Dancing Queen 2nd In UK Poll Of Favourite 1970's No.1's

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Dancing Queen 2nd In UK Poll Of Favourite 1970's No.1's Mar 6, 2015 12:12:37 GMT

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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2015 12:12:37 GMT

On the UK's ITV1 Channel last night, (Thursday 5th March), 'The Nation's Favourite 70's Number One' was broadcast.

It was 90 Minutes long. 'Dancing Queen' was Voted the 2nd 'Favourite' 1970's No.1. The Single at No.1 in the List
was no surprise - 'Bohemian Rhapsody' by Queen.

The Top 3 is exactly the same as it was in a 2014 ABBA Fan's Poll, of the Best UK//USA No.1's of the 1970's.
He's called Benny, & he held the Poll on a UK Chart Site. Unlike the ITV Poll, more than one No.1 by the same
Artist was allowed to be Voted for in Benny's Poll. ABBA had all 7 of their 1970's UK No.1's in the final Top 100
- and all were within the Top 50. Waterloo - 46th, The Name Of The Game - 32nd, Take A Chance On Me - 25th,
Mamma Mia - 14th, Fernando - 10th, Knowing Me, Knowing You - 7th, & Dancing Queen - 2nd.

Benny's Poll also had 2 other No.1's in its Top 10 that are also in the ITV Top 10 - 'Heart Of Glass' was 6th,
& 'Wuthering Heights' was 8th.

Here is the Top 20 in the ITV 1970's No.1's Poll:,

1... Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen -- (1975)
2... Dancing Queen – ABBA -- (1976)
3... Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon and Garfunkel -- (1970)
4... Heart Of Glass – Blondie -- (1979)
5... Wuthering Heights – Kate Bush -- (1978)
6... I Will Survive – Gloria Gaynor -- (1979)
7... Night Fever – Bee Gees -- (1978)
8... Without You – Nilsson -- (1972)
9... I’m Not In Love – 10cc -- (1975)
10... YMCA – Village People -- (1978 -- No.1 in 1979)
11... Hot Love – T.Rex -- (1971)
12... December 1963 (Oh What A Night) – Four Seasons -- (1976)
13... I Feel Love – Donna Summer -- (1977)
14... Sailing – Rod Stewart -- (1975)
15... Cum On Feel The Noize – Slade -- (1973)
16... Band Of Gold – Freda Payne -- (1970)
17... Don’t Go Breaking My Heart – Elton John and Kiki Dee -- (1976)
18... Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick – Ian Dury and the Blockheads -- (1978 -- No.1 in 1979)
19... Blockbuster – Sweet -- (1973)
20... Rock Your Baby – George McCrae -- (1974)

Ironically, Benny & Bjorn based the beat of 'Dancing Queen' on the beat of 'Rock Your Baby', which is in 20th place.

A Triple CD of 1970's No.1's has been released to tie-in with the TV Show. Track 9 - 'Brass In Pocket' by The Pretenders
- entered the UK Charts in November 1979, but it was really a 1980's No.1, as it reached the Top in January 1980.

Track 63 - 'Brown Girl In The Ring' by Boney M - was not a No.1 Hit at all. It was the 'B' Side of 'Rivers Of Babylon',
which was No.1 for 5 Weeks in 1978. As that No.1 fell out of the Top 20, the Record Company made 'Brown Girl In
The Ring' the 'A' Side, & that climbed to No.2. So, the Triple No.1's Album has a No.2 Hit on it.....

You can see the Track List of the Triple CD here.

LINK:,

goo.gl/KKUKZi

Soon there will be a follow-up Show - 'The Nation's Favourite '80's Number Ones'. We will see if 'The Winner Takes It All'
reaches the Top 20 in that Poll. As that has gained much more of a 'Classic' status than ABBA's other UK 1980's No.1 Hit,
'Super Trouper'.

Last Edit: Mar 6, 2015 12:16:28 GMT by Deleted

shoshin
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Dancing Queen 2nd In UK Poll Of Favourite 1970's No.1's Mar 6, 2015 13:04:57 GMT

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Post by shoshin on Mar 6, 2015 13:04:57 GMT

Although I suspected that DQ would be edged out again, I was wondering if the 'one song per artist' format might work slightly in ABBA's favour, as they were more consistent in terms of memorable 70s hit singles. The rule made for one or two jarring choices imho. For example, I wouldn't have made 'Hot Love' the T Rex representative; Metal Guru, surely? Blockbuster by Sweet was the first 45 that I ever bought.

I expect a blip in your 'Gold' stats, and possibly even sales of 'A' too, after this well trailed programme and the accompanying album. In this respect the 'one single per artist' rule might be beneficial in that people may hear DQ and want more.

In the programme, credit was given to Kate Bush as the first female artist to get to number 1 performing her own song. Correct for the UK of course, but in terms of a trailblazing step forward it may be worth remembering that Agnetha had already accomplished this in Sweden, a decade or so earlier

Last Edit: Mar 6, 2015 13:12:32 GMT by shoshin

Martin UK

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Dancing Queen 2nd In UK Poll Of Favourite 1970's No.1's Mar 6, 2015 14:29:55 GMT

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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2015 14:29:55 GMT

Shoshin - Metal Guru is my favourite T Rex Hit. It was one of their 4 UK No.1 Singles.

However, Hot Love was their biggest selling UK No.1 Single. It was No.1 for 6 Weeks in 1971.
I suspect that was why it was chosen to represent T Rex in the Poll.

At one stage, (1971 to 1973), it looked like T Rex would be the biggest Group of the 1970's
in the UK, but their popularity crashed by 1974. Slade were their main rivals in the UK Charts,
but their popularity faded by 1975. The Bay City Rollers were huge in 1974 & 1975, but they were
losing popularity by 1976.

It was left to ABBA to be the biggest 1970's Group in the UK, which they easily managed from
1976 onwards.

Incidently, Marc Bolan did not like ABBA. In 1977 he was saying that he could not understand
why they were so popular.

T Rex achieved something that no other 1970's Group managed - 3 No.1 Albums in the same Year.
That was in 1972. ABBA had 2 No.1 Albums in 1979. (Then again in 1980, 1981, & 1982).

I like The Sweet, & used to buy all of their Singles. Blockbuster was their only UK No.1, but
it was one of 8 No.1's for them in Germany. They reached No.2 a lot in the UK - Co-Co, Hell Raiser,
Ballroom Blitz, Teenage Rampage & Fox On The Run. They did not actually like their 'Heavy Pop' 'A'
Sides, & you can hear how they wanted to sound on their self-penned 'B' Sides. All of which are heavy,
loud, & have no melodies at all. They wrote Fox On The Run themselves, but it sounded nothing like
the 1975 'A' Side in its original Album Track form. It would never have been a Global Hit had they
released the dreadful Album Track version as a Single.....

I think that 'Fox On The Run' was the best Single that they ever recorded. They should be proud that they
wrote it themselves, rather than relying on Nicky Chinn & Mike Chapman, as they usually did.

Although ABBA had 1 more No.1 Single than The Sweet in Germany - 9 - The Sweet spent longer at No.1
there - 36 No.1 Singles Weeks to 33 for ABBA. (But ABBA were also able to have No.1 Albums there, &
The Sweet could not sell a lot of Albums - anywhere. Not compared to ABBA anyhow.....).

Last Edit: Mar 6, 2015 15:30:03 GMT by Deleted

shoshin
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Dancing Queen 2nd In UK Poll Of Favourite 1970's No.1's Mar 6, 2015 16:16:58 GMT

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Post by shoshin on Mar 6, 2015 16:16:58 GMT

Mar 6, 2015 14:29:55 GMT @onlyabba4me said:

Shoshin - Metal Guru is my favourite T Rex Hit. It was one of their 4 UK No.1 Singles...

Yes, I was afraid that Hot Love was probably the bigger seller but wanted to show off my Metal Guru preference to like-minded T Rex fans

Mike Chapman often wheels out, in order to underline his own importance, the inaccurate anecdote that once Sweet started writing their own stuff they never had another hit. I liked 'Love Is Like Oxygen' too, co-written by Andy Scott. And yes, flip Blockbuster over and Need A Lot of Lovin' shows what Sweet actually wanted to sound like; not a million miles from Led Zep really.

Last Edit: Mar 6, 2015 16:20:41 GMT by shoshin

Martin UK