Ambiorix Top 40 – 1975-10

Back to the old routine! October ’75 delivers a classic-rock top 3 of the highest order: Roxy Music’s Love Is the Drug(#1) takes the crown! Pink Floyd continues to float along for several more months with extracts from Wish You Were Here(#2). As for Bohemian Rhapsody (#3), I honestly didn’t know what to do with it! Where do you place such a historic unicorn of a creation?

The entire list, by the way, radiates musical testosterone! No fewer than 19 muscular rock acts make their mark this month: besides Roxy Music and Queen, the following darlings also belong to that group — Television, ELO, Springsteen, Rainbow, Scorpions, Rory Gallagher, Alice Cooper, Nektar, Strange Days, Deep Purple, Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Dan McCafferty, Birth Control, Frankie Miller, Ronnie Dio, Heavy Metal Kids, and Amon Düül II.

The contrast with the three Dutch acts that washed ashore here could not be greater. Woolly-sock folkiness and related sentiment abound with Fungus (#21), Alexander Curly (#25), and Conny Vandenbos (#40).

All things considered, the number of tracks that managed to climb national and/or foreign charts this month is not too bad: 11 in total — Roxy Music, Queen, ELO, Murray Head, Steeleye Span, Hot Chocolate, Simon & Garfunkel, T. Rex, Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Stretch, and Conny Vandenbos!

Most promising release of the month: Little Johnny Jewel (#6) by Television! Tom Verlaine and Richard Hell had already been busy reshaping the USA for a few years, paving the way for what, from late ’76 onward, would blossom into the American New Wave and Art-Punk movement that would breathe new life into the entire music world. Together with Patti Smith and the New York Dolls, they were at the cradle of the B-52’s, Talking Heads, Ramones, and more fine folks who will soon be taking the reins here!

Can’t hardly wait!!!

(Jan VH)

Playlist

1. Roxy Music – Love Is the Drug
2. Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here
3. Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody
4. Kris De Bruyne – ’s Nachts Als Het Donker Is
5. Kandahar – The Day I Came to Life
6. Television – Little Johnny Jewel
7. The Kinks – Underneath the Neon Sign
8. Electric Light Orchestra – Evil Woman
9. Murray Head – Say It Ain’t So Joe
10. Steeleye Span – All Around My Hat
11. Raymond van het Groenewoud – Bierfeestens (Als Ik Dit Maar Heb)
12. Van der Graaf Generator – The Undercover Man
13. Hot Chocolate – You Sexy Thing
14. Bruce Springsteen – Night
15. Rainbow – Catch the Rainbow
16. Scorpions – In Trance
17. Rory Gallagher – Out on the Western Plain
18. Alice Cooper – Welcome to My Nightmare
19. Nektar – It’s All Over
20. Strange Days – Joe Soap
21. Fungus – Een Boer Ging Naar de Wei
22. Simon & Garfunkel – My Little Town
23. Deep Purple – Lady Luck
24. T. Rex Disco Party – Dreamy Lady / Do You Wanna Dance / Dock of the Bay
25. Alexander Curly – Ben Jij Dat Moder?
26. Neil Young – Tired Eyes
27. Sensational Alex Harvey Band – Delilah
28. Christy Moore – One Last Cold Kiss
29. Bob Dylan & The Band – Million Dollar Bash
30. Dan McCafferty (Nazareth) – Cinnamon Girl
31. Birth Control – Gamma Ray Part I
32. Strawbs – The Golden Salamander
33. Frankie Miller – Ain’t Got No Money
34. Barclay James Harvest – Hymn for the Children
35. Ronnie Dio (Roger Glover’s Butterfly Ball) – Sitting in a Dream
36. Dave Mason – Crying Waiting Hoping
37. Howard Werth & Moonbeams – Midnight Flyer
38. Stretch – Why Did You Do It?
39. Heavy Metal Kids – Ain’t Nothing but a Houseparty
40. Conny Vandenbos – Sjakie van de Hoek

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