THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

542-Showaddywaddy-Hey Rock and Roll.

1974-Number 2 single.

Best Bit-At 0.25. To put it in simple terms, it’s the best Rock N’ Roll record in the world ever, to have been made after 1960.

What a wonderful name for a Rock N’ Roll band, it just rolls off the tongue. Showaddywaddy were formed in 1973 in Leicester, Leicestershire, England, by the coming together of two two local bands,’Choise,’ and the ‘Golden Hammers.’ This led to an eight member group, meaning two vocalists, two drummers, two guitarists, and two bass players. They are still active as a six man live band, with the only original founding member Romeo Challenger who is a drummer, being still part of the group, although ex lead singer Dave Bartram has been the bands manager since 1984.

Showaddywaddy first came to the public’s attention when winning a heat on the ‘ATV’ talent show ‘New Faces’ in 1973, and going on to finish runners up in the ‘All Winners Final,’ broadcast on December 28th, 1973. They were signed to the ‘Bell’ record label and released their first single ‘Hey Rock and Roll’ in April 1975, with the song writing credits being attributed to all eight band members. Their following three singles, which also made the UK top 20 were also original compositions, including the festive ‘Hey Mister Christmas,’ but after that all of their other nine top 10 hits were all cover versions of 1950’s, and 1960’s songs. In total Showaddywaddy achieved 23 UK top 40 singles between 1974-1982, including the 1976 UK Number 1 song ‘Under the Moon of Love,’ which has at the time of writing sold just short of 1 million copies, having been originally recorded in 1961 by the American singer Curtis Lee (1939-2015) whose version failed to chart in the UK, and only reached Number 46 on Billboard.

Showaddywaddy have also released 14 studio Albums between 1974-2016, and there has been one live Album,’Showaddywaddy Live,’ released in 2013. There has also been no shortage of compilation Albums released over the years, with currently 22 doing the rounds.

‘Standing on the corner in my new blue jeans, dreamin’ ’bout the girl in my limousine, everybody’s talking ’bout the world’s greatest Rock ‘N Roll band.’