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Oddest #1 Albums

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    Oddest #1 Albums

    I'll accept #1 in the UK or US album charts.

    Not necessarily odd per se; rather unusual, challenging, unexpected or non-mainstream.

    • There's a Riot Goin' On
    • Kid A
    • Dark Side of the Moon


    #2
    Tubular Bells

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      #3
      A Max Boyce live LP topped the charts for a week in 1975

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        #4
        Originally posted by Stumpy Pepys View Post
        I'll accept #1 in the UK or US album charts.

        Not necessarily odd per se; rather unusual, challenging, unexpected or non-mainstream.

        • There's a Riot Goin' On
        • Kid A
        • Dark Side of the Moon

        These were all from well-established (and platinum-selling) artists, although I'd agree that in the main they were unexpected, or un-commercial. Nirvana's third might also fit this sub-category - an album of Ikea instructions translated into Welsh wouldn't have pissed Geffen off any more than In Utero, tbh. (Yet it still sold fifteen million copies worldwide.)

        I'm liking George's example (in terms of this thread, anyway): in the days that such things could happen (to coin one of my go-to phrases), We All Had Doctors' Papers - for it was that - was nonetheless the only comedy* album ever to have topped the UK charts. It was a time that Billy Connolly, Jasper Carrott and The Goodies were all scoring major hit singles, however, so there was clearly something of a wave.

        I was fairly surprised when Dr Feelgood's Stupidity went to number one in 1976, because that absolutely felt at odds with all the rawk giants or TV-advertised 'greatest hits' compilations usually hogging the summit at that time. We then had to wait a further year until another of 'our' bands held the top spot (Sex Pistols, obviously).

        *Term used advisedly.

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          #5
          I didn't realise Scott 2 reached number one in the UK.

          From Make it Easy on Yourself to Next is something of a musical leap.

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            #6
            Re Pink Floyd, "Atom Heart Mother" made no.1 for a week in 1970 and was a far more unlikely no. 1 than "Dark Side of The Moon" given it's content. ("Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" for example, basically a recording of one of Floyds's roadies cooking bacon and eggs).

            Neil Reid's Seminal* self-titled album was No.1 for three weeks in 1972. (chorus of "Who?" from people who weren't around in 72 and probably from quite a few who were.)

            *In the sense that it was a load of wank.

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              #7
              It was a time that Billy Connolly, Jasper Carrott and The Goodies were all scoring major hit singles, however, so there was clearly something of a wave.
              I can't be the only person who, while watching Channel 4 news, bursts into "Ooh-ooh-ooh Gary Gibbon!"

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                #8
                Originally posted by wittoner View Post
                Neil Reid's seminal* self-titled album was No.1 for three weeks in 1972. (chorus of "Who?" from people who weren't around in 72 and probably from quite a few who were.)
                I wasn't, but yes you can add me to that chorus. I've been obsessed by chart minutiae since around 1993 and genuinely never heard of the guy until now, which is quite disconcerting.

                Looking him up, I see he was a child star who had only a brief singing career, so this makes more sense – yet I'd have thought I'd have at least heard of the youngest act (12 years, 9 months) ever to top the UK albums chart, as a piece of trivia if nothing else, but no. That's quite amazing. Knocked T-Rex's Electric Warrior off the Number One spot, and was in turn deposed by Neil Young's Harvest.

                Speaking of chart stats, does that make 'Neil' the least rock 'n' roll name ever to be held by two consecutive chart-toppers?

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by Reginald Christ
                  I think a lot of those copies were sold after Cobain's death, though. Before that, it had only ("only") sold about a third of Nevermind's total at the time.
                  Nevermind had shifted twenty million or so by then, so I'm assuming that In Utero would've done at least a quarter of that following its release.

                  Originally posted by wittoner View Post
                  Neil Reid's Seminal* self-titled album was No.1 for three weeks in 1972. (chorus of "Who?" from people who weren't around in 72 and probably from quite a few who were.)

                  *In the sense that it was a load of wank.
                  I don't think he'd even reached that stage yet, tbh. But sherioushly folksh, yer grannies were lapping up all that New Faces mawk - Peters & Lee went gold just a year or so later, don't forget. And kids in suits were a seller, make no mistake about that.

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                    #10
                    At the end of August and start of September 2001, the number one albums in the UK were by Staind and then Slipknot.

                    For some reason the British record-buying public suddenly found a taste for this sort of thing:



                    Last edited by Kevin S; 12-10-2018, 12:09.

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by Various Artist View Post
                      Speaking of chart stats, does that make 'Neil' the least rock 'n' roll name ever to be held by two consecutive chart-toppers?
                      Messrs Diamond and Sedaka were also doing a bit of trade at the time.

                      I'd vote for 'Ian' myself - it seems such an un-rock 'n' roll name all round. 'Ian Brown' isn't a bloody pop star, he's the new kid in Remove B who smells a bit but can get you fags from his dad's shop.

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                        #12
                        At the end of August and start of September 2001, the number one albums in the UK were by Staind and then Slipknot.
                        There was a brief window around that period for the type of US rock acts which normally wouldn't have translated so well in the UK getting reasonable chart action and visibility. I guess the Nu-Metal thing helped break the door down, even if some bands weren't actually part of it. Normal service resumed soon enough thankfully.


                        Ray Conniff in 1969 sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the Dylan, Jethro Tull and Blind Faith LP's as well. Surely his heyday had been in the late 50's/early 60's?
                        Last edited by George; 12-10-2018, 12:16.

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                          #13
                          Slim Whitman had a number 1 album in, I think, 1976.

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by adams house cat View Post
                            Slim Whitman had a number 1 album in, I think, 1976.
                            But you'd expect that. I'm sure Jim Reeves and Kenny Rogers are also there and thereabouts.

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by Jah Womble View Post
                              I'd vote for 'Ian' myself - it seems such an un-rock 'n' roll name all round. 'Ian Brown' isn't a bloody pop star, he's the new kid in Remove B who smells a bit but can get you fags from his dad's shop.
                              Quite a lot of rock'n'roll Ians though. Gillan, Anderson, Curtis, Brown, Broudie, Astbury, Dury, Hunter, McCulloch …

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                                #16
                                ...MacNab, Mackaye, McLagan, Matthews, Paice, loads of 'em. Doesn't make the name any more rock 'n' roll, though.

                                Take it from Lemmy, who of course ditched it as a stage name.

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                                  #17
                                  The Orb's UF Orb got to number one in 1992.

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                                    #18
                                    Originally posted by Felicity, I guess so View Post
                                    Tubular Bells
                                    Strange bit of chart trivia here: not only is Mike Oldfield one of the few people to depose themselves (sorry for the terminology Jah) from the top of the album charts, but it's his debut album – i.e. Tubular Bells – that got there second. A full year after its summer 1973 release it climbed to a new high of number 2, stayed there for seven weeks behind Band On The Run, then the week it finally overtook the Wings album it was still kept off the top spot by a new entry... from his own second album Hergest Ridge. Three weeks later Bells at last reached Number One by knocking Ridge off the, er, summit.


                                    Originally posted by adams house cat View Post
                                    Slim Whitman had a number 1 album in, I think, 1976.
                                    And in 1977 – a different one, I mean. The more you look, the odder it gets: exactly one year before the Sex Pistols hit the top, the summit was held by Bert "Play In A Day" Weedon's 20 Golden Guitar Greats. It's fair to say that before NMTB's moment in the sun the '77 albums chart was not exactly contemporary nor 'punk'-looking, with the likes of Sinatra, the Shadows, Connie Francis, Johnny Mathis and the Muppets also preceding the Pistols to Number One.

                                    It's fair to say that a portion of late 1975's albums charts was not ruled by contemporary rock, pop or soul, either. Max Boyce, already noted in this thread, knocked Jim Reeves off the top and was supplanted in turn by Perry Como. A Night At The Opera arrived by the end of the year, but then still had to duel with Como and Roy Orbison for the top spot in early '76 before they were all swept aside by a six-week reign for Whitman – who, as it turned out, was only just getting warmed up.

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                                      #19
                                      I suspect most, if not all of those Country and MOR chart toppers aimed at the middle aged market in 75/76 were budget releases. The Burt Weedon and Perry Como LP's almost certainly would have been seeing they were on Warwick and K-Tel respectively. The UK (indeed most of the West) was coming out of a bad recession with inflation still high so I wonder if the economic picture was a factor in the success of these releases? More bang for yer buck?

                                      Didn't a lot of them have heavy ''As seen on TV'' advertising campaigns as well?
                                      Last edited by George; 12-10-2018, 17:51.

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                                        #20
                                        Indeed, as I mentioned upthread - my memory of commercial breaks around 1976-77 has them littered with Cliff, Shadows or Hollies 'best-ofs'. Some of these would've been budget titles, yes, which skewed the chart somewhat - and of course led to a separate listing for compilations.

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                                          #21
                                          Originally posted by Various Artist View Post
                                          (sorry for the terminology Jah)
                                          Ha - at least you're thinking about it!

                                          Good fact re Mike Oldfield, btw.

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                                            #22
                                            Ian Brown is a popstar in my eyes.

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                                              #23
                                              The Defamation of Strickland Banks by Plan B.

                                              Anything Bowie did in the very early 70's (if it got to Number 1, which with hindsight, is pretty unlikely).

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                                                #24
                                                Originally posted by Stumpy Pepys View Post
                                                But you'd expect that. I'm sure Jim Reeves and Kenny Rogers are also there and thereabouts.
                                                My Dad had a Slim Whitman LP which had a song called "Happy Anniversary" on it. I always remember him playing this song every year on their wedding anniversary. Jim Reeves was a big favourite of my mum.

                                                There, bet you're glad to know that.

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                                                  #25
                                                  I think it's often overlooked in the UK just how popular country music (or at the very least some major country acts) was with that generation.
                                                  Last edited by George; 13-10-2018, 15:20.

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