Name:Pozza. Specialist subject:UK charts 1952-2002 (Guinness World Records: British Hit Singles (16th Edition) - David Roberts)

Member Name: Pozza

Product:	Guinness World Records: British Hit Singles (16th Edition) - David Roberts
Date:	08/09/04 (5820 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Keeps me quiet., No more nagging ?who sang?? questions., A list-lovers heaven.

Disadvantages: Should carry a health warning ? ?This book can turn you into a chart bore, causing people to avoid you at social gatherings. In severe cases, invitations to social gatherings may cease.?

Some things make you feel that time is slipping by too fast? the ?Guiness World Records British Hit Singles? book is one such thing? I owned my first copy in 1985 (5th edition) in the good old days when a new issue was published every two years and it went by the guise of ?Guiness Book of British Hit Singles?, featuring an embossed gold vinyl disc on the cover. Now it?s an annual affair and not a paper-sleeved disc in sight.

This is the 16th edition, published in 2003. In a nutshell it gives a comprehensive account of British chart history since its conception in 1952 up to the end of 2002. Take it out of the nutshell and it does pretty much the same job.

This year sees the 19th anniversary of my love affair with this book. Occasionally we have parted when a new paperback with a cheeky smile catches my eye, but we always end up migrating towards each other again. Why? Because I love pointless trivia and lists of facts. Because I love music. Because I love pointless trivia and lists of facts about music. Q magazine described the book perfectly as ?the definitive chart anorak book?.

Every edition is divided into several sections, most of the content focusing on the releases of every band to chart in the UK. This particular edition is divided into 6 sections:

***Chart milestones***

A brilliant section for useless fact addicts like myself. We are given a 3 page guided tour of the 50 year UK chart history (1952-2002), from the first ever Top 12 (14th Nov. 1952) topped by Al Martino?s ?Here In My Heart? right through to Elvis Presley hitting no.1 25 years after his death.

Significant changes and events in chart history, key inventions and ground-breaking TV/radio programmes are all noted. To give you a taster? 1964 kic
ked off on 1st January with the first episode of Top Of The Pops, hosted by good old Sir James of Savile. Three years later Tony ?King of the Jungle? Blackburn spun Radio 1 into life with ?Flowers in the Rain? by The Move and 1988 saw the sale of the first CD single (I think tapes had just about hit North Yorkshire by then).

***Pop review of the year***

Strangely written by a Bruno MacDonald and Sarah Brooks? fuse the two together and ditch Sarah MacDonald and you end up with an ex-charts presenter! You remain unamazed? tough audience.

7,294 new singles were released in 2002 apparently. I think about 5,000 were by Westlife. Of course Pop Idol/Star winners and losers feature quite heavily in this month by month review of what was really quite a drab year in popworld.

***Brits hits in the USA***

This is one of the ?different? sections found in the ?Hit Singles? series. Early UK successes Stateside are investigated before an in-depth look at the two UK invasions ?over?t watter?. The first was led, of course, by The Beatles, who in April 1964 held the top 5 placings in the US top 100. The second UK boom happened in the 80s, spearheaded by groups such as? ready for it? Culture Club! Other successful UK acts at the time included Human League, Madness, Duran Duran and the like. This time the invasion lasted much longer, really lasting until the end of the decade and featured far more original song releases than the 60s boom, when re-recordings of other artists releases featured heavily.

As ever with these books, the feature is well interspersed with a good flow of pictures, charts and lists of facts and figures.

***N
;o.1s section***

This section lists every number one single in chronological order, sub-sectioned into years. With each entry is included the date, artist and number of weeks spent at number one. It?s odd to see how the list gets longer and longer as the years progress? long gone the days when a record would climb the charts, peak and gracefully descend? will it get to number one this week? NUMBER 2!!! And who the hell is Joe Dolce Theatre? Flashbacks. Take a tablet.

If, like me, the first thing you would do is look up the number one single on the day you or a loved one was born? beware! The date listed is actually the end of the first week of a song?s tenure at the top, not, as I originally assumed, the date it hit number one. For me it made no difference? I will always have the pleasure of knowing that Wizzard reigned as I entered this mortal coil. My wife, on the other hand, has always hung her head in shame at the fact that she was greeted by Typically Tropical?s ?Barbados?. A quick explanation of the rules and her theme tune is now a falsetto voiced ditty by The Stylistics. It could be worse. How, I?m not overly certain.

***A-Z by artist***

This is the real meat and veg of the book ? every artist to have had anything in the UK chart is featured, with a brief description, chronological record of all their chart successes, highest chart position reached by each release and the number of weeks spent on chart.

As detailed in the Chart milestones section of the book, the chart has changed more often than Michael Jackson?s nose. What started off as a Top 12 is now a Top 75 and even if an act has achieved only one week in total, that being at number 75, it still gets a mention? isn?t that right Anthony Hopkins (yes the actor) who had a Ch
ristmas hit in 1986 with ?Distant Star?. It hit the dizzy heights of no.75 and was certainly a distant something by New Year 1987! Still, that?s one week more than Led Zeppelin!

Next to the odd song or two you might find one or more of a variety of symbols, referring to a key (featured on every page for those with a poor memory? O.S. maps take note) which informs us of records that topped the US charts, million sellers, straight in at no.1 etc. I remember the 5th edition having a special section devoted to records that entered the chart somewhere in the top 5. To list every such record and write a feature about it took up less than 2 pages? now a career can be finished upon failure to secure a top 5 entry as records usually enter at their peak in these days of mass publicity.

Back in ?85 I could often be found holed up in my bedroom reading by candlelight? not huddled over dirty mags like most lads my age. Oh no? swotting up on my Hit Singles facts and figures so I could catch my dad out the next day with a few choice questions, usually music of the 60s. So much so that when, in 1994, I met a lad at university who had had an obsession with the same book, neither of us could catch the other out. We both knew far too much about it for our own good and it was decided that the book can be too addictive. Fags and booze helped wean us off.

In this edition the A-Z by artist section is liberally interspersed with top 10 lists (Top 10 ?Scottish acts?, Top 10 ?most top 10 entries?, Top 10 top 10s!) and special features called ?The Story Behind The Song?. These are interesting 2 page features on the whys and wherefores of some of the most successful and popular UK hits.

***A-Z by song***

The final section simply lists all UK hits by title, with artist, yea
r of release and peak chart position in close attendance. No special features, but a great reference when you hear that song you love but never knew who sung it! Then it?s straight off down the record shop to promptly forget who it was again, but buy 5 more CDs anyway.

***Summary***

You may have guessed that I love this book ? it has been my bible in the past and still finds itself well thumbed on a regular basis. A new edition was released in May, featuring all the albums ever released as well for the same price! There have been album versions of the book before, but never have the two been combined before.

***Web-site***

www.britishhitsingles.com is a nice site to wile away a while, while wiling away a while on the computer. To do it justice would require another review, so I?ll just say take a look. Or not. Please.

***Stuff***

Cost: £15.99, although I?ve never seen it at that price. I got mine for less than a tenner in a high-street shop and it is regularly featured by such as The Book People.

ISBN: 0-85112-190-X
Capital letters courtesy of: http://www.chuckleweb.co.uk/fixit.php

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