All...

CF has very kindly invited me to submit the list of the UK's #1 records on this day from 1970 thru' 1979 - you've probably seen the format before...she'll be doing the US version roughly about the same time elsewhere in this section...anyways...some you'll know, some not...

1970 - Mungo Jerry - In The Summertime

1971 - Middle Of The Road - Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep

1972 - Don McLean - Vincent

1973 - 10cc - Rubber Bullets

1974 - Gary Glitter Can we mention him? Always Yours

1975 - Windsor Davies & Don Estelle - Whispering Grass

1976 - Wurzels - Combine Harvester

1977 - Kenny Rogers - Lucille

1978 - John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John - You're The One That I Want

1979 - Anita Ward - Ring My Bell


Feel free to pull apart to your heart's content - my comments will follow (somewhere!)

*gulp* I'm not all too good at 70s music, but I'll give it a once-over.

Can't stand Mungo Jerry's In The Summertime - though I don't know why...

Nor Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep

Not Vincent either... gee, what is it with this week?

Rubber Bullets isn't the best 10CC track... but I like it.

I don't know Always Yours though I'm sure I should...

Nor 1975's...

Combine Harvester was the best joke in the whole of the 1970's. Fantastic.

Lucille I haven't heard for ages... I should again sometime soon.

Finally a save in You're The One That I Want - one of my favourite songs at the moment, I'm listening to it all the time right now.

As I remember, last time I heard Ring My Bell I didn't like it... hmm... should try listening to it again.

Seventies music is certainly not my four-tay.

1970 - Mungo Jerry - In The Summertime  2

1971 - Middle Of The Road - Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep  ?

1972 - Don McLean - Vincent  5

1973 - 10cc - Rubber Bullets  ?

1974 - Gary Glitter Can we mention him? Always Yours  ?

1975 - Windsor Davies & Don Estelle - Whispering Grass  ?

1976 - Wurzels - Combine Harvester  ?

1977 - Kenny Rogers - Lucille  2

1978 - John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John - You're The One That I Want  5

1979 - Anita Ward - Ring My Bell  0


There were a lot here that I hadn't heard before.  I rated the ones I did know from 0-5 (5 being the BEST!).

Right - let's pull 'em to pieces!

1970 - Mungo Jerry's In The Summertime was a belter! Apparently the group came out of nowhere and upstaged the Grateful Dead at the 1970 Hollywood Music Festival (not in California, but near Birmingham UK!) - one of those rare #1's that does not have drums on it...

1971 - One of my guilty pleasures this! Sorry! Group were (and still are) huge on the continent...this was an Italian song (so you can blame them!) - stiffed in US, but Mac & Katie Kissoon charted with it there...

1972 - Devastatingly beautiful song! But how do you follow up "American Pie" and this? With difficulty...

1973 - Controversial stuff, when rubber bullets were being used in Northern Ireland at the time...lyrically, sort-of a pastiche of "Jailhouse Rock" with clever-clever lyrics...I can live with it...

1974 - By now, the game was almost up for GG...the records sounding more and more alike...his last of three #1's, and the one that most people won't recognise...hardly stirring stuff...

1975 - This song was a US hit in 1940 for the Inkspots (forerunners of the style that came to be known as "doo-wop"). This version featured two cast members of the popular BBC sitcom "It Ain't 'Alf Hot, Mum" about a WW2 concert party in Burma...there, that's lost you! I like the song, but not this version...

1976 - The long hot summer, and I think the heat was getting to us! The Wurzels (still around!) were a West Country group who hit paydirt with this parody of Melanie's "Brand New Key" - has actually had one or two mentions on this board, believe it or not! Take it away and shred it, please! Ooo-aaaar...

1977 - Meanwhile, in a bar in Toledo, across from the deee-po', Kenny had his first UK chart-topper. I like it (still do), but interestingly, all these years later it only got there by default! The BBC (bless!) did not want the Sex Pistols' "God Save The Queen" at #1 during the silver jubilee celebrations, so they "had a word" with the chart compilers, who swiftly doctored the charts so that Kenny triumphed! Knighthoods all round!

1978 - The must-see film of the year, and probably the last great musical...despite the fact that we endured 9 gut-wrenching weeks of this at #1, we all loved it...still do...

1979 - The obligatory one-hit wonder with a piece of disco-lite. Okay, if a bit lightweight...

1970 - Mungo Jerry - In The Summertime Love this one

1971 - Middle Of The Road - Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep
Not my cup of tea
1972 - Don McLean - Vincent can't recall this one.  Is it one of those 'known by another title' songs?

1973 - 10cc - Rubber Bullets prefer Dreadlock Holiday but its o.k.

1974 - Gary Glitter Can we mention him? of course Always Yours Preferred his earlier stuff.  He used to do good fun concerts

1975 - Windsor Davies & Don Estelle - Whispering Grass Hmmm

1976 - Wurzels - Combine Harvester O.k. but preferred I am a Cider Drinker

1977 - Kenny Rogers - Lucille not my style at all. Now who did the parody Loose Wheel?

1978 - John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John - You're The One That I Want Love it still

1979 - Anita Ward - Ring My Bell this is o.k.

'In the summerime' by Mungo Jerry was great and so was 'Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep' by Middle of the road (could someone tell me what it was all about though?).

'Vincent' by Don Mclean didn't rock my boat. 'Rubber Bullets' by 10cc was o.k - bridge in the middle of the song was awful. 'Always yours' by Gary Glitter was rubbish.

'Whispering grass' by Windsor Davies is going to get a big '?''Combine Harvester' by The Wurzels was . . . well . . . different.

I don't know 'Lucille' by Kenny Rodgers. 'You're the one that I want' was irritating and preferred 'Greased Lightning'.

'Ring my bell' by Anita Ward was boring.

1970 - Mungo Jerry - In The Summertime  5

1971 - Middle Of The Road - Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep  4

1972 - Don McLean - Vincent  5

1973 - 10cc - Rubber Bullets  5

1974 - Gary Glitter Can we mention him? Always Yours  U/K

1975 - Windsor Davies & Don Estelle - Whispering Grass  U/K - though I know who they both are, and Ain't if Half Hot just to prove it !  ;D

1976 - Wurzels - Combine Harvester  U/K

1977 - Kenny Rogers - Lucille  0.1

1978 - John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John - You're The One That I Want  3

1979 - Anita Ward - Ring My Bell  1.5

5/10 1970 - Mungo Jerry - In The Summertime

4/10 (hated it at the time. It has gained a kind of trash appeal with the passing years, though....) 1971 - Middle Of The Road - Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep

5/10 (liked it at the time, sounds a bit soppy now) 1972 - Don McLean - Vincent

4/10 1973 - 10cc - Rubber Bullets

6/10 (not his best but his worst was better than most other performers' best...)1974 - Gary Glitter Can we mention him? Always Yours

3/10 (cringe....)1975 - Windsor Davies & Don Estelle - Whispering Grass

3/10 (cringe, cringe...)1976 - Wurzels - Combine Harvester

2/10 1977 - Kenny Rogers - Lucille

7/10 (didn't much like it but it still sums up that summer for me so it can't have been too bad) 1978 - John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John - You're The One That I Want

4/10 (irritatingly catchy) 1979 - Anita Ward - Ring My Bell

best wishes
Huw