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Post by Earl Purple on Jan 28, 2015 13:46:58 GMT 1
Yeah I think I charted that too. In the year 2000.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jan 28, 2015 13:48:15 GMT 1
St Etienne did have a top 10 hit under the name Cola Boy.
I'll do no. 6 tonight, touch wood, but it's a weak number...
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Post by Earl Purple on Jan 28, 2015 14:03:02 GMT 1
For #6 I would probably choose Styx. They were one-hit wonders in the UK but released some wonderful albums and had a lot more hit singles in the US and my chart.
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vya
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Post by vya on Jan 28, 2015 14:05:53 GMT 1
Carter USM were a breath of fresh air - I greatly enjoyed their first album, "101 Damnations", and the third one, "1992 The Love Album" too. And a number of very singles were very fine indeed ("Anytime Anyplace Anywhere", one not to have made the top 75, remains a particular favourite). But....really, they were a bit of a one-trick pony (puns + bad singing + limited instrumentation + inspired use of samples and voiceovers + "socially concerned" lyrics), and it did start to wear thin after a while. - there are only so many puns you can make out of South East London place names. That said, I saw them live I think four times, and a fair bit of their material has held up really well.
Never quite thought the HMHB comparison stood up, though - I thought a tougher, sharper, version of the Pet Shop Boys (to accompany Momus, much lower down th charts, as their sleazier twin....) was my reference point - "Suburbia" could have been a Carter USM song, really....
I'd be severely tempted to consider the case for Prefab Sprout at #7 - consistently superb, quality, songwriters with a back catalogue of which to be very proud. Possibly Carter's quirkiness swings it for them, but i'm conflicted.
I also agree about "Of Course I'm Lying". Fabulous record.
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Post by Earl Purple on Jan 28, 2015 14:13:56 GMT 1
The likeness comes partly in twisting titles of famous songs to bring in English local landmarks.
Carter USM: 24 minutes from Tulse Hill. The only living boy in New Cross... HMHB: Trouble over Bridgewater
and the quirkiness of the lyrics in such a manner.
I think the subject manner of HMHB's songs is their main attraction - that they sang about the kind of things nobody else was. Always in a witty manner.
Carter USM's was generally "protest" music but the kind of strange lyrics in songs like Do-Ray-Me-So-Far-So-Good: "where are the songs about boozers and buildings, banning the bomb and abusing the children, who one day will be pop music stars with their pop music guitars..." This seems to be in protest about the S/A/W stuff that was being churned out at the time.
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Jan 28, 2015 19:34:02 GMT 1
Who's at 6 struggling , can think of two great bands #5 foo fighters and The Cure
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Post by Earl Purple on Jan 28, 2015 21:50:22 GMT 1
Others who peaked at #6 include Billy Idol, twice in 1985 both re-issues.
Interestingly Julian Lennon and The RAH Band also had two #6 hits both several years apart. (7 years for Julian Lennon, nearly 8 years for the RAH Band).
Tenpole Tudor (or Ten Pole Tudor) also had two #6 hits, albeit one of them a double-A with the Sex Pistols whose song "Silly Thing" was probably the more played song.
Teardrop Explodes also peaked at #6. And Sade... Daryl Hall & John Oates...
oh, and the Matchroom Mob of course...
also Midnight Oil and They Might Be Giants. Possible choices..
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jan 28, 2015 23:44:31 GMT 1
^ Thanks, that's saved me part of a job. 6. They Might Be GiantsYou sort of showed how weak this number is. I couldn't stand Sade. Music for people who don't like music but want to be seen the sort of people who like music. I will give some kudos to Ten Pole Tudor - I'm amazed nobody has gone for "Swords Of A Thousand Men" as walk-on music for darts. But otherwise 6 is the repository of the hopeless. MC Miker G & Deejay Sven? Rik Waller? Lisa Scott-Lee? Precious? Disco Duck and Disco Tex? Bloody hell. In the end it was fairly easy. Apart from Thin Lizzy, who never really floated the Good Ship Vastarpop, I could only really think of one other act worth of consideration; Sham 69, unfairly overlooked for two reasons. Firstly, because they were not in the absolute first wave of punk. And secondly, although they moved things on a little when they added the chantalong terrace sensibility that eventually became known as Oi! punk, other acts brought in a Nazi element and ruined it...Jimmy Pursey et al seem to have been brushed out of history for fear of an accidental taint. So I'll go with the two Johns. Quirky, sometimes infuriating, always interesting though. Still think the follow-up to BIYS was a mistake - too short and too much a novelty; would have been better off with " We Want A Rock" with a proper single production. But other singles deserved success - their unique take on "Wimoweh" and, best of all, the gorgeous " Ana Ng". No. 6 does also have two of the toppest of the topmost one-hit wonders, defining hit as top 40, via Fiction Factory's " Feels Like Heaven" and It Bites' " Calling All The Heroes". But otherwise it doesn't even have any fun coincidences that go beyond more than 2. Esther Phillips and Wilson Phillips both peaked here, but there was obviously no relationship. Two Aussie legends - The Easybeats and John Farnham - had their sole major UK successes here. Perhaps then I can mention Sue Menhenick. The only dancer who was in Pan's People, Ruby Flipper and Legs & Co. When the writing was on the wall for the dance troupe, the BBC had the class to give her a solo dance to say farewell. To the biggest hit for Jon & Vangelis. Poignant.
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Post by Earl Purple on Jan 29, 2015 9:29:15 GMT 1
The "Phillips" of Wilson Phillips was the daughter of John & Michelle from the Mamas and Papas but yeah not relation to Esther.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jan 29, 2015 22:08:35 GMT 1
5. The West Midlands number
Jasper Carrott
The Carrott got an entire stand-up routine out of his one charting single. That DJM signed him up looking for another Billy Connolly. That he spent £700 of his £1k advance on "Funky Moped". That he had totally forgotten about the b-side so had to stick something from a live demo album he had been touting. That the clubs flipped it to the b-side and it totally took off. That the chart company didn't know what to do with it, which is why it went 50-45-13. That he wouldn't do Top Of The Pops. That the plugger then told him that doing Top Of The Pops would make him a fortune. CHING! "OK, maybe I will do Top Of The Pops." There was one condition. There would be no moped in the studio. The first thing Robert Davis saw on stage was a moped. Carrott won that argument. But he didn't win the performance. They had to turn on the fake applause. It went on to Scunthorpe Baths and a promo that remained incomplete as the woman the producer got to play his mother was black. But the real reason to put Carrott in this spot, rather than a "proper" musician, is because the comedy album was a big thing in the sixties and seventies, and even early eighties, but is almost forgotten today. At least in Britain. The Jerrky Boys and, of course, "Weird" Al Yankovic have had significant success Stateside more recently. Presumably everyone is buying DVDs or piratebaying or whatever these days, but I thought it appropriate to pause here to recognize a part of the industry that went the way of the 8 track - and to pay tribute to a brilliant, brilliant comic. If you want a proper band, then the one I would have chosen would be The Primitives. We've already had a Blonde act in The Darling Buds; The Primitives were not quite so good, but they are still coming up with some killer tracks, including one of my Xmasvision suggestions. Note though that Carrott is from Acocks Green - Birmingham City territory - and The Primitives are from Coventry. There are a good few West Midlands-based/origin acts peaking at 5. Fine Young Cannibals, for instance. Jaki Graham. Kevin Rowland got a credit on "Jackie Wilson Said" so he sort of counts as here. Apache Indian. Panjabi MC, who got on an advert and scored a top 5, but has been ignored by the racist policies of Radio 1 ever since (how many subcontinental-origin musicians get playlisted? By demographic rights they ought to get one in twenty). And, perhaps the most embarrassing from the Midlands, Adam Rickitt. The next best though was Coventry's Hazel O'Connor. In another world, both "Eighth Day" and "Will You" would have been chart-toppers. To go back to Carrott, other comedy legends The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, whose one hit was produced by one Apollo C Vermouth, have already made a sort of appearance via Neil Innes' Rutles. Also from leftfield were The Flying Lizards' toxic cover versions, Landscape and Quantum Jump; from the other end of the music spectrum, both Clannad and Judy Collins topped here, Collins' stunning version of " Amazing Grace" a semi-permanent chart fixture of the early seventies. A few iconic acts also here; Primal Scream, Nirvana, Happy Mondays, Alanis Morrissette, PiL and The Strokes. Also Amazulu, who always seemed to me to be just on the cusp of breaking through, but it never quite happened; unfortunately their version of "Mony Mony" got pre-empted by Idol's US-no. 1-induced push. Annoyingly, The Toys could only get to here; would that they were one place higher...
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Post by Earl Purple on Jan 30, 2015 0:45:17 GMT 1
The Cure topped out at #5, probably you don't like them. Also Metallica - twice.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jan 30, 2015 7:57:28 GMT 1
It's simply that I wasn't going to list everyone otherwise it would be a very lengthy list - Japan, Kon Kan, Beatmasters, Box Tops, Art Of Noise, Jonathan Richman...
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Post by Milliways on Jan 30, 2015 20:29:50 GMT 1
I've been busy with my own project but there's a lot of great listening here and I'd love to catch up with all these eventually.
One thing that'd be great for me is if you could give the year in which each artist in the list of 100 had their biggest hit - then I can add them to the playlists for the corresponding year. Any chance you could do that?
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jan 30, 2015 23:43:00 GMT 1
Probably at the end, it'll spoil the format otherwise. Meanwhile, now you see why I wanted The Toys here... 4. The sixties girl group number
The RonettesThis is, quite simply, the greatest single of the 1960s. From Hal Blaine's multiple-copied intro (see no. 8), through the annihilating wall of sound conjured by Phil Spector to those soul-scouring vocals of Ronnie Bennett, it is a slice of purest perfection. If aliens were going to extinct humankind unless we showed some reason why we should be allowed to exist, we send them this. Job done. They also had other huge singles - " Walking In The Rain" for instance - and Ronnie's voice still stands, now with the world-weary maturity of an aged malt; hear it with The Raveonettes. But The Ronettes were not the only girl group from the sixties to make it to no. 4. The Shirelles, for instance; and Martha Reeves & The Vandellas. The best of those that stopped here though were The Chiffons. Who only got here thanks to Northern Soul (which also brought The Velvelettes their only hit); a re-issue of " Sweet Talkin' Guy" giving them a top five a decade after their heyday. Not their biggest US hit, which was the no. 1 "He's So Fine", but I think we chose the right song, even if it did not get as high as it should. Their best single though was the very forward-looking " Nobody Knows What's Going On In My Mind Than Me". Perhaps they ought to have had 5 weeks at no. 1 with their version of " My Sweet Lord"... What's more, if I were going off the NME charts alone, I could stick The Shangri-Las in here. Who were the best of the sixties girl groups and one of the best groups of all time. And another who got their biggest hit off the back of Northern Soul - a place away from being a top ten three times. I can't put them in at 3, but I can at least mention them here. They were not technically brilliant vocalists, but pop music is not about soulless perfection. They were the absolute best sellers of emotion in a song there has ever been. You can feel the tears in songs like " I Can Never Go Home Any More". Just bliss. We can even extend the girl group thing to say that Fun Boy Three's biggest hit came with Bananarama, and the sixties girl singers to mention Twinkle and Marianne Faithfull. From more recent times the best have been Zoe, Toyah and ABC; and for some less pop-familiar names peaking here, notable ones include Michelle Gayle, who peaked a place higher than she did with Grange Hill; Alan Price, ex-of The Animals; Matchbox, rockabilly revivalists who slowed it down for their biggest hit; the actresses Sophia Loren and Grace Kelly; and two similar ambient artists, Sweet People and Georghe Zamfir, who used the medium of birdsong and Romanian panpipes respectively. And a few others worth a mention. Roachford - surprised "Cuddly Toy" didn't re-hit off the back of Alpha Papa; The Toy Dolls, who popped up amongst giants in a tilt at the Christmas top spot; the legendary Jimmy Ruffin and Labi Siffre; both Simpson sisters somehow peaked here; so did a couple of Harrises, namely Keith and Richard; and American crooner Mel Torme, whose surname William Piddington adapted to become Bill Tarmey.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jan 31, 2015 13:17:57 GMT 1
3. The post-punk number
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
Song topic checklist. Love song to electricity? Check. Love song to a phone box? Check. Love song to an oil refinery? Check. Love song to a French saint? Check. Second love song to a French saint? Check. Pop song about nuclear war? Check. Pop song about genetic engineering? Check. Pop song about electronic transmission? Check. Love song in honour of Croat scientist? Check. Song in honour of Neu!? Check. Eat that, Minogue. The funny thing is if they ever had an OMD round on Pointless I reckon their two biggest hits would come near the bottom. They are far better known for "Enola Gay" and their Joan of Arc epics; for me, their finest single came via " Genetic Engineering", from their finest album Dazzle Ships. I also still reckon that DinDisc's choice of singles cost them a number 1. "Souvenir" was not the right one from Architecture & Morality - they should have gone with "Maid Of Orleans". Even then, had it not been for a rush-release of "Joan Of Arc", MOA would surely have topped the charts at the start of 1982. Instead it gave the album a boost, but not enough. As it is, they have to make do with MOA being the no. 1 single in Germany in 1982, plus an artist no. 1 album via a greatest hits compilo. Poor return for an act that were sublime for the greater part of their career. And I can't help but wonder how good "Whole Again" would be given the early album treatment. And OMD would be a Desert Island Discs choice. Probably via their astonishing b-side " I Betray My Friends". I think three of my DIDs would be b-sides; one from 77, and one from one to come... Lots of other great post-punk at 3. Siouxsie & The Banshees, who went from not being able to play any instrument to the peerless debut single " Hong Kong Garden" in a matter of months, and who ever since were constantly evolving, re-evolving, deconstructing and challenging. By coincidence someone on youtube has put up their two best singles on the same video - " Peek A Boo" and "Kiss Them For Me". Also from the post-punk world, Pete Wylie's Wah!, who constantly changed their name a la Spizz and Foetus, and of course Malcolm McLaren himself, another who constantly surfed the zeitgeist and especially in the late 80s produced some essential material - " Something's Jumping In Your Shirt" is a great pop song, and, my God, how sexy was Lisa Marie? Bananarama were also stellar before Stock Aitken Waterman ruined them - one of the best Pistols covers via their version of " No Feelings". And of course The Damned. " Eloise" is a triumph of what humans can do. Deserves to be considered an official no. 1 - a shame it wasn't Vanian and Scabies to take it there. Perhaps it was six weeks too late in being released... The best of the post-punkers though were probably The Belle Stars, who tended to have cover versions as singles, but when they went with their own material they had their biggest hit. Who else here worthy of note? I mentioned The Shangri-Las in no. 4. Red Box had one of the best songs to get here (and wouldn't it be a terrific planetary anthem?) but their period of hitmaking was all too brief. Jethro Tull amazingly scored no. 1 albums both in Britain and the States, and Ian Anderson has been consistent with his lonely furrow for nearly five decades. Betty Boo sparkled before her mother's illness took her away from the scene for too long (why wasn't her Wigwam a hit?). Transvision Vamp were the most successful Blondes, but despite having a no. 1 album, their label wouldn't let them release a follow-up. Wayyyyy to sabotage an act. The Beat later spun off The Fine Young Cannibals and scored no. 1s in the US - but their brilliant cover of an Andy Williams hit gave them their biggest in the UK. Mark Stewart of The Pop Group would probably have laughed had you told him he would go top 5, which he did via Pigbag. And within weeks of each other The Nolans and Bad Manners peaked at 3. Compare to today. Bloody hell. Going back earlier, bandleader (and occasional racing driver - 4th in the 1949 British Grand Prix) Billy Cotton got to 3 twice. As did The Barron Knights. The Goons also got here; Harry Secombe would get one higher. And the original Little Miss Dynamite - Brenda Lee - peaked here, albeit not with " Sweet Nothins". The absolute best record ever to peak at three though? This one. My God. Every single one of today's shitarse singers and their cretinous fans should be forced to listen to this. They need to know that they are being fed crap when there is honey sweet as distilled heaven around. And maybe today's pop murderers will be driven into the sea as a result. (Probably otiose of me to point out that no. 14 is in there as well...) (second-best number)
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Jan 31, 2015 13:42:15 GMT 1
oddly your best number three song is often performed on X-factor so will be familiar to the masses www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fui3Q4ma6Coone of the better singers to come out of the show but will probably still send shivers down your spine.
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Post by Earl Purple on Jan 31, 2015 21:10:06 GMT 1
My #4 would have to be either ABC or Dodgy.
For me #3 obviously Morrissey, not on your list.
If I ever do my retro chart, I will struggle when I get to the summer of 1966 as Sunny Afternoon and River Deep Mountain High were both charting at the same time. Can I make them both number ones?
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jan 31, 2015 21:45:42 GMT 1
2. Altered Images
Doubt anyone is surprised at this. Because they are, quite simply, the best band ever. Three albums, all of which were different, all of which were top-to-tail brilliant; from the dark obsession of the Steve Severin-produced debut (" Midnight"), through the purest indiepop of the follow-up (" Pinky Blue") to the lush orchestration of Bite (" Now That You're Here"). And their absolute best material was reserved for b-sides and bonus tracks; " So We Go (Whispering)", " I Don't Want To Know" and the absolutest absolute best song ever recorded - " Sentimental", the b-side to their debut single. Even more than that. A song that may have been even better than "Sentimental" never even got so far as a b-side; they never recorded it. A Louis MacNeice poem put to music. I first heard this in about 1999, when someone put it up on tinternet, in the days of whistles and bangs and three hour download times. When I first heard it, I was stunned into disbelief. AI had long been my favouritest ever act, but this was beyond even my imagination. How in the name of God could something this good ever be recorded - and who on earth decided not to turn it into a proper release? I think I listened to it for something like an hour straight (on Realplayer!), savouring its echoes and complexities like it was a Laphroaig Quarter Cask, losing myself in its whirl of astonishment. Rather sweetly, I have just noticed that the one video for it on youtube was put up by drummer Tich Anderson. " Prayer Before Birth". The only hesitation I had about putting them here was that they really should be in the next place up. There is no doubt in my mind that BMRB cocked up the charts for the week of 3 November 1981 and Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin snuck an extra week that the stats do not warrant. At some point I will, I hope, get the Lost Number Ones put up in a blog and maybe get the wider world to hear about it. The power of AI is such that I scarcely bothered to look at other no. 2 acts, but I am guessing that most of them will be familiar to many people anyway. To point up a couple that might be overlooked, Nat King Cole was obviously robbed of a series of number ones by there not being an official chart before 1952; Colin Brown's exquisite research suggests he would have had 4, and certainly "Nature Boy" and "Unforgettable" are epochal songs. I'd love to believe that Frank Chacksfield should have snuck a week with "Theme From Limelight", which gave Charlie Chaplin his only Oscar, and get him off the unwanted club of having no. 2 hits in both the UK and the US without a no. 1 in either. It also seems ridiculously unfair that Billy Fury* and Marty Wilde, who came close on a number of occasions, never quite made it either, albeit Fury's biggest hit was not his best work. The Fortunes nearly made it with delicious harmonies on " You've Got Your Troubles" and Squeeze came close twice. Many other worthies are in the Lost Number Ones threads as they scored top spots in at least one other chart. Of the ones I would have thought about without AI, I think I'd've had, in descending order, The Sex Pistols, Ultravox, Pulp and The Stone Roses. All denied the top spot by phenomenally unworthy singles. But one single I want to mention is one that tends to get a bit forgotten, namely "Jesamine" by The Casuals. Almost one-hit wonders, but if you're going to have only one hit worthy of the name, make it a good one. (Better than having 25 years of sh*te, Minogue.) * Vasfact: my dad was in a group in the sixties who were invited by Billy Fury's fan club president to play at a birthday party they were hosting for Fury. And my dad, thinking this would be his only opportunity to see a star from up close, observed him for most of the evening - and learned a lot from the way Fury handled and dealt with his fans; Billy Fury was very much a people person, very patient and a very good listener. The other members of the group were off trying to get off with girls, so, thankfully, my dad took a different course - otherwise he might have got off with a Fury groupie and there would be no Vas. So the world got a bit lucky there.
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Jan 31, 2015 21:58:29 GMT 1
Well for me it would be The Stone Roses by a mile but love Pulp, Ultravox and Altered Images as well never really into Sex Pistols guess its the couple of years you have on me that make a difference as I was too young I think to appreciate them. Oh and OMG The Who!!
Number one this is exciting, not your favourite number one but your favourite band/singer who have had a number one hmmm..think I might have to pick one from each decade as its such a big question. cya after your reveal.
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Post by Earl Purple on Jan 31, 2015 22:49:43 GMT 1
Stone Roses were kept of #1 by Baby D "Let me be your fantasy". It entered 5 places above "Stay Another Day" that week too.
Pulp kept out twice... Simply Red the second time did it. I didn't mind Fairground it wasn't as annoying as them being kept out by Robson & Jerome but I had hoped Pulp could replace Fairground at the top but they didn't.
Pulp potentially my choice otherwise Elvis Costello.
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