“Under the Moon of Love” captured Showaddywaddy at the exact moment their 1950s dream became a 1970s phenomenon
There is something wonderfully time-capsule-like about watching Showaddywaddy perform “Under the Moon of Love” on Hits A GoGo in 1976. The colourful clothes, the choreography, the tightly packed group formation and the unmistakable rock ’n’ roll energy all belong completely to that extraordinary moment when a Leicester band built around the sounds of another generation suddenly found itself at the centre of British pop. The song had only been released on 15 October 1976, yet within weeks it was climbing rapidly through the UK charts. It eventually reached No.1 on 28 November 1976 and remained there for three weeks, becoming Showaddywaddy’s only British chart-topper.
What makes the Hits A GoGo performance especially fascinating is the timing. Showaddywaddy were not looking back from some distant place yet. They were living through the explosion as it happened. Earlier in 1976, the band’s fortunes had looked rather less spectacular. “Trocadero” had reached only No.32, while “Take Me in Your Arms” failed to chart. Then came “Under the Moon of Love,” a song originally written by Tommy Boyce and Curtis Lee and first recorded by Curtis Lee in 1961. Showaddywaddy heard the song after Leicester DJ Mick Stacey played it at a local nightclub, and their revival transformed an obscure early-60s pop number into the defining hit of their own career.
The television image tells its own story. Showaddywaddy had always understood that their appeal was visual as well as musical. With eight members sharing the stage, they looked almost like a travelling rock ’n’ roll revue, bringing together singers, guitars, rhythm section, saxophone and brass in a deliberately nostalgic package. Yet the performance never feels like a museum reconstruction. There is genuine movement in it, a sense that these musicians were having fun with the material rather than treating the 1950s as something precious and untouchable. That quality helped explain why they could take a song from 1961 and make it feel completely at home in the middle of the disco era.
The chart story behind the footage makes the performance even more remarkable. “Under the Moon of Love” debuted at No.36, climbed to No.19 the following week, reached No.3 by 14 November and then moved to No.2 before finally taking the top spot. It spent 15 weeks on the UK chart, while Showaddywaddy were simultaneously becoming almost permanent fixtures on British television. Their first television performance of the new single came just four days after its release on Arrows, followed by Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, Supersonic and a run of appearances on Top of the Pops.
And that is why old footage such as Hits A GoGo has become so valuable. It does not merely preserve a famous song. It preserves Showaddywaddy before the years had softened the edges of the memory, when the members were still young men discovering just how far this unlikely musical idea could take them. By the end of 1976, “Under the Moon of Love” had carried them to No.1, their first Greatest Hits album had reached No.4, and the following two years would bring six more consecutive Top 5 singles. Watching them perform here, you can almost see that future beginning to unfold, one exuberant rock ’n’ roll step at a time.