Entertainment For Lively Minds
Airplay Hits, Chart Misses
I was born in the 50's, a child in the 60's and a teenager in the 70's.
A bit of Caroline and Luxembourg here and there but mainly a solid diet of Radio One following its inception.
I recently heard Roddy Frame sing his brilliant song "Surf" which contains the line "When I was young the radio played just for me.It saved me."
It got me thinking about those wonderful days when everything you hear is new to you, fresh information.
The graduation from "Disco 45 Songwords" and your sister's "Jackie" to the music weeklies. (I think I got the NME 72-mid 90's before realising I didn't want to listen to any of the bands in it any more.)
Of course all the major artists I follow/followed were at some point radio favourites and chart-botherers.
But there is a whole clutch of records that I know I heard played on heavy rotation, almost definitely on Radio One,which made a huge impression on my psyche yet never got near the Top 30 as was our only concern then.
The Pretty Things - Is It Only Love?
Richard and Linda Thompson - I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight
Horslips - The Warm Sweet Breath Of Love
Kate and Anna McGarrigle - Complainte Pour Ste Catherine
Elvin Bishop - Fooled Around and Fell In Love
Fairfield Parlour - Bordeaux Rose
Rab Noakes - Clear Day
Most are terrific records, some of the artists perfectly well-known and successful in their own right without having troubled the charts.
Do The Massive affectionately recall any other classy numbers which some Radio One plugger or DJ must have fought his corner for but which failed to dislodge David Cassidy or Barry Blue, the Rubettes and Smokie and their other worthy ilk from the hit parade?
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Elbow Bones & The Racketeers
A Night In New York. About 1982? Never off the bloody radio. Didn't like it then, don't like it now.
Comedy
by Shack got heavy Radio 1 rotation back in '98, during my period as a dusty student. A brilliant song then and now...it dribbled to no.44 in the charts.
Not Radio, but...
The (then-unknown to me) Thompson and McGarrigle songs were on heavy play in my next-door-neighbours room in my first year at Stirling Uni. Initially not to my liking, they grew on me to the point that they (or their extended families) still make up a fair percentage of my current listening.
Just remembered a couple more
which featured heavily - "Evie" by Jim Capaldi and his version of "Love Hurts"
Days of Pearly Spencer
Days of Pearly Spencer was played often enough as an oldie on Radio 1 in my '70s childhood that I always supposed it must have been a hit, however, according to wikipedia:
This was apparently due to McWilliams' manager Phil Solomon's links with pirate radio.
Anything Mark and Lard had
As a record of the week. I went out and got some great stuff they played but I was definitely in the minority there.
Oh and 'Mumbo Jumbo' by Woodhead Munro - Roger Scott used to play it all the time on Capital around 1980 and I have it on an old tape sounding very muffled but still fun. I've only ever been able to track down a crap later remix of it.
Pilot of the Airwaves
by Charlie Dore, 1979. Heavy rotation which, given the subject matter, was little surprise. A number 66 smash, pop pickers.
And last year, Fyfe Dangerfield's She Needs Me was given lots of plays on Radio 2. No complaints there, I think it's a brilliant single. Got to number 152 according to Wikipedia.
I Saw The Light
Todd Rundgren
Singularly the best song ever written. Lots of radio time. Barely tickled the charts. Injustice perhaps . Only adds to its perfection.
good choice
a lifelong appreciation of Todd's oeuvre began when I heard this on the radio. Before I knew who it was by, and listening to the guitar solo, I thought it was a new single by George Harrison.
Good topic...another few...
The Go-Betweens - Streets Of Your Town
Prefab Sprout - Faron Young
The Chills - Heavenly Pop Hit
The Icicle Works - Hollow Horse
All wonderful records, all played extensively on Radio 1, all missed the Top 40!
Gratuitous Up Arrow
for all of those, *especially* "Hollow Horse". By God, I love that record!
with you on all
esp. Hollow Horse. Add to that Ian McNabb's solo "If Love Was Like Guitars" played to death on radio 1 until itactually came out. Didn't trouble the fab 40
Turntable hits
is What DLT and the gang called them.
W.O.L.D-Harry Chapin. The song Travis thought was written for him.
Year of the Cat.Al Stewart -Much beloved of Travis,Burnett and co. number 31
Driver's Seat by Sniff and The Tears .Heard it a Million times .Number 42.
Matt Bianco-"Sneaking Out the Back Door" number 44
and from the mists of time
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/turntable-hits
Year of the Cat
was a top 10 single in the US, and the album was top 5 in the US, so in global terms it was a pretty successful record.
In teh glory days of GLR
Ed Ball (mate of Alan McGee and oh, on Creation, there's a shock)had his "Mill Hill Self Hate Club" on constant rotation alongside Fisherman's Blues by The Waterboys.
Its was shite thou
This thread is disconcerting.
As a kid in the 70s, I remember loads of these records being on the radio all the time, and I'd assumed they were monster hits - "Pilot of the Airwaves", "WOLD", "Year of the Cat"... It's weird to realise, about 40 years late, that they werren't as huge as I'd thought!
One glorious exception: I'd never heard Fairfield Parlour's "Bordeaux Rose" until I got into obscure psych in the late 80s/early 90s (they were formerly 60s psych obscurities, Kaleidscope). It's a wonderful record, and deserved to have been huge.
Handyman/James Taylor
Should have been huge. Always on the radio. Not a hit.
All I Think About Is You/Nilsson. See above.
And I seem to remember Noosha Fox's Georgina Bailey was ubiquitous too, especially on Radio 1. Again, not a hit.
From the album Copper Blue by Sugar in 1992
If I Can't Change Your Mind was played to death by Jackie Brambles on Radio 1? It got to number 30
I've remembered a couple more
That made a huge impression, both caused me to to buy the albums they came from
Rab Noakes - Clear Day (Gerry Raffery heavily detectable think Rab was ex-Stealers Wheel)
Blue - Little Jody (Pre punk Scottish power pop involving former Marmalade men & Jimmy McCulloch)
I've remembered a couple more
That made a huge impression, both caused me to to buy the albums they came from
Rab Noakes - Clear Day (Gerry Raffery heavily detectable think Rab was ex-Stealers Wheel)
Blue - Little Jody (Pre punk Scottish power pop involving former Marmalade men & Jimmy McCulloch)
I've remembered a couple more
That made a huge impression, both caused me to to buy the albums they came from
Rab Noakes - Clear Day (Gerry Raffery heavily detectable think Rab was ex-Stealers Wheel)
Blue - Little Jody (Pre punk Scottish power pop involving former Marmalade men & Jimmy McCulloch)
I've remembered a couple more
That made a huge impression, both caused me to to buy the albums they came from
Rab Noakes - Clear Day (Gerry Raffery heavily detectable think Rab was ex-Stealers Wheel)
Blue - Little Jody (Pre punk Scottish power pop involving former Marmalade men & Jimmy McCulloch)
Along with Elvin Bishop's Fooled Around and Fell In Love...
... I remember hearing Ted Nugent's Hey Baby and Les Dudek's City Magic for the first time on, believe it or not, Peel's show in (probably) 1976.
I loved those singles, bought them and cherished them, but I don't believe either Ted or Les bothered the charts back then.
I suppose it wasn't that unbelievable that Peel played stuff like that back then given his penchant for things like Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush!
Elvin Bishop
Could never understand why it wasn't a huge hit. Still play it regularly.