An event of epic international proportions and significance is taking place on Saturday 25th June…..Global Smurf Day!!!

The event is the brainchild of Sony Pictures and the company is looking to break the world record for the biggest ever gathering of little blue people. The initiative, designed to publicise the new Smurf film, will be taking place in the O2 Arena, which will be re-named “The O-Blue” for the occasion!!

The kids of today are about to be introduced to our little blue friends through the new Smurf film, but for those of a certain vintage, we remember our introduction to the phenomenon, with the PVC Smurf figurines that were given away as part of a National Garage petrol promotion in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and this is how the Smurfs first found their way into the hearts of my generation. Inevitably the petrol promotion came to an end and Smurfs disappeared from view, but not memory. However Smurf merchandise has continued to be produced in Germany, Hong Kong and other parts of the world, and in recent years the little blue chaps have been populating ebay with massive commercial traffic in second hand merchandise.

As if the visual impact of Smurfs wasn’t enough in the late 1970s, they invaded our ears with a series of hit records. Masterminded by Father Abraham, the Smurfs became regular visitors to the Top 20 in 1978, narrowly missing the No1 spot with their debut single, “The Smurf Song”, and backed up by “Dippety Day” and “Christmas in Smurfland”. By the late 1970s, the record buyer had got used to one off novelty records such as Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers’ “Monstermash”, David Bowie’s “Laughing Gnome” and the Wurzels’ “Combine Harvester, but in 1978 it looked like the Smurfs were going to give the New Wave bands such as the Jam, Stranglers, Buzzcocks and Sham 69 a good run for their money with a series of hits!!

However this wasn’t the first time in this decade that a novelty act had a sustained run of chart hits. It all began with the Wombles in early 1974, who took their TV success and rolled it out into a music / recording career, courtesy of producer and arranger Mike Batt. What should have been a one off novelty hit, “The Wombling Song” was followed up with four more Top 20 hits in that year – “Remember you’re a Womble”, “Banana Rock”, “Minuetto Allegretto” and “Wombling Merry Christmas”. The latter was only kept off the No1 spot by Mud’s “Lonely this Christmas”!! However unlike the Smurfs, the Wombles success continued beyond the Xmas stocking filler, with three more hit singles the following year, “Wombling White Tie and Tails”, “Super Womble” and “Let’s Womble to the Party Tonight”………but that was where the “Womble Party” came to an end, when the Chart and Music Police came around to their abode on Wimbledon Common and said – “Enough is enough!!”… In fairness the talented songwriter and composer Mike Batt had produced some very well crafted pop songs – hence the longevity of their chart success!!

Emboldened and inspired by the Wombles successful passage from TV to recording studio in 1974, The Goodies jumped on the proverbial bandwagon at the end of that year with a Christmas Bumper Double A Side Single, “The Inbetweenies / Father Christmas Do Not Touch Me”. Apparently driven on by Bill Oddie who was allegedly a frustrated musician / artist, Tim Brooke Taylor and Graeme Garden continued to perform with him as a musical trio in 1975 with further hit singles, “Funky Gibbon / Sick Man Blues”, “Black Pudding Bertha ( The Queen of Northern Soul )”, “Nappy Love / Wild Thing” and finished their chart careers with another Xmas hit, “Make a Daft Noise for Christmas”. As with the Wombles, the Goodies undoubtedly cashed in on the success of their TV show, but I would suggest that like the Wimbledon Litterpickers it was only because their music was creative and inventive, that they were able to sustain a run of five hit singles.

The 1970s was truly “The Golden Age of the Novelty Record”, and although we saw one off novelty hits in the 1980s courtesy of acts like Black Lace, Renee and Renata, The Tweets and Orville the Duck, the charts were to never again experience a sustained bombardment from a novelty act!!

You can capture, preserve and re-live the memories of the fun and wackiness of the novelty record / song, by ordering your favourite vinyl record or CD from that era, framed and mounted. ORDER NOW by clicking on…….. http://www.myfirstrecord.co.uk/

Alternatively this would make a unique present or original gift for a special celebration  ie a 40th, 50th or 60th Birthday, a Silver, Ruby or Golden Wedding Anniversary, Father’s or Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day!! THE PERFECT PERSONALISED PRESENT!!