REMEMBER WHEN - 29TH SEPTEMBER 1979

TW	.......	LW	.......		.......
1		8		Police		Message In A Bottle
2		1		Gary Numan		Cars
3		4		Bellamy Brothers		If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me
4		5		Dollar		Love's Gotta Hold On Me
5		3		E.L.O.		Don't Bring Me Down
6		2		Cliff Richard		We Don't Talk Anymore
7		NEW		Blondie		Dreaming
8		14		Commodores		Sail On
9		6		Crusaders		Street Life
10		11		Frantique		Strut Your Funky Stuff
11		26		Rainbow		Since You've Been Gone
12		35		Status Quo		Whatever You Want
13		21		Secret Affair		Time For Action
14		16		Nick Lowe		Cruel To Be Kind
15		12		Bill Lovelady		Reggae For It Now
16		29		Michael Jackson		Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough
17		9		Randy Vanwarmer		Just When I Needed You Most
18		15		Johnny Mathis		Gone Gone Gone
19		7		B.A. Robertson		Bang Bang
20		10		Roxy Music		Angel Eyes
21		23		Madness		The Prince
22		13		Boney M		Gotta Go Home / El Lute
23		27		Kate Bush		Live On Stage
24		NEW		Buggles		Video Killed The Radio Star
25		18		Stranglers		Duchess
26		22		Racey		Boy Oh Boy
27		20		Sister Sledge		Lost In Music
28		25		Squeeze		Slap And Tickle
29		36		Al Hudson & The Soul Partners		You Can Do It
30		34		Jags		Back Of My Hand
31		NEW		Dave Edmunds		Queen Of Hearts
32		38		Donna Summer		Dim All The Lights
33		17		Flying Lizards		Money
34		NEW		Sad Cafe		Every Day Hurts
35		32		Jam		When You're Young
36		19		Specials		Gangsters
37		30		Gerry Rafferty		Get It Right Next Time
38		28		UK Subs		Tomorrow's Girls
39		40		Dickies		Nights In White Satin
40		NEW		Tourists		The Loneliest Man In The World

The Police delved into Reggae quite a lot on their first two albums. It was still there on later albums but not as much. This was the first single from the 'Regatta De' Blanc' album, which of course translated as 'White Reggae'. The Police had managed two hits earlier in the year, but it was still a shock to many people when this single entered the chart at such a high position as number eight. It naturally went to number one the following week (as entries so high in the chart usually did when charts made sense) and stayed there for three weeks.

I'm clueless as to why this keeps hitting the chart. It reached number one for a week this first time around, and hit number 16 in 1987 and 17 in 1996. That's as well as stopping short at number 53 in 1993 and featuring on the number 27 peaking live EP in 1985. It seemed an ok kind of song when originally released, but one I tired of very quickly. It even reached number nine in the US.
It was number one in the week that I had the house to myself for a whole week, and we all know what happens when a seventeen year old has that kind of power. The result was that I was sleeping rough the following week after my Mum had discovered the damage that a spoon had done to a window, as well as pheasant feathers blocking up the hoover !

I'm sure you all know this one. The Bellamy Brothers were finally following their 1976 hit "Let Your Love Flow", and slowly climbed the chart before finally settling at number three in it's seventh week. It then spent five weeks falling down the chart until spending it's 12th and last week in the chart at number 40. Myself, I prefer the Barron Knights' parody of the song, "If I jump into the back of your lorry, will you take me to Finchley", and that's weird because I'd never been to Finchley until the day after I wrote most of my comments about this song back in 1997.

Dollar had those first two hits with "Shooting Star" and "Who Were You With In The Moonlight", and even though I did like both of them, I didn't expect them to have a third hit. I thought that they were just another hit and run pop band that would soon be forgotten about. I certainly didn't expect anything as good as this. A love song that had some class about it. It didn't even go straight into the top forty when released, it didn't enter those upper reaches until it's third week. But eventually, it reached number four and spent nine weeks in the top forty.

The third single from E.L.O. in less than four months, and this seemed to be everyone's favourite. I wasn't so sure. I liked the other tracks on the 'Discovery' album, and I did like this really, but it just wasn't E.L.O. was it ?
Ironic that in reaching number three, it gave them their highest chart position ever (not including the O.N.J. thing). It even gave them a surprise number four hit in the U.S.

Cliff's first number one since 1968 ensured that he joined Elvis Presley in that elite club of acts to have hit number one in three decades. He may have only achieved the feat just in time, but the same was also true of his 50's number one, when yet again he did it in the last year of the decade. And as history shows, Cliff went on to become the only act to hit number one in five decades. He almost made it six decades, but his "Millenium Prayer" was knocked from the top in Christmas week 1999.
"We Don't Talk Anymore" was quite a surprising number one considering Cliff's recent chart form. Since early 1977's "My Kinda Life" had reached number 15, Cliff had failed to hit the top 40 with five consecutive single releases. This included his "Green Light" single from March of this year, a song that I recall a work mate 'Bernie' liking. So when this single entered at number 35, it did not look like a future number one. But five weeks later it got there and remained for four weeks. It was also only his second ever US top ten hit reaching number seven.

A week after the 'Police' had entered the chart at number eight, Blondie entered at number seven. But this surprised no one, as Blondie had hit the top with their two previous singles. We all assumed that Blondie would keep the 'Police' to just one week at the top, but after moving up to number two they started to slowly slide down the chart. When I updated the commentary for this hit in the Autumn of 1998, Blondie had recently reformed and were about to play the Nottingham Royal Concert Hall. I enquired about tickets, but was informed that only a few tickets remained. They were up in the gods at 18 pounds each. Call me old fashioned but I think that's disgustingly expensive for a band who'd released their last album in 1982. Especially when the said album (The Hunter) is less enjoyable than watching that divvy woman who was always in a white room on MTV UK (was it Sara Cox ?). So we didn't go

Not very exciting at all. The vocals seemed more suited to country music than soul, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if this has been covered by a country act. It still managed to give the Commodores their first top 40 hit since the five week number one "Three Times A Lady" a year previous. It reached number eight.

The only hit for the Crusaders, but the first of many for the featured vocalist 'Randy Crawford'. A great number five peaking song that reminds me of the Chinese Restaurant mentioned a few times in my 1981 commentaries. Except that it wasn't a Chinese Restaurant at the time, it was just a cafe. We used to go there most nights, buy a cup of coffee and make it last an hour or so. This was one of the most popular songs on the jukebox and brings back many happy memories. Isn't it a pity that we stop doing things like that when we turn 18, it was much more fun than pubs eventually turned out to be.

This 'Russ Ballard' song had previously been recorded by South African band 'Clout' on their 1978 album, and that was in my opinion much better than this version. I'm not trying to say that this didn't deserve to reach number six because it did. In fact, this single was seemingly the one that started the '80s heavy/hard rock revival in the UK. After this, Rainbow hit the upper reaches of the chart with regularity for a while, AC/DC Judas Priest and Whitesnake broke through big time, Saxon had a few hits as did a few other bands who'd been trying for some time. And to think, it all started with a song previously on a very 'poppy' album !
This song was also played by Brian May on his 1998 tour as part of his tribute to Cozy Powell, who of course was the drummer on this track.

Another one of The classic Quo tracks. This number four hit was the title track from their 1979 album, which had a fair amount of tracks that were worthy of being released as singles. But as was normally the custom with pop star types in those days, they didn't rip the fans off (too much), and pulled just two singles from albums before giving us some new material the following year.

Michael's first solo hit for over seven years and it went all the way to number three. Michael had been considered a novelty act after his first four solo hits and all later singles by him had completely bombed. So naturally everyone thought that we'd seen the last of Michael's solo recordings. He returned to solo work with his single "You Can't Win" in the late spring of 1979, but again encountered failure. But from the release of "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough", there was no looking back for him. Whatever he may (or may not) get up to in his personal life (and business life as far as Mr McCartney is concerned), there's no denying the huge talent of this man.

I didn't think that I'd ever rave over a Johnny Mathis single, but this one was outstanding. A disco effort that seemed to go on forever, but when it got to the end, I just wanted more of it. Not only that, but the ballad on the flip "Best Years Of My Life" (or maybe it was "Days") was quite good too. It reached number 15, then on the 9th October 1979 Johnny dropped out of the UK top forty for the last time, 21 years and five months after he had first entered.

Something of a novelty hit for B.A. was the first and biggest of his five hits. A very catchy song that gave namechecks to various people from history, and even gave an explanation as to who they actually were on the back of the sleeve. This song always reminds me of working for the parks department in the Hightown area of Wrexham. Yes, the place that I have mentioned in my 1977 commentaries with the weekly disco that gave me so many happy memories of being 15 years old, and my employers had now sent me to work in that area. As it turned out I remained working in that area for two years, and yet another coincidence occured in 1984 when the council allocated my first wife and myself a flat in Hightown. So I ended up living there for 8 1/2 years. Something else that this song reminds me of, is another single around at the same time where someone proclaimed that they were in love with a tennis ball !
Any ideas out there ?

The second single into Roxy's best run in the singles chart, "Angel Eyes" spent two weeks at it's peak position of number four. There are purists who would say that Roxy were at their peak some 6-7 years earlier, and it's true that though that earlier work was different, most of it was pretty good stuff. But looking at things in the stark reality of popularity and sales figures (ie: If it sells more, then more people like it), there's a very good argument for the 79-82 period to be proclaimed Roxy's best years. My own feelings on the matter are irrelevent but, while I liked all the earlier hit singles, I found the albums a little indifferent at times. Best album for me was 1980's 'Flesh And Blood'.

The first single from Madness and the only one that they released on Two Tone. I didn't like it at first, but it seemed better after they'd had a few more hits (if that makes sense). It reached number 16, and their next 17 singles all reached higher positions in the chart. In fact, it was the first of twenty consecutive top twenty hits.

Yes, I did like this one, both sides of it in fact. It took six weeks to finally reach a peak of number twelve, and then when it began to fall, the record company started promoting "El Lute". It didn't do a "Brown Girl In The Ring" and rebound back up, but it's downward slide was slowed a little and it completed ten weeks in the forty.

The lead track on this was "Them Heavy People", originally a track on Kate's 1978 debut album 'The Kick Inside'. This live EP was recorded on the only tour that Kate has ever done. It was apparently a very good show, but Kate didn't like doing it at all, and so promptly retired from live performance (save for the odd guest spot in charity shows). This EP reached number ten.

The Buggles spent a week at number one with this very prophetic song. The Buggles were Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes, both of whom were in the re-formed 'Yes' a year later. Geoff went on to be a member of 'Asia' and released at least one solo album, while Trevor went on to some great production work with 'Dollar', 'ABC', 'Art Of Noise' and 'Frankie Goes To Hollywood' amongst many others. Video hadn't killed the radio star at that point, but the video to this single was the first to be shown on 'MTV' and so ironically was part of the process.

This was the first Stranglers single in 12 months, in fact the first since they were banned from TOTP in the wake of the 'Child' Incident. Yet, their ban was lifted with the release of this single. Just as well really, because at the same time, TOTP banned the promo as it featured the band as choir boys in a church (very controversial at the time). Great single anyway, the best of August '79s releases, reached number 14.
Was covered by 'My Life Story' in 1979 when it reached number 39.

I could cope with their first two hits ok, to be truthful, I quite liked them. But I didn't like this one at all. It was as though they were deliberately trying to turn into Showaddywaddy, and we certainly didn't need another one of those in our lives. After two top three hits, this only made number 22.

The third single to be released from the 'We Are Family' album, and one that was first of all less successful than the previous two, but then five years later became the most successful. This first time around, it reached number 17 and that's when I bought it and also listened to the B Side "Thinking Of You" a lot too. Then in 1984, "Thinking Of You" was issued as a single in it's own right, and reached number 11. After that, it seemed a good idea at Atlantic to re-mix "Lost In Music" and have another crack at the UK with it. It worked as it rose to number four to become their biggest hit to date.
After a number one single with "Frankie" the following year, the sisters seemed to have disappeared from the chart forever. But in 1993, they were back with another set of re-mixes for not only "We Are Family", but both sides of this single again too. That time "Lost In Music" made number 14, and "Thinking Of You" reached number 17. All in all, the two songs on this single have spent a total of 44 weeks in the UK top 75.

"Never chew a pickle with a bit of slap and tickle" went the line in this song. I always took it that they were referring to a pickled onion when they sang that line, but I've never found out for sure.
After both of their previous singles had made number two, it was surprising that this only reached number 24. Even more surprisingly, their next single "Christmas Day" didn't even enter the top 75, despite being one of the best Christmas songs of the era.

The biggest surprise about this was when I discovered that it wasn't 'Elvis Costello' because it sure sounded like him. This peaked at number 17 and that may surprise a lot of people as it is quite a well known song. I certainly can't imagine many of todays number 17 peaking hits being remembered in two years time, never mind Twenty plus years. The Jags failed to make the top 40 with their follow up "Woman's World" and then disappeared forever.

Dave Edmunds was another singer going through his most successful period. He had had a very stop/start career before 1979 with only four hit singles in a nine year period. But, from the middle of this year (when "Girls Talk" climbed to number four) until the middle of 1981, Dave had another four chart hits plus two near misses. This song was later covered by Juice Newton and was a US hit, but she failed to chart in the UK.

On this third single from the excellent 'Bad Girls' album, Donna went down the "Macarthur Park" road of starting the song slow and building up to a faster paced ditty. It worked better on the album where it segued into "Journey To The Centre Of Your Heart", but was still a decent enough single that stopped just one place short of becoming her third successive U.S. number one. Over here it struggled to make number 29 in it's fourth week on the chart, and then immediately disappeared from the chart.

Now this was really bad, and their album was even worse (apart from "TV"). It was a cover of the Barrett Strong song that everyone associates with the Beatles. Difference was this woman didn't sing it, she just talked her way through it very badly, even the so called music was bad. Like many of the songs in this chart, it was reviewed on 'Jukebox Jury' prior to it charting. I can't remember exactly, but I think that John Lydon was the only panelist to predict that it would be a hit (yet again). And a big hit it was, peaked at number five.

This was the first picture disc I ever bought, and it was by a band who'd been championed by many Radio One D.J.s for quite a few years prior to them getting this first hit. They didn't get any higher than number three, and never climbed into the top ten again. In fact, just over a year later they would be spending their last ever week in the chart. Check out the album from which came this and their next two hits, it's called 'Facades' and it's excellent.
Lead vocalist Paul Young (not THAT one) was later a member of Mike & The Mechanics, but sadly died of a heart attack in July 2000 at the age of 53.

The first release on 'Two Tone' was also the first of seven consecutive top ten hits for the Specials. This was a re-working of Prince Buster's "Al Capone", and even sampled the screeching of brakes from the original (Hmmm, I expect they had permission and paid a royalty). The song was an attack on Bernie Rhodes, the Clash manager who almost became manager of the Specials, and on the music business as a whole. This number six peaking single featured a song called "The Selecter" by the Selecter on the flip. They of course had their own hit single just a few weeks later.

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.

Email: nige@innotts.co.uk
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