The 20th of February 1975
Official UK Singles Chart results from Sunday the 16th to Saturday the 22nd of February 1975
Cut-off for sales figures was up to the end of Saturday the 15th of February
Results counted from Sunday the 16th,
published on Tuesday the 18th,
and broadcast on BBC Radio 1 on Sunday the 23rd of February 1975.
Kenny
The Bump
At No.21, on “The Top 50 UK Singles Chart”, the week of my 3rd Birthday, is Kenny with The Bump.
There’s a new dance…
…that is going around, and at this point it’s causing quite a sensation on the dancefloors, and reflecting itself in the charts. It’s also a single I remember, as my sister Susan, obviously caught up in the craze, went and purchased it at the time.
It’s funny how time can skew things when you’re so young. To me, she seemed really old; and when I say old, I mean like 15. Turns out she would have only been 12. But anyway, this was played quite a bit.
Listening to it now,..
…it seems like a type of song Gary Glitter would have killed for at this point in his pop career but, as I mentioned only a few places lower in this chart, this was a new wave of performers coming through and giving the UK pop world a more youthful buzz about it; and again it came from the RAK label which, along with Bell, seemed to be one of the two big rival labels in this type of scene. It’s not really in the Glam Rock feel anymore, not in the dress-sense anyway, but it was still carrying that heavy drum sound.
I clearly remember…
…the dance craze this created, which basically encouraged everyone to get together on the dance floor, swing their hips from side to side, and “bump” their bums to whoever was nearby, or to each other if you were pairing off. To see a little demonstration in action, just watch the footage I’ve planted below and you’ll get the idea.
The move (not the song) even made it into a scene in Starsky & Hutch a short while later; and if memory serves me correctly, it is the opening of the party scene at Hutch’s house in the episode The Deadly Imposter, but I could be wrong.
Anyway, the song, and dance, were both having the desired effect. For 3-year-old me, it all seemed like a bit of fun, and because of that, it enters into my little noddle as a track I’ll always have bumping around in there.
The single…
…had entered the chart back at the beginning of December last year in 1974 at No.37, and as the festive period got ever closer, so it gradually climbed slowly and steadily higher, where I’m sure it was probably starting to bump its way into house parties and discotheques by the time the new year celebrations for 1975 had begun.
As January began to bed in, so this song skyrocketed from No.21, all the way up to No.4, and by the following week, had gone up another notch to reach the Top 3, a position it would secure for the next three weeks until the end of that month.
As February comes around, so it gets knocked back a few places to No.7, but then recovered a little last week to clamber back a place to No.6, before taking a bigger hit back out of the Top 20 this week.
From here…
…it drops further to No.28, before it spends another week on the edge of the Top 40 at the beginning of March, but then drops even further, and then out of the chart altogether, during the middle of that month with 15 weeks in the chart to take with it; and a new dance trend taking it even further through the decade.
The “A” Side
The “B” Side
“The Bump” Rund TV appearance (1974)
“The Bump” Crackerjack appearance (January 1975)
“The Bump” Top of the Pops appearance (1975)
Many thanks go to the following YouTube Channels for providing the chance to hear this music, and watch the footage, once again.
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Grab Your Binoculars, Come Follow Me
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