The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time 1955 to 2005: Number 474

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Number 474 - Swingers

Number 474

The Swingers

"Counting the Beat"

(1981)

Genre:Alt Punk

Heres looking at you kid

The Inter Webs [as George Bush calls it] is a funny, if not fickle thing. For example here in Blogspot.com my Google page ranking has now dropped to 2 (it was three) yet in Wordpress it has a massive ranking of 5 [love that], same content yet different rating [?] Its interesting for the fact, because this is the birthplace [blogspot] of this particular countdown, yet the readers of Wordpress enjoy it more there. So am I sad its slipped to 2 in Blogspot? Yes. Should I concentrate more on Wordpress? Double yes. My only problem that it is harder to write in Wordpress, it just does not format well, there is not a time I do not struggle with every single entry. Blogspot is easier to use, yes, but the Wordpress people are far more cerebral. My heart is here, but to be honest, my brain is there.

We're counting the beat!

In an attempt to capitalize on U.S interest in the band generated by their appearance in the cult film Starstruck, Backstreet Records resequenced the Practical Jokers album, dropped a couple of songs and added the "One Good Reason (Gimme Love)" from the film. Unfortunately, it failed to make much of an impact in the States and was quickly deleted. [In a somewhat confusing move, Mushroom Records in Australia, as part of the label's 25th anniversary, reissued Counting the Beat with the original artwork but with the track listing and order of Practical Jokers. "One Good Reason" and "The Flack" -- both found on the original Counting the Beat album -- were added to the end of the disc.] ~ [Chris Woodstra, All Music Guide]

C'mon, gimme more

The Swingers began in New Zealand around June 1979 out of the remnants of the punk scene, notably the Suburban Reptiles.They started to gig regularly around Auckland, building a repretoire of songs and gaining acceptance. They ran their own shows, booked their own tours and released a single 'One Good Reason' on independent label, Ripper Records, which reached #17 on the national NZ charts.The first sign of interest came in mid 1980 from Mushroom managing director Michael Gudinski. By this time The Swingers were one of New Zealand's top bands. Mushroom Records signed the band.'Counting The Beat' was recording in August 1980, but a final mix didn't eventuate until late November. It's success was instant, going to #1 nationally within 4 weeks and had exceeded 100,000 sales.In May 1981 The Swingers second single 'It Ain't What You Dance, It's The Way You Dance It' was released, but despite terrific overall airplay, it failed to chart beyond a national top 30 position.
Band Members:Phil Bud Judd (guitar, vocals)Ian Kiljoy Gilroy (drums, vocals)Dwayne Bones Hillman (bass, vocals) ~ [Source:http://www.muzic.net.nz/artists/1024.html]

Mr phil Judd is also a budding artist on http://www.deviantart.com/, which happens to be one of my favourite sites, by the way, nice artwork Phil!

For Split Enz see Number 618 & #671

No point asking Rolling Stone, they don't even know New Zealand exist!

Rolling Stone magazine deemed their '474th Song of all Time' was "One Nation Under A Groove" by Funkadelic. Funkadelic has not appeared in The Definitive 1000.

Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (Who?) and the Album ranked at Whats a New Zealand?)

This song has a crowbarred rating of 76.3 out of 108