So what else was on the telly this Friday night? .......
Well, ITV offered: 7.00 The Muppet Show 7.30 Sale Of The Century 8.00 Flambards 9.00 House Of Caradus 10.00 News 10.30 Soap
Whilst on BBC1: 6.20 Nationwide 7.00 Wonder Woman 7.50 Top of the Pops 8.30 The Other One 9.00 News 9.25 Petrocelli
Meanwhile, on the front cover of Smash Hits this week......
And so on Top of the Pops we had:
9-3-79: Presenter: David Jensen
(19) HERBIE HANCOCK – You Bet Your Love (and charts)
(46) INNER CIRCLE – Everything Is Great
(2) ELVIS COSTELLO & THE ATTRACTIONS – Oliver’s Army ®
(7) THE SEX PISTOLS – Something Else (danced to by Legs & Co)
(44) BUZZCOCKS – Everybody’s Happy Nowadays
(26) DENNIS BROWN – Money In My Pocket
(47) LATE SHOW – Bristol Stomp
(5) THE REAL THING – Can You Feel The Force
(NEW) CLIFF RICHARD – Green Light
(27) THE DOOLEYS – Honey I’m Lost
(63) MOTÖRHEAD – Overkill
(11) GENE CHANDLER – Get Down (footage from Soul Train 20-1-79)
(66) LEYTON BUZZARDS – Saturday Night (Beneath The Plastic Palm Trees)
(1) THE BEE GEES – Tragedy (danced to by Legs & Co) ®
(14) GARY’S GANG – Keep On Dancin’ (and credits)
Herbie Hancock ~ plays over the credits this week with another top 20 hit for him to follow up last year's I Thought it Was You.
Inner Circle ~ Everything wasn't so great for this one, it peaked at 37. Then they had to wait 13 long years for their next chart hit - Sweat, which did much better making it to number 3.
Elvis Costello ~ another repeat showing (third time?) of this sweaty classic.
The Sex Pistols ~ Something Else was the radio friendly song of this double A side, but everyone was really buying it for the not so radio friendly track on the other side. I remember the kids at my school in some kind of frenzy over Friggin in the Riggin, and then hearing it for the first time at a friend's house, once his parents were safely out of earshot in the kitchen! And as for this unmissable multi-coloured punk routine from Legs and Co, well it truly was.......... something else!
Buzzcocks ~ all clad in leather jackets this time and it looks like singer Pete Shelley had let his hair grow a bit too - this catchy number just scraped into the top 30 at 29.
Dennis Brown ~ reggae was getting to be a very popular flavour now in the UK charts - this tune made it to number 14 though it was to be Dennis's only top 40 hit.
Late Show ~ never seen this act before - first impression is a manic mix of Racey and Rocky Sharpe. The song refers to Bristol in Philadelphia, rather than Somerset, and it peaked at 40.
The Real Thing ~ made a much better job of getting the Top of the Pops audience excited than did the previous act - and no wonder with a song as good as this, which went on to reach number 5 in the charts.
Cliff Richard ~ got the red light and was edited out of the 7.30 show. This song got quite a lot of airplay at the time but flopped at number 57 ~ however his next single would become one of the smashes of the year.......
The Dooleys ~ were also lost from the 7.30 show, and again bigger things were soon to come......
Motorhead ~ a bit of editing out overkill going on here now......
Gene Chandler ~ also got downed from 7.30 - but you can still see all these performances in the unedited screening at 12.30 tonight on BBC4 - the channel that lived.
Leyton Buzzards ~ won The Sun/Radio 1 competition (?) but this song was a number 53 flop. However, singer Geoff Deane & bass player David Jaymes had huge success in the early 1980's with a very different sound as members of salsa sensations Modern Romance.
The Bee Gees ~ at number one for the second and final week, though Kid Jensen seems to think it's been much longer than that, and they still can't make it into the studio or send a video, so we get to see Legs and Co clowning about again ~ did Patti look a wee bit wobbly on that chair? :-)
Gary's Gang ~ play us out over the credits.
Next week, it's our monthly Sky at Night treat, so Top of the Pops returns in two week's time with the edition from 15th March 1979 presented by Peter Powell.
