60 YEARS AGO TODAY:
6/10/66 – Janis Joplin debuts in concert with Big Brother and the Holding Company at The Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco
Also on 6/10, The Mamas and the Papas are awarded a gold record for their #1 Single “Monday Monday.”
SHORT-CHANGED:
Kent,
In today's FH you and CB were discussing and mentioning a few songs (records) whose length was under two minutes. I couldn't help but think of three offhand.
Duane Eddy's SOME KINDA EARTHQUAKE from 1959 at 1:17
Beach Boys' TEN LITTLE INDIANS from 1963 at 1:29
Womenfolk's LITTLE BOXES from 1964 at 1:04
Now these of course weren't top 40 material of any kind but records nevertheless, that made our local survey.
Larry Neal
If I’m not mistaken, the shortest song in history to make it all the way to #1 was “Stay” by Maurice Wiliams and the Zodiacs. Herman’s Hermits, Elvis Presley, The Box Tops and David Rose all made it to the top in under two minutes with “I’m Henry The VIII, I Am,” “Teddy Bear,” “The Letter” and “The Stripper” respectively.
Back in the day, a single had to come in at around two and a half minutes to get played on the radio. That all went out the window by the late ‘60’s when “MacArthur Park” by Richard Harris and “Hey Jude” by The Beatles proved that a seven minute record could ALSO be a major Top 40 Hit.
Of course, one of MY favorite short song is simply called “The Shortest Song In The World!” (kk)
FIRST 45's:
My tastes in music were becoming defined. I wanted a record-player and records, so, one Saturday in July, 1953, I took my stamp collection that Gran had helped me assemble to a shop in West Norwood and sold it for £3 10s. It was worth far more, but I badly needed the money. I went straight to a record shop in Anerley where I bought an old secondhand wind-up record player and a box of needles for £2 10s, and my first two precious records: Les Paul and Mary Ford's "The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise," which was not new but featured Les Paul's marvellous, revolutionary multi-tracked guitar playing; and Frankie Laine's punch ballad "I Believe," which went to Number One in America and Britain.
Bill Wyman
Everybody remembers their first ...
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