My top tens - 1979

As regular readers of The Vinyl Word may know, I made lists of my favourite top ten records of the day between Spring 1960 and December 1965. I still have them and it shows how my tastes developed between the ages of 14 and 19 and the rise of genres such as girl groups, R and B and soul. The top scoring artist through this near six year period was Sam Cooke, with other big scorers being Roy Orbision, Dion, The Everly Brothers, Del Shannon, Elvis, the Crystals, the Shirelles, Chuck Berry and Fats Domino. What is missing from these personal top tens are records by British beat groups, showing my disdain for second rate cover versions. Even the Beatles are missing, apart from one chart entry ('Love Me Do') at number ten for one week in October, 1962. After 1965 my interest in soul music in particular continued and I started receiving 45s from the major record companies for review on the Croydon Advertiser where I was working. But my personal top tens ceased as other activities took over my time. In the seventies I lost interest in pop music until punk and new wave came along to bring some excitement - for a few years at least. Looking through an old diary the other day I discovered that my personal top ten resurfaced briefly during the summer of 1979, with three entries in July and August. These lists show that my tastes had changed, although not necessarily for the better. Still, there were some decent records among those chosen at the time, including one by the Undertones (probably my favourite group of the time) which is included on their first LP (above). My first 1979 personal top ten - on July 23 - was as follows: 1. 'Beat The Clock' - Sparks; 2. 'I Don't Like Mondays' - Boomtown Rats; 3. 'Can't Stand Losing You' - Police; 4. 'Say When' - Lene Lovich; 5. 'Say it Ain't So Joe' - Gary Brooker; 6. 'Here Comes The Summer' - Undertones; 7. 'Living On The Front Line' - Eddy Grant; 8. 'Bang Bang' - B A Robertson; 9. 'Let's Go' - the Cars; 10= - 'My Sharona' - The Knack; 'Go West' - Village People. The second list was written only a few days later, on July 28 and there weren't many changes, but new entries were 'Harmony In My Head - Buzzcocks at number 6, and 'Lady Lynda' - the Beach Boys at number 8. My final top ten, so far as I know anyway, was on August 26, 1979. This comprised 1. 'Street Life' - Crusaders; 2. 'Rock Lobster' - B52s; 3. 'Beat The Clock' - Sparks; 4. 'Gangsters' - Specials; 5. 'Reasons To Be Cheerful' - Ian Dury; 6. 'Bang Bang' - B A Robertson; 7. 'I Don't Like Mondays' - Boomtown Rats'; 8. 'Hersham Boys' - Sham 69; 9. 'Here Comes The Summer' - Undertones; 10. 'Gone Gone Gone' - Johnny Mathis. Not all of those listed have stood the test of time but it's a snap shot of what I liked back in the day.