SHAKEDOWN, 1979 (August)

The summer job lasted six weeks and all too soon I was back at school, entering 5th Year, but with the consolation that  lunchtimes and other short breaks could be spent sitting in a common room instead of outside in the inevitably pouring rain crowded underneath whatever shelter could be found.   Music was allowed in the common room….usually through listening to BBC Radio 1, although as the weeks and months passed and after someone had brought in a spare machine, home-made cassettes became the order of the day.

My introduction to many of the songs which entered the charts in August 1979 will straddle the last couple of weeks at Halford’s and the first couple of weeks spent learning and gearing up for the inevitable exams that would, hopefully, lead to being deemed smart enough to go the uni in due course.  Kind of makes this one appropriate

mp3: Ian Dury & The Blockheads – Reasons To Be Cheerful (Part 3)

A new entry, at #45,  into the chart of 29 July – 4 August 1979.  In some ways this demonstrates the differences in how differently music and musicians were marketed back then.   Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick had gone to #1 in January 1979 but Stiff Records didn’t seek an immediate cash-in, waiting the best parts of six months to release the follow-up.  Nowadays, it’s more likely to be a gap of six days.  Reasons To Be Cheerful was great fun to listen to, and to try and decipher the lyrics.  I imagine it was difficult enough if you were from Ian Dury‘s neck of the woods, but it was near impossible a few hundred miles to the north.

I’m guessing this had something of a low-key release given it only came in at #45, but at the same time I think it’s fair to surmise there were all sorts of promotional activities happening as it charted, possibly involving TV appearances, as it jumped up all the way to #6 the following week, eventually peaking at #3. Not that any of us knew it, but it was the last time the band would make it into the Top 20.

A new group experienced their first taste of success, thanks to their debut single coming in at #58.

mp3: The Merton Parkas – You Need Wheels

A mod revival was just getting into full swing, and a number of groups with such leanings were snapped up by different labels keen to offer ways for impressionable teenagers to part with their pocket money.  Beggars Banquet signed The Merton Parkas, a four-piece from South London, two of whose members were brothers, Danny Talbot (vocals/guitars) and Mick Talbot (keyboards). Their debut single did go on to reach #40, but none of its follow-ups nor their debut album bothered the chart compilers. The band would break up in 1980, but Mick Talbot, after taking a phone call from Paul Weller a few years later, would become one of the most successful and recognisable pop starts of the early-mid 80s.

mp3: Joe Jackson – Is She Really Going Out With Him (#66)

Joe Jackson‘s debut single in late 1978 had flopped, much to the disappointment of all concerned at A&M Records who were convinced they had signed someone who was on a par, musically and lyrically, with Elvis Costello.  The debut album, released in March 1979,  had stalled while a further two singles had flopped miserably. Everyone involved was probably gearing up to cut their losses…..except that over in America, a few DJs and writers began to play and talk up Joe Jackson and his band as being worthy members of this emerging scene that had been dubbed ‘new wave’.  Back in those days, if America was bigging you up, then the UK media took a bit of notice and the musician’s profile began to grow.  The record label cashed in and re-released the flop debut single which this time round did chart.  It would eventually spend 13 weeks in the Top 75, peaking at #13, paving the way for Joe Jackson to enjoy a fruitful year in 1980 with his second album.  As it turned out, he never did shine quite as brightly as Costello, but he has more than maintained a successful career in music and composing for what isn’t now too far off 50 years.

I hope that this series is demonstrating that 1979 was a fabulous year for chart singles, but it shouldn’t be forgotten that these competing and being outsold by a lot of dreadful singles.  The top end of the charts in August was dominated by mainstays such Cliff Richard, Abba, Darts, Showaddydaddy and Boney M, which all too often got playted on Radio 1 – which is why the move to a cassette player in the 5th Year Common Room was inevitable.

Too much of the above and not enough of this new entry at #52:-

mp3 :The B52s – Rock Lobster

There was a small number of us in that common room who loved the sound of The B52s.  There was one girl who adored their look and quietly began to incorporate some of it into her everyday dress without getting into bother for flouting rules around school uniforms.  But given that the band, certainly for the early part of their career, rarely got above cult status, this was likely typical of how they were viewed across the country with very few people ‘getting’them. Rock Lobster eventually got to #37 in 1979.   It was re-released in 1986 and reached #12.

A couple other new entries from the 5-11 August chart worth mentioning in passing.

mp3: Roxy Music – Angel Eyes (#32)

The Roxy Music of the early 70s was certainly no more.  The glam/experimental nature of the early years was now being replaced by a more sophisticated disco-influenced sound, that it in turn would manifest into MOR.  The music was now less  of a ‘must have’ to the music snobs, but it was increasingly selling to the masses.  Angel Eyes was one of eight Top 20 hits between 1979 and 1982, of which six went Top 10. Bryan Ferry had achieved his ambition of being a bona fide pop star.

mp3: Sister Sledge – Lost In Music (#58)

One of a number of disco classics from 1979 that made Sister Sledge one of the year’s most popular and successful acts – they were in the singles chart for a total of 31 weeks while their debut album We Are Family peaked at #7 and spent 39 weeks in the chart.  Included in this feature as anyone suggesting that The Fall would one day record a cover version of Lost In Music would have been taken away and locked in a darkened room for their own safety.

The chart of 12-18 August wasn’t all that different from the one of the previous week in that nothing new came into the Top 75 any higher than #48.  But at least it was a good tune.

mp3: The Stranglers – Duchess

I know The Stranglers divide opinion.  They alwways have.  Back in the late 70s, there were many critics who accused them of being talentless bandwagon jumpers who were no more than grubby old pub rockers who had taken advantage of the emergence of punk to reinvent themselves.  They were rightly accused of being sexist and misogynist through many of their lyrics, while the use of strippers at live shows caused many an NME journalist to froth at the mouth.  But they were more than capbable of churning out the occasional pop/new wave classic.  Duchess is one of their finest moments, eventually reaching #14, one of the fifteen times they would crack the Top 30,  maling them regulars on Top of The Pops well into the 80s.

I’ll mention in passing some of the other acts who entered the Top 75 this week, again to help illustrate the mediocre and mundane nature of most chart singles. The Crusaders (#54),  Dollar (#59), Fat Larry’s Band (63) and Racey (#68). The new entry at #71 helped to make up for it

mp3: The Rezillos – I Can’t Stand My Baby

I’ll be honest and admit I had no idea that this, as part of a double-A side with a cover of I Wanna Be Your Man (a 19963 hit for The Rolling Stones that had been written by Lennon & McCartney), has sneaked into the chart for a 1-week stay in 1979.  It was a re-release of the band’s debut single that had flopped back in 1977, but of course they had enjoyed a couple of subsequent hits with Top of The Pops (#17 in August 1978)  and Destination Venus (#43 in November 1978).

Moving quickly along to the chart of 19-25 August.

The highest new entry this week coincided with my return to school.  The perfect anthem for any 16-year old desperate to take on the world and make an impression

mp3: The Jam – When You’re Young (#25)

There was now absolutely no doubt that I had a favourite band whose music was really consuming me.  Before the year was out, I’d get to see them at the Glasgow Apollo, the first of five such times at the famous old venue between 1979 and 1982.  I’d also travel a couple of times over to Edinburgh, and for many years, The Jam were the band I could claim I’d seen more than any other.     When You’re Young went onto reach #17.  It would be a few more months before The Jam really first experienced superstardom in terms of chart singles.

The next highest new entry at #43 is another, like The Rezillos from the previous week, seeing this when doing the research  caught me by surprise.  It was none other than the Spiral Scratch EP, the debut effort by Buzzcocks that I’d long forgotten had been given a reissue and re-release in 1979, with a slighly different sleeve and label to differtiate it from the January 1977 version. The sleeve attributed the songs to Buzzcocks with Howard Devoto.

mp3: Buzzcocks – Boredom

I know this wasn’t the lead track on the EP, but it’s my favourite of the four.  The re-release enjoyed a six-week stay in the charts, peaking at #31.  Worth mentioning that Harmony In My Head was still in the singles chart that same week, sitting at #60 for what would be the last week of a six-week stay in the Top 75.

The final chart of the month covers August 26 – September 1.

For the second week running, the highest new entry of them all was a belter of a tune.

mp3: Gary Numan – Cars (#20)

Technically, the follow-up to Are Friends Electric by the now disbanded Tubeway Army.  This was Gary Numan‘s debut under his own name and would prove to be his most successful, going all the way to #1 during what was an 11-week stay in the Top 75.  Say what you like about Gary Numan (and plenty of people have done so in a less than complimentary manner) but Cars still sounds fresh and invogorating 45 years after its initial hearing.

And finally for the month of August 1979.  A song creeping in at the foot of the singles almost unnoticed at #74.  It was the seven-piece band’s debut single.  It’s b-side was a cover version and had the same title as the name of the band.

mp3 : Madness – The Prince

Along with The Specials whose own debut single had charted just a few weeks earlier (and was sitting at #6 this very week, Madness be at the forefront of a reinvigoration of ska music. Nobody could probably have imagined it at the time that the band would still be going strong 45 years on, maybe not quite getting the chart success of olden days, but they continue to be a top draw when it comes to live shows.  National Treasures?   I think it’s fair to suggest they are.

JC