blackcat

Some good soul music in the two editions, as I said before, I do like a bit of soul. Could not remember Denice Williams getting to number one, I must admit, good that one of these quality soul songs that were around at the time sold so well. Other great soul offerings in the two shows from Stevie Wonder, Rolls Royce, The Detroit Spinners, and even a novelty soul record from the late great Joe Tex, "Ain't Gonna Bump No More With No Big Fat Woman". I can identify with that sentiment, that's something I occasionally did myself in my night clubbing days with the odd overweight partner! The 10cc offering was also good, and had a good promotional clip with it, when one considers that the pop music video/MTV was still a few years in the future. One or two novelty records over the two shows, but generally speaking I don't think that they were bad shows musically, it would get better with punk and New Wave, in my view. Sadly, one number one record from 1977, probably going to be shown around about July/August, was, of course, I Feel Love. RIP the disco queen. So all of this good soul music around at the time, how about naming a few soul acts that have got to number one in the UK charts over the years? Denice Williams is your starter for ten! Of course, might be a question of interpretation here - what exactly qualifies as a soul act? For instance, the Jackson 5's Show You The Way To Go might be classed as a soul song, while later Michael Jackson solo efforts such as Thriller and Bad may be classed as a different musical idiom.................. :unsure: In any case, I do enjoy these shows on Thursdays, bring back a lot of good memories, and a lot of good and sometimes not so good sounds. All the best, Blackcat. B-)

Thanks for all your clarifications, shakyfan, fiesta and others, strange that the UK has not won the eurovision a bit more often over the years, when one considers how many UK acts have been massive selling Worldwide acts. Anybody know which country has won the most times? Doubt if it would be the UK. No totps 1977 this week, the sky at night reigns supreme on BBC Four at the moment. :cry: Back next week, I assume................

Yes, I forget who did that rotten "Rock n Roll" song as well, just remember it being a rotten song, basically! Don't think the Hothouse Flowers won for Ireland, I think, if I remember correctly, they just featured on an Irish hosted edition of the contest. Suedehead mentioned Sandie Shaw, she was the first British winner of the contest. I think Sir Cliff may have won on year way back when, as well.

LOL!!! Not a big eurovision fan, then, Grebo! Yet there are people out there who love Eurovision................. :w00t: Suedehead, nice list. Probably one or two more to be added yet. I think Ireland have won it quite a few times, just can't recall all the acts off the top of my head. I am in broad agreement with you, Grebo, I don't like eurovision either, the only thing I would say is that without it, maybe ABBA would never have made it big. And I do like some of their stuff, as most pop fans do.

LOl Suedehead, nothing wrong with a bit of Aqua! :yahoo: This week's edition had some good soul in in, with studio appearances from OC Smith, Denise Williams, good number from Stevie Wonder. Eddie And The Hotrods started the show, I suppose about as near to Top Of The Pops could get to punky music before The Strangers, Pistols, etc. Trivia question concerns Lynsey De Paul and Mike Moran singing Britain's Eurovision entry for 1977, Rock Bottom. Have many acts can one name from the British Isles that have won Eurovision over the years? (British Isles means British AND Irish acts). Half a dozen at least should be achievable by most pop fans. All the best. B-)

Good one fiesta, and not forgetting Aqua, the Danish/Norwegian duo of "Barbie Girl" fame.

All good choices, suedehead, well done. I believe that Europe - of final countdown fame - were from Sweden. Should be noted that the two females who were in Abba also had solo Uk hits, if I remember correctly.

Lonnie Donegan was definately born in Scotland, and certainly had at least one number one, which would have predated Marmalade by a good many years. However, there may have been earlier examples of Scottish number ones. Pretty poor show this week, I liked records by the late Andrew Gold and Billy Ocean, but poor otherwise in my view. Fortunately appearances by punk acts were just around the corner on top of the pops 1977. Trivia question for this week concerns Abba still being at number one, the superswedes. Can you name at least ten acts from Scandinavia to have hit the UK charts over the years? I am counting Scandinavia as Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and I will lump in Iceland as well. Actuallly not that easy to think of that many acts off the top of my head, even when counting Abba. I am sure that you lot can do a lot better! All the best B-)

Yes, maybe I should have set the minimum requirement for Scottish acts at fifty, not ten! :dance: I can think of a few others myself, such as The Average White Band, Deacon Blue, Frankie Miller - all Scottish, I think that I am right in saying. Don't forget records by various Scottish World Cup football squads over the years as well! :lol: Plenty of talent from north of the Pennines over the years!

The only other one I can think of at this moment were a soul outfit who had a tad of success in the seventies with what I term white soul music. The AVERAGE pale faced pop fan should be able to guess their name! :rolleyes:

Thanks for the clarification, suedehead. Pretty sure I was right with the older, other two though. Lonnie Donegan and Donovan were both Scottish born. Don't forget Billy Connelly either. He had one or two comedy record hits in the UK charts. Also, I believe that the band Texas hailed from that part of the World.................

Yes, all good acts. Not sure if they were an Indie act as such, but weren't Lloyd Cole And The Commotions Scottish? Come to think of it, what about Bronski Beat/The Communards? Going back a bit, Lonnie Donegan was Glasgow born, as, I believe, was Donovan. All more worthwhile acts than Wet Wet Wet, some might say...................... :D

Thinking about it, there is one enormous Scottish act who no one has mentioned yet from the eighties and nineties - they had a number one with an old Troggs song in 1994 that topped the UK charts for.........................................ages and ages!!!! Very appropriate name for the weather so far this April, as well................

Yes, Claire Grogan and Altered Imageis another one, as well as Orange Juice. The Marmalade record I like a lot is "Reflections Of My Life", an excellent self-penned song by Marmalade. Other examples I can think of are BA Robertson, Jim Diamond. I think Marillion were Scottish as well. Bound to be a lot more. Actually not sure if we should count Rod Stewart, Suedehead. If we count him, we might as well count AC/DC as well! :unsure:

Thanks Grebo and Suedehead, some good selections so far. Bearing in mind that this is top of the pops 1977, then maybe Barbara Dickson is worth a mention as well. One of my all-time favourite records was made by a sixties Scottish act, who go well with toast! :P Wonder if anyone can name them. Also let's not forget the late great Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street was a classic.

Thanks for your input, all, thanks Fiesta for the extra Bobby Hebb info., and thanks to everyone for their lists of Welsh acts. Still a few that could be added. Harry Secombe for example, The Alarm, and one or two acts that never really had big Uk chart hits, such as Gene Loves Jezabel, for example. There are also quite a few acts who had lots of Welsh blood in them, without being strictly Welsh themselves. Great songwriters like Ray Davies and John Lennon spring to mind in that category. David Bowie's real name is David Jones, so presumably he has Welsh connections from way back. And there will be many other examples. This week's edition slightly more enjoyable. Regular readers of this thread will know that I like a bit of soul, so I enjoyed records by Denice Williams and the late great OC Smith on this week's show. And a good piece of white soul, if you like, from Elkie Brooks as well. Trivia question for this week - David Kid Jensen said that the Dead End Kids came from Scotland so, well, the trivia question is obvious! I am sure that most pop fans should be able to reel off at least ten acts from North Of The Border to have hit the UK charts over the years, excluding the Dead End Kids themselves. I reckon that the final tally will be considerably more than ten! Best of bonnie Scottish luck to you all on this one.

Indeed, Grebo, let's not forget John Cale, of the Velvet Underground either. Most people would think of the Velvet Underground as an American group, but John is a true and proud Welshman. Also, going from memory only, without googling it, I am sure I read somewhere that Dave Edmunds was Welsh born...............

Yes, some good replies so far, well done Suedehead and Grebo, I can think of a few more myself. I will accept part Welsh acts, by the way. Badfinger, for example, were mostly, but not exclusively, all from Swansea. But they were predominently Welsh, so I will include them. Have been quite a few over the years, considering what a small country Wales is in population terms. There again, it is the land of song.............. ;)

Just seen the latest repeat on the iplayer, not much to write home about, really. :( Middle Of The Road mush most of the time. David Dundas and David Soul made weak follow up singles to their big sellers from months before, Rock Bottom was a very weak Eurovision entry from that year, slushy records from Bernie Flint just added to the dreariness of the whole show, in my humble opinion. As I have said many times before, you could understand why punk came along when looking at some of these old shows. David Hamilton interviewed Mike Nesmith, pity that they did not play Nesmith's excellent single of the time, "RIO". A great track, I advise a check on youtube if you have not heard it before. They featured the Welsh lass Bonnie Tyler. Trivia question for this week,then - at least ten Welsh acts, apart from Bonnie Tyler,who have hit the UK charts over the years. If one goes right up to the current date, and starts from when the charts began, you should be able to do it off the top of your head. All the best, BC. B-)

Saw two Queen documentaries over Easter on the BBC iplayer, and they were excellent. Really gave a good history of the band, with interviews with all the band members, some of their ex-managers, and even with a member of Smile, the group they originated from. The documentaries, called "These Are The Days Of Our Lives", parts one and two, are still, I believe, on the iplayer, if anyone wants to see them.

Yes, well done common sense, a female drummer in an otherwise male group, which is still quite unusual to this day, of course. Her name was Honey Lantree - I DID google to get that particular name, of course! - and she was a very good drummer for the Honeycombs, whose name was inspired by their feminine drummer. Sadly, they failed to have anymore big selling records besides Have I The Right, a 1964 number one in the UK, and a million seller Worldwide. Is top of the pops 77 on this Thursday? I have a sinking feeling that it is the monthly Sky At Night cycle coming up............... :(

No suedehead, wrong this time. The original version by the Honeycombs had a very very heavy drum beat at its core, particularly heavy when you consider who was drumming. In fact, surprisingly heavy........ :heart: Additional clue - remember The Carpenters? Think of how Karen's career originally started out...................

Yes, well done fchd, it was Bobby Hebb. I struggle to remember any more hits by Bobby, though! :huh: The song would have been covered by many different artists over the years, Boney M just one of them. For an additional bonus point, I can think of one more question off the top of my head. As suedehead said, the original version of Have I The Right was by The Honeycombs. My question is - what was considered so unusual at the time about The Honeycombs drummer? Remember, answers of the top of you head only, please!

Well done again, suedehead, you have one of them. The other is perhaps more tricky, though. The original version of Sunny was not by that well known an artist.

Thanks for your insights, fchd and Tim Pardington, useful pop data again. This week's edition was, for the most part, back to middle of the road pap, as far as I was concerned! Brotherhood Of Man, Smokie, Manhattan Transfer, not exactly the kind of music designed to give energy to your soul! The late Marc Bolan and the thirty seconds or so of David Bowie play out music were the only highlights for me. Nevermind, punk just around the corner! Trivia question for this week. There was two cover versions featured in this week's look back at '77, Sunny, by Boney M, and Have I The Right, by Dead End Kids. Can you name the original artists for both these sixties classic songs? All the best, everyone. B-)