Monday, January 15, 2024

Monday Morning Memories

As we all live thru the Day After Tomorrow frozen tundra this morning, how about some good ol' Forgotten Hits to warm your innards ...

My buddy Sammy Tallerico is featuring tracks from our 1964 Super Charts on his weekly LAFOS Show, and boy, they sure sound great!

One he did on last week’s show was actually a song that I had intended to run myself, but it slipped thru the cracks.

It was Bobby Darin’s minor hit “Be Mad Little Girl,” a #64 Billboard hit in late 1963 / early 1964.  (Kinda funny to think that right as Beatlemania launched here in The States, Bobby and The Beatles were both on the same record label!!!  And TECHNICALLY, they were both on Atco Records in 1964, too … with Atco continuing to release some of Darin's older titles, trying to keep the Bobby Bandwagon rolling … and Atco releasing the most excellent Beatles cover version of “Ain’t She Sweet!”)

This was one of the songs I discovered while putting together my Bobby Darin series several years ago, and I have really liked it ever since.  (I don’t know why, because The British Invasion hadn’t even officially started yet, but this one always seemed to have a bit of a British feel to it for me.  Could have lived without the goofy background singing 'tho!!!)  There are a couple of other of Bobby’s tunes that would have a similar feel moving forward … but let’s face it, Darin was, if nothing else, a musical chameleon, always able to find a way to stick with the musical flavors of the times, no matter how often they changed … yet still keep his own identity by stepping outside the box with something like “Mack The Knife” or “Beyond The Sea,” and score successfully with these as well.  (And, since we mentioned The British Invasion, let us not forget the EXCELLENT version of Bobby’s B-Side “I’ll Be There” that Gerry and the Pacemakers cut in late 1964 … it scored them a Top 15 Hit!)

We’ll have more on the Sammy Tallerico / Bobby Darin connection in the weeks to come … just gotta get far enough ahead of our 60 YEARS AGO TODAY feature to make the time to pull it all together.

Meanwhile, enjoy both Bobby’s version (#79, 1960, and the B-Side of Darin’s Top 20 version of “Won’t You Come Home, Bill Bailey”) and Gerry and the Pacemakers’ #14 Hit from early 1965.  (kk)

 

Good point about CAPITOL and ATCO .. I'll have to mention that on my show.
I didn't realize "Sweet" by the Beatles was on that label! 
The things I learn in FH ...
Nice interview in today's FH, btw.
I'm enjoying your "60 Years Ago Today" series. 
So much so that I'm making the 1964 Super Charts a part of my 2024 "Lost And Found Oldies Show" radio program.
As Jerry Reuss so aptly put it, this music IS the soundtrack of our lives. 
Give LAFOS a spin and see if you don't agree!
Sam Tallerico
 

>>>Of little notice at the time … it didn't even earn a bullet on this week's  SuperChart… is Dusty Springfield's "I Only Want To Be With You," which premiers at #97  (kk)

And don't forget the #99 premier: "That Girl Belongs To Yesterday" by Gene Pitney, a song written by two guys named K. Richards and M. Jagger (a Pitney-Oldham Production.)

– Randy Price

Good call!  The Stones hadn’t even charted here in America yet … but were still being represented by American artists who had toured with them in England and saw their potential to cross over big here in The States.  Not at all unlike Del Shannon charting with The Beatles’ “From Me To You” the summer before.  When “From Me To You” finally charted here by The Fab Four, it was only because it had been re-released as a B-Side, coupled with “Please Please Me.”  To my thinking, both “From Me To You” and the upcoming B-Side “I’ll Get You” (which didn’t chart at all!) should have both been HUGE Beatles hits as part of the American wave of Beatlemania.  They fit the “Early Beatles” sound to perfection … yet both somehow got lost in the shuffle.  Yet four decades later, Forgotten Hits Readers voted “I’ll Get You” as their All-Time Favorite Forgotten B-Side … so WE knew!!!  (kk)

http://forgottenhits.com/your_top_200_favorite_forgotten_b-sides

>>>The Beatles’ February 9, 1964, appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show is often mistakenly credited for the start of Beatlemania in America. But that is not the case. By the time the Beatles landed in New York City on February 7, 1964, the nation was already infected with Beatlemania. The group’s songs were getting tremendous radio air play. Their singles and albums were selling tons of copies. They were receiving tremendous coverage by the press. The fact that 73 million people tuned in to see the Beatles on a show that normally drew 20 to 30 million viewers proves that Beatlemania was well in force by that time. But the appearance was extremely significant, for it marked the first time that the nation got to see the Beatles perform and see the audience reaction. There were no video tapes, DVDs, Blu-ray discs or streaming video services back then. And the images of the Beatles and their screaming fans on The Ed Sullivan Show was forever embedded in the minds of those who saw it happen. While the Sullivan Show appearances did not start Beatlemania in America, it provide the explanation point on Beatlemania!  (Bruce Spizer)

Truth be told, America was a little late to the party … Beatlemania had already affected (infected?) all of Europe the year before … but the KIDS knew … and while I’m quite sure Capitol Records’ $40,000 promotional blitz didn’t hurt when it came to spreading the word, you are absolutely right … 73 million Americans wouldn’t have been home poised to turn on their TVs to “The Ed Sullivan Show” that night had they not already been primed to see and hear their new music idols.

I will admit that I was NOT of that ilk … our family watched Ed’s show every Sunday as a matter of course no matter what he happened to be featuring that week, before switching the knob over to “Bonanza” at 8:00.  

Ed always had such a wide-range of variety on his program that it was likely less than half of what he was airing appealed to ten year old me at the time.  So when I saw The Beatles on television for the first time, I really didn’t pay it much mind … until I got to school the next day and it was the ONLY thing everybody was talking about.  (Fortunately, I had seen it, so I could at least participate in some of these conversations!)  That same Monday, my Dad took all three of us boys for haircuts … yes, this was back in the day when barbershops were open on Mondays … and we all still wore crew cuts ... and the first thing the barber asked us was if we wanted some of those Beatle haircuts like they showed on tv last night … so even on an adult level, it made a TREMENDOUS impact.  (This poor guy was probably already anticipating a drop off in business once the fad caught on!)  

That's the thing about Beatlemania ...

It wasn’t just any one thing … the music, the excitement of something new (after our grieving period for our downed president), the hair, the personality … The Beatles were well-seasoned showmen by the time they finally landed on our shores … and completely captivated the journalists sent out to cover them ... and the public right along with them.

After that, Beatlemania took full hold of our country, despite the fact that nay-sayers predicted it would all be over in a couple of months.  (Who could have ever predicted that these same four musicians would go from “She Loves You” to “A Day In The Life” in just four short years?!?!)

The fact that we are still talking about them … and giving them daily page space sixty years later, proves that this wasn’t just a fluke.  The Beatles were … and are … something extremely special.  We’ve never seen anything else quite like it.  (kk)

>>>Once the movie (A Hard Day's Night) was coming to our area, I begged and begged my parents to let me go see it ... but my Dad had heard all these horror stories at work and on the radio and in the newspapers about how the theaters were just filled with screaming girls who completely drowned out the motion picture ... and he certainly didn't want to sit thru THAT just to appease his young Beatle-fan son. So ... believe it or not ... WE saw "A Hard Day's Night" at the DRIVE-IN ... sitting in the comfort of our own, non-screaming station wagon ... and listening to that incredible soundtrack thru a tiny, tinny-sounding little speaker propped up in the front seat window.  (It was SO not the way to see this movie!!! Truth be told, even at age ten, I wouldn't have enjoyed sitting there in a theater filled with screaming teenage girls either ... I wanted to watch the movie!!!) kk

Great story, Kent!  Did your Dad like it?!

I know I'm not the only one who broadcast live from their radio station's Beatles Movie Premieres in their city but I'll share this with you anyway.

Denver, Colorado, KIMN Radio, Me, Outside the Movie Theater presenting a Rocky Mountain Beatles Movie Premier, interviewing a crowd of soon-to-be-screaming teenage girls!

I love how the girl is looking at me as if saying, "And just who are YOU!"
CB ( which at that time stood for "Chuck-Beatle Boy!" )  That's who!

A VASTLY expanded edition of Record Research’s “Pop Annual” book has just been announced.

These books offer a great recap of the charted records for each and every year, ranking them by peak position.  (Every Billboard Top 100 / Hot 100 Hit is accounted for!)  And, now the series will back-date to 1950 … and run all the way thru 2023!

(The most recent edition I have ran from 1955 – 2016, so this is like getting TWELVE extra years of chart information!)

If you pre-order now, you’ll save $30.  Here is the link:

https://www.recordresearch.com/books/pop-annual-1950-2023/

And, speaking of the charts ...

A great new radio chart book is out now by legendary DJ Carl Mann.  You can purchase or look at many sample pages here:
 
This is not a rehash of ARSA charts, but come from the author's private collection.
 

This is basically a radio station survey collector's dream!  YES, it is all top 40 (more or less) from the early era of Rock N Roll 1955-60, but is presented in a way that teaches as well as reproduces beautiful old radio charts of all colors, shapes and sizes.  YES, you basically get to see top 40 charts from about every month 1955-60 in chronological order, as it shows not only the who's who of hits and artists of the period, but also what happened on local scenes.  There's nearly 150 beautifully reproduced flawless radio charts and the author adds a paragraph or two on each.  Carl tells some great stories in each chart shown.  
 
You'll see stations from all the big markets as well as many from small markets all labeled and mixed together.  You get many McClendon, Star, Storz, Plough, Bartell and many other Top 40 legendary owners' stations' charts.  Each had their own styles, graphics, ideas and methods to portray what they felt best represented their station's on air music.  You even get some country and RNB stations' charts. 

Many like me, who collected mainly 1960's/70s charts, will ALSO love this book.  I thought I usually knew what the big top 40 stations were in the markets only to find that MANY of the charts here show the stations who originally played rock n roll BEFORE the stations I knew as the big ones in markets.  Some changed call letters, some formats and some faded after stations I knew as tops took over.  For instance, KOMA and WKY were NOT the first to play top 40 music in Oklahoma City!  I was a Beatlemaniac and these charts show how ELVIS was basically controlling charts long before Beatlemania struck. 

There is a complete chart listing by station, but IF you want to find the station in YOUR area, you need to sift thru, because it's likely you never knew about one or two right under your nose!  Also amazing is the number of DJ mentions and their photos on these charts.  Literally 100s of DJs and dozens became huge stars in MY era after starting in completely different markets!  Classic great DJs are shown on stations I had no idea they had been on.  Examples being Gary Owens, Tom Murphy, Herb Oscar, Casey Kasem, Jack Spector, Joe Niagra, Dr Don Rose, Charlie Greer, Dick Biondi, Dewey Phillips, Sandy Jackson, Pogo Poge, Henry Busse, Dale Wehba, Howard Miller, Scott Muni, Bob Leonard, Sam Riddle, Bill Balance, Art Roberts -- even Willard Scott and George Carlin!  WHO KNEW??? 

It's a who's who or stations, markets, owners, DJs,and HISTORY all rolled into one great history novel!  You don't need to be a fan of surveys or decades of Top 40 to enjoy leafing thru the formative years 1955-1960 of Top 40 radio.  
BUY THIS ONE!!  I did!
Clark Besch

FIRST 45’s:

One of our most popular on-going features has been our FIRST 45’s … it currently occupies four full pages on the Forgotten Hits Archives Website … but, unfortunately, is now frozen in time …

Due to software support and changing hands, we can no longer add to this list … so have periodically been posting new entries to the list here until we can move all of this other information to another source (quite a bit of work, unfortunately, with very little time to devote to it.)

However, this still makes for an EXCELLENT daily feature on oldies radio … and several stations have adopted it over the past fifteen years or so.  Each and every day, read a random segment and then play that person’s FIRST 45 on the air, encouraging YOUR listeners to send in THEIR FIRST 45’s Memories as well which (previously) we would have then also added to our site list.  (I’m still not opposed to doing that … and building a new list that will eventually get published along with all the others once we find a new home for it … so if any of you enterprising jocks on the list have an interest in turning this into a daily feature, drop me a line!)  Think about it … your listeners will continue to tune in as “appointment radio” to hear if THEIR story is going to be read on the air!  It’s a winner all the way around!

THIS particular FIRST 45 story that I’m running today was just too good to pass up, however, as it comes from Graham Nash, who recently said in an interview:

The first record I ever owned was a copy of Gene Vincent’s 1956 single “Be Bop A Lula.”  It was a 78 … I’m sure there are many people out there who have no idea what a 78 is!  Abd U traded it, with my friend Fred Marson, for four pieces of toast.  I would always bring toast for a lunchtime snack, and he liked my toast, and we made a deal … I got the record, he got my toast!  This record is an amazing record.

--Graham Nash

You can read hundreds (maybe even THOUSANDS!) more, right here …

http://forgottenhits.com/first_45s

http://forgottenhits.com/more_of_your_first_45s

http://forgottenhits.com/even_more_of_your_first_45s

http://forgottenhits.com/omg_can_you_believe_it_even_more_of_your_first_45s_memories

10cc has made our pages quite a few times over the past several months … so we thought we’d share the news about a new, fully comprehensive box set being issued on the band.

The 14-disc box set will feature all eleven of the band’s original albums, along with their 2-LP live album “Live And Let Live” … plus two discs of rarities, B-Sides, alternate and single mixes.

Lots more information here:  https://theseconddisc.com/2024/01/12/look-hear-10cc-box-set-compiles-two-decades-of-albums-and-b-sides/

Lately, it seems that everything old is new again … but THIS one came as a surprise …

Especially since it was never released as a single when it was first released back in 1963 … nor has it ever really received any noticeable amount of airplay during the ensuing sixty years.

But somebody on Tik-Tok posted a new video of Lesley Gore’s version of the classic, “Misty” … and it just topped Billboard’s Tik-Top Chart!

“Misty” is an old jazz standard written by Erroll Garner in 1954 and recorded by any number of artists in the years since, perhaps most notably by Johnny Mathis, who took his version to #12 in 1959.  (Ray Stevens also cut sort of a bluegrass version of the tune in 1975 and scored a #14 hit with it as well.)  And, of course, there’s always that classic Clint Eastwood movie to use as a reference point, “Play Misty For Me,” from 1972.  (Gore was all of seventeen years old when she cut her version for her 1963 debut album, “I’ll Cry If I Want To.”)

Another “new” Rolling Stones live album will be released on March 8th.

Coming in both 2-CD and 3-LP Vinyl versions, the discs commemorate The Stones’ appearance at The Wiltern in November of 2002.

The track list boasts a few live rarities along with the usual concert favorites:

“Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “Live With Me,” “Neighbours,” “Hand of Fate,” “No Expectations,” “Beast of Burden,” “Stray Cat Blues,” “Dance, Part 1,” “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (with Solomon Burke),” “That’s How Strong My Love Is,” “Going To A Go-Go,” Band Introductions, “Thru And Thru,” “You Don’t Have To Mean It,” “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking,” “Rock Me Baby,” “Bitch,” “Honky Tonk Women,” “Start Me Up,” “Brown Sugar” and “Tumbling Dice.”  (kk)

And, speaking of new releases, Tom Cuddy tells us about a new Jim Peterik release … and provides a bit more information on The Ides Of March’s 60th Anniversary Show (that we were sworn to secrecy on!!!)

https://www.nwitimes.com/life-entertainment/chicago-music-veteran-jim-peterik-celebrates-new-and-old-music/article_85ced682-afee-11ee-9c32-73787144e784.html

How is it that we’re hearing this news from Tom Cuddy and not Jim Peterik himself?!?!  (kk)

I DID hear from Peterik, however, on something else.  (He and his wife Karen were vacationing in Costa Rica last week … good time to get as far away from Chicago as possible, where we had 8-10” of snow and wind chills as low as 32 degrees below zero!)

I’m in Costa Rica with Karen and just got a chance to view and listen to your amazing piece on Cornerstones of Rock.  Makes me so proud to be a part of this great Chicago tradition. (By the way, did you know that I came up with the name?!) 

See you soon, my friend.  

Rock on!  

Jimmie  

PS - Best to Frannie!

 

And then this regarding the new CD ...

For me, "Roots & Shoots," being released on Frontiers on January 12th, 2024 is a high-water mark in my "Jim Peterik And World Stage" legacy.  Never before have I had these amazing talents on one album: Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon; Don Barnes of .38 Special; Kelly Keagy of Night Ranger; Mark Farner (formerly of Grand Funk Railroad), and brilliant rising stars Colin Peterik, Lisa McClowry, Dave Mikulskis, Mark MacKay, Ashton Brooke Gill, Leslie Hunt and Paul Childers.
 I am inspired and honored to write or co-write this collection and so excited for you to listen.
 Two videos directed by Greg Bizzaro are already attracting hundreds of thousands of views: "Dangerous Combination" with Kevin Cronin and yours truly and "Last Dream Home" with Don Barnes, which I wrote with Larry Millas of the Ides of March.  More videos to come from the other artists.
 Rock On -  Jimbo

This is a GREAT track!  (kk)


We haven’t heard from Big Jay Sorensen in awhile …

 

So this came as a nice surprise the other day …

 

I was recently interviewed by an acquaintance from Pennsylvania, Eddie Collins, a pop music star in NE / PA, and a massive record collector and radio guy.

It was generally all about my show at 66 WNNNBC called "The Time Machine.

As a radio geek, I think some of your readers will find this interesting.

Be B!G

Jay

Ep-21 BIG JAY SORENSEN - rolling back radio days of 66 WNBC 'The Time Machine!'

 

Bill Hayes, who recorded the #1 Hit “The Ballad Of Davy Crockett” in 1955, died on Friday, January 12th.  After his short-lived chart success, Bill became a fixture on the television soap opera “Days Of Our Lives,” on which he appeared for over fifty years.

He was twice nominated for an Emmy for his role as Doug Williams.  (Hayes, who starred alongside his real wife, Susan Seaforth-Hayes, was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018, as was his wife, who also played his on-screen wife. 

Hayes' name came up recently as Forgotten Hits Readers debated who may be th oldest living artist to hit the pop charts ... and Bill ranked right up there near the top.  (kk)

Also leaving us this pas weekend was Joyce Randolph, the last surviving member of “The Honeymooners” cast.  She was 99.  (I hate to say it, but I thought we had lost her quite some time ago … so was quite surprised to see this announcement.)

Randolph, our course, played Trixie Norton, wife of Ed Norton, the character played so brilliantly by Art Carney.  (“The Honeymooners” remains a television classic and has been shown countless times in reruns during the past seventy years … a pretty amazing feat when one considers the program only ran for one season!)

The characters, of course, continued to live on on “The Jackie Gleason Show” … but “The Honeymooners” themselves only ran for the 1955 – 1956 season, 39 total episodes in all.  (kk)

And this photo was just too cool not to share …

John and Julian Lennon, hanging out with the cast of “Happy Days”!!!

(one of the cable networks ran a "Happy Days" marathon over the weekend ...

BOY, some of these shows are hard to watch!!!) kk


>>>Several years ago, we got a website report that showed Russia as the country with the second most visits to our Forgotten Hits site.  I did some digging and found that somebody was translating all of our posts … and they were being widely circulated there.  (kk)

 

UPDATE:  Then late last night, I got this!  …

 

Привет, мой друг

 

О забытых хитах, Спасибо за упоминание, Keht!

 

Ivan  ( Frienuski ov Chaka B'yuella )

The authenticity of this message has not yet been confirmed by the Forgotten Hits International Security Team.

(And I do suspect Chuck Buell's Russian Counterpart Imposter is probably behind this!)  

Kent ( aka in Eastern European Circles, Кeht Котал! )

[MADE ME LAUGH!] kk

Wish We Could See If This Post Raises Their Eyebrows a Bit!  (CB)

 

60 YEARS AGO TODAY:

1/15/64 – Say Hey!  The San Francisco Giants make outfielder Willie Mays the highest-paid player in baseball when they sign him to a new $105,000 per season contract


 

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