You are totally right in women being FAR more assertive in their music around this time... the pinnacle of which, we will get to next year. Invictus/Hot Wax certainly got that ball rolling in a really big way, and Gamble/Huff took it and ran with that as well with songs from the 3 Degrees such as "Dirty Old Man". But at this time, Invictus/Hot Wax was at the forefront of this:
Love "Women's Love Rights". Strikes me as being broadly in the same category as The Honey Cone's hits, but far meatier. Lee had an incredible, belting voice. This cut deserved to be a much bigger hit than several of the #1s this year.
No, I'm basing my assessment on Want Ads only, which is the song we're talking about. I like One Monkey more than Want Ads, but it is also a rather weak composition.
I know Ronald Dunbar was an H-D-H employee in some capacity, but . . . who would Edythe Wayne have been in the whole scheme of things? One story I read was that Dunbar was real but Wayne was fictitious . . .
It wasn't luck so much as it was a deliberate decision on Jagger's part to make sure the words weren't too easily intelligible. Which was a good choice if he felt he had to put the record out at all.
I’m a huge fan of Gates’ “London Bridge.” More experimental than his more easy listening hits...has some nice Randy Newman-esque chord changes. Killer Moog solo, too.
I don't know who she is... all I know is that Scherrie said they both were real people. Perhaps a friend or low level employee. But you have to consider what legal issues it would open up if HDH used a pseudonym which was a person who didn't exist.
And the even MORE Brutal "Rip Off", I don't think music had ever seen an ode to revenge like that up until that time. "I'm takin the carpet off the floor, the wallpaper off the walls.... I'm takin the telephone so he can't make NO calls! This fool is in for the shock of his life, I'm tired of being neglected.... I'm gonna slap him in the face with the unexpected" That's just amazing in every way.
Want Ads Count me as some who really likes this song. Very, very catchy, and clever to boot. I'm not sure when the phenomenon of singles ads first started; I know when I was in my twenties, they were quite common, although these days I'm guessing they've moved to the internet. Anyways, I'll just pretend that part of the (clever) joke of this song is that singles ads did not exist back then, and that the singer was desperate enough to find a guy that she was willing to advertise for one in the paper, just like she would if she were looking to buy a car or an appliance. Ha ha, what a wacky idea! Little did they know (?) that it would become an actual thing later... As for the song, it's full of hooks. The best one is the "purpose statement" for the tune, a very clever twist of the format of a help wanted ad into a request for a boyfriend. Wanted! Young man single and free! Experience in love preferred, but we'll accept a young trainee. That's some funny stuff right there. The rest of the song doesn't quite match up to that, but it's still catchy and memorable. This was also the time when the feminist movement really started to assert itself. The Want Ads heroine is also notable as a woman who is not willing to wait by the phone for a call, or live with an obviously unfaithful man. I recall at the time an episode of Dick Cavett's show that featured John and Yoko. Cavett reached over to light Yoko's cigarette (remember when people smoked on TV?), and then apologized for doing something that might be seen as sexist (this was the time when all those traditional male actions were starting to be questioned, even relatively benign ones like holding a door open for a woman, etc.). For her part, Yoko didn't seem to mind, but just the fact he asked about it showed that it was a topic of discussion at the time. Another song in the same vein from that time was Mr. Big Stuff by Jean Knight, which was released in May of 1971. Knight knocks another arrogant male down to size with a few withering put downs and some funky grooves. Dig her style!
Why is Joan Jett in the Hall of Fame and not Three Dog Night anyway? Jett didn't write her own stuff either and had maybe a third as many hits. Head scratcher.
Want Ads is one of those songs that is just ... there. It's so different from the R & B hits from just a few years earlier. Those are the ones I prefer, by a good margin. I think R & B peaked around 1964 ...
I said my piece about Honey Cone over on the R&B thread so I won't repeat it here but I will repeat the posting of a song that was less gimmicky than the three already discussed here. It's also on the Soulful Tapestry LP and it fits in with the women empowerment theme. And as many have stated before, the single version is the best.
I just got a sealed copy of Soul Tapestry off of Ebay...couldn't believe it. I bought it for One Monkey, a song I never see on any comps for some reason. Beautiful textured cover. Love the Hot Wax label (the white one with the cool art....it was on this album which surprised me....must have been an early pressing). Got lucky as it's well pressed, but an average recording. It is a decent album but I never see used copies out in the wild. I wonder why you never hear One Monkey. I agree it is much better than Want Ads, but that could be simply because I've heard it a million times. I didn't see One Monkey on any streaming services either. Odd.
I have become somewhat familiar with "Want Ads" over the years. I think it is an OK song, but with no personal memories of it, it means virtually nothing to me (unlike the next few #1s).[/QUOTE] I'm afraid we are going to start seeing a lot of this, especially on the "Every Billboard Rhythm & Blues #1 Hit Discussion" thread that very, very few people are participating in. Another reason is because some members weren't around back then, or were too young, and oldies radio has done a piss poor job of playing songs from this era. I honestly don't understand all you guys who couldn't/cannot understand what he's singing. I can understand his diction quite clearly. Now, two songs that I can't understand what he's singing is on "Rocks Off!" and "Dancing With Mr. D". I never warmed up to most of Laura Lee's songs, but, the things that were going on in soul music in the late 60s/early 70s is in stark contrast to where it was back in the 50s and early 60s. "Shake, Rattle & Roll" by Joe Turner, indeed!
Didn't Wenner hate 3DN but swoon over Ms. Jett? Might that have something to do with it? (I seem to recall Rolling Stone having a thing over the prior band she was in . . . The Runaways . . . ) That's not all. I've not heard much if any 3DN records on Q104.3 in New York . . . but they do play Ms. Jett every so often . . .
Far prefer Jean Knight and her song. Again, just feels more authentic. This song had a huge revival 15 years or so ago when Burger King used it in an ad campaign.
Another one I remember from the country end of the spectrum was this one from 1969 by Lawrence Reynolds:
I read the book, it was excellent and a harrowing read with respect to Negron's addiction. He has a very good sense of humor also, and talked in detail about the conflicts between himself and Hutton and Wells. Speaking of Hutton, does anybody else remember him singing "Roses and Rainbows" in cartoon form on the Flintstones? Unfortunately not on YouTube, darn it.
In my particular case, as we go forward in time, the number of songs I have no memories of hearing start to go down -- particularly so by the beginning of 1973, but they do exist for me (albeit in smaller numbers) all the way through 1976. I am still only 4 years old in spring 1971. I have resisted listing those later songs I don't remember at all because I don't want to jump ahead -- I think it is more appropriate to mention them at the appropriate time. However, by my doing so, you won't know which songs they are until we get there. You are right about oldies radio, for many of those later '70s songs that I do remember, my memory of them is strictly from the '70s (at least as far as radio airplay). And I could say the same thing about oldies radio in the early '80s not playing many early '70s hits either - it seemed to me they played mostly '60s songs.
Again, speaking just for myself, it's not just the words themselves, it's the larger context of what those words could mean (e.g., at 4 years old in 1971, and at least into the 1980s, I had no idea that "brown sugar" could mean other things than the brown sugar that you buy in the baking aisle at the grocery store).
Jagger hasn't sang the line about whipping the women live for at least 20 years. Usually he leaves a blank space.
Ayup. I've also come to like "Bitch" more than "Brown Sugar" - in fact more than several A-sides from this era.
This song by John Kongos was my favorite current rock tune in the late spring of 1971, it got a lot of play on my local top 40 station KFXM...but I could never find it in stores and so didn't own it until getting on CD around 2005. "He's Gonna Step On You Again"
