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> John's 1974 Charts, of the time weekly charts freed from the UK singles chart
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Popchartfreak
post Jan 2 2015, 08:46 PM
Post #61
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17th December 1974

It’s a new number one for Disco Tex and his Sex-o-lettes, one of the great pop band names of all-time, Tex was on Top Of The Pops on film in his hat and flamboyant scarf, camping it up something cruel, it was great fun, funny, and tongue-in-cheek all in one, not to mention falsetto-catchy backing singing. Some people hated it, of course. The ones with no sense of humour. Gloria Gaynor, meantime, is in runners-up spot with a serious disco classic.

The christmas songs keep on a-coming, as I really get into the christmas spirit big-time on newies and oldies alike: Showaddywaddy hit the top 10, Gilbert O’Sullivan enters with Christmas Song, his first chart entry in over a year, and his best record since Alone Again (Naturally). As Gilbert has always been over-protective of his back catalogue you won’t find it on any compilation albums I suspect, or else it might have become better known as a christmas classic. Wizzard, meanwhile, stay top 5 with you-know-what as their last UK hit single enters my chart at 14 - are you ready to rock? Too right!

All four Beatles find themselves in the top 40, both all together, and solo, as George enters at 30 with Ding Dong, one of the few New Year pop singles to pop up over the years. I heard it on Radio 2 New Years Eve (2014) so hooray for keeping it vaguely-known, as it’s decent enough. My other fave band, other than The Beatles, and Roy Wood/Wizzard, who were on the decline after a hot streak, was soon to be Abba, doing well at 7 with So Long, their highest chart position since Waterloo hit 1.

KC goes back up to 11, Ray Stevens gets his 3rd hit of the year, this time with the very serious, slightly twee, Everybody Needs A Rainbow, Status Quo enter at 29 with their future UK chart-topper, the fabulous Down Down, and The Trammps debut at 28 with a romping disco version of the 30’s standard Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart. Judy Garland had the first well-known version, though the 50’s doo-wop flavour to The Trammps version shows where they took it from. Fab!

As school term ended, daytime TV was about to open to me - not that there was much in those days - as well as the evenings so that meant The Virginian, a great Western series, Tom & Jerry, still classic, Josie And The Pussycats In Outer Space (cartoon singing all-girl group on a spaceship with a cat. Honest!), the new animated Star Trek series (which I loved), The Generation Game (with Bruce Forsyth, of course, good game, good game), bald cop Kojak (Telly Savalas was huge in the UK), Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads, Cannon (US PI), Top Of The Pops (of course), Jackanory had Ted Hughes’ The Iron Man (one of my future all-time fave films), Johnny Morris was still producing Animal Magic for kids, and had been my whole life as far as I could recall by then, Mission:Impossible was still chock full of plot-twisting, and The Magic Roundabout was still wondering about Florence.



1 ( 5 ) GET DANCIN’ Disco Tex and The Sex-o-lettes
2 ( 4 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE Gloria Gaynor
3 ( 1 ) YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET Bachman-Turner Overdrive
4 ( 2 ) HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) John & Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band with The Harlem Community Choir
5 ( 3 ) I WISH IT COULD BE CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY Wizzard
6 ( 7 ) WOMBLING MERRY CHRISTMAS The Wombles
7 ( 17 ) SO LONG Abba
8 ( 8 ) THE INBETWEENIES The Goodies
9 ( 13 ) LOVE IS ALL Roger Glover and Guests (featuring Ronnie Dio)
10 ( 21 ) HEY MR CHRISTMAS Showaddywaddy




11 ( 32 ) SOUND YOUR FUNKY HORN KC And The Sunshine Band
12 ( 16 ) YOU CAN MAKE ME DANCE SING OR ANYTHING (EVEN TAKE THE DOG FOR A WALK MEND A FUSE FOLD AWAY THE IRONING BOARD OR ANY OTHER DOMESTIC SHORTCOMINGS) The Faces featuring Rod Stewart
13 ( 14 ) FATHER CHRISTMAS DO NOT TOUCH ME The Goodies
14 ( NEW ) ARE YOU READY TO ROCK Wizzard
15 ( 24 ) JE T’AIME...MOI NON PLUS Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg
16 ( 11 ) I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE Marvin Gaye
17 ( 12 ) HOLD ME TIGHT Johnny Nash
18 ( 6 ) IRE FEELINGS (SKANGA) Rupie Edwards
19 ( 9 ) YOU CAN HAVE IT ALL George McRae
20 ( 20 ) LONELY THIS CHRISTMAS Mud




21 ( 30 ) CHRISTMAS (BABY PLEASE COME HOME) Darlene Love
22 ( 38 ) CANDY BABY Beano
23 ( 22 ) I AM THE WALRUS The Beatles
24 ( 18 ) WHERE DID OUR LOVE GO? The Supremes
25 ( NEW ) EVERYBODY NEEDS A RAINBOW Ray Stevens
26 ( NEW ) CHRISTMAS SONG Gilbert O’Sullivan
27 ( 25 ) SHBOOM (LIFE COULD BE A DREAM) Sha Na Na
28 ( NEW ) ZING WENT THE STRINGS OF MY HEART The Trammps
29 ( NEW ) DOWN DOWN Status Quo
30 ( NEW ) DING DONG George Harrison



31 ( 15 ) KILLER QUEEN Queen
32 ( 19 ) CHERI BABE Hot Chocolate
33 ( 23 ) THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN Lulu
34 ( 26 ) BABY COME BACK The Equals
35 ( 27 ) LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS Elton John
36 ( 28 ) JUKEBOX JIVE The Rubettes
37 ( 29 ) CHRISTMAS WITH DICKEN Mr. Big
38 ( 33 ) JUNIOR'S FARM Paul McCartney & Wings
39 ( 35 ) ONLY YOU Ringo Starr
40 ( 40 ) STREETS OF LONDON Ralph McTell



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Popchartfreak
post Jan 3 2015, 08:15 PM
Post #62
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24th December 1974


It was Christmas Eve and all through the house not a thing was stirring not even a mouse. Well, a hamster was, my brothers pet. I was doing my charts, meanwhile, and Gloria Gaynor gets her first week on top with the awesome Never Can Say Goodbye, a hectic dance with a tune and soaring strings, even better than the original achingly sweet and mournful Jackson 5 version, which had peaked at 2 in my charts. The Wombles go christmassy at 4, and Abba go top 5 for the second time. So Long? No chance!

George Harrison rings in the new, just behind old mucker John at 7, his 4th hit in 4 years, and biggest since My Sweet Lord hit 1. Never was prolific, George. It wouldn’t be christmas without Slade would it? Of course not! So it’s back in at 18 a year after hitting my top 3 - remember it all started here in popchartfeak world. Just saying it like it is, you can blame me it’s still doing the same 40 years later if that helps! Another regular classic bubbling under the UK 75 is The Ronettes fabulous Sleigh Ride. Ronnie Spector undoubtably glad she got away from Phil in the end, but here’s her 2nd hit of the year, after Be My Baby hit 1, with the track off A Christmas Gift For You, and just ahead of the other track at 20 for Darlene Love.

At 21, David Essex gets his 4th hit of 1974 with the title track from his 2nd movie Stardust, almost menacing and serious, in contrast to Gonna Make You A Star. David continues to be under-rated as a writer and performer, what he lacked in vocal dexterity he made up for in spades with conviction. The thinking schoolgirl’s popstar was Mr. Essex. Mud take a shock tumble, peaking at 20 after a run of 6 top 3’s (including 4 chart-toppers), I just preferred them glam and laddy to be honest at the time, though it will be back in christmas future to make amends. Billy Swan’s country-pop classic, covered by Elvis, and a minor anthem, I Can Help enters at 30, and it’s still a great song. Finally The Tymes scrape in at 40 with their UK number one in January 1975, Ms Grace. I like it now, but then it pissed me off for keeping Gloria Gaynor off the UK charts top spot. Bah!




1 ( 2 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE Gloria Gaynor
2 ( 1 ) GET DANCIN’ Disco Tex and The Sex-o-lettes
3 ( 3 ) YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET Bachman-Turner Overdrive
4 ( 6 ) WOMBLING MERRY CHRISTMAS The Wombles
5 ( 7 ) SO LONG Abba
6 ( 4 ) HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) John & Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band with The Harlem Community Choir
7 ( 30 ) DING DONG George Harrison
8 ( 10 ) HEY MR CHRISTMAS Showaddywaddy
9 ( 9 ) LOVE IS ALL Roger Glover and Guests (featuring Ronnie Dio)
10 ( 5 ) I WISH IT COULD BE CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY Wizzard

11 ( 16 ) I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE Marvin Gaye
12 ( 8 ) THE INBETWEENIES The Goodies
13 ( 13 ) FATHER CHRISTMAS DO NOT TOUCH ME The Goodies
14 ( 14 ) ARE YOU READY TO ROCK Wizzard
15 ( 15 ) JE T’AIME...MOI NON PLUS Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg
16 ( 12 ) YOU CAN MAKE ME DANCE SING OR ANYTHING (EVEN TAKE THE DOG FOR A WALK MEND A FUSE FOLD AWAY THE IRONING BOARD OR ANY OTHER DOMESTIC SHORTCOMINGS) The Faces featuring Rod Stewart
17 ( 11 ) SOUND YOUR FUNKY HORN KC And The Sunshine Band
18 ( NEW ) MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY Slade
19 ( NEW ) SLEIGH RIDE The Ronettes
20 ( 21 ) CHRISTMAS (BABY PLEASE COME HOME) Darlene Love



21 ( NEW ) STARDUST David Essex
22 ( 17 ) HOLD ME TIGHT Johnny Nash
23 ( 26 ) CHRISTMAS SONG Gilbert O’Sullivan
24 ( 20 ) LONELY THIS CHRISTMAS Mud
25 ( 25 ) EVERYBODY NEEDS A RAINBOW Ray Stevens
26 ( 22 ) CANDY BABY Beano
27 ( 29 ) DOWN DOWN Status Quo
28 ( 18 ) IRE FEELINGS (SKANGA) Rupie Edwards
29 ( 19 ) YOU CAN HAVE IT ALL George McRae
30 ( NEW ) I CAN HELP Billy Swan



31 ( 23 ) I AM THE WALRUS The Beatles
32 ( 24 ) WHERE DID OUR LOVE GO? The Supremes
33 ( 27 ) SHBOOM (LIFE COULD BE A DREAM) Sha Na Na
34 ( 28 ) ZING WENT THE STRINGS OF MY HEART The Trammps
35 ( 31 ) KILLER QUEEN Queen
36 ( 32 ) CHERI BABE Hot Chocolate
37 ( 33 ) THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN Lulu
38 ( 36 ) JUKEBOX JIVE The Rubettes
39 ( 35 ) LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS Elton John
40 ( NEW ) MS GRACE The Tymes






TV at christmas was always a huge treat for me, so many great films and specials - this week there was The Time Machine, still a fave film version of the H.G. Wells novel, and The Marx Brothers in Go West. I love the Marx Brothers, especially Groucho, a major hero of mine at the time with his one-liners and put-downs. Top Of The Pops, of course, and future christmas regular (for a decade or so at any rate) The Goodies And The Beanstalk, a repeat of brilliant TV western comedy Alias Smith And Jones, and some bonus holiday Star Trek episodes (hooray!) each day. On BBC2, the fantastic MASH, the watchable Call My Bluff, Film Night has interviews with the Python team on location for The Holy Grail (that would be good to see again, probably wiped like everything else from this era, though), and I first watched the disturbing film “If” with Malcolm McDowell, which had an effect on me in more than one way, not the violence, which shocked, but the elite school life scenes.

The Radio Times, from whence this information comes (I don’t have THAT good a memory) had printed a letter from 15-year-old Peter Capaldi earlier in the year praising Doctor Who, though I take issue with the insistence of the BBC calling the TV animated great Top Cat “Boss Cat”. On every day, the title theme is Top cat, the cat is called Top cat and TC in the show, and it was called Top Cat when first shown in the early 60’s (inspired by Sgt Bilko), but no, there was a cat food called Top Cat and they wouldn’t want to be seen advertising. Mad BBC, absolutely insane. No idea what was on ITV, but probably a James Bond film at sometime and an episode of Rising Damp, a great cast, great script, great characters.
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Popchartfreak
post Jan 3 2015, 09:54 PM
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31st December 1974

New Years Eve, and I was at home watching TV. I know this because I saw the new year in (for the first time, almost sweet seventeen years old) watching Billy Wilder’s classic bittersweet comedy The Apartment on my black & white TV in my bedroom. It became an instant tearjerking (yet feelgood) fave, and I loved Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon already anyway (and Fred MacMurray playing a non-Disney nastier role than we were used to). I’d also bought myself a brand new proper spiral-bound notepad to make my charts more official-looking, and to be able to incorporate more records in my first official top 50 - just like Record Mirror which published all the charts that mattered at that time, including the UK Top 50 singles chart, and which was my must-buy bible.

So, first top 50 number one? I bought the record, and made it my top record in protest at the BBC not playing it (it was just outside the top 30), and cos I loved it anyway: naughty Je T’Aime..Moi Non Plus, completely absent from my 1969 charts age 11, completely owned 5 years on aged 16. Yay! With the extra 10 places lots of new entries for records that would otherwise not have charted, and quite a few re-entries showing just how many records were missing out on decent chart runs with the restricted slots available. To be honest even 50 wasn’t enough, really, but it was good enough for the BBC....

David Essex gets his 5th consecutive top 10 single, Billy Swan his first, christmas records suffer a decline, and highest new entry is Australian MOR I Am Woman and Delta Dawn big American star, Helen Reddy. Not eligible for my charts pre-1974 (as she’d had no UK hits) but Angie Baby changed all that, a spooky, swirling, disturbing minor classic and US number one. In at 16. At 18, Stevie Wonder gets his 5th chart hit of 1974 with the groovy Boogie On Reggae Woman, while actual reggae men popped in lower down, Ken Boothe’s follow-up to Everything I Own (Crying Over You) and John Holt’s jolly version of Gladys Knight’s weepy 1972 ballad hit Help Me Make It Through The Night.

The Jackson 5 near the end of their Motown career, with Life Of The Party, a flop single, in at 29 and almost 5 years of hits. For the first time (and last?) I chart an extended dance record twice, as the second half was on the B side (as was the fashion in those days, it was cut in half, faded out, and faded in on the B side) - Disco Tex’ Get Dancin’ Part 2. At 40, it’s a genuine huge American hit, his 2nd chart entry of the year for Harry Chapin, and the powerful, touching song Cats In The Cradle, the story of a dad with no time for his kid getting his comeuppance when old. I loved it to bits, and still do, despite the UK hit version being the trashy 1992 Ugly Kid Joe bloated monster. It lacks the subtlety and feeling of the original entirely.

Also in, Kenny with The Bump, a monster dance craze of the time, and this was the buttock-clashing cash-in pop single from the Bay City Rollers writer-producers Martin and Coulter, they of Puppet On A String, and many a hit record fame. They had even had a great 1973 number one for me with Irish singer Kenny, Heart Of Stone. Knowing they were onto a good thing, they nicked the name, gave it to a young band, and new pop stars were born. I wasn’t a huge fan though. The Carpenters I was a huge fan of, but the sudden change to jolly pop instead of classy ballad pop (like jolly Top Of The World and Jambalaya) had disappointed me, so this jolly cover of the Marvelettes 60’s song took a bit of getting used to, but it won me over in the end.



1 ( 15 ) JE T’AIME...MOI NON PLUS Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg
2 ( 1 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE Gloria Gaynor
3 ( 2 ) GET DANCIN’ Disco Tex and The Sex-o-lettes
4 ( 3 ) YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET Bachman-Turner Overdrive
5 ( 6 ) HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) John & Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band with The Harlem Community Choir
6 ( 7 ) DING DONG George Harrison
7 ( 5 ) SO LONG Abba
8 ( 9 ) LOVE IS ALL Roger Glover and Guests (featuring Ronnie Dio)
9 ( 21 ) STARDUST David Essex
10 ( 30 ) I CAN HELP Billy Swan

11 ( 4 ) WOMBLING MERRY CHRISTMAS The Wombles
12 ( 10 ) I WISH IT COULD BE CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY Wizzard
13 ( 8 ) HEY MR CHRISTMAS Showaddywaddy
14 ( 14 ) ARE YOU READY TO ROCK Wizzard
15 ( 16 ) YOU CAN MAKE ME DANCE SING OR ANYTHING (EVEN TAKE THE DOG FOR A WALK MEND A FUSE FOLD AWAY THE IRONING BOARD OR ANY OTHER DOMESTIC SHORTCOMINGS) The Faces featuring Rod Stewart
16 ( NEW ) ANGIE BABY Helen Reddy
17 ( 17 ) SOUND YOUR FUNKY HORN KC And The Sunshine Band
18 ( NEW ) BOOGIE ON REGGAE WOMAN Stevie Wonder
19 ( 11 ) I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE Marvin Gaye
20 ( 12 ) THE INBETWEENIES The Goodies



21 ( 13 ) FATHER CHRISTMAS DO NOT TOUCH ME The Goodies
22 ( 27 ) DOWN DOWN Status Quo
23 ( 22 ) HOLD ME TIGHT Johnny Nash
24 ( 18 ) MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY Slade
25 ( 19 ) SLEIGH RIDE The Ronettes
26 ( 26 ) CANDY BABY Beano
27 ( 23 ) CHRISTMAS SONG Gilbert O’Sullivan
28 ( 20 ) CHRISTMAS (BABY PLEASE COME HOME) Darlene Love
29 ( NEW ) LIFE OF THE PARTY The Jackson 5
30 ( 28 ) IRE FEELINGS (SKANGA) Rupie Edwards

31 ( 39 ) LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS Elton John
32 ( 29 ) YOU CAN HAVE IT ALL George McRae
33 ( 38 ) JUKEBOX JIVE The Rubettes
34 ( RE ) OH YES YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL Gary Glitter
35 ( 24 ) LONELY THIS CHRISTMAS Mud
36 ( 25 ) EVERYBODY NEEDS A RAINBOW Ray Stevens
37 ( NEW ) GET DANCIN’ PART 2 Disco Tex and The Sex-o-lettes
38 ( NEW ) CRYING OVER YOU Ken Boothe
39 ( NEW ) HELP ME MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT John Holt
40 ( NEW ) CATS IN THE CRADLE Harry Chapin



41 ( RE ) GONNA MAKE YOU A STAR David Essex
42 ( NEW ) THE BUMP Kenny
43 ( NEW ) PLEASE MR POSTMAN The Carpenters
44 ( RE ) MY BOY Elvis Presley
45 ( RE ) WILDCAT Merlin
46 ( 37 ) THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN Lulu
47 ( RE ) ONLY YOU Ringo Starr
48 ( RE ) SHA LA LA LA (MAKES ME HAPPY) Al Green
49 ( 34 ) ZING WENT THE STRINGS OF MY HEART The Trammps
50 ( 36 ) CHERI BABE Hot Chocolate




On TV Christmas day Top Of The Pops had Jimmy Saliva hosting so I guess it’ll never be broadcast ever again, though it is in the vaults. Ditto Part 2 as DLT was hosting, convicted of the ban-worthy crime of copping a feel. Santa had brought me gifts, though none of them spring to mind - I think Partridge Family Greatest Hits was probably one, record vouchers another (grandma often used to get me those), and on telly a fave film from Singapore RAF cinema days, True Grit, with John Wayne, the fab Kim Darby, and even fabber when non-acting Glen Campbell. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Magnificent Seven, The Great Race, were other film feast faves and the great Harry O David Janssen TV detective show was on along with some Doctor Who repeats.
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