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| Rating every UK #1 by Scottish artists, Calvin, Capaldi, Wet Wet Wet and many more... [COMPLETED] |
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 10th April 2020, 08:09 PM
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#21
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 BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 3 January 2017
Posts: 10,159 User: 23,961 
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It was a long time after the 70s that I found out that Bye Bye Baby was a cover.
The Slik song is very good,the best one so far. I assume wiki have included prog rock as part of its genre because of the organ intro. When Ultravox were having hits in the 80s,I didn't realise that Midge Ure was the same singer from Slik. There were many great no.1s in 1979 but 'One Day At A Time' was not one of them. It was a big contrast to all the new wave songs at the time. |
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10th April 2020, 08:17 PM
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#22
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 🙄
Joined: 14 February 2010
Posts: 53,654 User: 10,643
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QUOTE(Fisher 🐠 @ Apr 10 2020, 08:25 PM)  I am floored to see that a bagpipe song not only got to #1, but had five weeks there and 21 weeks in the top 40! The taste jumped out  So right now our most popular bagpipe act is Red Hot Chilli Pipers, who have actually went top 40 on iTunes quite a few times. I think once they went top 10? |
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10th April 2020, 10:51 PM
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#23
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is my brain across your walls?
Joined: 14 February 2009
Posts: 115,078 User: 8,300
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11: Aneka - Japanese Boy
1 week at #1 in 1981 Top 75 run: 60-19-4-{1}-2-3-6-13-21-34-49-62->12 The one hit wonders continue rolling in, this being perhaps one of the most archetypal one hit wonders of all time (her only other chart entry was the follow-up 'Little Lady' which barely made a blip at #50 in the UK, though she did actually have 3 moderately big hits in both Germany and Austria). Before and after her brief moment in the spotlight she was a traditional Scottish folk singer, but her Scottishness is a little less obvious on her one big hit (to the point where, again, I wasn't actually aware she was Scottish). This is another song that hasn't really aged very well (though thankfully not quite to the extent of that Billy Connolly song), would certainly be the target of accusations of cultural appropriation and cancellings among certain circles if released today. I don't think it's sonically aged amazingly well either. As far as Japanese-adjacent one hit wonders go I much prefer The Vapors' 'Turning Japanese' (honestly I find this song a little difficult to remember because its space in my mind is entirely occupied by that song). This one is ok though. I award this 5.5 Irn Brus out of 10   ~ 12: Jim Diamond - I Should Have Known Better 1 week at #1 in 1984 Top 75 run: 40-13-3-2-{1}-2-6-18-20-19-28-46-57->13 We jump ahead more than 3 years for the next Scottish #1, this one from the late soft rock singer Jim Diamond with his debut his 'I Should Have Known Better' (which is also the name of a Beatles song, but unlike Marmalade's chart topper this one wasn't a cover). Diamond had only one other top 40 hit as a soloist, hitting #5 two years after this one with 'Hi Ho Silver', while he had previously made the chart in 1982 as a member of the band PhD who were a one hit wonder themselves, getting to #3 with 'I Won't Let You Down'. To be entirely honest I don't think my mind had ever processed that Jim Diamond was a different person to Neil Diamond when perusing lists of 80s #1s. Today I learned. I didn't think this was a song I'd ever heard but it is sounding somewhat familiar on listening to it, I don't know if that's because I do actually know it or it's just a very formulaic 80s pop rock ballad. Either way I'm quite liking it, I think he has a good voice for this kind of song and I'm enjoying the Phil Collins esque drums at one point in it. Nothing out of this world but it does its job solidly enough. I award this 6.5 Irn Brus out of 10 ~ 13: 4 weeks at #1 in 1985 Top 75 run: 63-34-6-3-2-{1}-1-1-1-2-8-10-28-34-41-62->16 Now we have the first song on the list that is a collab with a non-Scottish artist, this the classic duet between English musical theatre legend Elaine Paige and the woman we care about in this thread Barbara Dickson, taken from the musical 'Chess'. Barbara had three top 20 hits (peaking at #9 with 1976's 'Answer Me') between 1976 and 1980 before vanishing from the chart entirely until this song hit big in 1985 - it would prove to be her final UK chart outing but she certainly went out on a high, spending a whole month atop the chart. A coincidence that this song has nearly the exact opposite title to the previous song on the list? (Yes). I'm not a huge fan of musical theatre / theatrical songs but I can recognise this one as a classic among its 'genre', some great vocals on here and a powerful chorus, what's to complain about. Oh and of course we have this song to thank for another memorable moment by a Scottish icon, when we got the DEFINITIVE version of the song, that of course being the Susan Boyle duet with Geraldine McQueen *.* though sadly that didn't manage to follow previous Peter Kay charity singles to #1, instead stalling at a criminal #11, so it won't get to be highlighted in its own right in this thread. I award this 6 Irn Brus out of 10 That's it for tonight, 10 more Scottish #1s coming up tomorrow hopefully! I've stuck to my plan so far 
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10th April 2020, 10:56 PM
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#24
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 Alone and wounded
Pronouns: She/her
Joined: 18 January 2011 Posts: 60,175 User: 12,810 
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Oh oops I really like 'Japanese Boy' as a song but never really thought about the cultural appropriation aspect
 Subo and Geraldine deffo the more iconic version of 'I Know Him So Well'
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10th April 2020, 11:21 PM
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#25
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THE BLAZE *.*
Joined: 27 December 2012
Posts: 24,309 User: 18,061
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Japanese Boy is a banger
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11th April 2020, 04:22 PM
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#26
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is my brain across your walls?
Joined: 14 February 2009
Posts: 115,078 User: 8,300
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14: Midge Ure - If I Was
1 week at #1 in 1985 Top 75 run: 29-8-4-{1}-2-2-8-16-24-37-58->11 So although his chart career as a member of Slik was pretty brief, Midge Ure did go on to get a second #1 in his own right with this track in 1985, and he would of course also achieve chart success (though infamously never reaching #1) with his more long running band Ultravox as well as being one of the key figures behind Band Aid. Midge had 6 top 40 hits as a solo artist over the course of the 80s and very early 90s, this was the third of the six. The only other to make the top 10 was his #9 peaking debut solo hit 'No Regrets' in 1982. This is another song that I don't think I've ever heard before but thankfully finding it much more to my taste than Midge's previous chart topper, just sounds like your quintessential glorious 80s synthpop track, a little surprised I haven't come across it before as it seems like the kind of thing that should be an 80s essential. It isn't quite as great as 'Vienna' (that would be a big ask) but takes over as comfortably my favourite song so far in this thread. Also liking the satisfying aesthetic in the music video, makes me want one of those pin art toys x I award this 9 Irn Brus out of 10 ~ 15: Wet Wet Wet - With A Little Help From My Friends 4 weeks at #1 in 1988 Top 75 run: 5-{1}-1-1-1-3-10-22-31-35-57->11 Only two Scottish acts managed multiple #1 singles before the turn of the millennium - we already had the back-to-back Bay City Rollers #1s and we now come to probably the most successful Scottish act of the 20th century, Wet Wet Wet. They have two more songs to come in this countdown but for their first #1 in 1988, it's The Beatles rearing their heads once again as it's another cover of one of their songs. The original Beatles version wasn't released as a single in the UK but the song has nonetheless become a UK #1 three times over, this being the second cover of it to reach the top spot following Joe Cocker's in 1968. It was Wet Wet Wet's 5th top 40 hit, with 3 of the previous ones making the top 10. What pushed this over the top to become their first chart topper was it being a charity release (for ChildLine), released as a double A-Side with another Beatles cover, 'She's Leaving Home' by Billy Bragg and Cara Tivey, with both recordings appearing on an entire album of Beatles covers for charity. This is a better choice of Beatles song to cover than 'Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da' (still wouldn't call it one of my absolute favourite Beatles songs but it's a classic eh). The cover isn't anything to write home about, I'd never choose to listen to it over the original but it's competent enough, certainly better than the Sam & Mark version. It's a charity cover version, I doubt anyone really ever listened to this much. I award this 6 Irn Brus out of 10 ~ 16: Simple Minds - Belfast Child 2 weeks at #1 in 1989 Top 75 run: 2-{1}-1-6-13-22-32-47-56-73-72->11 And for the final Scottish #1 of the 80s, it's another very long running and successful band, although in this case this is their only song to reach the top spot. The song actually takes its instrumental from that of an Irish folk song (hence the reference to Belfast in the title) but the band themselves are from Scotland. Simple Minds' chart discography spans back to their first minor hit in 1979 and forward to their most recent appearance in 2005 (though their album chart relevance has carried on further with them achieving a top 10 with a live album just last year). They achieved 8 top 10 hits and 23 top 40 hits in all throughout their run, most notably 1985 #7 hit 'Don't You (Forget About Me)' which I imagine is much more well-known than this song (certainly is to me at least). Another song that I don't think I've ever heard before (we're getting closer to songs that were released when I was actually alive so there aren't many of those left!) - my first impression is that this really doesn't sound much like a #1 single (was this really played on the radio and all at the time?), I think it might be one that takes a bit more familiarity to give a proper assessment but it sounds pretty powerful to me, some heavy politically charged lyrics and a great building instrumental, another very worthwhile discovery from this thread. I award this 8.5 Irn Brus out of 10
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11th April 2020, 04:27 PM
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#27
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 BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 23 June 2018
Posts: 9,511 User: 73,240
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I've heard If I Was and Belfast Child quite a lot on radio in recent years actually!
 If I Was is definitely my favourite from these songs so far, glad you agree! |
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11th April 2020, 04:27 PM
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#28
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Alone and wounded
Pronouns: She/her
Joined: 18 January 2011 Posts: 60,175 User: 12,810
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I agree that 'If I Was' is the strongest of that section! The avatar of that YouTube channel being a cat though *.*
The only 'With A Little Help From My Friends' cover version that I'm a particular fan of is Joe Cocker's, he really transformed the arrangement of it. Both the Wet Wet Wet and Sam & Mark ones are nothing special. |
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11th April 2020, 04:47 PM
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#29
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BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 3 January 2017
Posts: 10,159 User: 23,961
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Good to see 'If I Was' get your highest score so far. It is the best song here.
'Belfast Child' is a bit of an epic with Trevor Horn's sumptuous production. |
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11th April 2020, 04:52 PM
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#30
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🙄
Joined: 14 February 2010
Posts: 53,654 User: 10,643
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Finally two songs that I know!
With A Little Help From My Friends is a decent tune |
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11th April 2020, 04:56 PM
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#31
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nabad
Pronouns: he/him
Joined: 13 February 2013 Posts: 28,365 User: 18,316
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I still don't know many of these songs so far, oops
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11th April 2020, 10:47 PM
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#32
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FIVE YEARS OF THE TURRET 15-20
Joined: 12 March 2015
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I'm more into Magic than January, but I like both of them.
Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep was a road trip staple of mine back in 2004 and I did not know about the child abandonment thing. Irn Bru XD |
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11th April 2020, 11:03 PM
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#33
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is my brain across your walls?
Joined: 14 February 2009
Posts: 115,078 User: 8,300
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17: Wet Wet Wet - Goodnight Girl
4 weeks at #1 in 1992 Top 75 run: 20-9-3-{1}-1-1-1-2-7-21-57->11 Checking back in with Wet Wet Wet, they picked up their second of three #1s (does anyone remember what the third was?  ) and with it the first Scottish #1 of the 90s with this track in 1992. This was the only one of their #1s to actually be an original song. In the intervening years between their first two #1s they had five other top 40 hits, though only one more that made the top 10.Once again this is another song I don't think I've heard before but in this case I'm not surprised, this sounds very much 'of its time', I think you'd have to be a pretty big Wet Wet Wet fan to really care about this one. It's them at their most Westlife, just a soppy ten-a-penny ballad. Yawn. I award this 3 Irn Brus out of 10 ~ 18: The Shamen - Ebeneezer Goode 4 weeks at #1 in 1992 Top 75 run: 6-2-{1}-1-1-1-3-8-29-48->10 Keeping in 1992, and another song that topped the chart for a month, although sonically couldn't be much more different to the previous song. This was the only chart-topper for rave / electronica group The Shamen, who I always thought were a one hit wonder but it actually turns out they racked up quite a few hits in the early 90s - this was not even their debut hit, it was the third of five top 10 hits for the group amongst a total of 10 top 40 hits spanning as late as 1996, who knew? This proved to be a controversial song at the time because apparently there was a subconscious pro-drugs message in the song, personally I'm not sure what people were on about, sounds totally innocent to me. It's just about a guy named Ebeneezer Goode, nothing at all to do with ecstasy! Now this right here is a proper classic - I'm a huge fan of rave music and this is one of the most essential songs from the genre. An absolutely banging instrumental, a hook that won't leave your head for ages after listening, and that iconic line naughty, naughty, very naughty. I can't endorse that ~alleged~ pro-drugs sentiment, being a boring person who does not take any substances x but I can definitely imagine if I were such a person I'd only enjoy this song even more than I already do while permanently sober. x I award this 10 Irn Brus out of 10 ~ 19: The Bluebells - Young At Heart 4 weeks at #1 in 1993 Top 75 run (1984): 54-36-20-14-10-{8}-11-17-23-32-43-65->12 Top 75 run (1993): 5-{1}-1-1-1-2-8-13-22-39-51-66->12 My first thought at seeing this on the list was being shocked it was released as recently as 1993 - but of course the reason for that is that it wasn't, this is actually just another delayed Scottish #1 that was released in the 80s, though it only peaked at #8 on its original release. It was already their highest charting single (their only top 10 out of three top 40 hits during a chart career that spanned 1983-5) but it was the song's use in a TV ad for the Volkswagen Golf that prompted a full re-release in 1993 that saw it become the group's only #1, and indeed provided their final appearance in the UK chart. I was also surprised to find out that this is also a cover, originally recorded by Bananarama in 1983. No surprise that this was pushed to #1 by an advert (and has continued to be used on adverts since), it really sounds like it was made for use on ads (can't really put my finger on why, maybe it's just confirmation bias). I've been intrigued by finding out this was a cover and had a listen to the original, The Bluebells' version is a pretty significant makeover of the song, and definitely for the better, turning a pretty average and forgettable pop track into a much more memorable folksy stormer. I award this 8.5 Irn Brus out of 10 ~ 20: 2 weeks at #1 in 1993 Top 75 run: {1}-1-2-8-16-37-46-53-54-67-68-71-57-62->14 The first Scot to have a song go straight into the chart at #1 (a feat that used to be, and to some extent once again is now, pretty rare, although of course there was also a significant stretch of time where it was rarer for #1s to not have debuted there), and also the first Scot to be #1 as a featured artist. This was the second #1 hit for Take That, at the time a fresh-faced young boyband who would go on to hit #1 with nearly everything they farted out, but we don't care about Take That in this thread - more importantly this provided an extremely overdue first and only #1 hit for featured singer Lulu. She had hits going all the way back to 1964 and even managed to win Eurovision for the UK in 1969 but neither her Eurovision winner 'Boom Bang-A-Bang', her iconic single 'Shout' nor any of her other five top 10 hits prior to this went all the way to the top. This wasn't quite her last hurrah in the charts as she went on to get three more top 40 hits spanning as late as 2002 when she went out of singles chart relevancy with a bang with another boyband adjacent feature (the #4 peaking 'We've Got Tonight' by Ronan Keating). This is yet another cover, originally released by Dan Hartman in 1979 (though the Take That & Lulu version is the only one to chart in the UK). This is another bit of cheesy and somewhat 'of its time' boyband fodder but in this case it's one that's stood the test of time a little better, Take That had some tunes back in the day and while this one is a little more in the guilty pleasure category than the likes of 'Back For Good' this is one that I can jam to as well. And it was iconic of them to revive a 60s legend like that - after all, if they hadn't, then Lulu would be a pretty significant name in Scottish music history to be absent from this thread. I award this 7.5 Irn Brus out of 10 One more section coming up later tonight, this has been held back by a quiz going on for ages again
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11th April 2020, 11:10 PM
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#34
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Alone and wounded
Pronouns: She/her
Joined: 18 January 2011 Posts: 60,175 User: 12,810
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'Ebeneezer Goode' fully deserves those 10 Irn Brus
definitely my favourite song to appear so far *.* 'Young At Heart' and 'Relight My Fire' both good too, but yes, another skippable offering from Wet Wet Wet x |
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11th April 2020, 11:14 PM
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#35
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BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 23 June 2018
Posts: 9,511 User: 73,240
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Surprised that you weren't aware of any of The Shamen's other hits, I've heard Move Any Mountain played more frequently than Ebeneezer Goode! But no doubt that Ebeneezer Goode is the best of their tracks, glad it got to number one and glad it's the first to receive 10 Irn Brus from you!
And I had the experience of seeing Take That and Lulu perform Relight My Fire together at a concert last year, back when those were a thing that could take place. |
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11th April 2020, 11:26 PM
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#36
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 The owls are not what they seem
Pronouns: He/him
Joined: 11 July 2009 Posts: 37,128 User: 9,232
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Ebeneezer Goode is a real favourite, absolute classic <3 I can't believe they ever tried to pretend it wasn't about drugs though lmaooo
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12th April 2020, 12:09 AM
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#37
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 BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 21 January 2007
Posts: 23,774 User: 2,666
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the shamen
 11 irn bru's tbh!!! |
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12th April 2020, 12:19 AM
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#38
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is my brain across your walls?
Joined: 14 February 2009
Posts: 115,078 User: 8,300
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QUOTE(Nancy 🍾 @ Apr 12 2020, 01:09 AM) 11 irn bru's tbh!!! I may be saving that honour for another song later on ;o (a good argument for The Shamen deserving it as well but I've decided to limit myself to just the one x) |
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12th April 2020, 12:24 AM
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#39
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BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 21 January 2007
Posts: 23,774 User: 2,666
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ohh looking forward to that then...don't disappoint me though, it better be good!!
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12th April 2020, 02:10 AM
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#40
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The horrors persist, but so do I
Joined: 14 July 2013
Posts: 21,953 User: 19,534
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I've now listened to 'Young At Heart' as it sounded like something I would enjoy based on the description, and indeed it is
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