re: THE
COUNTDOWN:
Did you follow along with our special Top 200 #1 Records
Countdown on Monday?
(I suppose I could have gotten REALLY clever and posted
one title at a time every six minutes ... but just putting together these hourly
updates already took up most of MY holiday weekend!!!)
We got some feedback ... and we'll share it with
you (including the good, the bad and the ugly)!
I like the idea of including chart
information from ALL of the trades in your countdown -- while Billboard has long
been considered the Music Chart Bible, it shows again that it was not the be all
/ end all when it comes to this kind of information.
Thanks for sharing your clever idea with
your readers.
Bob
What I like about doing a chart like this is this: EACH
of these trade publications was a respected source of information during this
era ... artists, record companies, promoters, radio stations, etc., spent
heavy-duty money promoting their latest artists and releases in these trades ...
and a good showing in each and every one counted as another feather in their
collective caps. Consider then that each publication had their own sources (and
resources) for compiling this information, taking into consideration record
sales, radio airplay, etc. ... but no one publication covered it ALL. A
consensus utilizing the COMPLETE RESOURCES of all of these publications paints a
more accurate picture as to just what was really popular at the time. (And we
found a few things that, as I said, made you take pause and wonder "Hmmm???"
along the way, too ... sometimes it's easier to reflect on the times with the
benefit of 20/20 hindsight ... and it was nice to finally give some recognition
to some deserving titles that were considered #1 Records by most of us ... in
any number of regions ... and, in many cases, nationally, too, depending on
which publication you happened to pick up that week.)
There's an age old saying that states "It ain't #1 till
it's #1 in Billboard" ... and, without question, this has proven to be the case
in the years spent since compiling all relevant chart information ... and we
certainly give them their due ... but, like I said, at the time there were THREE
publications accurately reporting this information ... and these "conflicts"
should also be considered and reported. It was a fun (if not exhausting)
exercise ... but the greatest joy came in recognizing ALL of the National #1
Hits. (kk)
Great to see #189, Crystal Blue
Persuasion, make your #1 list. That's my favorite!
KamperJ
"Crystal Blue Persuasion" made it to #1 here in Chicago
... and topped the Record World Chart, too. Great tune! (By the way, Tommy
James was HUGE here in Chicago ... he hit #1 here with "Hanky Panky", ""I Think
We're Alone Now", "Mirage", "Mony Mony", "Crimson And Clover", "Crystal Blue
Persuasion" and "Draggin' The Line". "Say I Am" and "Nothing To Hide", two hits
that didn't even crack the National Top Ten, reached #2 here in Chi-Town. In
all, Tommy James had 13 Top Ten Chicagoland Hits!) kk
Thank you, Kent, for recognizing
Barbara Ann as a #1 hit (even though it was released too quickly by Capitol and
derailed the Beach Boys' single The Little Girl I Once Knew" as it was climbing
into the top twenty; a great sound!). Some fun, fun, fun on the way to Pet
Sounds!
Rumor has it that California Girls (peaked
at #3) was surreptitiously held back from it's rightful #1 slot ...
(:>)
Good commentary and insight.
I agree 100% on Valleri!
(So many groups had their best song after their big-time on the Top 40 - Try Too Hard, Opus 17, Him or Me, Darlin', Hazy Shade Winter ... )
Phil
I agree 100% on Valleri!
(So many groups had their best song after their big-time on the Top 40 - Try Too Hard, Opus 17, Him or Me, Darlin', Hazy Shade Winter ... )
Phil
I've always felt that "Barbara Ann"
deserved its #1 berth ... "Valleri" (and "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You",
too.) The one that surprised me the most was that "Lady Madonna" never
officially hit #1 on ANY of the national charts ... yet "Nowhere Man" and
"Yellow Submarine" DID!!! It was tougher than many remember hitting #1 during
this era ... there was SO much competition ... new releases by big name artists
were coming out every 4-6 weeks ... artists were releasing as many as three
albums and four or five singles per year ... and a song only stayed on the
charts for about 8-10 weeks, creating a constant rotation of new and exciting
material. And, because the times were so experimental, a group like The Beach
Boys could put out the symphonic-sounding surf hit "California Girls", the
progressively experimental "The Little Girl I Once Knew" and the party-sounding
fun of "Barbara Ann" back-to-back-to-back, all within the span of just seven
months! The group literally sounded different on each new release ... and they
hadn't even hit their "Pet Sounds" period yet! 1966 would go on to see
"Caroline, No" (released as a Brian Wilson single so as not to compete with the
simultaneously released "Sloop John B" Beach Boys single), "Wouldn't It Be
Nice", "God Only Knows" and "Good Vibrations" all come out before the end of the
year. That's SIX charted sides in 1966 alone! (kk)
Very cool concept you've come up with
here! However, I'd be interested to know the thought process behind the
judgement call. If George Harrison and Diana Ross were able to score number one
records so soon after striking out as solo artists (albeit due to a record
buying public with lousy taste, considering the two songs at hand), why
"couldn't" they be included? What were the criteria that disqualified Ross as a
solo artist but qualified Diana Ross and the Supremes and the
Temptations?
Happy 2012!
MF Ping
It was simply a judgement call. "The
Beatles Years", by very definition, defines the time they spent together as a
group on our American Charts. Likewise, The Supremes, who were clearly the
runners-up in the #1 Department for this period of time. Diana Ross and the
Supremes and The Temptation were two forerunners of this era ... and were still
an "intact" entity when they joined forces to record "I'm Gonna Make You Love
Me". Diana on her own, simply put, was "another era" ... just like solo
George. (Had the Ross-less Supremes hit #1 in 1970, I might have included them
... because it was still "The Supremes" ... then again, I might not ...
thankfully, I didn't have to make that call!)
Honestly, it was difficult to consider an
artist like The Partridge Family part of The Beatles Era ... "I Think I Love
You" was on and off the list a few times before I finally conceded and allowed
it to "tie" "Windy", which certainly IS of The Beatles Era. The Beatles DEFINED
the '60's ... The Partridge Family kicked off the '70's. (Besides, we already
had our TV / Record Hit group with The Monkees!!!)
No other way to explain it, really ...
it's kind of like the way radio has been segregated over the past 25 years ...
oldies / '50's music now encompasses 1955 - 1963 (or pretty much anything
PRE-Beatles.) The '60's have become the period of 1964 - 1970 while The Beatles
were still together. On the other hand, artists like The Beach Boys and The
Four Seasons and a few others, who went on to even greater success during The
Beatles Era now see their 1962 and 1963 output included in this period. (If you
want to get REALLY technical about it, "Love Me Do" and all The Beatles British
Hits from 1963 are really from BEFORE The Beatles Era, too ... it just took
America a little bit longer to catch up to the rest of the
world!!!)
When divvying up what does and doesn't
belong, I'd be inclined to include ALL of the Motown Hits, 1960 - 1970 as "of
The Beatles Era" ... and, technically, in MY mind anyway, The Jackson Five would
be part of the '70's, even though we ended up including FOUR of their hits in
our countdown.
As you can see, a tough call to be sure
... but one we made and now have to stick to! (kk)
Regarding The Top 200, specifically #'s
100 and 99 ...
I think it's all about how BB compiled the
chart vs. CB / RR.
CB always underrepresented R&B titles,
RW I could never figure out but it looked as if station lists were most
important given how much higher many songs peaked. WRKO Boston never played
"Hair," so if other major or Drake stations did same, that may have kept it from
hitting #1 in BB, since airplay and sales were fairly equal
components.
Rich Appel / Hz So Good
Thanks, Rich! By the way, I'll be a guest
on Rich's "The Rest Of The Week" radio program next Sunday (January 8th) when he
salutes some of the Instrumental Hits that made our list of Forgotten Hits
Favorites. You can view that list
here:
Or tune in to "Listen Live" to Rich's
program here:
It airs Sundays from 6 am - 1 PM (Eastern)
on WRNJ
That was actually quite fun!
Once it got down to 20, I started
trying to figure all the 20 left without using a book. I did! Almost forgot
about Herb Alpert but I remembered it about two minutes before 20 to 11 came up.
I did think Hey Jude was going to be first though. I was hoping “Honey” wouldn’t
be in the Top 10. Oh Well!
Ken
LOL ... yes, but how could it NOT
be?!?!? The record was HUGE ... and it still ought to get played a few times a
year if only to remind us how sappy we were back then! (lol) Overall, I think
folks were pleased with the countdown. We've posted it (with a few minor
adjustments) permanently on the OTHER Forgotten Hits
website:
Clever way to use the website --
and get a few extra web hits to boot! Forgotten Hits always keeps the oldies
interesting -- thank you for your insightful look back at the #1 Hits from my
favorite era of music.
Andy
While we may have had some ulterior
motives in trying to boost web hits for the day, it didn't work ... despite our
best efforts, we still didn't pass our top three biggest viewing dates.
(Honestly, I doubt that anybody out
there REALLY came back every hour ... not even me!!! lol) kk
I loved the countdown! Thanks for
the dedication on a day when many were still on holiday.
Phil - WRCO
I wanted to kick off 2012 with a
bang ... and something completely new and different. It took a bit of work but
sounds like it was well worth it. Thanks, Phil! (kk)
re: SOUND
ADVICE:
Have you been following our new
SOUND ADVICE column? You'll find it in the Side Bar that runs down the
right-hand portion of the web page. Each day we make a couple of programming
suggestions to liven up (and shake up the mix a little bit) on oldies
radio.
We're trying to line up deejays to
add this feature to their programs ... either daily or once a week ... or maybe
even a weekend wrap-up, playing selections from the list. (Unfortunately, we've
already heard from a couple of jocks who told us that, much as they would LOVE
to add a feature like this to their programs, they're monitored so tightly with
more music and more commercials that they're lucky to get their own name out
over the airwaves in the course of an hour, much less say anything else other
than the station's call letters.)
Meanwhile, Mr. C's Flip Side Show
(which runs on Radio Free Nashville ... again, check the side bar!) gave HIS
listeners a sneak peek of our Elvis Birthday Weekend Plans when he featured
Elvis' Two-Sided Hit "Separate Ways" / "Always On My Mind" on his program last
night. (His show runs on Tuesday Nights beginning at 7 PM Central Time). Each
week, Mr. C. is going to play a selection or suggestion from our brand new SOUND
ADVICE column. Please show your support by tuning into his programs ... and
calling and/or emailing YOUR favorite oldies deejays, asking them to add our
SOUND ADVICE feature to their programs.
(kk)
