That's not at all true of the NME in the early 80s. They were the ones who coined the term 'New Pop' (Kim Wilde, ABC, Culture Club, Haircut 100, and Dollar). NME writers such as Paul Morley and Julie Burchill praised these sort of acts no end. The magazine put them on the cover frequently. The NME's top records list of 1982 contains plenty of pure pop:
This is completely true: the music press, and especially the NME, went nuts for Kim WIlde, Dollar and Bucks Fizz in 1981/1982. The attention paid to the latter is referred to by none other than Cheryl Baker in her sleeve notes for The Very Best Of Bucks Fizz, where she mentions the rave reviews for 'My Camera Never Lies' which amazed the group.
Or perhaps he 'knows' someone, who 'knows' someone etc.
Whatever it was, it's an excellent blog to look at.
The only criticism I have is, it's not mobile friendly!
There is a auction site where it is possible to pick up some of these missing eps, but for quite a decent price for the ones not already shown on UKG. I'm guessing Chris has bought a copy, or has had access to the copy but whoever it belongs to is not wanting to put online, which I can completely understand.
Reading the blog is an absolute nightmare for me, whatever computer I use to view it on because of all the pictures which, imo, are only useful if you haven't seen the show or to point out something specific. Surely one pic of each act would be sufficient.
Harry Chapin, his song Cats in the cradle always used to make me feel so sad, very poignant lyrics.
Yes, a fabulous piece of music. BTW, if you haven't heard it, can I suggest you track down what I regard as his finest song 'Shooting Star.' Either in the original form, or the excellent Pat Benatar cover. It's a song about a creator and his life.
One of the great lines -
"When he was too far gone for giving love,
what he'd offer in its stead.
Was the knowledge she was the only thing,
that was not in his head."
Great memories from that NME list - 1982 was one of my favourite musical years. It did make me chuckle to think that wham rap was placed higher than party fears too!
There is a auction site where it is possible to pick up some of these missing eps, but for quite a decent price for the ones not already shown on UKG. I'm guessing Chris has bought a copy, or has had access to the copy but whoever it belongs to is not wanting to put online, which I can completely understand.
I can't quite remember how but I've found a guy who have access to these episodes and he got in contact recently to say that he had laid his hands on a couple of 1977 episodes. I asked, on the off chance about the ones going up, and he also had them :-)
There is a auction site where it is possible to pick up some of these missing eps, but for quite a decent price for the ones not already shown on UKG. I'm guessing Chris has bought a copy, or has had access to the copy but whoever it belongs to is not wanting to put online, which I can completely understand.
Reading the blog is an absolute nightmare for me, whatever computer I use to view it on because of all the pictures which, imo, are only useful if you haven't seen the show or to point out something specific. Surely one pic of each act would be sufficient.
Which also emphasises how grateful we are to Darnell42 as he is prepared to make available the ones he has.
I love the early Wham! hits. It all went wrong with 'Wake Me Up...' for me.
I would agree with this to a point Gulftastic however the sublime Everything she wants ( their best song ) was still to come. I loved the Fantastic album ( with the exception of Bad Boys) but thereafter Wham did not live up to expectations.
Yes, a fabulous piece of music. BTW, if you haven't heard it, can I suggest you track down what I regard as his finest song 'Shooting Star.'
Chapin had so many epic songs and I'm sure would have had many more were it not for his tragic death in a road accident. His strength was that his lyrics told stories of "real" peoples lives that gripped you - check out "Mr Tanner" or "A better place to be"
I see the Rezillo's are on this weeks show. I loved this pop-punk band and still remember being at their "farewell" show at Glasgow Apollo with it's nine encores
maybe only those from the East Coast of Scotland will "get" the lead singers name "Fay Fyffe" ! but co-singer Eugene Reynolds was equally good, love their oh so subtle "Somebodys gonna get their heads kicked in tonight"
Their two biggest hits were "Top of the pops" and 2Destination Venus" but fortheir finest moment check out ...
(my baby does) good sculptures http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKly-dga3Nw
I see the Rezillo's are on this weeks show. I loved this pop-punk band and still remember being at their "farewell" show at Glasgow Apollo with it's nine encores
maybe only those from the East Coast of Scotland will "get" the lead singers name "Fay Fyffe" ! but co-singer Eugene Reynolds was equally good, love their oh so subtle "Somebodys gonna get their heads kicked in tonight"
Their two biggest hits were "Top of the pops" and 2Destination Venus" but fortheir finest moment check out ...
(my baby does) good sculptures http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKly-dga3Nw
and Jo Callis went on to have a number 1 with the Human League...
And I'm sure the sales figures speak for themselves. Though I do like the earlier song Club Tropicana now.
Which came out 30 years ago this very week. Now doesn't that make a few people feel old!
We have a lot of "Shooting Stars" at the moment on here. First Dollar, then Harry Chapin!
Have to say I often view Harry Chapin, and another tragic singer, Jim Croce, in a similar way. Neither had much UK success, but both topped the US singles charts in the 70's. Both died young. Cat's In The Cradle and Croce's Time In A Bottle always seem to compliment each other in some way. You certainly do not want to be in a low mood listening to Time In A Bottle. Each was a Christmas chart topper a year apart in the US Billboard Hot 100, Time In A Bottle in 1973, Cat's In The Cradle in 1974. The contrast between the UK and US festive tops in 1973 could not be more stark.
Back on track to 1978, and in stark contrast to here in the UK where Olivia & John spend 9 weeks on top, in the States it managed just a single week, whereas at this point in 1978 Andy Gibb's very minor (just missed the Top 40) UK hit single Shadow Dancing was coming to it's 7th and final week as a long runner on top. I'm very surprised he didn't take off as big in Britain. Good sounds, great looks, and a perfect pop pedigree, so what happened?
Great memories from that NME list - 1982 was one of my favourite musical years. It did make me chuckle to think that wham rap was placed higher than party fears too!
Hated Wham! - But Party Fears too has got to be possibly my favourite single of the entire 80's!! :eek:
The sad thing with Dave Clark is that he must've got into getting cosmetic surgery quite early, when it was less advanced and at a time when the pressure to keep your heyday looks wasn't as great as it now. It looks like early surgery wasn't up to today's standard and since then he's been suffering corrective operations rather than treatments. It's just really not worked out for him.
I don't know when Dave Clark first went under the knife but Hollywood 'bad boy' Mickey Rourke forked out for some drastic plastic surgery five years ago which spectacularly failed to recapture his youthful good looks and (like Dave Clark) the former eighties pin-up is still undergoing reconstructive procedures in an attempt to correct the botched job. Here's a link to some before and after pictures:
Mickey Rourke complains he simply went to "the wrong guy". However Lionel Ritchie, soon to be seen on TOTP 1978 (before I get accused of veering off-topic ) appears to have a pretty convincing facelift - yet his operation(s) were carried out by the same Argentinian surgeon who did the dodgy work on Priscilla Presley :eek:. So, whatever advances have been made, it strikes me that plastic surgery is still a bit hit and miss.
Dave Clark may look freakish but at least he is still with the living - unlike three of his former bandmates. Over the past seven years the Dave Clark Five has effectively become the Dave Clark Two (bass player Rick Huxley died most recently in February this year).
Well that does sound like a good idea. I'll keep an eye out (hopefully in a sale).
If you're interested, I note the Belkin F5L001ER BLACK Laptop Cooling Stand is currently priced at £10.79 on Amazon (with optional free P&P).
The same model is £14.99 at PC World and Currys.
I don't know if this has been mentioned before but 1978 was a very extraordinary year of one hit wonders (and I mean by it's strictest definition down the years, i.e one chart hit whether that be top 50 or 75 and nothing else).
In the chart of the Kid Jensen show we've just seen for example in the top 30 chart rundown were:
Justin Hayward - Forever Autumn (only solo hit not including Moody Blues)
Goldie - Making Up Again
Blue Oyster Cult - (Don't Fear) The Reaper
San Jose - Argentine Melody
Saturday Night Band - Come On Dance Dance
James Galway - Annie's Song
A Taste Of Honey - Boogie Oogie Oogie
Clout - Substitute
In the rest of the of the top 75 were previous or future one hit wonders:
Jackson Browne - Stay
Renaissance - Northern Lights
John Paul Young - Love Is In The Air
Added to this in 1978 would be:
Gordon Giltrap - Heartsong
The Imperials - Who's Gonna Love Me
Scott Fitzgerald & Yvonne Keeley - If I Had Words
Althia & Donna - Uptown Top Ranking
Terry Wogan - Floral Dance
Rich Kids - Rich Kids
Samantha Sang - Emotions
Dan Hill - Sometimes When We Touch
Brian & Michael - Matchstalk Men etc
Andy Cameron - Ally's Tartan Army
Michael Zager Band - Let's All Chant
Richard Myhill - It Takes Two To Tango
Richard Denton & Martin Cook - Theme From Hong Kong Beat
Rafaella Carra - Do It Do It Again
Co-Co - Bad Old Days
Izhar Cohen & Alpha Beta - A Ba Ni Bi
Guy Marks - Loving You Has Made Me Bananas
Jilted John - Jilted John
Hylda Baker & Arthur Mullard - You're The One That I Want
Streetband - Toast
Musique - In The Bush
You could also add to this list tracks such as Sine - Just Let Me Do My Thing, Player - Baby Come Back which just missed the top 30 but had a lot of airplay at the time.
Granted there are a few novelty records in there but that seems a staggering amount. It would be interesting to see if any other year in the UK charts golden era had as many. This would not include the modern day charts where one hit wonders are ten a penny.
I don't know if this has been mentioned before but 1978 was a very extraordinary year of one hit wonders (and I mean by it's strictest definition down the years, i.e one chart hit whether that be top 50 or 75 and nothing else).
The purist definition of a proper "one hit wonder" is;
One hit single, that reached No1, and nothing else charting.....ever! :cool:
Heaps of people have always had one hit, nothing too special in itself. But what I would say, and said a few weeks ago, is that in 1978 there were an extraordinary number of great individual pop tunes by acts that came and went in a blink just once.
I was wondering if tonight's edition contains the infamous performance of "You're The One That I Want" by Hylda Baker and Arthur Mullard. The record itself was actually not that bad and was getting a fair amount of airplay at the time making it up to number 22 but the appearance on TOTP killed the record stone dead. I remember Peter Powell presented that particular edition and as he is doing so tonight does anyone happen to know if it is this week's programme or not?
I was wondering if tonight's edition contains the infamous performance of "You're The One That I Want" by Hylda Baker and Arthur Mullard. The record itself was actually not that bad and was getting a fair amount of airplay at the time making it up to number 22 but the appearance on TOTP killed the record stone dead. I remember Peter Powell presented that particular edition and as he is doing so tonight does anyone happen to know if it is this week's programme or not?
Ah, but look, you are still talking about the appearance 35 years later. One that could be described as "so bad, it's good" maybe?
Comments
This is completely true: the music press, and especially the NME, went nuts for Kim WIlde, Dollar and Bucks Fizz in 1981/1982. The attention paid to the latter is referred to by none other than Cheryl Baker in her sleeve notes for The Very Best Of Bucks Fizz, where she mentions the rave reviews for 'My Camera Never Lies' which amazed the group.
There is a auction site where it is possible to pick up some of these missing eps, but for quite a decent price for the ones not already shown on UKG. I'm guessing Chris has bought a copy, or has had access to the copy but whoever it belongs to is not wanting to put online, which I can completely understand.
Reading the blog is an absolute nightmare for me, whatever computer I use to view it on because of all the pictures which, imo, are only useful if you haven't seen the show or to point out something specific. Surely one pic of each act would be sufficient.
Yes, a fabulous piece of music. BTW, if you haven't heard it, can I suggest you track down what I regard as his finest song 'Shooting Star.' Either in the original form, or the excellent Pat Benatar cover. It's a song about a creator and his life.
One of the great lines -
"When he was too far gone for giving love,
what he'd offer in its stead.
Was the knowledge she was the only thing,
that was not in his head."
Yes, same here! When they switched record labels, for a relative alot of money, I lost interest in their out put.
I can't quite remember how but I've found a guy who have access to these episodes and he got in contact recently to say that he had laid his hands on a couple of 1977 episodes. I asked, on the off chance about the ones going up, and he also had them :-)
Which also emphasises how grateful we are to Darnell42 as he is prepared to make available the ones he has.
I disagree, I think Make it Big is a very good album. And Careless Whisper is one of the favourite ballads of the 80s.
I would agree with this to a point Gulftastic however the sublime Everything she wants ( their best song ) was still to come. I loved the Fantastic album ( with the exception of Bad Boys) but thereafter Wham did not live up to expectations.
Chapin had so many epic songs and I'm sure would have had many more were it not for his tragic death in a road accident. His strength was that his lyrics told stories of "real" peoples lives that gripped you - check out "Mr Tanner" or "A better place to be"
Mr Tanner -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoryhJLz8vI
A better place to be -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MazXSlekckI
maybe only those from the East Coast of Scotland will "get" the lead singers name "Fay Fyffe" ! but co-singer Eugene Reynolds was equally good, love their oh so subtle "Somebodys gonna get their heads kicked in tonight"
Their two biggest hits were "Top of the pops" and 2Destination Venus" but fortheir finest moment check out ...
(my baby does) good sculptures
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKly-dga3Nw
And I'm sure the sales figures speak for themselves. Though I do like the earlier song Club Tropicana now.
Which came out 30 years ago this very week. Now doesn't that make a few people feel old!
We have a lot of "Shooting Stars" at the moment on here. First Dollar, then Harry Chapin!
Have to say I often view Harry Chapin, and another tragic singer, Jim Croce, in a similar way. Neither had much UK success, but both topped the US singles charts in the 70's. Both died young. Cat's In The Cradle and Croce's Time In A Bottle always seem to compliment each other in some way. You certainly do not want to be in a low mood listening to Time In A Bottle. Each was a Christmas chart topper a year apart in the US Billboard Hot 100, Time In A Bottle in 1973, Cat's In The Cradle in 1974. The contrast between the UK and US festive tops in 1973 could not be more stark.
Back on track to 1978, and in stark contrast to here in the UK where Olivia & John spend 9 weeks on top, in the States it managed just a single week, whereas at this point in 1978 Andy Gibb's very minor (just missed the Top 40) UK hit single Shadow Dancing was coming to it's 7th and final week as a long runner on top. I'm very surprised he didn't take off as big in Britain. Good sounds, great looks, and a perfect pop pedigree, so what happened?
Hated Wham! - But Party Fears too has got to be possibly my favourite single of the entire 80's!! :eek:
I don't know when Dave Clark first went under the knife but Hollywood 'bad boy' Mickey Rourke forked out for some drastic plastic surgery five years ago which spectacularly failed to recapture his youthful good looks and (like Dave Clark) the former eighties pin-up is still undergoing reconstructive procedures in an attempt to correct the botched job. Here's a link to some before and after pictures:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGnq0rEwyNE
Mickey Rourke complains he simply went to "the wrong guy". However Lionel Ritchie, soon to be seen on TOTP 1978 (before I get accused of veering off-topic
Dave Clark may look freakish but at least he is still with the living - unlike three of his former bandmates. Over the past seven years the Dave Clark Five has effectively become the Dave Clark Two (bass player Rick Huxley died most recently in February this year).
If you're interested, I note the Belkin F5L001ER BLACK Laptop Cooling Stand is currently priced at £10.79 on Amazon (with optional free P&P).
The same model is £14.99 at PC World and Currys.
Quite an odd fact I found out quite recently.
In the chart of the Kid Jensen show we've just seen for example in the top 30 chart rundown were:
Justin Hayward - Forever Autumn (only solo hit not including Moody Blues)
Goldie - Making Up Again
Blue Oyster Cult - (Don't Fear) The Reaper
San Jose - Argentine Melody
Saturday Night Band - Come On Dance Dance
James Galway - Annie's Song
A Taste Of Honey - Boogie Oogie Oogie
Clout - Substitute
In the rest of the of the top 75 were previous or future one hit wonders:
Jackson Browne - Stay
Renaissance - Northern Lights
John Paul Young - Love Is In The Air
Added to this in 1978 would be:
Gordon Giltrap - Heartsong
The Imperials - Who's Gonna Love Me
Scott Fitzgerald & Yvonne Keeley - If I Had Words
Althia & Donna - Uptown Top Ranking
Terry Wogan - Floral Dance
Rich Kids - Rich Kids
Samantha Sang - Emotions
Dan Hill - Sometimes When We Touch
Brian & Michael - Matchstalk Men etc
Andy Cameron - Ally's Tartan Army
Michael Zager Band - Let's All Chant
Richard Myhill - It Takes Two To Tango
Richard Denton & Martin Cook - Theme From Hong Kong Beat
Rafaella Carra - Do It Do It Again
Co-Co - Bad Old Days
Izhar Cohen & Alpha Beta - A Ba Ni Bi
Guy Marks - Loving You Has Made Me Bananas
Jilted John - Jilted John
Hylda Baker & Arthur Mullard - You're The One That I Want
Streetband - Toast
Musique - In The Bush
You could also add to this list tracks such as Sine - Just Let Me Do My Thing, Player - Baby Come Back which just missed the top 30 but had a lot of airplay at the time.
Granted there are a few novelty records in there but that seems a staggering amount. It would be interesting to see if any other year in the UK charts golden era had as many. This would not include the modern day charts where one hit wonders are ten a penny.
The purist definition of a proper "one hit wonder" is;
One hit single, that reached No1, and nothing else charting.....ever! :cool:
Heaps of people have always had one hit, nothing too special in itself. But what I would say, and said a few weeks ago, is that in 1978 there were an extraordinary number of great individual pop tunes by acts that came and went in a blink just once.
Ah, but look, you are still talking about the appearance 35 years later. One that could be described as "so bad, it's good" maybe?