Post by Earl Purple on Aug 19, 2021 9:25:35 GMT 1
23 December 1978
1 ( 2 ) Le Freak - Chic < 1st #1 >
2 ( 3 ) Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick - Ian Dury & The Blockheads
3 ( 1 ) My Life - Billy Joel (#1[1])
4 ( 5 ) I'll Put You Together Again - Hot Chocolate
5 ( 7 ) Mary's Boy Child - Boney M
6 ( 8 ) Fat Bottomed Girls - Queen
7 ( 13 ) Hello This Is Joannie - Paul Evans
8 ( 11 ) September - Earth Wind & Fire
9 ( 12 ) New York New York - Gerard Kenny
10 ( 10 ) A Taste Of Aggro - Barron Knights
11 ( 20 ) Song For Guy - Elton John
12 ( 4 ) Rat Trap - Boomtown Rats (#1[4])
13 ( 6 ) Da Ya Think I'm Sexy - Rod Stewart (#4)
14 ( -- ) The Gambler - Kenny Rogers
15 ( 15 ) Mirrors - Sally Oldfield
16 ( -- ) Car 67 - Driver 67
17 ( 9 ) Hold The Line - Toto (#6)
18 ( 18 ) A Little More Love - Olivia Newton John
19 ( 29 ) Please Come Home For Christmas - Eagles
20 ( 31 ) Fire - Pointer Sisters
21 ( 16 ) Greased Lightnin' - John Travolta
22 ( 17 ) Destination Venus - Rezillos (#9)
23 ( 24 ) I Was Made For Dancing - Leif Garrett
24 ( 28 ) Take That To The Bank - Shalamar
25 ( 14 ) My Best Friend's Girl - Cars (#4)
26 ( 38 ) Rama Lama Ding Dong - Rocky Sharpe & The Replays
27 ( 23 ) Tommy Gun - Clash
28 ( 40 ) Shake It - Ian Matthews
29 ( 32 ) A Touch Of Velvet A Sting Of Brass - Ron Grainer Orchestra
30 ( 44 ) Jingle Bells - Judge Dread
31 ( 21 ) We've Got Tonite - Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band (#12)
32 ( 19 ) Y.M.C.A - Village People (#5)
33 ( 45 ) I Will Be In Love With You - Livingston Taylor
34 ( -- ) Wrekorder Wrondo - Mike Oldfield
35 ( 47 ) Don't Hold Back - Chanson
36 ( 22 ) Hanging On The Telephone - Blondie (#8)
37 ( 27 ) Lay Your Love On Me - Racey (#21)
38 ( 26 ) Promises - Buzzcocks (#18)
39 ( 49 ) Night Dancing - Joe Farrell
40 ( -- ) Take Me To The River - Talking Heads
41 ( 25 ) I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper - Sarah Brightman & Hot Gossip (#10)
42 ( 37 ) Breaking Glass - David Bowie
43 ( 33 ) Homicide - 999 (#29)
44 ( -- ) A Man I'll Never Be - Boston
45 ( 35 ) Watch Out For Lucy - Eric Clapton (#30)
46 ( 34 ) Too Much Heaven - Bee Gees (#26)
47 ( 36 ) Dr Who - Mankind (#31)
48 ( 30 ) I'm Every Woman - Chaka Khan (#13)
49 ( -- ) Who What When Where Why - Manhattan Transfer
50 ( 39 ) Paradise By The Dashboard Light - Meat Loaf & Ellen Foley (#1[7])
-- ( 41 ) Ease On Down The Road - Diana Ross & Michael Jackson (#18)
-- ( 42 ) Well All Right - Santana (#35)
-- ( 43 ) #1 Dee Jay - Goody Goody
-- ( 46 ) Anyway You Do It - Liquid Gold
-- ( 48 ) Lydia - Dean Friedman (#23)
-- ( 50 ) Raining In My Heart - Leo Sayer (#38)
So this is the Christmas number one and now Chic are number one, and it's pretty much been a case of accommodating what got to #1 in my chart at the time when Chic was Christmas #1 replacing the Boomtown Rats at #1 with Billy Joel not turning up until January with Ian Dury also getting to #1 in between and then Heart Of Glass in the first week of February.
There is quite a fast turnover of number ones around February-March to accommodate a number of all-time classics in what is considered the strongest ever sequence of 4 consecutive number ones in my chart.
There is no playlist for next week as both the UK and US charts were frozen. My chart will not be frozen but there is really nothing left over to put on it, so Meat Loaf will get a 16th week in the chart. In reality the "Christmas spirit" may have caused this to rise back up in the last couple of weeks, and he is among those in the mad February rush. This particular number one replaced Blondie at the top to get there, and that feat may well be repeated.
My general feeling is that 1979 is also a pretty strong year in patches, but there is a massive lull in Spring, but I'm excited about listening to the top hits of 1978, which has always been my favourite ever year for music, and doing this retro chart has not changed my mind on the issue.
This is also the time I will ask for some "albums to listen to" that represent the year, as well as picking a few of my own. A Tonic For The Troops, of course. Parallel Lines is an album I bought at the time. I had "The Stranger" on my 1977 album list, "42nd Street" was released at the end of 1978.
Other albums I will add will be "Can't Stand The Rezillos" and the Buzzcocks have 2 albums out "Another Music In A Different Kitchen" and "Love Bites". I have already listened to Devo's "Q: Are We Not Men A: We Are Devo" pretty much a discovery of the year as the only song I'd heard by them that year was their cover of Satisfaction which didn't really inspire me to check them out any further.
Looking at this week we have what is now considered by many Kenny Rogers' most definitive song. It had actually been recorded by a couple of other country singers, including Johnny Cash, before Kenny Rogers gave the song success when it reached #16 in the US chart. It wasn't a UK hit at the time but somehow got picked up in downloads in 2007 to reach #22 then.
Paul Phillips from Driver 67 used to be an active member of the "Popscene" group where I was also quite active, particularly around the time this song showed on Top of the Pops, and wrote a blog about being a one-hit wonder. Something about that song and "Hello This Is Joannie", perhaps the "fight" in the relationship, made me associate them, as well as them simply being in the chart at the same time, although they weren't actually in the top 10 at the same time, with "Joannie" reaching #6 in January then "Car 67" taking a bit longer to reach its UK peak of #7.
Mike Oldfield's entry is the one new tune on his EP, and hey, Talking Heads have arrived!
1 ( 2 ) Le Freak - Chic < 1st #1 >
2 ( 3 ) Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick - Ian Dury & The Blockheads
3 ( 1 ) My Life - Billy Joel (#1[1])
4 ( 5 ) I'll Put You Together Again - Hot Chocolate
5 ( 7 ) Mary's Boy Child - Boney M
6 ( 8 ) Fat Bottomed Girls - Queen
7 ( 13 ) Hello This Is Joannie - Paul Evans
8 ( 11 ) September - Earth Wind & Fire
9 ( 12 ) New York New York - Gerard Kenny
10 ( 10 ) A Taste Of Aggro - Barron Knights
11 ( 20 ) Song For Guy - Elton John
12 ( 4 ) Rat Trap - Boomtown Rats (#1[4])
13 ( 6 ) Da Ya Think I'm Sexy - Rod Stewart (#4)
14 ( -- ) The Gambler - Kenny Rogers
15 ( 15 ) Mirrors - Sally Oldfield
16 ( -- ) Car 67 - Driver 67
17 ( 9 ) Hold The Line - Toto (#6)
18 ( 18 ) A Little More Love - Olivia Newton John
19 ( 29 ) Please Come Home For Christmas - Eagles
20 ( 31 ) Fire - Pointer Sisters
21 ( 16 ) Greased Lightnin' - John Travolta
22 ( 17 ) Destination Venus - Rezillos (#9)
23 ( 24 ) I Was Made For Dancing - Leif Garrett
24 ( 28 ) Take That To The Bank - Shalamar
25 ( 14 ) My Best Friend's Girl - Cars (#4)
26 ( 38 ) Rama Lama Ding Dong - Rocky Sharpe & The Replays
27 ( 23 ) Tommy Gun - Clash
28 ( 40 ) Shake It - Ian Matthews
29 ( 32 ) A Touch Of Velvet A Sting Of Brass - Ron Grainer Orchestra
30 ( 44 ) Jingle Bells - Judge Dread
31 ( 21 ) We've Got Tonite - Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band (#12)
32 ( 19 ) Y.M.C.A - Village People (#5)
33 ( 45 ) I Will Be In Love With You - Livingston Taylor
34 ( -- ) Wrekorder Wrondo - Mike Oldfield
35 ( 47 ) Don't Hold Back - Chanson
36 ( 22 ) Hanging On The Telephone - Blondie (#8)
37 ( 27 ) Lay Your Love On Me - Racey (#21)
38 ( 26 ) Promises - Buzzcocks (#18)
39 ( 49 ) Night Dancing - Joe Farrell
40 ( -- ) Take Me To The River - Talking Heads
41 ( 25 ) I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper - Sarah Brightman & Hot Gossip (#10)
42 ( 37 ) Breaking Glass - David Bowie
43 ( 33 ) Homicide - 999 (#29)
44 ( -- ) A Man I'll Never Be - Boston
45 ( 35 ) Watch Out For Lucy - Eric Clapton (#30)
46 ( 34 ) Too Much Heaven - Bee Gees (#26)
47 ( 36 ) Dr Who - Mankind (#31)
48 ( 30 ) I'm Every Woman - Chaka Khan (#13)
49 ( -- ) Who What When Where Why - Manhattan Transfer
50 ( 39 ) Paradise By The Dashboard Light - Meat Loaf & Ellen Foley (#1[7])
-- ( 41 ) Ease On Down The Road - Diana Ross & Michael Jackson (#18)
-- ( 42 ) Well All Right - Santana (#35)
-- ( 43 ) #1 Dee Jay - Goody Goody
-- ( 46 ) Anyway You Do It - Liquid Gold
-- ( 48 ) Lydia - Dean Friedman (#23)
-- ( 50 ) Raining In My Heart - Leo Sayer (#38)
So this is the Christmas number one and now Chic are number one, and it's pretty much been a case of accommodating what got to #1 in my chart at the time when Chic was Christmas #1 replacing the Boomtown Rats at #1 with Billy Joel not turning up until January with Ian Dury also getting to #1 in between and then Heart Of Glass in the first week of February.
There is quite a fast turnover of number ones around February-March to accommodate a number of all-time classics in what is considered the strongest ever sequence of 4 consecutive number ones in my chart.
There is no playlist for next week as both the UK and US charts were frozen. My chart will not be frozen but there is really nothing left over to put on it, so Meat Loaf will get a 16th week in the chart. In reality the "Christmas spirit" may have caused this to rise back up in the last couple of weeks, and he is among those in the mad February rush. This particular number one replaced Blondie at the top to get there, and that feat may well be repeated.
My general feeling is that 1979 is also a pretty strong year in patches, but there is a massive lull in Spring, but I'm excited about listening to the top hits of 1978, which has always been my favourite ever year for music, and doing this retro chart has not changed my mind on the issue.
This is also the time I will ask for some "albums to listen to" that represent the year, as well as picking a few of my own. A Tonic For The Troops, of course. Parallel Lines is an album I bought at the time. I had "The Stranger" on my 1977 album list, "42nd Street" was released at the end of 1978.
Other albums I will add will be "Can't Stand The Rezillos" and the Buzzcocks have 2 albums out "Another Music In A Different Kitchen" and "Love Bites". I have already listened to Devo's "Q: Are We Not Men A: We Are Devo" pretty much a discovery of the year as the only song I'd heard by them that year was their cover of Satisfaction which didn't really inspire me to check them out any further.
Looking at this week we have what is now considered by many Kenny Rogers' most definitive song. It had actually been recorded by a couple of other country singers, including Johnny Cash, before Kenny Rogers gave the song success when it reached #16 in the US chart. It wasn't a UK hit at the time but somehow got picked up in downloads in 2007 to reach #22 then.
Paul Phillips from Driver 67 used to be an active member of the "Popscene" group where I was also quite active, particularly around the time this song showed on Top of the Pops, and wrote a blog about being a one-hit wonder. Something about that song and "Hello This Is Joannie", perhaps the "fight" in the relationship, made me associate them, as well as them simply being in the chart at the same time, although they weren't actually in the top 10 at the same time, with "Joannie" reaching #6 in January then "Car 67" taking a bit longer to reach its UK peak of #7.
Mike Oldfield's entry is the one new tune on his EP, and hey, Talking Heads have arrived!