The Friday Five: Five Random Songs From Summer 1979 in the UK

The Friday Five 1 Minute

You’re probably wondering, “John, why did you choose 1979, and what do you mean, five random songs?” First, why 1979: I spent that summer working third shift. It was basically go to work, come home, go to bed, wake up, go to work, etc. I almost never had Saturdays off. In fact, there were some weeks I didn’t have Sunday off, either. As such, I didn’t listen to the radio all that much.

Now, the random thing: I found a list of the Top 40 Songs from that summer here, and was about to list the top five songs from that summer. Then I stopped myself, and said, “nah, I always do that. Let’s do something different.” So, using the random number generator at Random.org, I generated five positions and chose the song I found there.

The Stranglers, “Duchess” (#37) The Stranglers are a British punk band that started as The Guildford Stranglers in 1974. “Duchess” reached #14 in the UK and #27 in Ireland.

Gibson Brothers, “Ooh What A Life” (#16) The Gibson Brothers are a France-based group that had its biggest success during the late-Seventies disco boom. This song reached #10 on the British Singles chart.

Randy VanWarmer, “Just When I Needed You Most” (#21) Randy was an American artist who had this one single. It reached #4 on the Hot 100 and #1 on the Billboard Hot Adult Tracks survey, and reached #8 in the UK.

Boomtown Rats, “I Don’t Like Mondays” (#1) The #1 single that summer was by the Bob Geldof-led Boomtown Rats. It was a Top Ten single in most of Europe, but only reached #73 in the US.

Roxy Music, “Angel Eyes” (#9) This song reached #4 in the UK, but didn’t chart in the US.

Hmm… wonder if I can find a chart for the US for Summer 1979? If so, we’ll do that next week. That’s The Friday Five for June 2, 2017.

Published by John Holton

Internet disc jockey, lover of old TV (especially the commercials), inveterate wise guy.

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16 thoughts on “The Friday Five: Five Random Songs From Summer 1979 in the UK”

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  3. 1979 was a good year for me. I moved from Orlando, Fl to South Florida, and started a new life with a new job. Disco was still going on in Miami – loved it.

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  4. John,

    1979 was a huge year for me. I saw a lot of changes. I got married and a week later moved to Tennessee. That was an interesting and adventurous summer. The only song on your random five picks is “Just When I Needed You the Most” and this is the first time I’ve heard it in many years. It’s a beautiful ballad. Thanks for stirring mewsical memories from a long time ago! Have a good weekend, my friend! 🙂

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    1. “Just When I Needed You Most” was sappy, but then, so was a lot of the music in the late Seventies, and compared to other songs at the time, it was pretty good. I’m surprised you hadn’t heard “I Don’t Like Mondays”; that was a fairly popular song, although maybe it was a location thing.

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  5. Summer of 1979–I got married, but I think it was a Tuesday. If it had been a Monday, then it would explain my agreement with Sir Bob.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. I had been married for a year and a half that summer, and I didn’t see Mary too often, usually just on my way back in the door or leaving, because I was working third shift.

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    1. It wasn’t until I finished writing the post that I realized the songs were all from the UK. There were only a couple I had heard. Still, It was another couple of years before music started improving.

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    1. Considering that Seattle is considered by some to be the epicenter of modern culture, that’s surprising. I had heard a couple of these (“Just When I Needed You Most” and “I Don’t Like Mondays”), but can’t remember if it was that summer or at some later time. Third shift has a tendency to do that.

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      1. When I left New York City in 1978, disco was dying. When we arrived in Seattle disco was the hot new thing. I had to live through it twice 😦

        I wondered what I had done.

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