# 1971 in British Music



## Guest (Sep 23, 2018)

This is a summary of 1971 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year. 

*Events -*

3 February - Davy Jones announces he is leaving the Monkees

1 March - Bassist John Deacon joins Queen

4 March - The Rolling Stones open their UK tour in Newcastle upon Tyne, intended as a "farewell" to the UK prior to the band's relocation to France as "tax exiles".

5 March - Ulster Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland, sees the first live performance of Led Zeppelin's iconic song "Stairway to Heaven".

6 April - The Rolling Stones hold a party in Cannes to officially announce their new contract with Atlantic and the launch of Rolling Stones Records.

12 May - Mick Jagger marries Bianca de Macías in Saint-Tropez, France, in a Roman Catholic ceremony. Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and their wives are among the wedding guests.

16 May - BBC television makes the first broadcast of Benjamin Britten's opera for television, Owen Wingrave.

20-24 June - The first Glastonbury Festival to take place at the summer solstice is held in South West England. Performers include David Bowie, Traffic, Fairport Convention, Quintessence and Hawkwind.

19-24 July - Benjamin Britten conducts recording of Edward Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius at Snape Maltings.

1 August - The Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden, New York, starring Ravi Shankar, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, and Leon Russell; also featuring Billy Preston, Eric Clapton, Jesse Ed Davis, and Badfinger.

14 August - The Who release their fifth studio album Who's Next, reaching No. 1 in the UK and No. 1 in the US.

8 November - Led Zeppelin release their officially untitled fourth studio album, which would become the band's biggest-selling album.

*Some of the more interesting facts about the UK charts during the course of 1971 - *

The year opens with Clive Dunn's "Grandad" holding down the number one spot for 3 straight weeks.

"Grandad" gets the bum's rush from the coveted number one spot by George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" which holds on to it for five straight weeks.

T. Rex absolutely rules the charts for two separate periods - six straight weeks in March/April with "Hot Love" followed by four weeks in July/August with "Get It On".

The American pop vocal group Dawn who would later become known as "Tony Orlando and Dawn" would stay at number one for five straight weeks with their hit tune "Knock Three Times".

Middle of the Road would have a solid lock on the number one for five straight weeks with "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep".

Rod Stewart owned the number one spot for five straight weeks in October/November with "Maggie May".

Slade knocked off both Rod and Maggie with their release "Coz I Love You" which was number one for four weeks in a row.

Bennie Hill then thrashed Slade to within an inch of their lives when his release "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West) dethroned "Coz I Love You" and fought off all challengers for four straight weeks.

*On to Albums...
*
George Harrison owned the number one slot for eight straight weeks with "All Things Must Pass".

Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" held down the number one slot for three separate periods throughout 1971 - 3 weeks in January, 5 weeks in July, and the week of September 11th.

"Sticky Fingers" by the Rolling Stones had a 4 week run at the top of the charts.

"Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" by the Moody Blues reached number one for the week of August 14th and was then told to push off by "Volume 18" of "Top of the Pops".

"Who's Next" gets shoved aside by Deep Purple's "Fireball" who ironically find themselves shoved aside by Rod Stewart who holds and keeps the number one spot for two separate periods - 4 weeks in October and 2 weeks in November.

*The Top Ten Best Selling Singles -

*1.) - "My Sweet Lord" - George Harrison

2.) - "Maggie May/Reason to Believe" - Rod Stewart

3.) - "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" - Middle of the Road

4.) - "Knock Three Times" - Dawn

5.) - "Hot Love" - T. Rex

6.) - "The Pushbike Song" - The Mixtures

7.) - "Never Ending Song of Love" - The New Seekers

8.) - "I'm Still Waiting" - Diana Ross

9.) - "Hey Girl Don't Bother Me" - The Tams

10.) - "Get It On" - T-Rex

*The Top Ten Best Selling Albums -*

1) - "Bridge Over Troubled Water" - Simon and Garfunkel

2.) - "Every Picture Tells a Story" - Rod Stewart

3.) - "Sticky Fingers" - The Rolling Stones

4.) - "Motown Chartbusters Vol. 5" - Various Artists

5.) - "Electric Warrior" - T. Rex

6.) - "Ram" - Paul and Linda McCartney

7.) - "Tapestry" - Carole King

8.) - "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" - The Moody Blues

9.) - "Greatest Hits" - Andy Williams

10.) - Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon" - James Taylor

And the winner of the coveted "*Artist of the Year*" *complete with video showcase* goes to... (drumroll)… *An unprecedented tie! *Middle of the Road and Bennie Hill are the recipients of this year's award for being able to not only survive but thrive in a year which saw releases from George Harrison, The Rolling Stones, The Moody Blues, The Who, Deep Purple, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, T. Rex, and Led Zeppelin...

I don't know what our UK friends here think about 1971 but both Middle of the Road and Bennie Hill thought it was a hell of a year to be Middle of the Road and/or Bennie Hill.... and now the promised and much anticipated video showcase -











Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971_in_British_music


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I remember the _Ernie_ video well - even as a kid I tended to side with the villain (as with the wrestlers on _World of Sport_ at the time such as Adrian Street, Brian Maxine and Jim Brakes) so I was pleased that Two-Ton Ted from Teddington won the shoot-out.


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

Last year I read this book: Never a Dull Moment. I had a 20 album listening project that I posted here. 1971 was always my favourite year, I made a folder of music of 1971 on my iPod. Then I find out someone agrees with me and wrote an entire book. What a great year.

There's a geological equivalent: at the end of the Cretaceous Period the dinosaurs were wiped out and then the mammals that were already in existence but couldn't flourish were able to take over and adapt. Another class of animals took over. The Beatles were the dominant musical group for nearly a decade but once they broke up in 1970 new bands could take over the world. (It's a humorous analogy, I'm not serious as every analogy has issues).

The Yes Album and Roundabout 
Led Zeppelin IV
Pink Floyd Meddle
Rod Stewart Every Picture Tells a Story
The Who Who's Next
........


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I like the cover - isn't that Gram Parsons schmoozing around Keith Richards during the recording of _Exile on Main Street_ before Jagger had him thrown out?


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## Guest (Sep 24, 2018)

elgars ghost said:


> I like the cover - isn't that Gram Parsons schmoozing around Keith Richards during the recording of _Exile on Main Street_ before Jagger had him thrown out?


Yep... and here's a link to three stories about that time -

https://selvedgeyard.com/2009/08/13/keith-richards-gram-parsons-1971-summer-in-exile-villa-nellcote/

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/apr/25/stones-exile-on-main-street

http://nodepression.com/article/ive-said-it-ill-say-it-again-gram-parsons-wrote-wild-horses


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## Guest (Sep 24, 2018)

senza sordino said:


> Last year I read this book: Never a Dull Moment. I had a 20 album listening project that I posted here. 1971 was always my favourite year, I made a folder of music of 1971 on my iPod. Then I find out someone agrees with me and wrote an entire book. What a great year.
> 
> There's a geological equivalent: at the end of the Cretaceous Period the dinosaurs were wiped out and then the mammals that were already in existence but couldn't flourish were able to take over and adapt. Another class of animals took over. The Beatles were the dominant musical group for nearly a decade but once they broke up in 1970 new bands could take over the world. (It's a humorous analogy, I'm not serious as every analogy has issues).
> 
> ...


I purchased that book the day that you first recommended it to me - thank you so much! - and it was indeed as good a read as you claimed. I've lent my copy out twice so far and it received positive reviews from both - one of them loved it so much that he wont' give it back.


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## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

He wasn't the only one who recommmended the book.:tiphat:

Hepworth used to have a Friday night radio show on GLR (NLE!) played some great unfamiliar tracks. Much missed.

this is one song he introduced in a regular feature called Greatest Song Never Heard on The Radio.

Great taste

(yeah I know 1972 and American)


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