We've Got A Winner!

After over two dozen qualifying responses ... and five 
finalists ... we are happy to declare a winner in our
recent Forgotten Hits / Joel Whitburn Music Trivia
Contest!

Nearly everybody who participated said that while they
found some of these questions to be a bit challenging
and difficult, they had a WHOLE lot of fun playing along
... so VERY special thanks to everyone who gave our
trivia  contest a shot ...

And guess what ... WE learned a few things along the
way, too.  In fact, were it not for this contest, we may
not have found out one particular bit of trivia at all ...
but, now that we did, Joel's going to amend his next
book to reflect this new information.  (And that's a win
/ win for everybody!!!)

Plus, one of you just won a couple of absolutely
awesome prizes ... so let's take a look at the results.

   Here are the official answers ... along with the

announcement of our grand prize winner!

Part One: THE '70's:

THE JOEL WHITBURN / FORGOTTEN HITS 1970’S MUSIC TRIVIA CHALLENGE

1) Which of these artists had four #1 Hot 100 hits in 1970: Simon & Garfunkel, The Beatles, The Jackson 5, Three Dog Night?   

A: The Jackson 5: I Want You Back, ABC, The Love You Save and I'll Be There. The Beatles had TWO #1 Hits in 1970 (Let It Be and The Long And Winding Road) and Simon and Garfunkel and Three Dog Night each had one (Bridge Over Troubled Water and Mama Told Me Not To Come respectively)  

2) Which two of these names did not have a Top 5 Hot 100 hit in 1971: Proud Mary, Admiral Halsey, Boo,
    Ben, Mrs. Jones, Bobby McGee?   

A: Mrs. Jones, Ben 

NOTE: You had to list BOTH titles in order to get full
credit for this question ... some contestants only 
named one and lost points as a result. Mrs. Jones 
showed up in the #1 Billy Paul Hit and "Ben" topped
the charts in the hands of Michael Jackson ... but BOTH
of those records wouldn't be released until 1972.  

3) Which of these ‘persons’ was mentioned in four  1972 #1 Hot 100 hits: Baby, Child, Daddy, Girl, Man, Mother, Papa, Woman?  

A: After a bit of discussion, we decided to eliminate this question. Some readers interpreted this to mean in the song title only ... others spent a good deal of time dissecting the lyrics trying to find the answer. When I checked with Joel, he said that he had actually mis-written the question ... it should have read: 

    "Which of these 'persons' was mentioned in four Top 10 Hot 100 titles?"  

   As rewritten, Joel says that the correct answer would have been "Woman" ... four songs with "Woman" in the title made The Top Ten that year: 
   "I Am Woman” / “Long Cool Woman” / “Clean Up
   Woman” / “Witchy Woman”. However, since Joel said the question wasn't worded correctly, we decided that we couldn't accept ANY answers as being correct.    

   Double-checking The Top Ten Records of 1972, I came up with the following tallies:   

   Baby - Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me (1)  

   Child - Mother and Child Reunion (a double whammy on this one!) 1  

   Daddy - Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast; Sugar Daddy (2)   

   Girl - Brandy (You're A Fine Girl); Oh Girl; Hey Girl (3)

   Man - The Candy Man; Rocket Man (2)

   Mother - Mother and Child Reunion (1)  

   Papa - Papa Was A Rollin' Stone (1)    

   Woman - I Am Woman; Long Cool Woman (In A Black

   Dress); Clean Up Woman; Witchy Woman (4)  

   (By the way, if you spent any time researching these

   answers, I'm sure you found Joel's "Hot 100 Annual"
   to be a HUGE help on this one!!!)  

4) Which two of these songwriters had 3 Top 5 Hot 100 hits in 1973: Paul Simon, Jim Croce, George Harrison, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Marvin Gaye   

A: Again, we needed TWO answers to this question ... and the correct answers were Stevie Wonder and Elton John. Stevie hit the Top Five with You Are The Sunshine of My Life, Superstition and Higher Ground. Elton John did it with Crocodile Rock, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Daniel.   

5) There were 40 #1 Country Songs in 1974 – 17 made the Hot 100 – 5 were by which artist: Dolly Parton, Charlie Rich, Anne Murray, Waylon Jennings, John Denver, Tanya Tucker   

A: Charlie Rich: Charlie hit the Pop Hot 100 five times in 1974: There Won't Be Anymore, I Don't See Me In Your Eyes Anymore, She Called Me Baby, A Very Special Love Song and I Love My Friend   

6) There were 42 #1 R&B Songs in 1975 – all made the Hot 100 – what song led the R&B charts for only 3 consecutive weeks?   

A) "Fight The Power" by The Isley Brothers - again a slight rewording here is probably in order for clarity purposes ... "Fight The Power" is the ONLY one of those 42 #1 R&B Hits to top the charts for three weeks ... all of the others spent less than three weeks at the top of Billboard's R&B Singles Chart. Nevertheless, most of you got this one right ... so we're leaving it stand as is.   

7) 527 songs made the Hot 100 in 1976 – longevity (weeks charted) was not what it is today – only 58 had 20-29 weeks charted – how many charted for 30 or more weeks?   

A) Trick question? 

    
    No, not really ... because there really is only one
    correct answer ...

    
    NONE ... Zero ... Zip!!! 

    
    Whereas today songs stay on the charts regularly
    for TWICE that long, back in 1976, NO RECORDS
    lasted 30 weeks on the chart.  (A few folks
    questioned if we were looking for "Bohemian
    Rhapsody" by Queen and / or "December, 1963 (Oh
    What A Night)" by The Four Seasons as both of these
    records recharted later and thus accumulated more
    than 30 total weeks on the chart ... but no, we
    were talking STRICTLY 1976 chart action here.)  

8) Dance / Disco music was a growing trend on the pop charts in 1977 – 19 Hot 100 songs had forms of the word Dance or Disco in them – which two were gold #1 Hot 100 hits?   

A) "Dancing Queen" by ABBA and "You Make Me Feel 

    Like Dancing" by Leo Sayer  

9) There were 48 Top 5 Hot 100 hits in 1978 – all but 9 were gold or platinum records -- which one of these
    hits was among those 9: Miss You / Baby Come Back   / Three Times A Lady / Short People / Hot Blooded / Emotion   

 A) Three Times A Lady  

10) Which two of these rock bands did not have a #1 Hot 100 hit in 1979: The Doobie Brothers / Styx / Cheap Trick / The Eagles / The Knack / Dire Straits  

A) Cheap Trick and Dire Straits (again BOTH answers were needed to receive full credit for this one ... as well as #8 above)  

TIE-BREAKER BONUS QUESTION (if needed): Name the
artist that had 22 chart hits – all Top 40 hits except for
their debut entry on the Bubbling Under the Hot 100 
chart for one week.

A) Three Dog Night ... incredibly every single one of their Top 100 Hits made The Top 40 ... 21 Top 40 Singles in a row: Try A Little Tenderness (29); One (5); Easy To Be Hard (4); Eli's Coming (10); Celebrate (15); Mama Told Me Not To Come (1); Out In The Country (15); One Man Band (19); Joy To The World (1); Liar (7); An Old Fashioned Love Song (4); Never Been To Spain (5); The Family Of Man (12); Black And White (1); Pieces Of April (19); Shambala (3); Let Me Serenade You (17); The Show Must Go On (4); Sure As I'm Sittin' Here (16); Play Something Sweet (33); Til The World Ends (32) Amazing!!!

Part Two:

THE JOEL WHITBURN / FORGOTTEN HITS
ULTIMATE MUSIC TRIVIA CHALLENGE

(No doubt about it, the questions DO get a little

tougher here!!!)   

11) What singer was a regular on Don McNeill’s

      Breakfast Club radio show and on TV’s Tonight
      Show starring Jack Parr?

A)   We got ALL kinds of answers to this one! Johnny
      Desmond, Vic Damone, Gale Storm, Annette King ...
      so we awarded extra points to those of you who
      correctly identified Betty Johnson. (You can add
      one-time wife of Charles Randolph Grean to her  
      long list of credits, too ... Charles scored a '60's
      hit  with his "Dark Shadows" television theme
      "Quentin's Theme".) Betty hit The Top Ten in 1957
      with "I Dreamed" ... but I was always partial to her
      novelty hit "The Little Blue Man", a #17 Hit in 1958.
      For decades, most of us believed that this record
      also paired her with television legend Hugh Downs
      ... but this rumor was disproved several years ago.

  12) What Elvis Presley Sun Studio recording from

        1954 would become a classic hit by a doo-wop group

         in 1961?  

    A) "Blue Moon" ... which would become a #1 Hit in

        the hands of The Marcels. 

13) Which Beatles’ hit was originally released as by
      The Beattles?

 A) "Please Please Me" ... the original Vee Jay 1963
     pressing misspelled the group's name on the label!
     (Of course that record is worth a fortune today ...
     'cause virtually nobody bought it back then!!!)

14) What Canadian rock and roll singer’s two biggest
      hits both peaked at #3 on the Hot 100?

 A)  Jack Scott ... and those hits were "My True Love"
     (1958) and "Burning Bridges" (1960)

15) What rock band leader began his career as a singer
      in a country band, the Down Homers?

A)   Nearly all of you knew that this was Bill Haley ...
      who achieved world wide fame fronting The
      Comets.

    16) Who is the only artist that had three #1 hits on
          Billboard’s Rock Tracks chart and one #1 hit on
          Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart?

    A)   Not nearly as many of you got this one ... the
          answer is Bon Jovi ... whose duet version of his
          2006 Hit "Who Says You Can't Go Home" with 
          Jennifer Nettles topped Billboard's Country Singles
          Chart. 

17) What do these five 1950’s artists have in common:
      Joan Weber, Morris Stoloff, Laurie London, The
      Silhouettes and The Elegants – besides all having a
      #1 hit?

A)   That #1 Hit was their one and only chart
      appearance ... true One Hit Wonders in every sense
      of the word ... but boy, what a hit they had!!!

18) Jackie Wilson had nine consecutive two-sided chart
       hits from 1960-62. What other R&B artist had
       eleven consecutive two-sided chart hits from
       1959-61?

A)    We got another wide assortment of answers to this
       question, too. Everybody from Ray Charles to Sam
       Cooke to The Platters. But the CORRECT answer
       was Fats Domino.

 19)  Since 1955, The Beatles have had the most #1 
        hits: 20; Elvis and Madonna have had the most #2
        hits: 6; who has had the most #3 hits (with 5)? 

  A)    Chicago. One reader pointed out that Janet
         Jackson ALSO had five #3 Hits ... and technically
         he's right. ("What's It Gonna Be?!" was released by
         Busta Rhymes featuring Janet in 1999.) With
         Joel's permission I gave THAT reader an extra
         bonus point ... although Janet wasn't the primary
         featured artist on the record, she DID receive
         label credit.

20) What pop singing group backed a 1930s legendary
      movie actress on her only charted album, with the
      group pictured on the cover of the album?

 A)   Without question, this one became the biggest
       stickler point in the whole quiz ... but also 
       provided us with some new information that will
       soon be updated in Joel's new Album book.  

      We found countless places on the internet that
      gave the answer to this question as "Somebody's
      Chyldren" ... but that was NOT the answer Joel
      Whitburn was looking for. 

      Although the credits on the album DO list
      "Somebody's Chyldren" as the band backing screen
      legend Mae West, Joel wanted to know who was
      pictured of the album cover ... and the answer to
      THAT question was Gary Lewis and the Playboys ...
      or so we thought!

      Joel tells us:  
      Back in the early 1970s when I began research on
      my “Top Pop Albums” book, I set out to buy every
      charted album as I did with the singles. It was the
      only way to get all the data correct – and for
      albums, to get all the tracks. I was at Mean
      Mountain Music buying albums, when the owner
      saw that in my stack of purchases was the Mae
      West album "Way Out West" which peaked at #116
      in 1966. He told me to take a closer look at the
      cover and check out her backing band. 
      I immediately said that it’s Gary Lewis & The
      Playboys, which he confirmed. Gary was a drummer
      and he’s holding drum sticks in his hands and
      standing by a drum, so there’s no doubt that it is
      Gary Lewis, even though the liner notes on the
      back of the cover state that the band’s name is 
      Somebody’s Chyldren.

   Now I will admit that this DOES look a lot like Gary Lewis on the cover ... but I was a little bit puzzled by this one! 

   We've had MANY discussions about Gary Lewis and the Playboys over the years in Forgotten Hits. First of all, I thought "The Playboys" (on record anyway) was actually The Wrecking Crew. We've been told that The Wrecking Crew would come in and do the sessions and then the REAL Playboys would learn those parts and go out and "mimic" and recreate those sounds on stage in concert. Even Gary Lewis' own vocals have come under scrutiny in the past, as it has pretty much been determined that he sang OVER a guide vocal typically laid down by a studio session singer by the name of Ron Hicklin ... so I found it hard to believe that Gary Lewis and the Playboys would be chosen to be the "backing band" on ANY album ... since technically they didn't really exist in the studio context!  (Although with Gary's Dad's connections, it wasn't inconceivable ... he probably knew Mae West and may have even helped to line up the gig.  After all, Gary Lewis and the Playboys performed music in several of Jerry Lewis' movies, too ... so why not this?)  Then again, why would they perform using a pseudonym when by this point they had already scored a number of hits under their own name?  (And, how cool is this? That would mean that besides appearing on the Mae West album "Way Out West", Gary Lewis and the Playboys also provided the title track for Gary's Dad's 1966 Movie "Way ... Way Out"!!!  Maybe THAT was the reason they did it!!!)
 

    After all, technically speaking, they WERE a real band.  Over the years, Forgotten Hits has also told the story of how (when performing as simply The Playboys ... with Gary Lewis on drums and a different guy handling the lead vocals) they were discovered performing at Disneyland and given a recording contract. It was THEN that it came to light that Gary's father was the world-famous comedian Jerry Lewis (France counts, right?) and the label (Liberty) decided to capitalize on that by moving  Gary's name upfront to the group and designating his as their new lead singer. 

   Their very first record, "This Diamond Ring" (written by our FH Buddy Al Kooper!) went straight to #1. (By the Al HATES the Gary Lewis version of that song!)

    In any event, Joel had already published this surprising discovery in his Billboard Albums Book and this was the answer he was looking for ... so we simply went with it.  

    However after SO many people kept answering with "Somebody's Chyldren" ... and since that was, in fact, the name credited on the LP ... and since every time you Googled it on the web this is the answer that you got, we ultimately decided to give credit to anyone who answered "Somebody's Chyldren" and give EXTRA credit to anybody to answered "Gary Lewis and the Playboys". (Which, by the way, was exactly TWO people! And BOTH them credited Joel's Top Billboard Albums book as the source of their information! WTG, Guys!)  Joel was onboard with this decision.

    At this point, we thought we were done.  After all, a  couple of these "extra credit" / "bonus points" questions allowed some readers to reach the "qualifiers round" because it offset some of the questions they answered incorrectly.  When all was said and done, NOBODY got a perfect score ... so these little "extras" ended up being some of the determining factors in narrowing down our winner.  Besides, we figured this would make for some interesting fodder when we finally did get around to publishing the results.

    But it just kept eating at me ... why was this misinformation out there in the first place?  And what was the reason behind using a "fake name" on this LP?  Was it perhaps a contractual thing because the album was released on a different label and Gary Lewis and the Playboys were signed to Liberty Records?  Was it an "in joke" of some sort.  Or was it really Gary Lewis and the Playboys at all?

   So I continued to dig ... and, while doing some of that research, I happened to stumble across this website that featured Mae's album a couple of weeks ago (along with some pretty cool YouTube clips.)    

   Click here: Mae West and Other Sonic Celebrity Train Wrecks | HomeTechTell

    I wrote to Mark Smotroff, who runs the site, and told him of the unusual coincidence that we would both be featuring this same bit of trivia during the same month and he wrote me back to say that he was SURE Somebody's Chyldren was a real band ... and had done other recordings, too.

   Nice to hear from you, Kent. Interesting points but now I'm going to have to research this more.  From everything I've seen online, Somebody's Chyldren was indeed a real band that put out several singles, not just the Mae West album. To your point, Gary Lewis and the Playboy's early hits were played by The Wrecking Crew for the most part. Also, Gary Lews and the Playboys were a 5-piece band. Somebody's Chyldren (as photographed on the cover of the Mae West album, at least) were a 4-piece.
I'll keep looking around for more info on this. Thanks for writing and peaking my curiosity further!
   Mark 
   
   I just kept finding more and more references to a REAL band called Somebody's Chyldren.  (I also found a band called Somebody's Children ... note the different spelling ... on Mike Dugo's '60'sGarageBands.com website ... as if things weren't confusing enough already!!!)

   I checked the Vernon Joynson book "Fuzz Acid And Flowers Revisited" (not always the most accurate source available, I will admit) and HE had Somebody's Chyldren listed as "probably a Mike Curb studio group, although it might have been a backing band because both Ian Whitcomb and Mae West used them in this capacity in 1966.  A little later that year they put out their sole platter - a powerful and rather folk-flavoured punk disc called 'I'm Going Back To New York City' (Uptown 727), which had quite a lot of commercial potential."

   I asked Mike Dugo what HE knew about the band and he told me:  

   I was in contact with David Clark Allen of Somebody's Chyldren years ago. They're best known for backing Mae West on two LPs she recorded in the '60s. They started out as The Offbeats (and even appeared on Shindig) and they also recorded as The Children. They were an actual performing band - not a studio band - but did record songs for the flick Hell Cats. Their single 'I'm Going Back To New York City" is very cool. David had a website, which is how I found him, but I don't know if it's still online. I hope this helps.

   Best,

   Mike   

   At this point, I sent a rush email to Joel Whitburn (subject line:  "Yikes!!!")  We may have been giving extra credit to the wrong answer ... (worse yet, we had already picked the winner by this point!) ... and this meant that Joel's book was wrong ... he was going to have to fix it for the next print run!   

   The deciding factor once and for all came here:

   Click here: 20. SOMEBODY'S CHYLDREN - I'M GOING BACK TO NEW YORK CITY | FLOWER BOMB SONGS 

     where SEVERAL pictures of the band along with a line-up of all of the original members was prominently featured.  Simply put, this means we got it wrong!!!   

   As the final topper, I went to Gary Lewis himself ... and asked him, once and for all, to let our readers know if, in fact, he and The Playboys performed on the Mae West album "Way Out West".  Gary gave us the definitive answer:     

   Hi Kent,
Once and for all, that band was NOT us. I would have  loved to meet Mae West, and that would have been cool. 

   Gary    

   And with that, Forgotten Hits wraps up yet another mystery for the ages ... although in the long run it didn't really have any effect on our contest ... and all we REALLY did was confirm that the correct information had been out there all along!

    Even swapping the points around for those who now had CORRECTLY identified Somebody's Chyldren as the band on the LP didn't change the results ...  because we didn't have any perfect scores ... and because we had so many ties ... we ultimately threw anybody's name into the hat who had scored a 90% or better on the quiz ... and it is from THAT list that Joel Whitburn ultimately selected the winner.
 

   MEANWHILE ... Wanna hear it?

   
   Here is Somebody's Chyldren doing their best-known track, "I'm Going Back To New York City", as found on YouTube ...   Click here: Somebody's Children - I'm Going Back To New York City (1966) - YouTube
 

    (And now back to the results ... whew!!!)

       TIE-BREAKER BONUS QUESTION (if needed): Name

     the Elvis Presley song that states “You may have a

     pink Cadillac” and the Beatles song that states "I've

     got a big surprise".

 
A)  The Elvis tune is "Baby, Let's Play House" and The
     Beatles' tune is "I'll Be Back". 

     Surprisingly our "bonus  questions" didn't seem to
     give most of you any problems at all ... nearly 
     everybody seemed to ace right through these. 
     The two toughest questions were, by far, the ones
     mentioned above (#11 and #18) and the most
     controversial one was the Mae West / Somebody's
     Chyldren / Gary Lewis and the Playboys question ...
     which also proved to be the most interesting!  

So ... all of that being said ... it's time to pick a 

winner!!!

After recalculating all of the points earned (based on
eliminating one question and re-evaluating the bonus
points for a couple of others), we were finally able to
narrow it down to FIVE qualifiers for the grand prize of
a brand new, sealed copy of Joel's chart-topping CD
"The '70's #1's" and his now out-of-print (and highly
sought-after) book of The Billboard Charts, the 1970's.

Those five correctly identified 90% (or better) of the
questions asked. 

From that list of five we had Joel randomly pick the
grand-prize winner out of a "blind" numbering system
that gave absolutely no hint as to who the qualifiers
might be.  

And FROM that list, he picked Ed Erxleben of Oak
Lawn, Illinois! Congratulations, Ed ... a copy of Joel's
book and CD will be sent to you shortly. 

Thanks again to EVERYBODY who played along. Most of
you acknowledged that while the quiz was tough, it
was also a WHOLE lotta fun ... so thanks so much for 
playing.

And VERY special thanks to Joel Whitburn for his
challenging questions AND his very generous prizes.

And, this became ESPECIALLY satisfying for me because
under the most innocent of circumstances, we were
able to resolve, once and for all ... definitively ... the
name of the band performing on Mae West's album.  
(Although in all fairness, it turns out that it's been
properly credited all along!!!)  kk


THE PRIZES:

Check this out ... now out of print, Joel's '70's Chart
Book is going for over $450 on Amazon.com for a brand
new copy!!!
 

And here's his best-selling CD

And ... one more thing ... just for fun ... 

 Joel sent us a copy of Mae West doing The Beatles' 
 classic "Day Tripper" ... from her "Way Out West" LP
 circa 1966 ... with Somebody's Chyldren!

And now a few words from our winner ... 

Wow! I am so happy, and surprised.   

I bought my first Record Research book in the early seventies. It was a paperback book, that covered the Top 100 and Hot 100 charts up to 1969. Every edition has been an improvement over the previous one. When I get them I literally read them cover to cover, almost like a novel. I entered this contest because I was fascinated by the subject, but I never expected to win, given that there are so many knowledgeable Forgotten Hits readers.

As a matter of fact, I once owned the entire printed set of the Billboard Chart books from 1955 to 1999. When the charts came out on DVD, I purchased the DVD's and donated the books to the local public library. Instead of putting them on the reference shelf they turned around and sold them. That was my first clue that they were collector's items. Since I won this copy, and the CD, I think I'll hold on to them.

Did Joel ever consider doing a book about the Billboard Video Charts? From 1979 to 2010 Billboard published VHS and later DVD sales and rental charts. They were a fascinating look at the early days of the home video industry. The later charts were only available to paid subscribers on the billboard.biz website, and recently when Billboard remodeled their website they did away with all the video chart archives. Despite several e-mails from me they insist "There is no way to access the old data." I cancelled my subscription in protest, but that did not seem to sway them. Maybe Joel could write a Home Video book.

Thanks again!

Ed

It seems to me that Joel DID do a Video Book, although it was quite some time ago.  Updating it through 2010 would be interesting ... so we've passed your suggestion along.

Ed is a LONG-time Forgotten Hits Reader ... if I had to guess, he's probably been with us every bit of 10-14 years ... and it's SO cool to see a real FAN win this contest.  (Obviously, he's a long-time Joel Whitburn reader, too ... which makes it even cooler!)  

Congratulations, Ed!  Enjoy your prizes!  (And thanks again to Joel Whitburn ... for his generosity and the challenging fun he provided for our readers.)  kk

From Joel: 

Congratulations, Ed ... I'll get your prizes out today!

I did the complete research for Billboard’s Top 40 Videocassette Rental and Sales charts (two separate charts). I still have the manuscript here, but have decided not to publish it as the feedback we got from our customers on a questionnaire, showed very limited interest. They wanted us to continue researching all the various music charts. I did collect every video that made both of those charts for research purposes and now have over 10,000 of those videos in my archive - all with the original colorful “street” boxes. As you know, back then you didn’t buy new videocassettes as they sold for around $75. We bought from a wholesaler in Milwaukee whatever made the two charts each week. It was the same way that we purchased the singles and albums debuting each week. Now, I have this massive video archive and am not sure what to do with it!!!

It looks like I may have been mis-informed about Gary Lewis being on the Mae West album cover. 

That's OK, Joel ... we're all about getting to "The Most Accurate Truth" ... and I take a lot of personal pride in that.  Glad we could help make BOTH of our publications more accurate and reliable!  (kk)