Every UK #1 Single of 1977 Discussion Thread

Finally we get to the last year that has not been covered in the UK #1 Single of 197* Discussion Thread - 1977!

From some comments from previous threads, 1977 and the higher visibility of Punk was a game changer, the year the old school bands were kicked into oblivion by the young upstarts and the music scene freshened up.

Please add any time relevant information and pictures to any of the #1 UK singles, because Punk fans may be horrified by many of them! For example, the first number one single of 1977, was the Christmas 1976 number one, so rather than repeat, for Johnny Mathis, When A Child Is Born, you can find it here: Every UK #1 Single of 1976 Discussion Thread

If anyone has missed the previous threads, here they all are:

Every UK #1 Single of 1970 Discussion Thread
Every UK #1 Single Of 1971 Discussion Thread
Every UK #1 Single Of 1972 Discussion Thread
Every UK #1 Single Of 1973 Discussion Thread
Every UK #1 Single Of 1974 Discussion Thread
Every UK #1 Single Of 1975 Discussion Thread
Every UK #1 Single of 1976 Discussion Thread
Every UK #1 Single of 1978 Discussion Thread.
Every UK #1 Single of 1979 Discussion Thread

As I'm missing the first single of 1977, the first new one will go up Sunday, here is a scan of the first album chart of 1977.

 

It could only be in 1977 that Pam Ayres had 2 albums in the top 50.

IIRC, Pam had her own ITV series called The World Of Pam Ayres in 1977... I think it was on Friday nights after The Muppet Show.

Some great hits in 1977. Not necessarily the number ones either...

 

I like that disco list. I’ve got to check out a whack of them!

 

I seem to remember Ms. Ayres was another in a list of celebrities who'd been impersonated by Benny Hill . . .

 

I think I remember that.

Pam was an easy target for this sort of thing.

 

Onboard.

 

My intention for the 1977 thread is to post three number ones per week, barring any unforeseen problems, this will be Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

 

Fair enough . . . I can go for that.

 

To start 1977 off in a Punk fashion I had a ticket for a rather unique gig in this place.



This is the Links Pavilion in Cromer on the North Norfolk coast, it was just down from the golf course, hence the name, and very close to the Scout Hut.

The (Royal) Links Pavilion has been knocked down, but in its place is one of those blue plaques, used for places of special interest. The reason?



The ticket I bought from the cinema in Cromer looked like this.



The cock and bull story I told my parents, was that I was going out to the youth club to play table tennis. Any other time this wouldn't have been an issue, but it was Christmas Eve, and they knew there wouldn't be youth club. Obviously suspecting ulterior motives, I wasn't allowed out.

So related to the album chart, what was I doing Christmas Eve 1977 instead of seeing the Sex Pistols? Watching Pam Ayers on television.....

 

Just before we move to the first new number one of 1977, the first being a repeat of the last year of '76, here is the Punk impact on the chart. Having entered the charts at 43, Anarchy In The UK had two weeks at 38, so in the top 50 January 1st 1977. Unfortunately all the records I have found only show the top 30 for the following week, so I'm not sure what position it was after it was deleted by EMI.

The deleted single.

 

"Don't Give Up on Us" is a song by American-British singer David Soul.Riding high on the success of playing in the hit TV show Starsky and Hutch, Soul returned to one of his early career choices as a singer. His debut, the Tony Macaulay-written-and-produced "Don't Give Up on Us" was a worldwide smash, spending four weeks at No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart in January and February 1977, and a single week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1977. In addition, the song spent one week at No. 1 on the U.S. adult contemporary chart. It has sold 1.16 million copies in the UK.

Quick facts: Genre, B-side …
Its B-side, "Black Bean Soup", was a duet with actress Lynne Marta, whom Soul was involved with at the time.

"Don't Give Up on Us" was rated No. 93 in VH1's 100 Greatest One-Hit Wondersbecause, despite having more hits in the UK, Soul was never again able to reach the top forty in the US. Soul recorded a new version of the song in 2004, allegedly after being embarrassed when hearing it by chance in an elevator as sung by Owen Wilson in the film version of Starsky and Hutch

The UK single.



The B-side in the UK picture sleeve!

 

Record Mirror scan the first week that David was number one.

 

David Soul - Don't Give Up On Us
I always preferred Starsky!!!!!
The ladies obviously liked this...
A bit too cheesy for my 13 year olds taste.
2/5

 

Don't Give Up On Us was a single I didn't buy and in 1977 didn't like.

For me nostalgia has been kind to it and I no longer turn it off when I hear it on the radio, or one of my compilations!

 

Fantastic new entry at 50, Gordon Lightfoot, the tragic story of, The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald.



If this had been released a couple of years earlier, I possibly wouldn't have flunked my Geography exam with the questions regarding The Great Lakes!

 

I have this very issue - albeit in the form of a U.S. export pressing by Columbia's Pitman, NJ plant (and cut, with their trademark machine-stamped type in the deadwax, at their New York studios):

If only Pitman pressings existed of the U.S. release on PS 45,129. No such luck. The only Columbia plant known to press such copies was Terre Haute, IN, which had the prefix as PSR:

 

Among the 45's, in my collection based on UK and US charts are:
- UK: #1, 6, 14, 28, 30, 40, 41, 45 and 50
- US: #1, 2, 4 - 11, 14, 16, 20, 26 - 29, 35, 36, 40 and 45
As for UK #50, there were two basic US variations: Columbia and Capitol pressings. I naturally have the former (which is a bit quieter on the surface noise than the latter):

It would be Mr. Lightfoot's last Top 10 hit in the States. But at least those who bought it, learned something . . . plus, thanks to him, this tragedy being among the most famous.

 

Benny Hill famously parodied Starsky & Hutch on his third 1977 special, with Hill (as a continuity announcer) initially mispronouncing the duo (of which he would play both parts) as "Husky & Starch" (dig "little" Jackie Wright as Huggy Bear). It is burned in my head to this day as the very first sketch I ever saw on his show, back in fall 1979 in New York.

 

Not surprisingly, this was never issued as a single in the U.S. at the time.

 

The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald is a song that I heard on the radio, I liked, but unfortunately didn't take in who it was sung by.

Possibly over ten years went by before I heard it in again, in a Hi-Fi shop - the owner was playing it. I bought this 1981, Best Of that afternoon.



This was my first introduction to any other of Gordon's great music.

The Complete Gordon Lightfoot CD, has a different ending to The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald.....

 

Not a fan of 'Don't Give Up On Us', it's quite dull IMO.

 

Starsky & Hutch, the TV show was massive in the UK, and judging by the girls on the school bus, David Soul seemed to have a rather big following, that and the fact that he could sing a bit, obviously did no harm to sales whatsoever.

 

David, still at number one.

 

Still there...