DONNYMANIA:
Wow! How old was that Osmond comment of mine that you printed today? Still holds true though.
Songs of the 60's and 70's, though, continue to show their timelessness.
"Dreams" from Fleetwood Mac's Rumours album went to #21 on the Hot 100 this week after a video of a man on a skateboard drinking cranberry juice while lip syncing that song went viral.
Also in the top forty is a remake of Frankie Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" by singer Emilee Flood, sort of. But it's only one line repeated over and over. I kept waiting for the rest of the song, but apparently one line is all that fits on TikTok, or so I'm told.
It's nice to see the kids still enjoy this music, in their own bizarre way.
Ed Erxleben
I read about the “Dreams” thing the other day … we mentioned it a week or two ago that after this Tik Tok video went viral, sales were thru the roof. (Mick Fleewood even made his OWN skateboarding video! And Frannie said that she heard that Oceanspray gave the guy a new car for all the great press ... and free publicity ... thanks to him drinking their cranberry juice in the clip! lol)
Incredible to think that Fleetwood Mac wind up just outside The Top 20 again after all these years with a former #1 record. (Which just goes to show you that SOMEDAY … and it just may be sooner than you think … somebody just might actually TIE Chubby Checker’s 60 year old record of hitting #1 in Billboard with the same record in two different releases! Of course, Chubby's record came over a two year span ... but a 40-50 year span?!?! Incredibly, it actually COULD happen!!!)
That Donny Osmond comment was from 2004 when our Teen Idol Series first ran. (We did a whole week, spotlighting ‘70’s teen heartthrobs like David Cassidy, Donny Osmond, Any Gibb, Leif Garrett, Bobby Sherman, Shaun Cassidy, The Hudson Brothers and more.)
There is a lot of Forgotten Hits material that did not survive our now 21 year history … but fortunately this one did … although FH reader Clark Besch takes issue with a few of the points you raised in your original comments (kk) …
Kent,
I have utmost respect for my friend Ed. He's been a great person to know. STILL, I must defend a few things on his three points below. Luckily, I was just old enough to not be totally consumed by the early 70's teen idols ... YET, I had a few faves in those musically. BTW, Kent, "Love Me For A Reason" WAS a 45 I kept in my faves … however, listening to it now, it is not as great today.
ED said:
My younger sister was a big Donny Osmond fan, despite my attempts to reason with her.
Some of my arguments included:
1. The Osmonds were nothing more than Jackson Five wannabes. The Jacksons had introduced the prepubescent boy singer schtick more than a year before the Osmonds copied it. The Jacksons did it better and did more original material.
The Osmonds had been on Andy Williams for years before the J5 hit. They were often singing old standards or barbershop type tunes and I paid no attention. Yes, the J5 did get a head start on the Osmonds pop hit factory, but they HAD been around. I agree, they jumped on what bandwagon they could, as they signed with MGM in 1963 and had tried lots of things before they hit it big seven years later. They NEEDED a hit and MGM wanted one, too. They jumped on Lou Christie's bandwagon in ‘67 with this one, but it failed. Great tune ‘tho.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV6OEHZqvv0
Oddly enough, American Bandstand played their fall, 1970 45 "Movin' Along" on Rate-a-Record and I recorded it then and liked it a lot, altho I was surprised THAT group could have a decent pop record. It failed, but the next was paydirt and I liked "One Bad Apple," despite the kiddy image. As early as 1972, tho, they were doing throwaway silly ones like "Crazy Horses" … but ALSO doing some nice ballads that the J5 were not really into.
From that very 1972 LP, I was listening to X-ROCK 80 in El Paso before high school one morning and on came this song. Altho, you may not think it when the chorus starts, I first thought it was a new McCartney song. Listen and you could agree! Beautiful song I would never have thought would be the Osmonds at the time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7x1SlgEq2Lw
One thing I also point to as an AM/FM dividing tool was the Osmonds were what people would say was AM, while Edgar Winter and such were FM sounds at the time. SO, it was funny when I heard "Goin' Home" and loved it. It was SO much like Edgar Winter's recent "River's Risin'" that it kind of showed a bit of prejudice in the AM/FM theories. The former would be AM only and the latter, AM and FM friendly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5ib8-E9X_U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrg7_-bQawU
Anyway, there were really some pop gems in these kiddie Osmond things, IMO.
Chiming in here for just a sec …
The song “One Bad Apple” was first offered to The Jackson Five … and they turned it down!!!
So The Osmonds jumped on it … and it became a #1 tune, very much in the same vein as what The Jacksons were doing. (Truth be told, I HATED this tune when it came out … and STILL have a hard time listening to it … I think The Osmonds recorded FAR better material deserving of #1 status than this one … but this is what got the ball rolling. That being said, there were a few early Jackson Five singles that made my skin crawl, too … but I believe that BOTH bands released many more GOOD singles than bad.) kk
2. Donny Osmond's hits had already been done by grown-up men who could actually sing them convincingly: Nat King Cole, Paul Anka, Elvis, Frankie Avalon, Johnny Mathis, etc.
Yeah, most of those DID suck! Of course, J5 early solos were like that, too: "Little Bitty Pretty One,” “Rockin' Robin," "Daddy's Home."
3. Go Away Little Girl making #1 on the chart was a cataclysmic event, which would put popular musical taste into a tailspin from which it would never recover (I was right about that!), and would result in the end of civilization as we know it.
EErxleben
I think there were many before that probably. OK, so Donny beat Michael to the top before Michael did "Rockin Robin" shortly thereafter.
My point is that despite all the criticism, BOTH groups did some good and some bad kiddie pop in those early 70's days.
Clark Besch
While looking for something else, I just happened to stumble across ANOTHER piece written by Laura, Jack’s Trophy Wife, that touches on her love for all things Donny …
This one actually won her a prize AGES ago when we were looking for the best definition of Psychedelic Music …
FROM DONNY OSMOND TO PSYCHEDELIC MUSIC IN A FEW EASY STEPS
Snow cones taught me about psychedelic music.
It must have been the summer of 1973. My sister was 12 and a fan of Donny Osmond.
Every 12-year-old girl was a fan of Donny Osmond that summer of 1973. They bought every issue of 16 Magazine (which always had Donny on the cover), practiced writing "Mrs. Donald Osmond" in their diaries, and -- well, you get the idea.
It was a well-known fact that Donny's
favorite color was purple. My sister's softball team was called The
Purple Turtles. The whole team was made up of 12-year-old girls, and they
loved their Donny. I don't know where the turtle part came from.
I was almost 8 and I loved Donny a little bit, too. I did not love softball, but everyone else seemed to, so I tried to pretend like I did. It seemed like every night I was at the local ball diamond, watching the Purple Turtles. There wasn't much to do there in the bleachers. The Purple Turtles weren't very good, and I don't ever remember them winning a game, or even coming close to winning, so cheering seemed kind of beside the point.
My favorite part about the games was the concession stand. A very nice married couple ran the concession stand. They sold candy and pop and snow cones. There were three or four flavors of snow cones, including a red that may have been cherry or strawberry, a purple grape, an orange orange, and maybe a green lime. To be honest, all the flavors tasted the same, so you usually ordered your favorite color. Some kids couldn't decide which color they wanted, so the couple that ran the concession stand started selling snow cones that had squirts of every color, all swirled around. They looked sort of like when you tie dye a t-shirt. They called their new creation psychedelic snow cones.
Of course, by 1973 the word psychedelic
really wasn't cool anymore. But the couple who ran the concession stand
thought they were really hip with their psychedelic snow cones, and we
8-to-12-year-olds thought we were really hip eating them.
So, this is what it comes down to:
Because of Donny Osmond, the softball team was called The Purple Turtles.
Because of The Purple Turtles, I was at the ball diamond.
At the ball diamond concession stand, I learned the word psychedelic.
And I learned that psychedelic music sounds
like a tie dye snow cone looks.
--Laura (Jack's Trophy Wife)
I still think this was one of the best series we’ve ever done.
The whole concept was … How do you describe the term “psychedelic” to a nine year old kid?
We had our readers submit their definitions … and then had Paige (age nine at the time) read them and grade them, ultimately awarding the prizes that went along with writing the best definitions (in the language that a nine year old could understand.)
I remember her "grading papers" in our hotel room in Florida each morning before heading off to Disney World!
It was a whole lotta fun …
And it’s STILL posted on the other Forgotten Hits Website after all these years.
Check it out when you get a chance. (Even if you’ve seen it before, you probably won’t remember it ... because the whole idea of psychedelic music is … well, you get the drift!) kk
http://forgottenhits.com/top_20_favorite_psychedelic_songs
WLIT is already teasing Christmas music … three weeks before Halloween!!!
It doesn’t really matter when they start … the ratings are going to go thru the roof just like they always do. (It’s gotten to the point where they may as well start Christmas In July … and just keep it going right on thru New Year’s Day!) kk
Sirius / XM is about to sign Howard Stern to a new five year contract extension worth $600 Million … $120 Million per year for five more years.
How on EARTH can it possibly be worth it?
At a time when most radio stations are doing everything they can to stay afloat, this just seems preposterous to me. (And honestly … isn’t everybody in the world hip to his schtick by now?)
I’ve had Sirius / XM for going on five years now … and have probably turned on his station two or three times TOTAL during that time. (Now I know there are others who never miss a show … but then let THEM pay the outrageous annual fees for the satellite station and cut MY costs in half for only listening to music!)
Truth be told, I probably won’t renew again this year … I’ve already cancelled once as I just don’t listen to it enough to make it worthwhile. If I'm tuned into Sirius / XM at all, I rarely leave The Beatles Channel … and even that gets old after a while.
But Frannie absolutely LOVES hers … and listens to virtually nothing else these days. (I’m more prone to hook up the wi-fi and listen to Rewound, Me, True Oldies, WCFL or, on Saturday’s, Sam Tallerico’s Lost And Found Oldies Show. Or, old fogie that I am, I'll still listen to CD's in the car, too. Damn! I miss my old cassette player where I could listen to all the music I wanted to hear ... never did got the iPod route!)
She’ll typically jump around from the ‘60’s Channel to the ‘70’s Channel to Yacht Rock / The Bridge and The Beatles Channel. (I’m sometimes amazed by how much overlap there is between these stations … when you break it all down, between ALL of them, I’m not convinced their playlists are any larger than any ONE of my selections … and I find that I get WAY more variety … and fewer repeats … on my choices shown above.)
Sorry, Howard … but you just don’t do it for me … and Sirius / XM if you’re listening, your BEST chance of getting me to re-up for another year is to give me the 50% discount for music channels only. (kk)
Brian Wilson checked in from home the other day to let all of his fans know that he was doing ok …
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For the first time in his career (dating back to 1961!) Stevie Wonder will be making music for somebody other than Motown Records!
His private label “So What’s The Fuss Music,” distributed by Republic Records thru Universal Music Group (who also handles Motown) has already released two new tracks … “Can’t Put It In The Hands Of Fate” and “Where Is Our Love Song” … and Stevie is still sounding great. (A recent appearance at Motown’s 60th Birthday Celebration also confirmed this … and Stevie got quite emotional during this event … making it seem even stranger that he’s leaving the label NOW after all these years!)
You can hear both tracks here:
A bunch of topline musicians have gotten together to record a new version of the pop classic “Stand By Me” in honor of the song’s 60th birthday. (It is also being used as a fundraiser for the UK Help Musicians fund … an effort to raise and distribute money to some of the many musicians whose careers have been sidelined with the ongoing pandemic.)
Contributions are being taken thru their Go Fund Me Page … https://www.gofundme.com/f/standbyme2020
Participating musicians include Peter Frampton, Rick Wakeman, Paul Rodgers, Mark Knopfler, Rosanne Cash, Duane Eddy, Leo Sayer, Keb’ Mo’, Cyndi Lauper, Richard Thompson, Beth Nielsen Chapman, John Oates, Darius Rucker, Marc Cohn, and dozens of others.
You can view the final video here …
(It’s really quite beautiful):
We no sooner ran our tribute to Whitey Ford and Bob Gibson than news came of another Baseball Hall of Famer leaving us …
Joe Morgan, part of The Big Red Machine during his eight seasons with The Cincinnati Reds, played for five major league teams during his 22 year professional career. He was a 10-time All Star, 2-time World Series Champ and 5-time Golden Glove Winner. Twice he won the National League MVP. (Those awards came for the 1975 and 1976 seasons when The Cincinnati Reds went to The World Series.) In fact, he was named to The National League All Star Team all eight years he played for The Reds. His 689 stolen bases ranks 11th in major league history.
In 1980, he returned to Houston and helped The Astros win The NL West Title. (He started his major league career with Houston back in 1963 when the team was still known as The Colt 45’s.) He went to The World Series again in 1983 as part of The Philadelphia Phillies, where he was reunited with his former Reds teammates Pete Rose and Tony Perez.) Incredibly, Morgan's contributions led to The Reds, The Phillies and the Astros ALL going to The World Series.
Morgan was inducted into The Baseball Hall Of Fame in 1990 and remained in the public eye as a broadcaster for both The Cincinnati Reds and The San Francisco Giants … as well as on ESPN. In addition to Hall of Famers Morgan, Ford and Gibson, we have also lost Lou Brock, Tom Seaver and Al Kaline this year.
(I was curious to know who the current oldest living Hall Of Fame Ballplayer was so I looked it up. That distinction belongs to Tommy Lasorda, who turned 93 last month. Joe Morgan was 77.) kk
Hi Kent ...
It's been awhile.
As always, thanks for your blog. Your blog for me has become a peaceful place of escape from this crazy world. It's good to know that your blog is a constant and can be looked at any time.
It has not been an easy time this year. I can't wait till a vaccine comes out for covid 19, the election is over, Hillary's emails finally come out and the people who were the rascals are given consequences, etc. Yes, this has been the worst year on record in so many ways, including all of the "Musicians We've Lost."
I was particularly taken back and saddened about the loss of legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen, still so young. I still have trouble believing he is gone.
I will remember fondly Eddie Van Halen, especially the famous "Jump" video when audiences were constantly glued to see the latest MTV videos. Eddie was so talented and such a "cutie."
Valerie Bertinelli and Eddie rocked the cover of many magazines back in the day as you probably remember. Very nostalgic time. I believe that there is no "hot couple" like them today. Larger than life.
Thank you, Eddie, for your amazing and wonderful musical wild guitar riffs. One of the best! God Bless Eddie and I pray that his family will find peace.
It was hard looking through all of the great pics of Eddie to find one that isn’t posted too often. < sigh > Always a cutie! And Yes, Eddie was beloved by many fans.
Thanks for reading my comments. Take care.
Sandy
"Jump" (their only #1 Hit) was quite a departure for the band at the time. Eddie was on keyboards for most of the track and apparently even their manager and record label had reservations about taking such a bold move due to Eddie's incredible prowess on the guitar. (Looks like the bigwigs were wrong again!) For as long as rock and roll has existed, the execs seem to always want to take the "safe" route, rather than allowing an artist to grow. Fortunately, there have been enough talented "rebels" out there to buck the system and take our music to so many new levels.
It sounds like Valerie and their son Wolfgang were with him till the end, which is especially nice. Frannie said she read something to the effect that their love for each other never died … they were always the perfect match … soulmates ... she just couldn’t handle and the drugs and infidelities … but then admitted that the infidelities were HERS, not his! Kind of a shocker for cute little Barbara Cooper from “One Day At A Time!!!” (kk)
Congratulations to Jeff Lynne, who has been awarded The Order of The British Empire in The Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
Jeff responded: “I am extremely humbled and grateful to be awarded this honour for my services to music. To be recognised for my work is an extraordinary privilege.” (kk)
The other day we told you about Jerry Lee Lewis’ 85th birthday …
Well, now they’re turning it into a streaming, birthday bash …
And Elton John and Willie Nelson have jumped on board to accompany “The Killer” for this new live event.
John Stamos will act as host … and the guest list also includes Joe Walsh, Tom Jones, Bill Clinton (!!!), Lee Ann Womack, Mike Love of The Beach Boys, Priscilla Presley, Marty Stuart, Wink Martindale and more. (A VERY special reunion between Lewis, Mickey Gilley and Jimmy Swaggart will put all three cousins in the same room for the first time in forty years!!!)
More info here on what’s been planned … and how to see it … https://www.udiscovermusic.com/news/jerry-lee-lewis-birthday-livestream/
Speaking of streaming, today is the last day you can get a pass to see The Rolling Stones performing live (from 2015) at The Fonda Theater.
More info here: https://www.goldstar.com/events/online-stream/the-rolling-stones-live-at-fonda-theater-online-stream-tickets?mal=1
Harvey Kubernik’s got a GREAT new piece up about the recent Jimi Hendrix “Live In Maui” album and documentary releases on the way.
You can check it out here: https://www.musicconnection.com/kubernik-jimi-hendrix-live-in-maui-album-on-the-way-with-new-documentary/
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