Number one singles that have been (almost) completely forgotten

I work with a guy who plays the oldies station all night long. Every time I hear it, it's the same old stuff day after day. It drives me insane, but he likes it just because it's old music.

I think it's a CD/radio boombox. I really should throw a CD-R together for him and put some other big hits on it and see how he reacts to them.

 

I actually saw Paper Lace live at Batley Variety Club (UK) around 1974. My brother's stag night and I was as drunk as a skunk. They ROCKED!

 

Vienna? It means nothing to me....
(Sorry -i'll get my coat, but I love that "joke")

 

I think it is just engraved either in ones head or a corporate playlist about what to play.No thought given that there are many different types of music for many types of people.I know one can't please everybody all the time but at least divert from the same stale ,narrow list some of the time at least.When the latest oldies station came on the air about seven or eight years ago they had a variety that soon shrunk into the list I described above.Didn't even listen to the station after a bit.Now it has went under.

 

Here's basically how it goes: a research group does allegedly random phone calls, probably to homes with landlines (and we don't have to go into the stats of who is more likely to have a landline), find out where they live, and whittle it down to a focus group of a potential audience. Then, they play snippets of songs to see what is most recognizable and enjoyable, and that focus group rates each song. Here's where it gets flaky: again, how is a song like The Grass Roots "Baby Hold On" win out over something like "Go Away Little Girl" by Donny Osmond, which I never hear on the radio, and was a #1 hit in 1971? Not only that, there are some artists you hear more songs by, like Three Dog Night and The Buckinghams.

And, what really annoys me is that, after a while, the only songs people will remember by Stevie Wonder is "Superstition", "Isn't She Lovely", and "I Just Called To Say I Love You" after all the hard work and sweat he went through in his very long, successful career.

 

HARRUMPH!!.

 

I guess this is one of the reasons radio sucks so bad.Plenty of good oldies that through the radio many will never now.This was how we heard good music.I guess now one has to search.

 

radio really was better before they started using marketing experts.

 

I saw The Crazy World of Arthur Brown at a festival last year

 

NEVER!!

 

yet another truly dreadful number one from a pretty dreadful period in the UK charts.

 

The radio music research is not done to find out which songs to play. It's to find out which songs might cause someone to punch the button for another station.

Radio stations' biggest fear is that someone might tune out if they hear something they don't like, so all of the songs are the safe ones - the ones that don't make waves - the ones that most people can agree on. I can easily see why a station wouldn't want to ever throw on a Donny Osmond record. It's perceived as square, unhip, - the same with virtually any Carpenters record. They had many number one and number two hits, but are virtually ignored by radio here in the US. They're image is still very high in the negative categories.

 

You constantly go on and on in multiple threads about how you hate the early-mid 70's charts.
You really need to move on and get over yourself. There is over 50 years of chart pop music for us all to choose from. So you don't like a couple of years, go listen to something else and stop being so negative about the couple of years you don't like.
A therapist would tell you you are 'stuck', but work on it and you will get there. Hopefully, if only for the rest of us.

 

What about "For Once in My Life"? He was a wonderful 18 year old musical genius when he did that!

 

why because my opinion does not agree with yours ? No therapist would make me like Mouldy old dough, Mud, Bay city rollers et all, but strangely enough I did highly rate your boy until he lost it during 1973, and Bowie - although i was not big into him at the time - was a colossus.

 

How ironic. That's why I never listen: I don't hear anything I do like. Especially now that the oldies (meaning '60s) stations are off the air. Up here anyway.

 

It was brilliant.

Every Friday morning we would giggle about Mouldy Old Dough on TOTP, hilarious stuff.

Another track to share with friends over a few two many bottles of red.

 

We all have our likes and dislikes but it does get tiresome. Personally love that period of pop...glam..chinchap ..Rollers ..Partridges ..all good

 

That's why carrying 40,000 songs around with you is a good idea, variety and spontaneity.

Oops, wrong thread.

 

I can see why people would seriously dislike this era of music, but the pure joy it brings to so many others, and discussing it with people, you'd bet have a smile on their face, makes that era one of the best in music, for me.

Glam, cheese and some of the greatest rock, in half a decade of fabulous music.

The times may have been hard, but this music lifted the spirits then, and just like for me, still has the ability to do it now.

 

We have two classic radio stations that are listened to regularly, in our work room. I can honestly say, I enjoy most of the songs, BUT, it is the same songs, everyday, same hour, everyday, day in, day out.

One must have money invested by Barry Gibb, as they regularly have five Gibb brothers related music, either performed, or written, in 75 minutes of air time!

Still, this is better than the stations, where you are lucky to hear 5 songs in 75 minutes, instead of the inane "humerous"chat where the only people "in," on the joke, are the studio groupies.

 

to me it had and has the exact opposite effect on my spirits, but looks like from here that i was the only one suffering it until Punk & new Wave took me out of my misery

 

it may sound odd but i quite liked the Partridge's ( i always thought Shirley Jones and Susan Dey were hot ) , they have become a bit of a guilty pleasure like the Monkees , but i drew the line at the Osmonds even though they were quite talented, there was a lot of good stuff around in this period but sadly it was drowned out to me by the chinnychap stuff et all ( the rollers were the low point for me ), and as for the fashions 71-6 oh god... but anyway looks like i am in a minority of one.

 

Stars on 45