The reaction to our Summer Countdown has been overwhelmingly positive (although you'll certainly find more than a few "Hey, what about ..."'s in the emails below!!! lol)
Scott Shannon featured selections from the list (as well as many of the runners-up) all day long ... and even counted down The Top 20 in order (which was a VERY pleasant surprise!!!) Sounds like he had some fun, fun, fun doing it, too ... and I think he did an EXCEPTIONAL job ... kept me glued to the radio for four solid hours (and I knew the results in advance!!! lol)
Not to be one-upped, Scarlett Hayze ended up counting down The Top 40 on her program Monday Night, "The Summer Solstice", and we hear that she's also had some very positive reaction to this special programming. (Were any of you blown away by her radio special??? Sounds like you weren't the only ones ... Scarlett tells me that severe storms and high winds literally knocked the station off the air right in the middle of the countdown!!! Now THAT'S not very summery, is it?!?!?)
The GOOD news is, she'll pick up the countdown at #20 on Thursday Night.
Hello darlings!
Join me Thursday Night for the official countdown of the TOP TWENTY SONGS OF SUMMER as voted by the readers of http://forgottenhits.com/ on the DJ Scarlett Hayze show on www.myrevolutionradio.com
The fun begins at 7pm sharp! BE THERE or BE SQUARE, darlings!!
Moochas smoochas ...
DJ Scarlett Hayze
Our website hits went through the roof on Monday thanks to all the new visitors who discovered Forgotten Hits for the very first time due to this special programming ... and don't forget that Phil Nee of WRCO in Richland Center, Wisconsin, will ALSO be playing down The Top 40 Favorites on his "Those Were The Days" radio program this Saturday Night, beginning at 6 PM Central Time (and throwing in a bunch of "extras" and personal favorites along the way, too!)
So thanks again to everybody who participated in this special countdown ... we really do appreciate it!
I thought Scott Shannon did a superb job of counting down The Top 20 Summer Favorites and loved how he talked about some of his OWN summer favorites that didn't make the list. (I'm sure you'll be hearing from quite a few of your readers who were disappointed not to see some of their favorites make The Top 40 ... but that was a pretty "primo" list to be part of!) I especially enjoyed when Scott played his own recording of "Here Comes Summer" from the early '70's ... that's not a song you usually hear on the radio and I really can't even imagine him playing it in any other context ... so your countdown provided the PERFECT forum for him to toot his own horn a little bit ... and even play part of the B-Side of that record, featuring "Super Shan" on lead vocals! All-in-all, I found it VERY enjoyable listening -- I didn't want to miss a minute -- and THAT, as you always tell us, makes for good "appointment" radio! Thanks again for all you do in Forgotten Hits --- and thanks for including your readers as part of the process.
Betsy Kolmb
It's the readers that make this whole thing work ... Forgotten Hits truly is, in EVERY fashion, a "Community Effort" that works because of our mutual love of this music. I, too, loved Scott's handling of the countdown ... it was more than I even imagined and a real treat to listen to. (And I'll tell you what ... it sounded like he was having a BALL doing it, too!!!) Thanks for the kind words. (kk)
I wanted to write about the first day of summer, but I didn’t have any ideas, until I read the blog today from my friend Kent Kotal at Forgotten Hits. The readers of this ‘60s and ‘70s music forum (which now number in the thousands) voted on the TOP 40 ALL –TIME SUMMER FAVORITES! Which will be played by my other pal, Scott Shannon all today LIVE on The True Oldies Channel! http://artiewayne.wordpress.com/2010/06/21/scott-shannon-and-the-top-40-all-time-summer-favorites-from-forgotten-hits/
Regards,
Artie Wayne
http://artiewayne.wordpress.com/about-artie-wayne/
Kent,
It went great!! ... big response ... great job! ...
Scott Shannon
Dee Jay
The TOC
As I told you, I couldn't have been more pleased with the way you handled the whole countdown ... VERY enjoyable listening! Thanks again, Scott! (kk)
We also received a number of emails from readers and listeners who asked:
"How Can You Possibly Do A List Of All-Time Summer Favorites
That Does Include ... "
Up On The Roof by The Drifters???
Palisades Park by Freddy Cannon???
Walking On Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves???
I Live For The Sun by The Sunrays???
Summer by War???
Sunny Afternoon by The Kinks???
Sunny by Bobby Hebb???
So Much In Love by The Tymes???
Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini by Brian Hyland???
California Dreamin' by The Mamas and the Papas???
But by FAR, the two songs most often mentioned as gross oversights were "Under The Boardwalk" by The Drifters and "One Summer Night" by The Danleers. Here are just TWO examples of the emails we received:
What’s “Under The Boardwalk” chopped liver?
Arthur Resnick
"Under The Boardwalk" was one of those that JUST MISSED making The Top 40 ... I agree, it should have been there ... and Scott Shannon feels the same way, as do several other readers and listeners that we've heard from ... but the bottom line is, it simply didn't get the votes! (I've noticed that MOST of the people complaining about the results DIDN'T bother to vote in the first place, which may have greatly changed the outcome ... but that's typically the way it goes!) That being said, based on the response to this countdown (now picked up on a number of websites and radio programs), we probably EASILY could have garnered another 3000-4000 votes this week alone, just based on the responses to what they did ... or didn't hear! Hey, these weren't exactly MY all-time favorites either ... and quite honestly, after listening to "Summertime Summertime" by The Jamies a couple of times yesterday ... and knowing that this song finished in The Top Ten ... I can honestly say that I can't think of a more ANNOYING song out there!!! (lol) But the fact is, the people have spoken ... we let the votes of the masses speak for themselves. (By the way "Under The Boardwalk" finished at #45 with 67 votes ... and, for those who have asked, their other big "Summer Classic", "Up On The Roof", received 37 votes and came in at #75.)
The Top 40 Summer Hits list had no doo wop songs in it. Is it lost forever to the generations? "One Summer Night", by the Danleers, deserved to be on that list. Is it just that old geezers don't own computers? I doubt it. I hope this current generation, and the future generations, don't lose sight of the roots of today's music. Many deserving doo wop groups were never inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and most radio oldies shows don't play doo wop anymore. Such a shame and such a loss.
Bob Hughes (stuck in the 50's)
Actually, there were a run of votes for "One Summer Night" right near the end of the tabulation ... just not enough to propel it on to the list. (It ended up finishing at #51 with 58 votes.) Another doo-wop classic that received a fair amount of votes was "In The Still Of The Night" by The Five Satins (but with 16 votes it didn't even make The Top 100!) Everybody's got their favorites that they felt should have been on the list ... for me, I was shocked to see "Centerfield" by John Fogerty not make the list ... it started out REAL strong and then just faded. How about summer favorites like "Where The Boys Are" by Connie Francis? "Grazing In The Grass" by Hugh Masekela? "Save Your Heart For Me" by Gary Lewis and the Playboys? (What a GREAT, feel-good summer song THAT is!!!) A personal favorite of mine is "Do It Again" by The Beach Boys ... but MOST have argued that there are already too many Beach Boys songs on the list, taking spots away from other worthy artists. To quote Rick Nelson, "You can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself" ... or, in this case, the voters ... and the majority have spoken! (kk)
Good list -- if somewhat predictable. I'd sure like to know where some of the other "less obvious" songs came in.
Rod
Great summer list, Kent. Thanks for all the work compiling it.
Any chance of sharing, say, the next 60 or so finishers on the site sometime soon? I'm sure others are curious, too, of where some of their other favorites finished.
Don Effenberger
Lol ... I kinda figured it would come to that ... so The Top 100 are now posted on The Forgotten Hits Website: Click here: Forgotten Hits - Your All-Time Summer Favorites
Truth is, whenever you do a poll like this, people want to know where some of the other tracks finished. If you count down The Top 40, folks wanna know "What was #41?" (In this case, it was "Walkin' On Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves", which just missed making The Top 40 by three votes!) And, once we run The Top 100, they'll want to know "What was #101???" (The answer to that one is "War" by Edwin Starr!) We just LOVE counting things down and "ranking" things ... because the after-debate is almost as much fun as the voting!!! Thanks, Don! (kk)
KK,
I enjoyed looking over the compilation of top 50 hits for the Summer of 1968 you have currently on your website. Basically, the same records were played here in the OKC area and were real big as well. The one exception would be James Brown's LICKING STICK. I have a copy of that song on an album but not single. Without going to go check my surveys, I don't think it was even played or made the local survey.
Years ago I worked for a station here in town in which they had on the bulletin board in the control room a list of artists, (mostly black), they did not want their songs to be played on the air. This began around the late sixties and early seventies.I never was a big fan of Harris' MACARTHUR PARK. I had a DJ friend of mine tell me years ago (and I might add I had also read this) that one reason it was a hit was because of the length of the record. It was a 7:20 on the Dunhill Record Label. While the record was playing, an announcer if he wanted to, could run out and use the restroom, run downstairs and get a candy bar, coke, etc. out of a vending machine. A similar story or record occurred in 1959 when Nina Simone recorded the song I LOVES YOU PORGY on Bethleham Records. When promotional copies of that record made it to radio stations, DJ'S noticed the length of the song which was over 4 minutes. That was an unusual length for a song back in those days. They started to play it because that would give them more time for other things to do since most records back in those days were a little over 2 minutes in length average. As I mentioned, I never really liked Harris'MACARTHUR PARK but to me the best part was when it hit the 7:20 mark.
One final thing. Through the years have you ever noticed or were told that certain songs by artists or groups on the single version was a little bit different than the LP version? For example, the Clovers' 1959 recording of Love POTION #9 single ends differently than the version on their album.
Keep up the good work.
Larry N. Boyington,
aka Larry Neal, former curator of the Wax Museum on the big 1520 KOMA
Over the years, you'll find literally HUNDREDS of "punched-up" singles that are different mixes than the album tracks ... and, having grown up hearing these song a "certain way", it's sometimes frustrating to hear the wrong mix on the air all these years later. For decades now I have pushed for the record companies to raid their vaults and begin releasing "The Singles Collection" ... a COMPLETE collection of EVERY single on EVERY label in catalog number order to satisfy all of us "vinyl junkies" out there who are replacing their worn out and scratchy 45's collection with pristine CD versions. (kk)
Hi Kent,
I just looked at the Summer All Time Top 40 and wanted to pass along some information about Summer in the City.
One of the hooks of that record was the part played on what I believe was a Wurlitzer electric piano. That part was played by my friend Jimmy Czak, the recording engineer on the date. To my best recollection, Jimmy came up with the part at the session. Jimmy and John Post are the owners of Nola Sound Studios in New York City. The record was recorded at the studio where Jimmy worked in the 60s; May have been Bell Sound ... or Bell (???) Anyway, I was always curious as to who played on records, (before credits were listed) As a session player, this was important to me.
Regards,
Don (Young) Albano
You would LOVE that new Wrecking Crew Documentary, Don!!! (I'm sure you've devoured "Standing In The Shadows Of Motown" by now!!! lol) For a few more words on that Bell session, we've got THIS from Artie Wayne:
I gave up some precious mastering time at Bellsound in N.Y.to my friend Artie Ripp so he could master “Summer in the City”!
Artie Wayne
To read more about some of Artie's connection to the REST of our Top 20 List, be sure to check out his website here:
Click here: SCOTT SHANNON AND THE TOP 40 ALL-TIME SUMMER FAVORITES FROM FORGOTTEN HITS! « Artie Wayne On The Web
Kent ...
6/21/10 = First Day of Summer.
It start's at 7:28 a m.
Hope you're up to enjoy it. lol!
Frank B.
YouTube - The Ravens-Summertime
You betcha!!! For the record, I was up at 5:19 ... and it turned out to be a GREAT First Day Of Summer ... I loved listening to BOTH countdowns of Your Top 40 All-Time Summer Favorites ... and I'm sure that there will be LOTS of Summer Favorites featured all day long for days to come. (kk)
One word about the True Oldies Channel Summer Countdown: Outstanding! (Any chance he's going to play it again?)
Rick S.
Not likely ... but The True Oldies Channel has now put The Top 40 List up on THEIR website, too ... so an awful lot more people are going to see it. (Scott may update his list to include the entire Top 100 now that we've done that on our site ... time will tell.) Meanwhile, thanks to a VERY positive response, I imagine he'll be slipping in "summer favorites" every hour for a while now! (kk)
Hey Kent!
I had so much fun doing the show last night! I spent most of yesterday getting ready for the show - and, in doing so, I realized I had plenty of time to slip in all of the top 40 hits!! I started the show by reading from your blog about how this countdown came to be and all in all it was a GREAT show UNTIL ...
(dramatic pause) ...
(here's the email I just sent out to my listeners)
Damage control report from the Veranda: strong rains, thunder and lightning last night prematurely ended my Summer Solstice Show. :(
The good news: Thursday night at 7 pm ET we will continue with the TOP TWENTY COUNTDOWN of the ALL-TIME FAVORITE SONGS OF SUMMER!!
(courtesy of forgotten hits.com and myrevolutionradio.com)
Just as I got to number 19 - I swear - I couldn't hold the stream. After numerous attempts - my "ping" was outrageous (2000 ms at one point!) - I gave up. The good news is I am going to play the Top Twenty on my Thursday show ... so the fun continues on!
I did receive a lot of positive comments and even had listeners as far away as Australia and eastern Europe tuning in to hear the show!
I meant what I said on the air ... I love your website. You are an amazing guy for doing this. I feel a very strong connection to your site because it is the music I play, the music I grew up with, and the music that changed the world. And I agree ... the tired, worn out oldies that standard oldies radio stations play do not accurately represent the music that was, and is, ours. Thank you for keeping it alive and in our hearts.
Moochas smoochas!
DJ Scarlett Hayze
myrevolutionradio.com
I got to hear bits and pieces but I lost the station at #22 ... figured playing something as new as Bryan Adams is what got you booted off the air! (lol) Hoping some of our readers will tune in again tomorrow night to hear The Top 20 ... and that anybody who can will check out Phil Nee's Show on Saturday Night as well. (Hey, Readers ... let's start a letter-writing campaign ... to WRCO in Richland Center, WI ... tell the powers that be there that WE WANT THEM TO START STREAMING!!! Tell them that IF THEY BUILD IT, WE WILL COME!!!) Phil does a FANTASTIC job every week with his "Those Were The Days" Radio Program ... and he genuinely loves this music. Over the years, he's had a Who's Who of artists on his show and it deserves to be heard by The Oldies Nation!!! (kk)
Bravo Kent!
... for the success of the great response to the songs of summer. They will never go out of style.
What a blast to see an often unheralded Beach Boy song, All Summer Long, high on the list. Plus, California Nights by Leslie Gore, another great but seldom heard song.
Not making the list but guaranteed to send you into summer ... two Beach Boys tunes: It's OK (70's) and Keepin' the Summer Alive (80's).
Phil
PrayForSurf.net
And, speaking of The Beach Boys, we sent THIS "revised" announcement out earlier today to our Forgotten Hits subscribers:
Well, THAT didn't take long!!!
Less than 24 hours after telling The Las Vegas Sun that The Beach Boys (including original members Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine and long-time member Bruce Johnston) would be reuniting for a 50th Anniversary Tour, Mike Love spent a good part of yesterday back-pedaling from that statement.
Quite honestly, I never REALLY believed it for a minute ... I just reporting what was reported ... in my mind, unless Brian said they were doing it, it didn't count ... and even then, I would fully expect them to abort ship after four or five dates when they realized that they simply could not coexist sharing the spotlight.
Let's face it, Brian Wilson has been doing just FINE without the others for several years now ... this would no longer be a case of Mike wheeling Brian on stage and propping him up behind the piano simply for appearances sake ... despite his long-standing disdain for touring, Wilson has put on some legendary and landmark shows of his own for the past decade and a half ... with an absolutely STELLAR back-up band that loves and appreciates his music. Unless Brian announced the band was reforming for this very special anniversary, this always ranked as more of a "PR" move (or perhaps some wishful thinking) on Mike Love's part.
Apparently a couple of our readers agreed ...
I'm praying the Mike Love quote is more than his wishful thinking!
Phil@prayforsurf.net
Actually, over the past two years, they have ALL ... at various times ... been talking about doing something special for their 50 year anniversary ... but always without any form of a firm commitment. (Honestly, I think was probably MORE shocked at the prospect of Mike letting Al Jardine back in the band!!! lol) Brian doesn't NEED to tour with The Beach Boys anymore ... his current band outshines anything The Beach Boys have put together in decades ... but, for the FANS' sake ... it SURE would have been a nice final chapter. Chalk this one up to "Wouldn't It Be Nice". (kk)
This is why I don't report rumor and speculation:
-- Ron Smith
Well, it felt good for about 24 hours anyway!!! (lol) In a prepared statement (my guess is under pressure from Brian's camp) Mike Love said on Tuesday:
As The Beach Boys approach the 2011 - 2012 touring season, which will mark their 50th anniversary as a band, speculation continues to grow among fans and media as to reunion possibilities among all the original surviving members. In response to recent stories Mike Love had the following comments: “The Beach Boys continue to tour approximately 150 shows a year in multiple countries. At this time there are no plans for my cousin Brian to rejoin the tour. He has new solo projects on the horizon and I wish him love and success. We have had some discussions of writing and possibly recording together, but nothing has been planned. I, as I’m sure he is, am proud and honored that The Beach Boys music has endured these 50 years, but felt the need to clarify that there are no current 'reunion' tour plans.”
