TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Jan 1, 2015 12:30:59 GMT 1
'Wholly Humble Heart' had the backing of The Chart Show who played it at least twice but it didn't get enough radio play, it only had a few day plays on Radio 1 but was supported by Specialist DJs like Anne Nightingale and Nicky Campbell, yes he was a specialist for awhile. But yes by far their best song as well.
Loved The Silencers but most of their best songs fell short of the Top 75, Painted Moon, I See Red and the epic Scottish Rain. Although their last 'hit' 'I Can Feel It?' was so hyped to be their first top 40 but again no National radio play but was a hit in Scotland.
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Post by raliverpool on Jan 1, 2015 12:38:58 GMT 1
A long time ago on another site I did a Top 75 countdown based on an act could only appear once, but the difference was I did it on the best song to peak at the relevant chart position, rather than the highest charting peak of said act. (I.E. My #24 was David Bowie - "Heroes", etc)
Whilst the PC I had the excel spreadsheet on one day died, so I lost the data, along with a hell of a lot of other interesting or not so interesting stuff, I can definitely recall my #66 & #57 were identical to your selections.
This is certainly as ever an interesting countdown perhaps best typified by your #65 Psychic TV selection. I could never stand them musically, but my goodness me a film on the life of Genesis P-Orridge is crying out to be made.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jan 1, 2015 18:09:15 GMT 1
Think it would take me too long to do the peak-by-best-single. I certainly couldn't include Bowie (I agree that "Heroes" is the best of his singles) as I have 3 battling out for the no. 24 position. And one of them had a best single that was chart-ineligible. 56. Half Man Half BiscuitUntil the 6Music campaign I was struggling with this one. I respect what Autechre do, and find it remarkable that they did make the charts, but they are not my tasse de the. Cindy & The Saffrons at least brought to the charts one of the best singles of the sixties - the Shangri-La classic " Past Present & Future" - but it was an utterly pointless cover, trying to imitate the original but lacking any of the emotion. Which in itself is interesting as "Cindy" was Joanne Whalley-Kilmer. Interesting in that she could not act out the song anywhere like as well as the streetkid Mary Weiss. Even worse, they followed it up by murdering Twinkle's "Terry". It was therefore looking to be a straight battle between chart-hype beneficiaries The Photos and one-hit wonders Vindaloo Summer Special. Neither of which would have been a very satisfactory choice. The casting vote was heading for the latter, a label 'super'group made up of Ted Chippington, Fuzzbox and The Nightingales, but which provided Robert Lloyd - one of the epochal figures of Birmingham music - with his sole chart appearance. And then there was the threat to shut 6Music, and an attempt to get HMHB into the top 40 rundown. Absolutely no contest. Non-exhaustive list of subjects of interest covered by HMHB: Everest double glazing, impersonating Kendo Nagasaki, the former head of the FA distributing Albert Hammond bootlegs, papping Fred Titmus, Michael Moorcock, rhyming Nantwich with angst switch, running public entertainments in Barmouth, Prag Vec at the Melkweg, a man with a mullet going mad with a mallet in Milletts, irking purists, the singer out of Slipknot going to Rome to see the Pope, Jim Rosenthal lamenting the skills of Bob Wilson at anchoring television coverage, Mr Gwatkin's jacket, German film noir, going on after Crispy Ambulance... Exhaustive list of subjects of interest covered by the Minogue family: I also note Sadie Ama only peaked here - must be one of the lowest for a BBC Sound Of act. Whatever happened to Shola incidentally?
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Jan 1, 2015 18:18:16 GMT 1
She is still making music just had the ole motherhood break she had a minor hit with Toddla T in 2011 but in case the question was rhetorical her debut single was a gorgeous cover in her defence
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jan 1, 2015 21:23:36 GMT 1
Did she give birth to Toddla T? The name suggests extreme youth. 55. Paris AngelsThe music snob in me says that the representative here has to be Cabaret Voltaire, who were one of the biggest influences on the new wave and one of the first British synth groups to explore just what could be done if one eschewed the standard guitar/bass/drum line up. Or even Metric, very much in the new wave of new wave, something of the dark about them. But I had to go with the Angels, who mixed the blissed out baggy with a superb pop sensibility and a touch of shoegaze. No pretentions about them, indeed they seemed to become a group by accident, made up of cast-offs of The Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets and the Madchester scene in general. And they were another act on the Happy Daze tape I picked up. Also notable at 55 are a couple of acts who did not take themselves too seriously; Biz Markie, whose histrionic sense of humour has been evaporated in the current atrocious hip-hop scene; and Wubble U, who took the smart move of sampling Professor Stanley Unwin on one of the more memorable one-hit wonder hits. Bit difficult to work out why this was not massive, yet Sam & The Womp Oh Hang On I'm The Son Of Trevor Horn had a number 1. I may have answered myself. Was also tempted to put in this particular act, because they have a brilliant name...
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jan 1, 2015 21:34:41 GMT 1
54. The waste of money number
SymaripThe 2 Tone revival had a sort of Northern Soul influence on the radio. Back in the sixties and seventies, the DJs at the Northern Soul clubs prided themselves on digging out the most obscure material they could find, and often pasted white labels over their discoveries so that other DJs couldn't clock the name and title. The movement provided a number of unexpected hits, including chart-toppers, for acts whose best days were behind them. And when The Specials topped the charts, labels in the UK plundered their ska stock and pushed like mad. Which had the undisputed benefit of putting Symarip - an overlooked Afro-Caribbean outfit who had formed in London in the late sixties, whose name started out as Pyramids backwards - with their one chart appearance. Doubtless someone at Trojan sussed that "Skinhead Moonstop" was one of the tracks in the medley on the double-A of The Special AKA Live!, and that maybe people might want to get the original... Good job they did as 54 has a rather unprepossessing set of acts peaking at it. Three acts - Rootjoose, The Breakfast Club and The White Rose Movement - all had rather large promotional budgets behind them, or so it seemed, as the music media were all over them. As you can gather none of them made it. Otherwise, I was either stuck with Britain's poundshop answer to GWAR, Gaye Bykers On Acid, who used to do double duty as their own support act, dressing in drag under the name Lesbian Dopeheads On Mopeds; kudos for moxie if nothing else. The other was The Freshies, whose lead singer, Chris Sievey, later went solo and had a peak of 87 with a Christmas novelty. But his entire career was a novelty - his solo career was under his alter ego of Frank Sidebottom. I remember an interview on Breakfast TV that went something like this... Interviewess: I understand your latest single was a number one in the Timperley Charts...what are those exactly? Frank: I mek 'em up meself.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jan 2, 2015 0:01:08 GMT 1
53. The fictional number
MarvinI really don't have much choice over this number. Nobody else who hit no. 53 was any good. Baby Ford apart, whose " Children Of The Revolution" was a brave cover, and who got his start when The Chart Show made him a video for "Oochie Coochie". I've also got a sneaking regard for Insane Clown Possee, for making decent scratch despite the universal condemnation of music critics, and giving a light to the otherwise hopeless, but their music is not my thing. Better than most hip-hop though. Otherwise, I'm stuck with the Barry Gray Orchestra, whose name won't be familiar, but whose output will - they were effectively the house band for Gerry Anderson's series. So along with Marvin and ICP they form a sort of set of fictional figures on whom music is hung. Might also say the same for Faith Hope & Charity, who included Dani Behr in their number, and if you ever heard her attempts to sing live on The Word it's fair to say that the idea that she was a vocalist is also fictional. But there is some defence for including Marvin. Douglas Adams approached the original radio series of Hitch-hikers' Guide to the Galaxy as if it were a prog rock concert. He, and the BBC, concentrated as much on the music as on the script. With things like playing the Bee Gees up a semitone, backwards and slowed down to create the anti-music music in one episode - he could have just played "Night Fever" forwards, really. And the whole spacey atmosphere was influenced by, and an influence on, much electronic experimentation. The H2G2 theme was by the Eagles, oddly enough; a break taken from a rare performance with orchestra of their track "Journey Of The Sorcerer". The Radiophonic Workshop also worked overtime (of necessity - Adams was notorious with his indifference of deadlines) with even little things like Marvin's pssh-t-coff walk being a tape loop. Stock music in the series came from the likes of Eno & Fripp and Jean-Michel Jarre, but the second series was all BBC, led by Paddy Kingsland. As for Marvin's singles? They are definitely part of H2G2 canon, as Douglas Adams co-wrote all 4 sides, as well of course Marvin's lullaby with no tune in the third volume. The comic actor Stephen Moore, who did Marvin's voice (too tall for the suit), also co-wrote, and did the vocals for the singles; although the female vocalist on one b-side, the surprisingly haunting " Marvin I Love You", was Kimi Wong, who, in a link to an entry above, was married to Richard O'Brien, the writer of the Rocky Horror Picture Show...
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Post by TheThorne on Jan 2, 2015 9:21:12 GMT 1
Well you know I love Paris Angels especially that song but the (All On You) version is superior, call it version rather than remix hehe. Marvin lol we all loved him. Is #54 that bad??
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jan 2, 2015 18:18:17 GMT 1
52. Slowdive
Fairly easy choice as Slowdive are my second-favourite shoegaze band; my favourite is going to cause a gut-wrenching dilemma. And there is little competition for no. 52. The only other candidate was crusties Back To The Planet, briefly notorious around the time The Levellers were topping the album charts, but who leavened their hardcore green message with hints of Madness and pure pop. Very pleasant.
Slowdive though used to get total pelters from the music magazines and I never understood why. Their first couple of albums are part of my travel survival kit as I can happily drift through any long-haul flight listening to their enveloping whirlpool of dreams; the third was a major mis-step into electronica but at least I have a first pressing which is gaining in value as I type. They mutated into the sub-Beautiful South sound of Mojave 3, but recently got back to re-play some of their proper classics.
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Post by vastar iner on Jan 2, 2015 19:36:21 GMT 1
51. WireAnother one of those acts who had influence beyond their sales. Wire had three distinct careers. The first, in the punk explosion, in which they moved very quickly into some of the most cerebral and fascinating experiments in developing the new wave sound. Debut album Pink Flag was a milestone in showing that you didn't need to be a one chord wonder; follow-up Chairs Missing provided them their biggest hit. Then, after splitting into various side-projects and solo works, they had their second career, as a more conventional indie band, slightly elder statesmen when compared to the likes of Happy Mondays, in which they had their second chart success, a decade after their first, with their monument to lughole couture " Eardrum Buzz". And since then, after more splitting and the odd release under the name Wir, they have had their third career, pootling along doing what they feel like and riding the nostalgia wave. Not that uncommon. Another easy choice. Runners-up were Brighton's soft-poppers Frazier Chorus, and the bronze went to Swedes The Concretes, and pretty much everyone else at 51 seems to have been complete, total and utter crap. Sir Killalot? Andy G's Starsky & Hutch All-Stars? Monkey Mafia? Puh- leeze.
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Post by TheThorne on Jan 2, 2015 19:55:11 GMT 1
Vastariner in Slowdive shock hehe
I bough Back To the planets debut must has aged well but 'please don't fight' cimf sit happy next to Ting Tings and Charli XCX
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Post by vastar iner on Jan 2, 2015 23:21:33 GMT 1
50. Terry HallOK, into the top 50 now, which opens us up to sixties acts. Although there are not many in here. I suppose because most sixties acts were singles rather than albums acts, which immediately narrows down their oeuvre. And the few who developed the album as a piece in itself all had chart-topping singles, so are stuck in the big race for no. 1. One of those sixties acts who did peak at 50 was Keith Relf, the singer of ahead-of-their-time The Yardbirds, who tragically died from an accidental electrocution, but I've gone for another singer. Not for his solo career - I refer to what I said earlier about cheating - but as a sort of lifetime achievement. He's been a soloist, a duo (Vegas), a trio (Fun Boy Three/Terry Blair & Anouchka), a quartet (The Colourfield) and a septet-ish (The Specials). And all of them bar The Colourfield fell under consideration for their positions. So instead of a threatened Coventry monopoly, I'll just put them all here. Not Hall's best solo single - that goes to his version of " Sense". While I'm talking of Terry Hall, I may as well throw out a mention to New York one-hit wonders Hal Paige & The Whalers, whose sole chart appearance was with a very early ska number - recorded in 1958 and a hit a couple of years later. Bit unlucky for a couple of other acts who came close. Le Tigre and Age Of Chance. The latter had an unexpected Festive 50 hit with their cover of "Kiss", not bad for a sort of low budget and angry Art Of Noise, but their best record was the splendiferous " Bible Of The Beats".
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jan 3, 2015 0:16:32 GMT 1
49. Our Daughter's Wedding
The most notable thing about 49 is it is, I reckon, the single least inspiring number in the entire 100. Not an uncommon theme in the 40s. I struggled to fill this decad more so than any other. And 49 was the hardest of all.
In the end, I was torn between ODW and Fiery Furnaces, and the latter more for Eleanor Friedberger's solo career to date. Casting vote went to the former because their hit single was so quirky, so pomo, so catchy. Very American Kraftwerk. Outside these two, about the only 49ers to generate any interest were The Dictators and The Ministry, and I'm not often convinced by calculated agit-pop so I deffed them out.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jan 3, 2015 9:20:02 GMT 1
48. Pale Fountains
48 was scarcely any better than 49, but at least it has come up with one of the all-time great singles, which just puts Pale Fountains into this position. The main alternative was Tackhead, an unusually serendipitous combination of British production savvy and The Sugarhill Gang - basically Adrian Sherwood of On-U Sound and the three Sugarhill house musicians. Occasionally featuring Gary Clail doing a sort of rant-cum-toasting (that looks so wrong) over their tracks at live gigs. Which, in a smooth transition, brings to mind Blaggers ITA, who were of a similar stamp, riding on the coat-tails of the New Anger as the Manics abandoned their Clash tendencies for their U2.
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Post by vastar iner on Jan 3, 2015 14:53:05 GMT 1
47. Ian McCulloch47 rivals 49 in its paucity of peaking artists who are any good. Pinky & Perky stopped here for Cliff's sake. Legendary reggae pioneers The Maytals were Northern Souled into their sole hit in 1970 and would have been the representative here, had it not been for Echo & The Bunnymen getting in amongst competition that was too stiff for them. So their lead singer's solo career gives me an excuse for shoehorning them in here. They were sort of the last fling of the experimental mainstream; 1981's weirdness passed into a Tight Fit 1982, but for a moment it seemed to be a breather while the likes of The Smiths and E&TB got going. But it never happened as Thriller eviscerated musical ability in favour of hype and video. There had always been an element of hype in the past, but now it was all-encompassing, rather than being one of a number of elements. Even so Echo still enjoyed the odd top ten hit and provided some very memorable material - " The Killing Moon" being a strong synthesis of sound and vision. The less said about England United the better...
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jan 3, 2015 23:53:57 GMT 1
46. Front 242After a trio of weak numbers we get back to something much stronger. Two epochal acts topped out here. Throwing Muses, featuring Kristin Hersh, for whom the act of songwriting was physically painful, and Tanya Donelly, who went slightly more poppy with her Belly project, and almost scoring a no. 1 album in passing. The Muses' best single was a conscious attempt to write a hit, but for some inane reason the wonderful " Dizzy" was not. The other come from the unlikely world of Belgian industrial. Harsher and harder than the normal synth groups, they gradually evolved their sound and their art to a peak of commercial success on the cusp of the 80s/90s divide, and have intermittently released material over the last decade. The video for "Religion" is somewhat spooky and the song itself one that would be a good entrance music for the darts. Couple of other decent acts from different ends of the musical spectrum also made it to 46 - Anti-Nowhere League and Ultramarine, the former having a hit with a unique cover of "Streets Of London", which topped the indie charts, although it was not their biggest overall; the latter providing a rare chart appearance for Robert Wyatt.
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Post by Earl Purple on Jan 4, 2015 2:16:16 GMT 1
I have the Hal Paige & The Whalers song from the days of audiogalaxy. I was curious enough to want to know how it went. I also have the Moontrekkers "Night Of The Vampire" from the #50 gang. And of course I know The Angels - My Boyfriend's Back which was also part of the 1960s 50 club.
Hal Paige also did a song "Big Foot May" that sounds exactly the same as the one that charted.
Of course nowadays we just find them all on youtube: So much for them doing away with file-sharing
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Post by vastar iner on Jan 4, 2015 10:03:04 GMT 1
The Angels could probably well cope with flopping in Britain, as "My Boyfriend's Back" topped the US charts. 45. The WaitressesBest-selling no. 45 single ever? It's bloody annoying from two perspective. One, they keep getting popstrels to do anaemic covers, rather than just promote the original in being the mahoosive hit it should have been. Two, there was a lot more to The Waitresses than just this single, brilliant though that it was. Lots of fun X-Ray Spexish pop-punk, and another near hit with the theme tune to the series " Square Pegs". Maybe if there had been a proper video for CW it would have been much bigger - there was next to no television coverage for it. The only Waitresses promo I can find is for " I Know What Boys Like" which was their one US hit. Sadly singer Patty Donahue died of cancer in 1996. She was just 40. Bassist Tracy Wormworth had a bigger hit in Britain with The B52s; she was in their line-up for "Good Stuff". Lots of other goodness at 45. Stereolab were a major consideration, not just for their work as Stereolab, but for Tim Gane's work as founder of acerbic agit-poppers McCarthy. Plus, having peaked at 46 with Throwing Muses, Kristin Hersh peaked at 45 on her own. Only 44 more bands to be part of and she'll be number 1. Maria McKee's Lone Justice made it this far, as did the delicate stylings of Regina Spektor and the back-to-basics punk of The Lurkers. By some distance, 45 is the best of the forties.
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Post by vastar iner on Jan 4, 2015 12:49:48 GMT 1
44. The Farmer's Boys
Back to normal for the forties with 44. Not a good number at all. Emiliana Torrini came up with a touch of magic with "Jungle Drum", a hit all over Europe bare the UK, and I don't really understand why. Outside that she's perhaps a bit worth. Danish duo Laid Back won awards for their videos, especially for " Baker Man" (directed by Lars von Trier), but their creative peak was a bit transient. So I've gone to Norfolk's answer to The Housemartins for Baz, Mark, Frog and Stan, whose identities elude me beyond that. Shame that their biggest hit was a cover of Cliff rubbish - a jolly enough attempt, but you can't polish a turd. Smacked of desperation for a hit after their better singles had missed. And their best of all - " Phew Wow" - would follow and flop. Occasionally getting back together; three of them were The Great Outdoors at the turn of the millennium, and apparently they are recording right now. Maybe, given the Hullsters' success, they were a couple of years ahead of their time...
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Post by vastar iner on Jan 4, 2015 15:04:51 GMT 1
43. The should never have split number
The Professionals
Very odd. There are a large number of acts peaking here who had much, much greater, and better, success with other groups. It's a weird coincidence. Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong, for instance, basically Robin of Loxley, drummer for The Pipettes, with a band who included Rose's brother Tom (now in TOY), who signed a big big deal at the height of landfill indie, then delivered a very decent album which the label decided not to bother releasing. John Squire, like Paul Weller, never regained the heights he had with his first group, ever diminishing returns. David van Day's solo career died an early death whereas Dollar had lasted far longer than they had any right to expect. That Petrol Emotion, basically The Undertones' guitar section, continually besperpled the hinterland between 43 and 75. Frida was one of the As in Abba (why were they not Abbf?) and nothing she released as a soloist came close to even Abba's worst flops. And if Crowded House underachieved in singles, Tim Finn couldn't even get close to that level as a soloist.
Out of them all, then, I've gone with Cook and Jones, the Pistols' powerhouse, who did top ten with "Silly Thing" under the Pistols monicker - on which they were the only Pistols present. So The Professionals in all but name. Their achievements with the numerically small Pistols output just about nick them this spot, especially as, it's probably no real secret, I've got someone else in mind for no. 2.
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