Every UK #1 Single of 1979 Discussion Thread

1979 had 18 UK number one singles, 4 more than the previous year:

Every UK #1 Single of 1978 Discussion Thread.

 

The first number one of 1979 is 'Y.M.C.A.' by Village People, which reached the top spot on 6 January 1979, staying there for 3 weeks.

 

"Y.M.C.A." is a song by the American disco group Village People. It was released in 1978 as the only single from their third studio album Cruisin' (1978). The song reached Number 2 on the US charts in early 1979 and reached Number 1 in the UK around the same time, becoming the group's biggest hit. It is one of fewer than 40 singles to have sold 10 million (or more) physical copies worldwide. A medley with "Hot Cop" reached number 2 on Billboard's Dance Music/Club Play Singles chart.

The song remains popular and is played at many sporting events in the U.S. and Europe, with crowds using the dance in which the arms are used to spell out the four letters of the song's title. "Y.M.C.A." appeared as Space Shuttle Wakeup call on mission STS-106, on day 11.

In 2009, "Y.M.C.A." was entered into the Guinness World Book of Records when over 44,000 people danced to the song with Village People singing live at the 2008 Sun Bowl game in El Paso, Texas. "Y.M.C.A." is number 7 on VH1's list of The 100 Greatest Dance Songs of the 20th Century.

History
Victor Willis, lead singer and lyricist, recalls that while in the studio, Jacques Morali asked him, "What exactly is the YMCA?" After Willis explained it to him, he saw the expression on Morali's face and said, "Don't tell me, Jacques, you want to write a song about it?" and they quickly wrote the track for the album Cruisin'.

Upon its release, the YMCA threatened to sue the band over trademark infringement. The organization ultimately settled with the composers out of court and later expressed pride regarding the song saluting the organization.

The song became a Number 1 hit throughout the world (although not in the United States where it was kept out of the top spot by Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?"). It has remained popular at parties, sporting events, weddings, and functions ever since.

In 2011, Willis filed a notice of copyright termination to the song as lyricist under the Copyright Act of 1976 which allows recording artists and writers to reclaim their master recordings and publishing. In a landmark ruling in 2012, the United States District Court for the Southern District of California ruled that Willis can terminate his copyrights granted to the publishers Can't Stop Productions and Scorpio Music because "a joint author who separately transfers his copyright interest may unilaterally terminate the grant." YMCA and other hits written by Willis (for Village People and other Can't Stop acts) began to revert to him on September 13, 2013. On March 4, 2015, it was determined that the sole writers of the song are Morali and Willis and the name Belolo has been removed. Willis now owns 50% of the song previously credited to Belolo.

Content
Taken at face value, the song's lyrics extol the virtues of the Young Men's Christian Association. In the gay culture from which the Village People sprang, the song was implicitly understood as celebrating the YMCA's reputation as a popular cruising and hookup spot, particularly for the younger men to whom it was addressed. Willis, the group's lead singer and lyricist, said through his publicist that he did not write "Y.M.C.A." as a gay anthem but as a reflection of young urban black youth fun at the YMCA such as basketball and swimming. That said, he has often acknowledged his fondness for double entendre. Willis says that he wrote the song in Vancouver, British Columbia. The initial goal of Morali and Belolo was to attract disco's gay audience by featuring popular gay fantasy. Although co-creator Morali was gay and the group was initially intended to target gay men, the other group members were straight men, who simply enjoyed disco culture. Therefore, the group became more popular and more mainstream over time.

Song structure
The song, played in the key of G♭ major Pentatonic, begins with a brass riff, backed by the constant pulse that typified disco. Many different instruments are used throughout for an overall orchestral feel, another disco convention, but it is brass that stands out.

As with other Village People hits, the lead vocals are handled by Willis and the background vocals are supplied by Willis and professional background singers. The distinctive vocal line features the repeated "Young man!" ecphonesis followed by Willis singing the verse lines. The background vocals join in throughout the song.

Willis's version of the song is used in the film, Can't Stop the Music, though by that time Ray Simpson had replaced him as the policeman.

Impact and legacy
VH1 placed "Y.M.C.A." at #7 in their list of 100 Greatest Dance Songs in 2000.

Paste Magazine ranked the song number 1 in their list of The 60 Best Dancefloor Classics in February 2017.

Origin of hand movement and dance
YMCA is also the name of a group dance with cheerleader Y-M-C-A choreography invented to fit the song. One of the phases involves moving arms to form the letters Y-M-C-A as they are sung in the chorus:

Y —arms outstretched and raised upwards
M —made by bending the elbows from the 'Y' pose so the fingertips meet in front of the chest
C —arms extended to the left
A —hands held together above head
The dance originated on Dick Clark's American Bandstand. During the January 6, 1979 episode, which featured the Village People as guests throughout the hour, the dance was performed by audience members while the group performed "YMCA." Clark then said to Willis that he would like to show him something. Clark again played the song with the audience doing the YMCA hand gestures. Willis immediately picked up on the dance and mimicked the hand movements back at the audience as other Village People members stared at him with puzzled looks. Clark then turned to Willis and said, "Victor, think you can work this dance into your routine?" Willis responded, "I think we're gonna have to." In a 2008 retrospective article for Spin, Randy Jones has opined that the dance may have originated as a misunderstanding: The group's original choreographed dance had the group clapping above their heads during the chorus and he believes that the audience, believing them to be making the letter "Y", began following suit.

Following the sixth inning of New York Yankees baseball games at Yankee Stadium, the grounds crew traditionally grooms the infield while leading the crowd in the dance.

Covers and parodies

• In 1997 Pepsi released a promotional cover called P.E.P.S.I
• On July 2, 2004, Colin Powell, then the U.S. Secretary of State, performed a modified version of "YMCA" for his fellow foreign government officials at the ASEAN security meeting in Jakarta. His lyrics includes the lines: "President Bush, he said to me: 'Colin, I know you will agree. I need you to run the Department of State. We are between a rock and a hard place."
• In September 2012, a Slovenian musical group and stand-up comedians Slon in Sadež released a Slovene parody of the YMCA-song with the title "NNLB". It makes fun of irresponsible financial management of the largest bank in Slovenia Nova Ljubljanska banka (NLB), causing a severe, longlasting financial and economic crisis in Slovenia.
• On March 2, 2013, during the opening monologue on Saturday Night Live, Jay Pharoah parodied President Barack Obama giving a press conference about the recent budget cuts in Congress, saying that there were going to be cuts on the military, social service workers, federal construction projects, and Native American funding. The representatives of each of the four Village People characters did the arm dance in order after Pharaoh recited the appropriate verse of the song.
• The song was covered in the 2013 animated film Despicable Me 2 by Gru's minions. This version was included on the film's soundtrack.
• In November 2013, Chris Pennington released a parody of the song directed at Montreal Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien, entitled "Why not P.K.?", expressing sentiment that Therrien was not giving star Canadiens defenceman P. K. Subban enough ice time.
• In June 2017 the YMCA Australia partnered with singer Boy George to release a cover of the song for a campaign on youth issues. This was the first time that any YMCA had embraced the song since its initial release. Boy George's version is part of the #whynot? campaign launched by YMCA Australia that aims to provide a voice to young people to speak out on issues that affect them.

Y.M.C.A. (song) - Wikipedia

 

Check out the B-side, 'The Women':

 

What can you say about the Village People and Y.M.C.A.?

I didn't buy the single, or even particularly like the song, but it is an evergreen classic for getting people onto the dance floor. Nuff said?

 

The Village People were supposed to be the next big thing, but Y.M.C.A was as good as they got. Rushing an expensive movie into production telling their ‘story’ proved to be a mistake as their moment in the sun was largely over by the time it opened a year and a half later. If you have to have a Village People song, it may as well be Y.M.C.A. as all the other singles (that I’ve heard) were variations on this theme and musical style. It’s fun and catchy and the video sticks in the head. Whether you want it to or not. In 1979, proper pop videos weren’t everywhere so this visual side helped the group.

I have the song on a CD comp, but was never tempted to buy it as a single back then. For anyone interested, the group’s first few albums were reissued on CD in Japan recently after being OOP for years.

 

The chart run of 'YMCA' in the UK until it reached number one:

debut at #42 (the week ending 25 Nov 1978) - #25 - #12 - #2 - #2 - #2 (frozen chart) - #1

The top 10 for the week ending 6 January 1979:
01 (02) - Village People - YMCA
02 (01) - Boney M - MARY'S BOY CHILD
03 (06) - Racey - LAY YOUR LOVE ON ME
04 (03) - Barron Knights - A TASTE OF AGGRO
05 (10) - Elton John - SONG FOR GUY
06 (13) - Ian Dury And The Blockheads - HIT ME WITH YOUR RHYTHM STICK
07 (05) - Barbra Streisand And Neil Diamond - YOU DON'T BRING ME FLOWERS
08 (04) - Bee Gees - TOO MUCH HEAVEN
09 (07) - Sarah Brightman And Hot Gossip - I LOST MY HEART TO A STARSHIP TROOPER
10 (09) - Chic - LE FREAK

 

The charts from 'Record Mirror' for the week ending January 13, 1979 (the 2nd week that 'YMCA' spent at number one):

 

'YMCA' is the UK's 6th biggest selling physical single of the 1970s:

UK Top 6 biggest selling singles of the 1970s (physical singles sales only, without downloads or streaming):

1 WINGS Mull Of Kintyre/Girls’ School Parlophone 1977 2 mio
2 BONEY M Rivers Of Babylon/Brown Girl In The Ring Atlantic/Hansa 1978 1,985,000
3 JOHN TRAVOLTA & OLIVIA NEWTON JOHN You're The One That I Want RSO 1978 1,975,000
4 BONEY M Mary's Boy Child - Oh My Lord Atlantic/Hansa 1978 1,790,000
5 JOHN TRAVOLTA & OLIVIA NEWTON JOHN Summer Nights RSO 1978 1,515,000
6 VILLAGE PEOPLE YMCA Mercury 1978 1,380,000

This list shows how sales of physical singles exploded in the last few years of the 70s.

 

Showaddywaddy at number one in the albums chart? What a poor start to the year

Lots of songs I love in the singles chart. Dear old Car 67 for one.

 

I seem to own an unusually high percentage of that album chart for me in one format or another with 31.

8 singles, and a call out for Rachel Sweet at #37.



I didn't have the single, but bought the Fool Around picture disc LP.



Really like the album, and got the CD recently.

 

Haven't you left?

 

How on earth did Mull Of Kintyre outsell those classics!

 

What can one say about a culturally ubiquitous song that one has heard countless times?

It was #2 for 3 weeks U.S. They just couldn't get past "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?".

Speaking of #2s, "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick"! One of my local DJs took a liking to it, so I got to hear an actual Stiff Record well before I knew what that was!

 

Rachel Sweet was on Stiff.

 

Yeah! I wish I'd been formally introduced to her in early '79 - I would've been quite taken, I'm sure.

 

I liked "YMCA" (along with the other Village People hits) when I was 6 or 7 then I moved on.

 

They did turn into sort of a kiddie act. My little brother was 8 and had the "In The Navy" 45. I gave him a lot of crap about it.

 

Probably taken away, she was 16 in early '79!

Looks like the picture disc was £4.99 - this is the front cover.



Note the Elvis Costello cover. The UK album had some different tracks to the US release. The CD pretty much covers both.



Cuckoo Clock is epic!

 

Rachel on OGWT (Old Grey Whistle Test).

 

And I was 15. An older woman!

 

"YMCA" is a bit like an American ABBA song. It's pretty simple, relentlessly catchy, hopelessly disco seventies, and can't help but bring a smile to your face. Goofy fun. Loved it as a kid - I was 10 when it came out - and still love it today. I didn't get the double entendre nature of the song back then, but certainly get it today. Which just makes me laugh even more.

Stylistically these guys never really evolved. "Macho Man", "YMCA" (their biggest hit), "In The Navy" and "Go West" are practically rewrites of the same tune. I'm more fond of "Go West" than it probably deserves, in part because of the sadly ironic cover done by Pet Shop Boys in the '90s.

 

1979 is one of my favourite year in music.

No. 1s I like are

Are friends electric by Tubeway Army
I don't like Mondays by Boomtown Rats
Sunday Girl by Blondie
Message in a bottle by The Police
Another brick in the wall by Pink Floyd

YMCA sounds very cringy to me

 

1979
Would go as far to say as one of the best years for Pop music.
Varied and littered with classic singles....gonna enjoy this.