Back
in March, ITV presented The Nation’s
Favourite 70’s Number One.
Let’s
be clear – I LOVE retro music shows – but I really didn’t want to watch it, and
I’ll tell you for why.
It’s
mainly because I think it’s a misnomer of a title. It’s a huge presumption to
say it’s ‘The Nation’s Favourite’,
when only a teeny tiny percentage (single figure millions at best) actually voted
in the first place.
I’ve
been saying it for years in that there is only one way to ascertain where the
popular vote lies: There needs to be a whole section in the next National
Census that asks each household occupant something along the lines of the
following questions:
- What are your three favourite songs?
- Who is your favourite singer?
- Who is your favourite band (or duo/trio etc)?
- What is your favourite album?
Only
then can we get a definitive and dagnammit TRUE reflection in terms of
popularity.
Arguably,
you might say that ‘popularity’ and/or ‘best’ are defined by sales volumes, but
it’s not always the case. Fan bases will often buy music of their favourite
artist for collection purposes, or maybe because it’s what they feel they need
to show how much of a fan they are. I should know – I’ve bought every Madonna
album, and no-one is ever going to convince me that they are all up to the same
standard as True Blue for example!
That
said, the biggest SELLING single of the 70’s by a mile – Mull of
Kintyre by Wings– didn’t even make the televised top twenty. How warped is
that?
Despite
this rant though, I did end up watching the show from about halfway onwards –
mainly because the wife had snaffled the remote control when I was making the
tea.
It
was fairly obvious that you’d have to have been anti monarchy to not have
guessed that Queen’s Bohemian
Rhapsody was going to
win. And I’m not saying that I dislike the song (though having been born in the year of its first release, I feel it’s
been played to death in my lifetime) I just genuinely wonder if it would
retain it’s crown if the other 59 million people in the nation had gained the
opportunity to vote too? Maybe… but I think I’m always going to be dismissive
of these lists all the while that the minority vote is being lauded as the
voice of the nation. It’s comparative to saying that most football fans are
hooligans.
So
for completeness, here is ITV’s ‘Nation’s
Favourite 70’s Number One’ top twenty:
- Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen
- Dancing Queen – Abba
- Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon and Garfunkel
- Heart Of Glass – Blondie
- Wuthering Heights – Kate Bush
- I Will Survive – Gloria Gaynor
- Night Fever – Bee Gees
- Without You – Nilsson
- I’m Not In Love – 10cc
- YMCA – Village People
- Hot Love – T.Rex
- December 1963 (Oh What A Night) – Four Seasons
- I Feel Love – Donna Summer
- Sailing – Rod Stewart
- Cum On Feel The Noize – Slade
- Band Of Gold – Freda Payne
- Don’t Go Breaking My Heart – Elton John & Kiki Dee
- Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick – Ian Dury and the Blockheads
- Blockbuster – Sweet
- Rock Your Baby – George McCrae
And
please note, I’m not moaning at the quality of this line up (Blondie being my fave)...
It's true that most of these
songs are tip-top, but just to put a spanner in the works, here are ten more belting
70’s Number 1’s that were somehow ignored:
- Maggie May – Rod Stewart
- You’re The First, My Last, My Everything – Barry White
- Gonna Make You A Star – David Essex
- Bye Bye Baby – Bay City Rollers
- Space Oddity – David Bowie
- Knowing Me, Knowing You – Abba
- Mull Of Kintyre – Wings
- You’re The One That I Want – John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John
- I Don’t Like Mondays – Boomtown Rats
- We Don’t Talk Anymore – Cliff Richard
And I’m sure another ten that missed
out could easily be compiled too, even without including some of the Christmas
standards that the 70’s produced (Boney M., Johnny Mathis, Slade etc.)
Fair play to ITV though as they did
pull a rabbit out of the hat by releasing a triple CD the day after the
broadcast: TheNation's Favourite 70's Number Ones
So fill your boots if you like, I’m
not on commission.
You still won’t find ‘Mull of Kintyre’ on it though,
and bizarrely they include The Pretenders number one
hit ‘Brass in Pocket’ ... which hit the top spot in 1980!
Somebody, somewhere in the ITV
research department isn’t very good at their job…
