so too Clare!
I would say the same about Town Called Malice
Some good stuff on BBC4 on Friday night too
Yep, I was 14 years old when it came out, and I remember the impact of hearing it on the radio for the first time, and then when it went straight in at no. 1 - something which hadn't happened for years.
What makes "Going Underground" special for me, is that it is purely a single - which means I hear it a lot less than say, "The Eton Rifles" or "Start" which come up whenever I play their respective albums. Thus it has always retained its freshness and dynamism. Throw in the fact that it was actually a double-A side with the also excellent "Dreams Of Children", and you have a classic 45!
Looks like there will be one broadcast sometime this year Clare, its mentioned in the second paragraph here http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/commissioning/shiver-secures-six-itv-shows/5080203.article
Just realised you might have to subscribe to read the above article, to avoid that the first 2 paragraphs are...
Come Dine With Me producer Shiver has won a raft of factual commissions from ITV with a number of one-offs and a three-part series about the Carry On… films.
The ITV Studios-owned indie will expand its Nation’s Favourite… strand with two 90-minute films, The Nation’s Favourite 70s Number Ones and The Nation’s Favourite 80s Number Ones. Both will TX in 2015.
The 70's one tomorrow should be good, even if we probably all know already what's going to be the overall number 1!! ;-) I'm wondering what else will be in the top 5 though? 'Maggie May', 'Dancing Queen', 'Mull of Kintyre' and 'Rivers Of Babylon' are my guesses.
Both are brilliant songs. I really can't decide which I like best.
And spawned one of the greatest "covers" of all time...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHn-g7T9f9A
This was a huge talking point at the time. I was at college and the day after it went straight in at number one we were all discussing it at college. None of us had ever heard of it. Remember at that point no single had entered at number one for seven years. In fact in the few years running up to that point singles rarely entered the top five. So for this to come from nowhere was huge. At the time a lot of people thought it was rubbish. I wasn't overkeen on it if I recall. It seemed ok but I couldn't understand why it went straight in at number one. But actually it has stood the test of time and it is a great rock song.
Great news! I reckon from 1980 The Winner Takes It All, Going Underground, and Ashes To Ashes are in with a good shout. As it's usually one nominaton per act, I think Ghost Town would be ahead of Too Much Too Young for The Specials.
I will not be watching. ^_^
I think the Jam were heavly influenced by not just the music/fashion of those 60s groups like The Beatles, Kinks and The Who etc. but also in the way not all singles from the sixties period were necessarily included on the long playing albums of the time, and the B sides sometimes possessed songs that if anything, were even occasionally more interesing than that of the A side (I'm thinking especially of a track like The Beatles ''Rain'' for example, which was the B side to ''Paperback Writer''). I recall reading somewhere that ''Dreams Of Children'' was actually meant to be the A side, but some mistake was made at the pressing plant, and ''Going Underground'' was promoted to a double A side. The vast majority of radio stations tended to have a preference for ''Going Underground'' (it was perhaps thought more radio friendly). It seems quite hard to believe though, for me, that a song of the quality of ''Going Underground'' hadn't immediately been considered A side material.
The Jam were a great melting pot of styles (60s pop/soul/ 70s punk etc), and although i think it is quite obvious that they were occasionally deeply indebted to the instrumental dynamism of the early Who, and a certain ''Start'' guitar riff is remarkably similar to that of The Beatles ''Taxman'', they still very much managed to transcend those influences to produce something that also possesed some great individuality. When Oasis came along in the mid nineties, i believe they were far less successful in managing to move out of the shadow of their influences, because they were rather more blatant in their 'lifting' (especially following their rather less derivative sounding debut album ''Definitely Maybe'').
Those 3 tracks would be in my Jam top 5, but Going Underground would not.
Town Called Malice/Precious was number one (straight in as well) on my 14th birthday, I had a huge crush on Paul Weller as well. Loved the Gift LP too.
Going Underground also a classic and really propelled the Jam but I have to say it's a bit overplayed these days. That's entertainment is probably Weller s finest hour lyrically.
Probably the #1 song. Cue a lot of Z-listers 'aaah-ring' and 'oooh-ing' over a certain divorce, probably Mr Ulvaeus' usual narrative and Pete Waterman booming that 'it's the greatest song about love EVER'.
These kinds of shows.... Yawn!
I'd thoroughly agree with that. 'That's Entertainment' would easily be in my personal Jam top 5. He's a great lyricist and in that respect I'd include 'Man In The Corner Shop', which I think was only ever an album track in a top 5 too.
No way! I had it on and was only half listening in the background... I heard them talk to a lady called Lulu, but never even thought it would be that Lulu
BIB - at that rate the £10 million paid out by the BBC over recent years in redundancy payments to staff it subsequently went on to re-employ would have covered the cost of the Quad tapes for every wiped edition of TOTP broadcast between 1970 and 1977 THIRTY-SIX TIMES OVER.
I first heard 'That's Entertainment' when it was played on the Sunday evening Top Forty countdown in February 1981 - during the fadeout Tony Blackburn said (from memory) "I believe that's the record which the Jam didn't want released as a single here in the UK - can't understand why - I think it's one of their best yet ". I remember thinking from the intonation he used that it was probably the first and only Jam song he had ever liked. ;-)
Mine is Jilted John.....by Jilted John
'Johnny Reggae' by The Piglets.