1970s
A landmark in music history, Popcorn was the first electronic hit single – and, arguably, a forerunner of disco and synth-pop. I first heard it when it was a novelty hit for Hot Butter in 1972.
Alice Cooper’s exhortation to carry out every kid’s dream and blow school to pieces helped take School’s Out to No.1 in the summer holidays of 1972.
Dr Hook & The Medicine Show had their first hit with one of the great break-up songs in Sylvia’s Mother, which reached No.2 in the summer of ’72. (more…)
David Bowie’s unforgettable performance of Starman was a landmark moment in pop culture and launched him to superstar status. Top of the Pops, 6 July 1972. The day the world changed for ever. For me and, I’m certain, an entire generation of young men and women, girls and boys.
Gary Glitter brought panto-style parody into Glam and this was the song that launched a career that would come to epitomise a meteoric rise and catastrophic fall. (more…)
Donny Osmond became the biggest pop idol for schoolgirls everywhere when he topped the charts with Puppy Love in the summer of 1972. (more…)
Words cannot express how much I hate the music of Emerson, Lake & Palmer – or, as they were invariably known, ELP.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer were unfathomably popular among my fellow pupils at school, along with their fellow prog travellers Yes, Genesis and King Crimson.
There was something about Slade, Sweet and T. Rex singles that sets them apart – they seemed to be recorded at twice the volume as any other record. (more…)
California Man was the last hit for The Move and effectively the first for the Electric Light Orchestra in all but name when they appeared on TOTP in April 1972.