From FH Reader Clark Besch ...
60 Years ago this week!
(Well, kinda?)
We all remember the first time we heard
"That Thing You Do!" on the radio. It was pandemonium as WLS' Dick
Biondi (who wasn't even at WLS anymore then) somehow blurted out over
the Big 89 airwaves, "This new record goes out to our new WLS 'Gayla
Girl,' Faye Dolan! They're gonna be the next Beattles!! Here are the WONDERS!!"
Hear the reaction from Faye as she hears Dick's immortal intro:
Dick Biondi premiers the Wonders' hit 1964
It was 60 years ago this week that Mr. Amos White, manager of the once unknown Oneders and, then, currently WONDERS, gave his new up and coming Playtone label stars the big news that their first recording was the biggest in Playtone history and had just hit #7 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart! That was right before their Galaxy of Stars midwest tour performance with other Playtone recording stars like Diane Dane, the Chantrellines and, of course, the incomparable Freddy "Mr. Downtown" Fredrickson! Suddenly, they were being chased by girls! Their career was short lived, but think what it could have been!
The magic moment preserved for all here before the concert:
Three weeks in, the Wonders are pounding at the fabs' door
as both groups hit the Top 10 in their third week on the Hot 100 for the week beginning
7-25-1964. Note that the Wonders have already stolen the fabs' "red
bullet" as the Wonders continue to gain momentum!
Cash Box was charting it Top 10 in its fourth week, so a bit ahead of Billboard.
Record World, not to be outdone, has the song ready to leapfrog to the top 5 next week?
View the excitement again:
Pandemonium not to be seen ever again ...
(well, until two years later and the Monkees!)
1-ders forever!
NOW,
what I do NOT understand is this week's Super Chart NOT showing "That
Thing You Do!" at all!
By all rights, the record should likely rank #8
or so based on all three trades.
The Both Sides Now site recently argued the
validity of the Super Chart rankings and I see this small loop hole now.
This
whole email in jest, but Randy did not get it right for this
week ...
OR DID HE???
This week's Super Chart:
Behind the Scenes ...
Kent,
I wanted
to offer up some fun for FH, if you play along with me.
I know Randy's
great Super Charts are posted every Saturday and will no doubt be as
accurate as can be featuring totals of the three trades for that week.
I
have made an email that is fictitious and would obviously throw Randy's
chart into a quandary if real, but it would be fun IF you would consider
posting my email along with Randy's chart for the week ending July 25th. (I know ... I have, as
Styx would say, TOO MUCH TIME ON MY HANDS!!!)
The
whole idea came from me having the booklet that was given out at the
"That Thing You Do!" theater showings that indeed showed the song at #7 on
the Hot 100 as related in the movie.
This photo is from the booklet but
does not have the correct showings for the previous weeks, as they're only showing three weeks
and not four ...
So I did a little adjusting for my email.
The pic below
does have accurate info for the other chart numbers, which I thought
very cool. (By the way, they stuck "That Thing You Do" in at #7 in place of "Dang Me.")
Very clever idea, Clark! Thanks for sending! (kk)
[here ya go ... just in case you still haven't had enough!] kk
