Jason’s Jukebox Volume 25

Jason Maloney reviews

JASON’S JUKEBOX
V o l u m e # 2 5 Chart Date: July 21st 1979 Online Date: 22nd July 2004

Dave Edmunds: Chronicles Topping the UK Charts for the last of its four weeks at #1 was the seminal Are ‘Friends’ Electric by Gary Numan & Tubeway Army. Having failed to make much impact with its predecessor Down In The Park, Numan suddenly emerged as a major commercial force, albeit for little more than one year. This debut chart-topper was swiftly followed by another, the eternally-reissued Cars, before 1979 was out, while both Replicas and The Pleasure Principle hit the top spot on the album listings in the aftermath of ‘Friends’ success. The song would also form the distinctive basis of another UK #1 some 23 years later, when the Sugababes’ Freak Like Me went all the way.

The single at #2, Silly Games by Janet Kay, would be resurrected in 1990 by Beats International vocalist Lindy Layton with rather less success, Layton’s remake only reaching #18. Eddie Cochran‘s early rock’n’roll classic C’Mon Everybody now charted at #3 for a past-their-best Sex Pistols, while the Elvis Costello-penned Girls Talk was shooting up 17 places to a high of #4 for a resurgent Dave Edmunds. It was the Welsh rocker’s biggest hit for more than 5 years. Completing the top 5, Chic‘s Good Times climbed 7 places to #5.

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The Very Best of
Supertramp Vol.1 Outside the Top 10, Supertramp‘s Breakfast In America continued a memorable 1979 for the band. The Logical Song had made #7 earlier in the year, the Breakfast In America album became a Top 3 smash (eventually charting for an impressive 53 weeks), and now its title song rose #26#-#12 on its way to #9.

The latest hits by Eddy Grant, Thin Lizzy and The Village People were all in decline after peaking the prevous week. Grant’s Living On The Frontline fell from #11 to #18, Do Anything You Want To dropped 2 places to #16 for Thin Lizzy, while Go West also slipped a couple of notches from its high of #15.

Public Image Limited, the new venture for ertswhile Sex Pistol frontman Johnny Rotten a.k.a John Lydon, were up 12 to #20 with Death Disco, one place below the biggest mover of the week; Can’t Stand Losing You by The Police, up from #38 to #19. The single had originally made #42 the year before, but its return came in the wake of the trio’s Top 40 breakthrough with the #12 hit Roxanne.

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Rickie Lee Jones The rundown of 21st July 1979 was as good an example as any from the era that coming to a standstill, or even dropping down a position or three, didn’t necessarily signal the end of a single’s progression up the chart. Donna Summer‘s Bad Girls – stuck at #22 – rose 8 places to #14 the following week, and The Knack‘s US #1 My Sharona – holding at its entry position of #24 – thereafter made a sensational 18-place leap into the Top 10.

Unfortunately, #6 would be as high as My Sharona managed, and the band failed to score another UK Top 40 hit. For the underrated Rickie Lee Jones‘ Chuck E’s In Love, the temporary setback of dropping from #30 to #31 on its 3rd week failed to wreck the single’s longterm chances; it eventually reached #18, and remains the kooky American singer-songwriter’s only UK hit.

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The Very Best Of
Judie Tzuke Conversely, the debut position for David Bowie‘s DJ of #29 proved to be the record’s best showing. Less than 12 months later, Bowie got his chart fortunes very much back on track with the massive #1 Ashes To Ashes. Joining DJ as newcomers on the Top 40 this week 25 years ago were future Number Ones by Cliff Richard (We Don’t Talk Anymore at #35) and The Boomtown Rats (I Don’t Like Mondays at #15); the latter was the week’s highest entry and shot to the very top just 7 days later. In at #23 was ABBA‘s double-A side Voulez-Vous/Angel Eyes, one of five singles by the Swedes during 1979 which reached the Top 5 but failed to add to their list of UK chart-toppers.

Other notable singles on the Top 40 included Playground Twist by Siouxsie & The Banshees, peaking at a modest #28, Kid – the second minor hit for soon-to-be-superstars The Pretenders – new at #38, and finally the gorgeous Stay With Me Till Dawn by Judie Tzuke arrived on the chart at #33.

Page Content copyright © Jason Maloney, 2004.