The finishing straight.
20 - "My Forbidden Lover," Chic
The disco kings' sixth hit is a little below their best, but that's still enough to be better than 95% of the genre. Nile Rodgers had the touch.
19 - "A Message to You Rudy," The Specials
The second hit for the Coventry ska bamd was this Dandy Livingstone cover advising youth to avoid behavior that would dim their future prospects. It would have me stop my messing around, if that counts for anything.
18 - "Star," Earth, Wind and Fire
EWF's seventh hit here was this horn-laden funk tune about celestial bodies and light and positive stuff. Tracks like this make them seem like actual forces of nature, not just a band named after them.
17 - "Making Plans for Nigel," XTC
The Swindon band's breakthrough was this loping rocker about parents who have their child's future mapped out for him, and are certain that his meek acceptance of their vision means he's happy with it. It has that Kinks thing of presenting a seemingly mundane scenario and bringing out the darkness lurking beneath. One of the best pop songs anywhere from this year.
16 - "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," Michael Jackson
Both Canada and Britain held Michael's ode to the power of The Force to #3. So very wrong. This deserves all the crowns, as the kids say.
15 - "The Sparrow," The Ramblers
This was a song by the choir of Manchester's Abbey Hey Junior School. It's a song about a bird and turnips and not having colorful feathers. The UK had a weird thing about songs by kiddie choirs popping up on the charts, and as these things go, at least it's weird. They're not just straight pandering to Grandma, like those St. Winifred's brats.
14 - "The Chosen Few," The Dooleys
The family group's third and last Top Ten is more cut-rate ABBA. Which looks especially pale when you see what the real thing was up to at this time.
13 - "OK Fred," Errol Dunkley
Jamaican Dunkley's biggest hit was this easy-going reggae track about the benefits of being a "yaga yaga," i.e., a cool, laid-back, stylish person. There are some sounds in the background that sound somewhat like someone hitting a bong, but really, marijuana use being glorified in a reggae record? Perish the thought.
12 - "Video Killed the Radio Star," The Buggles
The eulogy for the wireless that went to #1, became the first song played on MTV, and may have contributed to these guys joining Yes. But it should also be remembered as a damn excellent pop song.
11 - "She's in Love with You," Suzy Quatro
Suzi Q's last hit of the decade melds glam with disco successfully. It's too bad she was starting to flame out at this point, just as Pat Benatar and Joan Jett were starting to get rolling in the States. She might have been able to establish herself at home for something other than Leather Tuscadero.
10 - "Still," The Commodores
Lionel Richie's Alabama gang had their second American #1 with this ballad of enduring love. It didn't repeat the Triple Crown success of "Three Times a Lady," stopping at #2 in Canada and #4 here, but it's certainly not a lesser song. It's a more adult and realistic look at romance, and Lionel is up to the task, as always.
9 - "On My Radio," The Selecter
The Specials' 2 Tone labelmates had their second hit with this ska banger about a woman who loses her boyfriend's attenation to the music on the red radio she bought him. I like how Pauline Black's voice goes into some Siouxsie Sioux/Kate Bush territory on the choruses.
8 - "Gonna Get Along Without You Now," Viola Wills
Veteran L.A. session singer Wills scored her biggest hit at 40 with this disco cover of a 1952 Teresa Brewer song about moving on from a bad relationship. A more understated, but just as effective, "I Will Survive."
7 - "The Eton Rifles," The Jam
The Surrey moss had their first Top Ten with this snarling rocker about clashes literal and figurative between working class kids and posh private school boys. This distinctly British dynamic made for some fine rock n'roll, and this is one of the shinier gems.
6 - "Tusk," Fleetwood Mac
The biggest band in the world decides that they can do whatever the hell they want, and that meant using meat as percussion instruments and bringing in a full marching band. It was madness, it was blind excess, but I'm so glad it happen. I will say that I love it.
5 - "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," Queen
Freddie Mercury wrote this Elvis-style rockabilly number in ten minutes. Britain held it to #2, denying it a Triple Crown. I'm sure Fred got over it, maybe by taking a long ride on a motorbike.
4 - "Everyday Hurts," Sad Cafe
The first and biggest hit for these Mancunians was this ballad about post-breakup pain. It tries really hard to be more artful than cheesy, but it comes up short in my estimation. The group's name is apt, because this is the song that would be playing on a loop in the restaurant of the Heartbreak Hotel.
3 - "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)," ABBA
The point where sweet, innocent Swedish pop royalty suddenly sounded, as they might say these days, thirsty AF. Agnetha was lonely, and she wasn't shy about it. And it didn't sound like a sudden trendy pivot; rather, it seemed like a natural breakout after years of repression. Madonna nicked it a quarter-century later, but surprisingly, they elevated her, not the other way around.
2 - "When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman," Dr. Hook
These guys in their mush disco phase. Britain decided they had to make it a #1. Rolling Stone should have retroactively retracted their cover for this shit.
1 - "One Day at a Time," Lena Martell
Between Marilyn Sellars 1974 U.S. Top 40 hit version of this prayer for heavenly life assistance and Cristy Lane's 1980 country charttopping version, Glaswegian Martell took her recording to the top on this side of the Atlantic. I find her pronunciations of the word "strength" distracting, but that's probably the Scottish accent. Anyway, I think I'd appreciate this song more if I heard a rawer, more stripped-down version by its co-author, Kris
Kristofferson.
There's another one down. Be back tomorrow night for the second episode of the podcast. You guys encouraged me, so you only have yourselves to blame. Until then, goodbye to
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