blackcat

loved substitute by The Who, one of those records that never seem to sounds dated. Not too sure why it re-entered the charts in 1976, though, having originally been a hit ten years earlier. Also liked The Steve Millar band, and liked Legs and Co dancing to it! All of these dancers would be in their late fifties at least by now, of course. Frightening thought! Noel Edmonds, just for a change, gave me some useful information - I did not know that The Climax Blues Band were from the Midlands, I had assumed that they were from the States. Liked their song of the time, anyway. So a reasonable show. This thread does not seem to attract as much interest now, maybe the novelty of seeing records from 35 years ago is wearing thin! Anyway, as I keep saying, long live the spirit of '76. B-)

There have been a number of convicted criminals, or alledged criminals, in the pop world over the years. Sid Vicious may well have killed his girlfriend Nancy Spungen, but that has not stopped Sex Pistols records being revered. Phil Spector may have killed someone, but people still hold his early production work in high esteem, and why shouldn't they? His later actions do not take away his early brillance at production work. If George Martin was right now convicted of murdering someone then should radio stations stop playing Beatles records? Of course not. Spector is being punished for what he has done, he is currently imprisoned, is he not? No need to punish the great recording artists who appeared on his records as well. In my humble opinion, of course.

Yes, good version Fonda, never heard of Chilly before though. As Severin has said, it is a hard song to muck up when doing a version of it, because it is such a good track. Another surprise is that I don't think any of the punk/new wave groups covered it. Sounds a tailor made song for them to cover.

Well that is probably true, the question is whether a record featured on top of the pops in the 1970's to 1980's period had more chance of higher sales the following week than a record that was not featured. My best guess is that it would have had a good boost in sales as a result of tv exposure on the nation's number one chart show.

Good that I got a response to this thread, thanks for your contributions. Just a great track in my book, whatever your taste in music. Surprised that it has not attracted more cover versions, just the one well known cover version, by Mr. Bowie. I can see a new act having a big hit with a song like this one. Afterall, the Friday on my mind concept is always going to be a fashionable thing for those who do the nine to five grind week in, week out.

Can not watch top of the pops on Thursdays at the moment due to work commitments, and having trouble picking up the interactive service, so a very late night post on this forum for me, having just seen it at 11.55 p.m. on BBC Four this Saturday!!! Is this the latest post ever on these forums?! All in all, enjoyed the programme, some classy stuff on there. Joan Armatrading, Chicago, Pussycat still at number one, Simon May, some good ballads in there. Lovers of beautiful pop songs, must surely have found something to enjoy in this week's show. Top of the pops was thought to have substantial power in those days in terms of record sales. Discs featured on the programme often shot up the charts the following week, in fact, rarely did a new top 30 entry go down the charts the week after having been featured on top of the pops, it usually went onto greater chart glory after having been featured on an edition. Music shows in recent years would certainly not have such power. Right, late night entry for next week as well then. Long live the spirit and music of '76. B-)

No response to this? Well I think that it is an outstanding, never dating track anyway! Looks like I will have to take this to the recommend a track thread. Won't do it on Monday, though, because on Monday I start the 5 day grind once more, and will have Friday on my mind................................. :dance:

Good one suedehead! Did not realises that Pussycat were number one for so long. "Showwaddy Waddy" - as I pronounce them - ushered in a retro era of their own, in a way. It was after they came along that we started seeing acts like Shaking Stevens emerge, with tremendous success in the UK market. Punk seemed to make little difference to the chart topping records of the time.

Bands with exotic/colourful names were the order of the day for me in this week's edition. Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, The Average White Band, and The Climax Blues Band. All good fare. As for the records inbetween.................................. :w00t: Pussycat were about to get knocked off by Chicago, were they not? Pity, great song. Nice to see the new dance group, which was really the old dance group of Ruby Flippar minus the men and plus a few more women! They would be named Legs And Co in the end, of course. Love these old editions of totps. Long may they continue.

In my view, from the mid-1960's: 4LF6R5RcBOc Don't particularly like any of the other Easybeats stuff - they were a kind of Australian mod group, who had one of the AC/DC clan, George Young, as a member of their band. Just think that this song is brilliant, just as relevant now to a young lad hitting the town at the weekend as it was in the sixties, and will probably continue to be relevant to weekend social activities for centuries to come. Put simply, you could bottle the above song from the mid sixties, unleash it now, and it would still sound just as fresh and just as relevant now as it did then! Incredible. Mod at its best. B-)

Yes, quite right too, apologies for the mistake. Should have been one l, not two. His full name was Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile. RIP. And thanks for the contribution as regarding his World Service shows, Dave.

Very appropriate that I should enter another post on here at this time. RIP Jimmy Savile. Very important part of 1960's and 1970's BBC tv and radio presentation of pop music. Bless you Jimmy, and thanks for the memories.

Caught up with the programme on bbc iplayer this week. Liked Simon May's song a lot, and Play That Funky Music by Wild Cherry ----with Ruby Flippar added, of course ------ was great to listen too again. As I say, hard to be objective about some of these old tunes. When you were around at the time as a teenager, and you were enjoying your last few years at school ----- as I was at the time --------- then records from the year of 1976 are just great memories, whether those records are banal or sublime. I do hope that they keep showing these repeats. I look forward to these repeats even more than I used to look forward to current editions of top of the pops a few years ago!

Thanks for your contributions, euro music and vincenzo, I will be continuing with this thread at some stage, just a question of finding time to do it, I am a busy body these days. I suggest, for those who are not that familiar with their studio album stuff, to check out some of them, and that will, I am sure, get you more into The Kinks. Their 1975 studio album, Schoolboys In Disgrace, for example, has excellent tracks on it. It was kinda like Grease..........years before Grease came out! If you like, type in Schoolboys In Disgrace by The Kinks on youtube, and check out some of the music. I am sure that you will be impressed. Ray Davies was just a brilliant song writer, all through the decades. Enjoy!

Amazing how opinions vary! Thanks common sense, will check out some more pussycat stuff. It is also amazing how the memory can play tricks over the years. I could have sworn that Mississippi was a hit in the summer of 1976. Correct me if I am wrong, but these programmes are more from the autumn now, are they not? Same with Dancing Queen, as well. Can't quite remember - did the Sex Pistols play on top of the pops? Must have been invited to do so, at some stage. For some reason, just can't recall too many punk or heavy metal bands on totp over the years.............................

Indeed ritchie, I agree. Liked it this week, liked the way Marc Bolan looked, preferred that to his normal look, in fact! Pity about what happened less than a year later, I reckon that he still had a good few years left of good music in him. I, like common sense, like Mississippi, surprised that they never had another really big hit. Dutch, weren' they? They could have been the Dutch Abba, if the standard of songs had continued to be as good as Mississippi. Some good soul on tonight, with The Detroit Spinners and Manhattan, and Smokie's record was probably my favourite record of theirs. So all things considered, quite pleased with this week's show from '76. It is hard for me to be objective about some of these things............Paul Nicholas and that Disco Duck song may not be the coolest music in the world, but they still bring a smile to my face when I hear them, the memories just come flooding back. Anyway, reasonably pleased with this week's fare.

Yes, anything to do with cats is allright by me! I enjoyed some of this week's show, I always liked Sherbert's Howzat. Australian, weren't they? Don't recall any other hits by them. Randy Edelman's song was a very clever slow moving love song, and there were other songs I enjoyed this week. To be fair, I too am getting a little fed up with Dancing Queen. Bring on Mississippi!

For commonsense and suedehead: TL_xA11cUtU Ah, memories of being 14, listening to such rubb.......er, I mean good music in 1976! LOL!

This is for you, suede: 0NuTIe3-0N0&feature=related Great stuff! Better than top of the pops anyday!

Well, tuned in at 7.30 p.m. on the dot to bbc four last night, and I was impressed. Very professional presenters, especially the main one, who was very old but very wise, and knew what he was talking about (nothing to do with Jimmy Savile, then!) And the stars were great! Both recently discovered stars, and old stars that had been around for years. The whole programme really was so good, it was out of this universe it was so good! Right, so much for The Sky At Night, what about Top Of The Pops! Seriously, The Sky At Night does have a few musical connections. Isn't Brian May of Queen one of the best astronomers in the country, or something? He has occasionally appeared on the programme as well. Interesting to note that, of the two programmes, both of which would have been broadcast since at least the mid 1960's, one of the programmes is still going strong - and it is not Top Of The Pops. Did not comment on last week's show, as there was little to comment on, really. Much the same as the show the week before, the only difference seemed to be Rod Stewart, and his Sailing ditty. Never really liked him much, to be candid. Liked the Faces a bit (and just LOVED the Small Faces), but Rod never really did it for me. Horrible to think that he could have been lead singer of The Kinks, according to some books I have read. Aargh! That would have been horrible! That infernal Disco Duck was on again. I said to the female I was watching the programme with that Disco Duck, unbelievably, got to number two. She thought about it, and was about to say how disgusting, when she remembered something; she had bought Bob The Builder when it came out! So we are all guilty of transgressions in the world of buying questionable pop music. The first record I ever bought was by Jigsaw, called Cry until the tears run dry. Bought that in the summer of 1976. Anyone remember that one? If you do, you are doing well my friends. It sold about 6 copies, one bought by me and the others bought by members of the band! Let's hope TOTPS '76 is back again next week, because when it is not on, as common sense suggests, I do miss it.

Anyone ever heard of, or appreciate, Gene Loves jezebel? Had minor success in the USA, so I am told. Also success in Portugal. Their best known song was perhaps this one, Motion Of Love o0syTUu3_S0 Great song.

Well, I do like Twiggy, not necessarily musically, but in other ways! ;) I liked Kiki Dee's song much better than her song with Elton. Manfred Mann we have discussed before, and an interesting start to this week's show - Eddie And The Hotrods. Their best record was yet to come, of course - Do Anything You Wanna Do - but interesting that the programme started with them. First nod to seventies punky music from Top Of The Pops, maybe? Dancing Queen is an all-time classic, of course. Always liked that song. Not much of Ruby Flippar this week, they were about to be re-formed as Legs and Co anyway. The story is that the BBC controller, Bill Cotten, told Flick Colby the cheoreograper on TOTP to form an all female dance troop again (like Pans People, for example), or face the sack! Sounds somewhat sexist, it has to be said. So one or two items of interest on the show. Do we all still miss Top Of The Pops on Thursdays, in these days of youtube links and digital downloads? Yeah, I suppose I do miss it. Grew up with it, afterall. Bring back the spirit of '76!

Nice to see a few more entries on this thread during the week, in eager anticipation of the great event, a repeat of Top Of The Pops from 35 years ago! LOL!! One of my favourite records from the glorious summer of 1976 was never featured on Top Of The Pops, because it was never a big UK hit. It got to number three in the USA, though. This classic, by Starbuck: dI210FytM9I&feature=related People of a certain age will remember that this was a very big turntable hit in the UK at the time, Radio Luxembourg played it a lot, especially. And yet the song never really took off saleswise in the UK. Frightening to think that this was from 35 years ago. We are now as distant in time from that great UK summer of '76 as 1976 was to the early years of the Second World War. What a sobering thought. :mellow:

They were another group who should really have been bigger commercially. Talented songwriters, as you say, yet all they seem to be known for these days is Nights In White Satin and their version of Go Now! Should have sold more, should have been bigger. But you can say that about so many groups from that era....................

Yes, fair point. Perhaps I will rephrase the terminology, and say that The Kinks were The MAIN influence on Britpop from the sixties. Of course, all the other groups you mentioned were a big influence as well, but I would contend that The Kinks used British subject matter, and in the case of Ray, sang with British accents, more often than any other sixties British rock band.