I Think I Love You: 1970s Teen Pop

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Such pop music dynasties as The Osmonds, The Jacksons and the Cassidy’s may be synonymous with 1970s teen pop, but so are a handful of other entities – some better known than others.  From entries on outright obscure acts such as Taxi and Shorty, to accounts on more recognized performers like the Bay City Rollers, Davy Jones, and Andy Gibb – it’s all covered herein. 

Hannes A. Jonsson has assessed more than 30 musically diverse artists from the 1970s who can all – purposefully or not – be accused of having been squarely aimed at the notoriously fickle teen market.  Consequently, many a career was cruelly cut short once its target audience came of age and moved on.  After all, longevity in the music business is extremely difficult to achieve and yet harder to maintain and is only awarded to a precious few via a combination of luck, perseverance, and, of course, talent.  And teen idols, by their very nature, are deemed disposable once their core audience outgrows them.

Therefore, some of the stories told here are ruefully similar in that they often abruptly reach its conclusion somewhat prematurely.  Nonetheless, these are tales that had to be told seeing since some of them really haven’t been heard before or have been unfairly overlooked since their subjects may lack a certain coolness factor.  However, once upon a time most of these acts were forces to be reckoned with and were near and dear to many.   

 

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*****

Contents:

 

Foreword

 

1.     The family that plays together:

 

The Osmonds

The Jackson 5

The DeFranco Family

Andy & David Williams; The Williams Brothers

Hudson Brothers

 

2.     The heartthrobs:

 

Bobby Sherman

Davy Jones

David Cassidy

Rick Springfield

Shaun Cassidy

Leif Garrett

Andy Gibb

 

3.     Meanwhile, back in Britain:

 

David Essex

The James Boys

Bay City Rollers

Hello

Kenny (and Kenny)

Slik

Arrows

Rosetta Stone

Taxi

Dead End Kids

Child

 

4.     Big in Japan:

 

Buster

Flintlock

Shorty

 

5.     Big in Europe:

 

Mabel

The Teens

 

6.     Movers and shakers:

The King of UK: Ricky Wilde, Simon Turner, Brendon

            Martin & Coulter

            Chinnichap: Sweet, Suzi Quatro, Mud, Smokie, etc.

            Michael Lloyd

 

            Source materials

           

SWEET Top 10

Arguably one of the greatest singles act of the 1970s, (The) Sweet racked up no less than 16 UK hits between 1971 and 1978. And although they reached the pole position only once – with 1973’s mercurial Blockbuster – they, impressively, five separate times hit no. 2.
Always something of a schizophrenic proposition, on one hand, a bubblegummy glam act while on the other a bona fide hard rock band, Sweet was never what one might call a critics favourite.  Although all four of them – Brian Connolly (Vocals), Andy Scott (Guitar), Steve Priest (Bass) and Mick Tucker (Drums) – were clearly excellent musicians, they were more often than not perceived merely as a vehicle for the songwriting talents of Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn (AKA Chinnichap) – not unlike the duo’s other high profile clients: Mud, Suzi Quatro and Smokie.
Time has been kind to Sweet though. Nowadays they seem to be viewed not that harshly, musically at least. Even though the often over the top visual appearance and image might predictably still warrant the odd ridicule, the music itself rarely does now.
Pre-Chinnichap, during the late ‘60s, The Sweet recorded a few unspectacular and unsuccessful singles here and there, but by 1971 had teamed up with Chinn & Chapman and began to churn out sticky bubblegum like Funny Funny and Co-Co. At first, apart from merely providing vocals to the proceedings, the band had precious little to do with the hits. The B-sides, though, were always real opportunities for the group to show their harder rocking tendencies.
It wasn’t until the somewhat risqué Little Willy, the fifth Chinnichap Sweet single, the band actually supplied instrumental backing to the A-side.  1975’s Fox on The Run was their first self-penned & produced single and, although one of their best and universally most successful, in hindsight it also signaled the beginning of the end for the band.
By 1978 singer Brian Connolly had left Sweet and they never enjoyed another big hit after that year’s excellent Love Is Like Oxygen.
For fun, I’ve selected my Top 10 of Sweet’s singles and listed them here below with the oblibigatory links to YouTube videos.  If so inclined, feel free to do the same in the comments section below, although I doubt the YouTube thing will work there.
Here goes…

No. 10:  Little Willy (1972)

No. 9:  Wig-Wam Bam (1972)

No. 8:  Lies in Your Eyes (1976)

No. 7:  Action (1975)

No. 6:  The Ballroom Blitz (1973)

No. 5:  Blockbuster (1973)

No. 4:  Teenage Rampage (1974)

No. 3:  Fox On The Run (1975)

No. 2:  Love Is Like Oxygen (1978)

No. 1:  The Six Teens (1974)

Classic '70s Teenpop album: The Sweet/"Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be" (1971)



It's an indisputable fact that The Sweet always sold more singles than they did albums.  That is not to say their long players weren't up to scratch.  Far from it, since both "Sweet Fanny Adams" (incredibly enough their only L.P. to trouble the U.K. charts, not counting "Best of" compilations) and "Desolation Boulevard" are quintessential mid '70s rock albums - IMHO as good as anything either Purple or Zeppelin ever did.  Nonetheless, the band will always be best remembered for their impressive run of classic pop-glam 45's, a la "Ballroom Blitz", "Blockbuster", "The Six Teens", "Fox on the Run", et al.

Semi-conspicuously absent from the above rundown is the hidden gem that is The Sweet's debut album, "Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be", from 1971.  In essence a bubblegum record, it's a curious mix of the band's first hits ("Funny Funny" and "Co Co" - both Nicky Chinn/Mike Chapman originals), covers of '60s pop classics (Lovin' Spoonful's "Daydream", The Supremes' "Reflections"), some more Chinnichap filler ("Chop Chop", "Tom Tom Turnaround" - the latter originally a hit for New World), as well as some early band compositions ("Santa Monica Sunshine", "Spotlight").

About a year ago the Cherry Red Records imprint 7T's issued a double deluxe version of the album, including seventeen bonus tracks.  Among which are early hits "Alexander Graham Bell", "Poppa Joe", "Wig Wam Bam", and "Little Willy", single B-sides, and, on disc 2, the earliest non-charting Sweet singles starting with 1968's "Slow Motion" and concluding with 1970's "Get on the Line" (an Archies cover, no less).  A year later The Sweet's fate was sealed after they were taken on by the Chinnichap songwriting team, a veritable hit machine, and as a result, enjoyed their first taste of chart success with "Funny Funny".  And the rest is, as they are prone to say, history.



The entire "Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be" episode is a true testament to the earliest - and lightest - side of The Sweet; a period the band later often went to great lengths to distance themselves from.  And perhaps understandably so; most of the time session musicians were used on the records and the band wasn't allowed to include too many of their original compositions, and when they were allowed to do so, the material all too often ended up as mere B-side fodder.  Truth be told though, Chinnichap had the magic touch, were indeed supplying the band with chart-making material which, as time went on, did get heavier - and, indeed, better. 
Still, "Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be" can easily be enjoyed as what it was probably always meant to be: a light, fluffy piece of bubblegum pop - or, quite simply put, a '70s teenpop classic.

 

The Sweet in all their glam rock glory, circa 1973.