So you've seen the pictures and read the odd page and remembered the times, but what else was happening?
To try to put the Mod movement into context for the time, I thought I could try and build a picture and a feel for 1979.
This will take a while and a little research. Maybe to give you an idea, here's a little list of what we may have heard on the radio.
1979 A Time To Remember
01. Sad Café - Every Day Hurts
02. The Jacksons - Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)
03. The Pointer Sisters - Fire
04. Electric Light Orchestra - Don't Bring Me Down
05. Spyro Gyra - Morning Dance
06. Linda Lewis - I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You
07. Secret Affair - Time For Action
08. New Musik - Straight Lines
09. Johnny Mathis - Gone, Gone, Gone
10. Cheap Trick - I Want You To Want Me
11. Dan Hartman - This Is It
12. The Dooleys - Wanted
13. The Isley Brothers - It's A Disco Night
14. Toto - Hold The Line
15. Evelyn King - I Don't Know If It's Right
16. John Cooper Clarke - Gimmix!
17. Judas Priest - Take On The World
18. Earth, Wind & Fire With The Emotions - Boogie Wonderland
19. The Charlie Daniels Band - The Devil Went Down To Georgia
20. The Three Degrees - My Simple Heart
Singles:
* Le Freak - Chic
* I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor
* Hot Stuff - Donna Summer
* Bad Girls - Donna Summer
* Good Times - Chic
* Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough - Michael Jackson
* YMCA - Village People
* After the Love Has Gone - Earth, Wind And Fire
* Boogie Wonderland - Earth Wind And Fire with The Emotions
* We Are Family - Sister Sledge
* Roll Over Beethoven (EP) - Chuck Berry
* Ain't No Stoppin' Us - McFadden & Whitehead
* Got To Be Real - Cheryl Lynn
* Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground) - Jacksons
* Money In My Pocket - Dennis Brown
Grammy awards:
* I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor
* After The Love Has Gone - Earth Wind And Fire
* Don't Stop Till You Get Enough - Michael Jackson
* Boogie Wonderland - Earth Wind And Fire
* Déjà Vu - Dionne Warwick
* I'll Never Love This Way Again - Dionne Warwick
Notable releases:
Albums:
* Risque - Chic
* Here My Dear - Marvin Gaye
* Off The Wall - Michael Jackson
I will add TV shows with clips when I find them.
January 1979
Monday 01:
Formal diplomatic relations are established between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America.
Tuesday 02:
Sid Vicious goes on trial for the murder of Nancy Spungen.
Sunday 07:
Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge are overthrown by Vietnamese troops.
Tuesday 16:
The Shah of Iran flees Iran with his family and relocates to Egypt.
» January 1979
February 1979
Thursday 08:
Denis Sassou-Nguesso became the President of the People?s Republic of the Congo for the first time.
Sunday 11:
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seizes power in Iran.
Tuesday 13:
The intense February 13, 1979 Windstorm strikes western Washington and sinks a 1/2-mile-long section of the Hood Canal Bridge
Wednesday 14:
In Kabul, Muslim extremists kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.
Saturday 17:
The Sino-Vietnamese War begins.
» February 1979
March 1979
Tuesday 13:
The New Jewel Movement, headed by Maurice Bishop, ousts Prime Minister Eric Gairy in a nearly bloodless coup d'etat in Grenada.
Wednesday 14:
In China, a Hawker-Siddeley Trident crashes into a factory near Beijing, killing at least 200.
Monday 19:
The United States House of Representatives begins broadcasting its day-to-day business via the cable television network C-SPAN.
Tuesday 20:
1979 – REXX programming language created
Wednesday 28:
In Pennsylvania, a pump in the reactor cooling system fails at Three Mile Island, resulting in the evaporation of some contaminated water causing a nuclear meltdown.
» March 1979
April 1979
Wednesday 04:
President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed.
Wednesday 11:
Ugandan dictator Idi Amin is deposed.
Friday 20:
President Jimmy Carter is attacked by a Swamp Rabbit while on vacation in Plains, Georgia.
Sunday 22:
Brent Mydland performs his first show with the Grateful Dead at Spartan Stadium, San Jose.
Monday 23:
Fighting in London between the Anti-Nazi League and the Metropolitan Police's Special Patrol Group results in the death of protestor Blair Peach.
» April 1979
May 1979
Friday 04:
Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Thursday 10:
The Federated States of Micronesia becomes self-governing.
Monday 21:
White Night riots in San Francisco following the manslaughter conviction of Dan White for the assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk.
Friday 25:
1979 - The movie Alien opens in theaters.
» May 1979
June 1979
Friday 01:
The first black-led government of Rhodesia in 90 years takes power, ousting Ian Smith and changing the country's name to Zimbabwe.
Tuesday 12:
Bryan Allen flies the Gossamer Albatross, man powered, across the English Channel.
Monday 18:
SALT II is signed by the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Saturday 23:
Sydney: New South Wales Premier Neville Wran officially opens the Eastern Suburbs Railway. It operates as a shuttle between Central & Bondi Junction until full integration with the Illawarra Line during 1980.
Tuesday 26:
Muhammad Ali retires.
» June 1979
July 1979
Sunday 01:
Sony introduces the Walkman.
Monday 02:
The first U.S. coin to honor a woman, the Susan B. Anthony dollar, is introduced.
Tuesday 03:
US President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul.
Thursday 19:
The Sandinista rebels overthrow the US-backed government of the Somoza family in Nicaragua.
Friday 20:
Diana Nyad swims the sixty miles from the Bahamas to Florida.
» July 1979
August 1979
Friday 17:
Two Soviet Aeroflot jetliners collide in mid-air over Ukraine, killing 156
Thursday 23:
Soviet dancer Alexander Godunov defects to the United States.
Friday 24:
In Central Park, New York a concert is given by cars.
Monday 27:
An IRA bomb kills Lord Mountbatten and 3 others on holiday in Sligo, Republic of Ireland. Another near Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland kills 18 British soldiers.
Tuesday 28:
An IRA bomb explodes on the Great Market in Brussels.
» August 1979
September 1979
Saturday 01:
The American Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn when it passes the planet at a distance of 21,000 km.
Friday 07:
The Chrysler Corporation asks the United States government for USD $1 billion to avoid bankruptcy.
Thursday 13:
South Africa grants independence to the "homeland" of Venda (not recognized outside South Africa).
Saturday 22:
The South Atlantic Flash is observed near Bouvet Island, thought to be a nuclear weapons test.
Thursday 27:
The United States Department of Education receives final approval from the U.S. Congress to become the 13th US Cabinet agency.
» September 1979
October 1979
Monday 01:
The United States returns sovereignty of the Panama canal to Panama.
Wednesday 10:
The Pac-Man arcade game is released to the Japanese market by Namco.
Sunday 14:
The first Gay Rights March on Washington, D.C. demands "an end to all social, economic, judicial, and legal oppression of lesbian and gay people," drawing 200,000 people.
Wednesday 17:
The Department of Education Organization Act is signed into law creating the United States Department of Education and United States Department of Health and Human Services. Both replace the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
Friday 26:
Park Chung-hee, President of South Korea is assassinated by KCIA head Kim Jae-kyu. Choi Kyu-ha becomes the acting President; Kim is executed the following May.
» October 1979
November 1979
Sunday 04:
Iran hostage crisis begins: Iranian radicals, mostly students, invade the United States embassy in Tehran and take 90 hostages (63 of whom are American).
Monday 19:
Iran hostage crisis: Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini orders the release of 13 female and black American hostages being held at the US Embassy in Tehran.
Wednesday 21:
The United States Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan is attacked by a mob and set afire, killing four. (see: Foreign relations of Pakistan)
Friday 23:
In Dublin, Ireland, Irish Republican Army member Thomas McMahon is sentenced to life in prison for the assassination of Lord Mountbatten.
Friday 30:
Rock band Pink Floyd release the mega-selling rock opera The Wall.
» November 1979
December 1979
Monday 03:
In Cincinnati, Ohio, a stampede for seats at Riverfront Coliseum during a Who concert kills eleven fans.
Wednesday 12:
Rhodesia changes its name to Zimbabwe
Friday 21:
The Lancaster House Agreement was signed, effectively ending the white rule in Rhodesia under Ian Smith.
Sunday 23:
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan: Soviet military units occupy Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan
Monday 24:
1979 - The first European Ariane rocket is launched.
What happened in 1979:
* There are riots in Southall between demonstrators and police after protesting against a National Front campaign meeting.
* The first Nike Air trainers become available in stores. Other must have accessories included Kangol hats, nameplate belts buckles, Adidas shell top trainers and hooded sweatshirts.
* The Caribbean islands of St Lucia and St Vincent reclaimed their independence from Great Britain.
* In the USA, Carter asked congress to make a Martin Luther King's Birthday a national holiday.
Back to top | Events | Music | Notable releases
In the music:
* The Sugar Hill Gang released Rapper's Delight which borrowed the break from Chic's Good Times. It became a worldwide hit, eventually selling over eight million copies, marking the first ever commercial rap record.
* Michael Jackson released his phenomenal album Off The Wall. This was Jackson's breakthrough LP that established him as a solo artist in his own right.
* Kurtis Blow becomes the first rapper to sign to major label Mercury.
* Janet Kay releases the hit Silly Games which reached No 2 in the UK charts. She becomes the first British female to have a reggae song in the charts.
* In March, James Brown performed at the Grand Ole Opry.
* Donna Summer's Bad Girls hits No 1 on the US charts, and stays there for five weeks.
* Frustrated by sluggish reggae sales, Lee Scratch Perry goes AWOL and is spotted wandering aimlessly around Kingston wielding a hammer. Two days later, his Black Ark studio is burnt to the ground. Perry was suspected of arson, but was released without charge, due to lack of evidence.
* On July 12 1979, Chicago radio DJ Steve Dahl and baseball promoter Mike Veeck organized an event dubbed Disco Demolition Night. People were invited to bring disco records to a baseball game and have them blown up. This caused a near-riot forcing the cancellation of the game.
To try to put the Mod movement into context for the time, I thought I could try and build a picture and a feel for 1979.
This will take a while and a little research. Maybe to give you an idea, here's a little list of what we may have heard on the radio.
1979 A Time To Remember
01. Sad Café - Every Day Hurts
02. The Jacksons - Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)
03. The Pointer Sisters - Fire
04. Electric Light Orchestra - Don't Bring Me Down
05. Spyro Gyra - Morning Dance
06. Linda Lewis - I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You
07. Secret Affair - Time For Action
08. New Musik - Straight Lines
09. Johnny Mathis - Gone, Gone, Gone
10. Cheap Trick - I Want You To Want Me
11. Dan Hartman - This Is It
12. The Dooleys - Wanted
13. The Isley Brothers - It's A Disco Night
14. Toto - Hold The Line
15. Evelyn King - I Don't Know If It's Right
16. John Cooper Clarke - Gimmix!
17. Judas Priest - Take On The World
18. Earth, Wind & Fire With The Emotions - Boogie Wonderland
19. The Charlie Daniels Band - The Devil Went Down To Georgia
20. The Three Degrees - My Simple Heart
Singles:
* Le Freak - Chic
* I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor
* Hot Stuff - Donna Summer
* Bad Girls - Donna Summer
* Good Times - Chic
* Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough - Michael Jackson
* YMCA - Village People
* After the Love Has Gone - Earth, Wind And Fire
* Boogie Wonderland - Earth Wind And Fire with The Emotions
* We Are Family - Sister Sledge
* Roll Over Beethoven (EP) - Chuck Berry
* Ain't No Stoppin' Us - McFadden & Whitehead
* Got To Be Real - Cheryl Lynn
* Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground) - Jacksons
* Money In My Pocket - Dennis Brown
Grammy awards:
* I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor
* After The Love Has Gone - Earth Wind And Fire
* Don't Stop Till You Get Enough - Michael Jackson
* Boogie Wonderland - Earth Wind And Fire
* Déjà Vu - Dionne Warwick
* I'll Never Love This Way Again - Dionne Warwick
Notable releases:
Albums:
* Risque - Chic
* Here My Dear - Marvin Gaye
* Off The Wall - Michael Jackson
I will add TV shows with clips when I find them.
January 1979
Monday 01:
Formal diplomatic relations are established between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America.
Tuesday 02:
Sid Vicious goes on trial for the murder of Nancy Spungen.
Sunday 07:
Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge are overthrown by Vietnamese troops.
Tuesday 16:
The Shah of Iran flees Iran with his family and relocates to Egypt.
» January 1979
February 1979
Thursday 08:
Denis Sassou-Nguesso became the President of the People?s Republic of the Congo for the first time.
Sunday 11:
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seizes power in Iran.
Tuesday 13:
The intense February 13, 1979 Windstorm strikes western Washington and sinks a 1/2-mile-long section of the Hood Canal Bridge
Wednesday 14:
In Kabul, Muslim extremists kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.
Saturday 17:
The Sino-Vietnamese War begins.
» February 1979
March 1979
Tuesday 13:
The New Jewel Movement, headed by Maurice Bishop, ousts Prime Minister Eric Gairy in a nearly bloodless coup d'etat in Grenada.
Wednesday 14:
In China, a Hawker-Siddeley Trident crashes into a factory near Beijing, killing at least 200.
Monday 19:
The United States House of Representatives begins broadcasting its day-to-day business via the cable television network C-SPAN.
Tuesday 20:
1979 – REXX programming language created
Wednesday 28:
In Pennsylvania, a pump in the reactor cooling system fails at Three Mile Island, resulting in the evaporation of some contaminated water causing a nuclear meltdown.
» March 1979
April 1979
Wednesday 04:
President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed.
Wednesday 11:
Ugandan dictator Idi Amin is deposed.
Friday 20:
President Jimmy Carter is attacked by a Swamp Rabbit while on vacation in Plains, Georgia.
Sunday 22:
Brent Mydland performs his first show with the Grateful Dead at Spartan Stadium, San Jose.
Monday 23:
Fighting in London between the Anti-Nazi League and the Metropolitan Police's Special Patrol Group results in the death of protestor Blair Peach.
» April 1979
May 1979
Friday 04:
Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Thursday 10:
The Federated States of Micronesia becomes self-governing.
Monday 21:
White Night riots in San Francisco following the manslaughter conviction of Dan White for the assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk.
Friday 25:
1979 - The movie Alien opens in theaters.
» May 1979
June 1979
Friday 01:
The first black-led government of Rhodesia in 90 years takes power, ousting Ian Smith and changing the country's name to Zimbabwe.
Tuesday 12:
Bryan Allen flies the Gossamer Albatross, man powered, across the English Channel.
Monday 18:
SALT II is signed by the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Saturday 23:
Sydney: New South Wales Premier Neville Wran officially opens the Eastern Suburbs Railway. It operates as a shuttle between Central & Bondi Junction until full integration with the Illawarra Line during 1980.
Tuesday 26:
Muhammad Ali retires.
» June 1979
July 1979
Sunday 01:
Sony introduces the Walkman.
Monday 02:
The first U.S. coin to honor a woman, the Susan B. Anthony dollar, is introduced.
Tuesday 03:
US President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul.
Thursday 19:
The Sandinista rebels overthrow the US-backed government of the Somoza family in Nicaragua.
Friday 20:
Diana Nyad swims the sixty miles from the Bahamas to Florida.
» July 1979
August 1979
Friday 17:
Two Soviet Aeroflot jetliners collide in mid-air over Ukraine, killing 156
Thursday 23:
Soviet dancer Alexander Godunov defects to the United States.
Friday 24:
In Central Park, New York a concert is given by cars.
Monday 27:
An IRA bomb kills Lord Mountbatten and 3 others on holiday in Sligo, Republic of Ireland. Another near Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland kills 18 British soldiers.
Tuesday 28:
An IRA bomb explodes on the Great Market in Brussels.
» August 1979
September 1979
Saturday 01:
The American Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn when it passes the planet at a distance of 21,000 km.
Friday 07:
The Chrysler Corporation asks the United States government for USD $1 billion to avoid bankruptcy.
Thursday 13:
South Africa grants independence to the "homeland" of Venda (not recognized outside South Africa).
Saturday 22:
The South Atlantic Flash is observed near Bouvet Island, thought to be a nuclear weapons test.
Thursday 27:
The United States Department of Education receives final approval from the U.S. Congress to become the 13th US Cabinet agency.
» September 1979
October 1979
Monday 01:
The United States returns sovereignty of the Panama canal to Panama.
Wednesday 10:
The Pac-Man arcade game is released to the Japanese market by Namco.
Sunday 14:
The first Gay Rights March on Washington, D.C. demands "an end to all social, economic, judicial, and legal oppression of lesbian and gay people," drawing 200,000 people.
Wednesday 17:
The Department of Education Organization Act is signed into law creating the United States Department of Education and United States Department of Health and Human Services. Both replace the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
Friday 26:
Park Chung-hee, President of South Korea is assassinated by KCIA head Kim Jae-kyu. Choi Kyu-ha becomes the acting President; Kim is executed the following May.
» October 1979
November 1979
Sunday 04:
Iran hostage crisis begins: Iranian radicals, mostly students, invade the United States embassy in Tehran and take 90 hostages (63 of whom are American).
Monday 19:
Iran hostage crisis: Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini orders the release of 13 female and black American hostages being held at the US Embassy in Tehran.
Wednesday 21:
The United States Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan is attacked by a mob and set afire, killing four. (see: Foreign relations of Pakistan)
Friday 23:
In Dublin, Ireland, Irish Republican Army member Thomas McMahon is sentenced to life in prison for the assassination of Lord Mountbatten.
Friday 30:
Rock band Pink Floyd release the mega-selling rock opera The Wall.
» November 1979
December 1979
Monday 03:
In Cincinnati, Ohio, a stampede for seats at Riverfront Coliseum during a Who concert kills eleven fans.
Wednesday 12:
Rhodesia changes its name to Zimbabwe
Friday 21:
The Lancaster House Agreement was signed, effectively ending the white rule in Rhodesia under Ian Smith.
Sunday 23:
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan: Soviet military units occupy Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan
Monday 24:
1979 - The first European Ariane rocket is launched.
What happened in 1979:
* There are riots in Southall between demonstrators and police after protesting against a National Front campaign meeting.
* The first Nike Air trainers become available in stores. Other must have accessories included Kangol hats, nameplate belts buckles, Adidas shell top trainers and hooded sweatshirts.
* The Caribbean islands of St Lucia and St Vincent reclaimed their independence from Great Britain.
* In the USA, Carter asked congress to make a Martin Luther King's Birthday a national holiday.
Back to top | Events | Music | Notable releases
In the music:
* The Sugar Hill Gang released Rapper's Delight which borrowed the break from Chic's Good Times. It became a worldwide hit, eventually selling over eight million copies, marking the first ever commercial rap record.
* Michael Jackson released his phenomenal album Off The Wall. This was Jackson's breakthrough LP that established him as a solo artist in his own right.
* Kurtis Blow becomes the first rapper to sign to major label Mercury.
* Janet Kay releases the hit Silly Games which reached No 2 in the UK charts. She becomes the first British female to have a reggae song in the charts.
* In March, James Brown performed at the Grand Ole Opry.
* Donna Summer's Bad Girls hits No 1 on the US charts, and stays there for five weeks.
* Frustrated by sluggish reggae sales, Lee Scratch Perry goes AWOL and is spotted wandering aimlessly around Kingston wielding a hammer. Two days later, his Black Ark studio is burnt to the ground. Perry was suspected of arson, but was released without charge, due to lack of evidence.
* On July 12 1979, Chicago radio DJ Steve Dahl and baseball promoter Mike Veeck organized an event dubbed Disco Demolition Night. People were invited to bring disco records to a baseball game and have them blown up. This caused a near-riot forcing the cancellation of the game.