TheBeach Boys finally get around to hitting the #1 spot as "I Get Around" motors on up past "Chapel of Love" and "A World Without Love" this week to take the crown.
"Rag Doll" by The Four Seasons makes another big leap (from #21 to #7) ... it had jumped 40 places the week before. It's a sure-fire future #1 Hit as well.
Keeping an eye on The Brits, we've got The Dave Clark Five at #10 with "Can't You See That She's Mine," up eight spots, the previously mentioned "A World Without Love" by Peter and Gordon (falling from #1 to #4), "Don't Let The Sun Catch Your Crying" by Gerry and the Pacemakers (#5), "Bad To Me" and "Little Children" by Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas (at #13 and #14 respectively), "Love Me Do" by The Beatles right behind them at #15, "Don't Throw Your Love Away" by The Searchers (#18), "Yesterday's Gone" by Chad and Jeremy, still climbing (this week from #32 to #26), "Diane" by The Bachelors (#29) ... The Bachelors also make a bit move on the chart this week with their follow up hit, as "I Believe"moves from #84 to #69, "Wishin' And Hopin'", up 21 spots from #57 to #36, "Do You Love Me" by The Dave Clark Five (#42), "Nobody I Know" by Peter and Gordon (another Lennon and McCartney tune at #46, also up 21 spots, The Rolling Stones at #51 with "Not Fade Away" (they also have a new record on the chart this week as "Tell Me" premiers at #95), "You're My World" by Cilla Black (up 21 spots from #80 to #61) and "P.S. I Love You" by The Beatles (still holding on at #65). America has clearly made their choice as to their favorite version of "Yesterday's Gone" ... with Chad and Jeremy climbing at #26, The Overlanders' version falls from #69 to #75.
Interesting American artists movin' and groovin' this week include Jan and Dean, whose "Little Ole Lady From Pasadena" climbs from #66 to #33, a leap of 33 spots, and Dean Martin (Dean Martin?!?!), whose "Everybody Loves Somebody jumps up 32 places from #80 #50. (It will eventually go to #1!)
And again, proving that NO ONE is immune to Beatlemania, Arthur Fielder and The Boston Pops Orchestra premier at #85 this week with "I Want To Hold Your Hand!!!"
60 YEARS AGO TODAY:
6/29/64 - NBC approves Gene Roddenberry's script for pilot
episode of "Star Trek" titled "The Cage"
Also on 6/29, The Civil Rights Act of 1964 passes in the
Senate
Can you believe it’s been 50 Years since Capitol Records
released The Beach Boys’ Summer Hits compilation “Endless Summer?”
Released at a time when the band was struggling with
identity issues and in search of an audience that would accept the NEW music
they were making, The Beach Boys were suddenly catapulted back in time to their
striped-shirts era … as well as to the top of the charts!
It
was 50 years ago this week – June 24th, 1974 – that Capitol Records
released The Beach Boys’ now-legendary double-album hits collection, ENDLESS SUMMER. The
album, which marked the band’s sole studio chart-topping set to date, took
fans, the industry – not to mention The
Beach Boys themselves – completely by surprise when on October 5th,
1974, during its sixth and final week in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 albums chart,
it snagged the coveted Number One spot. Endless
Summer went on to spend a total of 19 weeks in the Top 40 and,
apart from 1964’s live set, Beach
Boys Concert, is only the second Number One album “America’s Band”
ever scored on the U.S. charts.All of a
sudden, the most joyous music of a generation seemed to be exactly what America’s
teens were looking for.
Despite
The Beach Boys having long parted ways with Capitol Records, Capitol knew it
was sitting on a monster collection of Beach Boys hits tailor made for summer
and a whole new generation.In fact, Mike
Love even helped sequence many of the tracks on Endless Summer, recalling,“Maybe 90 percent of the sequencing is
what I hoped it would be. I wanted the listener to experience the same feeling
as one would have in listening to a concert. That was just born of years of
doing shows. The response to Endless Summer was stunning. Four months after hitting the stores, it
reached Number One and remained on the Billboard album chart for a remarkable 155
weeks; more than three million copies were sold in the United States. Rolling Stone, which hadn’t taken us seriously in
years, named us ‘Band Of The Year’ in 1974. Later, we sold out five nights at
Chicago Stadium and added a sixth night.
[I
was at two of those shows! – kk]
“We sold out four nights at Madison Square Garden, while packing
62,000 into Schaefer Stadium in Massachusetts. It was, at the time, the largest
crowd to ever attend a concert in New England. . . I just remember it was all
positive. When something turns out to that level of success, I’ve got no
complaints whatsoever.”
Brian
Wilson admitted to being confused, amazed, but ultimately thrilled at seeing
The Beach Boys back on top of the American charts: “Endless Summerwas named after a famous surf movie
and it had all our early hits on it. The album started selling like crazy, and
that made Capitol put out a second set of hits called Spirit Of America. Both had cool illustrated covers. Endless Summerhad all our faces.Spirit of Americahad Mickey Mouse and a baseball glove
and a girl lying down with the Playboy bunny logo on her underwear.”
Al
Jardine looked back at the Endless
Summer “comeback” with only good memories of a time of
well-deserved success after years of hard work: "We had a resurgence when Capitol
released theEndless
Summerdouble-album
compilation. It sold triple platinum. It was huge and gave us a new audience.
It was a wonderful feeling; we were very fortunate. . .We were out there with a
new energy and so it seemed appropriate after Endless Summercame out to really go after the older
material and embrace it. Because that’s what we were – we were The Beach Boys.
. . We set a standard and everybody else was trying to meet that. It takes a
lot of hard work and great songwriting and, of course, great arranging and
producing. So, you must have all those components together at the same time.
It’s miraculous. The Beach Boys are always there underpinning pretty much
everyone. So, it’s like we’re always here.”
Chart
success and ticket sales aside, Carl Wilson remembered being intrigued by just
how far The Beach Boys’ music now spanned in the wake of Endless Summer:
“The audience had become much wider in terms of their age. When we started
playing, it was mostly high school students and then through the years it
evolved into college students and families, even. The audience ranged from little
babies and children to middle-aged people. . . It was real clear that we had a
new audience. We just surrendered to it. We’d gone through so many changes over
the idea of oldies over the years, but it became obvious what people wanted us
to play. . . To us, we were just us, and the music is the group. There is of
course the idea of The Beach Boys in striped shirts, but when it gets down to
it people really like to see the goodness of our relationship endure. I think
maybe the group is comforting to people.”
For
Dennis Wilson, having a bigger celebration each and every night with the band’s
fans was all the success he needed: “I
love singing ‘Help Me, Rhonda’ while standing on the piano. ‘Good Vibrations,’
‘Little Deuce Coupe,’ ‘I Get Around,’ ‘Surfer Girl,’ ‘Catch A Wave’ -- there
are so many songs that are relatable to my life while I was growing up. There
was a time when The Beach Boys were a very big touring group. Then, after a
while, there was a time when it was uncool to be into The Beach Boys. Somehow The
Beach Boys didn’t fit. Now, it’s not uncool to like The Beach Boys anymore.
Personally, I’ve always liked them. . . The Beach Boys are not a superstar
group. The music is the superstar of the group. There will always be The Beach
Boys; being a Beach Boy is like being in love.”
>>>6/26/64 – The Rolling Stones release “It’s All
Over Now” as their new single(kk)
In most countries, including the UK and the
US, "It's All Over Now" was backed by "Good Times, Bad
Times," and "Tell Me" was a separate single release. Only in
Germany were "It's All Over Now" and "Tell Me" coupled.
And "It's All Over Now" was the
Stones' first single to get a true stereo release, and a great one at that
(attached).
– Randy Price
Sharing with everybody today … along with the US picture
sleeve for this release.
(I also found one encouraging fans to start their own
Rolling Stones Fan Club!!!)kk
The Eagles have expanded their stay … again … at The
Sphere in Las Vegas, adding shows in December (6th, 7th,
13th and 14th)This brings their total now to sixteen shows at The Sphere.(kk)
And Macca has added more dates to his upcoming tour as well …
TUESDAY, OCTOBER
15 - SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL - ALLIANZ PARQUE
SATURDAY, OCTOBER
19 - FLORIANÓPOLIS, BRAZIL - ESTÁDIO DE RESSACADA
Talkin’ ‘bout tours, The Doobie Brothers finally kicked off
their’s Sunday Night in Los Angeles.
With Tom Johnston, Patrick Simmons and Michael McDonald all
onboard, not to mention … John McFee, Ed Toth, Marc Russo, John Cowan
and Marc Quiñones, this
is shaping up as quite the concert experience.(We have ALMOST bought tickets about fifty times now!Lol)But
as I’m currently reading Michael McDonald’s book … and listening to The Doobies
virtually non-stop in the car, we finally caved for the August 25th
show here in Tinley Park.(Hey, it’s my
birthday weekend … why not!!!)
Ironically, one of the pages I just finished reading talks
about their reunion … at Pat Simmons’ suggestion …
“Maybe we should do one last farewell tour to show our
appreciation to the loyal fans who’d been there for us all those years.”Getting both Johnston and McDonald to agree …
but once they did, off they went … and their farewell tour commenced … in
1982!!!
Now, here it is some 40+ years later and the core guys …
Simmons, Johnston, McDonald and McFee … are all back on stage, fronting the
band … with a brand new album also in the offering in the months to come.
Check out this set list … and then tell me how YOU could
possibly pass up seeing this great show!(kk)
1. "Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me a Little
While)"
2. "Here To Love You"
3. "Dependin' On You"
4. "Rockin' Down The Highway"
5. "You Belong To Me"
6. "Cannonball"
7. "It Keeps You Runnin'"
8. "Eyes Of Silver"
9. "One Step Closer"
10. "World Gone Crazy"
11. "Minute By Minute"
12. "Without You"
13. "Jesus Is Just Alright"
14. "What A Fool Believes"
15. "Long Train Runnin'"
16. "China Grove"
17. "Black Water"
18. "Takin' It To The Streets"
19. "Listen To The Music"
Meanwhile, Neil Young announced the cancellation of the balance of his "Love Earth" tour for health reasons. (kk)
David Salidor tells us about The End of MTV (by way
of Roger Friedman) …
Guys, Record Research has their
A+ #1 best chart book the Whitburn gang has ever brought out -- the Top Pop
Singles always best of their many books. Great deal here ($39!!!),
especially since it cuts off about when the 45 died and music did, too.
hahaha
We will be remembering the 60th anniversary of the "Summer of
1964."Or the Summer of the British
Invasion. Although, it's not as dominant as one might think.
Anyway, tune in on Friday and get a blast from the past. Remember,
we always play Records!
It's all off the cuff … and the shows are always archived as well
for people who can't tune in.
Ken
I am a big fan of “stories behind the songs … in
fact, I hosted a nationally syndicated radio show by that name in the 90s.
Last night at the CMA Theater in Nashville, TN,
Jimmy Webb provided great insight into his creative process as well as his
original intent when creating hit songs, many of which took different paths
than he intended.
For example, “Galveston,” written as a moody
eulogy to soldiers who died in the Viet Nam War, became an uptempo hit in the
hands of Glen Campbell. Webb’s own interpretations were sometimes very similar
to the hits we know, but at other times very different.
His inside stories were appreciated by
the audience, which included many music industry folks.
Ed Salamon
For a VERY limited time only (it ends on Sunday, June 30th), Sirius XM has brought back The
Billboard Top 500 Songs of Summer
(Unfortunately, to get to the good stuff that we all like
between 1958 and 1985, you’ve got to sit thru a WHOLE lotta other stuff
released between 1990 and 2023 … but hey, we’re all about The Summer Songs!)
You can find OUR list of The All-Time Summer Favorites,
based on YOUR votes, here:
Our list only has 200 Favorites … but they’re all based on
the votes we received from our readers in 2020 … and oldies radio stations all
over the country have been featuring them ever since.
Check it out … give a listen to the Billboard / Sirius XM
Countdown … and then swing by Me-TV-FM, too, for their annual Summer of
Me!(kk)
But you guys voted Mungo Jerry's 1970 Hit "In The Summertime" as your THIRD Favorite Summer Song EVER!!!) kk
Can you believe it’s been fifteen years since the
passing of Michael Jackson?
My God, where does the time go?!?!
Jackson’s enormously successful hit-making career spanned
32 years …
Hard to believe that he’s now been gone for nearly
half that long.
(Jackson also had a Top Ten posthumous hit “duet”
with Justin Timberlake, “Love Never Felt So Good,” a song he cowrote with Paul
Anka!)
In addition, a 2014 re-release of “Billie Jean” spent
one week on the chart at #14 … and “Thriller,” which has charted again nearly every
Halloween since 2013, making The Top 40 four of those times. (kk)
And finally, this from Chuck Buell ...
Here's
something you may want to keep a Forgotten Hit Eye on as Elvis'
former authenticated True Blue Blue Suede Shoes went on auction at
the British Henry Aldreide and Son Auction House in the middle of our US
night!
They could bring $126,000 to $152,000.
At that price, "DAMN! DON'T YOU STEP ON MY BLUE SUEDE SHOES!!"
They're a size 10 and a half made by Nann-Bush.
The auction began with a starting bid of $69,000.
CB
Thanks for the heads up!
I was all set to enter my bid when I saw that you said they were size 10 1/2 ...
I wear a size 9 ... so these'll never fit ...
Guess I'm gonna have to take a pass on this one. (kk)
60 YEARS AGO TODAY:
6/28/64 – Chicago Cubs Baseball Great Mark Grace is born
