THE UK'S FIRST SILVER & GOLD DISC WINNERS

SILVER DISC AWARDS 1959 - 1969.

In 1959 the year old (It commenced in February 1958) music paper Disc instigated a scheme to award specially made silver discs to those records that sold over 250.000 units in the United Kingdom. Editor Gerald Marks set about contacting as many record companies as possible to try to persuade them to join up to the idea by contacting Disc with sales data on successful records passing the quarter of a million sales mark.

It was also decided that in the extremely rare occasion when a record passed one million sales (1.000.000) that specially made gold discs would be presented! Up to 1959 only three records were known to have passed the magic million number; these were "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley, "Mary's Boy Child" by Harry Belafonte and "Diana" by Paul Anka. Cliff Richard's `Living Doll` by October 1959, would be the fourth and final million seller of the 1950s.

The Silver disc award was thought to be a pretty rare occasion as only long running number 1 records would possibly qualify.

Extended play discs (EPs) were also awarded silver discs when sales were high enough; especially in 1964-5. Just the Beatles and Rolling Stones qualified due to both group's high popularity and heavy EP sales.

Only one Long Player (LP) publicly received a silver disc by the paper. This was awarded on 17 February 1962 to Elvis Presley's `GI Blues`. It is still not known why no more formal announcements of silver disc LP awards was not made by the paper. Silver disc awards to LPs `did` continue though. Proof of this is the Beatles receiving such an award for their `With The Beatles` by their producer George Martin on Thank Your Lucky Stars `Merseybeat` special in December 1963.

It is not known whether the awards were backdated as there are no records are kept by Disc to confirm this. It is unfortunate for Elvis Presley as he would have surely qualified for silver discs if back dating were allowed.

The system relied on the willingness of Record companies forwarding the correct sales figures for the awards to be made. This system as it turned out, would lead to quite a few errors in the scheme. Sometimes Record Companies would be late with their data; R.C.A records often left it more than three months after Elvis Presley records had qualified, before informing Disc.

Only a few Record companies joined in the system in 1959 so data is sketchy especially as notification would be made after the record had dropped from the charts. Some awards were erroneous due to companies providing figures shipped to shops rather that over the counter sales.

The best example is the Archies "Sugar Sugar". In January 1970 both Disc and Music Echo and Record Retailer published the news along with a photo of Archies producer Don Kirshner being awarded a gold disc by Disc editor David Hughes. It later transpired that "Sugar Sugar" had only sold just over 945.000 copies; the million figure as given was due to RCA records sending just over 1.000.000 units to retailers which not quite all were sold.

This is a problem that has bedevilled the RAAA awards in the United States of America. In theory in the states a record can win Gold or Platinum status solely on units shipped to retailers. If all were returned unsold the award would still stand.

The system was very much on trust and the diligence of Record companies tallying sales figures correctly. Sadly many did not even bother to submit sales data and many hit record which fans were certain should have qualified never got the award.

With gold record awards Disc did not seem to make clear when Gold records were awarded. The silver awards were duly publicised, but when a record went gold as well as silver it was not so well documented. For accuracy sake just the dates of silver awards are given. However, where it is known a record did sell over one million copies a capital G (Bold) mark will be assigned against the title.

There is no certainty of full accuracy as Disc sometimes gave erroneous information. In September 1970 both sides of Stevie Wonders "I Don't Know why / My Cherie Amour" were awarded separate silver discs. "I Don't Know why" fared poorly on release, and only when `B` side "My Cherie Amour" was promoted, did the record sell well. It is one of the obvious errors made by the paper.

By 1973 the British Phonographic Industry decided to set up an `official` awards. The BPI insisted on Record Companies giving rather more accurate data for this new scheme and that sales were properly audited. It was decided to mark sales of 500.000 with some type of award too. The BPI would now give a silver disc for 250.000 sales (no change there!) and to award gold for 500.000 sales. The one million sales would now be awarded the new platinum disc award. The first recipient of a Platinum disc was Gary Glitter for his million plus seller "I Love, You Love, Me Love" in late November 1973.

Disc and Music Echo did try to carry on their own awards through 1973, but it was made redundant by the new BPI awards which virtually every record company signed up to. Discs award scheme had never been universally accepted and sadly was error strewn, but it was a superb innovation for its time until a better and more accurate system evolved.