Matt Monro Forum

Even though I only get to watch TOTP when I'm in the U.K., I think it's very sad that it's coming to an end on the 30th of July. It was a great way to introduce people to new music. Did Matt Monro ever appear on TOTP?

Hello Paul and everyone. I cannot personally remember Matt appearing on TOTP, but his last big hit was in 1965. TOTP started in 1967, so I doubt if Matt was ever on the show. I know Matt had a small hit in 1973, so he could have appeared on the show then.
TOTP was excellent to watch in the late 60's and 70's, but music is not the same anymore Paul, with the chart's becoming more and more irrelevant these day's. Even the chart's take music download's into account now, when the chart's are being compiled. More and more people are downloading single's onto their computer's than going out and buying them in the music stores.

Hi all--I felt the same when "Cool for cats" and "6.5 Special" ended!!

Showing my age a bit there, I think.

The point is, there may well be something different coming up in the future to take it's place.

Marian

Hello Robert, Marian, et. al. - I consider the excellent "And You Smiled" to be a hit (#28 on the charts in 1973). With all the singles that are released, anything that makes the top 40 is a hit in my eyes.

Maybe I'm unusual, but I still love following the charts and buying singles. Most of the new releases are available as imports at Tower Records in Washington, so I can get them there, or I prepare a list for my next trip to the U.K. Tthe U.K. singles and album charts are much more interesting than the U.S. or anywhere else. For example, I'm excited about who's going to be #1 this week: will it still be Nelly Furtado for a third week, or will the new singles by Muse or The Zutons ("Valerie", my current favourite song) make it to #1?

Sales of physical singles (CD and 7 inch vinyl) are still pretty strong in the U.K---clearly not as good as ten or twenty years ago. But I consider physical sales of over 400,000 for the great "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley to be quite impressive. And I'm always surprised to see how many people are still buying 7 inch vinyl singles; I always pick up a few when I go to HMV.

Robert, I am really surprised at you. Go to the home page, bottom left hand corner "MATT ON TV" clcik on that link and look up how many times dad did TOTP. Be surprised, very surprised!!!

Let us know what you find

Hi Paul--"And you smiled" is one of my favourite songs that Matt sings.

But I cannot remember the last time I saw any vinyl 45" singles on sale anywhere. Maybe the big stores in London, like HMV or Tower, but certainly none of the local stores sell them.

Reading about you waiting to find out the next number one etc, reminds me of when I was very young,I used to listen to Radio Luxembourg in bed, under the sheets, so that my dad would not hear [as I had to be up for school in the morning], and once a week I would wait for the new Top Twenty to come on and count down. The trouble is Radio Luxembourg was not a very strong signal, and it would keep fading, sometimes at a crucial moment as he was about to announce that weeks number one!!

At that time there was hardly any popular music in Radio---but Radio Luxembourg was the start of our programmes today---as firstly all the Pirate Radio programmes came on--Radio Caroline was the most popular---this led to a complete shake up of all the stations, and directly led to Radio 1.2,3,4.

Does anyone remember the Kings singers "Some Enchanted Wavelength" as they sang their way through all the changes in all the different areas.
I bought it as a single , and included it in one of the tapes that we used to play in the car, so I got to know it very well.

Makes me feel very nostalgic Marian

That's a charming story, Marian. I printed it out so I can keep it in my music files.

I'm pleased that you refer to the singles as 45s. That's what we always called them in the U.S. But now they call them 7 inch singles, but they still play on 45 rpm! Yes, the big record stores in London stock a wide variety of them, but I also found a large selection at HMV and Virgin in Brighton. I'll check Southampton when I'm there in a few weeks. I know that Woolworths doesn't sell them.

I also love "And You Smiled"---what a happy song!

Hello Michele, Paul, Mariana44 and all. First of all Michele I made a slight mistake with an above post, as I had it in my head that TOTP started in 1967, but it started in 1964. I have checked the Matt on TV page you mentioned and yes Matt did appear a number of times between 64-65, but I was also right, that Matt did not appear on TOTP after 1965. Looking at the list, was the "Talk of The Town" show a full concert shown on TV. If so the TV audience must have had a real treat. Also listed was an appearance on the Graham Stark show, Peter Seller's sidekick. I didn't realise that he was quite famous enough to have his own show. Also in the above post, I think I said I couldn't remember seeing Matt on TOTP.

Mariana44, I used to listen to Radio Luxembourg every night sat in our kitchen, listening on a small transister radio (I don't know, kid's don't know the half of it nowaday's do they, they have everything in their bedroom's now, what did we have a little tranny radio to listen to, and that was about it).

Paul, I didn't say that "And You Smiled" was not a hit, just a SMALL hit. That's exactly what it was #28 in the chart's is a small hit, compared to a top five or a top ten record. Did you know Paul that And You Smiled was originally a #1 song here as an instrumental tune called Eye Level, which was the theme tune to the TV series "Van Der Valk". Our Matt recorded it later with word's added this time.
"Crazy" by Gnarl's Barkley selling 400,000 copies is a one off these day's. 50,000 would easily get an artist to the #1 spot in the chart's nowaday's. Gnarl's Barkley build up a big fan base through the internet before the song was released, which hyped the song up a lot. But saying that, the song is very catchy, and a worthy chart topper.
I still check the top 40 chart rundown each week also, but only on Teletext now.

Hello again Michele, Mariana44, Paul and everyone. Can I just add a couple of thing's that I forgot to mention in my above post.

I was getting mixed up a little because of when Radio 1 started, which was 1967. TOTP as stated above started in 1964.

Mariana44 do you remember the DJ's on Radio Luxembourg. The one I remember the most is Tony Prince, who was a very big Elvis fan.

Hi Robert--no I do not remember any of the DJ's on Radio Luxembourg---
I do remember Horace Batchelor though--I think--some thing to do with football pools!! Marian

Once again, Robert, we'll agree to disagree. I consider And You Smiled a hit. No adjective is needed. I didn't know it was first an instrumental.

Crazy became popular because the Radio 1 DJs (Zane Lowe, Jo Whiley) played it over and over again. Then the commercial stations added it to their playlists. That's what got people interested in the song. I don't think the internet played a major role.

You are correct that Crazy is an unusual occurrence. Recently a number 1 song (No Tomorrow by Orson) sold only 17,694 singles (download and physical). That's the lowest total ever. Recently it's back up in the 30,000 - 40,000 range. But compare that to the U.S., where a number 1 song sometimes sells less than 1000 copies. Very few singles are released here, because the record companies want people to buy the full length album as opposed to singles. But now people are downloading single songs and not buying the album. I hope the U.K. always releases physical singles. It's now become something that is distinctly British.

Hello Paul and all. It's strange that a country with such a large population as the USA, only need's 10,000 sales to obtain no.1 single.

Paul, I don't know how many times I need to say it, but I know "And You Smiled" was a HIT. But only a small hit.

Okay, this is the last I'll write on this! I just don't like the adjective "small". To me, And You Smiled was a major hit for Matt Monro, in a year when easy listening music was not frequently at the top of the charts.

And, in the U.S, the number 1 single usually sells 1000 copies or less, NOT 10,000. Of course, American Idol Season 5 winner Taylor Hicks' single will sell much more than that. In Canada, they often can't have a top 40 chart anymore! There are not enough singles sold to even have 40 entries on the chart!

Hi Paul. If a #28 hit is a MAJOR Hit, what would you call a top #5 or a top #3 hit then.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A huge hit.

Now, back to the earlier discussion about popular music not being played on the radio: How did people hear new songs (and then purchase the records) if they weren't played on the radio? Did they go to nightclubs to hear this music? Were they played on TV variety shows? Did buskers sing them on High Street?