Money for Nothing’, ‘Heart of Glass’ and ‘Crocodile Rock’

Dire Strait’s Money for Nothing, Blondie’s Heart of Glass, and Elton John’s Crocodile Rock were all connected on February 3.

These three massively popular Friday Gold Rush staples were all number one in their respective years.

In 1973, Elton John started a three-week run at No.1 with his love song to early 1960’s, the pastiche Crocodile Rock.. The song is Elton's first of five American number 1 singles.
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The song tells the story of a guy in the '50s and '60s who frequented a restaurant where the patrons loved an obscure dance called the Crocodile Rock. Because of all the events that happened in the '60s, however, this unknown little dance forever vanished into history and no one cared anymore. Even his girlfriend, who also enjoyed "burning up to the Crocodile Rock," left him. It's a catchy little song with really sad lyrics.

Six years later, the new wave band Blondie released this sensational song .
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The song was written by lead singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. It became the band’s first of five UK number 1 singles. The song was taken from the band's third studio album, Parallel Lines. A massively big hit in 1979, 'Heart of Glass' was originally recorded in 1975 under the name 'Once I Had a Love.'

Harry and Stein wrote the song in their dingy New York apartment and keyboardist Jimmy Destri provided the synthesizer hook. “The result brought Punk and Disco together on the dance floor.” Said Destri, "Chris always wanted to do Disco. We used to do 'Heart Of Glass' to upset people."

Then another six years later, this phenomenal song came out..
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Money for Nothing was taken from their 1985 studio album Brothers in Arms, which went number one 31 years ago today. The song's lyrics, considered controversial at the time of the song's release, are written from the point of view of a working-class man watching music videos and commenting on what he sees.

The song featured a guest appearance by Sting singing background vocals, as well as the signature falsetto introduction and backing chorus, "I want my MTV." The groundbreaking video, one of the first to feature computer generated animation (CGI), which was done using an early program called Paintbox, was also the first to be aired on MTV Europe when the network launched on 1 August 1987.

You can request to have these songs played on Friday Gold Rush, where the rhythm crew plays all the hits from over the years. So keep on locking only here at the rhythm of the city, Y101, Always First .

#rhythmofthecity #y101fm #alwaysfirst # flashbackfridays