If you can, you're either a raving lunatic or you know far too much about cricket - because that game featured the unlikely clash of Canada vs the United States, who played each other on the 24th and 25th of September 1844.
Shockingly, despite this, neither team has been taking part in this year's Cricket World Cup which is currently underway.
However, both nations did enter the same competition of forty years ago, with USA eliminated in the qualifiers and Canada actually making it to the competition proper. Where could we see this awesome tournament back then? On BBC Two, that's where.
BBC One, however, was showing far creepier fare on this night in 1979 because, at ten past eight, it was giving us The Omega Factor a Scottish drama series filled with paranormal investigation and starring Louise Jameson. I must confess that, despite my love for such dramas, I have no memory of the show at all. I shall blunder onto YouTube and see if I can find any trace of it there.
Fortunately, I have a stronger recollection of the UK singles chart at the time.
Residing at Number One, that week, was Anita Ward's Ring My Bell which is OK but there was far more impressive action going on.
That's because it was a fairly epic chart that week, packed to the gills with songs I approved of. As if to prove it, these are the tunes on that Top 40 that still, to this day, get the coveted Steve Does Comics thumbs-up:
2. Are 'Friends' Electric? - Gary Numan.
3. Dance Away - Roxy Music.
4. Sunday Girl - Blondie.
6. Up the Junction - Squeeze.
7. Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now - McFadden and Whitehead.
11. Shine A Little Love - ELO.
12. H.A.P.P.Y. Radio - Edwin Starr.
13. Night Owl - Gerry Rafferty.
18. The Number One Song in Heaven - Sparks.
19. Say When - Lene Lovich.
21. Living on the Front Line - Eddy Grant.
23. Pop Muzik - M.
24. Light My Fire - Amii Stewart.
26. Boys Keep Swinging - David Bowie.
34. Crackin' Up - Nick Lowe.
36. Old Siam, Sir - Wings.
Lots of great stuff there for all music lovers. And the good news for people who didn't like music was that Kevin Keegan was reigning supreme at Number 31 with Head Over Heels in Love.
I've no information at all about the contents of this issue, other than it appears that Darth Vader triumphs against some bloke.
Doubtless, the Micronauts are still up against the Man-Thing and Warlock's still up against the Star-Thief.
The Hulk's been abducted by a High Evolutionary type who wants to use him in his, no doubt, dastardly plans.
Ant-Man's up against an inventor who's turned to crime because he doesn't want his grandson to know he's lost his job. And now the inventor's out to use his Ageing Machine for malevolent purposes.
Three agents of SHIELD meet the Celestials in the Eternals' strip.
Night-Raven's still trying to get the better of the Tongs.
The Hulk still has Bruce Banner's brain in his What If? tale and has now buried the hatchet with Thunderbolt Ross.
The Black Knight and Captain Britain are still stuck in a never-ending Tolkienesque nightmare.
Nick Fury's up to something but I don't know what.
Godzilla's been captured by SHIELD, thanks to him having no more sense to hold his breath in the face of a gas attack than the Hulk does. Meanwhile, he may be about to get a visit from Red Ronin.
Conan and Bêlit are in the process of investigating a mysterious island. I don't know much about that island but I guarantee there'll be monsters on it.
Foggy Nelson's been kidnapped by Hydra, and Daredevil's out to get him back.
Speaking of DD, Spider-Man's still blind and he and hornhead are out to find the Masked Marauder before the curtain-faced criminal can get up to any more mischief.
I have a question for the experts.
ReplyDeleteThose Ant Man stories in Hulk comic. Are they the originals from Tales To Astonish back in the 60s or are they brand new stories that Dez decreed should be created especially for the U.K. market (like the original Captain Britain’s years before and th a lack Knight stories in one of these uK comics from 40 years ago)?
And, if they're reprints from the 60s, were the previously reprinted by Marvel UK in The Superheroes?
They're reprints of the Tales to Astonish stories. I've a feeling that, later on, Dez may have commissioned brand new stories but, if he did, we haven't reached them yet.
ReplyDeleteSadly, I only ever had two issues of The Super-Heroes, neither of which were Ant-Man issues, so I don't know if these tales had previously been published by Marvel UK.
Wasn't Are 'Friends' Electric? by Tubeway Army Steve, before he changed his name to Gary Numan?
ReplyDelete-sean
It was indeed, Sean.
ReplyDeleteNot that I mean to be pedantic or anything Steve.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, it comes as something of a surprise that you could list that many top 40 artists from '79 without any of them being from Sheffield.
Perhaps single-finger synth-pop wasn't as big back then as I remember.
-sean
Sadly, it's a bit early for Sheffield. Come back in about eighteen months and things'll be hotting up on the Steel City front. As for the single-finger brigade, Gary Numan beat them all to it and opened up the door for them to start breaking through in his wake.
ReplyDeleteNot knowing "Are Friends Electric" I gave it a listen on the way home. Enjoyable! Thanks for the heads up Steve!
ReplyDeleteSpecial thanks to all you boppers last week who clued me in to the other meaning of "Man Thing." Never crossed my mind in 40 forking years...
So when I read today about Micronauts (how tall are they?) battling a Man Thing... Well once you see something, you can't unsee it. Thanks again? LOL.
Steve, your UK chart is/was amazing. I count only 3 or 4 songs that appeared on the US Billboard Hot 100. Of course there were great tunes on 'our' chart (Supertramp's "Logical Song" prominent among them). But again you remind me why I, in my college New Wave mania, so envied you Brits!
ReplyDeleteCharlie- that Micronauts/Man-Thing tale is great. Even with the double entendre...
Up the Junction is a classic. I didn't appreciate it the time (too young) but was a fan of Squeeze after Cool for Cats. It really resonates once you hit a certain age.
ReplyDeleteDW
You're welcome, Charlie.
ReplyDeleteRed, 1979 and 1981 are definitely my favourite years for music. There was just so much going on, in a hundred and one different styles. It's amazing to think there was synth-pop, ska, reggae, punk, post-punk, mod, disco, goth, yacht rock, power pop, folk, prog, soul, terrifying novelty records and a whole bunch of other stuff all battling it out on the same charts.
DW, I think Take Me I'm Yours was the first Squeeze track I heard, which was ironic, as it's totally untypical of their sound in general.
The thing about Up The Junction (well, the second thing, the first being the misheard naked painter lyrics) is the.dodgy rhyming. Looking through the lyrics, 8 reckon that only 8 of the 28 rhyming couplets actually rhyme.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen that BBC doc Synth Britannia, Steve? I should have remembered that synth-pop was still a year or two away from hitting big at this point as it has some geezer from Heaven 17 whingeing about a Londoner beating all the northerners to the first major electronic hit with Are Friends Electric.
ReplyDeleteHa - in your face Sheffield!
-sean
Erm... that wasn't intended seriously Steve.
ReplyDeleteAt least the Human League and that lot weren't raving Thatcherites, which is more than you can say for Gary Numan.
(And anyway, the first synth hit was Autobahn by Kraftwerk a few years earlier)
-sean
I was going to mention that Gary Numan was a proud Tory but Sean beat me to it.
ReplyDeleteI definitely remember THE OMEGA FACTOR. I had pestered my father to buy me a portable TV and said item was delivered on Wednesday, June 13th 1979. Finally I had my own TV and I could watch whatever I wanted such as TOP OF THE POPS without my father complaining and insulting the musical acts as he enjoyed doing. Anyway, on that first night of freedom I remember watching episode 1 of THE OMEGA FACTOR.
Colin, it is strange that The Omega Factor hasn't stuck in my head. I watched part of the first episode the other night but it rang no bells for me at all. I can only conclude that I never saw it at the time, which seems highly remiss of me.
ReplyDeleteDangermash, there did used to be a page, on the internet, which pointed out all the flaws with the lyrics of Up The Junction, including all the failed rhymes and, also, its myriad lapses in logic. Sadly, I can no longer find it.
Sean, I have seen that documentary. I think it was crediting Are 'Friends' Electric? as being Britain's first synth-pop Number One. Presumably, they weren't classifying Donna Summer's I Feel Love as synth-pop, even though it clearly was.
Pop Muzik by M was always one of Charlie's favs... If it had been released a few years later it would have fit in nicely with the new wave sound. (Actually as I watch the so-called official video for the 23rd time, I see they tout themselves as one of the first new-wave singles to top the charts.)
ReplyDeleteSean - if you start busting on Heaven 17 or Human League (or ABC or any other venerable Sheffield Greats) there is going to be hell to pay, buddy! I might secretly subscribe you to Women's Home Journal or something! LOL.
W.t.h. is "yacht music" please? I mean, just using "free association" I go from yachts to water to beaches to summer time. Thus I imagine Jimmy Buffet "Margaritville" or Bananarama's "Cruel Summer" or "I want Candy [on the beach]" in this category?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I notice you do not have a straight "Rock" category. Not picking on you but it's funny how the music section went from black people (soul) and white people (rock) to so many categories.
Steve, thats the BBC for you - Donna Summer probably doesn't count for the same reason as Kraftwerk, being German. The record I mean (I Feel Love being produced in Munich by Giorgio Moroder). And Magic Fly by Space was French.
ReplyDeleteMaybe its a Brexit thing?
Charlie, not only did London beat Sheffield to a synth hit, but it wouldn't surprise me if we had cheap commie bus fares earlier too.
-sean
For summer songs you can't beat Jay Ferguson and his hits "Shakedown Cruise" and "Thunder Island".
ReplyDeleteI might even mention his previous hit when he was in the band Spirit, "I got a Line on You." The father of one of those guys, a bald-headed WW2 vet in sunglasses, played some brisk drum work on that track.
I have spoken.
M.P.
Charlie, yacht rock is predominantly what used to be called soft rock/AOR. It's "rock" you can listen to while sipping your cocktails on a yacht in California, so it would include people like the Eagles, Steely Dan, Hall and Oates, Christopher Cross, Michael McDonald, etc. Basically it's rock that won't wake you up if you're nodding off.
ReplyDeleteSean, what matters is that Sheffield had bendibuses at least 20 years before London did - and Sheffielders didn't fly into a panic at the sight of them.
I bought The Omega Factor on dvd two years ago but it went to the charity shop just before I moved back to Elgin. I had definitely watched the episode about ergot poisoning but I wasn't wild about the box set. Found it a bit dull although I liked seeing grim late 70s Edinburgh locations. I've always felt Glasgow was a better-looking city.
ReplyDeleteNever tried the Big Finish version either.
A little piece of music-related trivia. Gary Numan was once (or maybe still is) a licensed large passenger aircraft pilot.
ReplyDeleteM's Pop Muzik may have been one of the causes of my current mental state. My three female bosses at the record shop I worked at in my teen-age years played the 12" dance version RELENTLESSLY.
MP, Thunder Island is indeed a great 70' summer song. I seem to recall Wings & Ringo Starr would release singles in the summer. Silly Love Songs, Let'em In, It Don't Come Easy, No-No Song, respectively, were released during the summer months I believe.
KD, Gary Numan's exploits as a pilot were the stuff of legend in Britain, mostly thanks to him once crash-landing in India and promptly being arrested under suspicion of being a spy.
ReplyDeleteDougie, I am definitely going to have to look into The Omega Factor in more depth.
Wow, Steve, I never heard that story.
DeleteA spy. That's kinda funny, as Numan's stage persona seemed to be a template for some costumes of a few supervillians in the 80's & early 90's
Hmmm. I don't know if you've ever explored the topic about how pop music (actual songs or the appearance of an artist) has effected comics over the years.
ReplyDeleteIf not, that could be a great topic.
Merely a suggestion, oh my brother.
Bendibuses made it much easier to get around Steve - the only person who had a problem with them in London was the mayor at the time, who happens to be a well known imbecile (as the rest of the UK has been finding out over the last few years).
ReplyDelete-sean
I think I read somewheres Numan had a fling with Caroline Munro. Remember her? Yes, of course you do. I sure do.
ReplyDeleteGawd.
I think she dumped him and subsequently shacked up with a one-eyed centaur.
M.P.