A very enjoyable hour of TV - ToTP 1978

thumpingrug

Jilted John - the first single I bought.  Great year.

Freebird

Airport is a well written tune.

Devil#20

ICBM said:

Devil#20 said:

I've never understood, for instance, why hip-hop has been around far longer than any other genre ie. heavy rock, punk, new-wave, prog rock etc. It has no musical merit in my opinion.

Because it isn't about the 'music' as much as about the words. It has more in common with the old tradition of rhythmically accompanied spoken performance that goes back to the ancient poets, than it does to 'music' as we think of it in the Western tradition from religious music via classical to rock, where the melody and chord structure is the primary focus and the lyrics are often secondary.

Sorry to be so pretentious , but I really think that's the more accurate comparison.

I'd accept that explanation in reference to hip-hop if they actually had anything important to say in their lyrics. What I can make out, which isn't much granted, they advocate violence, gang culture or demeaning attitudes to women. It's not really universal in that regard is it.

the_jaffa

Devil#20 said:

ICBM said:

Devil#20 said:

I've never understood, for instance, why hip-hop has been around far longer than any other genre ie. heavy rock, punk, new-wave, prog rock etc. It has no musical merit in my opinion.

Because it isn't about the 'music' as much as about the words. It has more in common with the old tradition of rhythmically accompanied spoken performance that goes back to the ancient poets, than it does to 'music' as we think of it in the Western tradition from religious music via classical to rock, where the melody and chord structure is the primary focus and the lyrics are often secondary.

Sorry to be so pretentious , but I really think that's the more accurate comparison.

I'd accept that explanation in reference to hip-hop if they actually had anything important to say in their lyrics. What I can make out, which isn't much granted, they advocate violence, gang culture or demeaning attitudes to women. It's not really universal in that regard is it.

That's a pretty narrow-minded view of hip-hop. Bit like saying that all rock music is only about shagging groupies and biting the heads off bats.

FelineGuitars

Boomtown Rats "Tonic for the Troops" album remains one of my favourite albums of all time.

It was produced by ............Mutt Lange who did Back in Black and Def Leppard's big albums and was himself a member of City Boy (who had 5-7-0-5 as a hit)


and Kate Bush's The Kick Inside still gets played every week

HerrMetal

If you thought 1978 was good just wait until you see 1979.

ICBM

Devil#20 said:

I'd accept that explanation in reference to hip-hop if they actually had anything important to say in their lyrics. What I can make out, which isn't much granted, they advocate violence, gang culture or demeaning attitudes to women. It's not really universal in that regard is it.

Unlike Homer, who told stories of violence, warrior culture and demeaning attitudes to women...

OK, I accept that the level of art in the Iliad and most hip-hop music is on a rather a different level .

But don't write off an entire cultural form just because most of it isn't particularly meaningful, either to someone from a different background or maybe at all. I expect there are thousands of ancient poets now lost to history because they had nothing memorable to say... and there's a huge amount of what we would more usually call 'music' that's total rubbish as well, right from the earliest classical period onwards.

The real surprise - which is what started this thread - is that there have been a few short periods when the average standard has been much higher. 1978 does appear to have been one of them, although I expect that if you listened to every record released that year you still wouldn't think much of at least half of them.

Deadman

My kids can't fathom that I could probably sing along to 80% of that list (with a bit of humming  ). How times have changed (for the worse imo).

axisus

thumpingrug said:

Jilted John - the first single I bought.  Great year.

I loved that, it was brilliant! My mum hated it for the language, which was awkward as my mum would censor stuff.

Freebird said:

Airport is a well written tune.

A great song, I loved the use of backing vocals!

roberty

the_jaffa said:

Devil#20 said:

ICBM said:

Devil#20 said:

I've never understood, for instance, why hip-hop has been around far longer than any other genre ie. heavy rock, punk, new-wave, prog rock etc. It has no musical merit in my opinion.

Because it isn't about the 'music' as much as about the words. It has more in common with the old tradition of rhythmically accompanied spoken performance that goes back to the ancient poets, than it does to 'music' as we think of it in the Western tradition from religious music via classical to rock, where the melody and chord structure is the primary focus and the lyrics are often secondary.

Sorry to be so pretentious , but I really think that's the more accurate comparison.

I'd accept that explanation in reference to hip-hop if they actually had anything important to say in their lyrics. What I can make out, which isn't much granted, they advocate violence, gang culture or demeaning attitudes to women. It's not really universal in that regard is it.

That's a pretty narrow-minded view of hip-hop. Bit like saying that all rock music is only about shagging groupies and biting the heads off bats.

Narrow minded and possibly a bit racist

Devil#20

roberty said:

the_jaffa said:

Devil#20 said:

I'd accept that explanation in reference to hip-hop if they actually had anything important to say in their lyrics. What I can make out, which isn't much granted, they advocate violence, gang culture or demeaning attitudes to women. It's not really universal in that regard is it.

That's a pretty narrow-minded view of hip-hop. Bit like saying that all rock music is only about shagging groupies and biting the heads off bats.

Narrow minded and possibly a bit racist

I was waiting for that one. Where did I mention the colour of anybodys skin? There are plenty of white hip-hop artists out there too. So who exactly is type-casting people. Me or you? I think we should park this one before you drag this thread into politics. 

maltingsaudio

Yes 1978 year I left school, told Mrs M I could sing all of the top 100 bar four or five (get a bit lost with Darts as to which one is which) her comment “is that something to be proud of?”

SPECTRUM001

ICBM said:

Devil#20 said:

I've never understood, for instance, why hip-hop has been around far longer than any other genre ie. heavy rock, punk, new-wave, prog rock etc. It has no musical merit in my opinion.

Because it isn't about the 'music' as much as about the words. It has more in common with the old tradition of rhythmically accompanied spoken performance that goes back to the ancient poets, than it does to 'music' as we think of it in the Western tradition from religious music via classical to rock, where the melody and chord structure is the primary focus and the lyrics are often secondary.

Sorry to be so pretentious , but I really think that's the more accurate comparison.

I do not disagree with above, but also think that Hip-hop and Rap are more subtly placed musically than they are given credit for.

When these genres started there were accusations of speaking over a beat - and even discussions at PRS about whether they qualified for song registrations (ie is it a song if it has no tune ?).

What occurred to me was just how clever many of the top line melodies are - very slight note variations that can easily become infectious earworms (some of Massive Attack’s whispered vocals spring to mind). In fact I think I learned to make my writing much less dramatic, and more linear as a result.

I also questioned ‘what makes a good singer’, when I realised that we just like some people’s voices, as they have character and resonance etc. Those lucky enough can almost get away with anything; as we want to listen to them...

I am not in that category, which is why I stay well clear of vocal duties !!!

scrumhalf

My 1978 was more about John Peel than TOTP, which maybe had one a week of the bands that Peel would play.

The volume and variety of new music in those days was a joy. I don't know if things were like pre-covid but there was so much new music to listen all the time in those days. 

1978 was also probably the beginning of the end for "light entertainment" acts appearing on TOTP.

For those who liked The Motors' "Airport", check out the version of "Dancing The Night Away" from OGWT, it's different class. 

ESBlonde

I started gigging properly in 1977 and so rode the 'new wave' as well as the now classic pop tunes. I was in a covers band that rehearsed every monday and picked 3 songs from the chart on Sunday to learn. There was no shortage of good material and as a training ground the bredth of style was a possitive bonus.

guitars4you

axisus said:

The top 100 hits of 1978 - wonderful times for me!

Position	Artist	Title
01	Boney M	Rivers Of Babylon / Brown Girl In The Ring
02	John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John	You're The One That I Want
03	John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John	Summer Nights
04	The Bee Gees	Night Fever
05	The Commodores	Three Times A Lady
06	Brian & Michael	Matchstalk Men And Matchstalk Cats And Dogs
07	Father Abraham & The Smurfs	The Smurf Song
08	Abba	Take A Chance On Me
09	Kate Bush	Wuthering Heights
10	The Boomtown Rats	Rat Trap
11	Wings	Mull Of Kintyre / Girl's School
12	10cc	Dreadlock Holiday
13	Brotherhood Of Man	Figaro
14	Blondie	Denis
15	Clout	Substitute
16	Darts	Come Back My Love
17	Gerry Rafferty	Baker Street
18	Boney M	Mary's Boy Child
19	Darts	The Boy From New York City
20	Althia & Donna	Uptown Top Ranking
21	Marshall Hain	Dancin' In The City
22	Rose Royce	Wishing On A Star
23	John Travolta	Sandy
24	Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams	Too Much Too Little Too Late
25	Darts	It's Raining
26	A Taste Of Honey	Boogie Oogie Oogie
27	Boney M	Rasputin
28	Rod Stewart	Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?
29	James Galway	Annie's Song
30	Showaddywaddy	I Wonder Why
31	Andrew Gold	Never Let Her Slip Away
32	Rose Royce	Love Don't Live Here Anymore
33	Suzi Quatro	If You Can't Give Me Love
34	Olivia Newton-John	Hopelessly Devoted To You
35	Frankie Valli	Grease
36	David Essex	Oh What A Circus
37	Scott Fitzgerald & Yvonne Keely	If I Had Words
38	Donna Summer	Love's Unkind
39	The Rolling Stones	Miss You
40	Eruption	I Can't Stand The Rain
41	Jilted John	Jilted John
42	Dean Friedman	Lucky Stars
43	The Bee Gees	Stayin' Alive
44	The Motors	Airport
45	Yvonne Elliman	If I Can't Have You
46	The Boomtown Rats	Like Clockwork
47	Electric Light Orchestra	Mr Blue Sky
48	Justin Hayward	Forever Autumn
49	The Village People	YMCA
50	Frankie Miller	Darlin'
51	Patti Smith Group	Because The Night
52	John Paul Young	Love Is In The Air
53	Genesis	Follow You Follow Me
54	Odyssey	Native New Yorker
55	The Jacksons	Blame It On The Boogie
56	Showaddywaddy	A Little Bit Of Soap
57	Electric Light Orchestra	Sweet Talkin' Woman
58	Electric Light Orchestra	Wild West Hero
59	Donna Summer	MacArthur Park
60	Samantha Sang	Emotions
61	Sylvester	You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)
62	The Cars	My Best Friend's Girl
63	Manfred Mann's Earth Band	Davy's On The Road Again
64	The Brighouse & Rastrick Brass Band	Floral Dance
65	The Bee Gees	Too Much Heaven
66	Bonnie Tyler	It's A Heartache
67	Exile	Kiss You All Over
68	Smokie	Oh Carol
69	Cerrone	Super Nature
70	The Barron Knights	A Taste Of Aggro
71	Showaddywaddy	Pretty Little Angel Eyes
72	Dee D Jackson	Automatic Lover
73	Kate Bush	Man With The Child In His Eyes
74	Leo Sayer	I Can't Stop Lovin' You
75	Plastic Bertrand	Ca Plane Pour Moi
76	Sarah Brightman & Hot Gossip	I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper
77	Tavares	More Than A Woman
78	Blondie	Hanging On The Telephone
79	The Michael Zager Band	Let's All Chant
80	Lindisfarne	Run For Home
81	Dan Hartman	Instant Replay
82	City Boy	5-7-0-5
83	Heatwave	Always And Forever / Mind Blowing Decisions
84	Wings	With A Little Luck
85	Bill Withers	Lovely Day
86	Crystal Gayle	Talking In Your Sleep
87	Raydio	Jack And Jill
88	Sheila & B Devotion	Singin' In The Rain
89	Goldie	Making Up Again
90	Abba	Summer Night City
91	Raffaella Carra	Do It Do It Again
92	Bob Marley & The Wailers	Is This Love
93	Crystal Gayle	Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue
94	The Sweet	Love Is Like Oxygen
95	Hi Tension	British Hustle
96	Blondie	Picture This
97	Rod Stewart	Hot Legs / I Was Only Joking
98	Child	It's Only Make Believe
99	Ian Dury	What A Waste
100	Yellow Dog	Just One More Night

Look at that list and there is probably only a handful I don't know or can't remember - If you did the same thing for 2020 or 2019 then I'd probably only know a handful - Certainly big memories for me that year

chillidoggy

City Boy - 5705, loved that song, a perfect piece of pop. Whatever happened to them?

ICBM

I actually own 57 out of the 100 on that list - quite a lot on compilations, but many on the original albums too - which might actually make it my most represented year in music, singles-wise.

It was very much a formative year for me - the first three singles I ever bought with my own money were Clout - Substitute; Marshall, Hain - Dancing In The City and ABBA - Summer Night City. Friends in the year above at school had Parallel Lines and Tonic For The Troops, so I had awful quality cassette copies of those... done on one of those flat top-loading cassette recorders with an earphone that looked like a hearing aid .

guitartango

I remember buying All Mod Cons from Woolworth's in 1978. It's funny to think that Punk only lasted a few years and then the New Romantics took over.

Philly_Q

chillidoggy said:

City Boy - 5705, loved that song, a perfect piece of pop. Whatever happened to them?

The guitarist, Mike Slamer, went to the USA and played with the bands Streets, Steelhouse Lane and Seventh Key (all good stuff, I have to say).  He also (uncredited) played the guitar solos on the first two Warrant albums.

Singer Lol Mason went on to form a band called The Maisonettes.  He died last year.

ICBM said:

I actually own 57 out of the 100 on that list - quite a lot on compilations, but many on the original albums too - which might actually make it my most represented year in music, singles-wise.

I think I own 6 as singles, plus I had the ELO, Kate Bush and Justin Hayward tracks on albums.  I had the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, but not Grease.  Just reading down the list of 100, every song pops into my head, apart from 4 or 5 - and I'd probably recognise them if I looked them up.