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Funky Gibbon not West End girls was first British hit with a rap!?
Posted: Tue 28 Jul 2026, 8:02 am
by Sandy Shaw
Arguably!
RIP Bill Oddie. I was lucky enough to meet the Goodies when they appeared at HMV to sign their DVD box set years after the shows first ernt out.
Re: Funky Gibbon not West End girls was first British hit with a rap!?
Posted: Tue 28 Jul 2026, 1:29 pm
by Vintage Youth
In keeping with a tenuous link to PSB via Chris Lowe, 'Saturday Night Grease' is a perfect episode of television.
Re: Funky Gibbon not West End girls was first British hit with a rap!?
Posted: Tue 28 Jul 2026, 7:45 pm
by DopeFiend
Aw man, I didn't know Bill Oddie passed away. That's sad.
Anyway, listening to the song it's not really a rap as far as I'm concerned.
Rap music is sort of laying it out, rolling out verse after verse in spoken rhyme.
Funky Gibbon almost gets into that rhythm. Can't really be taken seriously though, it's obviously a deliberate comedy act.
I love that cheesy early rap though, Rapture by Blondie. Rapper's Delight by Sugarhill Gang.
Soft Cell have that type of spoken word flow in their recent song Danceteria.
Remember watching the PSB documentary Then And Now, the moment where they preview New London Boy.
Chris' delight "there's a rap!". That was such a special moment for me.
Re: Funky Gibbon not West End girls was first British hit with a rap!?
Posted: Tue 28 Jul 2026, 8:46 pm
by richwill
Wham!
Re: Funky Gibbon not West End girls was first British hit with a rap!?
Posted: Tue 28 Jul 2026, 8:54 pm
by Old Soak
richwill wrote: Tue 28 Jul 2026, 8:46 pmWham!
The Evasions - Wikka Rap, 1981 hit that just scraped the Top 20 beats Wham Rap by a year.
Re: Funky Gibbon not West End girls was first British hit with a rap!?
Posted: Wed 29 Jul 2026, 12:51 am
by y3potential
I've always considered the verses in Give Peace A Chance to be very rap-like in their delivery...
Re: Funky Gibbon not West End girls was first British hit with a rap!?
Posted: Wed 29 Jul 2026, 3:46 pm
by Sandy Shaw
y3potential wrote: Wed 29 Jul 2026, 12:51 am
I've always considered the verses in Give Peace A Chance to be very rap-like in their delivery...
Yes, good point and thanks for all contributions to the thread.
There was a strong movement for spoken word poetry in the 60s into the 70s which may have prompted some musicians to go that way.
Re: Funky Gibbon not West End girls was first British hit with a rap!?
Posted: Thu 30 Jul 2026, 9:37 pm
by Trevor Tremor
Old Soak wrote: Tue 28 Jul 2026, 8:54 pm
richwill wrote: Tue 28 Jul 2026, 8:46 pmWham!
The Evasions - Wikka Rap, 1981 hit that just scraped the Top 20 beats Wham Rap by a year.
Rapture was 1980.
Ant Rap was 1981.