The Nation’s Favourite 70’s Number One* (*according to ITV)

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:

1. Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen
2. Dancing Queen – Abba
3. Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon and Garfunkel
4. Heart Of Glass – Blondie
5. Wuthering Heights – Kate Bush
6. I Will Survive – Gloria Gaynor
7. Night Fever – Bee Gees
8. Without You – Nilsson
9. I’m Not In Love – 10cc
10. YMCA – Village People
11. Hot Love – T.Rex
12. December 1963 (Oh What A Night) – Four Seasons
13. I Feel Love – Donna Summer
14. Sailing – Rod Stewart
15. Cum On Feel The Noize – Slade
16. Band Of Gold – Freda Payne
17. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart – Elton John & Kiki Dee
18. Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick – Ian Dury and the Blockheads
19. Blockbuster – Sweet
20. 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…

Cover Up

Last year I watched the ITV series ‘Cilla’, which documented the rise to fame of ‘our’ Miss Cilla Black.

Very good it was too, with Sheridan Smith absolutely nailing the titular role. In particular she delivered some faithfully tasty cover versions of Cilla Black’s most famous songs, including ‘You're My World’ and ‘Anyone Who Had A Heart’... which prompted a discussion about the quality and merits of cover versions.Can the cover ever be better than the original? Is it even allowed to be considered so?It’s probably fair to say that MOST of the time, the original is indeed the best, but that’s not to say that there haven’t been some amazing covers, because there have been some belting good attempts.In fact there are some absolute standards recorded over the years that people probably have no idea were actually covers themselves, such as these randomly selected tracks:

The Beatles ~ ‘Twist & Shout’ – originally by the Top Notes

Blondie ~ ‘The Tide Is High’– originally by The Paragons

Elvis Presley ~ ‘Hound Dog’– originally by Big Mama Thornton

Cyndi Lauper ~ ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’– originally by Robert Hazard

Beach Boys ~ ‘Sloop John.B’– originally by Carl Sandburg

Natalie Imbruglia ~ ‘Torn’– originally by Ednaswap

Soft Cell ~ ‘Tainted Love’– originally by Gloria Jones

Righteous Bros. ~ ‘Unchained Melody’– originally by Al Hibbler (Vocal version)

Aretha Franklin ~ ‘Respect’– originally by Otis Redding

Nilsson ~ ‘Without You’– originally by Badfinger

Just a few examples of songs that the above artists arguably made their own, but that actually belong to someone else…

So to answer the question as to whether the original is always better than the cover or not, surely it has to be each song on its merit.

Whilst not an extensive list, below are some of my favourite covers that I think offer something different and maybe better than the original:

How Deep Is Your Love?

Originally made famous by the Bee Gees, covered by Take That

You Showed Me

Originally made famous by the Turtles, covered by the Lightning Seeds

Always On My Mind

Originally made famous by Elvis Presley, covered by the Pet Shop Boys

I Think We’re Alone Now

Originally made famous by Tommy James & The Shondells, covered by Tiffany

And a special mention to Flawless

Originally made famous by The Ones (and in part Gary’s Gang), and not so much covered by George Michael as lyrically enhanced. The original was more of an instrumental, until George had a crack at some words for it. Love it! >