|
Post by o on Mar 2, 2018 11:23:48 GMT 1
I had a look at the lost posted up and spent yesterday listing the songs I liked, ended up with 163, that's going to take some culling
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,930
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Mar 4, 2018 20:20:25 GMT 1
95 - People Everyday by Arrested Development Number 2 for 1 week in November 1992. Kept off the top by End Of The Road by Boyz II Men
Long before rap music started to be called ‘Urban’, these guys were rather successfully, if briefly, taking it down a route which was distinctly rural. The second and most successful of three brilliant singles from Arrested Development’s debut album 3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of..., People Everyday is based around the chorus to Sly & the Family Stone’s 1969 hit Everyday People.
In the late 80s and early 90s, as gangster rap became increasingly popular, a distinctly different, and very deliberately peaceful alternative rap style also flourished. De La Soul were arguably the forefathers with their talk of a Daisy Age, and acts like Dream Warriors, PM Dawn and A Tribe Called Quest were other notable exponents. People Everyday was arguably the biggest and one of the latest hits in that style, and for better or worse gangsta rap took hold and dominated the rest of the 90s. The charming Where Is The Love by the Black Eyed Peas, a global hit a full 11 years later, raised hopes of a revival, but a sadly it was a one off and everything they subsequently released in their long and very successful career was complete crap.
As a stand-alone single though, or considered alongside Arrested Development’s other two hits, Tennessee and Mr Wendal, People Everyday may not have signalled the way forward for rap music but it is an excellent record, and definitely one of the UK’s best number 2s. That it was held off the top by Boyz II Men’s dreadful, mawkish codswallop is fuel for the theory that all the best songs stop one place short.
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,930
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Mar 5, 2018 23:53:12 GMT 1
94 - Gold Digger by Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx 1 week at number 2 in October 2005. Kept off the top by Don’t Cha by The Pussycat Dolls featuring Busta Rhymes
Now we’re in the territory of hip-hop royalty, not just Kanye but the track itself. While in the U.K. an out and out hip-hop track did well to sneak a week at number 2, in the US Gold Digger spent 10 weeks at number one, and is ranked by Billboard as the 60th biggest hit of all time. Rap records don’t come much bigger than this.
So what made it so popular? The “I got a woman...” refrain, a re-recording by actor Jamie Foxx of a Ray Charles track, was clearly an inspired move, but Kanye’s lyrics just have something of the zeitgeist about them.
It’s really a social commentary on the politics (and specifically the finances) of marriage and parenthood, containing a lot of references an early 21st century American audience would find it easy to relate to. Hollering “we want pre-nup” is equal parts daytime TV show and conversation over lunch with colleagues. Therein lies much of Kanye’s appeal - like so many popular lyricists, he’s able to articulate what his audience is already thinking but hasn’t yet figured out how to say.
This song became so ubiquitous over subsequent years it was in danger of overshadowing Kanye’s many other brilliant singles. Furthermore, the man himself seems to have the kind of personality that makes as many people dislike him as like him. Quality wise it really isn’t a one off though - for anyone interested in thought provoking rap music who doesn’t know them already, Jesus Walks, Through The Wire and the incredible Runaway are a great place to start.
As a postscript, in the early days of YouTube a track by the Legendary K.O., based on Gold Digger but retitled George Bush Doesn’t Care About Black People, was a big success. It was about the then President’s response to Hurricane Katrina, and inspired by a comment Kanye made on a live fundraising telethon. A fascinating historical record of events which seem ancient history in the Trump era but were in fact less than 15 years ago, it’s well worth checking out.
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,930
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Mar 7, 2018 12:59:56 GMT 1
93 - By The Way by the Red Hot Chili Peppers 1 week at number 2 in July 2002. Kept off the top by A Little Less Conversation by Elvis Presley vs JXL
The Red Hot Chili Peppers formed in Los Angeles in 1983, and had been regulars on the U.K. chart for 12 years when By The Way became by far their biggest hit to date. I’d found them consistently brilliant ever since I first heard heard them, when a re-issue of the seminal Under The Bridge made the top 20 in 1992.
Californication, the album prior to the one for which By The Way was the title track, was simply fantastic. I was living in Cornwall at the time and they were enormous down there. It’s always amused me that any music with a California / surf / beach angle to it is disproportionately popular in the South West compared to the rest of the country. The region clearly has pretensions to being the UK’s California, but to be fair it is visually and meteorologically more like it than anywhere else on this green, cold and damp island. It’s geographically closest too! Anyway, for the 4 years I lived there, 1997 - 2001, the Chilis were inescapable.
When I first heard By The Way it struck me as being a bit too obvious, like they were deliberately going for a big hit. I still liked it though, and after they’d had years of making brilliant music on the fringes of the charts it would be silly to begrudge them a big hit. Strange that I thought that though because it says on Wikipedia that the band was convinced it wouldn’t be big, vocalist Anthony Kiedis saying "I thought that single was an über-bombastic assault of non-commercialism”. Sounded like a guaranteed big hit to me from the moment I heard it.
I’ve always found the lyrics a bit clunky compared to much of their earlier work. The phrase “Dani the girl” in particular seemed quite funny, like they needed to be extremely clear that it wasn’t a man called Danny singing songs to him. Some bands in the past have made great use of gender ambiguity in their songs, but not the Chilis, let no one be in any doubt that they are bare chested, red blooded Americans.
Incidentally, although they never got any higher in the charts, they did find themselves back at number 2 with Dani California, the lead single from their next album. Less urgent, less exciting, for me it was ok but just wasn’t quite as good as By The Way. The British public overruled me though, as it stayed in the charts for quite a while, whereas By The Way’s top 10 career consists of 2-10-out. There’s no accounting for taste.
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,930
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Mar 7, 2018 17:07:49 GMT 1
92 - Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town by Kenny Rogers & the First Edition 6 weeks at number 2 beginning December 1969. Kept off the top by Sugar Sugar by The Archies (1 week) and Two Little Boys by Rolf Harris (5 weeks)
Much maligned in the history of pop, and always far more popular in the US than over here, country music has nevertheless played an important and often very interesting part in the UK charts. If anything, you could argue that Kenny Rogers is much maligned in the history of country music, but while he does clearly represent the very mainstream, soap opera style end of the genre, I have always found his tales of the tribulations and tragedies of simple honest folk quite charming. I like a good story.
Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town is told from the point of view of a man, paralysed during the Vietnam War, pleading with his wife not to go on a night out, looking for the one thing that he can no longer give her. Well, one of the things, I doubt he’s much use at DIY any more either.
The lyrics don’t shy away from the pathetic nature of the man’s situation. He only wants her to wait until he’s dead, which he’s overheard a doctor saying won’t be long now anyway. The song doesn’t exactly leave you sympathising much with his position either though - his comment as she leaves the house that if he had a gun he’d shoot her dead is as psychopathic as it is tragic.
It all sounds very depressing, but you’ve got to consider this in the context of the times. The gritty realism of this melodrama was high in the charts at a time when the Vietnam War still had many years to run, and public dissatisfaction with the situation was growing. Although it might not be obvious at first, this is an incredibly topical anti-war protest song. Not only that, it’s aimed squarely not at the hippies and peaceniks who you might expect to lap up a protest message, but instead at country music loving middle America, the very people US governments rely upon for support in their foreign adventures. The very people whose opinions eventually caused America to return home from Vietnam beaten and humiliated.
As it happens, the context of this track’s chart run is also fascinating. The fact that it was kept off the top first by The Archies and then by (whisper it) Rolf Harris is a reminder that the decade which gave us many of the best chart toppers ever ended with a cacophony of novelty records. There were a lot of very strange chart runs at the time though - this one spent 5 weeks at 2, fell to 4, then went back up to 2 for a week. Elvis Presley’s wonderful Suspicious Minds filled the gap at number 2 with a chart run of 7-2-6 having previously peaked at 4. Sugar Sugar followed 8 weeks at number 1 with 3 weeks at number 3 and 2 weeks at number 6.
It could simply be that chart compilation methods were a bit haphazard in those days, or maybe the measurement was right and for some reason the traditional climb-peak-fall sales trajectory wasn’t happening. Either way, Ruby... must have been shifting loads of copies. Wikipedia says it was a million seller, although the OCC don’t list it as one. I’d be fascinated to see any sales estimates if anyone has any.
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,930
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Mar 8, 2018 12:20:49 GMT 1
91 - Part Of The Union by The Strawbs 3 weeks at number 2 in January 1973. Kept off the top by Blockbuster by The Sweet (2 weeks) and Cum On Feel The Noize by Slade (1 week)
In my career I have spent the best part of 13 years helping all sorts of different organisations improve their profit margins by reducing their costs. It never fails to amaze me how many successful companies have carried on for decades working on the assumption that the only ways to make more money are to either sell more or charge more. My job often involves helping them see that if they reduced their costs they could do neither and would still be making more money.
This has occasionally put me at odds with unions, and has even led people to accuse me of being at odds with my own beliefs - I am personally quite left wing, and a fully paid up member of the Labour Party. What my experience has taught me though, as I have often found myself explaining to Shop Stewards and their like, is when people are doing jobs which are not necessary, that’s bad news for everyone. No one has ever been made redundant as a result of any project I’ve ever run, but lots of people have had their roles changed so that they are more secure and adding more value. I, on the other hand, was once made redundant, so I know what it feels like.
A love of pop music and a half decent understanding of industrial relations do not sound like two facets of a personality that would ever come into contact with each other. That would be to ignore three glorious weeks at the start of 1973 though, where were it not for two absolute classics of the glam rock genre, they would have combined at the very top of the charts.
Part Of The Union is a simple, singalong ode to the benefits of union membership. It is so intransigent in its us (the workers) versus them (the bosses) mentality, with its worries about “the lies of the company spies” and determination to “ruin the government’s plans”, that some people thought it was a spoof, but the band have always maintained it is a straightforward homage.
This is The Strawbs only top 10 single, although the album it came from also peaked at number 2 in 1973. They have a long, complicated and highly acclaimed history, taking in various genres, and counting a pre-fame Rick Wakemen as one of their key members for two albums, as well as Sandy Denny, who went on to legend status in the folk music world as leader of a Fairport Convention. Part Of The Union is not particularly representative of their work as a whole, it’s so unusual it would be strange if it was, but they have such a varied back catalogue it’s hard to point out any one track that is, they’re well worth checking out though.
|
|
|
Post by Earl Purple on Mar 8, 2018 14:54:04 GMT 1
Kenny Rogers is associated with country music but in 1969 he wasn't. And originally the band was just called The First Edition. He was the lead singer but only later did it become "Kenny Rogers And The First Edition".
Even his next UK hit "Something's Burning" wasn't country music, and was far more representative of the the type of music his band was generally making at the time. Also listen to "I Just Checked In To See What Condition My Condition Was In" which is currently in our retro chart of 1968.
He actually wanted to record more country music so chose that song and I guess the history showed that he split with the rest of the band to take a more country direction with the music he made later on.
I think the chart compilers changed at some point in 1969 but we have seen unusual movements at other times too like early 1982 caused by the TOTP effect with a different week.
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,930
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Mar 9, 2018 8:39:59 GMT 1
That’s interesting Earl Purple. I wasn’t born until 1977 so I’m not in a position to say what Kenny Rogers was associated with at the time, but when I listen to Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town I hear country music, that’s exactly what it sounds like to me.
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,930
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Mar 9, 2018 8:48:28 GMT 1
Crikey, look, I’ve written 10 of these already! Time for a recap. Cue Pick of the Pops music:
100. Barking by Ramz 99. These Days Rudimental featuring Jess Glynn, Macklemore & Dan Caplen 98. Shake It Off by Taylor Swift 97. Informer by Snow 96. Streets Of London by Ralph McTell 95. People Everyday by Arrested Development 94. Gold Digger by Kanye West 93. By The Way by the Red Hot Chili Peppers 92. Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town by Kenny Rogers & First Edition 91. Part Of The Union by The Strawbs
|
|
|
Post by Earl Purple on Mar 9, 2018 10:46:05 GMT 1
That’s interesting Earl Purple. I wasn’t born until 1977 so I’m not in a position to say what Kenny Rogers was associated with at the time, but when I listen to Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town I hear country music, that’s exactly what it sounds like to me. You know that one, and then post-1977 Kenny Rogers (Lucille, Coward Of The County etc). because that is how he was successful in the UK but if you listen to other First Edition songs it isn't country, not even the top 10 follow up "Something's Burning". Part Of The Union: I was 8 years old and loved it. Even then I knew Edward Heath's government was a disaster. Power cuts, high inflation, etc. but also thought of unions as troublemakers so it felt there was something a bit rebellious about this song.
|
|
|
Post by o on Mar 10, 2018 0:42:21 GMT 1
Love both the Chilis #2s.
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,930
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Mar 10, 2018 10:44:57 GMT 1
90 - Ain’t Got No (I Got Life) by Nina Simone 1 week at number 2 in December 1968. Kept off the top by Lily The Pink by Scaffold.
My first introduction to Nina Simone’s work was listening to the amazing My Baby Just Cares For Me when it made the top ten after appearing in a jeans commercial in 1985. I was 8 years old and alongside everything else in the charts that song sounded older than time itself, and yet still completely captivating.
I never gave much more thought to Simone until, 21 years later, my wife bought her very successful greatest hits album The Very Best Of, which was released after a remix of this song appeared in an advert for Muller yoghurt. Everything on it was excellent, her version of Mr Bojangles was absolutely fantastic, I was hooked. Via a book about protest songs I discovered an incredible civil rights related track which was her own composition, Mississippi Goddam, and began to read about the lady herself and her fascinating and somewhat troubled life. Born into severe poverty and pretty severe religion in North Carolina in the early 1930s, through sheer talent as a pianist she worked her way up to huge international success. With some fairly extreme views regarding civil rights and a legendary bad temper, she was one of the true characters of 20th century music. Having publicly disowned the United States, she died at home in the South of France in 2003.
Just like most of what she did, Ain’t Got No (I Got Life) succeeded alongside other music of the time without being particularly influenced by it at all. It’s actually a medley of two songs from the musical Hair, which if I knew anything at all about musicals I would have known already, but in fact I found out yesterday when researching this. It promotes of the idea of being grateful for all the incredible things we have as humans instead of thinking about what else we want, an anti-commercial sentiment we would all benefit from baring in mind, but which was maybe a bit lost on the yoghurt people. It’s also a proper stomper - not all Simone’s music would obviously inspire dancing, but even without the remix this one most certainly does.
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,930
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Mar 14, 2018 11:31:10 GMT 1
89 - Delilah by Tom Jones 3 weeks at number 2 in April 1968. Kept off the top by Lady Madonna by The Beatles (2 weeks) and Congratulations by Cliff Richard (1 week)
When I first started investigating the pop charts of the 1960s, I was amazed at how many big hits were essentially easy listening tracks by male crooners. Born in 1977, the media had, for my entire life, given me the impression that the sixties was entirely about jangly pop groups, when in fact for every Beatles or Animals hit there were several more by the likes of Frank Sinatra or Ken Dodd.
My initial reaction of shock gave way to a realisation that while a fair bit of this stuff was rubbish, some of it was really very good. I’d never properly thought about quite where some of the really big names in pop history that I’d always known fitted in. Tom Jones was a good example - I knew he was Welsh, I knew he tended to thrust around a lot, I knew women threw knickers at him, I knew Sex Bomb made me feel sick, but I didn’t know what he was famous for singing in the first place. The answer is, partly, Delilah, by far the best thing he’s ever done.
As I’ve mentioned before, I love a good story song. Where drama is concerned they don’t come much more exciting than Delilah, and Jones’ impressive lungs just add gravitas to the seriousness of the situation. The lines “she stood there laughing, I felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more” are about as brutal and sinister as you will ever get at this height in the charts.
What really strikes you most is how brazen it all is. With a plea for forgiveness from the recently deceased titular character, and the certainty that the police will “come to knock down my door” there is no attempt at denial, not even any remorse, just the simple fact that “I just couldn’t take any more”.
In recent years this track has come in for criticism, accused of justifying domestic violence. It certainly features domestic violence, there’s no denying that, but I would argue that to claim it somehow makes it seem acceptable is missing the point. While the claustrophobic, single minded, obsessive frame of mind the narrator is in helps explain why the murder took place, he knows all along that what he has done is wrong. “She stood their laughing, I explained that I could no longer tolerate her behaviour but was going to calmly do the right thing and leave her” may be more socially acceptable these days, but it wouldn’t make for anywhere near as good a story. Plus it wouldn’t scan.
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,930
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Mar 14, 2018 12:36:03 GMT 1
88 - Everybody In The Place by The Prodigy 1 week at number 2 in January 1992. Kept off the top by Bohemian Rhapsody / These Are The Days Of Our Lives by Queen
When The Prodigy reached number 3 with their debut single, Charly, in summer 1991, it felt like a change was occurring. While it undeniably played on the nostalgia factor of 1970s public information films, there was something else less obvious going on too. This was a type of dance music more frenetic than we were used to having so high in the charts. The word rave was being used more and more in the media, and this fitted in with the emerging culture perfectly.
One major difference between this new genre and more traditional forms of pop was that it was not at all making stars of its artists. Everyone knew Jack Your Body, Pump Up The Volume and Beat Dis, but absolutely nobody would realise if they passed Steve Silk Hurley, M/A/R/RS or Bomb The Bass in the street. Many of the artist credits actually seemed to be created to preserve the anonymity of the people behind the sounds, and very often they were never heard of again. Until the release of Everybody In The Place, there was nothing about The Prodigy which suggested they would be any different.
So in a historical context, therefore, the first thing that should be recognised about this single is that it was a surprise hit. The fact that it was even bigger than their debut was an even bigger surprise, and this time there was no novelty aspect to help explain it. This single made people sit up and pay attention - maybe dance music was transforming from one off hits made in someone’s bedroom into something that was marketable and would make money, an actual movement. It was quite ironic that such a trail blazing single should be kept off number one by a 16 year old rock record.
As it happens this wasn’t the last time The Prodigy would surprise even themselves with their ability to bring new sounds to the masses. Keith Flint is on record saying that after Fire Starter he told himself that they would never sell that quantity of singles again, then their follow up Breathe sold even more.
That’s a reminder that The Prodigy did of course go on to become one of the biggest acts of the 1990s, both in singles and albums. Even after the success of Everybody In The Place no one would have guessed that. In some ways I think they became so big by the middle of the decade that their earlier, more home made sounding stuff got a bit overlooked. At the time though this was a thrilling addition to the charts, and it’s still quite an adrenalin rush even now, 26 years later.
|
|
|
Post by Vetroplach on Mar 20, 2018 10:47:59 GMT 1
I have fond memories of this Prodigy song. Just about this time I started visiting dance venues and me and my friends were just crazy about this record. I remember we taped the video and tried to copy the foot step as being seen in that video through slow and stop motion. Then we went off on a night out and kept asking DJs to play it so we could show off our tribal dance. They were reluctant to put the record on because it was generally though to be a rather heavy rave stuff people wouldn't normally dance to - and they didn't. It was only like 4-5 of us stepping in the middle of the dancefloor enjoying our 3 minutes of total frenzy. I'd probably wouldn't want to see me doing that now, luckily, no cameras or mobile phones available sent this experience straight into the thrash-bin of personal histories:-)
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,930
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Mar 20, 2018 15:19:15 GMT 1
87 - Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus 2 weeks at number 2 in February 2001. Kept off the top by Whole Again by Atomic Kitten
Every now and then a previously unheard of North American band comes along with a rock or alternative single which is distinctive, quirky, funny, and captures the British public's imagination enough to see them in the top 10. I reckon this trend stretches back to They Might Be Giants in 1989. There's now quite a list of them, including Barenaked Ladies, Electric Six, and Alien Ant Farm to name just a few, but kings of them all, certainly sales wise, are Wheatus. Hailing from Northport in New York State, they stormed radio airplay in early 2001 with this high school tale of teenage angst, and it's never really gone again.
It's a tale of nerds and jocks (I believe that's the right terminology, correct me if I'm out of date) and low self esteem which will resonate with many people who have been through the state school system. The narrator fancies a girl, but believes she is way out of his league, her boyfriend is sporty and scary, but in the end all his dreams come true when she asks him om prom night to go and see Iron Maiden with her. She's even already got the tickets.
This is an incredibly American tale - I said a lot of people would relate to it but I meant in general, the actual specifics of pupils driving their own cars and the scary boyfriend who "brings a gun to school" could only be about one country. As it happens, the line about the gun is rarely heard these days, it's replaced with a scratching noise in keeping with the American tendency to pretend gun violence isn't happening rather than doing something about it. It's an interesting point - this was only 17 years ago, but I guess that in a post-Parkland, post-Virginia Tech, post-Sandy Hook, post-all the others world it probably wouldn't even get released.
Chart-wise Teenage Dirtbag took on a life of its own. After flying straight in at the runners up position it went on to clock up 15 weeks in the top 20, amazing at a time when a lot of songs, especially those which entered high, were gone before most people noticed them, and especially when you consider that after the first week people would have been paying around £3.99 for the CD single. The really impressive stuff came 10 years later though, by which time iTunes had a dominant position in the singles market. Every now and then they discounted the price of a few old tracks and promoted the sale heavily on their front page. Why they kept including Teenage Dirtbag is anyone's guess, but it was consistently the highest seller in the sale, and actually sold enough to re-enter the top 100 six times between 2011 and 2016, peaking at 35, 36, 46, 46 again, 54 and 86. One of the most pointless things I have ever heard on the radio occurred when hapless (and frequently clueless) top 40 presenter Reggie Yates had the singer from Wheatus on the phone discussing the song's reappearance at 35. Maybe the BBC's lack of willing to mention iTunes for fear of promoting it played a part, but it came across as though neither of them had the slightest idea why it had happened.
Although they did also make the top 10 with a passable cover of Erasure's A Little Respect, Wheatus never came near this level of success again. I guess Teenage Dirtbag is their pension plan - it spent 4 weeks at number one is Australia but oddly never troubled the charts at all in the US.
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,930
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Mar 20, 2018 15:53:59 GMT 1
86 - Love Of The Common People by Paul Young 3 weeks at number 2 in November 1983. Kept off the top by Uptown Girl by Billy Joel (2 weeks) and Only You by The Flying Pickets (1 week)
There was always bound to be a reference to Common People on this list, but perhaps not so soon and not necessarily in this guise. Maybe it’s my socialist instincts and working class upbringing which leads me to include them at every opportunity, or maybe it’s just that this is unexpectedly a really good single.
I say unexpectedly because it was an old song which had already been recorded by many other people before Paul Young got hold of it, and also because it was only two singles after his genuinely awful debut hit, the chart topping Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home). As Harry Styles taught us last year though, sometimes great singles come from the least likely of sources.
The song is a bleak portrayal of poverty, but nevertheless comes with a note of optimism. The lyrics really stuck with me as a child. I was only 6 when it came out but one of my sisters played the parent album, No Parlez, over and over again. All this talk of free food tickets, trying to keep your hands warm and the hole in your shoe letting the snow come through seemed very vivid to me, and without going too obviously for the sympathy vote, was probably not a million miles away from an existence I could very closely relate to myself. I could never quite make out the line “Daddy’s going to buy you a dream to cling to” and used to sing “a dream McLintoo”, imagining some wonderous Scottish machine that could make dreams come true.
Paul Young is a great singer who all too often applied his natural ability to songs that were rubbish, but not here. The production on this, with percussive breathing sounding for all the world like someone trying to warm their hands, is excellent too, and the whole thing adds up to an really great pop record. Marketed at Smash Hits readers as a dream boat dishy pop star, it would have been almost impossible for anyone who wanted to maintain any level of credibility at the time to admit to liking any of Young’s record, but over time the marketing fades and all you’re left with is the track itself as evidence. This might not be cool, but it is very good.
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,930
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Mar 25, 2018 8:38:47 GMT 1
85 - The Killing Of Georgie (Parts I & II) by Rod Stewart 1 week at number 2 in September 1976. Kept off the top by Dancing Queen by Abba.
And now for something really quite extraordinary. There are lots of reasons why on paper The Killing Of Georgie doesn’t seem like big hit material, and yet here we are. This track stands out from all the other number two singles simply by being so unusual, but it makes its way into this list by combining that with a genuine pop appeal too.
The first unexpected thing about this track is that it was written single handedly by Rod himself. He’s done some great stuff over the years but that’s always seemed to be thanks to being given quality material. He’s had the odd co-writing credit over the years, but the obvious assumption would be that he changed the odd word here and there, or maybe even had some Spice Girls style royalty deals. He just comes across as an excellent performer and singer, but not a writer. That this fascinating song comes from the pen of someone who might not be an experienced writer is amazing.
Then there’s the song itself. It tells the story of a young gay man, shunned by his family who could not accept his sexuality, who moved to New York and became well known on the party scene. Rod sings from the point of view of an old friend, which apparently is exactly what he was, it’s a true story about someone he knew when he was in The Faces.
Sadly it doesn’t end well. One night after sneaking out early from “the opening night of another Broadway hype”, he was walking arm in arm through the city streets with his partner, encountered a street gang and was stabbed. Rod surprisingly shows a degree of empathy towards the killer - “he did not intend to take his life, he just pushed his luck a little too far that night”.
From the tragedy of his failure to be accepted by his family, to the success and popularity of his life in New York, and then back to tragedy as the blood drains from his body on the sidewalk, this is an all too believable tale of the ups and downs of a gay man in what was still a relatively hostile world. Herein lies the second extraordinary point about this track - we’re lead to believe that mid 1970s Britain was a largely homophobic place, and yet here at number 2 in the charts is a song which casually details the friendship between two men, one straight and one gay, and highlights the injustices facing gay men in a hostile world. You can’t help thinking a lot of singers would have considered releasing this song career suicide, but Rod clearly didn’t, and it wasn’t. Not only that, but lots of people bought it.
The third extraordinary thing about this single is its structure. So far I’ve only really mentioned part 1, which is a long series of wordy verses getting away without having a chorus because of the intriguing nature of the story. A chorus was written though, but unfortunately it’s in a completely different tempo and therefore there was no way of bringing it together with the verses. What to do about this? Well just tag it on the end after the main song is finished I suppose, and voila, part 2 is born. In total that makes the track 6 minutes and 20 seconds long, but hey, why not?
There you have it. The Killing Of Georgie’s conception, subject matter, and structure make it one of the least likely hits ever, but in a strange way it all works, and for one glorious week in 1976 it was the main competition for Abba’s mighty Dancing Queen. You never hear it on the radio any more, I wonder if it was even played much then, but it is a genuinely great number 2.
|
|
|
Post by Earl Purple on Mar 25, 2018 9:01:01 GMT 1
The Killing Of Georgie preceeded Smalltown Boy by 8 years. Of course another big difference is that Rod Stewart himself was straight, while Bronski Beat were comprised of members who themselves were gay. So here we have even someone who is not gay themselves protesting for gay rights for others.
Paul Young had been around for a while, of course, and Wherever I Lay My Hat wasn't his first hit, just his first solo hit, as he had a top 20 hit in 1978 with "Toast" as part of Streetband. "Love Of The Common People" had actually been released previously as well by him. He only wrote one of his own solo hits though "Everything Must Change".
The 60s are a mixed bag, and a lot of the groups even are not writing their own hits. Some started off with covers then wrote their own stuff (e.g. The Hollies: most of their early hits are covers or not written by them. Even the first few Rolling Stones hits were covers). What I did notice was that as we pass 1963 and the Beatles arrive, the careers of most of the budding young artists that were around in the early 60s disappear. Were they all getting dropped?
So we don't see Neil Sedaka or Paul Anka having hits during the Beatles era even though they were both still fairly young at the time, and were both writing or co-writing their songs. But they both made comebacks in the 1970s once the Beatles had gone. Roy Orbison is the only one who seemed to survive.
Delilah was written by the same songwriting team that wrote "The Last Waltz", a hit for Engelbert, which is often unfairly criticised in my opinion. It is true that when that was #1, there were some far better songs in the chart behind it, but there were just great songs out at the time. The Last Waltz itself isn't that bad. In my chart it peaked at #8.
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,930
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Mar 25, 2018 10:56:05 GMT 1
84 - What’s Up? by 4 Non Blondes 2 weeks at number 2 in July 1993. Kept off the top by Pray by Take That.
Some songs, like The Killing Of Georgie, make this list because they have a fascinating story behind them. Others, like What’s Up?, are here simply because they’re really, really good.
That’s my way of saying that while I love this song, I don’t actually know much about it. It’s just gorgeous American guitar pop, worthy of many of the greats in that genre but actually by a group from San Francisco who had no success prior to this song being a hit, and who split up shortly afterwards.
I’m not sure why but I got the impression from their name that the band was an all female and somewhat feminist group, so it’s quite a surprise to find from Wikipedia the guitarist was a man called Roger.
The song is a relationship related affair which sounds vaguely empowering in its demand for information, but also slightly despairing. The singer finds herself “trying to get up that great big hill of hope, for a destination”, and I think we’ve all felt like that occasionally. The sound evokes feelings of driving on dusty, empty roads in the afternoon sun along the American west coast, pure escapism because I’ve never done any of that before.
Some songs don’t need much explaining, they’re just really good.
|
|