Remembering the 70s

Sunday 17 April 2016

CHEESY CHART HITS OF THE 1970's

One thing is for certain, the 1970s as a whole was a great decade for music, but boy were there some major exceptions to this rule too !!!

For some inexplicable reason, we just couldn’t get enough of the relentless wave of cheesy / comedy hits, that seemed to hit a peak in the UK music charts during the mid 1970’s...To be fair though, many of these do contain some particularly contagious 'earworms'...Who remembers whistling along to Mouldy Old Dough by Lieutenant Pigeon, or banging our butt cheeks together to the beat of Kenny's 'The Bump' (How on earth did we ever fall for that one?

I have been having fun putting together my own list below, of what I consider to be the main 'offenders' - Let me know what you think!

(All links are via Youtube, with credit and thanks to the original posters).

1973

Barry Blue - Dancin On A Saturday Night ... (Check out those dance moves and where on earth did he find that outfit?)

Bobby 'Borris' Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers - The Monster Mash

1974

The Wombles - Wombling Song ... (Yes - The Wombles were prolific repeat offenders in 1974!!!)

The Wombles - Remember Your'e A Womble

The Wombles - Banana Rock

The Wombles - Wombling Merry Xmas

Sylvia - Y Viva Espana ... (Brush the dust off those castanets!)

1975

Windsor Davies & Don Estelle - Whispering Grass ... (Sing Lofty)

Typically Tropical - Barbados ... (Considering he was going off on holiday, the keyboard player looks completely miserable throughout : )

Jasper Carrott - Funky Moped (Actually some of us will better remember crowding around the record player at a mate's house, to listen to the rude lyrics on the flip side, entitled Magic Roundabout : )

Telly Savalas - If

Billy Connolly - D.I.V.O.R.C.E ... (Tammy Wynette's version, it's not)

Kenny - The Bump ... (One Two Three Bump!)

Kenny - Fancy Pants ... (And Oh boy did they wear some!!!)

The Goodies - Funky Gibbon ... (Ooo, ooo ,ooo)

1976

Brotherhood Of Man - Kisses For Me ... (As an added piece of nostalgia, this link features the group singing the song at the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest, where it was the winning song for the UK....Who remembers trying to do the 'cutesey' dance moves : )

The Wurzels - Combine Harvester ... (Ooh arrh ooh arrh)

The Wurzels - I Am A Cider Drinker ... (Ooh arrh ooh arrh ay)

J.J. Barrie - No Charge

Hank Mizell - Jungle Rock

C.W. McCall - Convoy ... (Let them truckers roll, 10-4) I remember this song starting off the craze for CB radio in the UK at the time.

Our Kid - You Just Might See Me Cry ... (Remember these? They were just Like One Direction - Not !!!)

Johnny Wakelin - In Zaire

Robin Sarstedt - My Resistance is Low (Cringe)

Rick Dees & His Cast Of Idiots - Disco Duck

Billy Howard - King Of The Cops ... (You definitely have to know the TV Cops of the time, to even begin to understand this one : )

5000 Volts - Dr Kiss Kiss

Sailor - Girls Girls Girls ... (Admittedly, a guilty pleasure this song actually lol)

Paul Nicholas - Dancing With The Captain

1977

Baccara - Yes Sir I Can Boogie

The Brighouse & Rastrick Brass Band - Floral Dance (Instrumental) - This was also a hit the following year, when the late Sir Terry Wogan recorded his version with the lyrics.

The Rah Band - The Crunch ... (Mad as a box of frogs, but very catchy!)

Meri Wilson - Telephone Man ... (Do lolly, lolly shicky bum, shicky bum)

Barron Knights - Live In Trouble ... (Once again, you probably need to have been around at the time to get it)

1978

Brian & Michael - Matchstick Men And Matchstick Cats And Dogs

Father Abraham And The Smurfs - The Smurf Song ... (Flute Smurf, begin)

Dee D Jackson - Automatic Lover ... (Ultimate Techno Cheese and the robot looks like he was the inspiration for Metal Mickey!)

1979

Driver 67 - Car 67

The Ramblers - The Sparrow ... (Lets Just say the 1970's didn't finish on a high note with this one and leave it at that : )

Monday 21 March 2016

SUDDENLY IT SMELLS JUST LIKE THE 1970's

RETRO FRAGRANCES

How much fun would it be to jump in a time machine and travel back to an era that you love?…Well in a sense (literally), nearly all of us have the ability do just that, by using our noses and memory!

Have you ever experienced that moment, when a sudden odour (be it pleasant, or not) can jolt you straight back to a random but totally lucid memory of a past time – Maybe it’s the smell of doughnuts or candy floss, that takes you back to your first time at the fairground, or does the smell of new cut grass suddenly have you sitting at your old school desk on a sunny afternoon, whilst the playing field is being made ready for sports day? Either way, for a few seconds at least, we are given the chance to close our eyes and re-live the moment!

The main reason for this, is that our olfactory senses, (smell and taste) are heightened when we are younger and this is when most of our long term memories are formed. In addition, the region of our brains responsible for processing odours, known as the Olfactory Bulb, is located close to and works in conjunction with the part of our brain that handles memory and emotions.

Apparently, research has also shown that most women have a more developed and heightened sense of smell than men – Maybe this explains my wife’s derision, when I have previously failed to buy her the right perfume : )

Talking of perfumes and odours that can send our minds time hopping…

HOW MANY OF THE FOLLOWING DO YOU REMEMBER FROM THE 1970s ???

*** GREAT RETRO TIP - If you are ever thinking about 1970's themed Fancy Dress...Why not be really authentic and 'smell the part' too?...MANY OF THE FOLLOWING RETRO FRAGRANCES ARE STILL AVAILABLE !!! ***

RETRO FRAGRANCES FOR HER:

TWEED by Lentheric

TRAMP <<< Still available

CHARLIE by Revlon <<< Still available

(Check out this 1970s advert too, via Youtube)

LAUGHTER by Yardley

REBEL by Solitaire

CACHET by Prince Matchabelli <<< Still available

PANACHE by Lentheric

JUST MUSK by Lentheric

CHLOE by Lagerfeld <<< Still available

MAXI by Max Factor

WHITE LINEN by Estee Lauder <<< Still available

ANAIS ANAIS by Cacharel <<< Still available

LAIR DU TEMPS by Nina Ricci - <<< Still available

(Check out this 1970s advert too, via Youtube)

RETRO FRAGRANCES FOR HIM:

OLD SPICE - <<< Still available

(Check out this 1970s advert too, via Youtube)

DENIM - <<< Still available

(Check out this 1970s advert too, via Youtube)

BLUE STRATOS <<< Still available

CENSORED - Yes this really was the name & branding of a 1970's aftershave : )

HAI KARATE - <<< Still available

(Check out this 1970s advert too, via Youtube)

BRUT - <<< Still available

(Check out this 1970s advert too, via Youtube)

TABAC <<< Still available

PAGAN MAN

MANDATE - <<< Still available

(Check out this 1970s advert too, via Youtube)

ARAMIS <<< Still available

Saturday 12 March 2016

FROM THE BEANO TO BUNTY - CHILDRENS COMICS IN THE 1970s

Remember the great feeling of going out to the corner shop with your pocket money, to buy your favourite comic - Maybe the paperboy/girl used to deliver it for you on their Raleigh Chopper bike. Either way, back in the 1970s and with only 3 channels on UK television, us boys couldn’t wait to get a weekly fix of our comic heroes, such as Dennis the Menace, or maybe you preferred The Numskulls.

In the case of the girls, they were just as eager to get busy with the scissors, surgically cutting out the latest fashions from Bunty, carefully making sure not to snip off the little tabs at the edges, which were essential for stopping everything from falling off the cut-out doll figure.

This was an era still a million miles away from mobile phones, the internet or social media apps and therefore comics were an important and much loved part of our growing up years! They provided entertainment, something to share and discuss with your friends and sometimes even a lifeline to obtaining advice on personal problems, especially in the case of Cathy & Claire’s problem page in Jackie!

I recall that when I was younger, my own favourites had been The Beano, The Dandy and Whizzer and Chips.

As I got older however, I was seduced by the racy machines and the promise of technological marvels to come, which were depicted in Speed and Power.

Added incentives were the free gifts and/or posters that regularly featured. Almost every teenage girls bedroom would be adorned with highly prized posters of the likes of Donny Osmond, David Cassidy or The Bay City Rollers, obtained from the middle pages of Jackie or Look-In.

*** Have a look at this 1970s advert for Look-In magazine, from Youtube ***

Other items such as rings (given away by Twinkle), bracelets, make-up or hair accessories and even (flexi disc) records were an enticement for the girls, whist boys would be tormenting their elders with a Thunder Bang from that weeks Dandy or Beano.

In fact, we had an absolute plethora of comics to choose from, many of which had a special bumper annual edition to look forward to as well - Some of the other titles from that time not yet mentioned were:

Tiger