The 20th of February 1974
Official U.K. Singles Chart results from Sunday the 17th to Saturday the 23rd of February 1974
Cut-off for sales figures was up to the end of Saturday the 16th of February
Results counted from Sunday the 17th,
published on Tuesday the 19th,
and broadcast on B.B.C. Radio 1 on Sunday the 24th of February 1974.
Golden Earring
Radar Love
At No.36, on the “The Top 50 U.K. Singles Chart”, the week of my 2nd Birthday, is Golden Earring with Radar Love.
The UK was not only…
…fully immersed in Glam Rock, but also Progressive Rock too; although the latter was mainly ensconced in the equivalent Album Chart.
With artists in that genre making music which had numerous tones, segues and feels on pieces which could run for a whole side of an LP record, there were a handful which would attempt to condense that idea and challenge themselves to fit something onto the side of a 7-inch, 45rpm single.
Queen will be one such band to achieve this successfully with Bohemian Rhapsody. However, before that leviathan of a single was even attempted, there came a track which has since been classed by many as the best driving song ever recorded.
Golden Earring,..
…were a Dutch group which started out in its embryonic phase, around 15 or so years before, as The Tornadoes, before they discovered there was already a group with that name.
In search of a new collective identity, they fell upon an instrumental tune entitled “Golden Earrings”, played by a popular British Shadow-esque type backing band they supported on tour called “The Hunters” around the late 1950’s and early 1960’s.
Initially putting a “The” at the beginning, to become “The Golden Earrings”, they soon dropped it again during the late 1960’s to “Golden Earrings”, and by the beginning of the 1970’s, had narrowed the name slightly further, to shift the context from plural to singular, becoming “Golden Earring”.
Although the band…
…were initially only successful in their home country, where a previous single of theirs entitled (and I’m not making this up) “Dong Dong Diki Diki Dong” got to No.1, it wasn’t until they got a little more progressive, that other territories began to take notice of them.
More rock influences were taken on, especially after touring the United States, which in turn began to evolve their next compositions, ultimately giving them a harder edge.
The single,..
…a condensed version of their epic suite, entered quietly into the UK Chart at the beginning of December 1973 at No.44, and climbed slowly up to the middle of the chart, where it would settle for the rest of that year.
It wouldn’t be until the first week of January this year, that interest cranked up considerably.
The single leapt up and crashed through into the Top 10, sitting first at no.9, before ascending another couple of places to reach a peak position of No.7; a place it would hold onto for three consecutive weeks until the end of that month.
The climb down would begin at the start of this month of February, slowly at first, before witnessing its biggest drop this week, from last week’s No.17.
From here,..
…there will be just one final week left, as it will drop out of the Top 40, before finally leaving the Top 50 altogether after the 2nd of March, with a solid tally of 13 weeks to show for it.
The “A” Side
The “B” Side
Golden Earring – Radar Love (Promotional Video)
Golden Earring – Just Like Vince Taylor (Alternative Version – 1973)
Golden Earring – Radar Love (Top of the Pops Appearance – 20th December 1973)
Golden Earring – Radar Love (Disco Studio Performance)
Golden Earring – Radar Love (The Midnight Special Performance – 5th July 1974)
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