Most of the songs had been released at the tail end of 1973, there was still a bit of a Christmas hangover with lingering hits from Slade, Wizzard and Steeleye Span but a couple of crowd pleasers had smashed their way into the top 10 the previous week, securing the top 2 on this day.
Trawling my collection, I found I conveniently had 10 of the 20 songs so here, in countdown style, is my selection in descending order to the #1 hit on 20th January 1974. Some real corkers, right from the opening bars of Mott The Hoople's Roll Away The Stone to the final pair of glam rock stompers at the end.
Most of these will have appeared in my parents' modest collection of K-Tel and Ronco compilations, played constantly (by me) when I was a kid, so a lot of them bring back very happy memories. I'd forgotten how leftfield David Essex singles could be! And nice to be reminded of time when I only knew Leo Sayer as performer of a few great pop songs rather than the monumental twit that he revealed himself to be in later years. And no, I don't consider The New Seekers to be a blip in this selection!
The above comics are from my collection. Though snapped many years ago and unread for even longer, they are still there boxed safely at home. I'd like to say I got them as a discerning 3-year old, but who got 16p pocket money a week back then?
I got both of these (and pretty much the whole run of Dracula Lives and Planet Of The Apes in one go) from a comic mart in Bath in the late 1980s, when I was a Marvel-obsessed teen. But a Marvel-obsessed teen with a job, so I had disposable income to fritter away. Very little value was placed on Marvel UK comics as they were essentially reprints of the original US issues so I managed to amass a collection with bulk purchases, mostly at or less than the original cover price.
Much as I enjoyed Spider-Man, The Hulk and The Fantastic Four, Dracula Lives and Planet Of The Apes were just completely bonkers in respect of content, story and art and I enjoyed reading and re-reading them for many years.
However, I'm at an age where I'm chilled at the thought of a possible house move and having to shift dozens of boxes of comics again. There's no "inheritance" - Lady K enjoys manga but little interest in super-heroes and why should she? - so maybe time for one last flick through before selling them on....?
Blimey, that brought the mood down! Let's stick the music on and lift those spirits again...!
1) Roll Away The Stone: Mott The Hoople (#18)
2) Lamplight: David Essex (#15)
3) Pool Hall Richard: Faces (#11)
4) Radar Love (Album Version): Golden Earring (#7)
5) My Coo-Ca-Choo: Alvin Stardust (#6)
6) You Won't Find Another Fool Like Me: The New Seekers (#5)
7) Dance With The Devil: Cozy Powell (#4)
8) The Show Must Go On: Leo Sayer (#3)
9) Teenage Rampage (Single Version): The Sweet (#2)
10) Tiger Feet: Mud (#1)
