A very Happy New Year to you all, and a warm welcome back to the UK Number Ones Blog. I hope you had a good festive period, managed to celebrate, relax, and (in my case) catch up with writing about some soon-to-come number ones. Before we resume our journey through the late, late-nineties, I’m debuting a new feature!
The Village People, group portrait, New York, 1978. (Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images)
‘On This Day…’ will do pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. I’ll intro a few of the records that have been top of the charts on a particular date in history, as well as mentioning a few births, a few deaths, and a few interesting occasions that tie into a particular chart-topper. The hope is that readers will be able to delve into my back-catalogue of posts, and find something I wrote long before they started following this blog. Or people can, y’know, just enjoy the tunes!
First up, number one on this day in 1962, we have a stone-cold classic:
‘Moon River’, from the soundtrack to ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ is one of the great songs of that supposedly fallow period between rock ‘n’ roll and The Beatles. In the film it is sung by Audrey Hepburn, at the Academy Awards that year it was performed by Andy Williams, while an instrumental version by the song’s composer Henry Mancini and a version by Jerry Butler were hits in the US. In the UK, however, it was left to South African-born Danny Williams to have the most succesful version of all. You can read my original post on ‘Moon River’ here.
Meanwhile on this day in 1923, radio host, record producer, and founder of the legendary Sun Records label, Sam Phillips was born in Alabama. He is most famous for his work with a young Elvis Presley, although he also produced Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and many of the other early rock and roll stars. His only contribution to the top of the UK singles chart, however, was this banger:
Here’s my original post on ‘Great Balls of Fire’. If you’re only going to top the charts once, might as well make it good ‘un. Speaking of which, number one on this day in 1979 we have perhaps the ultimate guilty pleasure. There is not a soul alive who hasn’t done the dance to the ‘YMCA’, however grudgingly, and not even the recent gyrations of Donald Trump can truly sour this wedding reception classic. Even more recently, Village Person Victor Willis (AKA the cop) has been threatening to sue anyone who claims that ‘YMCA’ – a song with the lyric: They have everything for young men to enjoy, You can hang out with all the boys… – has any homosexual connotations. Whatsover. No sirree. To which we can all say, ‘Okay honey…’ (Original post here.)
In sadder news, on this day in 1998, Sonny Bono died following a skiing accident in Nevada. He was of course the singing partner, and former husband, of Cher, with whom he enjoyed his sole chart-topper ‘I Got You Babe’ in 1965. I wrote about it, the 201st #1 single, way back in 2019.
Finally, one of the least likely number one singles of all time was sitting astride the charts on January 5th 1991. Early January is a bit of a dead zone for chart-toppers, as in most years the Christmas leftovers are still clinging on top with little competition. Iron Maiden spotted an opportunity, and released ‘Bring Your Daughter… To the Slaughter’ in the final week of 1990. Their devoted fanbase, as well as the publicity of knocking the God-bothering Cliff Richard’s ‘Saviour’s Day’ off #1, delivered the heavy metal legends their biggest hit. (Original post here.)
I hope everyone enjoyed this new feature, and won’t mind if it pops back up ever few weeks. I’m also going to be doing more regular posts on cover versions, number two singles, ‘Remembering’ features, ‘Best of the Rests’ and ‘Today’s Top 10s’, as well as a new look at the ‘B’-sides to famous number ones. The main focus will of course still be on the chart-toppers; just a little more regularly interspersed with interesting detours through chart history!
For our last post of the year, let’s take a look at some classic Christmas number ones, but in versions you might not have heard before… Some good, some not so good, some just plain odd.
Starting with the daddy of all festive chart-toppers, Slade’s ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’. Noel Gallagher recorded a cover for the ‘Royle Family’ Christmas special in 2000 (a sitcom that his band had famously contributed the theme song for). It sounds exactly as you’d expect Noel Gallagher doing a cover of Slade’s Christmas classic would. Except it lacks the raucous energy of the original, instead opting for a woozy drone. And there’s no It’s Chriiiiissssttttmmmmmaaaaasssss…. So shame on you, Noel.
That same year, way over on the other side of the pop spectrum, Steps recorded their own version, and is it wrong that I’m enjoying this version more…? For a start, they lead with It’s Christmaaaaaas… so bonus points there. But there’s also something in the propulsively camp beat, and the faux-Cher autotune, that is more in keeping with the anarchic original.
Or if neither of those straight covers do it for you, then how about this remix that made #30 in 1998? It’s a bizarre record: a fairly anonymous trance beat over which Slade occasionally pop up. Flush were a Swedish act, and this was presumably made with Slade’s permission, given that it’s Noddy Holder’s vocals.
Christmas #1 the year following Slade’s colossus, Mud took a more sombre approach to festive pop on ‘Lonely This Christmas’. In 2013 Traitors! recorded this fun pop-punk version for a charity album called ‘It’s Better to Give than to Receive’. And that’s about all I know. The band don’t have a website or Wiki page, and their only other release seems to have been a four track EP. I don’t even remember where I heard this version first, but it’s been on my festive playlist for a few years now. So thank you Traitors!, whoever you are/were.
Of course, Christmas is actually about more than just presents and gluttony… There’s also ‘Die Hard’. I mean, there’s also the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus H Christ. And sometimes religious songs have made Christmas number one, such as in 1976. Johnny Mathis’s version of ‘When a Child Is Born’ is fairly gentle and respectful, not enough to wake the sleeping babe in his crib. The same cannot be said for larger than life Greek Demis Roussos, who rattles the gates of heaven with his bombastic take. If I were Jesus, I know which approach I’d prefer.
And then there are the times when the festive number one isn’t about Christmas at all. in 1979, Pink Floyd made number one with their first chart hit in over a decade, ‘Another Brick in the Wall Pt II’. In 2004, nu-metal band Korn covered all three parts of the song (Pt II starts around the 1:30 mark). It was described as “one of the worst classic rock covers of all time” by Ultimate Classic Rock magazine, but I suspect they might be a tad biased against anything released post-1980. I’d call it a brutally efficient cover version.
‘Another Brick in the Wall Pt II’ then returned to the charts in 2007 when remixed by Swedish DJ Eric Prydz. His take, ‘Proper Education’, made #2, and gave us an interesting video in which a group of young hooligans break into some flats and… turn off all the energy wasting devices.
Our final cover is a 2015 remake of Shakin’ Stevens’ 1985 Xmas #1 ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’, by Shaky himself. ‘Echoes of Merry Christmas Everyone’ is a completely re-imagined bluegrass version, with lots of banjo and harmonica, recorded to raise money for the Salvation Army, and it’s amazing how a jaunty, slightly irritating original, was transformed into a melancholy, slightly haunting cover.
That’s it from the UK Number Ones Blog for 2024! I’m going to take a couple of weeks off, before returning in the first week of January, when I’ll be launching a couple of new features to mix things up in amongst all the usual chart toppers. I’d like to thank everyone who has read, followed, liked and commented this year, and wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!
I’ve had this post planned for a long, long time, but had to hold off in the knowledge that Blondie would have the glorious, belated coda to their chart-topping career that was ‘Maria’. Now that their 6th and final number one has been and gone, I can rank the new-wave icons’ eleven other UK Top 40 hits. Hurrah!
Restricting myself to Top 40 hits means that we can’t include that run of glorious early singles – ‘X Offender’, ‘In the Flesh’, ‘Rip Her to Shreds’ – all of which would have come close to topping this list, but which never made the hit parade. It also excludes ‘One Way or Another’, which was never a single and only charted at #98 after One Direction covered it in 2013. On with the countdown!
11. ‘Nothing Is Real But the Girl’ – #26 in 1999
A much more down-to-earth follow-up to the heavenly ‘Maria’. It’s got a good driving beat, Harry on top vocal form, and some quality drum fills. Blondie 101. Plus, as others have pointed out, it shares a bassline with ‘Suzy and Jeffrey’, the great B-side to ‘The Tide Is High’. Still, somehow it doesn’t equal the sum of its parts, and leaves me fairly cold.
10. ‘Island of Lost Souls’ – #11 in 1982
It’s surprising just how quickly Blondie’s chart form fell off a cliff. A year and a half after their ‘final’ number one, the lead single from 6th album ‘The Hunter’ failed to make the Top 10. ‘Island of Lost Souls’ is a more extreme version of ‘The Tide Is High’s reggae leanings, going full-on calypso. I don’t think it’s a particularly bad song, I’m just not sure why Blondie felt the need to record it and/or release it as a single. Still, the line Hey buccaneer, Can you help me get my truck in gear? is enough to prevent this from ranking last.
9. ‘Rapture’ – #5 in 1981
On the one hand, I respect what ‘Rapture’ (RAP-ture, get it?) does. It’s brave, it’s boundary pushing, it’s disco, new wave and hip hop all in one. Plus, it contains lines about men from Mars shooting you dead and eating your head, before ending with a cool guitar-slash-saxophone solo. It was also the first US #1 to feature rapped lyrics. And yet… I’ve never particularly liked it. Sorry.
8. ‘War Child’ – #39 in 1982
‘The Hunter’ is a pretty poor album, from a band that just a few years earlier were churning out classic LPs by the year. But it has two good songs – the Bond-theme that never was, ‘For Your Eyes Only’ – and this, the second single (Blondie’s last for seventeen years). It’s a counterfeit ‘Call Me’, with a propulsive electro beat, some wild saxophoning, and lyrics about Cambodian child soldiers. It deserved better than a #39 peak.
7. ‘(I’m Always Touched By Your) Presence, Dear’ – #10 in 1978
This bit of power-pop showed a softer side to the band’s earlier output, and earned them their second UK Top 10. It could almost be classed as a novelty, in the way it describes being in love with a mind reader, and pokes fun at psychic frequencies and outer entities, though Harry delivers it all in an cooly earnest deadpan. At the very least, someone was taking the piss when placing those brackets in the title…
6. ‘Good Boys’ – #12 in 2003
I’ve seen ‘Good Boys’ described as the great, lost Blondie single. Which feels strange to me, as it’s been one of my favourites for years. But then maybe it was a case of right place right time, as I was at the height of one of my chart-watching phases, and seem to be one of the few who noticed it making #12 in August 2003. A bit poppier, and funkier, than ‘Maria’ a few years earlier, Harry had another crack at rapping on this one, and the band had to acknowledge Queen in the credits after borrowing heavily from ‘We Will Rock You’.
5. ‘Union City Blue’ – #13 in 1979
It’s not up for debate that Blondie were a pretty freakin’ cool band, but have they ever looked cooler than in the video to ‘Union City Blue’, all suited and booted (orange jump suit-booted in Debbie H’s case) on a dry dock? They do their best to spoil all this in the second half of the video, cutting some goofy shapes once night has fallen, but let’s pretend that never happens. This song just sounds so epic, from the cascading intro, to Clem Burke’s majestic drumming, to that revving bass in the break before the final verse.
4. ‘Hanging on the Telephone’ – #5 in 1978
Blondie had a knack for covering the right songs, songs that hadn’t been big hits in the first place and that people would assume were Blondie songs all along… (see the next song in this list for another great example). ‘Hanging on the Telephone’ had been recorded by the Nerves in 1976, and Blondie’s cover is pretty faithful, just a bit tighter, a bit sharper, and a bit better. I can even pinpoint the very moment that this transcends its original version: the extra throaty woahwoahwoah that Harry adds right at the end. It’s also another fine example of what I’ll call Blondie’s knack for stalker-chic – see also ‘X Offender’ and the song at #2 in this list – songs with creepy lyrics that they get away with because Debbie Harry was such a doll.
3. ‘Denis’ – #2 in 1978
Speaking of having a knack for covering the right songs… Though Blondie didn’t so much as cover ‘Denis’ as kidnap it, brainwash it, and convince it that it was their song all along. The original, ‘Denise’, by the excellently named Randy & the Rainbows, was an average slice of mid-tempo doo-wop. In Blondie’s hands it became both a razor-sharp pop tune, and a post-punk classic with just enough cooly detached irony. As well as their first big hit.
2. ‘Picture This’ – #12 in 1978
Blondie seemed to lose some momentum with the release of the lead single from their third album, ‘Parallel Lines’. Of course, that album would go on to do alright for itself, and the subsequent hits would overshadow this brilliant new-wave single. As mentioned, Blondie did a good line in oldies covers, but they also did a great line in making new songs with all the hallmarks of the classics. ‘Picture This’ has hooks galore, and could have been a sixties girl-group hit. Though not many sixties girl-groups would have gotten away with lines like: I will give you my finest hour, The one I spent watching you shower…
1. ‘Dreaming’ – #2 in 1979
Blondie are not a band poorly served by their number one singles. They released some outright, all-time classics, and most of them got to the top of the charts. But if there was one single of theirs that deserved to join the ranks of ‘Heart of Glass’, ‘Atomic’, or ‘Call Me’, then it’s ‘Dreaming’. Like ‘Picture This’, it takes some classic pop group hooks, and melodies, (it’s apparently based on ‘Dancing Queen’, though I don’t hear it myself), and beefs them up into something wonderful. Clem Burke’s drumming is a stand out on this record, though he claims he was over-egging his drum fills, assuming that producer Mike Chapman wouldn’t use that take.
I’ve noticed that I quoted quite a few of the lyrics from the past ten songs, not realising just how epic, and often hilarious, Blondie’s lyrics were. To the ‘hilarious’ pile I’ll add Harry’s opening couplet: When I met you in the restaurant, You could tell I was no debutante… And to the ‘epic’ pile I’ll nominate a sentiment we can all agree with: Dreaming, Dreaming is free…
Thanks for reading, and do let me know if you agree with my ranking in the comments.
Before going, I must mention that over the weekend I wrote a guest blog post for Keith AKA the Nostalgic Italian, all about our memories of the toys that we grew up with. I managed to stay on-brand and tied my post into a number one single. Check it out here!
Like Fleetwood Mac yesterday, The Hollies had more succesful eras than the one we’re covering today. Between 1963 and 1970 they racked up a very impressive sixteen Top 10 hits, including the chart-topping ‘I’m Alive’. Also like Fleetwood Mac, by the time their biggest seventies hit came along, two founding members – Graham Nash and Eric Haydock – had left for pastures new.
‘The Air That I Breathe’ is a big, beast of a song. The sort of song that you know is going to be huge from its opening, extended guitar chord. It crams a lot into its four and half minute runtime, including that soaring chorus, and a couple of chiming guitar solos. But for me the best bit is the first bridge, as Alan Clarke floats in the Makin’ love with you, Has left me peaceful, Warm and tired… line without taking a breath. Plus, any pop song which has the confidence to make you wait almost two minutes for the first chorus gets a nod of approval from me.
‘The Air That I Breathe’ has a bit of history to it, before and after this version. It was originally written and recorded by Albert Hammond in 1972, then covered by Phil Everly before becoming a worldwide smash thanks to The Hollies. Twenty years later, and Radiohead fairly obviously cribbed the verse melody for their breakthrough hit ‘Creep’. Hammond and co-writer Mike Hazlewood sued, but accepted only a small amount of co-writing royalties as Radiohead were ‘honest’ about their recycling. Radiohead themselves took Lana Del Rey to court when she released ‘Get Free’ in 2017, again borrowing what is clearly a very potent melody.
A famous sixties act scoring a hit in the seventies is a big thing, as it sometimes feels like there was a clear line in the sand drawn after the Beatles split. The Stones managed it, obviously, and The Who, but most others struggled. ‘The Air That I Breathe’ was The Hollies’ swansong, their last visit to the Top 10. Or should I say it was their ‘first’ swansong, as of course ‘He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother’ found a new lease of life thanks to Miller Lite, and belatedly made #1 in 1988. As much as I do admire ‘He Ain’t Heavy…’, I do rather wish it had been ‘The Air That I Breathe’ that was given a second run at the charts. I’m not sure it’s my favourite Hollies’ song, as some of their sixties beat hits hit just the right spot for me, but its certainly their most epic.
We finish Cover Versions week with a two-for-the-price-of-one deal. Rod Stewart scored his 4th number one in 1977 with two covers of acoustic classics – ‘I Don’t Want to Talk About It’ and ‘The First Cut Is the Deepest’. I was a bit hard on it when recapping (I gave it a ‘Meh’ Award), and by far the most memorable thing about the record is that it kept the Sex Pistols’ ‘God Save the Queen’ off the top… fairly or otherwise.
But really, both songs are quite lovely. If either had topped the charts on their own, it would have been fine. Both together, with Rod dragging the arse out of them, and I got a bit bored. Luckily for us, there are plenty of other versions of both songs for us to get our teeth into.
Both songs existed before Rod got his hands on them. ‘I Don’t Want to Talk About It’ was recorded by US band Crazy Horse, for their first album after Neil Young had left them to form Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Stewart didn’t stray very far from this when recording his own hit version. It’s very early-seventies country-rock, and hides a tragic backstory in the fact that the writer (and singer of this original) Danny Whitten would die of a drug overdose barely a year after it was recorded.
For something a bit different, we’d have to wait until 1988, when Everything But the Girl made #3 with their own version. In truth, it’s more the band performing it that makes this one stand out, as it’s a similarly heartfelt, acoustic take, albeit it with a few more strings. This was the duo’s only Top 10 hit between their debut in 1982, and their now signature song ‘Missing’ in 1995.
‘The First Cut Is the Deepest’ dates back further than ‘I Don’t Want…’, as it was written by Cat Stevens in 1965. Stevens sold the song for thirty pounds to US soul singer P.P. Arnold, who was the first to have a hit with it in 1967. Her version has an interesting production: part-Motown, part-sixties beat band, part-soul stomper… Sonically it’s more enjoyable, for me, than any of the more straightforward, guitar-led versions.
Cat Stevens would eventually record his own version as an album track, while it was a Canadian number one in 1973 in a particularly strident version by Keith Hampshire. Then thirty years later, Sheryl Crow brought the song back to the charts with a fairly predictable cover, put out as the ‘new’ single on a Best Of album. By far the most unusual cover of ‘The First Cut Is the Deepest’, though, came in 1995 from Swedish rapper Papa Dee. It’s a classic slice of mid-nineties reggae-pop, complete with an Ace of Base beat and a ragga break in the middle. I’m suprised it wasn’t a hit in the UK, given how many reggae interludes we’ve enjoyed in recent months. Still, it was popular across Europe, especially in Scandivania, where it went Top 10 in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.
I hope you’ve enjoyed ‘Cover Versions’ week, and have perhaps heard a version of a well-known hit that was new to you. I know I did! This weekend we’ll get back to more familiar songs, and artists, starting with possibly the most anticipated single of the 1990s.
Two different cover versions today, starting with a remake that made #1 in the States but only got to #7 in the UK. Similarly, the original ‘Mony Mony’ had been Tommy James & the Shondells’ only British hit, despite the band racking several more in the USA. Billy Idol first recorded ‘Mony Mony’ for his debut solo EP after leaving Generation X, in 1981. It didn’t chart, and is a bit more poppy than the live version, recorded in 1985 but not released until two years later. That is much more indebted to hair metal acts like Bon Jovi and Motley Crue, who were ubiquitous at the time. It’s fun, but then I have a soft spot for the days when rock stars looked more poodle than human, and probably kickstarted gobal warming with the amount of hairspray they released on the world. Interestingly, Idol’s cover of ‘Mony Mony’ was replaced at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 by Tiffany’s ‘I Think We’re Alone Now’, which was originally recorded by… Tommy James & The Shondells.
Here’s the ‘original’, studio version…
‘You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)’, by Sweet
I love Dead or Alive’s ‘You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)’, so much so that I named it as one of my twenty-six ‘Best’ chart-toppers. One of the reasons I like it is that the synths are so clanking and tinny, and the pace so relentless, that it could easily work as a hard rock song. Enter glam legends the Sweet, who recorded it for a 2012 album of cover versions. Sweet weren’t the first rock act to take the song on, as this nu-metal version by Dope attests (think Limp Bizkit on poppers), but I’m featuring them as they were cruelly deprived of chart-toppers back in the ’70s (five #2s alongside their only #1, ‘Block Buster!’)
What I want to hear now is a whole album of SAW covers by rock and metal acts… Black Sabbath doing Kylie, Mel & Kim’s ‘Respectable’ reimagined by Pearl Jam… It would be a best-seller, surely.
A Happy Easter to all who celebrate it. I’m launching a new feature this Easter Sunday, something to enjoy while rendered immobile by one too many chocolate eggs… ‘Today’s Top 10’! My blog focuses very intently on every song that’s made #1 in the UK, and I often try to draw conclusions on how popular music has been shaped, and has shifted, over the years based on one tune alone. Which is actually quite limiting, because the singles charts have always been about more than just the number one. Over the 70-plus years of the singles chart, we’ve had a weekly Top 12, a Top 30, a Top 40, a Top 75, and now a Top 100.
So I want to, every so often, single out a random Top 10 from history, to look at in more detail. My version of ‘Pick of the Pops’, if you will. Cue the music….! Completely at random, using an online date generator, the first to come out the hat was 1970: the singles chart as it stood fifty-four years ago today. It features, inevitably, a #1 we’ve met before (plus one former #1), as well as songs by some of the biggest acts of all time. So let’s crack on…
#10 – ‘Don’t Cry Daddy’, by Elvis Presley (down 1 / 6 weeks on chart)
The early-seventies was a sort of musical wilderness: after the post-sixties comedown, a year or so out from the glam rock takeover of 1972-73. Speaking of musical wildernesses, here’s Elvis with a maudlin ballad about a break-up (or is it a mother’s death?) written from the POV of the couple’s daughter. Elvis croons the life out of it, and that voice could sell anything, but even he struggles to imbue lines like Daddy you’ve still got me and little Tommy, Together we’ll find a brand new mommy… with any sort of gravitas. He was still capable of greatness in the early seventies – in a few months he’d be back on top with one of his biggest hits, ‘The Wonder of You’ – but this is pretty saccharine.
#9 – ‘Everybody Get Together’, by The Dave Clark Five (down 1 / 5 weeks on chart)
The DC5 had scored their one and only #1, the stomping ‘Glad All Over’, more than six years earlier. So it is impressive that they were still hanging around the Top 10, when so many of their ’60s contemporaries had already faded away. This is a call-to-arms, a song with a message: Everybody get together, Try to love one another right now… Originally written as a folk song, and a hit in 1967 for the Youngbloods at the height of flower-power, The Dave Clark Five clearly felt that the sentiment was worth one more go. But there’s a droning, heavy feel to this version that feels weary, as if they’ve given up on the message even before the end of the song. It’s appropriately downbeat, perhaps, for the end of the sixties and the start of an uncertain new decade. Fitting too, as this was the Five’s final Top 10 hit. They would disband by the end of the year.
#8 – ‘Something’s Burning’, by Kenny Rogers & The First Edition (up 3 / 9 weeks on chart)
New to this week’s Top 10, and maintaining our run of hits by artists that we’ve already met in the #1 position, it’s Kenny Rogers and The First Edition with a sexy, sexy song. The verses are soft and slinky, lines like You lie in gentle sleep beside me, I hear your warm and rhythmic breathing… but it builds to a heated crescendo in the chorus. Kenny growls Here it comes, Can’t you feel it baby… and we know he’s not talking about the No. 42 bus. Lord have mercy…! It’s a world away from his much more gentle, much more ‘country’, solo hits like ‘Lucille’.
#7 – ‘Let It Be’, by The Beatles (down 3 / 4 weeks on chart)
Some of you may have heard this one before… The last single released before Paul McCartney’s departure heralded the end of history’s greatest group. There’s nothing new I can say about the record as a whole, so I’ll single out my two personal favourite moments. George Harrison’s snarling solo (especially on the album version) and the way Paul’s scouse accent sneaks through in the word ‘trouble’. Perhaps I’m just used to the streaming age, where songs hang around the charts for……ever, but for a song as legendary as ‘Let it Be’ not to make #1, and then be slipping down to #7 after just four weeks, seems surprising.
#6 – ‘That Same Old Feeling’, by Pickettywitch (down 1 / 6 weeks on chart)
I can’t say I’ve ever heard this one, though it had been as high as #5. It’s a nice enough, Motown-leaning tune done in a late-sixties, bubblegum style. Pickettywitch – I can’t decide if that’s a great or a terrible name – are another sign that though we may be in March of 1970, we’re still in the sixties going by much of this Top 10. Lead singer Polly Brown has a decent voice, reminding me of Diana Ross.
#5 – ‘Young, Gifted and Black’, by Bob & Marcia (up 1 / 4 weeks on chart)
I’ve made many a reference to the fact that reggae is the most indestructible of genres on the UK singles chart. Never the defining sound of an age, but always popping up when you least expect it. In 1970, it really was a new sound, Desmond Dekker having scored the first ‘official’ reggae #1 (if you ignore The Equals, and ‘Ob La Di…’) the year before. This is reggae + , with lots of strings, and rocking drums, but I’d say it still counts. More significant, though, are the lyrics: In the whole world I know, There’s a million boys and girls, That are young, gifted and black… And that’s a fact! Written and originally recorded by Nina Simone a few months earlier, right at the end of the decade that had brought the Civil Rights Movement to a head, for this to make the Top 10 in the UK feels very significant, and the second song in this rundown that could be described as a ‘rallying cry’.
#4 – ‘Wand’rin’ Star’, by Lee Marvin (down 2 / 9 weeks on chart)
A former number one – which I go into much more detail on here – that had kept ‘Let It Be’ from top spot a few weeks before. It was taken from the movie version of ‘Paint Your Wagon’, which was a box office flop. A bizarre #1 at the start of a decade full of bizarre #1s, Lee Marvin officially has the lowest voice ever heard on a chart-topping single (*disclaimer – may not be true*), and uses it brilliantly on this anti-social anthem: I never seen a sight that didn’t look better lookin’ back…
#3 – ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’, by Andy Williams (non-mover / 4 weeks on chart)
Elvis makes a second appearance in the Top 10, in spirit at least, with Andy Williams’ belting cover of the King’s 1962 #1, ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’. If it was impressive that the DC5 were still having hits in 1970, then we should also give a nod to the fact that Williams debuted with ‘Butterfly’ – his sole chart-topper – in 1957. But then again, crooners like Williams are timeless, much less prey to shifting trends than pop groups. The video above, which I think comes from later in the decade, is a spectacular glimpse into ’70s variety shows: the multi-coloured steps, the giant ‘ANDY’, the cardigan…
#2 – ‘Knock, Knock Who’s There?’, by Mary Hopkin (up 5 / 2 weeks on chart)
Venture deep enough into a springtime chart, and there’s a good chance you’ll meet a Eurovision Song Contest entry. ‘Knock, Knock Who’s There?’ was the UK’s 1970 offering, finishing second on the night to Ireland’s Dana. This is very schmaltzy, very middle of the road – not a patch on Hopkin’s huge breakthrough #1 ‘Those Were the Days’ – but it’s a darn sight better than the horrible ‘All Kinds of Everything’. This was a big departure from Hopkin’s usual, folky offerings, and she wasn’t a fan: “I was so embarrassed about it. Standing on stage singing a song you hate is just awful.” Hate it though she might have, it brought about her final Top 10 hit.
#1 – ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’, Simon & Garfunkel – (non-mover / 7 weeks on chart)
In the middle of a three-week run at the top, ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ was just the 3rd number one of the 1970s, but is probably one of the decade’s biggest and best-loved songs. Simon wrote it, while Garfunkel gave one of the great vocal performances (something that apparently irks Paul to this day…) You can read my original post here.
In a way, ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ is the perfect number one for this chart. March 1970 wasn’t the sixties, but it’s wasn’t the seventies as we remember it either. ‘Bridge…’ is timeless, not beholden to many of the styles of the time, and could have been a #1 at most points in chart history. Elsewhere in the Top 10, we tick a few common chart boxes: soundtrack hits, Eurovision, Elvis, The Beatles… Maybe the two most relevant songs, though, are ‘Everybody Get Together’, and ‘Young, Gifted and Black’, which represent the social and civil rights movements that had defined the latter part of the 1960s. The hippy dream may have died, Dr King may have been killed, but hope springs eternal…
That was fun, and hopefully worthwhile. I’ll do another one sometime, as a break from our normal proceedings. Next up it’s back to 1996…
The results are in, the public has spoken. Earlier this week, Wham! finally made the festive top spot with ‘Last Christmas’, thirty-nine years late. (Hopefully now that it has achieved its ultimate goal, the song will be purged from every device on the planet, and we’ll never have to hear it again…) But in an even more important call to arms, I asked readers of this blog to choose their favourite, and their least-favourite, Xmas #1s.
The vote stopped in 1994, as that’s where our regular blog is (and because that is, I firmly believe, the end of the golden-age of the Christmas chart-topper). I also didn’t include every official Xmas #1 – just those that were Christmassy or silly enough – because everyone knows the Beatles were good, and we didn’t need them adding this honour to their role-call. So without further ado, the Top 3 Best Christmas #1s, as voted by you, are…
3rd place
‘Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)’, by Pink Floyd
The final Christmas #1 from THE decade for Christmas #1s, it’s the only single ever released by Pink Floyd (references needed). It ticks some of the boxes for a festive hit – novelty value, children singing en masse – but otherwise it’s got bugger all to do with the holiday season, and lots to do with abuse of power and brainwashing of youngsters. Margaret Thatcher hated it, and there’s no greater endorsement than that! (Read my original post on it here.)
2nd place
‘Stay Another Day’, by East 17
More Christmassy than Pink Floyd, though still not officially a ‘Christmas song’ (but, the bells!)… The 1994 Xmas chart-topper. Written about the suicide of Tony Mortimer’s brother, it’s both sad, and uplifting, as I mentioned in my post on it a few weeks back. And those white parkas have become enshrined in British pop culture. It was still some way off the winning song, though…
1st place
‘Merry Xmas Everybody’, by Slade
It had to be, didn’t it? With just over 30% of the vote, it’s the song that kicked of the very idea of the ‘Christmas Number One’. A glam classic, and a raucous festive singalong, for many it simply isn’t Christmas until Noddy Holder has belted out his famous line… All together now… It’s Christmaaaaaas…!
Anyway, now that’s done, on to the really important bit. The WORST… And interestingly, more votes were cast in this one than for the ‘good’ Christmas songs. Nice to see everyone indulging their dark side… One song was a clear leader from the start but, like all the best Xmas #1 races, a second contender caught up and ended the vote neck and neck. Yes, we have a tie…
Joint 1st place
‘Mr Blobby’, by Mr Blobby, and ‘There’s No One Quite Like Grandma’, by The St Winifred’s School Choir
I’m not sure there can be many complaints, as these are two truly terrible pieces of music, for very different reasons. One is manically unhinged, the other is sickeningly saccharine. Both represent the British public’s tendency to send utter tat to the top of the charts, especially at Christmas. But… I do have a soft spot for one of them; while the other needs, in my opinion, to be torched by a flame-thrower. Regular readers will know which is which.
Thanks for voting, for reading this post, and for reading, liking, and commenting on all my posts throughout this year, and the years before. For the first time since starting this blog in 2018, I’ll be taking a winter break. I’ll still be around, interacting in the blogosphere, but the next #1s post will be (hopefully) on the 7th January.
All that’s left is to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! See you in 2024!
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, at least according to Andy Williams, which means stockings above the fireplace, geese getting fat, goodwill to all… And the annual race for Christmas Number One.
By now it’s certainly a British tradition, and the one time of the year that the singles chart is guaranteed to make the news, but most people would say that the honour of being the nation’s biggest-selling song on December 25th has lost a lot of its lustre. I’d agree. In fact, I’d say that we’ve already covered the heyday of the Christmas Number One in my regular blog… The most recent festive #1 was 1994’s: East 17’s ‘Stay Another Day’, a classic that I’ve just named one of the Very Best. From here on its a slippery slope, past The Spice Girls, endless X-Factor winners, countless charity singles, to the very bottom of the barrel, and the dreaded LadBaby.
Now it’s time for you to decide: what is the greatest Xmas #1? And, perhaps more importantly, what is the worst?? See below two polls, in which you can choose as many or as few songs as you like, for both honours.
Perhaps controversially, I’ve not listed every Xmas #1 since 1952. Until the early seventies, the idea of a ‘Christmas Number One’ wasn’t particularly relevant, so the only pre-1973 hits I’ve included in the vote are specifically Chistmassy, or novelty songs that probably wouldn’t have made #1 at any other time of year (so, sorry, no Beatles…) Even post-1973, I’ve excluded pop songs that just happened to be #1 at Christmas (so no Human League, or Pet Shop Boys). However, there is space at the bottom for you to nominate any Xmas #1 you think I’ve unfairly missed off the list. You may, for example, feel very strongly that ‘Two Little Boys’ deserves the title…
Here’s the poll for the best…
And the worst…
I’ll announce the results on Christmas Eve, so you have until then to cast your votes. Have at it!
To mark the release of the Stones’ 24th studio album, and their first original recording in almost two decades, let’s delve back into their long chart career, and explore the hits that didn’t make number one.
Over the course of the 1960s, the band scored eight chart toppers, from ‘It’s All Over Now’ in ’64 to ‘Honky Tonk Women’ in ’69. But they didn’t stop when the sixties ended. No, as you may be aware, they kept going. And going. Kept on rolling on. Impressively, their recent comeback single, ‘Angry’, made #34 in the UK, their first Top 40 hit since 2005. But that won’t quite make this list of their ten biggest non-chart toppers. In ascending order, then…
‘Start Me Up’, reached #7 in 1981
The Stones at their Stonesiest. A killer riff, some smutty lyrics, and Mick doing his best Jane Fonda impression in the video. It’s an impressive feat, releasing one of your signature songs two decades into your career. But it also somewhat marked the end of the band as a chart concern – it remains their final UK Top 10 hit – and the start of The Stones TM: the mega-touring, jukebox musical that the band have been for the last forty years. ‘Tattoo You’, the album from which it came, is seen by many as the band’s last great LP, too.
‘Fool to Cry’, reached #6 in 1976
Perhaps the one thing lacking from the Stones’ back-catalogue is a big ballad. (Ok, the next song on the list proves that statement completely wrong…) Anyway, ‘Fool to Cry’ comes close to being that ballad. A slow, bluesy number that takes its time, lingering on some wonderful falsetto notes from Mick. In the first verse he’s feeling low, so he puts his daughter on his knee, and she tells him Daddy, You’re a fool to cry… A bit too sentimental for the Stones? Not to worry, in verse two Mick goes to his mistress, who lives in a po’ part of town… And she says the exact same thing. Much more like it!
‘Angie’, reached #5 in 1973
Of course, if the Stones do have a big ballad, then it’s this one. There was some discussion as to who ‘Angie’ was: David Bowie’s wife, Keith Richard’s daughter, or the actress Angie Dickinson. Whoever it’s about, it’s a beautiful love song, with Jagger’s slurred singing giving the impression that he’s had a shot or two of Dutch courage before suggesting he and Angie call it a day.
‘Tumbling Dice’, reached #5 in 1972
I called ‘Start Me Up’ the Stones at their Stonesiest, but actually… This is the band at the peak of the powers. The lead single from what is widely regarded as their best album (though I’d go for the clean and concise ‘Sticky Fingers’ over the rambling ‘Exile…’) ‘Tumbling Dice’ might be the coolest piece of rock music ever recorded – that boogie-woogie rhythm, Keef’s lazy riff, Charlie’s drums bringing up the rear, the lyrics about being rank outsiders and partners in crime.. To be honest, until watching the lyric video above I had no idea what 90% of the words to ‘Tumbling Dice’ were. But does it matter? Nah. This one’s all about the groove, the attitude, about being the best freakin’ rock and roll band in the world.
‘Have You Seen Your Mother Baby, Standing in the Shadow?’, reached #5 in 1966
It’s easy now, with them in their eighties, to be blasé about how dangerous the Rolling Stones must have seemed in the 1960s. But this mid-decade hit, that begins and ends in a hail of feedback, with ambiguous lyrics that could be about a girl on the streets, taking drugs, or affairs with people’s mothers, proves that they were mad, bad, and dangerous to know… The memorable horn riff is a sign of the direction that the band would take as the sixties progressed. And just to make sure they got some more attention, the band dragged up for the record sleeve. Lock up your daughters, indeed…
‘Miss You’, reached #3 in 1978
A trio of number threes, now. In the late seventies anybody who was anybody had to try out a disco groove and the Stones were no different, in what was seen as a huge departure for them. The band disagree over whether or not it was originally intended as a disco song – Jagger and Wood say no, Richards says yes – but it certainly ended up as one. (There was an even more disco influenced remix released as a 12″.) Meanwhile, Bill Wyman, whose brilliant bassline holds the whole thing together, has claimed he should have had a writing credit. ‘Miss You’ was their last Billboard #1, and their last UK Top 5 hit.
‘Let’s Spend the Night Together’, reached #3 in 1967
It’s funny – this is one of the Stones’ poppier numbers, and yet one of their most controversial. It’s piano and organ driven, seemingly influenced more by Motown and male vocal groups than the band’s normal R&B touchstones. But lyrics like I’ll satisfy your every need, And now I know you’ll satisfy me… were bound to get folks’ knickers in a twist. Radio stations banned it, and Ed Sullivan insisted that the chorus be changed to ‘let’s spend some time together’, an insistence that the band complied with (though Jagger’s theatrical eye-roll meant they weren’t invited back for a while). In some regions it was twinned with ‘Ruby Tuesday’, though the official records don’t list it as a double-‘A’ in the UK.
‘Not Fade Away’, reached #3 in 1964
Where it all began (almost). This Buddy Holly cover was their 3rd single, and their first Top 10 hit. It’s a lot faster, and beefier, than the original, with a touch of the fuzzy, sloppy sounds of the Rolling Stones in their prime, and Brian Jones’ harmonica acting as lead instrument. It came out in early 1964, right at the start of the British Invasion, when bands like The Beatles and the Stones wore their American rock ‘n’ roll influences loud and proud. It serves almost as a timeline of rock’s rapid development through the fifties and sixties: the Stones covering a Buddy Holly hit, which he’d based on the Bo Diddley riff, which in turn goes all the way back to the dawn of the blues.
‘Brown Sugar’ / ‘Bitch’, reached #2 in 1971
Another all-time Stones classic, this time from ‘Sticky Fingers’, with a great riff, a filthy sax solo, and some famously questionable lyrics. For many years I never paid much attention to the nitty-gritty of the song’s subject matter, because it was such an absolute rocker. But then you actually sit down and read the lyrics about slave ships and whipping women at midnight, and wonder if the song is looking at the matter critically, or just celebrating it. Then again, shouldn’t rock ‘n’ roll be provocative? And they’re far from being the Stones’ worst lyrics (‘Under My Thumb’ and ‘Some Girls’ say ‘Hi’…) As if they knew this song would court controversy, they paired it with a more subtle, reflective number, which they called ‘Bitch’… Some countries also list the record as a triple ‘A’-side, with a live cover of Chuck Berry’s ‘Let It Rock’ as the third track.
’19th Nervous Breakdown’, reached #2 in 1966
Come to think of it, the Stones’ other number two hit is hardly the most sympathetic towards women (Oh who’s to blame, That girl’s just insane…) Lost a little amongst their biggest ’60s hits, ’19th Nervous Breakdown’ is the Stones at their snottiest. The Kinks are always cast as the decade’s social commentators, but songs like this (alongside ‘Satisfaction’, and ‘Mother’s Little Helper’) are just as biting satire. It tells the story of a flighty society girl, running around, getting on everyone’s nerves, always on the verge of yet another breakdown… Though we’re left to ponder how much of that is down to her terrible choice in men. The highlight here is Bill Wyman’s ‘divebombing’ bass in the fade-out…
I hope you enjoyed this little interlude! Back on with the regular countdown next week. Meanwhile, I’m off to give ‘Hackney Diamonds’ a listen…
The UK Number Ones Blog 