Hi Kent,
Just a quick correction to your post this morning ...
"Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" did indeed hit #1 in Billboard (and the other two trades as well).
Paul Haney
Record Research
Thanks, Paul … pointed out by a couple of other astute FH Readers, this has since been corrected … definitely an error on my part. (kk)
It would be really interesting if all three chart makers would release their criteria for song success. Then we could see the mathematical equations behind each of them. OR WOULD WE? The fact that this has never been made public leads me to believe that other factors (personal gain, politics, personal likes/dislikes) are involved. Soooooooo ... use them as guides, not gold.
Shelley
That’s exactly right.
All three trades measured sales but like thru different retailers (although you know there had to be some overlap.) This is where the twenty point discrepancies make no sense at all. Some of these “sales” were rack-jobber figures, meaning how many copies of a single a distributor SHIPPED … but not necessarily how many of those copies were actually sold (and how many were returned a week or two later.)
Certainly radio airplay and listener requests were both big factors, too … which is how most of the local charts were measured at the time. The bigger the station, the bigger the rank.
But we have also heard far too many stories over the years of situations like “Place a full page, $10,000 ad in our magazine next week and your record will jump up twenty spots with a bullet” … so who really knows.
This is why for my money, the Super Charts are the most accurate representation of the popularity of this music at the time … because they take into account the research of all three trade publications, meaning the maximum amount of sales and airplay research possible. It helps to level the playing field, if you will, between all of the information out there. (They’re not without hiccups, though … for example, because “Good Vibrations” didn’t make it to #1 in all three trades at the same time, it didn’t make it to #1 on the Super Charts at all … and we all know better than that.) Still, when assembling such a project you have to accept the chart data as it existed at the time … it’s nobody’s place to “rewrite chart history” here … and even my pointing out some areas where Billboard’s information wasn’t perhaps as accurate as it could have been / should have been is solely based on the performance of these records in both of the other two trade publications AND the weekly charts we have analyzed from all over the country throughout the years.
At best, it’s fodder for discussion …
At worst, it’s just a few more head-scratchers to think about. (kk)
Kent,
I just freaked out when I read your comment about "Itsy Bitsy Teenie
Weenie ... " being the first record you bought with your own money ...
I was visiting some friends in Miami Beach with my mother when it hit the airwaves around July of 1960, and it was just about all you'd hear on the radio all day long. I'd estimate that it was played about 15 times a day on the local rock 'n roll station (WCKR), and after a while it became kinda boring. But as soon as I got back home, I went over to Little Al's Records in Albany Park and bought a copy. I still have it; it's on the Leader label (pre-Kapp), and it was also MY first record purchase!
Mike
Funny, my copy was on the Leader label, too … and I’ll betcha I’ve seen more Leader singles over the years than Kapp labels!
In my original “First 45’s” post, I mentioned how much I enjoyed the other side of this record, to … “Don’t Dilly Dally, Sally!” (I played the B-Side of EVERY 45 I bought!!! You just never knew what you were going to find there.)
Apparently I wasn’t the only one.
When we ran our poll of The Top 200 Favorite, Forgotten B-Sides, “Sally” came in at #125 with 136 votes! (kk)
http://forgottenhits.com/your_top_200_favorite_forgotten_b-sides
kk:
The Results Are In –
Dr. Bop's "BEST LEAD SINGER" As Voted On By His Listeners = The Late, Great Johnny Maestro.
Why Isn't He In The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame?
By The Way, Your Chicago Buddy Dennis Tufano Told Cousin Brucie He's Going To Be Inducted Into California Hall Of Fame.
FB
That’s great to hear.
The Buckinghams were the first local band to be inducted into The Illinois Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame a couple of years ago … so Dennis has THAT honor under his belt as well. They deserve it … out of all of the bands that experienced success here in the ‘60’s, The Buckinghams garnered the most national attention, making appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, just to name two of the biggies!
Their hits “Kind Of A Drag,” “Don’t You Care,” “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy,” “Hey Baby, They’re Playing Our Song” and “Susan” all made The National Top Ten … and “Kind Of A Drag” went all the way to #1. No other group from this area attained that kind of success during this era … and Dennis Tufano sang all of ‘em!
As for Johnny Maestro, he absolutely belongs in The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Everything he lent his voice to turned to solid gold. He should be nominated and inducted in the Performer Category, hands down. (kk)
New photos posted by Mark Dawson of The Grass Roots show the addition of Joey Molland last night to the Happy Together Tour. Everything else was the same as Kentucky. So it looks as if he was an addition to the tour with Little Anthony being the one missing for those two dates. Just passing on interesting info. No secret meanings coming from me at all.
Shelley
After adding a second show in Sydney, Australia, Paul McCartney announced five new dates in Brazil … the 2023 “Got Back” World Tour has begun! (kk)
After fifty years, Yoko Ono has left The Dakota, the home she shared with John Lennon until his death in 1980 … and has lived in for the 43 years since. Reports say that although she has no plans to return to the city, she has yet to list the property for sale. Ono, now 90 and not in the best of health, reportedly moved out in March of this year and settled into the 600 acre farm / ranch that she and John purchased decades ago. (kk)
The Fest For Beatles Fans takes place this weekend at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare Hotel in Rosemont with a stellar line-up of guests slated to appear, including a performance by “The Lads From Liverpool”: Billy J. Kramer, Terry Sylvester and Joey Molland who, as we just learned above, pinch-hit for Little Anthony during a Happy Together performance this past weekend.
Also onboard are Pattie Boyd, Bruce Spizer, Jude Southerland Kessler, Kenneth Womack, Tom Frangione and more.
Complete details here:
https://www.thefest.com/2023-fests/chicago-august-11-12-13-2023/
