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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2015 23:12:32 GMT 1
Oooh, I wonder which one it will be
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2015 21:22:42 GMT 1
21. The Sweet - Blockbuster (1973)
For me, this is the chart-topper that just says "Glam Rock". By which I mean it's the one that sums up that era perfectly; the image, the song-title, the TV performance. However I do not consider it to be the best Glam number one. That will come later.
The definitive line-up of The Sweet came from diverse upbringings to form the group. Brian Connolly was a teenage Training Officer in the Navy before discovering that he had been adopted at birth, which caused him to drop his original foster name of McManus. Steve Priest was a schoolboy in the church choir, but knew his true passion was rock 'n' roll, and was inspired by watching Jet Harris play a mean bass guitar in The Shadows. Andy Scott came from a musical family, and became a guitarist really by chance - a family friend accidentally left a guitar at his parents house, and the teenage Scott started playing around with it more out of curiousity than anything else. Mick Tucker originally wanted to be an artist, but his Father bought him a drum kit, and he soon became inspired by American drummers such as Sandy Nelson and Buddy Rich.
The Sweet were originally called "Sweetshop" because they rehearsed above one. This name didn't last because another group had already chosen it and were already releasing songs, so "Sweetshop" became "Sweet". This was a no-nonsense and straight-to-the-point name chosen by the group - they were annoyed at the various late-60's acts who had pretentious sugary names such as "Strawberry Jam" and "Tangerine Peel".
The four group members all joined from various acts in the 1960's, and The Sweet's early style was a kind of bubble-gum rock; they wanted to sound like The Hollies or The Monkees, however many of their early gigs were in front of skin-heads who preferred reggae, so they didn't exactly go down a storm.
Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman became the main songwriters for the group, resulting in a stream of superb, loud, and memorable hits, but the group only provided the vocals on the very early 1971 hits - a session band performed the instruments on these songs - and it wasn't until around 1972 that Chinn and Chapman realised that The Sweet were actually pretty talented and allowed them to record themselves rather than use session players.
"Blockbuster" was the biggest of them all, at least in the UK. It kept "Jean Genie" off the number one spot and had pretty much the same opening guitar riff, although this has always been put down to coincidence. The song stampeded it's way to the top, shoving Little Grim Osmond out of the way as if to say "you've had your fun, now leave it for the grown-ups". The title was pure glam, the image, the sound, the siren, just brilliant.
The Sweet did stagger along unconvincingly when Brian Connolly left in 1979, but the end for the group came fairly soon just two years later. Connolly died in 1997 and Mick Tucker also passed five years later. But they and the rest of the group were just magnificent.
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Post by suedehead on Dec 16, 2015 21:56:44 GMT 1
I assume that means Long Haired Lover From Liverpool isn't in the top 20
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Post by raliverpool on Dec 16, 2015 22:15:35 GMT 1
21. The Sweet - Blockbuster (1973)
"Blockbuster" was the biggest of them all, at least in the UK. It kept "Jean Genie" off the number one spot and had pretty much the same opening guitar riff, although this has always been put down to coincidence. Yes, a coincidence that both Chinn & Chapman & David Bowie were simultaneously "inspired" to write a song around the John D Loudermilk blues rift of his 1963 composition Tobacco Road; which the Mickie Most produced Nashville Teens turned into a big international hit single; and The Doors - Roadhouse Blues was similarly based on that riff.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 17, 2015 12:16:43 GMT 1
Yeah I was aware that the riffs were similar to "Tobacco Road", but it was always put down to coincidence that Bowie and ChinniChap wrote their songs at the same time.
Chapman was actually quoted as saying "It's a good thing to revive riffs from the past because you know kids like it."
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Post by o on Dec 17, 2015 13:37:25 GMT 1
Sweet, T Rex, Rolling Stones, nice.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 17, 2015 19:34:38 GMT 1
20. Joe Cocker - With A Little Help From My Friends (1968)
If I'd planned this thread more carefully, then I would have reached this song next Tuesday, because December 22nd marks the 1st anniversary of Joe Cocker's death. He wasn't exactly a prolific hit-maker, and his visits to the UK top 40 were sporadic at best, but he should be commended for this superb version of an unremarkable Beatles song.
To make ends meet, the young John Robert Cocker simultaneously worked as a gas-fitter while performing as "Vance Arnold" in the early 1960's. This pseudonym was a combination of a character from an Elvis movie and singer Eddy Arnold. Cocker was already known by his nickname of "Joe", and initially played at local pubs and clubs in his home-town of Sheffield.
His first official single release was a cover of the Beatles' "I'll Cry Instead". Cocker actually hated this and refused to sing it on stage, which didn't exactly help it's promotion. Predictably it was a flop, and although he formed a new group called "Joe Cocker's Big Blues", it looked as though his musical days were over, and he went back to his day job with the Gas Board.
In 1966 Cocker tried his luck again, forming "The Grease Band". Again this didn't really lead to much in the way of success; the band was dissolved and then revived with a new line-up. It was this second incarnation that helped to record this particular chart-topper. Cocker also enlisted the help of a gospel choir, Jimmy Page, and an uncredited Steve Winwood. The result is surely one of the greatest cover-versions of a Beatles track ever. The Fab Four were so taken with it that they reportedly sent him a telegram congratulating him, and placed adverts in music magazines to help with publicity.
John and Paul had written the song specifically with Ringo in mind. It's original title was "Bad Finger Boogie" from which the brilliant and tragic Badfinger (q.v. #78) got their name. Joe Cocker has actually recorded several other Beatles' covers, but for me his other great song was "Delta Lady" in 1969. He did reach number one in America in the early 1980's with "Up Where We Belong", a song that he hated when he first heard it.
His problems with drugs and alcohol are well-documented, although ironically he was the only one in his act at Woodstock who wasn't stoned. His real low-point was pretty much the entire 1970's, where he was a regular user of brown acid and the even more notorious black acid, and some very unscrupulous people have tried to use this to their advantage; he was the victim of a wrongful arrest in 1972 in Australia.
Joe Cocker was the first and almost certainly the best "Cocker" to reach number one in the singles chart; the only other one that springs to mind is England's trainer Les Cocker who sang on "Back Home". Jarvis didn't quite get there unfortunately, and the less said about the other chart-topping versions of this song the better.
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Post by Earl Purple on Dec 17, 2015 21:03:47 GMT 1
Yeah I was aware that the riffs were similar to "Tobacco Road", but it was always put down to coincidence that Bowie and ChinniChap wrote their songs at the same time. Chapman was actually quoted as saying "It's a good thing to revive riffs from the past because you know kids like it." Thus they took the riff off "My Sharona" to make "Mickey" but when Run DMC used the same riff later they got sued.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2015 21:47:33 GMT 1
19. Slade - Cum On Feel The Noize (1973)
The best, the most underrated, the most successful. Slade arguably were the definitive glam group of the early 1970's, at least once they had dispensed with their skinhead image and Tamla Motown sound. And 1973 was their year, with three instant chart-toppers.
COFTN was written from the band's point of view to describe their life on the road and the fun they were having. It wasn't really a riposte to music critics, as some have opined, it was more a statement of how the audience made them feel. And "feel" is the key word here - the song was originally called "Cum on Hear the noise", but anyone can hear the music, you have to be on-stage to actually feel the music.
This fabulous chart-topper spent four weeks at number one, after "Blockbuster" had been there for five. And a look at the upper-reaches of the charts for those nine weeks shows what a thrilling place the top 5/10 must have been, week after week (I wasn't yet old enough to fully appreciate it at the time). The two songs between them fought off stiff competition and classic songs from the likes of Bowie, Glitter, Bolan, Carly Simon and The Strawbs. It was a stupendous time musically.
The four mainstays of Slade had recorded together as far back as 1966, and by the early 70's Noddy Holder and Jim Lea were doing most of the song-writing, including this one. Jim Lea was probably the one member of the group who took the music seriously and was looking for critical acclaim rather than just screaming fans, although this wouldn't have been helped by the deliberate mis-spelling of many of their hits, an idea of Noddy Holder's.
Noddy Holder could actually sing, something which is rather over-looked at times. His famous introduction on this song was actually just a sound check. Slade had five other chart-toppers, all of them commendable. Is there still time for any of them to make the next 18 songs on my list? Watch thiz space.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2015 13:53:09 GMT 1
18. Mud - Tiger Feet (1974)
The Glam-theme continues, although Mud were not as overt as many of their contemporaries, and it could be argued that they were only a borderline glam-rock act anyway. They perhaps didn't have the striking image of a Gary Glitter or the power-house sound of Wizzard. What Mud did have however was the happy knack of being in the right place at the right time.
Mud evolved in 1966 from a group named The Mourners. The line-up, as with so many similar groups, came from a varied background: Singer Les Gray had worked for Moss Bros, and had written adverts for Pearl & Dean; Guitarist Rob Davis had worked in the Accounts Department at a local firm; Drummer Dave Mount was an apprentice electrician and bassist Ray Stiles had worked as an architect. Their early years as "Mud" were unsuccessful, releasing a number of songs which showed potential but failed to chart.
Their first instance of "right place, right time" came in 1973 when they supported American crooner Jack Jones on tour. But they weren't on their own, because also present was Mickie Most, who had formed his own record company "RAK". Born Michael Peter Hayes, he had worked in the 60's with some real musical heavyweights including The Animals, Led Zeppelin and The Seekers, and had formed RAK towards the end of the decade. Mickie Most also worked with Nicky Chinn and Michael Chapman; he introduced them to Mud.
And here we have the second instance of serendipity. "Tiger Feet" was of course written by ChinniChap, but was originally offered to The Sweet. Their drummer Mick Tucker described it as "awful", it was rejected, and Mud were next in line to be offered the song. Something very similar had happened a few months earlier with "Dyna-mite"; The Sweet rejected it and Mud took it into the top 10, but "Tiger Feet" was a different proposition entirely and it helped to firmly establish Mud as one of the major acts of the mid 70s.
Life was now hectic for Mud. They would travel to Europe for various overseas music shows, then fly back to perform in concerts on the same evening. Their method of recording singles and albums was very no-nonsense. A single could be rehearsed and cut in just one day ("Tiger Feet" being a good example) and an album could be done and dusted in a week. They were also quite a diverse act - their three chart-toppers are fairly distinct songs - and their Christmas number one made use of Les Gray's ability to mimic Elvis. This was something deliberately introduced into the hits with "The Cat Crept In".
The Elvis theme continued when Les Gray left the group in 1979. He went off to play the King in a stage show, although he did reform Mud in later years with several different line-ups. The original line-up did "reform" in 1990 when they played together at Dave Mount's wedding.
Les Gray died in 2004, followed two years later by Dave Mount, who had gone into the Insurance business when the group folded. Ray Stiles joined the Hollies, and Rob Davis became a very successful song-writer; he has written or co-written at least three other chart-toppers.
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Post by suedehead on Dec 19, 2015 14:17:06 GMT 1
The last two definitely take me back to my early teenage years.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2015 20:24:30 GMT 1
17. The Beatles - Hey Jude (1968)
Regularly rated as the greatest of the seventeen Beatles' chart-toppers, it is one where I do think Paul McCartney tried to pull out all the stops in his effort to produce a mini-masterpiece, and in my opinion he succeeded. Helped by around 45 other people of course.
The song "Hey Jules" had popped into McCartney's head whilst driving his Aston Martin. He was heading to Weybridge to see Cynthia and Julian Lennon, to discuss John's infidelities. McCartney had something of a soft spot for John's son - Julian himself often compared him to an Uncle. The song was taking shape in his head as McCartney arrived, although "Jules" later became "Jude" - because this name sounded better and also because Paul liked the character of "Jud" from "Oklahoma".
After writing the song, McCartney demo'd it to just about anyone who would listen. This included turning up suddenly at pubs and clubs, commandeering the piano and singing it to those present. He would also gate-crash recording sessions of various artists and play the song to gauge their reaction. And he played it to the person whose opinion he valued the most - John Lennon. Lennon was impressed; he thought the song was about him rather than about his son. The only doubts that Paul had were over the line "the movement you need is on your shoulder"; John told him to keep this in, saying it was the best line in the song.
Before recording the song, The Beatles rehearsed it numerous times in July 1968. The actual recording of the song is the stuff of legend - an orchestra of around 36 people crammed into the studio; Ringo arriving late from a toilet break and very nearly missed his cue; someone swore just before the 3-minute mark which is audible on the actual single release; Paul argued with pretty much everybody and even stood on the piano to try and cajole the orchestra (one of whom played the old Trade-Union card and walked out, refusing to join in with the chorus, as it wasn't what they'd signed up for)
This was at the same time that the group was also recording for the White Album, and as before (#72) it was decided to omit the song from the album. Paul was really starting to get under the skin of the other three, and it is a minor miracle that they actually completed this, and completed the album.
George Martin had one or two doubts whether radio stations would play the song as it clocked in at more than seven minutes, John responded in his usual fashion by saying "they will if it's us". In fact the song was never intended to be quite so long, but Paul got carried away when singing the famous last four minutes - he was actually ad-libbing each line between the "na na na na Hey Jude" bits and was enjoying it too much. John, being John, mischievously wanted the B-side "Revolution" to be the actual A-side.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2015 13:37:05 GMT 1
16. Blondie - Atomic (1980)
First appearance for Blondie, and it may not be the last. "Atomic" is such a stylish song, co-written by Debbie Harry and Jimmy Destri. It was the only one of the group's chart-toppers from their original golden era written by Destri, although he would subsequently write "Maria".
Blondie's roots (hmmm) lie in a group called "The Stillettoes". Debbie Harry and Chris Stein were members for around 12 months before leaving in 1974 to form a new band which they named "Blondie" - so chosen simply due to the number of truck drivers who would lean out of their cabin windows and yell "Hey Blondie" as she walked past. This early version of the group underwent a number of personnel changes before settling on the classic line-up, which included Clem Burke, Jimmy Destri and Nigel Harrison.
Their success in the UK initially took the group by surprise. They first toured here in 1977 when supporting Squeeze, in Bournemouth of all places. The group were still ostensibly a punk and new-wave act, but of course became more mainstream with their cover of "Denise", (dropping the final "e" to make more sense being sung by a female). The chart-topping "Heart of Glass" drew criticism from some who felt that they had "sold out", but I personally have never had an issue with that kind of thing: to me there is a big difference between an act jumping on a bandwagon, and an act being able to adapt and modify their style because they have the talent to do it in the first place.
"Atomic" first appeared in a slightly different form on the "Eat To The Beat" album, and was remixed for it's 1980 single release. The song is another attempt to mix disco with elements of rock, and in the case of this song it includes deliberately silly lyrics. This was the idea of Jimmy Destri - he would be idly jamming with the group, creating guitar riffs and improvising lyrically with whatever felt right at the time. I mean, it is unlikely that someone would actually have the line "oooh your hair is beautiful" as a lyric already in their head. It's daft, it's almost throw-away really, but the song absolutely works, a tremendous chart-topper.
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Post by Earl Purple on Dec 20, 2015 13:58:02 GMT 1
The Americans didn't "get" glam rock until a decade later. Quiet Riot covered "Cum On Feel The Noize" and had a top 10 hit with it, which must have suddenly given more attention to Slade as they themselves had a top 40 hit shortly after with "Run Runaway", their only US top 40 hit.
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Post by Earl Purple on Dec 20, 2015 14:01:03 GMT 1
As for Blondie, I never saw "Heart Of Glass" as "selling out" (if anything covering Denise was) but more simply moving away from being a one-genre band. They later of course had reggae and rap hits, although they'd already done reggae on the Eat To The Beat album (Die Young Stay Pretty).
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Post by suedehead on Dec 20, 2015 14:17:02 GMT 1
This 1980s Blondie fan didn't see Heart Of Glass (another song revamped for the single release) as a sell-out, although I was well aware that some people did. And what's so unlikely about Bournemouth? The Beatles played more gigs at the Bournemouth Gaumont than any other UK concert venue outside London. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-18870586
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2015 14:39:02 GMT 1
The Blondie comments tend to support what I mentioned in the review; I personally didn't see them as selling-out, it was more an adjustment in style, because they had the ability to do so (rather than just jumping on a bandwagon). But I can understand why some purists at the time weren't too keen, each to their own.
As for Bournemouth......if there are any Bournemouthonians reading then I didn't mean to offend..
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2015 9:34:46 GMT 1
15. The Specials - Ghost Town (1981)
This song was set against a backdrop of fighting, violence and unrest. And that was just within The Specials. The group somehow managed to produce one of the most memorable and talked-about number one's of that era, and it is a fabulous swan-song to an all-too-brief period of chart domination, before the group imploded in 1981.
Jerry Dammers is the key man here, in more ways than one. It was he who created the original group in 1977 named "The Automatics", piece by piece, taking musicians from various different local groups and different musical genres. The only piece that he initially wasn't really happy with was singer Tim Strickland. He was replaced early-on by singer Terry Hall from the punk band "Squad".
Because the group-members were all local, they renamed themselves "The Coventry Automatics". The group came to the attention of DJ and Producer Pete Waterman (yes, that one). He briefly managed the band but became too hands-on. The Group fired him, which caused self-doubts over their futures. The group lurched from one musical genre to the next, recording a mixture of Punk, Ska, and Reggae.
More members had joined in 1978, and another name change occurred, the group were now known as "The Special AKA". The groups' full name was actually "The Specials A.K.A. The Automatics", but this was a mouthful, and it was trimmed accordingly. They embarked on high profile tours with The Clash and Sham 69, and whilst recording their debut album in 1979 they also dropped the "AKA" from their name. The Specials were defiantly anti-racist, this being one of Dammers' motivations for forming the group in the first place.
Elvis Costello produced the debut album. The group found themselves regularly in the top ten of the singles' charts, and in early 1980 hit the top with the five-track EP "The Special A.K.A Live". The main track was of course "Too Much Too Young", which technically was recorded just as "The Specials". The BBC didn't ban this although they did often fade-out (or simply cut) the final line about wearing a cap.
The group were on a roll. But there was already in-fighting and tensions were mounting. Guitarist Roddy Byers at one point smashed his guitar over Dammers' keyboards during a concert. The group would row over pretty much anything - the model of limo, the type of hotel rooms, often the group members wouldn't even look at each other on-stage. It is actually a minor miracle that "Ghost Town" came to be.
Jerry Dammers created the song after seeing the UK riots in 1980 (the more famous 1981 riots are actually coincidental - he had started writing the song before they happened). Dammers was inspired by what he had witnessed on the streets of Britain, and the lyrics of course reflect the economic and social unrest of that era. But putting it together was a problem. The group members weren't co-operating. The rehearsals were fractious. Roddy Byers was so frustrated that he tried kicking holes in the wall at the recording studio. Guitarist Lynval Golding constantly held up the recording of the song to argue with Dammers over chord structures. It wasn't pleasant.
The finished product is magnificent however. Even the video - shot in a very basic fashion - is still memorable today. But the group of course just couldn't last. Terry Hall became vocalist with acts such as The Fun Boy 3 and Colourfield. Jerry Dammers did go on to write "Free Nelson Mandela", and over the years there have been various reunions.
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Post by vastar iner on Dec 21, 2015 11:06:41 GMT 1
Noddy Holder could actually sing, something which is rather over-looked at times.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 22, 2015 1:41:08 GMT 1
14. The Boomtown Rats - Rat Trap (1978)
Yes I have this 13 places higher than "I don't like Mondays" - a song which I think is excellent - but "Rat Trap" is brilliant. It is also very important as it was the first ever New Wave chart-topper in the UK, and the first number one from an Irish rock group (The Bachelors reached the top in 1964 but they can hardly be described as "rock")
In 1975, a group called "The Nightlife Thugs" was formed by Garry Roberts, Simon Crowe, Gerry Cott, and cousins Johnnie Moylett & Patrick Cusack. The original idea was to have Roberts take lead vocals, but he was reluctant to take on this role and play guitar at the same time. The group really needed some guidance, and of course a lead-singer.
Enter Bob Geldof. He had been working as a journalist in Canada in the early 1970's, and upon his return to Dublin, was approached by Roberts who wanted him to manage the group. A meeting was arranged, but things didn't go according to plan. Geldof was keen to link up with the group, but not as manager, he would instead become the lead-singer.
Their first gig was arranged for Hallowe'en night 1975 at a Dublin College, but just before going on-stage, Roberts announced that he didn't like the group's name and threatened to quit if it wasn't changed. Geldof had recently read Woody Guthrie's Autobiography, which included reference to a gang of kids calling themselves "The Boomtown Rats", and so the group re-christened themselves just as they went on-stage.
A year later the band relocated to London, and took the brave move of turning down a £1m deal with Richard Branson's Virgin label, joining Ensign instead. A number of top 40 hits followed, and the Boomtown Rats became a big name, appearing on Top of the Pops and also on Marc Bolan's music show just a couple of weeks before his death. This marked a symmetry of sorts for Bob Geldof who had interviewed Bolan several years earlier in his journalist days.
"Rat Trap" was written by Geldof about an ex-colleague of his, from his days working in an abattoir. The song famously knocked "Summer Nights" off the top spot, and the Rats celebrated on Top of the Pops by tearing up photographs of John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, just as the cameras panned in on them. There was another humourous incident whilst performing the song on one episode of the show: Geldof picked up a candelabra and pretended to play it as a Saxophone. But what really stands out for me is the structure of the song and the key changes, it is more of a power-house vocal performance than on IDLM, and is quite possibly one of the most underrated chart-toppers of the entire decade.
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