SHAKEDOWN, 1979 (January, part two)

If you need to know what this is all about, here’s a link back to part one of the post.

mp3: Blondie – Heart of Glass

The third single to be lifted from Parallel Lines entered the charts at #6 on 21 January 1979.  The following week, it went to #1, where it stayed for four weeks.  It didn’t leave the Top 75 until mid-April.   The thing is, Parallel Lines had already been in the album chart for 21 weeks, so all Blondie fans would already have the song.  The fact that the single went on to sell over a million copies shows just how big it became – indeed, its release was a huge factor in the album climbing back up the charts to #1 and what would prove to be a 96-week stay in the Top 75. It really is an astonishing stat……as is that one which reveals that for 35 of the 36 weeks between 14 January and 22 September 1979, Parallel Lines was always in the Top 10 selling albums.

mp3: Wire – Outdoor Miner

A song that had originally been on the 1978 album Chairs Missing, the record label felt it had potential hit single all over it, but at 1:45, was thought to be too short.  The band obliged by adding another verse and chorus, along with a piano solo played by producer Mike Thorne, which took it to #51 on 21 January

Here’s something I didn’t know.  The BBC approached the label and asked if Wire would appear on Top of The Pops if the single continued to rise.  However, the company who compiled the chart, the British Market Research Bureau, felt that the record label was trying to rig the charts and took the decision not to restrict the sales to be counted for the following week, which meant Outdoor Miner, which otherwise would have gone Top 40, dropped down.

mp3: The Members – Sounds Of The Suburbs

If ever a song signified what 1979 was going to hold in store, this was it.  A previously unknown band outside of the London pub scene get picked up by the record industry and given the chance for a brief dalliance with fame.  It was Virgin Records who took a chance on The Members, and it paid off with this fast, frantic tune and lyric about boredom which was an understandable hit with teenagers and adolescents.  It might have dated a wee bit, but it did sound ridiculously fresh in January 1979 as it made its way, eventually, up to #12 in late February/early March.

mp3: The Undertones – Get Over You

Teenage Kicks had been one of the great post-punk anthems of 1978, although surprisingly, it had only reached #31.  Hopes were high for the follow-up, Get Over You, released in January 1979.  With a lyric that wasn’t far removed from what Pete Shelley had been wowing the world over the past couple of years, and a tune which was ridiculously frantic and catchy, this should have been massive. It got no higher than #57.

mp3: The Lurkers- Just Thirteen

Arguably, this London-based outfit were the UK’s answer to The Ramones.  Two singles had gone Top 50 in 1978, while a debut album had reached #57.  They were regularly aired on John Peel’s show, but never quite ever got beyond cult status.  Maybe just a touch too one-dimensional to be really memorable?  A #66 hit in January 1979.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the first month of the 45-year look back at the 45s which were hits as much as I’ve enjoyed the trip down the lane of nostalgia. It really is what this blog is most about……

JC

PS : A quick reminder that tomorrow is the closing date if you want to enter the competition to win a copy of the vinyl release of The Decline and Fall of Heavenly.