Every UK #1 Single Of 1974 Discussion Thread

And bang a gong.

 

You got it.

 

Re: The Tony Currie quip. You do know that only probably 3 people on the entire Forum got that, right? Made me smile though. Man was a legend to us.

Anyhow, very little from '74 on here. '71, '72, '73 and '75 are nudged, but seeing as it's a rock & roll-themed cafe the majority of singles are aimed at that clientele.

Rest assured that every time I go in numbers 143 and 145 get some serious hammer (as do 170 and 135 )

 

As many as 3!

I love that jukebox, 164 and 247 would probably empty my pockets. As would 252, 236 and many more. Nice one Andy.

 

Oh, I play loads more. Just that Crazy Horses and Sugar Baby Love are old favourites.

 

And now for a look at the songs that managed to get to #1 on the NME chart, while "just missing" the top of the Official, starting with:
NME #363: "The Show Must Go On" by Leo Sayer
(#1 for 1 week - 16 January 1974)

UK release (B side: "Tomorrow"):

US release (B side: "Innocent Bystander"):

Wikipedia entry (needless to say, my preferred version is Three Dog Night's)

 

The song about love between newborn babies was “Nappy Love”, which was sung in a doo wop style. The title of this little gem was a play on “Puppy Love”.

(Nappy is UK English for diaper.)

The lyrics were great, including “Just like a safety pin, our nappy love holds our emotions in.”

Around 1976, The Goodies switched to Island and put out a great single called “Blowing Off”, which told the story in Johnny Cash “A Boy Named Sue” style about a guy who was born with severe flatulence. He found in the end that he could f*rt in tune and got rich going out on the road as a performer.

Like “It’s A Gas” by Alfred E. Neuman, there are plenty of accompanying sound effects. The title plus the sound effects guaranteed zero airplay, but if you can find it on YouTube then it’s worth finding as it’s very funny if you like a little clean smut with clever and funny lyrics every now and then.

 

NME #364: "Teenage Rampage" by The Sweet
(#1 for 1 week - 23 January 1974)

(B side: "Own Up, Take A Look At Yourself")

UK labels:

At this point, the Sweet did not have a US label, as Bell Records had dropped them (or they left, or whatever), and they were a year off from being snapped up by Capitol; all US pressings were for export only:

Sadly, there is no Wikipedia entry for this one, which could only muster #2 on the "official" charts.

 

Poor Sweet, yet another fantastic single that stuck at no 2.
Those artists who reached no 1 on the NME chart yet stuck at no 2 on the official chart but have been really peed off.
This was the last in their classic run of fantastic glam singles.

 

Sort of the same feeling as with US artists that hit #1 in Cash Box and/or Record World but got stuck at #2 or lower in Billboard, no?

 

NME #370: "The Cat Crept In" by Mud
(#1 for 1 week - 24 April 1974)

B side: "Morning"

UK release (no US equivalent, alas, which would have been on Bell):

Wikipedia entry (only made #2 on Official charts)

 

...Are you saying that there was a U.S. RCA pressing of a standard U.S. format big-hole 45 for export from the U.S. only? Are you saying that British plants made a U.S.-style version for export? To where? That B-side later reappeared on one of Sweet's last albums, I think with changed writing credits (I've never heard it.).





.B., post: 20423618, member: 3466"]NME #364: "Teenage Rampage" by The Sweet
(#1 for 1 week - 23 January 1974)

(B side: "Own Up, Take A Look At Yourself")

UK labels:

At this point, the Sweet did not have a US label, as Bell Records had dropped them (or they left, or whatever), and they were a year off from being snapped up by Capitol; all US pressings were for export only:

Sadly, there is no Wikipedia entry for this one, which could only muster #2 on the "official" charts.[/QUOTE]

 

Because of massive fuel shortages in Britain in early 1974 which negatively impacted domestic pressing activity, UK RCA contracted with its US counterpart to press copies for export to the UK market. The US labels you saw were from the Hollywood plant, with label typesetting by Stoughton Printing.

 

NME #380: "Gee Baby" by Peter Shelley
(#1 for 1 week - 16 October 1974)

B side: "I'm In Love Again"

UK labels:

US labels:

No Wikipedia entry for this (the song they list is a wholly different number), but this only got to #4 on the Official Charts.

 

...Do you feel the NME chart had any " essential corporate difference " from the Official Chart? I presume that both purported to be based on sales and nothing else, unlike BILLBOARD's. Was it perhaps more " rawwwk ", or at least " rock " in the records it tended to send to #1? Preshummleee not conciously!
Of course, too, there was that certain elevating a certain Mr. Lydon's' teen beat combo to the pole position.........

 

When we get to the start of the next decade, there was a pretty sappy number that made #1 on the Official Charts, but not NME's. That's one difference.

But comparing Official Charts to NME charts is like the difference amongst Billboard, Cash Box and Record World charts in the U.S., as I've said. Not all NME #1's were "rawwwk," though. Think Tony Christie (whose one NME #1 in '71 could have been done by Tom Jones had Gordon Mills permitted it, I guess).

 

Playing through R Dean Taylor's 'Essential Collection' as we speak. A replacement for my long-loved but now a tad crackly Music For Pleasure 'Indiana Wants Me' album. No denying the man had major talent. Really knew what made a great pop song.

 

It was Three Dog Night that took Sayer's song to the US top 10 at the time:

 

Probably my least-favorite Three Dog Night hit.

 

Now for a look at the "shared" #1's that topped both the Official and NME charts (with weeks on chart for each, in respective order, in parentheses):
- "You Won't Find Another Fool Like Me" by The New Seekers Featuring Lyn Paul (1 / 2)
- "Tiger Feet" by Mud (4 / 3)
- "Devil Gate Drive" by Suzi Quatro (2 / 2)
- "Jealous Mind" by Alvin Stardust (1 / 2)
- "Billy Don't Be A Hero" by Paper Lace (3 / 3)
- "Seasons In The Sun" by Terry Jacks (4 / 2)
- "Waterloo" by ABBA (2 / 2)
- "Sugar Baby Love" by The Rubettes (4 / 4)
- "The Streak" by Ray Stevens (1 / 2)
- "Always Yours" by Gary Glitter (1 / 1)
- "She" by Charles Aznavour (4 / 3)
- "Rock Your Baby" by George McCrae (3 / 3)
- "When Will I See You Again" by The Three Degrees (2 / 3)
- "Love Me For A Reason" by The Osmonds (3 / 2)
- "Kung Fu Fighting" by Carl Douglas (3 / 4)
- "Everything I Own" by Ken Boothe (3 / 2)
- "Gonna Make You A Star" by David Essex (3 / 5)
- "You're The First, The Last, My Everything" by Barry White (2 / 1)
- "Lonely This Christmas" by Mud (4 / 3)

Shut out of the #1 spot on NME's charts were John Denver's "Annie's Song" and "Sad Sweet Dreamer" by Sweet Sensation. The first case of a little divergence since 1970.

 

...Has "Sad Sweet Dreamer " been discussed here?

 

Certainly has, on this page Every UK #1 Single Of 1974 Discussion Thread starting at post #831.

Please feel free to comment on it, or any others in the threads.

 

...Hearing the line of " I've passed the Hound Dog singer's home ", for me, makes me " Oooooh! That was another time! ".........






doms, post: 19417356, member: 76356"]Any excuse; love it!!



Really enjoyed watching Slade In Flame again, from the Salvo DVD / CD.[/QUOTE]

 

...I ran into the U.S. Pye label, though not this song, or, indeed, any 70s product, a bit after this was a hit in a $2.99 (I guess) bargain bin purchase of Vol. 1 of Kinks comp in this " History Of British Pop Music " series American Pye put out in the 70 - there were two?? Kinks volumes, did I buy both ??, a 60s Classics comp I bought, they also issued two?? Donovans, a BilkBarberthatotherbloke Trad Jazz comp and some more??.
I got early Kinks in these U.S. Pye comps out of the bargain bin in the late 70s is what I'm saying. Were the early-era US Reprise albums OOP by then?
I think the only other Top 40 entry the U.S. Pye lsbel achieved was that " Black Superman - Muhammad Ali " song that IIRC I didn't hear till the YouTube era.

 

...I read of Sad Sweet Dreamer before I heard it IIRC in THE FACE getting all ironically?? nostalgic about " It was the Seventies and we were all Sad Sweet Dreamers..." as an intro to another thing entirely!
I never heard it till the YouTube era - then I saw that it DID! chart good US-side...but the fact that I no remember is logical, too...At that chart position I kinda think it stopped just short of making WABC! - The NYC AM 77 Top 40 champ of that period of notoriously " last station in the country to play ANYTHING " super-tight playlist image...I'm correct, yes? I can imagine that! For another comment re SSD: I'll mention that I thought for a while it was a Dolly Parton song, or something Dolly first recorded anyway. It's not. I do recall reading that somewhere.