Every UK #1 Single of 1979 Discussion Thread

The chart for the week of 16 June 1979...

 

... and one week later

 

The Expressos, Cats, B.A. Robertson (via Asylum) and The Bellamy Brothers were connected with Warner Brothers, didn't check the others but sounds like that label was the focus of at least part of the program.

 

"Ring My Bell" was a cheezy late disco transatlantic smash. It's synth tom sound was imitated for a slew of tacky futuresque disco tracks. Whenever I hear Ward's hit, I flashback to the subsequent Buck Rogers TV series and its penchant for ridiculous disco scenes, including an episode where robot Twiki got it on with his female counterpart.

Biddy...biddy...biddy...that sucks, Buck!

 

Didn't buy the single, not really my scene, fairly irritating and, catchy as hell!

 

Anita Ward - Ring My Bell
Ding a ling a ling.....
OK...not a buyer but decent and relatively innovative pop song.
3/5

The Ruts - Babylon's Burning....
Takes my eye....
But the chart is littered with classic versatile pop ditties....

 

Anita Ward's Ring My Bell is so ridiculous, it borders on self-parody. I'd prefer to not have to listen to it ever again, and hopefully Wal-Mart starts using a different song for their commercials that run every 15 minutes.

 

Ach, that bleeping Synare sound was everywhere for awhile.

Later in the year Shalamar would have a sizable US hit (which barely charted UK) equally infested with it:

 

Yeah, but whereas I find "Ring My Bell" kind of annoying and cloy, Shalamar's "The Second Time Around" is a great R&B tune. The performance is solid and the tom sound doesn't run thru the whole cut.

Has anybody used that sound since 1980? I'm smelling a retro-'79/'80 hit coming on...

 

In the U.S. alone, all those variations . . .


(This variant, B.T.W., was what was in the summer camp where I stayed in upstate New York during the summer in the 1976-80 period.)

I.I.N.M., the producer and writer, Frederick Knight, was the same chap who in 1972 had a minor hit with something entitled "I've Been Loving You For So Long."

 

In the U.S., "The Second Time Around" (amazing that they used the same title as another song that was recorded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra) looked something like this:

 

Comparing the charts . . .

. . . the 45's I have from here are #4, 5, 11, 12 and 67 (as for #29, I remember it from "way back when" listening on WLIB 1190 in New York); the LP's, #22 and 38 . . .

. . . I would have #5, 7, 17, 20, 53 and 57 from the singles list, and #24 and 62 from the albums.

B.T.W., on both they goofed big-time; for example, Carrie Lucas' record should be "Dance With You."

 

As for that Synare sound, to my ears - its use paralleling the first two released Star Wars movies - it had the vibe of something out of a sci-fi film, accompanying one of their many SFX.

 

That 3rd variant is stylistically close to the design Knight was using for his Glades releases in the same period.

 

I love seeing these old charts, lots of memories.

Category 1: Have deliberately listened to again since 1979: Sunday Girl, Up The Junction, I Fought The Law, Boys Keep Swinging, Crackin' Up, Do Anything You Want To, Babylon's Burning, Accidents WIll Happen, Jimmy Jimmy, Roxanne.

Category 2: Would not switch off if they came on: Dance Away, We Are Family, Number One Song In Heaven, Living On The Front Line, Pop Muzik, Parisian Walkways, Knock On Wood, Love Song, Sound System

Category 101: Would rush to switch off if they came on: Lots of the remainder. God, did Kevin Keegan really record a single? Glad I missed that.

Albums: Some good 'uns here though. Blondie x2, Bowie, Straits x2, Dury, Dylan (really), Undertones, Lizzy, Costello, Patti, FM,
I actually splashed out for Equinoxe but haven't listed to it much since then.

 

If number 31 in the UK was strange, think of poor Germany. Keegan was playing there at the time (in Hamburg), and Head Over Heels In Love (written by Smokie's Chris Norman) reached number 10 and stayed almost 4 months in the charts! His follow-up (yes, there was such a thing!) England was a flop in the UK, but in Germany was a hit, although at number 61.

 

That was more T.K.'s art department's doing than Knight.

 

He could afford a good graphic designer with all that KC & The Sunshine Band money!

 

Wow! I forgot my uncle owned it until I saw this single.

 

Actually, I remember I had a drink with Chris Norman on the same day that he first met Kevin Keegan. They met at Tramps nightclub/discotheque in London were they discussed this joint venture. Kevin had that dreaded late 70's/early 80's perm that was all the rage back then for guys n gals. Looking back he looked a bit like Frida from Abba when she had the same do.....

 

His songs were so successful in Germany because they were written by Chris Norman, whose band Smokie was huge in Germany at the time, much bigger than in the UK. Smokie had 13 German top 10 singles between 1975 and 1980, including 3 number ones and 4 further top 3 hits.

 

Smokie actually worked together in the studio on a few songs with an ABBA singer, not Frida but Agnetha, in 1983.

 

Yeah . . . wasn't Frida working with some bloke named Phil Collins at that point . . . ?

 

Yes, that was at that point, 12 months earlier to be exact. Frida recorded her album 'Something's Going On' with Phil Collins in February and March 1982. Agnetha's album 'Wrap Your Arms Around Me' was produced by Mike Chapman (who brought Smokie in) and recorded from January to March 1983.

 

I really liked Smokie...