With the birth of music television on August 1, 1981, the method that people consumed music changed almost overnight. By decade's end, so many videos existed that it's kind of understandable that many would slip through the cracks. The top hits were affected too, so I've assembled some videos for your viewing pleasure today that you probably haven't seen in awhile, or ever. I'm gonna let these images speak for the songs today. Nothing I can say about them will not instantly come into your mind while you watch them...I guarantee.
ENJOY!!!!!!!
If we couldn't include the fab four in the previous post, then there is definitely room for their solo success in the decadent decade that followed the tumultuous 60's. While people who lived through the period might remember this top ten fondly, those of us born in the post-70's era have had to discover these songs through our parent's record collection or the formerly prevalent 70's nostalgia merchants like 8-Track Flashback and newer dealers like the 70's on 7. Regardless, these tracks explain that for my money, the pop music charts were never more diverse, strange or terrible (depending on your taste) than they were during the decade that gave us Disney World, Jimmy Carter and The Godfather.
Diamond would soon leave Uni Records for the greener pastures of Columbia, where he would go on to make soundtrack albums for films about Seagulls and songs about ET. But before that, he released the brilliant Moods album, which showed an artist who knew how to craft a perfect pop slab. Although the first single from the disc, "Play Me", is one of my favorite slow jams of all time, it's follow-up made it to the top of the US charts. You can't really blame the record buying public for this ascension. This song's kinda perfect in its way, thanks to the wordplay, melody and the Jewish Elvis' own inimitable voice.
Even after the messy breakup the Beatles experienced in 1970, you could always count on Billy Shears himself to bring the boys back together! Ringo's self-titled solo album featured all of The Beatles on the same disc again (just not on the same tracks!). It featured two number-one hits as well, the beautiful "Photograph" and a cover of Johnny Burnette's Sherman Brothers-penned oldies classic.
How thug is the Tijuana Brass? Well, Biggie and Diddy bounced to this jam so much, they included it in The Notorious One's posthumous number one "Hypnotize". And it's easy to see why: This slinky jam was made to be sampled in a 90's hip hop classic!
How hot were the early Beatles' solo discs? This Harrison tune from his second album Living In the Material World (one of the most underrated in his oeuvre) replaced McCartney and Wing's "My Love" at the top of the charts. In turn, it was replaced by Billy Preston's "Will It Go 'Round In Circles?", who of course played Keyboard on the Let It Be album and was referred to for a time as the TRUE "Fifth Beatle.
Oh, and this song is the essence of eastern philosophy wrapped up into a beautiful pop single (and I think Paul had it in mind almost 40 years later, mimicking the rhythm guitar intro on mandolin for his single "Dance Tonight"). BEST FORGOTTEN NUMBER ONE OF THE DECADE!!!!!!!
The solo fabs released some fabulous B-sides with their monumental hits. Check out "Miss O' Dell"!
Mr. Lightfoot's ode to a treacherous love affair is made all the better by how sparse the instrumentation is is, with delicious multi-tracked harmony vocals provided by the man himself. It's a modern blues classic, often forgotten about like most of this songwriter's work. It's really time for a late-career reevaluation of Gordon. For starter's, pick up Gord's Gold, one of the finest greatest hits albums of all time (and get it on vinyl, it comes with an extra track!).
As I've grown older, and the angry young man syndrome has subsided, my outlook on the Beatles has changed as well. When I was a teenager, no one spoke to me in popular music (besides Dylan) like John Lennon. His music still moves me, and my favorite solo album by Liverpool's finest is still Plastic Ono Band, but that catchy little Paul has taken over my top spot aboard the Flaming Pie. I don't think there has been anyone since Cole Porter who has written better pop songs than Mr. McCartney. His Wings years, much maligned until recently, are a gold mine of confection, with the album tracks reaching the heights of the singles. This number one, however, is pure fluffy goodness, a response to critics who said he'd gone soft. "You Want Soft?", Sir Paul said, "Here's the best soft you've ever heard!".
And he was right.
And it holds up like gangbusters (and it's even slightly proggy in composition and length!)!!!
Look how mad Paul Shaffer gets when Dave Pirner picks up a trumpet to play "Silly Love Songs" at the end of "Misery" on Letterman back in '95!
How do you bring a freak hit performed by Professor Dumbledore back to the charts, ascend it to the top and let it sit there comfortably during the height of disco?
Boy meets girl.
Boy loves girl.
Boy marries girl.
Boy leaves most successful band of all time.
Boy goes off the deep end with pal Harry Nilsson.
Boy loses girl.
Boy makes song with huge pop star.
Boy promises to perform live with pop star if song hits number one.
Boy fulfills his promise when song does just that.
Girl is in the audience.
Boy spends the rest of his short life in harmony with his muse.
My favorite track by these AOR giants, it's been bringing rock fans to Bluegrass and A Cappella singing since 1975.
And Michael McDonald doesn't sing it, which is both sad and awesome at the same time! It covers the emotions spectrum!!!
All classic music videos next week, as the US exposes it's 80's pop hits that might have slipped into a slight bit of a nostalgia based nation's idea of obscurity! See ya then!
In a decade where the music of its time still resonates so strongly in our collective consciousness, it is extremely difficult to find songs that may be deemed "forgotten", especially when they spent time nestled at the top of the pop charts. Therefore, with this edition of our series, I will simply try to find tunes that might have faded into the recesses of nostalgia. With that being said, I regret to inform you that this edition features no Beatles songs. Then again, the fact that none of their hits have slipped back into the evanescent ether they ascended from speaks more for their power than being placed on a blog list of past popular tastes.
BUT I DIGRESS!!!!
Regardless of all that psychobabble, today's list has been one of my favorite to compile. This is the music from which springs everything I love about the medium. 60's US pop set the standard by which all US pop has followed. There's R&B, Adult Contemporary, Country and good old Rock & Roll all sitting on the same list, much like the hot 100 of today. Let's listen, shall we?
And might I add, The Spotify playlist for the Forgotten series is up and running on that wonderful, fluffy cloud jukebox, so hit it up whenever you want!
Less than a month away from the Summer Of Love , The Supremes released their last single before placing Diana Ross' name in front of their moniker. It's a Swinging London blast of horns, strings and harpsichord, which showed that Motown was just about ready to go "Psychedelic" with the rest of the music world, and we as listeners were in for some heady ear candy.
Apparently this was the theme song for a film of the same name that TANKED worse than Freddie Got Fingered. I can see why, even if it does feature a young Faye Dunaway. Here's the trailer:
Ladies and gentleman, may I present to you Phil Spector. Ignore the whole convicted murderer bit for a moment, and just listen to this sound he produced. Written by Gene Pitney of Liberty Valance fame, "He's A Rebel" is a perfect example of "The Wall Of Sound", Spector's groundbreaking recording technique. It also features the recently inducted vocals of Darlene Love, who wasn't even a member of The Crystals (The group found out their names had been used when they heard the song on the radio while out on tour). Newly nationalized citizens of our country should here this as an example of what America is all about.
He may be crazier than a frog hangin' out in a french restaurant, but Phil's Spector's story is definitely worth seeing. Here's the first part:
This ballad of lost love in the Native American world was written by none other than The Big Bopper himself, JP Richardson, and features backing vocals by a young George Jones. Well color me surprised!!!
George could make any song his own, much like Johnny Cash. What is about country artists of the 50's and 60's and their impeccable cover choices?
Science fiction hits the US charts with this anti-technology ballad, which probably didn't feel like fiction when man landed on the moon on July 20 during its six week reign at the top of the charts. It's hard to wonder why a song this good didn't spell out a long career for Msrrs. Zager & Evans. It might be because their follow up was about a rapist who nails his fist to his jail cell....creepy! Regardless, BEST FORGOTTEN NUMBER ONE OF THE DECADE!!!!!!
This one came back to me in a big way from the oldies stations of my youth while watching the delightful cult classic Gentleman Broncos, which may be the funniest oddity of a film I've ever seen.
This is what building to an emotional climax is all about. Writers of stories could learn a lifetime of lessons from this song's 2 minutes and 10 seconds. Often overlooked because of other song's prevalence, this number one by Orbison deserves to be spoken of in the same breath as "In Dreams" and "Crying". Listen to his vocal range exhibited here... God... chills.
This parody of "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds" actually knocked "Hello Goodbye" by The Beatles out of the top spot on the charts. I don't if that's considered another success by the Fabs, but it should be. Weird Al never topped the pops with his Michael reworkings.
I gotta check more of John Fred. This is some perfect psych pop off of the same album as "Judy"!
Sandwiched in-between "I Get Around" by The Beach Boys and "A Hard Day's Night" by The Beatles in their respective runs at the top of Billboard's Hot 100 is this song by the group who ruled America's airwaves before either of them. they wouldn't have another number one single until 1976, but the fact that they were able to during the stranglehold of Beatlemania helps to understand why WCBS in New York's listeners recently voted this the number one song of all time on their 1001 song Labor Day Countdown.
Their B-Side is nothing to shake a stick at either!
Class consciousness must have been on songwriter's minds during the mid-sixties. Here is the male equivalent to "Rag Doll", with lush strings and Johnny River's unforgettable voice. I don't think any vocalist is more underrated than this guy. Check out "Mountain Of Love" too if you don't believe me.
Now, here is a two part live version of the song released as a single a year later.
The B-side became the hit, and the rest is history. The evolution of Stevie Wonder and the maturity of Motown starts right here. It's even got Marvin Gaye on drums, giving you both of the greatest albumartists the label ever produced in one place.
Let's finish off the list with a moody synthesized cover by the genre jumping band Sparks.
See you next week when we head to the 70's! I'll polish my Pet Rock if you bring the Billy Beer!
This week we are going to pay tribute to the decade that gave us The Rosenbergs, The Cleavers and The Nixons... well, at least the music was cool! I'm going to try to get a playlist for all of the Forgotten series up on Spotify soon, so you'll have these musical treasures in one place, if record company deals allow.
This whiter than Wonder Bread cover can't hold a candle to the definitive version by legendary vocal group The Chords. Still, if it helped introduce Whitey McWhiterson to Doo Wop, then it can't be all bad.
Fun Fact : The Crew Cuts were the first pop band to tie-in their hairstyle with their image, paving the way for The Mop Tops and Flock Of Seagulls!
It sounds just like Ricky Nelson, but it is actually Mr. Knox, whose only other top ten hit was a number 9 smash entitled "Hula Love".
Fun Fact: The people of the 1950's loved their hits so much that they often sent multiple versions of the same song up the charts in the same year. Here's Steve Lawrence tackling rockabilly, which made it to number 5.
Although it is hard for me to listen to The Kingston Trio without thinking of A Mighty Wind, this song is one of my father's favorites, and it instilled in me at an early age a love for folk music. So thank you, murder ballad, for your cultural awakening!
Fun fact: This tale is based on a true story about a murder that happened in North Carolina in 1928. You can learn more about it here!
George Clooney's aunt sure loved singing in fabricated accents. So did America, I guess! This chart topper is about an Armenian family inviting people over for dinner.
Double A-Sides were huge in England, but I had no idea they were as successful in the US. I guess when presented with two classics from the finest vocal group of the decade, you're gonna play both over the airwaves.
Fun Fact: Before his death, Glenn Miller took "My Prayer" all the way to number 2.
The song playing over the opening scene of Grease is this huge hit for the Four Aces, who rode its popularity from being the theme of a popular film all the way to the bank.
The finest ballad Leiber and Stoller ever wrote, the first part of this double A-Side captures one of the King's most subtle and beautiful moments. BEST FORGOTTEN NUMBER ONE OF THE DECADE!!!!!!
Fun Fact: Elvis now had 11 number one hits at this point...no matter who tops his records over the years, no one amassed such a string in so short a time.
It's definitely taken longer to get to this post than I would have liked, but weddings, work and The Dharma Initiative have kind of taken over my life recently. Therefore, this week's list of criminally forgotten UK hits will be described through the ancient Japanese art of the Haiku: short, sweet and slightly artistic! Enjoy!!
Besides Oasis, Britpop (A conglomeration of artists equally indebted to the sounds of the recent underground and British rock of the 60's) never entertained more than a cult following here in the States. Sure, there was a random burst like the unexpected Blur hit or Pulp murmuring in the pages of Rolling Stone or Spin, but our charts were filled with hip hop, light alternative and pop, pop, pop. Come to think of it, a lot of these albums still went platinum in the US, but back then you had to do so 8 times before being considered a success. Times certainly do change don't they?
Anyhoo, record sales' digressions aside, today's list of number ones include pop gold, reggae institutions, a graduation speech, the third lead singer of Genesis and Brit-poppity goodness. Let's be honest: The 90's rocked. Enjoy!
Michael hadn't had a number one hit in America since 1995. This song didn't change that fact, only hitting number 42, one of Jackson's lowest charting singles ever. It should have fared better. It was a throwback to the Dangerous era, before the trials, the interviews and the marriage. Unlike History's tracks, it wasn't an angry pop confessional, it was a rockin' dance song, which has always been the man's strong point. The UK got that, and they took it straight to the top of the charts.
The UK love the songs in television commercials!! This blast of by-the-numbers grunge was written for a Levi's advertisement which inexplicably became so popular it had to be released as a single. Stiltskin was formed out of the necessity that guitarist Peter Lawlor needed a group to perform his song. He hired some musicians, including the future Phil Collins replacement in Genesis (for one album), Mr Ray Wilson, and the rest is pop history. If more promotion had been put behind it in the US, I feel it would have been a huge hit here in those grunge hungry time. I mean, it's better than pretty much any Seven Mary Three song!
If you're in the mood for a timeless piece of relationship gone sour pop, you need look no farther than The Beautiful South. After leaving the successful 80's British band The Housemartins (which also featured Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim on bass!) Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway have written scores of classics in that sub genre, all the while avoiding US success. This song from their second album Choke is their only number one to date, but it is a sure -fire crowd pleaser for any late night cocktail soiree. I guarantee!
For about two years, every American music journalist said that Electronica was going to be the third British Invasion of the American pop charts. It never quite happened, but for those of us who came to fruition in those times, it embedded a love of electronic dance music into our minds and hearts that lingers today. In other words,The Prodigy is the reason why, at 31, I enjoy Lady Gaga so much. MTV played the proverbial "skata" out of this gem, and Madonna signed the band to her Maverick record label, but it never rose above 30 in the pages of Billboard. It still holds up though, which I of course believe is completely attributed to its tasty Breeders sample :)
Ladies and gentlemen, The weirdest number one song.....EVER (You're off the hook "Mr. Blobby"!)!!!
The story of this faux commencement speech set to a song from the Romeo & Juliet soundtrack and its rise to the top of the British charts (number 45 in the states) is convoluted at best, but Wikipedia makes excellent sense out of all of it so I must defer you to them. Back in the olden days of middle aughts regional dinner theatre, this was a staple song to put on to show that the late night party was winding down, and that the morning sun would soon be on its way. My group of friends would usually place our arms around each other, stand in front of the stereo and sway to the danceable life lessons that permeated the air. Good times indeed.
Freddie Mercury was dying of AIDS when this song topped the UK charts. May we all be this powerful in the waning days of our existence. Innuendo is one of Queen's most underrated achievements, and deserves to be spoken of in the same breath as Queen II, A Night At The Opera and A Kind Of Magic. Plus, this song's got Steve Howe from Yes and Asia on Flamenco guitar. Prog opera heaven!!!!!
Two years before he reminded the US about Reggae with his monster hit "Boombastic", Shaggy topped the charts in England with this cover of a Folkes Brothers' genre classic. It's better than anything else this Caribbean popster ever did, and even managed to sneak into limited US airplay at the time, rising to # 59.
Blur's first number one single in the UK came during a heated made-up "battle" between themselves and Oasis to see who could top the charts when their respective new releases. Blur won. Albarn's on-going genius is on vivid display here with a tight melody, sarcastic lyrics and a wonderful horn chart.
In the UK, an EP can top the singles chart, so I now present all 4 wonderful covers from Erasure's Abba tribute in their full glory. What a wonderful job Vince and Andy do. Give them their props!!!
I'm strange about my Oasis. Be Here Now is generally considered their worst album, a decadent, overblown drug addled mess that even Noel has dismissed as "f&$king s*%t". Strong words from the man who created it. I have to disagree. Be Here Now is everything that the band was building up to be on their first two discs: to be the greatest rock band in the world. If you go back and read contemporary reviews of the disc, it is universally praised. Only in retrospect has it become such a stigma.
Why? It's incredible.
And the Gallaghers silence all Beatles illusions made by the press in one fell swoop by actually writing a Beatles song that could have been the B-side to "Hey Jude". Just as epic in scope, it is the strongest song the brothers ever recorded in my humble opinion, and its video deserves to be spoken of in the same breath as "Thriller", "Sledgehammer" and "Tonight, Tonight" for its cinematic greatness. While missing the hot 100 entirely and only rising to 15 on the Billboard alternative charts, this is the song that gave me a life-long love for the band that grows every year, not "Wonderwall". Their breakup only makes those treasured track grow in stature for me. GREATEST FORGOTTEN NUMBER ONE OF THE DECADE!!!!!
The aughts await, and England went through some odd ones in the last ten years.. See ya soon!
Break out your acid washed jeans and your New Coke, it's time for the 80's!!! In England, the decade was littered with classics just as our hit parade was. Unfortunately, most of these never made much headway here in the colonies. Let's give them the second chance they deserve today, in a post that welcomes in the video age with ALL ORIGINAL MUSIC VIDEOS OF THE FEATURED SONGS!!!!!!! Thank you youtube for not treating the 80's hits like you do the recorded works of a certain Robert Zimmerman (Constantly up and down on its fair use denying pages).....but I digress with mumbling and moaning....ONTO THE HITS!!!!!
This was the longest running chart topper of the decade in the UK, holding down the competition for nine weeks. In the US, it rose disappointingly to number 43, ending Frankie's invasion of the States and relegating them to one-hit-wonder status. Welcome To The Pleasuredome is one of the most underrated albums of all time stateside and this Cold War stomper is one of its best tracks.
You will not find a more haunting song in this project than Simple Minds "true" classic (Sorry, "Don't You..."). Based on the melody of the Irish traditional ballad "She Moved Through The Fair", it captures the pain and violence of Northern Ireland better than any work of art I've ever encountered. Fittingly of the blind eye we turned on the turmoil until President Clinton, this song never came close to entering the US charts.
PS the B-Side was a stunning cover of Peter Gabriel's Biko.....This band should have had longevity!
There are film sequels that can't hold a candle to The Thin White Duke's second part of the Major Tom saga. This started a chart run for Bowie that included three more number ones before decade's end, while also signalling the pop direction he would morph his sound to. Plus, come on, you gotta love that Pierrot costume he rocks in the iconic video!
Chess is the musical theatre equivalent of a classic cult film like Rocky Horror Show or Howard The Duck. Written by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus of Abba and Sir Tim Rice of Webber/John collaborations, it tells the story of a cold war chess tournament and the lives that mirror the struggle of the game. "One Night In Bangkok" was the big hit from the concept album here in the states, but back across the pond this duet by the two grand dames of The West End skyrocketed to the top of the pops, becoming the best selling duet by a female duo in the UK of all time. Yes, it has 80's production written all over it, but this song is gorgeous, and shows just how rich the music of Abba was in melody and craft.
PS A hilarious cover went to number 11 this year in England as a Comic Relief benefit single
New wave was more than MTV fodder in the UK: it was a legitimate movement. No one summed up its re-thinking of rock and roll for the video age better than the early hits of Mssrs. Adam and his Ants. This track has a Kinks-like glow to it, bridging the gap perfectly between the past and the day-glo future. If more videos like this were made today, Viacom would devote a lot less of their money to Snooki and her crew of stereotypes.
Winner of the 1989 Brit Award for best song, this song goes to show the UK had a plethora of one hit wonders themselves that never translated to American sales. Quite a shame really, since America would catch on to this easy going folk-pop style in the wake of grunge's demise.
They don't make ballads like this anymore. Gone are the slick trappings of studio gloss and pomposity. The listener is left with, after "Careless Whisper"'s coming out party, the emergence of a singular talent that would rock pop's world. Rising to number seven in the US, this chart topper presaged the dominance Michael would have on the late 80's music world. It's also good to remember that he wrote, arranged, performed and produced it all on his own. BEST FORGOTTEN NUMBER ONE OF THE DECADE!!!!!
You give me a song with lyrics by the guy who wrote epic tales for King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer and I guarantee I will place him on a list. This subversive attack of Thatcherian politics is so sugar-coated you can miss the meaning entirely, but that just makes Bucks Fizz the UK 's answer to Randy Newman and the inspiration for Everclear......eh, I can't back that up. Just enjoy!!
It seems it took the US a little longer to forgive brothers Gibb for their disco sins. Making it only to number 75 in the states, this track showed once again that the UK makes fans for life, not the fair weather variety we seem to breed here. Listen to that drum track and tell me this couldn't have been huge if DJ's stateside had given it a chance.
My second favorite Duran Duran song after "The Reflex" gave The Beatles of new wave their first UK number one and a number four placing in the US. The video, directed by Russell Mulcahy of Highlander fame is one of my favorites of all time. I used to get so excited when Martha Quinn would say it was coming up next. The boys are still going strong thanks to a return to form new disc and an otherworldy concert film directed by David Lynch, only available on youtube. If you have the time, watch that brilliance as soon as you finish this post!
Next time, Britpop rears its head; and Oasis, Blur and Prodigy stop by to say hey. Believe me, the UK charts eclipses ours in this decade tenfold. See ya then!
Roy Wood got tired of Jeff Lynne almost as soon as the two formed ELO, so he went off to concoct his own little group in Wizzard. Wizzard captured the spark of the nascent glam scene, adding in elements of Phil Spector production and Wood's own eye for studio flair. "Angel Fingers" is perfect in those respects, but the US wasn't quite into the whole retro thing yet, so this UK chart topper missed the American charts entirely.
This is why I love this project. A Carolina Beach classic that only made it to 95 on the Billboard Hot 100 is a number one hit in the British Isles. Go figure, cause this soul classic should have been a number one everywhere, including Luxembourg! It makes you wanna dance, which is hard to make me want to do (And listen to that production!). BEST FORGOTTEN HIT OF THE DECADE!!!!!!
Of course a Dutch band recorded a song about the history of Rock And Roll becoming more popular than country music, and of course it would top the British charts. This is the 70's after all.
Well, it has to do with a beloved English painter, so that explains its absence from our charts....and its got a long picaresque title, which explains why it topped the UK charts! It's also gorgeous, and is one of the last gasps of the seventies singer/songwriter movement as a commercial force.
Before "Do They Know It's Christmas?", this was the biggest selling single ever in the UK ( I can assure you it didn't have much to do with the "Girls' School" side either!). Amazingly, it never even entered the charts on this side of the pond. Regardless, it makes my Scotch/Irish blood stir every time I hear it. If not McCartney's masterpiece, it is definitely in his top ten, which is quite heady company indeed.
After The Jackson family left the fruitful shores of Motown, they took up brief residence at Philadelphia International with resident geniuses Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. While there, they recorded this "quiet storm" classic that shows how quickly Micheal's voice was turning into the one that would change pop music forever. A number 28 hit here in The States, it is the only number one single by the brothers to ever top the UK charts.
We know this song through its writer Joni Mitchell, who played it as a keyboard ballad, and the spectacular cover by Crosby, Stills Nash & Young, who turned it into a rock anthem. What a pleasure it is to hear yet another interpretation of the song that differs so from its predecessors. Matthews (formerly of Fairport Convention) makes this sound more Southern California than either its writer or her band of lovers ever did..... AND THEY LIVED THERE!! While it can't compete with "Ms. Grace", this is definitely quite the undiscovered diamond and a fitting way to end the post.
The 80's await...Don't worry, I'll hold your hand.
How did pop's finest decade fair in the mother country? Strikingly similar to our own in most cases. It was the decade of The Beatles, and they dominated the British charts just as they did here in the states. Still, there are plenty of diamonds to be mined from our neighbor's hits, some familiar, some completely unknown. Today's post has been insanely fun to put together. The 70's are going to have to go quite a distance to top this!
While not my favorite Lennon/McCartney track that the two gave away (That distinction goes to "Woman", magnificently covered by Peter & Gordon), "Bad To Me" is still a fine example of how anything associated with The Fab Four turned to gold in '63/'64. Reaching number nine in the US, it holds the distinction of being the first cover song by The Beatles to hit the Billboard Charts. In the UK, it stayed at number one for three weeks before being toppled by "She Loves You".
Ladies and gentlemen, the birth of Prog Rock! Recorded by an American instrumental group with a strange name, it went to #23 here but topped the pops in England, showing an entire generation how the classics could combine with contemporary music seamlessly.
Dark Psychedelia from future ELO'er Roy Wood. Jeff Lynne would join the group by year's end, setting the stage for those seventies titan's genesis. It is said to be an answer song to "Penny Lane", which would explain the similar cadence. Chris Martin has said that "Strawberry Swing" is Coldplay's answer song to it! The circle continues!
February 1969 was a good month for chart toppers in England! Before the Buckingham/Nicks era of the group, Peter Green ruled the Mac roost with incredible guitar workouts like this, which made it all the way to #104 in the US, showing that our across-the-pond neighbors still had us topped in musical taste!
Before Denny Laine became the only permanent member of Wings (Besides the McCartneys), he fronted a Justin Hayward-less version of The Moodies, giving them their first success with this heartwrenchingBessie Banks cover. Makes you wish Macca had let him sing lead a few more times doesn't it?
Silly little folk song that captured the British imagination at Christmas time in 1968, becoming the all important number one of that holiday. It also came back to the top position in the following January. Oddly enough, a version by The Irish Rovers charted in America, while this one went nowhere!
Falling in love with this beat group after their inclusion on the Deathproof soundtrack, I am beyond shocked that these guys put out a psych masterpiece that had completely missed my ears!!! Another "no charter" in the US, I believe this is one of the great lost gems from the era, deserving of a revival! Wes Anderson, put this in your next flick! BEST FORGOTTEN SONG OF THE DECADE!!!!!!!!!!
And what, pray tell, proceeded "Xanadu"? This crazy track from Isreali pop stars! The sixties were awesome!! Fun Fact: This is reportedly the last song broadcast on Radio Caroline of Pirate Radio fame! Fun Fact # 2: it was co-written by Mason Williams, of "Classical Gas" fame!
Herein lies the spark that made Reggae an international phenomenon. It inspired The Beatles, Gus Van Zant and Jimmy Cliff, just to name a few. If not for those darn Dave, Dee and "such"-ers, it would easily be my favorite of the week. However, this transcends lists because it's one of the most important tracks of all time, regardless of chart position. Rest in peace dear Desmond (He passed away in 2006)!
That was incredible! I can't wait to see what the 70's have in store for the UK charts. See ya next week!!
AND WE'RE BACK!!!!!!! It took a minute, but I think I've finally come up with an interesting topic to follow for a couple of months! The fact of the matter is that in both the UK and the US countless songs have been number one singles since their respective chart's debuts in the early 50's. However, as modern listeners we've probably only heard about 35%, which leaves a gaping hole of discovery ripe for the picking!! I've decided to do each post by decade, starting with the British Charts, than switching back to the 1950s and America after the UK Aughts are sufficiently covered. This could be quite a journey: 10 songs a decade, some great, some terrible, some downright odd.......GOOD TIMES!!!!!
Apparently it was very important that the rain finally made its appearance! Originally recorded as a French ballad, it was translated to English and became Ms. Morgan's career milestone, besides taking over Angela Lansbury's title role in the Broadway musical Mame. Odd, but quite pretty this one.
Although it only made it to # 13 in America, this posthumous hit, written by Paul Anka, skyrocketed to the top of the British hit parade in the wake of Holly's death. In a canon of highly influential work, this shows the balladeer Holly might have become.
An early hit by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, this track had already topped the country charts in the US with an immaculate version by Marty Robbins before British Crooner Holliday got his hands on it. While not a definitive take, you gotta love that clipped, proper whistling!!!
One of the only instances in pop music history where the track that proceeded and followed a number one hit was the same song by a different artist (David Whitfield did both!). England simply couldn't get enough of this, I suppose!
Catching your parents enjoying your music wouldn't be described this brilliantly until "Surrender" by Cheap Trick 22 years later! Also topped the charts in the US, which happens less often then you would think.
The father of Skiffle and the reason John Lennon picked up the guitar was number one for seven weeks with this classic. BEST FORGOTTEN SONG OF THE DECADE!!!!!
Elvis had so many hits in both the UK and the US that it is easy to overlook a few, and this country classic originally recorded by Hank Snow was a double A-Side with "I Need You Love Tonight" that made it to the top in England but not in the King's homeland. Great vocal delivery on this one!
The 60's rears its head next week, and the UK doesn't disappoint with some forgotten gems. See ya then!
