Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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And we know that because two superstars told us so.
Those superstars were Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder. And they were telling us it particularly loudly, this week in 1982.
In fact, they were saying it from a very high place - the top of the UK singles chart - thanks to their platter Ebony and Ivory having just hit the UK's Number One spot, dislodging Bucks Fizz's My Camera Never Lies in the process.
It's a strange record that manages to say quite profound things in an almost wilfully shallow manner. Call me a man who's missing the point but I must confess I prefer the version that only has McCartney on it, as making it not a duet instantly removes around 95% of its air of showbiz cheesiness.
Over on the British album chart, another set of old-timers were ruling the roost, as indefatigable party rockers Status Quo secured their fourth UK Number One, with an LP called 1+9+8+2. A quick check on Wikipedia confirms that I don't recognise any of the tracks on it. Which seems odd, given the band's ubiquity on the singles chart in that period.
Over on the British album chart, another set of old-timers were ruling the roost, as indefatigable party rockers Status Quo secured their fourth UK Number One, with an LP called 1+9+8+2. A quick check on Wikipedia confirms that I don't recognise any of the tracks on it. Which seems odd, given the band's ubiquity on the singles chart in that period.
They achieved this feat by keeping Haircut 100's Pelican West from the top spot. As I hated Haircut 100, I, no doubt, viewed this as a very good thing.
Also a good thing, that week - at least, as far as the government of Canada must have been concerned - was the enactment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which finally granted that country full independence from the United Kingdom.
Also a good thing, that week - at least, as far as the government of Canada must have been concerned - was the enactment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which finally granted that country full independence from the United Kingdom.
An endeavour that leads to a scrap with the FF and to him gaining the ability to Hulk-out at will while retaining Bruce Banner's intellect.
Elsewhere, Iron Man's battling Madame Masque's deadly Dreadnought robots in her comeback adventure.
And, on top of all that, we get a free Hulk poster!
Spider-Man and Quasar find themselves confronting Lightmaster in a tale I'm assuming to have been culled from the pages of Marvel Team-Up.
But who cares about that? What matters is we get a Spidey jigsaw puzzle!
Granted, it has just twelve pieces and we have to cut them out ourselves...
But there's also a Thor poster!
And you can win a Hulk pick-up truck! Which does pose two obvious questions.
One; is it a real pick-up truck?
And, two; why does the Hulk need a pick-up truck?
And we can see that it guest stars the Flintstones.
More importantly, we can win a fabulous Corgi toy.
I'm assuming that's a toy made by Corgi and not a toy corgi. Unless we're the Queen, I doubt we'd be that interested in the latter possibility.
Charlie loves this post!
ReplyDelete1) Sir Paul and Stevie get well deserved recognition!
2) We get yet greater insight into the the Marvel UK audience and their desire for posters and opportunities to win things like pick up trucks (though Charlie still thinks being able to by a Sten Gun trumped all those!)
3) Charlie is mystified that so many Flintstone characters are on the Scooby cover! But given that, where are Wilma and Betty? Where's Bam Bam?? Where's Gazoo??? Gazoo rocked the house!
4) Ummm... what was wrong with Haircut 100? I mean, they had some nice hits like "Love plus 1."
I think with Haircut 100 it was the clean cut image with the jumpers and stupid grins that annoyed people, Charlie. And the terrible music of course.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, if the alternative is Status Quo then you've ended up with a sh*t sandwich either way.
Hard to be enthusiastic about a Spidey team-up against the Lightmaster without Dazzler, Steve. Who cares if Quasar gets tied up by the nipples?
-sean
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ReplyDeleteSteve, I assume you watched the Dr. Who Easter special featuring the Sea Devils so was it any good? I'm planning to watch it on iplayer this weekend.
ReplyDeleteI think Haircut 100 are a cautionary tale for other such groups. Have a hit album and 4 top 10 singles and then think it's a good idea to sack your lead singer and songwriter (who happens to be suffering from depression at the time). Quality management. I quite liked 'Boy meets girl' and the Top of the Pops performance is on youtube. They must barely have been out of their teens at the time, and as Sean alluded, were clearly still being dressed by their mums.
ReplyDeleteDW
Colin, I did watch the Easter special. It wasn't great. For me, it was dull, felt like it had great big chunks cut out and the supporting characters were written as barely more than cardboard cut-outs. It had a potentially great concept behind it but nothing was actually done with that concept. It was a shame because I loved Eve of the Daleks and it was disappointing to see Chibnall plunge back into his worst failings.
ReplyDeleteCharlie, for whatever reason, everything about Haircut 100, from their image to their singer, to their songs, annoyed me.
Well, I just had to go back and watch the video for “love plus one. “Admittedly I have not seen it in about 40 years. If I remember correctly I thought the way the band dressed in the video was actually pretty coolBecause they weren’t all dressed up in the new wave of style, they looked quite down to earth wearing the same things we wore on campus.
ReplyDeleteAdmittedly, the video itself could be better as it all seems a bit nonsensical, but they look to be a solid band.
But, my only exposure to them was that first album with those two big songs love plus one and boy meets girl And that one music video. It sounds like you gents in the UK had much much more exposure to them through the media.
Apropos of nothing, I'm halfway through this new Batman movie.
ReplyDeleteNo spoilers! It ain't bad, but it reminds me a lot of Se7en. Same deal. I don't like this new Riddler! Does he gotta be a psycho-killer now too?
Then again, there's no room for whimsy here.
Farrell is great as the Penguin. I would not have recognized him in a million years. And I prefer a Penguin who is a wise-cracking gangster to a sewer-dwelling mutant.
Concerning Pattinson, he's a good actor, but I don't know about a Bruce Wayne who looks like a young Iggy Pop.
The Batman I know would not have that haircut! (the old fart grumbles)
M.P.
You don't approve of a Batman who rides through Gotham City's ripped backsides then M.P?
ReplyDeleteFair enough. If it isn't Adam West, I'm not that interested.
Every villain has to be a psycho-killer these days. Because they're dark!
I blame Hannibal Lecter. Because of him popular culture is now full of cunning psychos able to effortlessly manipulate cops, courts and the entire system while spouting dubious sub-Neitzschean philosophy.
-sean
That's why I like the Penguin in this movie. He's not Lector or the Unabomber, he's just a crook. And he has a few good lines. It almost passes for comic relief, although this movie is about as funny as a brain tumor.
ReplyDeleteI'm aghast at this new film's treatment of Eddie Nigma, but I guess they needed a psycho, so...
M.P.
I have to agree with you folks.
ReplyDeleteI watched several seasons of Gotham, but with the Joker's, Riddler's and Penguin's incessant, psychotic violence it just became not only predictable, but boring, and stupid.
Also I finally saw Dark Knight and again the incessant, psychotic violence left me totally disinterested after an hour.
For sure, though, Gotham was initially quite good.
So Charlie and his missus, who happens to teach spanish and french were joking around about "The Cisco Kid" and "The Lone Ranger" which were TV serials in the late 50s / early 60s.
ReplyDelete(Since we both grew up in Chicago-land in the 60s, when there were only 4 TV stations, it's pretty easy to find TV things in common.)
Well, Ole Charlie learned that Tonto means "stupid" or "foolish" in Spanish.
You don't suppose that the writers of the original radio show from the 30s knew this? Man... talk about busting a bubble! I always thought Lone Ranger thought his Indian sidekick was A1. But actually at the same time he's always saying, "Hey Stupid." Geeze.
Good lord. As I sit here typing, I am concurrently watching "British Masterpieces" on PBS. Tonight it was Father Brown, Death in Paradise, and Midsommer Murders.
ReplyDeleteAnd as we are talking about psychotic Batman violence, the context for Midsommer Murders is a comic book show. And sure as hell an attendee is dressed up as the Riddler!
Quite a coincidence.
Well... I think is a coincidence. But my uncle always told me a coincidence was when you pull a hair out of your nose and your eyes water at the same time. This does not seem like that?
I think you were right about coincidence the first time Charlie. The nose hair/watering eyes thing sounds more like causality to me.
ReplyDeleteYou were piling up the coincidences there a bit, as you also mentioned Tonto in a comment thread that started off referring to a Stevie Wonder collaboration (although the Tonto he recorded with was the Tonto of Tonto's Expanding Head Band fame rather than the Lone Ranger's sidekick).
-sean