bands who never had a uk no1

[the 12 th man]

the who.
i was astonished to find that they had 40 something hit singles but never a no 1.

i think the smiths were another

[thecorner]

the cure never had one either

[the 12 th man]

does anybody know about the "conspiracy" that kept the pistols from having one ?

[CollegeTillIDie]

does anybody know about the "conspiracy" that kept the pistols from having one ?

Yes they released " God Save The Queen" in the run up to the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977 and it was banned by the BBC, so no airplay or broadcasts on TV either including TOTP. Well Rod Stewart's " I Don't Want To Talk About It/ First Cut Is The Deepest" double A side had been number one since the tail end of May. And the company that ran the Charts at the time( Gallup,if I am not mistaken, under pressure from the authorities I think) just made sure it was no.1 for another week to prevent the Pistols topping the Charts with that song during the week that coincided with the Jubilee celebrations.
And of course the following week was not the week that Pistols enjoyed their sales peak . And so the song dropped down the charts.

Top Of The Pops did debut the promo film clip for the Pistols follow up
" Pretty Vacant" and Radio 1 did also play it often.


The Sex Pistols had the last laugh however. Their debut Album " Never Mind The B******s Here's The Sex Pistols" Was no. 1 in the album charts for over a month.

[Partizan]

Cant believe it that the likes of Westlife, Boyzone, The Venga Boys, Bros, Joe Dolce, Clive Dunn, Mr Blobby, Teletubbies, Rene & Renato have climed the top of the charts.......

The Ox is still spinning in his grave.

[razor]

the who.
i was astonished to find that they had 40 something hit singles but never a no 1.

i think the smiths were another

Sometimes not having something can be a good thing.

[the 12 th man]

Yes they released " God Save The Queen" in the run up to the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977 and it was banned by the BBC, so no airplay or broadcasts on TV either including TOTP. Well Rod Stewart's " I Don't Want To Talk About It/ First Cut Is The Deepest" double A side had been number one since the tail end of May. And the company that ran the Charts at the time( Gallup,if I am not mistaken, under pressure from the authorities I think) just made sure it was no.1 for another week to prevent the Pistols topping the Charts with that song during the week that coincided with the Jubilee celebrations.
And of course the following week was not the week that Pistols enjoyed their sales peak . And so the song dropped down the charts.

Top Of The Pops did debut the promo film clip for the Pistols follow up
" Pretty Vacant" and Radio 1 did also play it often.

thanks for that

[Macy]

The roses never had a UK Number 1.

Hard to compare, as the UK single market is tiny compared to what it was even 15 years ago.

[fosterdollar]

Have they not updated the system used for working out chart places to suit modern music industry? Only 7 and 8 year olds actually buy music singles. They might have done this already but heavier weight should be given to radio airplay and public requests. Still though, you're still gonna end up with poxy results cos people who phone in radio requests don't fall too far outside the demographic of those buying singles either.

Generally speaking, chart status means NADA

[sadloserkid]

Guns N'Roses never had a number one single in the UK either.

[pineapple stu]

Thin Lizzy are another. (Boomtown Rats were the first Irish band at no 1). Even the Lizzy album "Live and Dangerous", which is I think reckoned one of the best live albums around, was kept off by the Grease soundtrack!

Amazed at the Who though! Also think Bob Dylan's only number one was a song he wrote for Manfred Mann? (Mighty Quinn possibly?)

[Plastic man]

the who.
i was astonished to find that they had 40 something hit singles but never a no 1.

i think the smiths were another

The top 40 in the old Melody Maker magazine had The Who at number 1 with I'm a Boy!