Just bouncing off this, until SoundScan began to be used in the early 90s, the charts were always politics and guesswork. Nobody knew precisely how many copies of a record were sold that past week or how many times it was played on the radio—the two criteria for chart positions (jukebox plays might have been involved, too; can't recall). It was only when SoundScan came along and you could have instant reporting of sales that data became firmer. That was also when, to the industry's shock, there was clear evidence that suburban white kids actually bought a lot of hip hop and led the business to invest more resources into a genre that was regarded as a novelty for black kids.
edit: I'm speaking of the American context here. I expect the same thing was more or less was at work in the UK.
More or less the same I'd say. Until mid 80s it was all done manually, certain sample stores would simply note down individual sales and then mail them to the chart compilers at the end of the week. I think wally worked in one of these stores for a while and often attested as to how easy it was to do some creative accounting. Then it was all computerised leading, supposedly, to no hyping of the charts anymore!
Yeah, reliance on charts is about a shared agreement over sketchy evidence. It’s bad enough to confuse quantity (sales) with quality (music), but even the quantity side is questionable. Which is why chart position is always such a weak basis for a music argument.
Thats undoubtedly true, for all I religiously followed them up to the mid 80s, and given how dramatically chart position and totp could boost real sales, it's easy to see how open to corruption it could be. Brass in Pocket is one song i recall to have allegedly received a helpful "boost" and I can imagine there being many many more.
Timing of the release. Then getting people to go into chart return shops to buy up all available copies. But with God Save the Queen it would've outsold Rod Stewart on presales alone.
It was a record that scared the establishment and they were not having those nasty punks ruining their Jubilee celebrations. But really if it had only got to number 10 it was still job done. Beautiful rock n roll record.
I remember Paul Heaton alleging that Caravan of Love had been deliberately kept off the xmas No.1 slot because he'd been an outspoken Thatcher critic. Whether there's any truth in that, I've no problem believing or at least suspecting political interference when it came to GSTQ.
According to some reports, the BMRB, who compiled the chart, brought in a rule where shops selling their own records wouldn't count for chart purposes for the duration of the songs stay in the charts. So all Virgin store sales were discounted which i imagine would have counted for quite a few.
According to some reports, the BMRB, who compiled the chart, brought in a rule where shops selling their own records wouldn't count for chart purposes for the duration of the songs stay in the charts. So all Virgin store sales were discounted which i imagine would have counted for quite a few.
That's the explanation I've seen most often, that Virgin shops couldn't be trusted to give accurate reports because of their conflict of interest, so they were excluded altogether. I'm guessing that objection lasted exactly one week and then it was business as usual going forward.
"Grab some wood, bub.'" - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft
According to some reports, the BMRB, who compiled the chart, brought in a rule where shops selling their own records wouldn't count for chart purposes for the duration of the songs stay in the charts. So all Virgin store sales were discounted which i imagine would have counted for quite a few.
That's the explanation I've seen most often, that Virgin shops couldn't be trusted to give accurate reports because of their conflict of interest, so they were excluded altogether. I'm guessing that objection lasted exactly one week and then it was business as usual going forward.
Richard Branson claimed they sold over double the amount that the alleged official figure claimed.
That May you could hear the song blaring out of houses everywhere. It was everywhere.... but I don't want to talk about it.
Forces have been looting
My humanity
Curfews have been curbing
The end of liberty
We're the flowers in the dustbin...
No fuchsias for you.
According to some reports, the BMRB, who compiled the chart, brought in a rule where shops selling their own records wouldn't count for chart purposes for the duration of the songs stay in the charts. So all Virgin store sales were discounted which i imagine would have counted for quite a few.
That's the explanation I've seen most often, that Virgin shops couldn't be trusted to give accurate reports because of their conflict of interest, so they were excluded altogether. I'm guessing that objection lasted exactly one week and then it was business as usual going forward.
Richard Branson claimed they sold over double the amount that the alleged official figure claimed.
That May you could hear the song blaring out of houses everywhere. It was everywhere.... but I don't want to talk about it.
Yeah, let's talk about Rod Stewart! I'll start: I fucking hate Rod Stewart!
"Grab some wood, bub.'" - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft
According to some reports, the BMRB, who compiled the chart, brought in a rule where shops selling their own records wouldn't count for chart purposes for the duration of the songs stay in the charts. So all Virgin store sales were discounted which i imagine would have counted for quite a few.
That's the explanation I've seen most often, that Virgin shops couldn't be trusted to give accurate reports because of their conflict of interest, so they were excluded altogether. I'm guessing that objection lasted exactly one week and then it was business as usual going forward.
Richard Branson claimed they sold over double the amount that the alleged official figure claimed.
That May you could hear the song blaring out of houses everywhere. It was everywhere.... but I don't want to talk about it.
Yeah, let's talk about Rod Stewart! I'll start: I fucking hate Rod Stewart!
According to some reports, the BMRB, who compiled the chart, brought in a rule where shops selling their own records wouldn't count for chart purposes for the duration of the songs stay in the charts. So all Virgin store sales were discounted which i imagine would have counted for quite a few.
That's the explanation I've seen most often, that Virgin shops couldn't be trusted to give accurate reports because of their conflict of interest, so they were excluded altogether. I'm guessing that objection lasted exactly one week and then it was business as usual going forward.
Richard Branson claimed they sold over double the amount that the alleged official figure claimed.
That May you could hear the song blaring out of houses everywhere. It was everywhere.... but I don't want to talk about it.
Yeah, let's talk about Rod Stewart! I'll start: I fucking hate Rod Stewart!
So you don't think he's sexy?
"Grab some wood, bub.'" - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft
That's the explanation I've seen most often, that Virgin shops couldn't be trusted to give accurate reports because of their conflict of interest, so they were excluded altogether. I'm guessing that objection lasted exactly one week and then it was business as usual going forward.
Richard Branson claimed they sold over double the amount that the alleged official figure claimed.
That May you could hear the song blaring out of houses everywhere. It was everywhere.... but I don't want to talk about it.
Yeah, let's talk about Rod Stewart! I'll start: I fucking hate Rod Stewart!
So you don't think he's sexy?
Handbags and gladrags. Rod you just don't wear it well.
Forces have been looting
My humanity
Curfews have been curbing
The end of liberty
We're the flowers in the dustbin...
No fuchsias for you.
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle - you can raise the dead
"I've got to tell the world this. Everyone presumes that I'm against the royal family as human beings, I'm not. I'm actually really, really proud of the queen for surviving and doing so well," said Lydon, while also raising his hand to his brow with a salute. "I applaud her for that and that's a fantastic achievement. I'm not a curmudgeon about that."
That said, he defended his stance within the song, stating, "I just think that if I'm paying my tax money to support this system I should have a say so in how it's spent."
The Queen is currently 96 years old and has had some health issues of late, including a battle with COVID. As for what that means in terms of the Royal Family's future, Lydon offered, "I think it's possibly the end of the monarchy because Prince Charles is not going to be able to handle it. This is the man who plays Pink Floyd to his cabbages."
He adds, "That's a shame too, cause I do love pageantry. I'm a football fan, how could I not? I like watching royal weddings because I love watching spitfires and B-52s and the like flying over the palace. I get quite emotional with all that. I love me country, I love me people and everything about it, but if there's problems in it, I think I have the right to say so."
"Grab some wood, bub.'" - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft
"I've got to tell the world this. Everyone presumes that I'm against the royal family as human beings, I'm not. I'm actually really, really proud of the queen for surviving and doing so well," said Lydon, while also raising his hand to his brow with a salute. "I applaud her for that and that's a fantastic achievement. I'm not a curmudgeon about that."
That said, he defended his stance within the song, stating, "I just think that if I'm paying my tax money to support this system I should have a say so in how it's spent."
The Queen is currently 96 years old and has had some health issues of late, including a battle with COVID. As for what that means in terms of the Royal Family's future, Lydon offered, "I think it's possibly the end of the monarchy because Prince Charles is not going to be able to handle it. This is the man who plays Pink Floyd to his cabbages."
He adds, "That's a shame too, cause I do love pageantry. I'm a football fan, how could I not? I like watching royal weddings because I love watching spitfires and B-52s and the like flying over the palace. I get quite emotional with all that. I love me country, I love me people and everything about it, but if there's problems in it, I think I have the right to say so."
"It" made "you" a moron.
Forces have been looting
My humanity
Curfews have been curbing
The end of liberty
We're the flowers in the dustbin...
No fuchsias for you.
Live long enough to become a villain, and so forth.
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle - you can raise the dead
