You know the script by now. I delve into my big bumper book of Indie Songs (The Great Indie Discography by Martin Strong, originally published in 1999, with a second edition in 2003), to find who were top of the flops in November 1979.
mp3: The B52s – Planet Claire
The search by Island Records for the elusive second chart hit for the band from Athens, Georgia continued this month with the release of a song that had done well in the USA and Australia. Part of the marketing campaign saw it released on picture disc. I bought a copy. Not too many other people did. If you’re reading this and thinking that you were sure Planet Claire was a hit single in the UK, then you’re right, as it reached #12 when given a re-release as a double-A single with Rock Lobster.
mp3: Cult Hero – I’m A Cult Hero
From wiki:-
“I’m a Cult Hero is a single released by an extended line-up of The Cure under the name Cult Hero. The single was conceived by Robert Smith (singer/guitarist of the Cure) and Simon Gallup (then bassist of the Magspies) as a way to test their musical compatibility. Smith was considering Gallup as a prospective replacement for Michael Dempsey (the Cure’s bassist at the time).
The songs were written for, and feature on vocals, local Horley postman Frank Bell, who is also depicted on the single’s artwork. They also feature Malice/Easy Cure guitarist Porl Thompson and Magspies keyboardist Matthieu Hartley amongst an extended line-up of friends and family, including Robert’s sisters Janet and Margaret and local band the Obtainers.”
It came out on Fiction Records. Copies are available for silly money over on Discogs.
mp3: Essential Logic – Popcorn Boy
This is actually an ‘oops!’ moment as Popcorn Boy should have featured last month as it was released in October 1979. You’ll hopefully recall from a previous flop single featured back in May that Lara Logic had been the saxophonist with X-Ray Spex, but left the band after the debut single Oh Bondage Up Yours. She then formed Essential Logic, for whom she also provided lead vocals. Having seen that first single on Virgin Records fail to trouble the charts, the band was let go and signed to Rough Trade for whom this was the debut offering.
mp3: The Only Ones – Trouble In The World
I couldn’t recall this from back in the day, but when I gave it a listen, I thought it sounded like Gordon Gano of the Violent Femmes on lead vocals. It’s nowhere near the class and genius of Another Girl, Another Planet, but then again what is?
mp3: The Ruts – Jah War
The Ruts had enjoyed two Top 3o hit singles with Babylon’s Burning and Something That I Said. The debut album, The Crack, had gone Top 20 on its release in October 1979. The band decided, with the support of Virgin Records, that the next single should be an edited version of the 7-minute-long album track Jah War, written as a response to police violence and brutality when dealing with protestors demonstrating against a far-right campaign meeting in London. A protestor died from head injuries after being struck twice by a police truncheon.
Jah War was banned by the BBC on the grounds that the song was too political. A number of the larger record stores refuse to stock the single. It’s no surprise it didn’t chart.
mp3: Squeeze – Christmas Day
The band had enjoyed a productive and successful year, and decided to round it off with a stab at making a festive hit. It proved to be just a bit too strange to get any airplay, and let’s be honest. It’s rather awful.
I can’t possibly bow out with that, so how about a cult classic from back in the day
mp3: Suicide – Dream Baby Dream
The duo of Alan Vega and Martin Rev never achieved any commercial success whatsoever, but Suicide has long been a hip band name to drop into any conversation. I never knew about them back in 1979, and indeed only picked up on them when Paul Haig later covered their song Ghost Rider. This flop 45, released on Island Records, may be a bit on the repetitive side of things, but it’s bloody brilliant!
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 