Best song on the NME 1979 Singles of the Year list

voted 'pop music'

6 year old me insists I vote for M - Pop Muzic. Scotlands best ever pop single!

haha xp

any of the Chic productions but

8. Spacer - Sheila B Devotion

Such a great year and of course loads of great songs missing from the list shows how strong it is.

No Numan/Tubeway Army!

Might as well have called it "Top 40 New Wave Singles of 1979"

Lori & The Chameleons might be my favourite ever act that only ever put out a couple of singles and then nothing

the pub rock related stuff (Dave Edmunds/Graham Parker/Leighton Buzzards) feels like the most glaring example of "no-one cares about this in 2016" I guess? (except me, I love that stuff)

Shake Your Body

6 year old me insists I vote for M - Pop Muzic. Scotlands best ever pop single!

What sort acrobatic logic are you applying to claim this for Scotland?

One of these:

4. I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor
6. Message In A Bottle - The Police
7. Oliver's Army - Elvis Costello
13. Rock Lobster - The B52's
14. Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough - Michael Jackson
15. Making Plans For Nigel - Xtc
18. Life During Wartime - Talking Heads
19. She's Beyond Good & Evil - The Pop Group
24. Boys Don't Cry - The Cure
39. A Message To You Rudi - The Specials

because when I was 6 i thought robin scott was scottish
xp

Ah, "Pop Muzik" is a good choice btw.

I loved it. Do you remember him on TOTPS?

With the kilt, swigging from a bottle of Lanliq? Sure.

haha, no, his suit made of 7" vinyl.

Then in a late 80s remix that is a hit he wears a suit of CD's

cant find the 1979 clip so here's the 89 one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MCAqnLy-nk

Jam and Joy Division on Something Else

Life During Wartime

Struggling to think of 10 songs in the history of recorded music Spacer doesn't win against so that

Oh god, this is completely impossible. 1979 is one of my favourite years for music ever.

I will take any opportunity to vote for the Cure.

*Leyton Buzzards

They were from Leyton, which is how they ended up releasing their first single on Small Wonder (based in Walthamstow, up the road)

I actually own more records from 1979-1981 than I do from the entire 1960s. Golden age for me.

Definitely an exceptional year. Tough to choose, although Squeeze - Up the Junction has to be somewhere in the mix for me--v. surprised NME didn't include it.

We Are Family. But there's loads of good stuff here.

Voted for Joy Division, mainly because I listened to them so much in late adolescence/early 20s. I really love that Jam album too, so those songs would be close. "Message in a Bottle" most iconic, perhaps?

making plans for nigel
waaa-oooh!

I'm going to refrain from voting in this one... I just can't do it!

'Most iconic' is surely a straight contest between London Calling and I Will Survive with nothing else getting a look in.

I'll give you "I Will Survive". I like "London Calling" but it doesn't feel more iconic than "Message" from a North American perspective.

Interesting to see that the NME put 'The Eton Rifles' above 'Strange Town', while I love 'The Eton Rifles' (and find it far superior song to everything The Clash ever did), I find 'Strange Town' much more interesting in the way its structured.

*it's

Strange Town is probably my favourite Jam song.

Disappointed that Heart of Glass is the only Blondie song on the list - it's great, obviously, but either one of Union City Blue and Dreaming would get my vote in an instant.

> 22. Living On The Front Line - Eddie Grant

this isn't the best song, but it is a really good song off a pretty great album. love eddy!

xxpost:

It's definitely one of my all-time favourite songs, and ranks as one of my Top 3 favourite Jam singles, because it has 'The Butterfly Collector' on the B-side... I mean, c'mon!

I'd probably vote for either 'Union City Blue' or 'Dreaming' over 'Heart of Glass', too!

'Strange Town" was when they became The Jam.

Before, they (admitted as much that they) were a Feelgoods knockoff.

I'm shortlisting I Will Survive, Oliver's Army, Shake Your Body, Rock Lobster, Life During Wartime, Boys Don't Cry, Get Over You, Pop Muzik, and Heart of Glass. Wait, shortlists are supposed to be short..... too much great music this year. I'll probably go with 'I Will Survive' even though that's the only song in this group that doesn't really point to the future.

There's an 11 minute version of Living on the Frontline on youtube which is amazing. The whole thing, song + remix, is 13 minutes it seems. I need to get that album, I think.

It's a bit strange to see no Numan/Tubeway Army in a list of 1979 singles, but then this is the NME... didn't they hate Numan? Smash Hits, back in the days when they were decent (pre-1985) were quite supportive of Numan at least up until I, Assassin. They gave Dance 9/10 too, if I remember correctly.

this is such a good list top to bottom but I have to vote "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough", which is just on a god-tier level of pop for me

Shit, I didn't see Jacko in there. That would have got my vote.

But it's still not up there with London Calling or I Will Survive which just... define entire genres.

definitely Rock Lobster

honorable mentions:
Shake Your Body
Death Disco
Get Over You
Heart Of Glass

and boogie wonderland

from a mike banks interview in the wire:
"That summer, the gang warfare was at a height, and Mojo would get on the radio and ask for peace, pray for peace, and then drop the B52s, man. 'Rock Lobster'. You know it. Truthfully, you can't be too much of a tough guy while doing the rock lobster. "

"Rock Lobster"

Man, I love Rowche Rumble

Eleeeeeectricity!
Eleeeeeectricity!
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...!

this is such a good list top to bottom but I have to vote "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough", which is just on a god-tier level of pop for me

The bridge with the horn-sounding synth and guitar tapping keeps it from perfection, imo, it's like some wannabe Jan Hammer Band flash mobbed the stage or something

Sund4r, that Something Else clip is incredible.

We Are Family

Sund4r, that Something Else clip is incredible.

― timellison, Saturday, 15 October 2016 21:16 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

:). It's one of my favourite ways to enjoy those songs.

Something Else is the program The Young Ones took the piss out of with Nozin Around

"Rock Lobster"

Voted for "My Feet Keep Dancing" because "Good Times" inexplicably is not on the list.

While I would generally vote B-52's in almost any given situation, this time it's "Heart of Glass." When that became a massive hit I felt doubly vindicated in loving both new wave and disco, at a time when pretty much all my friends hated both.

We were at a party
His ear lobe fell in the deep

Somebody went under the dock, and there they saw the track I'm voting for in this poll

It wasn't a track...

Okay, so the lack of discussion about how amazing 'Electricity' is has made me vote after all!

just watch it get 20 lurker votes

I voted for Rock Lobster. Lots of great songs here but it wasn't even close.

Boogie Wonderland, just edging out Heart Of Glass and the Chic tracks.

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