Early in 2023 I took part in a Facebook challenge to post each day for 20 days a single that had been influential in my life. I expanded this to include singles which, when I listen to them, vividly conjure up a particular time in my life. In addition, I wanted to concentrate on singles that were either one-hit wonders or outliers in some way. Here is my list. As it is quite a long read, I’m splitting it into four parts. Also, since the Youtube embedding seems to work only sporadically, I’m just providing links to the videos.
Love is All – Roger Glover and Guests
My first significant single is “Love is All” by Roger Glover and Guests, featuring vocals by the late, great Ronnie James Dio. This 1974 single, from the album “The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast”, wasn’t actually a hit in the UK but thanks to its beautifully drawn animated video did get a fair bit of exposure on television. British people of a certain age can probably remember it being shown on TV shows like “Multi-Coloured Swap Shop”.
Composers Roger Glover and Eddie Hardin reportedly wanted to capture a similar feeling to “All You Need Is Love” by the Beatles when they wrote this song, and the positive message of the lyrics coupled with the hallucinatory quality of the music video certainly left an impression on my young brain!
Torpedoes! – Havana Let’s Go
https://yhttps://youtu.be/K8qJFIeJJNg
The 1981 single “Torpedoes” by North London band Havana Let’s Go received regular airplay on BBC Radio 1 but failed to crack the Top 40. As a result, both the song and the band faded into obscurity so that very little information can be found online about either. According to the one website I found, the single did get a 1982 re-release, but the BBC allegedly stopped playing it at Mrs. Thatcher’s request because the Falklands War was going on at the time and it was thought that the mention of torpedoes would upset people. Probably unverifiable, so believe that if you wish.
Nevertheless, it’s a really fun song, and listening to it immediately transports me back to that summer and going on day trips with my cousin Helen and her family, all sadly gone now.
Jilted John – Jilted John
The days of punk rock are so long ago that it is sometimes hard to remember just how subversive bands like the Sex Pistols and the Damned sounded when we first heard them. Raw, aggressive and raucous, the early punk bands sounded unlike anything else around at the time.
In 1978, at the very height of punk’s popularity, Graham Fellows, a drama student at Manchester Polytechnic, released the single “Jilted John”, performing as the titular character. Even though the song was a parody of the punk rock style, the single reached number 4 in the British charts and remains, in my view, one of the quintessential punk singles of the era. It tells the story of John being dumped by his girlfriend Julie for the much more cool and trendy Gordon, about whom John does not mince his words!
Jilted John released a couple of follow-up singles and an album, but this single was his sole chart hit. Graham Fellows, however, had a successful career as an actor and musician and is still active today.
So press “play” and be immediately transported back to a Thursday night in the late 1970s, to Top of the Pops and the anticipation of seeing who was going to be on this week.
(Note: I probably shouldn’t have to say this, but this video is from 47 years ago. Times change, and it was acceptable to say things back then that might not be quite so acceptable today. Please be advised if you are easily offended. Besides, the whole point of punk was to shock, wasn’t it?)
Uptown Top Ranking – Althea and Donna
We’re staying in 1978 for our next entry. “Uptown Top Ranking” by Althea and Donna reached number 1 in the British charts in February 1978. Jamaican singers Althea Forrest and Donna Reid were only 17 and 18 years old at the time, so were the youngest female duo to reach the top of the chart at the time. The musical backing for this song comes from a re-recording of the 1967 song “I’m Still in Love” by Alton Ellis and has a fantastic groove to it.
Originally a B-side, “Uptown Top Ranking” caught on after being played on Radio 1 by John Peel and stayed in the charts for a total of eleven weeks, so lodging itself firmly in my memory. Althea and Donna released an album, “Top Ranking”, and several more singles but had no further chart success, remaining forever a one-hit wonder but one of the classic reggae tracks of the time.
Seven Tears – Goombay Dance Band
Every now and again during the 1970s and 1980s, an artist or band from Europe would break through into the British market. Some of them enjoyed sustained careers, like ABBA and Boney M. Others had one single which was a (sometimes huge) hit, then vanished. In 1982, “Seven Tears” by the Goombay Dance Band spent three weeks at the top of the British charts.
Musically, the Goombay Dance Band occupy similar territory to their fellow Germans Boney M, with their calypso-tinged pop music. However, this song’s plaintive melody, sad lyrics and gentle arrangement are a marked contrast to the usually more upbeat style of Boney M’s hits. Whether or not this song is typical of Goombay’s output I couldn’t say as it is the only song of theirs I have heard. I know some people think of music like this as being cheesy, but I happen to love this track. I hope you enjoy it too!
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