I give marks out of 10 to every song – based on whatever criteria you like, here’s your opportunity to say what you’d have given more than 6 to from 1976. Tick as many as you like.
Loading ...And use the comments to discuss the year as a whole, if you like.
Tom in FT /Popular • featured content/Pop/popular year poll • 9,617 views
All, 1–25, 26–50, 51–75, 76–100, 101–125, 126–150, 151–175, 176–200, 201–225, 226–250, 251–275, 276–300, 301–325, 326–350, 351–375, 376–400, 401–425, 426–450, 451–475, 476–500, 501–525, 526–551.Back up to post. More comments: All, 1–25, 26–50, 51–75, 76–100, 101–125, 126–150, 151–175, 176–200, 201–225, 226–250, 251–275, 276–300, 301–325, 326–350, 351–375, 376–400, 401–425, 426–450, 451–475, 476–500, 501–525, 526–551.
All the UK number ones since 1952, reviewed in order and rated by whim. As featured on Radio 2, The Times, Metro, Paul Cornell's LiveJournal, etc etc.
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I did wonder if there would be a memorial to Jimmy on tonight’s programme, I missed the start but I didn’t see one – and I guess these are untouched repeats anyway. Something for another time.
John Miles: I don’t recall this at all but really liked it and I’m beginning to think he may be a great lost talent – might start checking some of his stuff out.
AWB: I only vaguely remember this (was it a hit?) and if I’d known it was them would have marked it down for a non/minor hit like “Atlantic Avenue.” Debut of the new dancers (some of whom had been in Ruby Flipper). Is this the first time Ed ‘Stewpot’ Stewart has introduced in this series?
Climax Blues Band: a classic one-hit wonder, somewhere between the Eagles and Dr Feelgood.
As for the Pussycat dolls, the singer’s blonde hair is much too long and the gap between her teeth puts me off (Sally Thomsett was sexier), the middle one seemed promising but on closer inspection looked like Jade Goody with longer hair; and the third was a rather bored-looking redhead. Was that boat used again in the “Karma Chameleon” video?
About “Sailing” there’s surely nothing left to be said.
Good, if rather stiff, performance from Stewpot, whom I met at a benefit cricket match at the Oval at about this time. I remember being cheeky about Everton, his professed footy team.
Steve Harley – A record not known at this address.
Dennis – In his orbit. Magnificent!
Paul Nicholas once more – Dancing with the captain? Thank God it was soon be friggin’ in the riggin’ instead of this rubbish.
Rod – Interesting footage of the Arc Royal and of gorgeous Britt.
And then we have an introduction to the Gals, some new, others (including Mucky Sue) already known to us. And they speak!! What to call them, though? Ed announces a competition. I seem to remember suggesting “Waldo’s Wet Dreamers”…
John Miles – A very underrated fellow. Talent in abundance. He’s still about, latterly touring with Tina Turner.
Waldo’s Wet Dreamers perform to the AWB, one of Scotland’s greatest exports. Fabulous track and brilliant routine from the Gals.
Climax Blues Band – What a treat! A sublime track from surely the best named band in history!
Pussycat – I refer Hon Members to the reply I gave earlier. An inexplicable number one. And the fact that it was introduced by Joe Bugner (what the fuck was he doing there?) just adds to the whole Alice in Wonderland element of its presence at the top of our charts and others at points world-wide. Bonkers!
Not a bad show this time.
Did a caption come up saying “Competition is closed” ?
#42 What?!!! It’s closed? What a waste of a stamp. I’m calling offcom to complain right this minute.
I think I finally got an answer to the Q I posed at 395.
I infer BBC4 got all mixed up and made the pre-show announcement (about the competition closing date having passed) a few weeks before they broadcast the show with the competition in it – perhaps the announcement was made in the week in 2011 which corresponded to the date of the episode in which the competition was first broadcast in 1976?
Because we’re still being shown October 1976, aren’t we?
On my travels today noticed that Jimmy James & the Vagabonds appear to be playing The Soul Lounge (well his name was in big letters on a poster outside) in Barnsley someone at work also reckons he’s just played in Birdwell (a nearby village) too so obviously still regular concerts – not bad for a 71 year old!
Wonder if he’ll do ‘Now Is The Time’?
TOTP 27th October 1976
Tonight’s show felt like some kind of weird time capsule from a largely forgotten age of feather or bubble cuts, satin bomber jackets and tight cap-sleeve t-shirts – little sense of pop as music by young people –
Tony Blackburn his usual sunny self
Alan Price – efficient but unengaging
Chicago – beautiful arrangement, but awful visuals
TB joined by ‘Diddy’ David Hamilton for some shennanigans
Leo Sayer – almost invents robotic dancing
Joan Armatrading – exquisite
Lalo Schifrin -Theme from Jaws – dancers in wetsuits – nothing to see here, move along Jimmy/Waldo – great piece of music
Simon May – so drippy, made Chicago sound punk
Wild Cherry – wonderful sounds, slightly disturbing visuals
Pussycat – pleasantly anonymous country-lite – inexplicably still at number 1
Alan Price – Can’t recall it.
Chicago – This was the week I sent in my card to Radio One which was to win the Top Three Forecast comp. I simply swapped 2 and 3 around (Dennis and Chicago) and left Pussycat at the top. Chicago then toppled the Dutch loons the following week. Incidently, it was good to see Tony B confirming that “If You Leave Me Now” had indeed been one of his records of the week, as I remembered when we discussed this particular record. I’m glad I got that right.
Leo Sayer – Not really for for me back then or now. Tidily constructed little pop song, though.
Joan A – Truly wonderful. Should have been massive. Why wasn’t it? Answers on a postcard (see what I did there?)
The Gals in wetsuits bound around to Lalo Schifrin’s Jaws theme. And Mucky Sue does a solo at the end. Thank you, God. A tragically panting Waldo owes you one, buddy!
Simon May – This time you simply knew that it was one of Tony’s records of the week. “Drippy” is right. Liquid Dairylea, more like. Man alive, it’s dreadful!
Wild Cherry – You can’t accuse these lads of not going for it. Grade A sound forever.
Pussycat – The gals had been glammed up a bit and the Sally Thomsett one looked okay to me. But really, what the f—?!
Blackburn was fine and a cameo for that horny wee devil Diddy too.
This must have been the first major incursion into the national consciousness of the disco-pop Leo Sayer (as opposed to the earlier singer-songwritery one)- from here on and throughout 1977 and into 1978 you couldn’t get away from him on either the telly or radio.
Andrea True of “More More More” fame has passed on. Here seems a good place to remember her.
So this week’s show then (Noel Edmonds presides…)
Showaddywaddy – On the way to the top. Very little to criticise here. And the way they kept changing suits midway through the number! How did they do that?! Astonishing! Modern technology! Wow!!
Manhattans – Standard mushy melted cheesy fare for the time. Grim swaying dance formation and the obligatory spoken middle bit by the guy with the Voice of the Mysterons.
Aha! Then the Gals appear through a misty haze to the strains of the Leader of the Opposition’s groovier brother, Steve. Mucky Sue inevitably stars, with that blank glassy stare of hers which is so captivating to The Swede. She is given another minor solo, which seems to confirm that there were many like-minds back in the day who wrote in and said so.
The Who – Masterclass, obv. But ten years old.
Bonnie Tyler – Yum Yum! She looks stunning. And who wouldn’t have wanted to be lost in France with that? Or even Swansea? Wonderful performance too.
Tavares – Well, fair enough but an awful footage. And what was Don King doing there?
Climax Blues Band – Brilliant all day long.
Then…three members of Chicago appear for a quick awkward chat with Noel. First in line was Terry “Don’t worry, it’s not loaded” Kath just over a year away from his ludicrous death (see Waldo entry on “If You Leave Me Now” blog). The band had obviously been jetted over in anticipation of being No. 1 but those pasky Pussycats kept them off for one more week. They didn’t say a lot before the opening strains of “Mississippi” cut over them and then an obsequious Edmonds came out with a beauty. After announcing that he hoped his guests would be top next week, he said (something like) “And so good luck to Chicago, which is nowhere near the Mississippi..” Oh, is it not? I think you’ll find it flows through Illinois, Edmonds, you ignorant pillock. I hope Terry Kath put him right!
And then Pussycat for the final time – I’ll never get over how peculiar this was and how it was such a huge hit. Strange Dutch girls singing a strange country song. Something out of nothing and quite bonkers! Cheery-bye!
I had no idea (or if I did know, had completely forgotten) that “Substitute” was a hit again in 1976. The band were quite high-profile I suppose, with the “Tommy” film out the year before – but this doesn’t feature in it does it? And “Quadrophenia” was another two or three years away I believe. Anyone know what the impetus was for this re-release?
According to an entry over on The Word magazine’s forum…
“Interesting story behind this reissue: the ‘Oo were already on their third greatest hits, following on from the patchy Direct Hits and one-of-the-best-hits-albums-ever, Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy.
Following the Tommy movie, and in the absence of new material, it was time for a double retrospective, The Story of the Who, complete with TV ads and an exploding jukebox on the cover. Failure to include the original Brunswick hits (I Can’t Explain, My Generation etc) meant that this was a second-rate and tawdry cash-gathering exercise, but Substitute was put out on a 12″ single, with I’m a Boy on the B, and in the absence of other interest, it soared into the chart.”
see more here
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/totp-1976-being-slowly-suffocated-blancmange
Thanks for that link – took me over half an hour to read the thread, but it was time well spent.
Yeah, the Who “Substitute” re-release was the first 12″ single released in the UK.
There were others imported from the USA (I remember, and indeed own now, a copy of “Strawberry Letter 23″ the Brothers Johnson), but these would cost around a fiver at least.
#436 I’m glad you mentioned the Showaddywaddy suit changing thing…funny how 1976′s “magic of TV” looks a lot like 2011′s bad continuity.
Also even though Chicago weren’t number one why not at least have the song on the show, after they’d gone to all the trouble of getting them in?
What, as a live performance? Because they weren’t all there, possibly.
Or, that they weren’t there to do the statutory “re-record the backing track then switch it” business.
Intriguing mixed bag of largely forgotten follow-ups and a one hit wonders:
Kursaal Flyers – Somewhere there must have been pushing for Pub Rock: Eddie and the Hot Rods opened the (now wiped) show a week before. Here we have Southend’s least wanted. The TOTP arrangement makes Little Does She Know sound like a dessicated Wizzard. There’s a Kursaal Flyers tour doc, which is the single most dispiriting pop documentary ever made. You’d have lost the will to live being in this band (though the drummer at least realises this TOTP appearance is as good as his life’s ever gonna get – JUST LOOK AT HIS FACE!)
Dr Hook – the lyric to this was used by the “self-styled” Crossbow Cannibal as his Guardian Soulmates profile.
[must mention Jimmy Savile in a Rangers/Celtic shirt ... I remember seeing this in Shoot! at the time in a feature about clubs merging (a big non-league trend as the recession hit hard). No reference from JS as to why he's wearing it, which makes it doubly impressive]
Billy Ocean – while his trousers are tight enought to scare the cameramen into an Elvis waist-up scenario, Billy looks like he’s been squeezed into one of Our Kid’s costumes. I assume that’s not the effect he was going for. The song is so dull I can’t believe it was a Top 20 hit. Goodwill after Love Really Hurts and L.O.D., I suppose, but it sounds hard to dance to.
Be Bop Deluxe – nice, accidentally festive outfits from Legs & Co for a December 1st re-run 35 yrs later – white bootees, bits of tinsel and, err, that’s it. Mucky Sue gets a lot of the camera, gives us plenty of hair-shaking action, and looks all out of breath at the end. As for BBD, I’d never heard this and it sounds like a grower: Who-like dynamics, nice and short, but having said that I can’t remember how it goes.
Cliff Richard – nice bit of falsetto is all there is to recommend this. Hey Mr Dream Maker is a plodder that reckons itself.
Abba – for anyone who doesn’t understand why Abba weren’t universally loved at the time, two of the three hits they’ve had during this TOTP run are Fernando and Money Money Money. Schlager schlager schlager. I don’t like either, and the money-obsessed lyric and Jewish melody of MMM is an uncomfortable combo.
Elton John – funny how, having sat through Gilbert O, John Miles, Randy Edelman et al doing their piano confessionals, context makes Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word somehow LESS impressive than I was expecting. This may partially explain why a latterday standard only got to no.11 in a pretty weak year. Still it’s an impressive live performance, for once, just Elton and piano. And considerably better than the “wadda gadda do” version which will be troubling Popular in a few years.
Chicago – as part of the ’68-in-76 thread, this could easily be the Association or New Colony Six in their pomp. Even the arrangement with its restrained muted horns sounds closer to the Buckinghams than Wild Cherry, or even earlier Chicago. Well, it’s lovely, just as long as you don’t have to look at Peter Cetera and his incredible ‘do. The performance suggests they knew this was a number one the second it was recorded.
Last night’s show. And now then, now then, it’s Jim…
Kursaal Flyers to open – I always loved this. Great fun. Wonderful lyric about underwear and detergent etc. I wonder if the swaying teens took any of it in. The line about the girl racing across the street like a hare was quite dotty too.
Doctor Hook – Not dissimilar in content really. Who’s going to iron my shirt? Who’s going to want me in bed? Bonkers.
Billy Ocean – Stop him if you’ve heard it all before. Okay, Bily. We’ll stop you.
Aha! Now here come the recently but for us suddenly-named Legs and Co. The Gals are grooving to Hot Valves by Be Bop Deluxe. And those oufits… Jesus! And that routine… Oh, Mumma! And a breathless pant at the end from Mucky Sue. Too much! The Swede has really got to stop watching this!
But then the perfect antidote. It’s Cliff with an instantly forgetable piece of dross. For me a very weak effort.
Abba – MMM. Not as mighty as DQ, obv, but once again an exceptional pop song and the gals still look forever lush.
Elton’s up next and Reg is solo on piano doing “Sorry…Word”. A great performance here with zero arrangement. It helps that this is (at least for me) one of his finest tracks.
Squaring up for the number one now. And did Jim really pinch that young girl’s botty?…
Chicago. A tremendous effort, quite rightly topping the poll.
Not a bad show but dear God, how we badly needed something new on the scene. Where ever would it come from?..
Well, wherever it’s coming from, it won’t be here for a while yet! (The Hot Rods proved to be a false dawn in a way, come back in May or thereabouts!)
The Kursaal Flyers were massively touted as the next ‘big thing’, along with Racing Cars. Boy, there was a band inappropriately named!
Actually, Mark, I must correct you. “It” was already here. The Bill Grundy interview had gone out on Wednesday 1st December, which I am guessing was the day before this episode of TOTP was broadcast and the very same evening that it was actually recorded. Obviously only those of us who were living in London saw the now historic footage going out live, as it was on a regional news programme but allow me to assure you that it was one hell of a wake-up call to many of us who were teens back in the day, stroppy or otherwise.
ah yeah, I meant as far as TOTP was concerned.
I didn’t watch the “Today” show that day as I’d already seen them on Nationwide.
Also, weren’t those “I hate Tony Blackburn” and “I hate Diddy David Hamilton” t shirts a copy of Johnny R’s “I hate Pink Floyd” one? It had been written about by Nov 76 (can’t think where but one of yous lot will know). First punk-inspired TOTP happening and it was Diddy wot did it.
Re 446: But I think we’re a little out of sequence and a few weeks behind, aren’t we? So Bill Grundy won’t have happened yet.
It is a bit confusing, Wichita, but we’re either pretty much in line with December 1st or not too far away from it. Not “a few weeks”, I don’t think.
I’ll never forget the uproar the Grundy thing caused the next morning in the ever-timid tabloids. Ridiculous really. And when you see the clip today, Steve Jones, who was the guy who really kicked off (such as it was), just looks a pillock. Certainly today’s vintage of youngsters would view it all with mild curiosity, nothing more.
#448, No, the Eddie and the Hot Rods’ guitarist wore a “Punk” t-shirt on their appearance, a few months prior to this.
Not counting Slik’s “The Kid’s a Punk” prior to even that. Midge Ure, apparently was ‘mortified’ that Martin/Coulter could assume/opportune this new youth movement and get it so wrong. Didn’t stop them continuing to play it live on their tour publicising “Don’t take your love away” in 1977 though.