Artist · chart history
The Adverts
Band London United Kingdom Active 1976–1979
The Adverts formed in 1976 in London, United Kingdom and was active until 1979. The Adverts has 4 chart appearances on 3 radio countdowns from 2 stations on RockLists, spanning 2002–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Gary Gilmore's Eyes”, which appears on 3 lists with a best position of #445. The station that charted The Adverts most often is The Colorado Sound (Fort Collins–Denver, CO), with 2 appearances.
When London punk broke in 1976, the Adverts were right in the thick of it, and they were one of the first bands of that scene to make it all the way into the British mainstream. Their 1977 single "Gary Gilmore's Eyes" crashed the UK singles chart at No. 18, a genuinely strange and brilliant thing to find on the charts, all nervous energy and buzzsaw guitar. Bassist Gaye Advert, a founder of the band, was later singled out in an encyclopedia of '70s music as punk's first female star.
Crossing the Red Sea with the Adverts, from 1978, is the album, and it still sounds sharp: short, fast and smarter than it has any right to be. "No Time to be 21" is a two-fisted blast with a pop hook buried in the noise. The lineup shifted constantly around T.V. Smith and Gaye Advert, with Howard Pickup, John Towe, Rod Latter, Paul Martinez, Tim Cross and Lorry Driver all passing through, and by late 1979 it was over. Three years was all it took.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by The Adverts on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gary Gilmore's Eyes | 3 | #445 | – | – | |
| 2 | No Time to be 21 | 1 | #1431 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
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