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Post by Desert Dweller on May 26, 2020 3:37:12 GMT -5
The USA top songs of the 1960s has a bit more of what people actually think of as the 60s. Still pretty 50s sound heavy though.
Top 20 of the 1960s according to Billboard:
1. The Twist - Chubby Checker 2. Hey Jude - The Beatles 3. The Theme from 'A Summer Place' - Percy Faith and his Orchestra 4. Tossin' and Turnin' - Bobby Lewis 5. I Want to Hold Your Hand - The Beatles 6. I'm a Believer - The Monkees 7. Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In - The 5th Dimension 8. Sugar Sugar - The Archies 9. I Heard it Through the Grapevine - Marvin Gaye 10. Are You Lonesome Tonight - Elvin Presley 11. It's Now or Never - Elvis Presley 12. I Can't Stop Loving You - Ray Charles 13. I'm Sorry - Brenda Lee 14. Love Is Blue (L'amour Est Bleu) - Paul Mauriat and his Orchestra 15. Hello Dolly - Louis Armstrong 16. Big Girls Don't Cry - The Four Seasons 17. Sugar Shack - Jimmy Gilmer 18. Honky Tonk Women - The Rolling Stones 19. (Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay - Otis Redding 20. Big Bad John- Jimmy Dean
I was unable to find a top 100. Maybe available with Billboard Pro?
You know, I'm going to ask my mother about this. She graduated high school in 1964 in Los Angeles. Her father was a folk musician who had actually recorded and released albums. The only music memories I know from her of the 60s is that she loved the early Beatles and was not into the psychedelia movement at all. So, she might have an interesting perspective.
Well, I also know that she saw Elvis in concert in the very early 60s, but I'm not sure exactly when. She said her father took her. Wait, I know she also loved The Beach Boys. Remember, of course, that she was a resident of Los Angeles.
Beyond these somewhat obvious things, I don't know much about what she was into. I'm going to ask her what she and her friends were into.
My father graduated high school in 1962. Unfortunately, my father was in the Army from 1965-1969, so he was never in any position to experience the culture change. Don't think the 60s were Swinging on an Army Base. He was not deployed to Vietnam, though. (For which he was so grateful.) He stayed within the USA. So he still had access to US radio. His taste ran to Brit rock. He liked the late Beatles, Stones, the Kinks. I know he also liked The Doors. He was also into Mowtown. And, of course, The Beach Boys. (Again, he lived in Los Angeles.) Those are the ones I remember him talking about.
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Post by Prole Hole on May 26, 2020 6:04:43 GMT -5
Desert DwellerI too had a surprisingly hard time tracking this down whereas for the UK it was easy. Maybe you're right and it's behind some kind of paywall, though I'd expect there to be "amateur" lists out there. The US list is interesting but other than a couple of Motown hits it's still a fairly conservative bunch and I don't believe it overall changes what I think. It pleases me that ol' Sausage Jimmy is in there at Number 20 - not that I honestly think its an outstanding song or anything but it's the only one in the Top Twenty that even feels close to "actual" country music. I know Brenda Lee is in there as well, but Jimmy feels a bit more... well, I don't know if "authentic" is the word but let's use it anyway. A bit more authentic. A hasty Bing informs me that Brenda Lee had nine Billboard top-ten hits in a row, a record for a female solo artist that would only come to be broken by Madonna. Looking at her hits she also seems to have recorded some of the worst music known to humanity! Apparently, according to Wiki, she was popular in the UK, which is interesting as I've barely even heard of her and her chart success seems to have been a scattering of very unremarkable Top 40 hits. I'd be really, really interested to hear what your mother thinks and her perspective. One of the things I enjoy about working on a project like this is the social history side and hearing about people's actual experience rather than the assumptions we all make and hearing from someone that was actually there is really a valuable and important part of that. It's why I like the Long Decade conversations because it helps break the standard narratives and give a broader perspective. It's also kind of why I took the "but did they swing?" stance, because even aside for the fact that I tend towards counter-intuitive readings a lot of the time anyway I do think its sometimes necessary to interrogate why we think something rather than just relying on the usual lazy clichés (I use "we" generally, not specifically you and I or the TIF, but the wider world). I'll definitely be revisiting this when I get round to doing a 70's article. Hopefully that doesn't sound too pompous, it's just a little insight into my though process.
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Post by MyNameIsNoneOfYourGoddamnBusin on May 26, 2020 8:27:48 GMT -5
Desert Dweller I too had a surprisingly hard time tracking this down whereas for the UK it was easy. Maybe you're right and it's behind some kind of paywall, though I'd expect there to be "amateur" lists out there. The US list is interesting but other than a couple of Motown hits it's still a fairly conservative bunch and I don't believe it overall changes what I think. It pleases me that ol' Sausage Jimmy is in there at Number 20 - not that I honestly think its an outstanding song or anything but it's the only one in the Top Twenty that even feels close to "actual" country music. I know Brenda Lee is in there as well, but Jimmy feels a bit more... well, I don't know if "authentic" is the word but let's use it anyway. A bit more authentic. A hasty Bing informs me that Brenda Lee had nine Billboard top-ten hits in a row, a record for a female solo artist that would only come to be broken by Madonna. Looking at her hits she also seems to have recorded some of the worst music known to humanity! Apparently, according to Wiki, she was popular in the UK, which is interesting as I've barely even heard of her and her chart success seems to have been a scattering of very unremarkable Top 40 hits. For how popular she was at the time, Brenda Lee would be completely unknown today if not for the December ubiquity of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" . It's got to be pretty up there on the list of "songs everyone knows but almost no one can identify the performer of".
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Post by Floyd D Barber on May 26, 2020 11:15:26 GMT -5
Just about the only other mention of Brenda Lee I remember hearing in the last 35 years or so is when Golden Earring sings "Brenda Lee is coming on strong" in Radar Love.
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Post by Desert Dweller on May 26, 2020 23:04:19 GMT -5
Desert Dweller I too had a surprisingly hard time tracking this down whereas for the UK it was easy. Maybe you're right and it's behind some kind of paywall, though I'd expect there to be "amateur" lists out there. I saw an amateur list during one of my Google searches yesterday, but I couldn't replicate those search findings today. I was a bit hesitant about it because the top 20 was nowhere close to the list Billboard served up.
For fun, I tweeted at Billboard's accounts and asked them if a top 100 list even exists. We'll see if they respond.
Today I spent time pulling up the Billboard list of the Top 100 songs of 1970. I only got about halfway through it. Found a few songs I had never heard before. Sadly, none of them interested me.
Edited to add: Took me a long time to get to the one I think you're going to feature for 1970. That was definitely not #2 in the USA.
I can say that the Billboard top 100 of 1971 features one of my father's favorite songs at #1. I know he transitioned to listening to country music at some time in the 1970s. Clearly not this early.
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Rainbow Rosa
TI Forumite
not gay, just colorful
Posts: 3,604
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Post by Rainbow Rosa on May 27, 2020 15:01:25 GMT -5
Just popping in to say this is a brilliant thread which I am utterly in love with.
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Post by Prole Hole on May 27, 2020 17:22:25 GMT -5
Just popping in to say this is a brilliant thread which I am utterly in love with. You are most kind, Ms Diaz, thank you!
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Post by Prole Hole on Jun 1, 2020 9:12:22 GMT -5
1970 - "Lola", The KinksCreepySo we leave the 1960’s behind and take our first tentative steps into the new decade by looking at… one of the most defining bands of the Sixties. But there’s no way this series couldn’t discuss “Lola”, which peaked at Number 2 in the UK charts in the summer of 1970. And the reason it couldn’t possibly be passed by is because it is essentially perfect. Of all the singles by The Kinks – and some of them are beyond outstanding – “Lola” is the perfect summary of everything the band is. Post-“Lola” and its accompanying album, the catchily-titled Lola vs Powerman And The Moneygoround, Part 1, the Kinks would have one more bona fide hit – the aged-like-milk “Apeman” – then never trouble the top ten again on either side of the Atlantic. They would still produce some interesting material – Muswell Hillbillies remains perennially underrated – but as a top-tier commercial force and a reliable staple of the singles charts their days were done. The Kinks are, after all, one of the Great British Singles Bands. Which is to say, although they were capable of producing great albums, what they are primarily known for is a run of absolutely unimpeachable hit singles. There’s no Sgt Pepper or Tommy in The Kinks’s back catalogue but have a look at their Greatest Hits or Best Of’s and it’s just a run through some of the best singles of the Sixties (well, and this, scraping in midway through 1970). The Rolling Stones more or less fell into this category as well up until… oh let’s say Beggars Banquet, even although it’s probably Let It Bleed. It’s not unique to the 60’s – the likes of The Jam and Madness in the 80’s equally have unbroken, perfect runs of singles. Nobody’s rushing out to buy Keep Moving by Madness but “Michael Caine” and “One Better Day” are simply unimpeachable. It is this legacy that The Kinks belong to, even as “Lola” draws that legacy to a close. But what a closing. Just those opening guitar chords, detuned by a single semitone and played on two different, overlapping guitars, already tells the listener they’re in for something special. It’s all deceptively simple, but simple is no barrier to quality. Ray Davis’s voice is light, almost diffident, as he sings the opening two lines “I met her in a club down in old Soho / where we drink champagne and it takes just like coca-cola” (or cherry cola, for the BBC-approved version that avoids the then-banned product placement). And that tone is held all the way through the song, which, given the subject matter, is incredibly important. Davis is kind in the lyric, and in 1970 kindness when writing a song about a transsexual was not exactly a given – it’s not exactly a given now. It contrasts with Lou Reed’s “Walk On The Wild Side” and its similar subject matter released in 1972, which is basically “look at this parade of freaks and geeks”. Not that it isn’t a great song – it absolutely is – but it comes across as way less interested in its subjects. They’re simply presented as-is, a roll-call of the weird to be gawped at. That’s not the case with this song. There’s a generosity in “Lola” wholly lacking in “Walk On The Wild Side”, and even the title is a giveaway – the freaks and geeks of the Reed song are the “wild side” and thus apart from normality, whereas normal is precisely what Lola is shown to be. Basically “Lola” is just incredibly sweet – there’s no apology, no justification, no explanation, the protagonist just happens to fall for someone outside the bounds of the usual boy-meets-girl paradigm. And most importantly of all, there’s no macho posturing or defensiveness. It’s worth pointing out that in the UK homosexuality had only been legalised the year before, in 1969, so singing openly about a transsexual relationship wasn’t exactly a guaranteed unit-shifter. But because “Lola” does everything The Kinks do so well they get away with it. This is a million miles away from the flowers-and-peace clichés of the 60’s but it’s a perfect expression of the inclusiveness that those clichés aspired to. The instrumentation is clean and straightforward but incredibly catchy. There’s great little moments of singalong glory. It’s funny in a way that never makes the subject of the song an object of the humour, only the clueless protagonist – Lola is never reduced to being a punchline or a joke. There’s those gorgeous harmonies at “that’s the way that I want her to stay…” The sly, broad grin on, “she said, “little boy I’m gonna make you a man!”” The sheer enthusiasm and joy that’s infused all throughout the song. Much of what The Kinks embrace is backwards-looking – “Victoria”, say, or the late-evening longing of the also-perfect “Waterloo Sunset” – and while it’s not always exactly nostalgia it’s certainly a sensibility firmly rooted in other times. “Lola” showed just how affecting and effective the band could be when looking in the other direction. After years of The Village Green Preservation Society and musings on the Decline And Fall Of The British Empire “Lola” pops up and is happy to demonstrate that there was still plenty left to explore. As an encapsulation of everything the band did you couldn’t really ask for more. Though that exploration would be restricted to an increasingly small band of Kinks fans. Their fall from the heights of the charts isn’t exactly difficult to explain – the usual personnel problems and albums that became increasingly quirky, theatrical and self-indulgent meant that more general fans were left alienated. Music also simply moved on and The Kinks didn’t particularly move with them – there’s no Kinks glam or punk album out there. That’s not a criticism, but it does help explain why their time passes. Their knack, too, for knocking out instantly catchy riffs and lyrical turns of phrase also rather falls away in the 70’s as well, but their fandom – especially in America – was enough to keep them together as a going concern until the 90’s, which isn’t bad at all. How many people choose to listen to 1983’s State Of Confusion – to take one random example – is another matter of course yet the sheer determination to keep putting out material stopped them becoming just a novelty act or something to see on the nostalgia circuit. But throughout their 60’s career The Kinks remained one of the finest exponents of well-crafted pop songs, and “Lola” is the last example of that making its mark on the singles charts. If one wanted to argue that “Waterloo Sunset” is a better song than “Lola” then, well, there is absolutely a case for that. Or the punky, defiant “All Day And All Of The Night”. Or the lazy, hazy indulgence of “Sunny Afternoon”. The sarcasm of “Dedicated Follower Of Fashion” or the genuinely beautiful ode that is “Days”. One could make a case for all of them, and that alone shows just what a strong run of songs The Kinks produced when they were at the height of their powers. But here, at the very beginning of the 70’s? Well. I always fell for “Lola”. L-O-L-A. Lola. What Else Was Going On In 1970?Well, there’s a little cluster of Beatles news as we sweep up the detritus of the 1960’s, specifically the actual break-up of the band, McCartney releasing McCartney, Lennon releasing John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, and Harrison releasing arguably the best Beatles solo album of them all, the peerless All Things Must Pass. Let It Be – movie and album – also make their underwhelming, over-produced presence felt. The Who release one of the finest live albums of all time, Live At Leeds, the Stones release the exceptionally-named live album Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out!, and Syd Barrett releases his first post-Pink Floyd solo album. Janice Joplin and Jimi Henrdrix die from drugs overdoses, both aged 27. Miles Davis gives us his confusing landmark Bitches Brew, and Stevie Wonder gives us the fabulous Signed, Sealed, Delivered. God help us all but Jesus Christ Superstar is released, beginning Andrew Lloyd Webber’s depressingly unstoppable ascendency, while James Brown wishes us to know that he is, in fact, a Sex Machine. I wonder if that comes with a service contract? Dylan releases the intentional career suicide-note that is Self Portrait, and T.Rex have contracted their name and album titles by giving us T.Rex. Glam is coming soon… Globally Elvis again has the biggest hit of the year with the worthless “The Wonder Of You” – the second-biggest is “In The Summertime” (though it’s the biggest-selling UK single). Ready for some cock rock? Aerosmith are formed in 1970 – ah well – and at the other end of the preposterous-rock-band spectrum so are Queen. Derek And the Dominoes release ubiquitous guitar-show-off staple “Layla”, and the doors close on, um, The Doors, as they play their last ever gig with Jim Morrison. What Did We Nearly End Up Discussing?The very first Number 2 of the new decade in the U.S. was “Leaving On A Jet Plane” by Peter, Paul and Mary but as mentioned last time out – no. In the UK it was “Ruby Don’t Take Your Love To Town” by Kenny Rogers. Is an explanation necessary? Free’s standard “Alright Now” peaked at Number 2 in the UK and though it’s indicative of a style shift from the 60’s to the 70’s – and an OK song – there’s limited mileage there. Today’s curio – a band called Hotlegs peaked at Number 2 with “Neanderthal Man”. Never heard of them? You might have done – they’re about to become 10cc. Across the pond Venus spent an unfeasibly long time at Number 2 with “The Shocking Blue”. Does anyone really want to talk about Bread? Apparently they want to “Make It With You”, but we shall never find out why… Rankings: 1. The Beatles - "Strawberry Fields Forever" / "Penny Lane" 2. The Kinks - "Lola" 3. The Animals - "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" 4. Sly And The Family Stone - "Everyday People" 5. Petula Clark - "Downtown" 6. Tom Jones - "Delilah" 7. Eddie Cochrane – "Three Steps To Heaven" 8. The Troggs - "Wild Thing" 9. Jimmy Dean - "Big Bad John" 10. Chubby Checker - "Let's Twist Again" 11. Billy J Kramer And The Dakotas - "Do You Want To Know A Secret" Next Week On We’re Number Two…Hair > Stuff
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Post by Prole Hole on Jun 1, 2020 9:38:51 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2020 10:28:59 GMT -5
Free’s standard “Alright Now” peaked at Number 2 in the UK and though it’s indicative of a style shift from the 60’s to the 70’s – and an OK song – there’s limited mileage there. If I may sidetrack based on a footnote of your (excellent) recap, this reminds me that I've been considering a discography series here about quality music acts underserved by how homogenized culture has presented them. Free is a prime example--they were a terrific working band in the '70s yet the still omnipresent classic-rock radio format pretends that the dopey power-chord workout of "Alright Now" is the only thing of theirs worth hearing. Maybe I'll get on that idea in coming weeks.
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Post by Prole Hole on Jun 2, 2020 2:08:54 GMT -5
Free’s standard “Alright Now” peaked at Number 2 in the UK and though it’s indicative of a style shift from the 60’s to the 70’s – and an OK song – there’s limited mileage there. If I may sidetrack based on a footnote of your (excellent) recap, this reminds me that I've been considering a discography series here about quality music acts underserved by how homogenized culture has presented them. Free is a prime example--they were a terrific working band in the '70s yet the still omnipresent classic-rock radio format pretends that the dopey power-chord workout of "Alright Now" is the only thing of theirs worth hearing. Maybe I'll get on that idea in coming weeks. Sidetrack away, and go for it!
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Post by MyNameIsNoneOfYourGoddamnBusin on Jun 2, 2020 9:09:05 GMT -5
Love the Kinks, but Ray Davies might be the pinnacle of the inverse correlation that exists between songwriting talent and being a decent human being (saying this as someone who was once front row at one of his concerts). Anyway, I love the way "Lola" is written, with the intentional confusion and ambiguity of the lyrics (" I know what I am and I'm glad I'm a man And so is Lola").
It's odd you mention "State of Confusion" as a commercially dismissed album, since it had one of their biggest hits in "Come Dancing" (unless it was maybe only a US hit?), as well as the minor hit "Don't Forget to Dance" (the former being a much better song than the latter). Other than, I guess the eighties can be highlighted by the okay but uncreative re-tread "Destroyer" (which borrows the chords from "All Day and All of the Night" and throws out a reference to Lola for no reason at all) and a song I particularly liked, "Do it Again," but I don't know how well-regarded that is in the pantheon of the Kinks Katalog.
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Post by Desert Dweller on Jun 2, 2020 13:27:16 GMT -5
Next Week On We’re Number Two…Do you feel one “Space Oddity” just isn’t enough to really satisfy? Why not try being high as a kite? Wait, for 1971? Have you skipped a year or am I getting the song wrong?
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Post by Prole Hole on Jun 3, 2020 4:58:40 GMT -5
Next Week On We’re Number Two…Do you feel one “Space Oddity” just isn’t enough to really satisfy? Why not try being high as a kite? Wait, for 1971? Have you skipped a year or am I getting the song wrong? You are right and I'm an idiot - I sometimes have little tag lines or bits of what I want to say written in advance just when they occur to me, and in this case I copy-pasted the wrong one in. D'oh! Well I guess you know what 1972 is going to be but I have now amended 1971...
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Post by Prole Hole on Jun 8, 2020 5:08:57 GMT -5
1971 - “Mr Big Stuff”, Jean Knight
Stax of talent
It’s Jean Knight. And “Mr Big Stuff”. There are song on this list that deserve to be explained. There are song on this list that need some proper investigation. There are songs on this list that are serious and there are songs on this list which are silly. There are songs on this list which are personal and there are songs on this list which are political. There are songs you can dance to, and songs which require concentration. But this is Jean Knight. And “Mr Big Stuff”. ‘Nuff said. What Else Ha… Oh alright. There’s more to say. But really. Just listen to it. That riff. That voice. That production. It’s just amazing. It’s arguable whether Jean Knight had the best voice on Stax – there’s a vast amount of competition for that particular accolade – but she undoubtedly had the right voice for this song. The dismissive don’t-you- fuck-with-me delivery has to be absolutely spot on, and Knight nails it like nobody else could. If it tilts too far towards fuck-you the protagonist is going to lose sympathy, too far the other way and it will simply sound ineffective. Knight occupies exactly the centre ground and produces a performance that precisely matches what the song and lyric need. It’s one of the (many) keys to the success of the song, but Knight absolutely occupies the centre of this and never relinquishes one inch of it. This woman has agency and nobody is taking that away from her. The band, of course, are amazing. It’s just a bunch of session musicians, but it’s an indicator of just how strong the people working at Stax were that they were able to produce a song of this quality with just a bunch of session players slung together basically at random. They didn’t even receive formal credit on the song’s release, which seems extraordinary, though four musicians are listed on the album of the same name from which the single is taken. Everything they do is just instantly recognisable. The brass is impeccable but then again it’s tough to single out any one instrument or sound because it’s all impeccable. Great band, great singer, great song. It’s all just… well, great really. Jean Knight herself never really benefitted that much from it, though. What ought really to have been the song that launched a decades-long career… didn’t. It took a fair amount of effort to even get “Mr Big Stuff” released, which just seems extraordinary – loads of labels turned it down before it finally came out. And when it did it was, naturally, fabulously successful and alongside being a Hot 100 Number 2 it went all the way to the top on the R&B charts. Knight received a Grammy nomination off the back of it too, only losing out to Aretha Franklyn, and the song was certified double-platinum. That’s some amount of sales of a song that struggled – somehow – to even get released and when you’re number two only to the Queen Of Soul, well, that’s not too shabby either. And, honestly, Knight deserved to take home the prize – Aretha’s win was her version of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and while it’s good it’s no “Mr Big Stuff”. But then, what is? Despite that, though, it just never quite happened for Jean Knight. Even with all of that success she ended up leaving Stax – disagreements between her producer and the label meant she had to go her own way, and despite knocking round a few smaller labels she was never able to capitalise on her initial success. Which feels like a terrible shame, because she has exactly the right voice, attitude (and hair!) to really have made an impact. Her performance of “Mr Big Stuff” on Soul Train is the stuff legends are built from and it’s more than worth tracking down to see her (and again, that hair – it’s about half the height she is and it’s amazing). It’s on YouTube and highly recommended. The song itself has gone on to have a life of its own, covered, played live and sampled by everyone from Everclear (“AM Radio”) and the Beastie Boys to all-female heavy-metal band Precious Metal. But for Jean this was pretty much it. “Mr Big Stuff” remains her only significantly successful recording, she went twelve years without a record contract of any kind, and though she’s toured fairly consistently the closest she ever got to further success was a version of “My Toot Toot” (not as rude as it sounds) in the 80’s which scarcely seems worthy of her talents. Not everyone can make it, even when they have the goods, and Jean Knight is just one of those people – fantastic, but never destined to go all the way. But hey, if your one song is “Mr Big Stuff”, that’s more than enough. Because you know. It’s Jean Knight. Singing “Mr Big Stuff”. ‘Nuff said. What Else Happened in 1971?Led Zeppelin first – they release their fourth, untitled, album. “Stairway” will not, sadly, be denied. The Concert For Bangladesh, the template from which all charity rock concerts are derived, is put together by George Harrison with Ravi Shankar, Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Eric Clapton and others putting in time on stage. There’s also the very first Glastonbury Festival, held in, um, Glastonbury. The Rolling Stones form their own record label, debut the now-inescapable lips-and-tongue logo, and release Sticky Fingers. Marc Bolan finally gets T-Rex sorted out and releases the mighty Electric Warrior, while friend and rival David Bowie gives us the first of his classics, the slightly overly well-regarded Hunky Dory. Rick Wakeman – you know, the guy who plays piano on Hunky Dory’s “Life On Mars” – joins Yes, so the Age Of Prog is truly upon us. Top of the sales charts sees two former Beatles wrestling for dominance but George Harrison has the biggest song of the year with “My Sweet Lord”, beating out Lennon’s “Imagine” – third-biggest is the ground-glass voiced Rod Stewart with “Maggie Mae”. The Monkees split up and Dr Feelgood are formed, as are Krautrock staples Neu! Jim Morrison dies in a Paris bathtub age 27, and Cher scores her first number-one with “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves”. Simon and Garfunkel release their classic, the (rather boring) Bridge Over Troubled Water. Elton John has his first big hit – the inexpressibly terrible “Your Song” – and speaking of piano troubadours, Billy Joel also releases his first album, Cold Spring Harbour. It’s rubbish too. But to end on a positive note, Bill Withers gives us the timeless “Ain’t No Sunshine”, so that’s something! What Did We Nearly End Up Discussing?Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” was top of the list this time out, though in truth it was never not going to be “Mr Big Stuff”. Although that doesn’t answer the “what was the other thing that was always going to be discussed apart from “Strawberry Fields Forever” / “Penny Lane”” question. And even though it’s not necessarily a great song, “Ride A White Swan” by T.Rex is always fun. “Brown Sugar” peaked at Number 2 in the UK, but I feel I have probably written enough about the Stones to be going on with. “Knock Three Times” by Dawn spent a long time knocking about the charts on both sides of the Atlantic including pinballing in and out of the Number 2 slot, but it requires way too much mental energy to work out why this song actually exists. And John Denver got to Number 2 with “Take Me Home, Country Roads”. Which is a wonderful, sweet song, and I don’t care what anyone says. Rankings: 1. The Beatles - "Strawberry Fields Forever" / "Penny Lane" 2. The Kinks - "Lola" 3. Jean Knight - "Mr Big Stuff" 4. The Animals - "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" 5. Sly And The Family Stone - "Everyday People" 6. Petula Clark - "Downtown" 7. Tom Jones - "Delilah" 8. Eddie Cochrane – "Three Steps To Heaven" 9. The Troggs - "Wild Thing" 10. Jimmy Dean - "Big Bad John" 11. Chubby Checker - "Let's Twist Again" 12. Billy J Kramer And The Dakotas - "Do You Want To Know A Secret" Next Week On We’re Number Two…Do you find the one “Space Oddity” isn’t enough to really satisfy? Why not try getting high as a kite?
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Post by Prole Hole on Jun 15, 2020 7:31:43 GMT -5
1972 – “Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going To Be A Long, Long Time)”, Elton John Well, that sure captures the austere grandeur of the song...
It’s not like the fact that “Rocket Man” is “Space Oddity” Mk II is exactly a secret. There’s a mash-up that pretty easily combines both songs and makes the overlap pretty explicit. John himself played both “Rocket Man” and “Space Oddity” as a tribute to Bowie after his death, segueing from one to the other. If he’s prepared to do that, well, there’s not really a lot left to say on that subject. Both strike a distant, melancholic tone, though “Space Oddity”’s loss is literal whereas “Rocket Man” is more concerned with the ennui that comes from an ordinary job, even when that job is flying off to Mars and leaving your family behind. In Elton John’s song, space travel is ordinary, boring even, and the worst thing that has to be contended with is loneliness. In David Bowie’s it’s a strange, discombobulating place which eventually leads to the protagonist drifting off forever. The strange otherworldliness of “Space Oddity” would become one of Bowie’s defining characteristics and lead to a string of characters and personas in the 70’s that he cycled through with alarming regularity, slewing off one only to adopt another at a dizzyingly creative speed. For “Rocket Man” and Elton John… not so much. And it is worth remarking on how strange a song for Elton John “Rocket Man” actually is. It’s one of his best known songs, it lends its name to the biopic of John’s life, and is was his second huge hit after the runaway success of “Your Song” propelled him into the public consciousness. Yet it’s an outlier in his back catalogue – there’s no other song in Elton John’s practically endless list of writing credits that’s quite like “Rocket Man”. In terms of single releases it is preceded by straight-down-the line “Tiny Dancer” and followed by the lopsided horns of “Honky Cat” and “Crocodile Rock” (the latter of which would become John’s first U.S. Number 1). None of those songs suggest the distant longing of an astronaut obliged to leave his family behind for the coldness of the Martian surface. It’s not that there aren’t any other songs in Elton John’s back catalogue that deal with loss - there’s mountains of them – but they tend to be far more personal and confessional so “Rocket Man” still occupies a unique, and singular, place in his pantheon of songs. Sci-fi epics just aren’t Elton John’s thing. And there’s no “Ashes To Ashes” equivalent for “Rocket Man” either. Whoever the lost, lonely protagonist of this song is we never get to revisit him. In a way that adds to the poignancy – there will never be an emotionally cathartic release as we find out what happens to him, or his abandoned family. There’s just this one outing. Elton John’s 70’s singles split fairly evenly in terms of style – there’s the piano troubadour journeyman of “Your Song”, “Candle In The Wind” or “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” and there’s the up-tempo stompers of the “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting”, “The Bitch Is Back” and “Pinball Wizard” variety. “Song For Guy” is full of loneliness and loss but it’s nothing like “Rocket Man” at all. It remains a weird outlier. And in honesty it’s better for it. The very fact that “Rocket Man” stands alone can’t help but fuel its uniqueness and this make it more interesting as a result. The album it’s taken from, Honky Château, is well-regarded in John’s discography but again there’s nothing on it that really tallies with “Rocket Man”. There’s a lot of cod-funk and brass (the follow-up single “Honky Cat” stands a perfect example), some blues, the usual handful of ballads, that sort of thing. It’s a focussed, well-constructed album. What it is not is a paean to space exploration. Yet despite this being so unusual there’s no denying how well John is able to land the song. The lyric – by Bernie Taupin, of course – suggest the musical route John takes the instrumentation down, but the sparse, spartan arrangement goes a long way to helping sell the ennui that’s so explicit in the lyric. In particular, full credit to bassist Dee Murray whose yawning, stretched-out bass lines both suggests the slow, zero-gravity environment of space and sounds like pod bay doors slowly opening – the best moment being just at the end of the first verse and the way it leads the listener in an almost stately fashion into the slide-guitar that delivers us to the chorus. And that slide guitar is a lovely piece of texture as well, unusual for an Elton John song but deployed here as a strikingly effective lead-in and overlap on the chorus throughout the song. John’s own piano lines are similarly minimal – the flourishes and embellishments are kept very much to a minimum and the audio space within the song is given a real opportunity to breathe. There’s minimal vocal flourishes too – despite the occasional jump on lines like “Hiiiiiigh as a kite by then” the vocal is mostly restrained. This isn’t a song that calls for vocal acrobatics, and anything more than those little jumps would shatter the mood the song so carefully constructs for itself. It’s exquisitely well-produced as well, which also goes a long way to making the sonic texture of the song feel like its capturing the mood. And it’s produced by – who would have guessed it? – Gus Dudgeon, the man who also produced “Space Oddity”. So he’s got form. But he also knows what he’s doing. The chunky acoustic guitar that backs up Elton John’s piano on the choruses has an unquestionably “Space Oddity” feel about it but it’s no less effective for all that. And judicious use of echo – subtle, but re-enforcing the sensation of space – and synths flesh out the sonic picture just enough to really add definition to the song without swamping it in gimmicks, on-the-nose instrumentation or sound effects. It’s exceedingly effective, and lands the sense of distance every bit as effectively as the lyric or John’s vocal. It would only take one of these elements to be even slightly out of alignment for the whole thing to come across as ridiculous, but Dudgeon know exactly how to keep everything in balance. And the result is one of Elton John’s most strikingly unusual – and effective – songs. Of course, this is just the beginning. There’s no great need to list off the rest of Elton John’s career because you undoubtedly know it. Drama queen and tabloid staple. Friend to royalty. Never met a charity concert he could say no to. Vastly successful solo artist with a career now spanning almost a full half-century. The sodding “Circle Of Life”. You know how it goes. “Rocket Man” helped – and please excuse the pun here – launch that career and proved to be the consolidating hit John needed after “Your Song” took off. It is, in many ways, one of the key foundation of his career and certainly one of his best-known songs, yet it will always be the path not taken. The one where, instead of the outrageously flamboyant showman and tortured artist, we instead get a thoughtful, considered and deeply remote insight into other characters. Is this as good as “Space Oddity?” No, of course it isn’t. What’s genuinely amazing, though, is just how close it comes to being as good. There’s no shame in being second-place to Bowie, and if “Rocket Man” is forever destined to be “Space Oddity” Mk II – which, let’s be honest, it is – then it’s as good a second place as anyone could possibly hope for. What Else Happened In 1972?
The Stones release Exile On Main Street, about which I have already said enough. Mahalia Jackson, arguably the greatest gospel singer of all time, dies and 40,000 people turn up to mourn her. Paul McCartney debuts perennial punchline Wings and immediately gets banned by the BBC for releasing “Give Ireland Back To The Irish”. Curtis Mayfield gives us Super Fly so the era of Blaxploitation and Blaxploitation soundtracks has arrived. Abba, who will regretfully not be appearing in this series, are formed and so are Sparks and the E Street Band. David Bowie gives us one of the finest albums ever released, T he Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, and Diana Ross scores an Oscar nomination with Lady Sings The Blues. Aretha Franklin is Young, Gifted And Black, and Lou Reed releases his first, eponymous, solo album while the final dregs of The Velvet Underground call it a day. The biggest song of the year is “American Pie”, which means we’re stuck with it from now until the heat-death of the universe. The second biggest is Harry Nilsson’s screech-a-long classic “Without You”. Mainstay AM Radio time-consumers The Eagles release their first album, and Jethro Tull are Thick As A Brick. Well, at least they’re honest about it. Oh, and Chuck Berry wants to show you “My Ding-A-Ling”, but I really wouldn’t recommend it. What Did We Nearly End Up Discussing?
“American Pie” made it to Number 2 in the UK charts but not all the way, held off the top spot by Nilsson’s “Without You” and, hilariously, the incredibly crap “Son Of My Father” by Chicory Tip. This is mentioned not because there was any chance of covering “American Pie” but simply because it’s very funny. Noted paedophile Gary Glitter got to Number 2 with “Rock And Roll Pts 1 and 2” and while there’s a whole discussion to be had around the sort of environment that allowed Mr Glitter to get away with his crimes it would require someone with better and deeper understanding of this than me to do it justice. Michael Jackson starts his decades-long assault on the charts with, erm, “Rockin’ Robin”, which peaked at Number 2 in the UK. The fifth biggest selling single of the year globally – faux-sophisticated dirge “Nights In White Satin” by the Moody Blues – got to Number 2 in the U.S. but the fact it was such a massive seller but only (only!) made it to Number 2 in the U.S. is literally the only interesting thing about that song. Rankings: 1. The Beatles - "Strawberry Fields Forever" / "Penny Lane" 2. The Kinks - "Lola" 3. Jean Knight - "Mr Big Stuff" 4. The Animals - "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" 5. Sly And The Family Stone - "Everyday People" 6. Petula Clark - "Downtown" 7. Elton John - "Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be A Long, Long Time)" 8. Tom Jones - "Delilah" 9. Eddie Cochrane – "Three Steps To Heaven" 10. The Troggs - "Wild Thing" 11. Jimmy Dean - "Big Bad John" 12. Chubby Checker - "Let's Twist Again" 13. Billy J Kramer And The Dakotas - "Do You Want To Know A Secret" Next Week On We’re Number Two…
Time to sugar-coat the blowing up of a dancehall.
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Post by Gamblin' Telly on Jun 15, 2020 7:40:17 GMT -5
1981's gotta be Vienna by Ultravox. Gotta be. This means nothing to me.
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Post by Floyd D Barber on Jun 16, 2020 1:03:17 GMT -5
Ah, the 70's. Expect to be bored by my ramblings about the music of this decade.
American Pie, Without You, and especially Nights in White Satin were all very important parts of my youth. This is not to say they were especially "good" but they meant a lot to me.
American Pie was an absolute phenomenon when it came out. Newspaper articles were written speculating on the meanings of each line. It was inescapable.
It was OK. When I got my first satellite TV system, which was made up of junk parts the shop I was working at let me have after I repaired all the trade-ins in their back room, I was amazed at the amount and variety of weird shit you could find on the live feeds, and on the low rent satellites in the boonies of the arc. The first day I got it working was Memorial day weekend 1984, and I found a live feed of the Indy 500 being broadcast by a Japanese TV crew. On Labor day weekend that year, the sky was full of video from around the country for the Jerry Lewis telethon. I was flipping through the channels watching stuff, when I saw an empty studio with a mike and a stool set up. In a minute or two Don McLean came in, tuned up a bit, and when cued, he played a very heartfelt, solo acoustic version of American Pie, alone in the studio. I don't believe it has ever been rebroadcast, but it was far better than the record.
I bought a record from the $1 cutout bin because it featured Harry Nilson and Ringo, with Bonzo, Clapton, George Harrison, and Keith Moon. It was the soundtrack for Nilson's long forgotten movie "Son of Dracula". It had bits of dialog from the movie along with the songs, and I always loved "Without You" with this intro.
Young Floyd was painfully not cool. Growing up in the middle of thousands of acres of corn and beans, I didn't get much exposure to rock and roll if it wasn't on WLS. If it wasn't top 40, I probably didn't hear it till I was out of high school. When I got my first job, making a kingly $1.50 an hour, I began buying music. What I could afford were the $2 bootleg 8 track tapes they sold in the local grocery store. The first two tapes i bought were "The Greatest Hits of 1971" and "An Evening with the Moody Blues". If you aren't familiar with these albums, it's because they didn't exist. The bootlegs were compilations from various artists in the case of the 1971 tape, and cuts off 7 of the Moody Blues albums. I played those tapes over and over. I might still have them packed away somewhere in the warehouse, and because of that, I became a big Moody Blues fan. How 70's was it when I was a kid? Our junior prom's theme was "Stairway to Heaven" and our senior prom's theme was "Nights in White Satin". I finally got to see the Moody Blues live in 1980, without an orchestra, just them. This was around the time of the horrible "Live plus 5" contractual obligation album. That show sucked pretty badly. So, it might not be a great song, but Nights in White Satin will always bring back a lot of memories for me.
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Post by Prole Hole on Jun 16, 2020 7:52:00 GMT -5
Ah, the 70's. Expect to be bored by my ramblings about the music of this decade.
American Pie, Without You, and especially Nights in White Satin were all very important parts of my youth. This is not to say they were especially "good" but they meant a lot to me.
American Pie was an absolute phenomenon when it came out. Newspaper articles were written speculating on the meanings of each line. It was inescapable.
It was OK. When I got my first satellite TV system, which was made up of junk parts the shop I was working at let me have after I repaired all the trade-ins in their back room, I was amazed at the amount and variety of weird shit you could find on the live feeds, and on the low rent satellites in the boonies of the arc. The first day I got it working was Memorial day weekend 1984, and I found a live feed of the Indy 500 being broadcast by a Japanese TV crew. On Labor day weekend that year, the sky was full of video from around the country for the Jerry Lewis telethon. I was flipping through the channels watching stuff, when I saw an empty studio with a mike and a stool set up. In a minute or two Don McLean came in, tuned up a bit, and when cued, he played a very heartfelt, solo acoustic version of American Pie, alone in the studio. I don't believe it has ever been rebroadcast, but it was far better than the record.
I bought a record from the $1 cutout bin because it featured Harry Nilson and Ringo, with Bonzo, Clapton, George Harrison, and Keith Moon. It was the soundtrack for Nilson's long forgotten movie "Son of Dracula". It had bits of dialog from the movie along with the songs, and I always loved "Without You" with this intro.
Young Floyd was painfully not cool. Growing up in the middle of thousands of acres of corn and beans, I didn't get much exposure to rock and roll if it wasn't on WLS. If it wasn't top 40, I probably didn't hear it till I was out of high school. When I got my first job, making a kingly $1.50 an hour, I began buying music. What I could afford were the $2 bootleg 8 track tapes they sold in the local grocery store. The first two tapes i bought were "The Greatest Hits of 1971" and "An Evening with the Moody Blues". If you aren't familiar with these albums, it's because they didn't exist. The bootlegs were compilations from various artists in the case of the 1971 tape, and cuts off 7 of the Moody Blues albums. I played those tapes over and over. I might still have them packed away somewhere in the warehouse, and because of that, I became a big Moody Blues fan. How 70's was it when I was a kid? Our junior prom's theme was "Stairway to Heaven" and our senior prom's theme was "Nights in White Satin". I finally got to see the Moody Blues live in 1980, without an orchestra, just them. This was around the time of the horrible "Live plus 5" contractual obligation album. That show sucked pretty badly. So, it might not be a great song, but Nights in White Satin will always bring back a lot of memories for me.
I will say one thing for "Nights In White Satin" - it's an exceedingly well produced song. The big build to the chorus is really masterfully put together. It's not a song for me but i think the craft involved in it is absolutely something that can be appreciated. I fear, however, when it comes to "American Pie" we are not as one. But the not-cool-growing-up? Oh yeah, there we match. I was the dorky kid into Abba and Blondie and Adam and the Ants so I absolutely will not be dripping in too-cool-for-school when the early 80's roll round, believe me.
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Dellarigg
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Post by Dellarigg on Jun 16, 2020 10:09:22 GMT -5
Elton John? I can't stand this twat either.
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Post by Prole Hole on Jun 16, 2020 10:25:00 GMT -5
Elton John? I can't stand this twat either. The truth is I also strongly dislike Elton John as well - in fact there are only about three of his songs I can stand even slightly, though conveniently for me this is actually one of them. If I'd had to write up, i dunno, "Crocodile Rock" or something the review would have been considerably shorter and swearier.
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Rainbow Rosa
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not gay, just colorful
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Post by Rainbow Rosa on Jun 16, 2020 11:22:57 GMT -5
Elton John? I can't stand this twat either. The truth is I also strongly dislike Elton John as well - in fact there are only about three of his songs I can stand even slightly, though conveniently for me this is actually one of them. If I'd had to write up, i dunno, "Crocodile Rock" or something the review would have been considerably shorter and swearier. What would have happened if you had to write about "Crocodile Chop" ?
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Post by Prole Hole on Jun 16, 2020 12:36:01 GMT -5
The truth is I also strongly dislike Elton John as well - in fact there are only about three of his songs I can stand even slightly, though conveniently for me this is actually one of them. If I'd had to write up, i dunno, "Crocodile Rock" or something the review would have been considerably shorter and swearier. What would have happened if you had to write about "Crocodile Chop" ? *self-terminates*
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ayatollahcm
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The Bringer of Peacatollah
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Post by ayatollahcm on Jun 17, 2020 4:52:52 GMT -5
I'm very late to this party, but one addendum, Prole, to your comment on Springsteen and "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" - he wanted to write that song so badly that he stole its opening chords, shifted it to a major key, and used it as the opening to his song "Badlands" in '77
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Post by Prole Hole on Jun 17, 2020 6:08:11 GMT -5
I'm very late to this party, but one addendum, Prole, to your comment on Springsteen and "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" - he wanted to write that song so badly that he stole its opening chords, shifted it to a major key, and used it as the opening to his song "Badlands" in '77 Better late than never, as always - thanks for that.
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Post by Prole Hole on Jun 22, 2020 4:35:25 GMT -5
1973 – “Ballroom Blitz”, The Sweet The things you had to do to get laid in 1973...Glam is a peculiarly British affair. It’s influence can, on occasion, be felt in America, primarily though the make-up of Lou Reed circa Transformer or maybe the outfits of The New York Dolls. Even KISS aren’t really glam, they’re just a straightforward rock band – often a very straightforward rock band – who have inexplicably decided that kids carnival face-paint make-up might be the way to go. But ultimately glam isn’t something that really took off in the U.S. - it never really became a movement. Most of the big names in glam music – T.Rex, The Sweet, Slade, Mud, Gary Glitter, Wizzard, Alvin Stardust et al – never substantially broke out of the UK despite the odd hit single, and even T.Rex’s success was comparatively limited despite the fact they fulfil the exception-that-proves-the-rule role. T.Rex – and Bolan in particular – almost entirely invented glam wholesale but their American chart run wasn’t a patch on their UK success. Some things, it seems, don’t quite translate. One of the most telling things about glam is that almost all the bands who were “glam bands” never managed to escape the glam ghetto, whereas there’s a whole bunch of artists who adopted glam as simply a trend – David Bowie, Roxy Music, Queen, Elton John – and were able to free themselves from it when that trend passed. Bowie’s music existed long before he strapped on some platform heels and looked lovingly into Mick Ronson’s eyes on Top Of The Pops and it exists long after the silk capes and eyeliner were consigned to the fashion mistakes of history. Even T.Rex – effortlessly the most talented of the glam bands – weren’t able to break free. Glam died in the mid-70’s, it’s initial burst of colour and energy exhausted, to be replaced by the dance beats of disco and the howling dissatisfaction of punk. Its death took all those bands with them. “Ballroom Blitz”, however, arrived slap-bang in the middle of the glam movement and, as a song, pretty much encapsulates everything about the trend that made it popular. It’s pretty obvious to start with how the band look but oh well, if you base your musical genre on appearance you can’t very well complain if that’s what gets discussed. The Sweet aren’t quite the most extreme-looking glam band, but there’s still plenty of tinfoil jackets, wide collars, facial make-up and shiny bits of bling. Open shirts and bare chests are, of course, compulsory. None of the men are exactly what one might call dazzlingly attractive, but they do look like someone you might meet at work, or maybe in a local darts team. That’s not really meant to be a pejorative statement – one of the major appeals of glam is that, with a couple of exceptions, the principal exponents of it weren’t drop-dead gorgeous fashion models but rather fairly normal people who, with a bit of work and access to a decent amount of rouge, could be made to look like stars. It was, in other words, accessible, and that’s a key as to why it was so massively popular. John and Jane from AnySuburbanTown could easily buy into the look and feel of the movement with a bit of pocket money and the ability to brave the make-up counter at Woolworths or Boots. Much has been written about how glam – glitzy, energetic and fun – stands in stark contrast to the grey, depressing era of the UK in the early 70’s and, while much of that is true and glam was undoubtedly a reaction against the miserable feel of the era, its accessibility and the ease with which the look could be recreated should not be overlooked either. You didn’t need to spend a fortune to achieve a roughly similar appearance. Want to be a star? Stick a star on your face! But of course there’s more to glam than just the glitter and sparkles so what of the music? “Ballroom Blitz” has us covered there too. There’s the shuffling drum intro as the band are asked “are you ready?” while they reply in such a ridiculously arch manner they could be auditioning for The Rocky Horror Show. There’s that pugnaciously energetic and restless guitar line that leads us up and down the length of the song, full of a non-stop energy that drives the momentum of the whole thing. It all sounds ever-so-slightly retro in a 50’s-updated-to-the-70’s sort of way but it never sounds remotely like any actual 50’s piece of music. It’s got that absolutely killer chorus, shrieked at the top of singer Brian Connolly’s range, and the moment of real genius where, after singing the title of the song, it drops down a few tones and repeats it. “And the girl in the corner said boy I want to warn you / It’ll turn into a ballroom blitz.” Beat. “Ballroom blitz”. It’s just an absolutely killer hook. The whole thing is absurdly, gloriously camp and it’s a form of camp that’s being embraced by four resoundingly heterosexual men. Sexual ambiguity and gender fluidity were always a part of glam and it wasn’t something that was restricted to the elven features of Marc Bolan or the pretty-boy look of David Bowie. Brickies could get away with it. When Brian Connolly slithers out the lines, “I see a man at the back as a matter of fact / with eyes as red as the sun!” on the first verse it’s one of the silliest, campest moments in the whole of the 70’s and it is simply wonderful. Connolly completely commits to his role as a Glaswegian Frank’n’Furter and he absolutely embodies it. Oh, and the single has one more defining characteristic of glam – it runs out of steam shortly before the whole thing splutters to a close. “Ballroom Blitz” is four minutes long. It needs to be about three and a half, or actually end rather than simply fading out. It’s a forgivable mistake but an unfortunate one all the same. But prior to that this is a spirited, fun, impishly addictive little earworm of a song. If you had to choose a song that summed up glam, you couldn’t do much better than “Ballroom Blitz”. Interestingly, albums aren’t much of a feature of glam rock. T.Rex have Electric Warrior, of course, though it’s pretty much the only really well-regarded glam album. And that’s fine – glam was never a movement which had longevity as a built-in feature, it was always made to be disposable and throwaway. And right enough, beyond Electric Warrior glam is mostly a singles affair. All the great songs of glam – “Tiger Feet”, “Ballroom Blitz”, “Bang A Gong (Get It On)”, “Come On Feel The Noize” – are absolutely top-notch singles but nobody’s going searching for a deep cut on, let’s say, Slade’s third album. In that sense glam singles are a perfect fit for this project – the battles of glam are all staged in the singles charts and popularity is the only victory that matters. “Ballroom Blitz” made it to Number 2, only to be held off the top spot by Slade’s “Angel Fingers” in the first week (the remaining weeks it was kept off by “Eye Level” by Simon Park Orchestra, the theme tune to Amsterdam-based TV detective series Van Der Valk. Yes, really). Slade won the chart war. But by producing one of the absolute best glam singles of the era, it’s fair to say that The Sweet at the very least won a battle. All the teenage-drama, high-volume, smash-and-grab absurdities of glam captured in one absolutely killer single. If that’s not some kind of victory I don’t know what is. What Else Happened in 1973?
That icon of music and architecture, the Sydney Opera House, is opened by Queen Elizabeth. The Rolling Stones raise $350,000 with a benefit concert for victims of the Nicaraguan earthquake, and Jagger personally tops that up with another $150,000 out of his own pocket. The Who release Quadrophenia and Bob Marley and the Wailers make their mark with Catch A Fire. David Bowie “retires” both himself and Ziggy Stardust, so that’s probably the last we’ll ever hear of him, right? Although this is also the year of Aladdin Sane, so maybe not… Pink Floyd release their magnum opus, Dark Side Of The Moon, and Stevie Wonder gives us Innervisions and the nigh-on perfect single “Superstition”. As portents of things to come CBGB’s opens its doors for the first time, and both AC/DC and Ultravox are founded. Billy Joel finds his audience with drunk-manager singalong Piano Man, and Lou Reed releases Berlin. The biggest song this year? Pleasingly not-terrible Rolling Stones single “Angie”, though number two is the buttock-clenchingly awful “Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree” (the third most popular is the very song we’re discussing this time out, and fourth goes to last article entry Elton John, with “Crocodile Rock”). But far, far more important than any of that, I am born and have to suffer the indignity of entering the world while the UK Number 1 was “Long-Haired Lover From Liverpool” by sodding Little Jimmy Osmond. In the US it was the massively superior, and absolutely excellent, “You’re So Vain” by Carly Simon, which is quite the qualitative gap. What Did We Nearly End Up Discussing?
In the UK any number of glam singles could have been shoe-in’s, including The Sweet’s own “Blockbuster”, T.Rex’s “Solid Gold Easy Action” and – yikes – Gary Glitter’s “Do You Wanna Touch Me? (Oh Yeah!)”, the latter of which was a no-go for what I hope are obvious reasons. And Suzie Quattro – not quite a perfect fit for glam – got to Number 2 with the awesomely great “Can The Can”. Marie Osmond’s sickeningly twee “Paper Roses” briefly alighted at Number 2 and remains quite, quite awful. In the U.S. “Duelling Banjos” from the movie Deliverance (de-del-eed-del-eed-ell-eed-ell-ummMM!) spend an inordinate time at Number 2 (held off by Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly With His Song”), proving novelty hits aren’t just a feature of the UK charts. Stevie Wonder again provides a possibility with “You Are The Sunshine Of My Love”, but we know he’s coming later on. And good old Wings spent three weeks at Number 2 with “Live And Let Die”. Duuum! Duuuuuh! Rankings: 1. The Beatles - "Strawberry Fields Forever" / "Penny Lane" 2. The Kinks - "Lola" 3. Jean Knight - "Mr Big Stuff" 4. The Animals - "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" 5. Sly And The Family Stone - "Everyday People" 6. The Sweet, "Ballroom Blitz" 7. Petula Clark - "Downtown" 8. Elton John - "Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be A Long, Long Time)" 9. Tom Jones - "Delilah" 10. Eddie Cochrane – "Three Steps To Heaven" 11. The Troggs - "Wild Thing" 12. Jimmy Dean - "Big Bad John" 13. Chubby Checker - "Let's Twist Again" 14. Billy J Kramer And The Dakotas - "Do You Want To Know A Secret" Next Week On We’re Number Two…
Assassinate the monarch!
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ayatollahcm
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Post by ayatollahcm on Jun 22, 2020 4:53:39 GMT -5
To your point about glam being a singles genre - The Sweet's "Fox on the Run" on the album proper is a straight ahead rocker, and stripped down, but the single mixing blows the glam up with synths and is substantially a helluva lot more fun. No wonder it's the latter that was included for Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, or that it's the one people still remember.
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Dellarigg
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Post by Dellarigg on Jun 22, 2020 5:17:56 GMT -5
I'm very late to this party, but one addendum, Prole, to your comment on Springsteen and "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" - he wanted to write that song so badly that he stole its opening chords, shifted it to a major key, and used it as the opening to his song "Badlands" in '77 Do you mean the intro to Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood?
Also, on the same album, the piano at the start of Racing In The Streets is the guitar at the start of Then He Kissed Me slowed down (and maybe in a different key, I don't understand all that stuff despite playing the guitar).
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ayatollahcm
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Post by ayatollahcm on Jun 22, 2020 6:07:43 GMT -5
I'm very late to this party, but one addendum, Prole, to your comment on Springsteen and "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" - he wanted to write that song so badly that he stole its opening chords, shifted it to a major key, and used it as the opening to his song "Badlands" in '77 Do you mean the intro to Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood?
Also, on the same album, the piano at the start of Racing In The Streets is the guitar at the start of Then He Kissed Me slowed down (and maybe in a different key, I don't understand all that stuff despite playing the guitar). Fuck me, you're absolutely correct! Thanks for the call-out and correction
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Post by MyNameIsNoneOfYourGoddamnBusin on Jun 24, 2020 14:24:30 GMT -5
Always absolutely hated "Ballroom Blitz" but loved "Fox On The Run" in kind of a cheesy fun way.
I used to go see Sweet play when they would come through on the free concerts in the parking lots circuit (once a triple-bill with Soul Asylum and Smash Mouth, a combination made in "who will play for cheap" heaven or hell depending on your preferences) to a tiny flock of fans. It was the recently deceased Steve Smith on bass as the original member and an assortment of musicians who just happened to be in the band that week (their Wikipedia chart on the band's lineup lists a ridiculous number of former members even if you don't count that at one point there were two completely separate bands touring as Sweet). I don't know who was singing, but Brian Connolly was long dead by that point. What I remember most was the guitarist walking over the side of the stage and screaming angrily at his tech for an extended period of time. Fun times.
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