As we continue to salute 1971, this made for a very interesting story …
There is an indirect Chicago connection as to the song Maggie May all of sudden getting promoted.
Well known Chicago DJ, Mitch Michaels, was attending a Rod Stewart / Faces concert. At the time, he was filling in at WMMS Cleveland. He had met Rod once before and was backstage milling around when he ran into Rod again. They chatted briefly and Rod invited him to ride in his limo and offered to buy him a drink. They chatted about the album, Every Picture Tells A Story, and Rod asked him what his thoughts were. Mitch replied that Reason To Believe was a great song, but the requests for Maggie May were burning up the phone lines. A few weeks later, the single was reissued with Maggie May as the A side.
But wait there's more.
Mitch never really thought that much about his chat with Rod that night. It had remained a cool memory (his words) … that is until June, 1993, when he caught an episode of the Tonight Show With Jay Leno. Jay was unclear as to what was the A side, and what was the B side, in regards to Maggie May / Reason To Believe. Mitch was flabbergasted when Rod told the story of his and Mitch's ride in the limo and said how a DJ in Cleveland turned the record over. Had Mitch not been watching TV that night, he would have never known about his small little niche in rock and roll history.
Taken from his book "Doin' The Cruise"
Jack Levin
VERY cool story!!! (I have to pick up a copy of this book! I’ve been meaning to for quite some time now.)
“Maggie May” (NEVER one of my favorites) is still every bit as popular today. It just made the Top 20 on our recent Favorite Songs of 1971 Poll … and came in at #69 in our TOP 3333 MOST ESSENTIAL CLASSIC ROCK SONGS OF ALL-TIME Poll, too! (kk)
https://classicrockessentials.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-top-3333-most-essential-classic.html
Best Classic Bands looks back at The Top 40 Hits of 1971, featuring the WABC Chart from New York City …
https://bestclassicbands.com/radio-hits-1971-9-6-17/
I can only tell you that THEIR results differ quite a bit from our own findings (which will run on December 31st) … and even WLS’ Year-End Chart.
They also raise the question: Was 1971 the best year in music ever?
(You already know MY vote on this … NOTHING will ever top 1967 for me …
But now that we’re eight months thru our on-going salute to the music of fifty years ago, I have to admit that I have new found respect for just how solidly this music has held up … so much so that I now have to rank my Top Three Favorite Years as 1967, 1969 and 1971.
https://bestclassicbands.com/1971-book-review-6-10-166/
Meanwhile, Phil Nee and I are prepping our countdown of your Top 71 1971 Fan Favorites. (We’ve decided to dedicate an entire show to counting this music down.)
Stay tuned for more details.
In fact, speaking of Phil …
I enjoyed all of the 1971 surveys today. I even saw That's The Way A Woman Is by Milwaukee’s Messengers on Rare Earth Records charting somewhere other than here in Wisconsin.
The Steppenwolf songs of the 70's were played on WISM, which was a great Top 40 station in Madison. They also played their 1974 single Straight Shootin’ Woman quite a bit. (As you know, I voted for the Steppenwolf song Ride With Me, which I also saw on a couple of these charts.)
Looking forward to counting down the Fan Favorites … this is a GREAT list … and it’s going to be a blast counting them down.
Phil Nee – WRCO
It's interesting to look at the music of 1971 from the Fans Favorite perspective ... with the benefit of fifty years of hindsight. These aren't necessarily the most POPULAR tunes from that year ... or even the best sellers ... but these are the ones that have resonated the most with our readers and your listeners fifty years on. (kk)
From yesterday:
MeTV FM has been playing Eric Carmen all day in honor of his birthday!
Clark
I can’t believe how many people emailed or texted me today to say how much they were enjoying the Eric Carmen birthday tribute. We listened to it all afternoon, too.
I think people maybe forget just how much great music he gave us … both with The Raspberries and as a solo artist … plus songs he wrote that were covered by others.
I was fortunate enough to see The Raspberries exactly one time … 1972 in Rockford at The Rockford Armory.
Check out THIS double bill …
The Raspberries and Badfinger. (It doesn’t get any better than this in 1972!!!) kk
As we talk more and more recently about the need for more variety on the radio dial, I cannot help but point out the recent variety I heard on Yacht Rock on Sirius XM. In order … Ya Mo Be There (featuring Michael McDonald), Sail On by the Commodores (4th time I’ve heard that song since Friday - and we were barely in the car this weekend!), Ride Like The Wind (featuring Michael McDonald), This Is It (featuring Michael McDonald), skip a song … and then What A Fool Believes (featuring - well, you get the idea!)
25,000 songs to choose from that fit this format - and THESE are the ones they choose to play.
But don’t worry -
If you missed it you’ll hear them all again today after 4:00.
(And to think that people are actually PAYING to listen to this same onslaught of material day after day after day.)
It really IS your Michael McDonald
station … and why do I keep hearing SO much Rupert Holmes?!?! ("Him" and "Answering Machine" are NOT heavy rotation material, guys!!!)
And not only that …
Three days in a row I heard the same two songs played back to back … including twice in the same day (once on the way to work and once again on the way home.) MIX IT UP A LITTLE BIT, PEOPLE!!! (kk)
UPDATE: I had to use my wife’s car this morning to go to work and she had it set to Sirius XM Yacht Rock as well …
First song I heard …
“Sweet Freedom” by Michael McDonald.
After that, they played “I Can’t Tell You Why,” one of my favorite songs by The Eagles.
After that, I turned it off … I just couldn’t take a chance on hearing another Michael McDonald song and ruining my commute! (kk)
Hi Kent –
Well, a group of us went to see the Beach Boys Tuesday Night a couple of weeks ago in Elk Grove Village. Since I have not seen a review, here is mine.
I am not a big Beach Boys fan, but the concert was free, so why not go? I figure I have not seen them for over 30 years … let’s see if half the group gives a good show.
I must say it was very entertaining. Mike Love and Bruce Johnston were backed up by four guitarists, an organist, a person who played the flute, sax and percussion and, of course, a drummer, for a total of nine people on stage.
Mike and Bruce sang on what I call the "fun" songs (Surf, cars and girls.) The more challenging songs of the latter years were sung by the other group members, which included Mike's son Christian. All in all, good performances, as most of their catalogue were performed. A few were missing (Wendy, Sail On Sailor and, most glaring of all, Heroes and Villains.) There were a few nice touches along the way, including having a few of the fans dancing and singing on stage for a number. The visuals behind the group were nice, especially all the pics of the original group. Much surprising was the length of the show. I figured maybe 75 minutes to an hour and a half. They performed for two hours!
I have to give the show a B, only because of some of the songs I did not know, but some of those were new material. Also, I could have missed Mike's tribute to George Harrison, which includes one original and Mike's rendition of Here Comes the Sun.
All in all, the show was worth attending. My friend who attended with me also has tickets to see Brian and Al. I will have to get his take on that show and report back.
Mike DeMartino
In 1969, Milwaukee had its own big rock festival, three weeks before Woodstock.
This is an article from the Milwaukee newspaper that I just uncovered pertaining to the Midwest Rock Festival. There is more information in this article than I have seen before including about 17 band photos from the festival that are worth viewing. https://www.jsonline.com/story/entertainment/music/2019/07/26/milwaukee-had-rock-festival-led-zeppelin-eric-clapton-steve-winwood-bob-seger-before-woodstock-1969/1819371001/
It turns out that there is now a professionally done website on the Midwest Rock Festival that appears to be about two years old. My guess is that the 50th anniversary must have triggered a lot of interest, because there has not been a lot out there on this festival. Check it out. There apparently was a backstage photographer and they have excellent photos of most of the bands.
Robert Campbell
It’s just wild that this stuff comes out fifty years after the fact with very little attention paid to these events in between. (I guess Woodstock really DID capture all of the headlines … no differently than the soul concert we were talking about a couple of weeks ago.) kk
FH Reader Ken Voss sent me this link to George Harrison’s site where you can buy the new “Uber Deluxe” version of “All Things Must Pass” for only $999.98, which’ll save you two cents off The Fest For Beatles Fans price. (Thanks, Ken … now this will allow me to stick my two cents in somewhere else!!!)
https://store.georgeharrison.com/products/uber-deluxe
I can’t even bring myself to purchase the $129 version … I’ve just bought this material SO many times already in the past … and yes, these ARE 142 brand new tracks (in the way of outtakes, demos and jams) but just how many different ways do you need to listen to these same songs? The definitive versions have already been available for 50+ years! (I WILL admit, however, my curiosity to hear the toned-down, de-Spectorized versions of some of these tunes … I think the entire LP will sound a whole lot cleaner.) kk
Chicago, Home of YELLOW RIVER!
Looks like you all had lots of fun this week dumping rubber duckies in the Chicago River!! Hope you win something!
"Rubber duckie, you're the one!"
https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/08/us/rubber-duck-derby-trnd/index.html
Clark Besch
They’ve been doing this for fourteen years?!?!? And I’ve never even seen one! Wow!
(Of course I’D probably be the guy standing there saying “One Rubber Duckie … Two Rubber Duckie …”) Probably just as well I sat this one out! (Seriously, ‘tho … you’ve gotta check out these pictures!) kk
Kent,
In today's FH, Mike mentioned he discovered years ago a record by singer Kenny Karen called THE LIGHT IN YOUR WINDOW, written by King-Goffin. That particular record was played here in OKC, except the "A" side of the record was the flip, SUSIE FORGIVE ME, written by Mann-Weil. And it was on Columbia Records. I noticed that singer Karen recorded for Strand Records in the early sixties. I believe there was a group called the Stompers doing the 1/4 to 4 STOMP on that label, but am not sure about that. I have the record as well as another record on that label recorded by a female singer.
Larry
I did a little bit of checking and it looks like Kenny Karen had exactly ONE Top 100 Hit … it came in 1973, was called “That’s Why You Remember,” and it peaked at #60 in Cash Box (which was 22 places higher than it did in Billboard.)
The song you are referring to, Larry, “Oh Susie, Forgive Me,” charted for exactly one week in Music Vendor only in 1962 at #129. A “follow-up” seven years later, “M’Lady,” hit #121 in Record World only … and that was it.
As for The Stompers, they made The Top 100 in all three major trade publications in 1962 with “Quarter To Four Stomp,” again reaching its highest peak in Music Vendor, where it reached #65. It placed 32 places lower in Cash Box (#97) and spent exactly one week at #100 in Billboard. (kk)
