Forgotten Hits began exactly sixteen years ago today ... which just happened to also be the Friday after Thanksgiving, 1999.
At first, it was just an emailed newsletter ... to 35 people who I had met in the AOL Oldies Music Chatroom. (We used to play trivia every night back then and even back in '99 I was already bemoaning the fact that oldies radio was ignoring all but about 500 songs that they just seemed to played repeatedly on end.)
I made it a point of mentioning SO many great songs that were extremely popular at the time ... songs we all grew up loving and singing along with on the radio ... records we all went out and bought ... and the wide variety of styles that were incorporated side-by-side within the Top 40 Radio Format.
In the simplest fashion possible I innocently asked those first 35 "subscribers" ... "If I took the time to write something about these great songs and artists that radio doesn't play anymore, would you bother to read it???" When all 35 oldies music fans said that they would, Forgotten Hits was born ... and we have turned out THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of issues ever since.
Every now and then we look back and see if radio has improved. Honestly, it's had its ups and downs .. positive things like The True Oldies Channel ... the quickly defunct Real Oldies format ... and Internet gems like Rewound Radio (along with Chicago's own ... but hopefully soon to be syndicated ... newcomer Me-TV-FM) have been bright spots along the way ... but more and more of this music has begun to focus on the '80's as their target audience, all but eliminating the majority of the music released before 1964. Even an artist as revolutionary as Elvis Presley ... who charted an incredible 127 times before "Suspicious Minds" went to #1 in 1969 ... seems to have been reduced to a two or three hit wonder. (Billboard Magazine has contributed to this decline in Elvis appreciation by now only concentrating on their "Hot 100" Charts, begun in 1958, thus eliminating 32 more Elvis classics, including some of the biggest hits of his career.)
Forgotten Hits has always provided the forum for REAL oldies fans to share their memories. For the past two years we have run 50th Anniversary Charts celebrating The Top 40 Hits of the day, 1964 and 1965 ... and on a regular basis we challenge oldies radio to step outside the box once in awhile and play something off their well-worn playlist.
Today ... in honor of our very first Forgotten Hit ... we again salute and remember Max Frost and the Troopers' Top 20 Hit from 1968, "Shape Of Things To Come" (a record that went all the way to #3 here in Chicago.)
Happy Anniversary to us ... and thanks to ALL the folks who have joined us along the way!
At first, it was just an emailed newsletter ... to 35 people who I had met in the AOL Oldies Music Chatroom. (We used to play trivia every night back then and even back in '99 I was already bemoaning the fact that oldies radio was ignoring all but about 500 songs that they just seemed to played repeatedly on end.)
I made it a point of mentioning SO many great songs that were extremely popular at the time ... songs we all grew up loving and singing along with on the radio ... records we all went out and bought ... and the wide variety of styles that were incorporated side-by-side within the Top 40 Radio Format.
In the simplest fashion possible I innocently asked those first 35 "subscribers" ... "If I took the time to write something about these great songs and artists that radio doesn't play anymore, would you bother to read it???" When all 35 oldies music fans said that they would, Forgotten Hits was born ... and we have turned out THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of issues ever since.
Every now and then we look back and see if radio has improved. Honestly, it's had its ups and downs .. positive things like The True Oldies Channel ... the quickly defunct Real Oldies format ... and Internet gems like Rewound Radio (along with Chicago's own ... but hopefully soon to be syndicated ... newcomer Me-TV-FM) have been bright spots along the way ... but more and more of this music has begun to focus on the '80's as their target audience, all but eliminating the majority of the music released before 1964. Even an artist as revolutionary as Elvis Presley ... who charted an incredible 127 times before "Suspicious Minds" went to #1 in 1969 ... seems to have been reduced to a two or three hit wonder. (Billboard Magazine has contributed to this decline in Elvis appreciation by now only concentrating on their "Hot 100" Charts, begun in 1958, thus eliminating 32 more Elvis classics, including some of the biggest hits of his career.)
Forgotten Hits has always provided the forum for REAL oldies fans to share their memories. For the past two years we have run 50th Anniversary Charts celebrating The Top 40 Hits of the day, 1964 and 1965 ... and on a regular basis we challenge oldies radio to step outside the box once in awhile and play something off their well-worn playlist.
Today ... in honor of our very first Forgotten Hit ... we again salute and remember Max Frost and the Troopers' Top 20 Hit from 1968, "Shape Of Things To Come" (a record that went all the way to #3 here in Chicago.)
Happy Anniversary to us ... and thanks to ALL the folks who have joined us along the way!
*****
BLACK
FRIDAY
Whereas I won't even so much as drive by a mall on Black Friday, I hope you all had a very nice Thanksgiving and will spend today the way you most want to spend it.
Enjoy the long weekend ... we'll be here with brand new postings on both Saturday and Sunday.
