Yesterday Once More

18 Aug 2015

1979

Hi Listeners

1979 – when Margaret Thatcher was elected Britain’s new Prime Minster and Malcolm Fraser was in his second term as Prime Minister of Australia. It was the year of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident in the USA and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

In local entertainment ,’Prisoner’ made its debut on the 0-10 Network. Musically, it was a another transition year. The top song of 1979 in Australia was Racey’s ‘Lay Your Love On Me’. But the year did produce some perennial favourites such as the Village People’s campy ‘YMCA’ and Gloria Gaynor’s anthem of resilience ‘I Will Survive’.

In Australia we were ‘blessed’ with Little River Band (Lady) and the jingoistic ‘C’mon Aussie C’mon’. With the advent of ‘Prisoner’, Lynne Hamilton cashed in with the title song ‘On The Inside’.

Electronic instruments were starting to be used in pop music. These can be heard in the inventive ‘Computer Games’ by Mi-Sex and ‘Pop Muzik’ from M. Catching the imagination too were the video clips from Ami Stewart’s big song ‘Knock On Wood’ and the crazy antics of French singer Plastic Bertrand with ‘Ca Plane Pour Moir’ – an unlikely hit for this year.

Kate Ceberano and her group ‘I’m Talking’ produced a knockout version of ‘Love Don’t Live Here Any More’ which even today rivals Madonna’s later version of the same song.

Overall, an interesting blend of straight pop and invention with Australian music featuring strongly on the charts.

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