This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
