By Jan 
For the first time ever, half of the tracks in the top 10 are by “broad-minded” artists (Frank Zappa, Blondie, The Damned, Ramones and Patti Smith)! Not that the other five are “narrow-minded” bastards (Harry Chapin, Bob Seger, J.J. Cale, ELO and Al Stewart), but musically they draw from a completely different well, if you know what I mean!
Following the American and Australian onslaught of The Ramones, Blondie and The Saints, The Damned have made history by beating all the other major British punk bands (Sex Pistols, Clash, Buzzcocks …) to the punch, becoming the first bona fide punk band to unleash their debut single on an unsuspecting public in October 1976!
For the first time in a long while, there are more than enough contenders for a place in the top 10! Tracks #11 through #16also have a legitimate claim. October is, after all, a month when many artists try to boost their year-end sales! So, in that respect, little has changed over the past 50 years.
Back to the top: #1, “The Torture Never Stops” from Zoot Allures, never gets boring for any straight- or crooked-minded male, and quite possibly female, fellow human being! Where pleasure borders on pain, and vice versa! Nine minutes and 52 seconds of sheer, masterful stalemate in that department!
And what better way to follow up such an ordeal in second place than with #2, “In the Flesh” by Blondie? Their debut album is also due to arrive before the year is out. We look forward to drowning in it in 1977, sometimes gently, sometimes kicking and struggling!
Harry Chapin, with the title track from his album On the Road to Kingdom Come, at #3, is the odd one out in this month’s top 10! Not even five years later, in the summer of 1981, the incomparable troubadour will die prematurely in a road accident! He will be just 38 years old, but he is an absolute master at weaving compelling short stories into conventional songs lasting around four to five minutes. Next month, another such song will come along, one that, half a century later, still tugs at my heartstrings!
Flanders still rules supreme: four outstanding musical gems! Bert De Coninck and Jean-Jacques Rousseau with “De Stinkende Regen” (#11) from Enfant Terrible; “Mijn Mansarde” (#23) by Wannes Van De Velde, from Ne Zanger Is Een Groep, which, sadly, was never released as a single. A little further down the list, we find the comeback single of Ivan Heylen at the time. With “De Beeste” (#28), he is clearly keen to hitch his wagon to “De Werkmens” from 1973. “Niemand Weet” (#32) from Jus D’Orange by the class act Lieven completes the line-up of homegrown Belpop tunes that did Flanders proud in October 1976.
The overwhelming American contribution has not gone unnoticed this month: 18 entries compared with 13 British ones. It is rare to see such a commanding lead!
(Jan VH)
Playlist
1 – Frank Zappa – The Torture Never Stops
2 – Blondie – In the Flesh
3 – Harry Chapin – On the Road to Kingdom Come
4 – Bob Seger – Mainstreet
5 – Damned – New Rose
6 – J.J. Cale – Cocaine
7 – Electric Light Orchestra – Livin’ Thing
8 – Ramones – I Don’t Wanna Walk Around with You
9 – Al Stewart – Year of the Cat
10 – Patti Smith – Pissing in a River
11 – Bert De Coninck & Jean-Jacques Rousseau – De Stinkende Regen
12 – Van der Graaf Generator – Wondering
13 – Robin Trower – Long Misty Days
14 – Lewis Furey – Top Ten Sexes
15 – Lou Reed – Banging on My Drum
16 – Warren Zevon – I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead
17 – Doctors of Madness – Suicide City
18 – Santana – Europa (Earth’s Cry, Heaven’s Smile)
19 – Simplistisch Verbond – The Lesson
20 – David Laflamme – White Bird
21 – Bryan Ferry – It’s Only Love
22 – Graham Parker & The Rumour – Don’t Ask Me Questions
23 – Wannes Van de Velde – Mijn Mansarde
24 – Pere Ubu – Street Waves
25 – Greg Kihn – Why Don’t You Love Me
26 – Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel – Love’s a Prima Donna
27 – Eloy – The Sun-Song
28 – Ivan Heylen – De Beeste
29 – Tangerine Dream – Stratosfear
30 – Be-Bop Deluxe – Orphans of Babylon
31 – Artful Dodger – Remember
32 – Lieven – Niemand Weet
33 – Mary MacGregor – Torn Between Two Lovers
34 – Tom Waits – The Piano Has Been Drinking
35 – Hall & Oates – Rich Girl
36 – Barclay James Harvest – Rock’n’Roll Star
37 – Robert Palmer – Man Smart, Woman Smarter
38 – Gruppo Sportivo – Out There in the Jungle
39 – Stevie Wonder – Pastime Paradise
40 – Eddie & The Hot Rods – Teenage Depression