The Saturday Survey (1-4)

New for 2014 ...

It's the Forgotten Hits Saturday Survey!

Last year, unless we were in the middle of a special series or had some "breaking news", we rarely published an issue on Saturday ...

But THIS year (thanks to FH Reader ... and mega-collector Clark Besch) we're putting together a brand new feature.

Every Saturday we'll run vintage Top 40 Radio Station Survey Charts for that week in music history ... from all over the country.  (And, if you've got some charts to share, we'll try to work some of those in, too!)  We may even run an occasional SUPER CHART, courtesy of Randy Price.

And today ... to kick things off in high fashion ... Clark has sent us a potpourri of charts to choose from ... a virtual grand slam of charts from 1956 - 1980!

(NOTE:  The two 1956 charts shown are courtesy of Frank Merrill and Ken Freck ... you have NO idea how difficult it is ... and how RARE it is ... to find a radio station survey from the pre-Elvis era!!!  I'm not even sure the term "Top 40" had been coined yet!  Also, due to technical difficulties, we'd like to salute Bill Hengels and Jack Levin for the 1980 WLS Chart used today as well.)

Take a look ... and see if these don't rekindle a memory or two!  (Click charts to enlarge)

 

 

 

    

 

 

(Sorry but I just HAD to run this one ... seeing "Georgianna" at #2 was just TOO cool to pass up!  This was a BIG hit record here in Chicago ... yet never made Billboard's Hot 100 ... and I've always wondered why.  Seeing it at #2 only prompts more head scratching!)

  

A couple more bonus charts ... long-time Forgotten Hits Favorite "Bend It" shows up at #4 on the WBZ Chart ... and note how the entire new Monkees sits at #3!  On the chart below from WQAM, they're showing The Monkees at #1 with "I'm A Believer" and at #4 with a two-sided hit "I Wanna Be Free" / "Theme from 'The Monkees'" ... which was never released as a single here!  The Pre-Fab Four show up again at #38 with their first chart hit "Last Train To Clarksville".
Meanwhile WOWO has "Mary Mary", an album track from their second LP, sitting in the #1 Spot, well ahead of the REAL single "I'm A Believer"!
Also of note, Illinois Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen appears on BOTH charts with his spoken-word hit "Gallant Men"!  (My Mom used to play the heck out of this one!)  Ironically, the Senator Bobby version of "Wild Thing" comes in as a Pick-Hit on the WQAM chart.  It was done in direct response to the Dirksen record ... and was featured yesterday in Forgotten Hits as part of our Wild Return to the Website!!!

 

 

Funky AND Wild!!!

Thanks to everybody for stickin' around!!!

More Forgotten Hits tomorrow!

Wild!

Winding Down The Wild!

We're almost finished ... hope you had a wild time!!!

Three more tracks between now and midnight ...

So don't go to bed yet!!!

Stick around and wrap things up with us!

WILD!

Wild

Here's one of those Temptations songs that hasn't been played to death!

(A #6 Hit from 1969)

Wild!

 

OK, so some of you may be wondering why does THIS song qualify for our Wild Return?

Because the OFFICIAL title of this tune is "Any Day Now (My Wild Beautiful Bird)".

It's one of Burt Bacharach's earliest successes ... and has always been one of my personal favorites.

(Elvis does a killer version of this one, too ... you'll find it on the flipside of his "In The Ghetto" single.)

Wild!

Wild!

Was The Man In Black immortalizing his young daughter Roseanne with this one???  (Who knows ... but twenty years later she'd be having country hits of her own!)

OK, Now THAT'S Pretty Wild!!!

  

 

Wild

Wild!

And, twice today, we took a Walk on the Wild Side ...

Earlier with Lou Reed ...

And now with Brook Benton!

Wild!

Twice tonight between 7 pm and 11 pm we're going to talk about your Wildest Dreams.

Here's Round One ... with The Moody Blues!

It Doesn't Get Much Wilder ... Than Matthew!

WILD!

Earlier today we featured a Will Smith song called "Wild Wild West", the title track from his movie.

Now here comes the #1 Hit with the same title by Escape Club.

The biggest difference here is that I can actually STAND this one!!!

He's Doing It Again!!!

Yes, but within the context of this special feature, I can tolerate a Steve Miller song ... especially one that ISN'T being played six or seven times a day!!!

WILD!

Here's one of my favorite forgotten gems from 1966!

Hmmm ... Wondering How Many Of You Out There Will Remember THIS One!!!

 

Peggy Scott and Jo Jo Benson had three straight Top 40 Hits in 1968 / 1969 - "Lover's Holiday" (#15), "Soulshake" (#26) and this one ... "Pickin' Wild Mountain Berries", a #24 Hit in 1968.

Wild Horses

In an unusual stroke of kindness, Keith Richards let Gram Parsons release HIS version of "Wild Horses" before The Stones did.

Still it's The Rolling Stones' version that everybody remembers.




According to Linda Ronstadt, she was there when the whole discussion took place.

In her book "Simple Dreams" Linda tells us:

"One night after we performed on a TV show called 'Playboy After Dark' we went to the Troubadour to see what was going on at the bar.  We ran into Gram Parsons, who said he was going to the Chateau Marmont, a Hollywood hotel where he was in residence, to play some music.  He wanted us to come along.  We got in Bernie (Leadon)'s car and Gram directed us up a winding road in the Hollywood Hills to a large, modern hose that definitely was not the Chateau Marmont.  When we went inside, we were introduced to Keith Richards.  The Rolling Stones were in town putting the finishing touches on 'Let It Bleed', and Keith and Mick Jagger had rented a house for the time they would be working in Los Angeles.  

"Gram and Keith had struck up a friendship over Keith's interest in learning about country music.  We got down to business immediately and sang all the Merle Haggard songs we knew.  Gram was singing lead and Bernie and I added the harmony parts.  Keith was playing guitar and soaking up everything Gram had to show him.  After a few hours, Bernie noticed it was two in the morning and said he needed to make the long drive back to Topanga Canyon.  I had moved to Hollywood by then and he said that he would drop me off.  Gram twisted his choirboy face into a pout and asked if I would stay and go through the George Jones repertoire.  Jones' material was based on duets with Tammy Wynette, so we could sing them without Bernie supplying the third part.  Gram assured me that he could take me home because my house was close to the Chateau Marmont.  I stayed.  We went through George Jones and then Keith played 'Wild Horses', a new song that he and Mick had just written.  

"Gram was salivating over this song and begged Keith to let him record it before the Rolling Stones did.  This was a bold request, as writers who record don't usually give up a song before they release it themselves.  I was surprised when they allowed him to use it on the next Flying Burrito Brothers record, a year before they would include their own version on the album 'Sticky Fingers'.  I wanted the song, too, but knew I wasn't going to have it."  

It was an unusual move ... but not the first time The Stones had let somebody else record their future hit first.  Back in 1964 Mick Jagger let his then-girlfriend Marianne Faithfull record "As Tears Go By" a full year before The Stones released their own version!

Wild!

Earlier today we told you that it was up to you to keep the wild going throughout the weekend.

Here's another reminder to that effect, courtesy of The Rockin' Rebels!

The WILD Grand-Daddy Of Them All!!!

A good argument could be made for "Wild Thing" by The Troggs (featured earlier today in our Wild Friday Salute) ...

But the grand-daddy Wild Song of All-Time has just GOT to be this one ...

"Born To Be Wild" by Steppenwolf!!!

 

Stick around ... we've still got nine hours to go!!!

Real Wild Child

Crickets guitarist Jerry Allison released this track in 1958 as Ivan (Jerry's middle name).

And who's that on lead guitar???

Why it's none other than bandmate BUDDY HOLLY!!!

Latter day cover versions include Jerry Lee Lewis, Status Quo, Joan Jett, Marshall Crenshaw, Brian Setzer, Iggy Pop and The Chipmunks!

Wild

Another Wild Two-Fer

The original by new Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Inductee Cat Stevens ...



And the 1988 reggae remake by Maxi Priest!

Elvis and The Beatles

Whenever we do a special musical tribute like this we always try to include something by Elvis and The Beatles.

Elvis was easy ... his film "Wild In The Country" provided the PERFECT track for our Wild Return.



But it took me a minute to figure out something to feature for The Beatles.

I mean, what was I supposed to do ... play around with "WILD" MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS?!?!?

But then I remembered ANOTHER track from the same White LP ... so "Wild Honey Pie" ended up bailing me out at the last minute!!!  Enjoy!

Wild!

Stick Around For A Wild Afternoon, Too!

wild

A Wild One From Van The Man!

WILD!

Wild!

We lost Lou Reed last year ...

Here is his biggest and best-known hit.




(And the colored girls sing "doo-doo-doo doo-doo-doo")

Wild!

Well, I can't promise you a Wild Weekend ...

That's pretty much up to you!

But we CAN promise you a Wild Time all day today on The Forgotten Hits Website!

Be sure to check back for updates every half hour!!!

WILD!

How about a little wild, cruisin' music?!?!?

Here's Eddie and the Cruisers ... aka John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band ... 

And their movie hit "Wild Summer Nights"!

Wild!

I'm not so sure this is quite what they had in mind when the television series "Wild, Wild West" aired back in the late '60's ...

But there actually was a time where having Will Smith's name attached to virtually ANYTHING spelled automatic success!  And this was no exception.

All In The Family

It's SOOOOO cool to have some of our extended Forgotten Hits Family represented today in our Wild Return to the Website!

Here's Davie Allan and the Arrows and their "Theme from 'Wild Angels'"!!!

We're Having A Wild Time!

Here's a nod to DJ Extraordinare Scott Shannon ...

Believe or not, he's part of this Wildfire recording of the 1977 remake "Here Comes Summer"!

WILD!

WILD!

Let's get THIS one out of the way right now!!!

Three distinct versions ... of a '60's Classic!










The Story Behind The Song:
WILD THING was written to order when songwriter CHIP TAYLOR was approached by record producer GERRY GRANAHAN, who was looking for a new song for the band he was working with, JORDAN CHRISTOPHER AND THE WILD ONES. 
When asked if he had anything "in the can, ready to go," TAYLOR replied, "Well, I don't know if I do or I don't, but let me try to write something today for you." 
In the span of the next three hours, TAYLOR knocked out what would go on to be one of the biggest hits of the '60's ... although NOT for JORDAN CHRISTOPHER AND THE WILD ONES.  He admits that, subconsciously, their name (THE
WILD ONES) may have acted as some sort of inspiration for the lyrics ... and further admits that the stop / start rhythm was inspired by CARL PERKINS' early rocker BLUE SUEDE SHOES.  (At the time, he wasn't even sure what lyrics he would insert into those pauses ... but everything just sort of jelled together ... and, three hours after the phone call, TAYLOR went into the recording studio to cut his demo.  He says that the demo he made that day became the template
that THE TROGGS would follow when they cut the song several months later.)  
However, FIRST he brought it to JORDAN CHRISTOPHER AND THE WILD ONES.  "I don't know if it ever came out," he remembers.  (If it did, it never made the charts!)  "They had an arranger that was arranging horns and strings and
drum beats and stuff like that.  So my cool groove all but disappeared with the horns and strings arrangement.  It didn't have a great feel."   
When the song finally made its way to THE TROGGS' producer LARRY PAGE (by way of publisher DICK JAMES, who also handled THE BEATLES' publishing at the time), they didn't know what to make of it.  TROGGS' lead singer REG
PRESLEY reportedly said, "This is either gonna be the biggest bomb or the biggest hit ever."  Incredibly, by the time THE TROGGS' version was released as a single in 1966, it is believed that at least FIVE other versions of the song had already been recorded and released, with NONE of them garnering any attention! 

(Jordan Christopher and The Wild Ones DID release their version of "Wild Thing" ... and here it is today as a Bonus Track ... celebrating our Wild Return!!!)

It's Going To Be A Wild Day As Forgotten Hits Returns for 2014!

And be sure to check back throughout the day ... 

We'll be posting updates every half hour ... 

A WILD DAY Indeed!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Forgotten Hits returns later this week ... 
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Merry Christmas from Forgotten Hits

(see you next year!)