Music Monday - Best of British - 70's Rock & Roll

Four Groups eight classic songs of a forgotten era for you all to enjoy this week.

In the early 1970's (when I was a lad) Glam Rock was all the rage but another brand of music I always felt was put under the Glam umbrella but it was slightly different. Ok the groups dressed up a little but really it was a throw back to the classic Rock & Roll era of the late 50's early 60's. Four groups come to mind that brought a modern brand of 70's Rock & Roll to the publics attention and they all had a fair amount of success.

First to apear on British TV (on the Basil Brush Show) in 1973 was a 4 piece Band called Mud and in the period between 1973 & 1976 they had numerous hit records including 3 number one hits.
One of these chart toppers was the biggest seller in the UK in 1974 and people around my age must have danced to this one, hell it was played at every party I attended. If you haven't guessed it the name of the song was "Tiger Feet" :-


1974 was the year another group hit the scene and although only having one chart topper they actually had more chart hits than Mud, the name of the group is of course Showaddywaddy and that chart topper was "Under the Moon of Love" which was a cover version of a 1961 Curtis Lee US hit song :-


Showaddywaddy were a eight piece band featuring two drummers who got their success with a string of cover versions and I would suggest their most well known song is another cover version this time Eddie Cochrans 1960 classic "Three steps to heaven" :-


Also in 1974 another group of similar style stormed the charts with their first released song reaching top spot, the group was called The Rubettes. Their style was more based around 1950's DooWop than traditional Rock & Roll and that No1 hit was of course "Sugar Baby Love"

Although the group failed to actually top the charts again they did have a string of hits and here is another for you to enjoy "Juke Box Jive" :-

As these groups faded from the Chart radar in the late 70's one more group gave us a short blast of this style of music. It was 1977 when the group Darts first appeared on our screens with the classic "Daddy Cool" :-


Although Darts never actually topped the UK charts they did have a string of songs reach the top ten including three number 2's one of which was this classic "Come back my love" :-


Finally I think I should end with where it all began and let Mud have the last word so here is another great song for you all to enjoy "Lean on Me" (RIP Les Gray) :-


Just looking at the way the audience is dressed in these clips in the fashions of the time brings back many fantastic memories to me.