REMEMBER WHEN - 4th November 1978

No.	LW
1	1	John Travolta & Olivia Newton John	Summer Nights
2	3	John Travolta	Sandy
3	7	Boomtown Rats	Rat Trap
4	2	Boney M	Rasputin
5	5	Donna Summer	MaCarthur Park
6	6	E.L.O.	Sweet Talking Woman
7	4	Dean Friedman	Lucky Stars
8	9	Jacksons	Blame It On The Boogie
9	13	Public Image Limited	Public Image
10	16	Sham 69	Hurry Up Harry
11	19	Frankie Miller	Darlin'
12	14	Buzzcocks	Ever Fallen In Love With Someone
13	18	Father Abraham & The Smurfs	Dippety Day
14	15	Three Degrees	Givin' Up Givin' In
15	25	Jam	Down In The Tube Station At Midnight
16	8	Rose Royce	Love Don't Live Here Anymore
17	10	Leo Sayer	I Can't Stop Lovin' You
18	11	Crystal Gayle	Talking In Your Sleep
19	17	Mick Jackson	Blame It On the Boogie
20	28	Dan Hartman	Instant Replay
21	27	Queen	Bicycle Race / Fat Bottomed Girls
22	20	Smokie	Mexican Girl
23	26	Rolling Stones	Respectable
24	NEW	Olivia Newton John	Hopelessly Devoted To You
25	12	Third World	Now That We've Found Love
26	23	Frankie Valli	Grease
27	21	Sylvester	You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)
28	NEW	Showaddywaddy	Pretty Little Angel Eyes
29	NEW	Elvis Costello	Radio Radio
30	32	Elton John	Part Time Love
31	38	Undertones	Teenage Kicks
32	22	O'Jays	Brandy
33	24	Dooleys	A Rose Has To Die
34	36	Hawkwind	Silver Machine
35	29	Jonathan King	One For You One For Me
36	NEW	Heatwave	Always And Forever / Mind Blowing Decisions
37	33	Earth Wind And Fire	Got To Get You Into My Life
38	35	Olympic Runners	Get It While You Can
39	NEW	Eric Clapton	Promises
40	39	Ivor Biggun	The Winker's Song

The two biggest things in music during 1978 were two of the biggest films of all time. First of all it was 'Saturday Night Fever', and now 'Grease'. A couple of weeks after John & Olivia had ended their run of nine weeks at the top with "You're The One That I Want", a duo named 'Chris Blake & Honey Brown', decided to cash in by recording a cover of one of the other tracks from the soundtrack, namely "Summer Nights". It sank without trace. I was then very surprised when John annd Olivia's rendition of "Summer Nights" was also released as a single just a few weeks after that. But surprisingly, it became the second number one from the soundtrack, spending seven weeks on top. This brought the total weeks spent at number one this year by the duo of Travolta/Newton John to 16, and "Summer Nights" was the third best selling single of the year.

Some would say that this was about to become the first punk number one, but at the risk of re-opening an old (and pointless) debate on the newsgroups, I won't go down that road. Quite a shock number one really, not because of the quality of the song (it's one of my favourites from the 70's),but due to it being the third track to be pulled from the album 'Tonic For The Troops'. The previous two had reached number 12 (She's So Modern) and number six (Like Clockwork). All of a sudden the 'Rats' had become big news, and for a while (certainly during the following summer) were the most popular band in the land. Something that many will remember this for, is in the week that this knocked "Summer Nights" off the top, Bob tore up a photo of Travolta & Newton John at the beginning of the Rats' performance on Top Of The Pops. But no one would have guessed how much good lead singer 'Bob Geldof' would do for mankind just over six years later.

Boney M were the only act who could outsell Travolta/Newton John this year. Their previous hit "Rivers Of Babylon/Brown Girl In The Ring" was the top selling single of 1978 having spent five weeks at number one and had a mammoth chart run. In fact, it had dropped out of the top 40 this very week after a 26 week run. They didn't fare so well with "Rasputin" which looked a sure bet to reach number one after entering at number nine. Instead they had to settle for two weeks at number two.

A song about a cake ? Yes it really was, and there isn't a lot more that can be said about the song in question, except that it peaked at number five, one place lower than the first hit version by Richard Harris in in 1968. Donna must have been relieved by it's success rthough, as "Last Dance" had not even made the 40 during the Summer, peaking at a lowly number 51.

Another hit, another number six by E.L.O. If we discount the EP of old material that was to be released in the December of this year, it was the third of four consecutive number six peaking singles by the band. "Sweet Talking Woman" was the fourth (and last) single to be taken from the 'Out Of The Blue' double album, and was available in a nice purple vinyl edition. I've never known of anyone not to like E.L.O. (though no doubt one such person will make himself known as soon as this is posted to the newsgroups).

It still sends shivers down my spine to hear this song. The lyrics themselves don't correspond with anything that was going on in my life at the time (even though they are great), but the year '1978' dances across my brain at the mere mention of this song. Ok it was slushy, yes it would have been hated by so called 'serious' music fans, but it's a wonderful song from a great songwriter that spent a week at number three. Further releases failed to give Dean the success he deserves, but his albums are still worth checking out. His first album for 17 years "Songs For Grown Ups" was released in the UK in May 1998, and I think it's great. Dean even e-mailed to thank me for the link to his site from mine. He's a great bloke and I really hope that he hits the big time again one day.

Once again, I have to bracket two versions of the same song together. When I first heard the chart rundown mentioning that there were two versions of the same song in the chart, one by the Jacksons and one by Mick Jackson, I naturally assumed that young Michael had started recording solo again, even though he hadn't had a hit since 1972. I also thought it was a strange thing to do, considering the rival version was by his brothers. I was of course wrong (Michael had surely had his day !), and Mick was in fact the writer and original singer of the song. You had to feel sorry for Mick. Many would say that justice would have given him the bigger hit, but the truth is, his recording was inferior to the Jacksons' cover. The Brothers went on to spend two weeks at number eight, while Mick had to settle for number 15. Sadly for Mick, a similar situation befell him the following summer. When his version of "Married Men" was released as a single, so was Bonnie Tyler's. Hers reached number 35, while Mick didn't chart at all.
In 1989, Big Fun took an horrendous cover of "Blame It On The Boogie" to number four, I really don't know what Pete Waterman was up to with that one (what a bunch of out of tune tossers). Then in 1998, Clock released a number 16 peaking cover that was like "A Day In The Life" compared to the tosspots' version, but that still doesn't mean that it was good.

So, this is what Mr Rotten decided to do after leaving the Sex Pistols. This single gave the impression that he was just going to carry on in the vein as he had for the previous two years. Not that I'm knocking this single, it was a great single that reached number nine. When he returned, Johnny (now calling himself John Lydon) went very weird with his music, before finally reverting to stuff we could listen to.

Another singalong hit for Sham 69. This was another track from their concept album 'That's Life', and hit number ten. Most will probably know it by the line in the chorus "We're Going Down The Pub". Many prefered the B side "No Entry", written after they were refused permission to enter the USA. The chorus of this mainly consisted of "They didn't want us in the USA, we didn't want to go there anyway". It also included the classic line "Stick America up your arse", their words not mine !

'Frankie no longer had his 'Full House', and that seemed to be a good move for him, as this soared up the chart to give him a number six placing and a ten week chart residency. His follow up "When I'm Away From You" was quite good too, but stopped two places short of the 40. He didn't even get near the chart again until "Caledonia" peaked at number 45 in 1992.

A fantastic single full of life. It had a kind of punk feel, but very very commercial. It managed to reach number 12, and unfortunately it was all downhill from there as each of the next three singles peaked at a lower position than the last. It's most unfortunate that Fine Young Cannibals had a bigger hit peaking at number nine with their disgustingly bad cover of the song in 1987.
As for the Buzzcocks, don't get me wrong I do like most of their singles, their songs always sounded to me as though they had been composed by a schoolboy. They seemed to lack maturity in the lyrics.

I particulary remember this for the fact that a friend of mine Martin Roberts (one day older than me), hated it with a passion. I have to agree with him though. It just didn't have the obvious deep rooted meaningful message in the lyrics that their previous hit "The Smurf Song" had. It was actually rather childish and peaked at number 13.

The 'Three Degrees were back with their first decent sized hit in three and a half years. Since they hit the top ten with "Take Good Care Of Yourself" in the spring of '75, they had only managed to hit number 40 & number 36 with later singles. But now they were signed to 'Ariola Records' and back with this number 12 peaking single. Sheila Ferguson probably gives her best ever vocal performance on this single, and she could still belt it out when I saw her in 1996.

For many (myself included), this was the Jam's finest moment. Prior to this, it seemed that most could take or leave them, but this one made people sit up and take notice of Paul Weller's songwriting ability. This was the first of 12 consecutive top twenty hits (up until they disbanded), but only reached number 15. When re-issued in 1983 it charted again and peaked at number 30.

A great song that has since been murdered by Jimmy Nail, Double Trouble, and even Madonna couldn't do it justice. This original version was on it's way down from a two week stay at number two (blast that John and Olivia), and is a true classic. Sadly, it would be over a year before they managed their next top 40 hit, and they never made the top ten again.

After a year's break from the chart, Leo was back with another winner, and it got as high as number six. My best memory of this concerns Radio 2 DJ David Hamilton. At the time I was just three months into my employment with Wrexham Council as a gardener. As I was just 16 I wasn't allowed to use machinery, so I was stuck with jobs like brushing up hedge clippings or cutting long grass with a grass hook (a type of scythe). Myself and fellow worker Dave spent most of the time between July and October working on the Gwenfro Riverside walk which had got into a real overgrown mess. So, while he was walking for miles a day behind a Ransome Multi Mower, I was hooking acres of grass with the radio by my side. I was usually tuned into Radio One (A very good station back then), but at 3.30 each afternoon, I would switch to Radio Two for David Hamilton's Music Game. Each day, a new contestant would pick five numbers from one to thirty. A question on music would be asked and if they got it correct, they would win the album that occupied that position in the album chart. If they got all five correct, they would get ten harder questions, and the best four through the series would go into a grand final. At around this time, I would say that at least four of the weeks five contestants would try to win the 'Leo Sayer' album, which of course contained this track. Ahhh, golden days indeed

Yet another track (like most in this chart) that reminds me of grass hooking. This seemed to be around for a very long time before finally hitting the chart and climbing to it's highest placing of number 11. Unlike the majority of Country flavoured singles, this was a very listenable song (to me), and it was sad to see it falling without quite making the top ten.
It was covered and taken to number six by Martine McCutcheon in 1999.

Another classic of the disco era. This was Dan's first and biggest hit, and spent three weeks at number eight. It stayed in the chart for twelve weeks, not falling out until his follow up single entered. Dan of course recorded the original of the 'Take That' hit "Relight My Fire", while 'Yell' had a number ten hit with their abysmal cover of "Instant Replay" in 1990.

Queen were back with a new album and a double A sided single. "Fat Bottomed Girls" is a classic 'Queen Rocks' song, while 'Bicycle Race' is one of those strange songs that Queen came up with occasionally. The album 'Jazz' came with a poster depicting hundreds of naked women riding bicycles. The photo was taken from the video shoot for the song "Bicycle Race", although naturally the finished video had to be carefully edited in order to make it acceptable for TV use.

The last of Smokie's run of eight consecutive top 20 hits could rise no higher than number 19. It was hardly surprising considering a certain line repeated quite often during the song, "I've got a heart as big as a stone". Maybe Oasis can get away with nonsense lyrics these days (Slowly walking down the hall, faster than a cannonball), but Smokie couldn't back then. They had to wait 18 months for their next hit (and that only hit number 34), but 17 years before the name Smokie was back in the top twenty.

Following on from "Miss You", the Stones ditched disco and were back to their rocking best on this slow climber that eventually peaked at 23 in it's sixth week. In doing so, it became their first official release to peak outside the top 20 since their debut "Come On" had stopped climbing at number 21 in September 1963.

I've always had some confusion in my mind about this one. I bought it (from Rabbit records) at the beginning of October, but it didn't chart until about 5 weeks later. Considering how popular Olivia was at that time, I don't understand why it didn't chart straight away (maybe it was withdrawn or something). Anyway, it spent two weeks at number two and was Olivia's biggest solo single.

We've had this one a few times haven't we ? Previously recorded by the O'Jays, Third World added a reggae feel to it and took it to number ten in the chart. The single was re-issued in 1985 and made it to number 22. Then in 1991 Heavy D And The Boyz recorded a rap version that surprisingly did the song justice. They had the biggest hit with it reaching number two.

The best song from the 'Grease' soundtrack was of course composed by Barry Gibb. It spent two weeks at number three, and was the most successful of Frankie's five solo hits. In fact, only two of his hits with the Four Seasons were more successful. Sadly Frankie never appeared in the chart again.
That is until one of those amazingly creative people who nick bits from great songs of the past, put 'some' of this song back in the chart in 1998 (Pras Michel or someone like that).

They can keep "Born Slippy", "Block Rocking Beats" "Higher State Of (un)Consiousness" and all that other crap, this is what dance/disco or whatever you want to call it is really about. It's one of the best (if not THE best) dance records of all time and it's also good to listen to. That's one of the major differences between dance music pre and post 1987, the pre '87 ones were good even if you just wanted to sit down at home and listen. This single was a very slow climber taking eight weeks to reach number eight and spent a total of 13 weeks in the top 40. 'Jimmy Somerville' also did an excellent cover of this song that he took to number five in 1990, but less successful was the 'Dream Frequency's' abortion of a cover that reached number 65 in 1994. Yet another average cover made the UK top twenty in 1998 for Byron Stingley (I think, not really interested anyway).

The last of their run of seven consecutive top five hits, and also the last Showaddywaddy single to appear in the top ten. It was a cover of an old Curtis Lee single and peaked at number five. I worked with someone named Wayne who loved this song. I hated it, and thought Wayne was a dickhead. Although he did give me some amusement. Once he persuaded me to try and ride his moped, I crashed it into a fence, he didn't ask me again. He also told so many lies that we all called him Billy Liar behind his back. More on him later.

Not exactly a massive hit (it peaked at it's debut position of number nine), but good all the same. Elvis had a go at Radio DJs in the lyrics of this song, and on one occasion after playing this single, Tony Blackburn referred to Elvis as a 'silly little man'. Elvis's retort was to change the words to include the phrase 'Silly little men' during a Top Of The Pops' performance.
The thing is, I didn't really agree with Elvis' sentiments at the time. All of the Radio One DJ's of the day had personalities and were almost as entertaining as the records they played.
These days, they're almost as dull as the records they play.

The first time I heard this song I was convinced it was Suzi Quatro, it sounded just like her to me. Instead it was the first of seven hits that the 'Undertones' would have in a three year span, and is also John Peel's favourite single. It only reached number 31 (the follow up "Get Over You" only reached 57), but singles did have to sell more than a handfull to chart in those days. That considered, it probably sold as many (more ?) as most in the current top ten.

A change of pace for the O'Jays with a wonderful ballad. They had had something of a comeback during the summer when "Use Ta Be My Girl" had taken them to number 12 (their highest position since "Love Train" number nine in 1973), and for the first time ever had now managed to quickly follow one hit with another. This single had some strange movements in the chart such as climbing 12 places after falling two the previous week.There was more to come as it dropped ten places the following week, only to rise back up 11 places to peak at number 21 the week afterwards. It then disappeared altogether.

"A rose has to die, everytime you tell a lie" sang the Dooleys. So, that's where Smokie got the inspiration for "Mexican Girl" !
This was the third hit in just over a year for them, and marked the start of their most successful period. It got as high as number 11, and they surely deserved to burn in hell for it. But amazingly, they did indeed redeem themselves with a pop classic the following year.

The thirteenth and last hit for Jonathan King. Once again he was involved in a chart war, this time with the Italian band 'La Bionda'. But this time, Jonathan won quite easily making number 29, while 'La Bionda' failed to break the 40 despite Simon Bates giving much airplay to both recordings. This was Jonathan's last UK hit, though he did have three top 75 entries over the next year. One of them, "You're The Greatest Lover" bears a strong resemblence to the 1987 number one "Respectable" by 'Mel And Kim'. A further single "Gloria" had been a big Euro hit for which Jonathan wrote English lyrics but failed to chart with it. In 1982, 'Laura Branigan' outdid Mr King, and had a big worlwide hit with completely different English lyrics for "Gloria".

The fifth hit in under two years for Heatwave was their second and last top ten hit . It took six weeks to reach it's peak position of number nine, and hung on for a while longer to register 12 weeks on the chart. The superb "Mind Blowing Decisions" had been a great Summer hit and reached number 12 during it's original nine week run. A re-mixed version of that song appeared on the B.Side here. "Always And Forever" was taken to number 20 in 1995 when covered by 'Luther Vandross'.

A disappointing chart run for this number 33 peaking single, but still better than their previous two singles ("Jupiter" & "Magic Mind") which had failed to chart at all. This version of the old Beatles album track ('Revolver') was taken from the movie 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band', and after 22 years of waiting, I finally saw it in October 2000, thanks to Shawn from Denver. Apparently, I'm the only person in the world who likes it.

A band with very limited success, never climbed higher than number 35 with any of their singles. This was the first to break into the top 40, and has since appeared on numerous disco compilation albums. This band were said to be some kind of 'Supergroup', and included Mickey Mouse himself, Pete Wingfield amongst it's personel.

Another great single by Eric was not the massive hit I felt it should have been. Featuring Marcy Levey on background vocals, it was taken from the excellent 'Backless' album. Marcy is better known as the one in Shakespeares Sister who wasn't an ex member of Bananarama.
After entering the top 40 at number 39, it dropped out. It then returned a week later at number 38, only to be replaced at that position by a song with the same title from the Buzzcocks.

This song was of course banned by Radio One and spent eight weeks in the chart peaking at number 22. The song is extremely childish, but VERY VERY funny. Ivor later just missed the chart with his 1981 single "Bra's On 45", and has released a couple of albums. He is better known to most people as Doc Cox from the 'That's Life' tv show.

Elaine had been starring in the stage musical 'Evita', and it seemed perfectly natural for someone with Elaine's talent to begin a solo career. This was her first charting single, but it failed to make the top 40, peaking at number 46. She would have to wait until 1981 before she had another sniff at the chart.

Teddy had been vocalist with Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes. This was his second UK Top 75 entry, and it's number 41 peak was the best solo effort he would manage. "Close The Door" was also his biggest solo Billboard hit and reached number 25.
He didn't appear in the UK top 40 again until his collaboration with KWS "The More I Get The More I Want" reached number 35 sixteen years later.

More next week including these new entries,
A picture disc driving straight into the top ten
Paul Young's eating habits
Poly's hygiene habits

Disclaimer All comments concerning the quality of the songs in this and any other chart, are purely my opinion and not a statement of fact. I believe that we are all equal when it comes to deciding what makes a good song. I do not believe that good songs have to be serious or dull. I am of the opinion that if a single sells many copies, then many people like it, so it must be good whether I like it or not. Good music is everything YOU like, and it's also everything I like.