Every UK #1 Single of 1979 Discussion Thread

I'm still tripping that the Grizzly Adams theme was #1 for 9 weeks in Germany!

By the time I made it there in '85, the top spot seemed to be all Opus, Baltimora, Modern Talking and Sandra.

 

Me too...

 

The success of Modern Talking is a very dark chapter in the history of German music...

 

It’s strange how Smokie were huge in the UK, had loads of big hits and then suddenly fell of a cliff in 1978/79.
The same thing happened with 10cc at exactly the same time...

 

Their decline in success started the moment Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn stopped writing and producing their songs. That was in 1979, when they released their album 'The Other Side of the Road'.

 

It's cool to see the Undertones get that kind of attention as they are very much a cult following in the US.

 

The next number one single is 'Are 'Friends' Electric?' by Tubeway Army, which reached the top spot on 30 June 1979, staying there for 4 weeks.



B-side: We Are So Fragile

 

"Are 'Friends' Electric?" is a 1979 song by the English band Tubeway Army. Taken from their album Replicas, it was released as a single in May 1979 and reached number one in the UK Singles Chart, staying there for four weeks. It was written and produced by Gary Numan, the band's frontman and lead vocalist.



Music and production
"Are 'Friends' Electric?" features three different sections: a recurring "verse" with a synth riff in C and B flat, a recurring section with spoken word over slow arpeggiated seventh chords, and an instrumental break in F. The instrumentation is quite minimal: there is a conventional drum and bass guitar backing track, some additional heavily flanged guitar (particularly in the instrumental break), subdued vocals and, most prominently, Minimoog and Polymoog synthesizers. These synth parts include a slow-paced sawtooth bass riff, and some soaring portamento background lines.

Numan stumbled upon synthesizers by accident. While intending to record a punk album, he noticed a Minimoog synthesizer that had been left in the studio.

B-side
The B-side of the single was a more rock-oriented number, "We Are So Fragile". It was performed on Numan's 1979 "Touring Principle" series of concerts and appears on the album Living Ornaments '79. The song was covered by bis on the compilation album Random.

Reception
Despite being over five minutes long and possessing, in the words of its composer, "no recognisable hook-line whatsoever", the single topped the UK charts. Whilst the track's distinctive sound stood out at the time, sales also benefited from the record company's use of a picture disc and Numan's striking, "robotic" performance on the TV shows The Old Grey Whistle Test and Top of the Pops. "Are 'Friends' Electric?" has been a mainstay of Numan's concerts since its release and appears on all ten of his official live recordings to date. A semi-acoustic version appeared on the 2006 Jagged tour set list.

Writing for Smash Hits in 1979, Cliff White described the song as "a dark, threatening wall of synthesized sound" which "throbbed ominously behind a gloomy song of paranoia and loneliness". White went on to say it was "gripping stuff, but cheerful it isn't".

Sampling and cover versions
The song was sampled by Richard X in a song titled "We Don't Give a Damn About Our Friends" as a mashup with vocals from Adina Howard's "Freak like Me", which the Sugababes then recorded under the latter title and achieved a number one UK hit in 2002 (Numan considered this track to be better than "Are 'Friends' Electric?"). It was also covered by Information Society on their 1997 album Don't Be Afraid, and The Dead Weather for their B-side of "Hang You from the Heavens".

The song was covered by American rock band Weezer and released alongside their 2008 single, "Pork and Beans". "Are 'Friends' Electric?" was featured in the video game Need for Speed: Carbon, JJ Abram's Fringe, and the AMC Television show Halt and Catch Fire. The song was also sampled by Kryder and The Cube Guys in their 2016 single, "You & Me".

Are "Friends" Electric? - Wikipedia

 

In the U.S., "Are 'Friends' Electric?" - credited to Gary Numan & Tubeway Army - was issued on ATCO in 1980, with a different B side, "You Are In My Vision." The A side is below:

 

In the US, "Cars" seemed to have dropped onto the charts straight out of hyperspace, so it's interesting to see how the UK had already been exposed to - and embraced - the Numanoid several months earlier.

Bowie's odd, somewhat unloved Berlin duo of Low and "Heroes" were suddenly vindicated. He had not in fact gone off on some wild tangent - he'd simply been a few years ahead of his time. A whole bunch of young bands (and record labels) suddenly sat up and took notice when "Are 'Friends' Electric" rocked the top of the UK charts. It both opened up the parameters of what was possible in a chart hit and also showed that Papa Bowie had been onto something.

 

We're getting a little ahead of ourselves in that respect, but when we get there I have a little trenchant observation to make.

 

Tubeway Army - Are Friends Electric?
Have vivid memories of this being No1.
Had finished school and was waiting to start an apprenticeship, which meant 12 months at college.
Used to go and play snooker regularly during the summer break and can remember some older bloke ( probably late 20's!!!! ) Telling me how good Replicas was....
A simple but effective pop song.
A classic.
5/5

 

I often think '79 is my favourite year so far as singles (UK) go.

As a preteen caught between the new wave and solid disco, I was spending (unearned) pocket money on the likes of Squeeze and Donna Summer!

I've made mixes for all the 70s and 80s years and if I look at '79

1979

If I Had You – The Korgis
Tusk – Fleetwood Mac
Is She Really Going Out With Him? – Joe Jackson
Silly Games – Janet Kay
Who Were You With In The Moonlight? – Dollar
Cruel To Be Kind – Nick Lowe
A Message To You Rudy – The Specials
Spacer- Sheila B Devotion
Dance Away -Roxy Music
Video Killed The Radio Star – Buggles
Heart Of Glass – Blondie
Does Your Mother Know? – Abba
September – Earth Wind And Fire
Reasons To Be Cheerful (Part 3) – Ian Dury & The Blockheads
Bang Bang – B.A. Robertson
Pop Muzik – M
Gonna Get Along Without You Now – Viola Wills
Queen Of Hearts – Dave Edmunds
Night Owl – Gerry Rafferty
Reunited – Peaches And Herb
Every Day Hurts – Sad Cafe
The Logical Song – Supertramp
Car 67- Driver 67
Mind Blowing Decisions – Heatwave
Still – The Commodores

Hmm... I wonder how many number ones I used - maybe not too many!

 

For whatever reason I didn't take to this at the time, and it would be several years until I corrected this oversight buying Replicas, The Pleasure Principle and Telekon.

Hearing Are 'Friends' Electric? recently, I realise how wrong I was, with it's many melodies and moody attitude and lyrics. I now believe it to be a very worthy number one and a great listen.

 

I think Are 'Friends' Electric? was certainly a worthy number one and I played it over and over in the bedroom. There was just some eeriness about the sentiments in the chorus line...

So I found out your reasons
For the phone calls and smiles
And it hurts
And I'm lonely
And I should never have tried
And I missed you tonight
It must be time to leave
You see it meant everything to me

 

The UK Chart for the week of 7 July 1979, Tubeway Army's second week at number one:

 

Wow, The Lone Ranger - that qualifies as a one-hit wonder maybe?



WRIGHTY: I think that's a place in Wales isn't it?

 

Two new entries catch my eye...and my wallet back then.
Public Image Ltd - Death Disco and Siouxie & The Banshee's - Playground Twist.

Because of these year threads I decided back in August I was gonna listen to all the UK No1's in order from the start....1952!!!
Via USB in the car.....just got back from a week up in The Lake District....and I've now reached 1982!!!!
It's been very enjoyable uptil now.....and surprisingly good bar the odd song here and there.

 

It is a place from New Zealand, the longest place name in the World. And it has a funny story: released originally in 1976, it was banned as its lyrics referred to homosexuality. However, Kenny Everett played the song in his TV show and was re-released (albeit as a remixed version) and it was a huge hit overall.

Elsewhere, my tip for the top is John Williams's (not the Star Wars playmaker, but the guitarist) theme from The Deer Hunter. It was a great, mellow, soft song. And it proved that the film was a success in the charts: The Shadows had a hit, John Williams had it too, and even Iris Williams, that easy listening singer, had a small hit in November! Enjoy John Williams Cavatina.

 

Of this lot, the 45's in my collection are #8, 13, 22, 30, 36, 39, 41, 44, 51 and 53; and the LP's - #22, 42 and 52.

 

As Sunspot mentioned, we US Top 40 kiddies had never heard anything like Gary Numan when "Cars" hit us in '80.

I was rapt. It took me a couple of years to get my hands on some of the Tubeway Army stuff, "Friends" included. (Today's spoiled youth and their instant access to everything!)

It's still a stunning record, that main riff bludgeoning along with Gary yelping about apparently being in some sort of prison and having bonded with what may well be an inanimate object ... I think.

Synthesizers would soon take over the world, and you can't say we weren't warned.

 

Are Friends Electric is a stupendous single, and nearly 30 years later it still sounds amazing.
Very few artists arrive with such a bang as Numan did in 1979, two no 1 singles and two no 1 albums. He sure had Bowie quaking in his boots for a while. No matter how daft that might seem now Bowie saw Gary Numan as a real threat.

 

I was just becoming a Bowie fanatic at the time of Scary Monsters and remember exclaiming "Gary Numan!" when I first saw the video for "Ashes To Ashes".

Silly teenager that I was ...

 

40 next year.....!!!!

 

Yes sorry my mistake. When I am traveling most of my posts are done in my phone which I find difficult, especially with that bloody auto speller which comes out with gobblygook.....