1972 in British music

This is a summary of 1972 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.

Events

• 20 January – The premiere of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon at The Dome, Brighton, is halted by technical difficulties. Dark Side of the Moon would be played in its entirety the following night, but it would be a full year before the album was released.
• 21 January - Keith Richards jumps on stage to jam with Chuck Berry at the Hollywood Palladium, but is ordered off for playing too loud. Berry later claims that he did not recognize Keith and would not have booted him if he did.
• 9 February – Paul McCartney's new band, Wings, make their live debut at the University of Nottingham. It is McCartney's first public concert since The Beatles' 1966 US tour.
• 13 February – Led Zeppelin's concert in Singapore is cancelled when government officials will not let them off the airplane because of their long hair.
• 19 February - Paul McCartney's single "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" (which was inspired by the "Bloody Sunday" massacre in Ireland on 30 January 1972) is banned by the BBC
• 25 March – The 17th Eurovision Song Contest is held in the Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland. The only time (as of 2012) Scotland hosted the contest
• 16 April – Electric Light Orchestra make their live debut at the Fox and Greyhound pub in Park Lane, Croydon, England.
• 2 May – Stone the Crows lead guitarist Les Harvey is electrocuted on stage during a show in Swansea, Wales, by touching a poorly connected microphone. Harvey died in a hospital a few hours later. The band's lead singer, Maggie Bell, Harvey's longtime girlfriend, was also hospitalized, having collapsed on stage after the incident.
• 1 June - premiere of Harrison Birtwistle's The Triumph of Time in London.^[1]
• 12 July - first performance of Peter Maxwell Davies's opera Taverner at the Royal Opera House.^[1]
• 8 October - David Hughes is taken ill while singing the role of Pinkerton in Madam Butterfly in London. He completes the performance but dies shortly afterwards of heart failure.^[2]

Number Ones

Singles

Albums

Year-end charts

Best-selling singles

(Covering 15th Jan to 16th Dec 1972)

1. "Amazing Grace" - The Pipes and the Drums and the Military Band of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards 890,000
2. "Mouldy Old Dough" - Lieutenant Pigeon 790,500
3. "Puppy Love" - Donny Osmond 756,000
4. "Without You" - Nilsson 755,000
5. "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)" - The New Seekers 750,000
6. "Son of My Father" - Chicory Tip 510,000
7. "Rock and Roll Parts 1 & 2" - Gary Glitter 500,000
8. "Metal Guru" - T. Rex 496,000
9. "Mother of Mine" - Neil Reid 490,000
10. "Telegram Sam" - T. Rex 484,000
11. "American Pie" - Don McLean 480,000
12. "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" - Slade 410,000
13. "School's Out" - Alice Cooper 408,000
14. "You Wear It Well" - Rod Stewart 407,000
15. "Beg, Steal or Borrow" - The New Seekers 380,000
16. "Vincent" - Don McLean 379,000
17. "Clair" - Gilbert O'Sullivan 378,000
18. "My Ding-a-Ling" - Chuck Berry 377,000
19. "How Can I Be Sure" - David Cassidy 375,000
20. "Sylvia's Mother" - Dr Hook and the Medicine Show 354,000
21. "Seaside Shuffle" - Terry Dactyl and the Dinosaurs 353,000
22. "It's Four in the Morning" - Faron Young 352,000
23. "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" - The Partridge Family 351,000
24. "Take Me Bak 'Ome" - Slade 350,000
25. "Donna" - 10cc 345,000
26. "Children of the Revolution" - T. Rex 344,000
27. "Silver Machine" - Hawkwind 342,000
28. "Could It Be Forever" - David Cassidy 341,000
29. "Crazy Horses" - The Osmonds 335,000
30. "At the Club / Saturday Night at the Movies" - The Drifters 325,000
31. "I Can See Clearly Now" - Johnny Nash 321,000
32. "Come What May" - Vicky Leandros 320,000
33. "In a Broken Dream" - Python Lee Jackson 312,000
34. "Circles" - The New Seekers 311,000
35. "Alone Again (Naturally)" - Gilbert O'Sullivan 310,000
36. "Jungle Fever" - Chackachas 309,000
37. "A Horse with No Name" - America 290,000
38. "Wig Wam Bam" - Sweet 274,000
39. "Have You Seen Her" - The Chi-Lites 272,000
40. "You're a Lady" - Peter Skellern 270,000
41. "Little Willy" - Sweet 269,000
42. "I Didn't Know I Loved You (Til I Saw You Rock 'n' Roll)" - Gary Glitter 265,000
43. "Why" - Donny Osmond 260,000
44. "Rocket Man" - Elton John 259,000
45. "Leader of the Pack" - The Shangri-Las 258,000
46. "Brand New Key" - Melanie 257,000
47. "Elected" - Alice Cooper 256,000
48. "Oh Babe, What Would You Say" - Hurricane Smith 255,000
49. "Crocodile Rock" - Elton John 254,000
50. "Look Wot You Dun" - Slade 253,000

Best-selling albums

The list of the top fifty best-selling albums of 1972 were published in Record Mirror at the end of the year, and later reproduced in the first edition of the BPI Year Book in 1976. However, in 2007 the Official Charts Company published album chart histories for each year from 1956 to 1977, researched by historian Sharon Mawer, and included an updated list of the top ten best-selling albums for each year based on the new research. The updated top ten for 1972 is shown in the table below.^[5]

Notes:

Film and Incidental music

• John Addison - Sleuth directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, starring Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine.
• Ron Goodwin - Frenzy directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
• David Munrow - Henry VIII and His Six Wives.
• Eric Rogers - Carry On Matron.

Musical Films

• John Barry - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Births

• 17 January – Aqualung, singer-songwriter
• 27 January – Mark Owen, singer (Take That)
• 4 March – Alison Wheeler, singer (The Beautiful South)
• 20 March – Alex Kapranos, singer and guitarist (Franz Ferdinand)
• 15 May – Conrad Keely, English-American singer-songwriter and guitarist (...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead)
• 6 July – Mark Gasser, English pianist and educator
• 11 July - Cormac Battle, English-Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Kerbdog and Wilt)
• 6 August – Geri Halliwell, singer (Spice Girls)
• 15 August - Mikey Graham, Irish singer (Boyzone)
• 21 September – Liam Gallagher, singer (Oasis)
• 10 December - Brian Molko, singer (Placebo)
• 11 December – Easther Bennett, singer (Eternal)
• 13 December - Niki Evans, actress and singer

Deaths

• 20 February - Herbert Menges, conductor and composer, 69^[6]
• 28 September - Rory Storm, singer, 33 (post-operative complications).^[7]
• 28 November - Havergal Brian, composer, 96^[8]
• date unknown - Ivor McMahon, violinist, 47-48

References

Music of the United Kingdom
Art music	Early music (England • Scotland) Baroque Classical
History of popular music	Early popular music 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
Traditional genres	British folk revival Ballad Carol Children's song Hornpipe Jig Morris dance Protest song Reel Sea shanty Strathspey War song Work song
Contemporary popular genres	Folk Hip Hop Jazz Pop Popular Rock Soul
Ethnic music	Caribbean England Scotland Wales
Media and performance	Music awards Brit Awards Classic Brit Awards Gramophone Awards Ivor Novello Awards Kerrang! Awards Mercury Prize MOBO Awards Spiral Awards BBC Music Awards Music charts Albums chart Classical charts Compilation chart Dance chart Download chart Indie chart R&B chart Rock chart Singles chart Subscription plays chart Music festivals Cambridge folk Download Edinburgh Eisteddfod Glastonbury Isle of Wight Knebworth Royal National Mòd The Proms Reading and Leeds T in the Park V Music media The Gramophone Kerrang! Melody Maker Mojo NME Q The Wire National anthem "God Save the Queen"
Regional music	British Isles Birmingham (Classical music, Jazz, Popular music) Cardiff Cornwall Liverpool Manchester Northumbria Somerset Sussex Yorkshire Overseas Anguilla Bermuda Cayman Islands Gibraltar Montserrat Turks and Caicos Virgin Islands