Saturday, November 10, 2012

The Sunday Comments ( 11 - 11 - 12)

re: THIS AND THAT:   
According to Ron Smith's book, 11/11 is Jim Peterik's Birthday. You better wish him a Happy Birthday if you expect to get free tickets to his next concert.
Frank B.
Works for me ... Happy Birthday Jimbo ... who DOES have a concert coming up at the Arcada Theatre on January 19th which I wouldn't mind at all going to see!!! (lol) kk 

Ron Onesti's got quite a few great shows coming up at the Arcada ... you can check out the complete list here: Click here: Arcada Theatre | Oshows   

And, speaking of upcoming shows, I heard from Dennis Tufano this week, who'll be appearing December 1st along with original Chicago Drummer Danny Seraphine with 25or6to4, a Chicago tribute band. It's all part of a fund-raising benefit concert for St. Viators Arts in schools. More information can be found here for this one ... sounds like a fun night out (and all for a good cause):

 
New York, NY (November 5, 2012) – The Doors newly released LIVE AT THE BOWL ’68 makes an impressive debut at #1 on the Billboard Top Music Video Chart. LIVE AT THE BOWL ’68 features a newly restored version of the band’s the legendary 1968 Hollywood Bowl concert. For the first time, the film from the historic performance has been painstakingly restored using the original camera negatives and the audio has been remixed and mastered from original multi-tracks by the group’s engineer and co-producer Bruce Botnick. This new restoration offers a stunning visual upgrade from earlier versions and will give fans the closest experience to being there live alongside Jim Morrison, John Densmore, Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek, who opined, “You can hear it as if you were at the Hollywood Bowl, on stage with us.”
LIVE AT THE BOWL ’68 is available now on Blu-Ray ($19.98), DVD ($14.98), and digital video ($12.99) from Eagle Rock Entertainment and on CD ($18.98) and digital audio ($11.99) from Rhino. A double-LP ($34.98) of the show will be released on November 13.
LIVE AT THE BOWL ’68 will also debut theatrically later this week with several exclusive “one night only” screenings. The first screenings are set to begin on November 6 and will continue in select markets across the U.S. throughout the month of November. For a list of specific theaters and dates, please visit www.thedoors.com/liveatthebowl.html.
A trailer for the film can be viewed at http://youtu.be/o5nQr7fzS9Y.

With the latest James Bond movie opening (and some recent discussion here in Forgotten Hits, courtesy of Vic Flick, who played the legendary guitar leads on both "The James Bond Theme" and "Goldfinger"), we thought we'd share this list of The Top 40 Bond Girls. Enjoy ... and let the debates begin!!! (kk)
 
And, speaking of movies ...
Kent ...
We used to call DJ Murray The K the fifth Beatle.
To be more accurate, he called himself the fifth Beatle.
Frank B.
The Tom Hanks film should be interesting ... he pretty much mimicked much of The Beatles' sudden rise to success in his "That Thing You Do" movie about the one-hit Wonders. (kk)


I appreciate the Chicago stories whether anyone else does or not. BTW, Bob Sirrott and his wife do an excellent Sunday night radio show on WGN AM at 10 PM -- always a Chicago story!!
Clark Besch
I was TOTALLY shocked to see an email from Bob Sirott, egging us on in our battle against boring radio. VERY cool. (I'm a long-time fan) You just never know who's reading Forgotten Hits these days! (It's really pretty amazing ... to come from work after a long day, sit down and watch Bob on Fox News at night, knowing that earlier that day he took time out of his busy schedule to shoot me an email!!! Guys like Chet Coppock, too, who once told me they were going over my list of two-sided hits in the broadcast booth for some football game he was covering! I grew up here hanging on these guys' every word ... so it's really pretty frickin' amazing!!! Who would have thought?!?!?) kk

My old friend James Marvell of the group Mercy is featured in a segment of My Raw Deal. Visit myrawdeal.com and click on "Celebrity Dirt." View James's story, and vote for him if you think he should win. In the video James mentions moving to Nashville along with bandmate Buddy Goode. This was fall, 1970. James and Buddy and their manager John Centinaro rented a room in the place a high-school friend of mine lived, and I enjoyed visiting with these guys, learning about having a number two hit 18 months prior and having no money. James and Buddy went into a Nashville studio and recorded a 45, calling themselves "Together", on the Cent Records label. I clearly remember the night in December, 1970, when we piled into my '64 Valiant and drove to the WMAK studio. Being a Saturday night, Scott wasn't on the air, but we hung out with Saturday night guy Mike Donegan. He listened to the record on the audition monitor, said he liked it, and aired it right then and there! It went nowhere, but it got played on the number one station in the market, and there's no way anything resembling that could happen on radio today.
David Lewis
Another GREAT Forgotten Hit suggestion ... "Love (Can Make You Happy)" was a #2 Smash ... and a beautiful song ... yet you rarely if ever get to hear it anymore. Great story by James by the way! (Now I want to hear "She's Got Bad Breath"!!! lol Carl Bonafide is a Forgotten Hits reader ... any chance you've got a copy of this to share with us, Carl?!?!?) Sadly this is a story that's been told FAR too many times in the music industry. (kk)



Kent,
I am sure everyone will love the video of Freddie Cannon doing "Tallahassee Lassie" on Bandstand circa 1964. That guy was just great!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk4iqt8B4Fw&feature=plcp


>>>Just last week we had Tiny Tim doing "Great Balls of Fire". (Jeff James)
Has anyone ever tried playing "The Other Side" from (appropriately) the B side of his 1968 Lp "God Bless Tiny Tim"?? Pretty psychedelic stuff from the guy! I opened my radio show with it once. Probably lost all my listeners!! It was a Halloween show, I believe. Of course, we now know that the ice caps really ARE melting. Tiny ahead of his time ... again. Try this on for size and imagine you are back smoking a joint again as you listen. Somewhere above, he and Frank Zappa are singing in unison!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1se9xbRRZL8
Clark Besch

Kent ...
As I told you before I'm reading Bob Greene's book "Chevrolet Summers, Dairy Queen Nights."
Have you read this one ? What I like about it is that each chapter is three pages long. Each chapter is a different human interest story. If you put it down and don't read it for a couple of weeks, you don't
have to try and remember what happened in previous chapters.
Chapter # 90: Gary U.S. Bonds was appearing at the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair in Maryland. Bob Greene got to meet Gary U.S. Bonds. He asked him about his number one song from 1961, "Quarter To Three. "
Bob asked Gary about a rumor he'd heard. It's about a phrase he supposedly murmured at the very beginning of "Quarter To Three." The song begins with raucous sounds of a party in progress, and underneath the party noise you allegedly could hear the words that were absolutely filthy. Gary
denies the story of X-rated lyrics in the song. Gary went on to say his mother was at the recording
session. Do you think I'd use that language in front of my mother ?
I've listened to it. I can't understand what he's saying. Do you know what they're talking about?
Frank B.
LOL ... no, I have absolutely NO idea what Gary is supposedly saying ... but thanks for reminding me! Yes, as a matter of fact, I HAVE read this book ... (all of Bob's books reflecting back on growing up in the '60's are amazing!) ... and a few years ago I was talking with Bob Greene on the phone and asked him point blank what this reference was about. He told me that he would tell me later ... and then never did!!! I had completely forgotten all about it until your email came today. (Probably exactly what Bob was banking on!!!) C'mon, Bob ... if you're reading this, spill the beans! We'll run Gary's denial right along with it ... or, if you prefer, whisper it to me in the strictest confidence and then I won't tell another  soul. (That'll drive Frank B. and number of other Forgotten Hits Readers absolutely bonkers!!!) I still wanna know ... and you promised you'd tell me ... so dish! (kk)
Would you believe that a few nights ago I got out Jan and Dean's 1965 song I FOUND A GIRL which was one of the 10 song suggestions you had listed on that one particular list.
The record by the Woolies, WHO DO YOU LOVE, out of 1967 on Dunhill, peaked at #15 here in OKC back in May of 1967. It was on the survey for several weeks.
You also mentioned THE RAINS CAME by the Sir Douglas Quintet. Who remembers the original version by Big Sam and the Wreckers, I believe, out of 1962?
Finally, you mentioned that one shouldn't play that one particular song you listed with hurricane in the title for a while. I thought immediately of two things related to music. In 1960 Paul Evans on Carlton Records had AFTER THE HURRICANE which did quite well here in the OKC area and, speaking of storms, remember singer Billy Storm from the late 1950's who recorded for Columbia?
Larry Neal


And, speaking of Paul Evans (who is ALSO a Forgotten Hits Reader ...)

re: PAUL EVANS:
To my "Oldies" community friends,
It will soon be Christmas programming time and I wanted to remind you all about "Santa's Stuck Up In the Chimney".
My "Santa's Stuck Up In The Chimney" video is on its' way to over 1,000,000 hits on You Tube this year.
It's now gone over 815,000 (Over 500,000 new views in the last 12 months)
Please click the link below to see the video
And here's a comment from my You Tube video site I thought you'd enjoy:  

Love this vid. I was telling my 3 yr old not to mess with the fire place because if he breaks it Santa wont be able to come. He watched the vid and he has not touched the fire place because he does not want santa to get stuck !!!!   

Have a great holiday season,
Paul
 
"Santa's Stuck Up In The Chimney" has been a Forgotten Hits holiday favorite for the last several years now. Since we're not going to do our annual "Twelve Days Of Christmas" this year, we suggest you hop on over to YouTube and take a look at Paul's clip. (He'll pass one million views this holiday season I'm sure ... which puts him a few [hundred thousand] views ahead of "Lonely Christmas" to be sure!!! lol) kk


Other Christmas music news ...

For the first time in the franchise's thirteen-year history, the hugely popular SpongeBob SquarePants animated TV series has spawned a holiday album. It’s A SpongeBob Christmas! Album is out this month from Nickelodeon Records, offering 12 tracks of original SpongeBob music in tune with the season. The album features vocals and songwriting by voice actor Tom Kenny. Kenny co-wrote ten of the album’s songs with producer Andy Paley, and has voiced the character since the show's inception. SpongeBob SquarePants was recently named "the most loved TV series in America" by USA Today.
Veteran songwriter, musician and producer Andy Paley has worked with such name artists as Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys, Jerry Lee Lewis, Debbie Harry, the Ramones, Madonna and many others. Kenny and Paley previously collaborated on THE BEST DAY EVER, (the critically acclaimed SpongeBob cast album released in 2006.)
The new digital album, available from all online music retailers including iTunes and Amazon, will be released to coincide with the new stop-motion animated TV special "It's a SpongeBob Christmas!" to premiere on CBS November 23 at 9:30 PM ET/PT with an additional showing on Nickelodeon December 9 at 7:30 PM ET / PT.    

And country music superstars Lady Antebellum sent us their brand new version of "A Holly Jolly Christmas" ... you can check it out right here:  
re: HALLS OF FAME:
Kent ...
It's not only the Rock-n-Roll Hall Of Fame that makes people unhappy with their choices.
Frank B.  
Click here: CMT : News : NASHVILLE SKYLINE: Ray Charles for the Country Music Hall of Fame
No, it sure isn't ... as we mentioned the other day, it doesn't matter WHAT Hall of Fame you're referring to ... there will ALWAYS be fans out there who believe somebody worthy has been overlooked. As for Ray Charles ... I absolutely believe he should be inducted. His "Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music" LP was a revolutionary concept at the time ... and showed just how similar some of the sounds of Country and Soul really were. (It topped Billboard's Pop Albums Chart for fourteen weeks!)
Back in the early days of rock and roll, it wasn't at all unusual for a new record to cross over to the Pop, R&B and C&W Charts ... many of the biggest names in Rock And Roll built their careers this way. (Elvis, Ricky Nelson, The Everly Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and many others.) And some of those artists (like Cash, Lewis, Perkins, Charlie Rich and Conway Twitty) were able to parlay that allegiance into very successful country careers after the moved on from the rock and roll arena.

re: DOO WOP and THE SAXONETTES:
I think they're very good. It's great to see such young people take an interest in old music. I've already sent this clip to some of my doo-wop friends.
I think the Saxonettes should add a classic girls group set to their act. For example: "Be My Baby" / "He's So Fine" / "Leader Of The Pack." What do you think ?
Frank B.
They're kicking around a number of ideas right now ... I suggested "Mr. Sandman", too, since it's playing so often in those TV ads these days ... this is one that should connect immediately with the audience. (Somebody made a comment last week that the music of the '20's, '30's and '40's died out and never came back so we should expect the same to hold true for the music of the '50's, '60's, and '70's. My argument has been that this music has been proven timeless ... and a good case in point is its constant use in commercials, tv and motion pictures ... blasting out at theme parks and restaurants ... at the pool and at the beach. That simply didn't happen with the music of the '20's, '30's and '40's, save a few proven classics. Much of that music sounds SO dated now ... it truly is from a different era. Now I'll agree that a good chunk of '50's and '60's music ALSO sounds extremely dated today ... that's why you've got to do some creative programming to find those songs that still "click" with an audience and haven't lost any of their appeal. So experiment once in a while by slipping in some of these "forgotten hits" and see how your audience reacts. Over time, you'll build a desirable, pleasing playlist without having to beat the same 300 songs into the ground ... and driving your audience away.) kk

I enjoyed your video of the Saxonettes.
Larry
I think they did a GREAT job ... quite unexpected. I can now reveal that one of the girls is our daughter Paige (she's the high voice and primary lead on "Lollipop".) She blew me away when she told me they were doing a doo-wop medley for the school variety show. 100% the girls' idea ... I had absolutely NOTHING to do with it! (And no input whatsoever into the song choices or arrangements ... they took this project on completely on their own.) And it went over like gangbusters. (Funny 'cause she'll always tell me how she doesn't like "my" music ... then a few days later she'll ask me to play "such and such" ... or I'll catch her walking around the house singing a '60's or '70's tune!  Lately it's been both "I've Told Every Little Star" and "I Can't Stay Mad At You", both recently featured in our revived "Today's Forgotten Hit" segment.)  Most recently she's been TOTALLY diggin' THIS great Forgotten Hit from 1964 ... now wouldn't this tune sound great coming out of your radio again once in a while??? (kk)



Here's the review of The Saxonettes as it appeared in The Schaumburg High School Newspaper, "The Sextant", written by fellow student Sania Zaffar:

Out of all the vocal sets, my favorite by far was The Saxonettes.
"I could not believe how amazing they were. I was drawn to their performance! It was so entertaining to watch how talented all four girls were," Kate Stanley states.
The four members of The Saxonettes -- Paige Brantley, Lana Fenkanyn, Sarah Mattioli, and Taryn Neubecker -- brought something new to the table. They sang 'The Best of Doo-Wop' with an a cappella ease that took the audience back to the sounds of the once very popular Doo-Wop.
Nevertheless, this throwback kept all ages in the audience engaged; everyone loved the harmonies by the four voices.
Also mentioned was the incredible performance of "Blackbird" (which was literally note-for-note perfect on the guitar). And this year Schaumburg's Marching Band is featuring a Beatles medley played at half-time during their football games. (Last year it was a Steely Dan medley.) More and more of these songs from the '60's and '70's are finding their way into their choral productions as well. And we couldn't be more pleased. I love the line about The Saxonettes bringing "something new" to the table ... something new to THIS generation, maybe, who are most likely discovering this music for the very first time ... once again my main point in encouraging radio stations not to ignore this upcoming demographic. Play to them right and they're yours for the next 30 years ... they will become the future demographic that you find so desirable ... so don't play down to them and ignore them today.


Kent ...
The Malt Shop Cruise is over.
Frank B.
Did any of our readers partake? Let us know! (kk) 

re: TOP 40 RADIO:   
Hi Kent,
Just wanted to pass along the link below. So glad that Jeff Davis is back on WLS FM!
Yes, I saw this ... it really IS like 1974 all over again at WLS! But read the comments to Robert Feder's posting ... if ANY of the jocks and programmers on our list want further proof of what their listeners REALLY want from a radio station, here it is again. (Drop down below and read some of our "Today's Forgotten Hit" comments, too!)
We've been told by some of the higher-ups in radio that our take on all of this is a bit too slanted as we cater to an audience that's far more oldies music savvy and particular ... and that this doesn't represent the average listener. (Once again, programming with blinders on ... it COULD represent the MAJORITY of your listeners if you simply gave them what they want ... instead of simply settling for whatever's leftover, shared amongst the four other stations in town that are also playing the exact same music!!!)
For thirteen years now we've been promoting more variety and more personality ... the way radio USED to sound instead of simply programming a computer to do all the work ... the human touch ... a real  connection between the listener and the broadcaster. We've said time and time again that there was an era where the deejays themselves were every bit as well-known and loved as the artists they were playing ... and it is THIS era that most likely inspired the current generation of knowledgeable jocks to get into the business in the first place.  But it's all become so mechanical now that any "connection" between the deejay and his audience has been broken.
Do yourself a favor and PLEASE READ THESE COMMENTS ... they MEAN something (if you'll simply pay attention to them) ... and this isn't OUR audience talking ... these are coming from real, every day listeners of the station. (I've reprinted the first few below ... you can read the rest by clicking on the link that Linda sent us.) PLEASE READ, COMPREHEND, DIGEST and REACT ... we need to SAVE RADIO!!! (kk)

Regarding the rehiring of Jeff Davis:
 
It's too bad he'll be restricted to reading liner cards and song lead-ins like the rest of the legendary crew. Brant Miller, although he has a pleasing voice, is very boring to listen to in the morning. I wouldn't be surprised if his shift is voice tracked much of the time. You can only tell that Jan Jeffries has the entire crew on a tight leash! It's really a disservice to the station, and the listeners. If they were allowed to unleash their inner talent, just think of how much better the station could be.
Joel Hacker

I totally agree Joel. I think (Program Director Jan) Jeffries should listen to how WLS-AM sounded on those Rewind Weekends in 2007 and 2008. Add the reverb and more jingles. The station still sounds too automated. The music is much better since Jan Jeffries took over to his credit.
Radio Tanna

Yawn ... another move that won't help the fact that the 'new' WLS is shooting itself in the foot. As long as the playlist sucks, these new moves won't help at all. Btw ... 'still in L.A. and come in periodically'? Heck they could have just moved Scott Shannon to weekends if we're going to have another 'out of town' jock. I had so much hope for this station but dumping Shannon, moving Dick Biondi to practically overnights, and messing up the playlist has now turned me off.
The Truth

Just what we need in Chicago radio ... another re-tread. Try playing some 60's music on that piece of crap station instead of all that late 70's horse bleep. Baby Boomers have more disposable income than any previous generation, and there are more of us. But radio programmers ignore the demographic, and Chicago radio is filled with the same buffoons who have been programming the stations for years. PLEASE! Play a Beatles or Stones song from pre-1970. PLEASE!
Jim Wyman

So now (we've got) four stations with nearly the same playlist. With this change, I can barely tell whether I'm listening to WLS, KHits, the Drive or the Loop. At least before I enjoyed hearing more pop oldies on WLS. But you're right about the tight leash they have on all that legendary talent.
Bariman

The message is loud and clear for anybody paying attention. Anybody in programming awake out there??? (kk)

Kent,
Here's a WORD chart from July 6, 1967 ... the Summer of Love! Note the Fifth Estate is top 5 and some obscure titles Mickey spoke of are showing here like the Kinks' "Mr. Pleasant" at #5 as well as Moving Sidewalks at #21. Lots of obscure titles if you can read the mimeograph sheet. #1 is even a surprise. Like the WLS "condensed" titles?? Would love to see more WORD charts!! Mickey??? BTW, Woolies 45 ROCKS!! Big in Cleveland too. 


As for your comments on the great early 1968 hits, why not have a current radio format featuring classic Top 40 instead of "the oldies channel" or "Classic Rock" ... why not try "Classic Top 40" featuring all the top 40 varying sounds??? Not just the happy sing a longs, or underground, but ALL the songs like FH likes to talk about?
Clark Besch
We've been pushing that idea for thirteen years now. In fact, after realizing absolutely no progress in this direction, I've dropped my expectations down to featuring The Top 20 ... because better than half of THOSE songs aren't getting played anymore either!!! (That's one of the things we're trying to focus on again with our revamped "Today's Forgotten Hit" segment.) There are SO many great Top 20 songs out there to choose from ... but I REALLY love the Top 40 concept. Call it "Classic Top 40" and then program it that way ... with all the clever drop-ins and manic deliveries. Ricky the K tried this concept on the Internet but was never able to reach a large enough audience to make a difference. Too bad ... because he REALLY nailed the sound of this era. They rerun Casey Kasem's American Top 40 Countdowns on hundreds of stations now anyway ... why not push it a little bit further and encompass the whole Top 40 of the Rock Era ... zero in on that 25 year period of 1955 - 1980 ... heck, that'd give you over 7000 songs to pick from right there! Put together special "on this date" countdowns. Do special "Top Tens" throughout the broadcast day, covering all 25 years of hits. Even airing old, vintage airchecks would be more entertaining than hearing some talented jock dish out nothing more than the time and call letters six times every hour. What kind of talent do you need to do that? (By the same token, how do you justify paying a "program director" when the station just keeps recycling the same 300 songs anyway? How much thought process is needed to accomplish that? You can just as easily set your CD player to "random  play" and achieve virtually the same results we're getting now if you're only going to put 25 Greatest Hits CD's in the changer!!!) How truly, truly sad what radio has become. (kk)


And check out THIS hot new programming idea ...

Hey Kent,
Check this out. Another bad idea by some "genius" radio programmers!
Eddie Burke,
Orange, CT   
I've been doing some "quick editing" of my only lately ... the instant "Jack And Diane", "Don't Stop Believin'", "More Than A Feeling" and some of the others on my list come on the radio now, I'm able to crop those down to about two seconds ... it's called "changing the channel"!!! On the plus side, if cramming in 24 songs per hour means more music and more variety ... and the chance to hear some things we haven't heard in a while ... there may be some merit to this. However, I don't think ANYBODY ought to be able to arbitrarily edit an artist's work without out their consent and input. That's just wrong! (kk)


>>>"Thank You And Goodnight" was NOT a hit record when it was first released back in 1963. In fact, it was the flipside of their Top 40 Hit "I Adore Him" and only rose to #84 on The Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart. Yet when we featured it as part of our Favorite, Forgotten B-Sides Series a few years ago, fans came out of the woodwork, raving about how much they LOVED this song ... and how they remembered their favorite deejay using this as his signature sign-off tune on his program back in the early '60's. (kk)
>>>Your selection today, THANK YOU AND GOODNIGHT, as you mentioned, was sometimes used by certain DJ's as a going off air theme.I remember one DJ here using it as his going off air theme.
Which brings me to the question. Have you ever asked your readers what themes or songs as they remember, did certain DJ's use when they were going off with their air shift and or possibly going on with their air shift? (Larry Neal)
>>>Not specifically ... but the topic has come up from time to time. Certain deejays were most definitely identified with certain songs as their "themes" ... I'm sure our readers can come up with a number of examples. (kk)
Scott Shannon *always* signed off with Cherish.
David Lewis
I asked Scott if this was true ...
That is very true!
SS

Hi guys,
We thought you might want to know that a 'Route 66 Radio Tour' is in the works for a kickoff from Chicago to Santa Monica Pier, CA next year. The DJ favorite blog ForgottenHits.com has more about it, as does Route66News.com (see link below). A shout out is going to DJs everywhere along Route 66. Well known radio documentary producer Carolyn Travis ('Air Play', 'Rock Radio Revolution' and 'Rock Jocks: The FM Revolution') is planning to document the journey which will visit radio stations and interview radio personalities, who have been heard on car radios and in communities along the Mother Road over the years. We hope you can be a part of this once in a lifetime event.
- WRLR
WRLR 98.3 FM
RONDARADIO, INC.
P.O. Box 98
Round Lake, IL 60073

Come on out and be a part of history ... and now that Carolyn Travis is going to be filming and documenting the whole event, this thing should REALLY take wing! (We LOVE her "Airplay" documentary ... and be sure to check out HER radio website as well!) kk
 
And, speaking of great documentaries, be sure to check out Shawn Swords' "Wages Of Spin" ...
"The Wages of Spin" purchase thru ShopPBS: http://tinyurl.com/49q7n29
Entertainment Tonight Feature "Wages of Spin": http://www.characterdrivenfilms.com/trailers.html
Charlie Gracie "Fabulous" Original Film purchase thru Turner Classic Movies:  
http://tinyurl.com/9xwtq85
Rent thru Blockbuster: 
http://tinyurl.com/3qksz6z 
Rent thru Netflix: http://tinyurl.com/8ufeuwc Charlie Gracie "Fabulous" Special Edition purchase thru ShopPBS:  
http://tinyurl.com/8ck4mlm  
Both films are in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Archives: http://tinyurl.com/9sdh8gz
Check local PBS affiliates for airtimes, there have been over 500 affiliate airings combined of "WOS" and The Special Edition "Fabulous" since June....
Regards -
Shawn

And let's not forget The Wrecking Crew!!!

With the year winding down, there are still a few screenings left to catch this great flick. (Denny Tedesco tells us that 2012 was a big year in raising the funds to pay all of the licensing fees required with marketing this film en masse ... but there's still a long ways to go. He says):

I know you've heard this before, but I promise you, we are making headway. When we started this year, we were over $200K that was owed to the labels, publishers and other license owners of stock footage. Today we are under $100K and I will know by the end of the year where we stand. The donations were small to big from strangers and friends of the music, musicians and the film. Nothing was ever too small or too big ... it all adds up.
Word of mouth was as important to this film as a donation. Telling friends about the website, Facebook, YouTube and even Twitter has kept it alive and keeps the train moving forward.
Denny
Up-coming screenings include:
November 13th - Pickford Film Center in Bellingham, WA
November 15th - Princess Theatre in Prosser, WA

If either of these are near your area, do yourself a favor and check out this great film. Denny will be on hand at both screenings for a brief Q & A Session after the showing of the film. (kk)

re: TODAY'S FORGOTTEN HIT:
Readers are enjoying the return of our "Today's Forgotten Hit" feature ... and are coming up with some great suggestions of their own that they'd like to see featured. (Proof again ... to any deejays and programmers out there paying attention ... THIS is what the listeners want to hear!!!)
We'll feature a few of these today for your enjoyment ... and keep checking Forgotten Hits for more of the music that time and radio has forgotten. (kk)

Hi Kent.
Here is a Forgotten Hit for you. I am sending you a copy of Tompall and the Glaser Brothers' 1969 record California Girl (and the Tennessee Square). It was number 11 Country Number, 92 Billboard Pop. I thought I was the only one that remembered hearing Top 40 stations play it back in 1969. A few years ago I heard an aircheck of 'the Real Don Steele' playing it on KHJ in L.A.
Phil Nee - WRCO
OK, well I didn't know this one! This may actually be a little TOO forgotten ... even for our readers! (kk)

Continued great job on the FH website, Kent -
How about featuring some Bill Deal and the Rhondels? May I, I’ve Been Hurt, Nothing Succeeds Like Success, etc…
Greg F.
We've featured all of these at one time or another ... but these are GREAT suggestions ... talk about your catchy, up-tempo tunes ... so how come radio doesn't play any of these? "May I", "I've Been Hurt" and "What Kind Of Fool Do You Think I Am" were all Billboard Top 40 Hits ... and they were even bigger here in Chicago. How big? "May I" peaked at #39 in Billboard but went all the way to #8 here in Chi-Town. "I've Been Hurt" was a #35 Billboard hit and climbed to #9 here in Chicago. And "What Kind Of Fool Do You Think I Am" was their biggest national hit, peaking at #23 and reaching #17 in Chicago. "Nothing Succeeds Like Success" only made it to #62 in Billboard but succeeded at #16 on our local chart. (Memo to Bob Stroud: Any one of these would make a GREAT addition to the next Rock And Roll Roots CD if you're able to get that going again next year!!!) SOMEBODY ought to be playing these ... so we'll spin a couple today!





Selfish One sung by Jackie Ross is another One Hit Wonder you rarely hear. I don't know if you've played this one on Forgotten Hits before but I thought I would send it along anyhow. She sounds a lot like Mary Wells.
Carrie
Jackie Ross (born 30 January 1946, St. Louis, Missouri) is an American soul singer.  
Ross sang gospel music as a child, and performed on a radio show run by her parents, both preachers.[1] After her father died in 1954 she moved to Chicago and was signed to SAR Records by Sam Cooke. Her first single, "Hard Times", appeared in 1962, and following this she spent time singing in Syl Johnson's band.
In 1964, she signed with Chess Records and released "Selfish One", which reached #11 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart [2] and #4 on the Cashbox R&B chart. A follow-up, "I've Got The Skill" reached the Hot 100 but stalled at #89 and the following year, "Jerk and Twine", a re-working of "Everything But Love", the song on the other side of her big hit, peaked at #85.[2]
An album, Full Bloom, was released in 1965, which was followed by three more singles, but after disputes with her record label, she left Chess in 1967. She later recorded for several labels into the 1970s including Brunswick, GSF, Mercury, Capitol, and for Jerry Butler's Fountain Productions, but was unable to duplicate the success of "Selfish One".

She sure DOES sound a lot like Mary Wells.  Betcha folks out there recognize this one without even realizing that they knew it but had forgotten all about it!  (kk)


Hi Kent -
Thanks for the info on artists and songs you never hear on the radio!
I enjoyed seeing the photo of Brian Hyland. I saw him perform twice and he has a beautiful voice.
As you mentioned, hopefully TJ Lubinsky and PBS can locate Linda Scott to perform on one of the shows.
Other forgotten performers or songs who I would like to see on PBS:
Janie Grant - Triangle
Shangri-Las - Many Hits!
Robin Ward - Wonderful Summer
Marcie Blaine - Bobby's Girl
Keep up the Fantastic Work!!!!
Carolyn

Kent ...
When was the last time you heard this one on the radio? According to Ron's book, the late Doug Sahm was born 11/6/ 1941.
Is it just me? Doug always looks like he's having a great time when he's singing.
Frank B.
I can honestly say that I have NEVER heard this song on the radio!!! But it sure sounds an awful lot like "Mendocino" which we featured the other day! I heard Doug Sahm was a GREAT entertainer ... never had the pleasure of seeing him. (kk)

Hey, Kent,
Regarding Skeeter Davis' "It's The End of the World", depending on when you arrived at our show celebrating Jimy Sohns' 66th Birthday at Blues Bar recently, you may have heard Cindy Gotshall covering that song with us in the Shadows of Knight. I love that song, love playing it, and I've even got Cindy pronouncing the tag line correctly ... It's the IND of the world". Girl Power!
Thanks for all you do!
Rick Barr
New Colony Six / Shadows of Knight
"The End Of The World" is one of my all-time favorites, too. I remember it coming on the radio one night when I was in high school and my girlfriend at the time being SHOCKED to hear the song being sung by a GIRL!!! She only knew the Herman's Hermits version! (Even more incredible ... I had never heard THEIR version at that point in time ... but Peter Noone later told me it's one of HIS all-time favorites, too!) kk

'60's FLASHBACK: Let me give you a little background on Herman's Hermits’ recording of The End of the World -- Early days in The Heartbeats, Keith Hopwood and I (he was a telephone engineer and I was still at school) listened to the Skeeter Davis version and learned the chords and some of the words and added it to our repertoire. We also learned I'll Never Dance Again (a Bobby Rydell B-Side, I think) and many other songs that no other local bands played. I believe that I'll Never Dance Again and The End of the World were actually discovered by the original singer of The Heartbeats (Malcolm something) and I would like to commend him for his excellent taste in music and also for not showing up that fateful night when I replaced him forever. I doubt if much of Herman’s Hermits’ version resembles the Skeeter Davis version because after a song gets played live a lot it usually becomes a hybrid, which is why some oldies acts completely miss the plot and forget to listen to the original recordings. I wonder why it ended up as a B-Side anyway. We usually used one of The Hermits’ written songs for the B-Sides. The B-Sides were always left to The Hermits and we did what we could and I am proud of all of them except Truck Stop Mamma and I walked out of that session because Herman cannot sing about a Truck Stop Mama.
-- Peter Noone



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Friday, November 9, 2012

The Friday Flash

A few more radio comments ... and some reaction to our "Today's Forgotten Hit" selections / suggestions:

re: RADIO:
>>>Mickey sent us "I Must Be The Devil" by The Box Tops and then "Who Do You Love" by The Woolies along with "The Rains Came" by The Sir Douglas Quintet. Honestly, I think you're pipe-dreaming now ... short of an Internet station, you're not going to find these three coming out of your radio speakers anytime soon. We can't even get them to play legitimate Top 20 Hits anymore, where two OUTSTANDING hits by The Sir Douglas Quintet certainly qualify ... "She's About A Mover" hit #13 in 1965 ... and is a GUARANTEED "crank up the volume" song (if somebody would only play it!!!) This one will get your listeners going EVERY SINGLE TIME. And their 1969 "comeback" hit, "Mendocino" (#14) is another sure-shot audience grabber. Play these two and I guarantee you that you'll hear from your listeners complimenting you on your creative song choices. anything else.) As for The Box Tops, "I Must Be The Devil" was a B-Side ... so they SURE ain't gonna play THIS one!!! Despite eight legitimate Top 40 Hits, The Box Tops seem to have been reduced to One Hit Wonder status by the all-knowing, all-powerful radio gods, who only recognize "The Letter" as airplay-worthy. (kk)

Hey Kent -
Not pipe- dreaming ... my home town radio station WORD in the sixties ... an am station ... played these and more. They played it all, and the really great thing you could call in and request songs that were not on any play list, B-sides ,LP -cuts , and they would dig them up and play them.
Spartanburg, South Carolina ... WORD Radio.
Mickey
Yep, it was a different time to be sure ... deejays were allowed to get creative back then and play something like a B-Side or an album cut ... and the audience responded kindly to this little bit of deviation from the traditional play list. As we discussed in great length during our Favorite, Forgotten B-Sides Series, many of us still remember these great flip-side tracks ... because not only did radio play some of them but WE played them at home when we bought these 45's. (Not the case anymore when everybody just goes and downloads that one specific track they like and nothing more ... even albums don't seem to hold much value anymore because listeners are cherry-picking their own favorite tracks and downloading them ... in many cases without even listening to the rest of what at one time may have been an entire concept of musical ideas put forth by that particular artist. Today radio barely focuses on the hits of that generation let alone anything else off the charts. 25 years of "classic hits" has been reduced to a playlist of about 300 titles, ignoring THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of other tracks that also crossed our stream of consciousness back then. But WE remember ... and, thankfully, so do some of these specialized Internet stations, which is about the only place you're going to hear something a bit off the beaten path anymore these days.
Maybe it really is too much to expect terrestrial radio to follow suit and attempt to compete ... it is, after all, THEIR apathy that has driven us away ... WE still care ... but clearly they don't. This next letter makes a good point in this regard about the evolving sound of radio. (By the same token, this is why satellite stations like XM / Sirius can offer specialized channels that feature only music from the '50's or '60's or '70's or '80's ... and find an audience willing to PAY for the opportunity to hear these tunes again. Terrestrial radio chooses instead to program with blinders on ... they see that their dwindling audience is willing pay to for the music they really want to hear yet still don't realize that if they simply gave them that same variety of music on their own radio station, many of them would come back and become listeners again. (Now how short-sighted is that?!?!?) kk  

More on WORD, courtesy of Mickey Cooksey ...
WORD signed on September 1, 1940, at 910 AM as Spartanburg's second radio station. under the ownership of Spartanburg Advertising Company, which also owned WSPA, a station that was established a decade previous. WORD utilized studio and tower space from WSPA.
In 1944 the FCC ordered the WSPA-WORD combo to be broken up due to ownership regulations which forbid an owner from having no more than one AM station per market. This was completed on March 17, 1947, when WORD was sold to Spartan Radiocasting. Later that year, sister FM WDXY 100.5 signed on the air, but would sign off the air by the end of the 1950s.
In 1952, a dispute erupted between both Spartan Radiocasting and Liberty Life over a proposed allocation for VHF TV channel 7 in Spartanburg. It was settled in 1958 when Spartan Radiocasting bought back WSPA-AM and FM from Liberty Life Insurance and spinning off WORD and WDXY to different ownership.
WORD was well known as Spartanburg's Top 40 powerhouse in the 1960s and 70s under the name "Big Word". Some of the South's heavy weights worked there during the 70's that included: Russ Spooner, Bob Canada, Kemosabi Joe Johnson, Fred Hardy and Robert W. Morgan (not the same Morgan that worked at KHJ) though. By the 1980s, WORD faced declining audience shares from FM competitors WANS and WFBC-FM and switched to various formats before going dark in 1989. In October 1990, WORD signed back on as a simulcast of 1330 WFBC from Greenville as both stations switched to News/Talk with WFBC becoming WYRD in the mid-90s.      

Thanks for the kind words once again. You need to come on out to the vault for some musical fun - in the meantime I try to keep the lesser songs spinning on the turntables in the vault - just last week we had Tiny Tim doing "Great Balls of Fire". And check out this coming week's attractions - CHOLLIE MAYE - JOHN FRED AND HIS PLAYBOYS, before it they hit it big in the later 60's and changed to the Playboy Band - JOHN COLEMAN , yep the channel 7 weatherman cut a 7" record - FAITH HOPE AND CHARITY - DON FRENCH and i think you featured that song in the past with discussions - THE DOVERS - BOBBY WOMMACK - HARVEY AND THE SEVEN SOUNDS - AL MARTINO - HAYDEN THOMPSON.
THANKS, Kent, for the work you do on this site -- IT'S THE BEST
Jeff James
Thanks, Jeff. Let's nail this sucker down before Christmas time. FH Readers can always check out the latest Jeff James memories "From The Vault" here: Click here: http://www.y1039.com/
 
You are correct. Practically every radio station here in OKC is owned by just a few companies like Clear Channel, Citadel, etc. And every station they own is on a single floor of an office building here in OKC. Normally there are some 5-6 stations that the companies own.
A few months ago it was in the business section of the paper that Tyler Broadcasting located here in OKC is buying (has bought) four stations from Renda Broadcasting. Tyler, I believe, already owns four stations.
A few months ago I bought a brand new car. I started listening to Sirius Radio, especially the fifties on 5. Would you believe that in a little over a week I noticed something about it. I seemed to be hearing, I thought, the same oldies somewhat over and over. My opinion. There was one particular record I seemed to noticed and a couple of weeks later I was talking to a friend of mine and he mentioned this one particular record as being heard almost every day. The record in question was SEARCHIN' / YOUNG BLOOD by the Coasters. He joked that the powers that be at Sirius probably owned some licensing rights to that song.
I don't know if you or how many of your readers remember the song out of 1958 MOPETY-MOPE by the Bosstones. I heard that on Sirius a total of four times within a five day period. It was played during different parts of the day. I wondered why a record like that was played that many times in a short period of time when I believe it wasn't all that big a record nationally.
Don't get me wrong. I heard on Sirius songs that obviously aren't heard any many on the traditional terrestrial radio. Another example is OLIVER TWIST by Rod McKuen on Spiral records from 1961. I heard that one three times over a period of four days. Again I wondered why it was played that many times over that same period when it wasn't all that big of a hit nationally.
Larry
That just sounds like lazy programming to me. If you're going to do "specialty" broadcasting like that, the sky's the limit. I used to love listening to XM 60's because you heard all kinds of things that nobody else was playing. (See my comments below about the music of the '60's ... there was SUCH diversity in this music that you could play just about anything and get away with it ... and find an audience for it.) The same would hold true of their '50's channel ... with no limitations on what they feature, their playlist ought to have about 3000 songs on it ... which gives absolutely NO reason why a non-hit like "Mopety-Mope" should be played that often. Once in a while, yes, as an attention grabber ... but not every song belongs in "heavy rotation"!!! (kk)   

The Drive's A-Z comes to a close later today ... eight days and over 2000 songs of completely unique programming with absolutely no repeats ... what a pleasure to listen to. (Lots of new surprises this year, too!) My guess is that not only did this outside-the-box programming not cost them any listeners, it instead brought NEW listeners on board as word of mouth spread and they heard about what The Drive was doing. For those of you out there afraid to try anything new or play anything other than the tried-and-true, there's a lesson to be learned here. And the fact of the matter is a WHOLE lot of us turned off your same old / same old for the past week in order to listen to something fresh and interesting instead. (kk)     

Kent,
I've been following the radio rants, reading many, skimming through others, often thinking I could chime in but not wanting to repeat what had already been said. Having spent most of my life in radio prior to retiring last year, I've decided to make just a few comments.
First, I have no clue what the heck these programmers are thinking with their tight play lists. Many months ago I wrote (and you published) my experience and conversation with a classic rock consultant. Basically, I asked him why we were only playing a few songs by the likes of Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Steve Miller, CCR, Ted Nugent, Alice Cooper, etc., when they all had tons of hits. I asked why we weren't playing countless other top hits. His response was "nobody likes Bon Jovi" anymore. I asked him if this was the same Bon Jovi I had just seen in a sold out show in Omaha. I asked if this was the same Bon Jovi that was topping the concert tour receipts for the past several years. He ended the discussion and walked away. Whether you like Bon Jovi or not isn't the point. The point is, these consultants are destroying radio with their line of thinking. I don't understand it and I can't explain it.
About seven months ago our last local vestige of oldies disappeared from the radio. An AM Clear Channel station had a local morning show that featured some great music from the 60's. The jock was in his early 60's and really knew the music. We were fortunate to have him. (After 9 a.m. they put programming on the bird with mostly 70's music.) In their infinite wisdom, Clear Channel let the guy go and changed to a country format ... all satellite. Funny part is, we already have two FM country stations in this market. WTF?!?! Again, I have no clue what they're thinking.
I was prompted to write today after reading Jim Shea's insightful comments, including "the demo who finds 60's music familiar is aging out of the 25-54 cell and therefore is unmarketable to sponsors." This thinking has been prevalent in advertising for literally decades. The validity of this could be debated for weeks. Right or wrong, it's a factor that plays into the business end of the industry. And when the business end starts calling the programming shots, the listener is the one that gets burned. As I've said many times over the past decade, radio no longer broadcasts in the public interest. It broadcasts in the owner's interest.
Finally, I hate to break the news, but radio has traditionally left every generation behind. When did you last hear a station that played big band ... aside from PBS and a few rare outlets? My parents generation was left behind by radio decades ago. Back in the early 70's there were stations playing the Ray Coniff Singers, Dean Martin, Percy Faith, Floyd Cramer, Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra, etc. Hell, I even worked at one of those places back in the day. And now they're gone ... leaving another generation behind. Like those, the oldies stations have been dwindling and will continue to disappear. While we'd like to think that 60 (age) is the new 40, radio programmers are beginning to see us as dinosaurs. And this will continue until oldies on the radio are extinct. Just think, one day the music of the 90's will be considered oldies.
I apologize for the negativity ... I'm as disappointed as you and your readers.
Steve
Thanks, Steve ... a couple of your comments are right on target ... and again back up a lot of what I've been saying. Your former oldies station that flipped to country in a market where there are already two country station proves again the mentality of these geniuses calling the shots. (Well, country must be working so WE should play it too!) By the same token, why not program a station instead that caters to a wide selection of music and think like the listener for a change. (What's on YOUR iPod? Is it only one kind of music from one era? Is it just 40 songs each by 24 artists? Probably not. OPEN YOUR EYES and see that EVERYBODY out there today is programming to their own tastes ... and then program to the largest common denominator.) Mason Ramsey has been pushing "Music For The Ages", a GREAT programming concept that's gone absolutely nowhere because of these narrow-minded, thick-skulled consultants who aren't even smart enough to realize that we grew up with ALL of this music around us. We ALL went through our various musical phases ... Elvis and The Beatles ... The British Invasion and Motown ... Top 40 Pop ... album rock ... the Disco Era ... hard rock of the '80's ... techno-pop ... whether we liked it all or not, we were still exposed to it ... so why wouldn't music from ALL these different genres garner a response from us as listeners? We've grew up through it all ... and no matter how much we did or didn't like a particular song or artist, each and every one of us will react with a "Man, I haven't heard THAT songs in AGES!!!" response if you simply give us the opportunity to do so. Why do you continue to insult us by denying the fact that WE evolved as listeners right along with all the changes made in the music?
We've talked SO many times before about how back in the '60's you'd hear the latest British Invasion tunes played side by side with folk music, bubblegum, the best R&B from Motown, Atlantic and Stax, country crossover hits by Glen Campbell and Kenny Rogers, great instrumentals by Booker T and the MG's, Cliff Nobles, Hugo Montenegro and (OH MY GOD!) Herb Alpert and Paul Mauriat!!! Competing side by side with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Steppenwolf and Iron Butterfly!!! And, incredibly, IT ALL FIT!!! (Some of the biggest records of 1968 included "Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro, "Valleri" by The Monkees, "Love Is Blue" by Paul Mauriat, "Hello, I Love You" by The Doors, "Hey Jude" by The Beatles, "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye, "Harper Valley PTA" by Jeannie C. RIley, "Grazing In The Grass" by Hugh Masekela, "Classical Gas" by Mason Williams, "Lady Willpower" by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, "Born To Be Wild" by Steppenwolf, "Simon Says" by The 1910 Fruitgum Company, "Abraham, Martin and John" by Dion and "Bottle Of Wine" by The Fireballs. Could there be a more diverse group of artists competing for our attention at one time??? TALK ABOUT VARIETY!!! And ALL of these songs were played side-by-side and NOBODY had a problem with it. It's the narrow-minded thinking today that has destroyed the concept of creativity in programming. Yes, we had Dean Martin and The Ray Coniff Singers and Percy Faith and Johnny Mathis ... and I maintain that ALL of these artists would still fit today in small doses of the right material. (You hear them at Christmastime, right???) How cool would it be to hear "Chances Are" thrown into the mix once in a while ... with a little deejay rap (from somebody who actually knew what he was talking about) about making out at the submarine races ... to help tie one generation to another. The music of the '20's, '30's and '40's didn't sustain its listening audience because it didn't have the mass cross-over appeal that the music of the '50's, '60's and '70's had ... and still has. As pointed out, kids today are hearing and LOVING this great music when they're given the chance to be exposed to it. Look at how major hits by The Four Seasons and ABBA have crossed over to Broadway and introduced whole new generations to these infectious sounds.
Mark my words ... five years from now ... ten years from now ... SOMEBODY out there is going to develop a "brand new format" that starts playing the music of the '50's, '60's and '70's again ... and they're going to declare this guy a programming genius because he tapped into an uncharted era previously ignored by all of mass radio combined. Or ... 80% of radio will become music-free ... because all of us now have at our fingertips the ability to play whatever we want whenever we want with absolutely NO restrictions or limits. Radio can continue to dig its own grave ... or they can adapt to give their listeners more of what they really want to hear. Doing nothing at all ... going with the same old / same old ... is only driving us further and further away. (Honey, put me down for an Internet Car Radio for Christmas ... I don't think we're EVER going to win this battle!) kk 

Tear 'em down, Kent ... we're depending on YOU! :)
John    

re: TODAY'S FORGOTTEN HITS:
Kent,
Just wanted to tell you that of all the records Jay and the Americans recorded, todays' FH is my all time favorite ...LET'S LOCK THE DOOR ( AND THROW AWAY THE KEY).  No wonder she couldn't find her keys ... because they had been thrown away.
Larry   

What a treat hearing "I Can't Stay Mad At You" this morning. This is truly a forgotten gem, which is a little baffling considering the writers: Gerry Goffin / Carole King. They had quite a run in 1963; checking my Whitburn book, they were also Top 10 that year with "Go Away Little Girl," "One Fine Day," "Up On The Roof," "Don't Say Nothin' Bad (About My Baby" and "Hey, Girl."    
Be Well,
Carl Wiser
I love BOTH of Skeeter Davis' Top Ten Hits ... "End Of The World" is one of my all-time favorites ... and while "I Can't Stay Mad At You" may seem a little bit dated in light of Womens' Rights since 1963, it comes off a WHOLE lot better than "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)"!!! kk   

Kent,
Great call on Linda Scott. The song remains, in my opinion, a classic example of uncertain, female, teenage angst. I used to play this sucker endlessly on the old turntable as a young boy discovering things like ... you know ... testosterone.
There was something about the song that was somewhat melancholy, yet uplifting.
Two points: Was Linda a classic "one hit wonder?"
Two, I assume that Linda recorded out of the Brill Building, so I'm guessing the background voice belongs to Neil Sedaka.
When I was doing my sports TV gig in New York back in the mid 90's I had the pleasure of recording video and audio spots at "The Brill." Honest to gosh, all I could really think about was Barry Mann singing "Who Put the Bomp."
I'm a big r and b guy ... I used to go to the old Regal Theatre all the time. Hell, you could see the original Temptations along with a Japanese monster flick with sub-titles for two bucks. But, does the Brill have to take a backseat to Motown?
We could debate this for hours. I'd have to give Motown a slight edge due to Smoky Robinson's song writing ability, the Funk Brothers, and the promotional genius of Barry Gordy. Never the less, Brill is synonymous with hits and the writing genius of people like Carole King.
Keep on rockin, double K,
Chet Coppock
Notre Dame Football - WLS
Noozebox.com
Linda Scott followed up "I've Told Every Little Star" with another Top Ten Hit I think you'll remember ... "Don't Bet Money, Honey". Before the year was up she scored her third Top 20 Hit with "I Don't Know Why". Scott hit Billboard's Top 100 Pop Singles Chart eleven times in all ... but those were her biggest hits.
I can't find anything that shows Sedaka as working on Linda Scott's hit record ... by the time it came out, Sedaka was having hits of his own ... and recording for a different label ... so I think it's probably unlikely (although we did report several years ago that Neil did some pretty fancy rock and roll piano work on the Bobby Darin instrumental "Bullmoose" ... and also worked with Connie Francis on a couple of her biggest hits ... so who knows!!!)
Honestly I think the Skeeter Davis track "I Can't Stay Mad At You" is a blatant rip-off of Neil's "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" ... and she recorded for RCA, as did Sedaka in the '60's. I think it's probably far more likely that he helped out with THAT recording than the Linda Scott tune!
Much like Motown, there was a very definite Brill Building Sound ... which is surprising in a way because of the sheer volume of songwriters and producers working there. It just goes to show you again how diverse the music of the '60's really was. This was the day of the songwriters and the studio musicians crafting the hits ... a different era to be sure ... but a very successful one. (You'll have to check out this Wrecking Crew documentary sometime ... I know you'd love it!  I've also got a piece The Biography Channel did on The Brill Building Sound several years ago.  You bring the popcorn!) kk   

Kent ...
You played Linda Scott's Forgotten Hit. She's from Queens, New York. Whatever happened to her?
I thought for sure she'd show up on one of those PBS shows.
You had a picture of Brian Hyland. He's from Queens, New York. Brian and I went to the same High School, Franklin K. Lane. He's a little older than than I am. I think he quit school after his " Bikini " Hit. He became famous, I didn't.
Reading a book by Bob Greene ... "Chevrolet Summers, Dairy Queen Nights." I think he use to write for the Chicago Tribune.
In one of the chapters - he's on a plane listening to Bob Seger on one of the American Airlines stations. He tells this story. He grew up in Ohio. When he turned 17 years old, he went to this bar, "The Sugar Shack," to have his first beer. Who
was appearing there? Bob Seger. No Cover, No minimum. Who would've thought 25 years later that Bob Seger was famous enough to have his music featured on an American Airlines station.
Frank B.
Bob Greene is a GREAT writer who really captures the feel of that era ... he lived through it just like we did and was just as affected by it. (He's also a Forgotten Hits Reader, by the way!!!) And yes, he worked for both The Chicago Tribune and The Chicago Sun Times ... and now does a syndicated column for CNN. His most recent books explores the death of the daily newspaper, something he dedicated his life to for so many years.
I highly recommend ALL of his books ... you won't be disappointed. (Knowing how much this music meant to him growing up, I was really hoping that he might pick up the baton and run with our current rave out on the sad state of radio programming today ... but so far not even a nibble. C'mon, Bob ... there's strength in numbers ... and you can reach a MUCH bigger audience than I can!!!) kk   

Kent,
Your fourth selection today, THANK YOU AND GOODNIGHT, as you mentioned, was sometimes used by certain DJ's as a going off air theme.I remember one DJ here using it as his going off air theme.
Which brings me to the question. Have you ever asked your readers what themes or songs as they remember, did certain DJ's use when they were going off with their air shift and or possibly going on with their air shift?
Larry
Not specifically ... but the topic has come up from time to time. Certain deejays were most definitely identified with certain songs as their "themes" ... I'm sure our readers can come up with a number of examples. (kk)  

TODAY'S FORGOTTEN HIT:
Since we used some 1968 examples above, how about THIS one for Today's Forgotten Hit.
You hear the original #1 Hit version several times a day ... but when's the last time you heard Jose Feliciano's unique interpretation of "Light My Fire" ... a Number Three Hit.  Wouldn't this be a nice way to "mix things up" a little bit once in a while?  (kk)

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