Thursday 17 November 2011

UK Top 40 Singles 5th January 1980 (Spotify playlist #9)

This week's playlist sees us travelling all the way back to the first chart of the 1980s - or, if you're being finicky, the final chart of the 1970s; it's for the week ending 5th January 1980 anyway, so would actually have first appeared on 29th December 1979. Hang on, I'll start again...

This week's playlist sees us travelling all the way back to the final chart of the 1970s. And what a week it was! But don't just take my word for it - cop a load of these.

(as ever, click on the link below to listen)

40 The Nolans - I'm In The Mood For Dancing
39 Booker T & The MG's - Green Onions
38 Diana Ross - It's My House
36 Boney M - I'm Born Again
35 Lena Martell - One Day At A Time
34 M - Moonlight And Muzak
33 Sheila & B. Devotion - Spacer
32 Queen - Crazy Little Thing Called Love
31 Dr Hook - When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman
30 Kurtis Blow - Christmas Rappin'
29 The Clash - London Calling
26 E.L.O. - Last Train To London (Double A-side with 'Confusion')
25 Matchbox - Rockabilly Rebel
24 Billy Preston & Syreeta - With You I'm Born Again
23 Skids - Working For The Yankee Dollar
22 Madness - One Step Beyond
21 Chic - My Feet Keep Dancing
20 KC & The Sunshine Band - Please Don't Go
19 Moody Blues - Nights In White Satin
18 Status Quo - Living On An Island
17 The Beat - Tears Of A Clown (Double A-side with 'Ranking Full Stop')
16 Blondie - Union City Blue
15 Rose Royce - Is It Love You're After
14 Donna Summer & Barbra Streisand - No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)
13 Elvis Presley - It Won't Seem Like Christmas (Without You)
12 David Bowie - John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)
11 Michael Jackson - Off The Wall
10 The Three Degrees - My Simple Heart
9 Gibson Brothers - Que Sera Mi Vida
8 The Police - Walking On The Moon
7 Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight
5 The Pretenders - Brass In Pocket
4 The Tourists - I Only Wanna Be With You
2 ABBA - I Have A Dream

Listen here



The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that there are a handful of numbers missing from the list (including the number 1); this is entirely down to their lack of availability on Spotify, rather than any unilateral pruning on my part.

But, to fill in the blanks, below are archive performances of the missing songs. As with some of the tracks on the actual playlist, you might not thank me for them, but here they are all the same!

37 The Ramblers - The Sparrow



28 The Greedies - A Merry Jingle



27 Mike Oldfield - Blue Peter



6 Paul McCartney - Wonderful Christmas Time



3 Fiddler's Dram - Day Trip To Bangor



1 Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall



That's all for now, but don't forget to join Tommy Vance same time, same place next week. (That's except for viewers in 2011.)

4 comments:

dickvandyke said...

Blimey, that's akin to the mixed up balls in the purple velvet bag for the FA Cup 3rd Round draw and no mistake. (Eh?)

It's easy to forget how many units one had to shift in those days in order to scale the heights of the Hit Parade.

As I sit here, alone, with my thoughts of Yesterday - with my mellow older head on - the most wonderful thing to embrace perhaps, is that there was indeed .. 'something for everyone'.

Still think the fucking Gibson Brothers were downright criminal though!

Kippers said...

Haha!

Actually I wish all those people saying "I can't wait for punk to come along" re those 1976 repeats of Top of the Pops, could see this chart. Then they'd know that things were just as variety-based on the other side.

Kids' choirs seemed to be all the rage back then, what with The Ramblers and the backing choirs on I Have A Dream and Another Brick in the Wall. A legacy of St Winifred's (or hadn't they happened yet)?

Anyway, although I find these date-specific playlists endlessly fascinating, they're by far the least popular as far as the punters on Spotify go. I think I have to face the fact that ancient pop charts are a very niche market.

Spike said...

Those children are making me feel seasick!

Also I had no idea that Jennifer Ehle was the lead singer of Fiddler's Dram...

Kippers said...

Worryingly, I really like both those songs. (Don't tell anyone though.)