I was fortunate enough to receive an advance copy of Bill Carroll’s new book, “Ranking The ‘60’s – Version 2.0” to review and was blown away by the massive amount of detail that is now available, all in one place!
I know that many of our readers bought the original version of this book, compiled by Dann Isbell. Well, Bill Carroll has taken over the franchise and has greatly expanded the detail of every record to make Billboard’s Hot 100 Pop Chart during the 1960’s decade.
Every chart entry now shows complete information for the title and artist, record label and catalog number, the record’s premier date on the chart, the date it hit its peak position and the date it left the chart. That information is then recapped even further, showing the number of weeks each record spent in The Hot 100, followed by (where applicable) the number of weeks in The Top 40, The Top 10 and weeks at #1 if it got that far.
But the information doesn’t stop there. It also shows the songwriter, the album it came from (where applicable) and the producer … just a wealth of information, all collected in one spot to give you a complete picture of any given record to hit the chart between January 1st, 1960 and December 31st, 1969.
All of this information is then cross-referenced any number of ways in various sections of the book. You get the overall ranking (based on points earned during the record’s chart run), an alphabetical listing by artist, offering much of this same information for THEIR chart hits, a recap of the top records for each year and special sections spotlighting all of the album entries (a great, new addition to this book), the list of the top songwriters, the top producers, the top record labels and literally DOZENS of other special divisions to more thoroughly dissect the charts.
Bill used a more advanced point system than the previous edition to give a more accurate portrayal of just what went on that decade. As such, some of the rankings changed (how could they not???) – so the book really acts as a new, greatly expanded edition, rendering the original edition obsolete.
For example, there are now 37 titles that earned 10,000 points or more. Interestingly enough, only 28 of those titles made The Top 37 in the previous edition … and even those titles have been greatly shuffled around due to this new method. (Most surprisingly is the fact that the biggest record of the decade has changed. Previously, “The Twist” by Chubby Checker ranked #1, largely due to its two separate runs up the chart during the decade. It now falls to #6 with 12,704 points … a good stretch behind the new #1 Record of the Decade, “Hey Jude” by The Beatles, which earned 16,418 points. (9 weeks at #1, 14 weeks in The Top 10, 19 weeks in The Top 40 and 19 total weeks on the chart)
And Carroll doesn’t stop there … he has now researched several special topics that he expounds upon, including a closer look at the payola scandal of the late ‘50’s and early ‘60’s.
What Bill has created is the most comprehensive recap imaginable by collecting ALL of this record information in one place. While it’s true you don’t always need that much information when you’re writing or researching a particular song or artist, it’s nice to know that this information is there and readily available when you do need it!
It’s a massive amount of information to digest … but because of the way it's organized, you can go right to the information you need when you need it for whatever you may be researching at the time.
Highly recommended …
You can browse around and view several pages here. Click on the book cover(s) to order your own copy/copies here:
By the way, Bill ALSO published the books “Ranking The ‘70’s,” “Ranking The ‘80’s,” “Ranking The Albums (1963 – 1989) and “Ranking The Song Writers (1955 - 1991),” all valuable adds to your music research book library for a greater understanding of the biggest and the best for each of these areas of music. (Simply put, the numbers don't lie. However, it is important to remember that the information contained in these books reflects the actual chart popularity of these records AT THE TIME … history has shown that they didn’t all have the same lasting power and, as such, many are now long forgotten … while others continue to play several times a day on oldies radio everywhere, several appearing to be bigger hits today than they likely were at the time.) kk
