All the UK #1 Singles of 1976 (and some of 1977) Poll. Pick Your Favourites & Discuss.

The chorus is a real earworm

 

For all the Aphrodite's Child fans

 

There is a guy on here who is a big Demis fan. Can’t remember his name though.

 

A bit of a country feel. The UK did dabble with country between 1975-77.

 

Songs I like now:

Queen
Rod
Elton/Kiki
ABBA (sorta - not enough to vote for those songs, but still like 'em okay)

Songs I liked then:

4 Seasons
Elton/Kiki - though I liked it way more back then than now
David Soul (!)

 

Gushes with 70's syrupy bubblegummish but it was all fun.

 

Rod Stewart famously "kept" God Save The Queen by Sex Pistols from No 1

 

Thank-you for your kindness.

Interestingly, Martin Lee the leader of the Brotherhood was a mere 26 years old when they committed that Eurovision attack.
I look younger than that now and I'm in my fifties. It must have been the mental anguish of the knowledge of the suffering he was responsible for that was making him age prematurely.

I like Demis and Deniece Williams best out of this lot. Both had unique voices. Also I'm very fond of Pussycat(s). Knowing Me Knowing You was good, but I don't care for the other Abba singles on the list.

The Tina Charles record is one of the very few 70s disco records which I utterly dispise, another being Gloria Gaynor's one which I can't recall the title of. Both are so repetitive to the point of irritation. There are some awful songs on this list. The Wurzels was not even funny the first time, let alone the 500th. David Soul was good in Starsky & Hutch, but I always preferred Starsky, but I wish he'd stuck to TV, and JJ Barrie should have been executed for what he did.
The records on this list by Leo Sayer, Showaddywaddy, Johnny Mathis and Chicago all gave me many months of misery which I can still feel the pain of 40 years later, because I had to listen to the radio and I had to watch TOTP, so there was absolutely no avoiding them.
Like the way ITV forces you to watch adverts during football matches or films.

 

No. Unless you consider making people upset meritorious.

 

I’m sorry to reopen old wounds for you with this thread. I agree Martin Lee seemed a bit weathered. He looked like a smarmy bus conductor I knew once who tried to ‘pull’ all the girls.

By way of apology, may I offer BOM’s follow up to Kisses, My Sweet Rosalie? One could say the two bear a passing resemblance to each other. The denouement of Rosalie is a classic. You just didn’t see it coming.

 

I voted for all the Abba singles; plus Four Seasons, Tina Charles AND David Soul (all really good pop songs). I even gave Rod the nod......although, of course, THIS should have been #1 in June '77, but was deliberately swindled out of it by 'the establishment':

​

 

I voted for "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Mamma Mia", "December 1963 (Oh, What a Night)", "Fernando", "Dancing Queen", "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina", "Knowing Me, Knowing You" and "I Don't Want to Talk About It/The First Cut is the Deepest".

The rumor is the charts were fixed that week so "God Save the Queen" wouldn't be too of the pops the week of the Jubilee. Has anyone ever investigated that claim?

 

I like the Abba songs best,+ Rod and the 4 Seasons

 

Okay, I really like a few here.

QUEEN - BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY - A genuine rock opera. Even after hearing it several million times (or thereabouts!) it remains thrilling.

THE FOUR SEASONS - DECEMBER 63 - Just a gorgeous melody & great singing.

THE WURZELS - COMBINE HARVESTER - I make no apologies. It was funny then and it's funny now. Their Never Mind The Bullocks album is an essential purchase!

PUSSYCAT - MISSISSIPPI - Nobody does country and western like the Dutch.

CHICAGO - IF YOU LEAVE ME NOW - A lovely, plaintive acoustic ballad. A lot of people thought that this rang the death knell for Chicago as a creative force but I love how they developed.

DAVID SOUL - DON'T GIVE UP ON US - Pure cheese, for sure, but prime camembert. The guiltiest of pleasures

LEO SAYER - WHEN I NEED YOU - Love Leo Sayer's music. His image has always got in the way, I reckon, so his music hasn't been given the kudos it deserves. This is a fine Albert Hammond/Carole Bayer-Sagar song. A real heart-on-sleeve weepie.

 

A bit of a dodgy list, but there are obviously some gems here, aside from the greatness of ABBA:
Queen, Rod the Mod, Elton & Kiki, Four Seasons, and maybe one of the most quintessential 70's songs, for better or worse, When I Need You.

 

Basically I like the Abba ones and Johnny Mathis.

But I don't know all of them so I may come back and vote after giving some others a listen.

 

I voted for a handful of songs, but there's not one song on this list that I can say I "love." Just some decent songs that I like and I don't mind, but nothing I would specifically call up and play.

 

Anything by ABBA

 

1976 and 1977 were very interesting years, with a polarity in popular music.
• There was a groundswell of new innovation which would influence the coming decade. However, it didn't sell in large quantities during the time it was initially produced.
• Then there was a lot of pedestrian music which did sell, but doesn't have a legacy of significance.
• And, of course, were the exceptions. Unfortunately relatively smaller in numbers.

 

December, 1963
Fernando - I quite like the video
If You Leave Me Now - I quite like the Quadio
Chanson D'Amour - though I prefer it by Art & Dotty Todd

The No.1s are not representative of what I was buying back then.

 

Looking back, I bought 5 of these back then.

 

...I seem to have missed the thread with Sweet Sensation's " Sad Sweet Dreamer ". Was that 1975?
I could say more, but I'll look up a little first!
I happened to discover Slim just a couple years later, getting bargain-bin U.S.. vinyl and Brit 8-track (Some difference in songs --- and cover!!!) of their sole?? LP...
Allegedly, Midge Ure joined Slik instead of an early version of what became the Sex Pistols?

 

...I thought the Jacksons' " Show You The Way To Go " was a U.K. chart-topper.

 

...Whether it's true or not, the whole legend of your charts being jiggered to keep the Sex Pistols off of #1, putting Rodders there instead, would make an interesting documentary/book! But is there actually anyond still alive who could prove or attest to anything?

 

Picked 9.

Queen
4 Seasons
Chicago
Elton
3 from Abba
Leo Sayer
Rod

These were all hits in the US so I'm not that familiar with most of the rest.