1975 remake, and you did not specify that you were talking about the original version. Oh, as I stated earlier, I did not grow up knowing about Neil Sedaka, as my family never bought their music, nor did I ever hear it on the radio. So, his 70s presence was new to me. But, when his remake did come out it the end of 1975, I was made aware that he had a 1962 hit with it by way of hearing it on AT Top 40 with casey Kasem. In fact, the remake starts out with the original intro. If you heard him before 1974, bless ya! I didn't blow my stack. I have said twice now that i'm no longer protesting anyone jumping ahead. I want you all to experience for yourselves what it does to the coherency of this discussion when it happens. It isn't just you who does it. I have gotten siucked into it. Even the OP does it. Too bad you can't see how calm I am behind this keyboard. I think you're the one who needs to chill. Perhaps the format of doing one song at a time in sequence is boring you guys.
"Goofus" might have performed quite well had it been 1973, in the middle of their hot streak and pop music was going through it's vaudeville nostalgia thing. But 1976? Oof!
Just a reminder that Mr. Sedaka's inspiration for reworking "Breaking Up..." into Adult Contemporary was not entirely his own, I present this 1970 effort by Lenny "Since I Fell for You" Welch. It was one of few 45's my parents ever bought, as I don't believe there was an album (?), and I had to show them how to work the 45 adapter on the living room KLH system that I was otherwise forbidden to touch. It managed #34 pop and #8 AC in 1970.
Here is a pretty neat Spotify Playlist that complements this thread well: Billboard #1s (1960-2018), a playlist on Spotify
The Streak might be the first or second single that I owned! I loved this record, I just laughed and laughed at age 9. I did not realize that Paul's Band on the Run was what replaced the Streak. Two running songs in a row, guess the country was into physical fitness that year!
I forgot about the 1975 remake, which should explain why I didn't specify "original version". Sorry. The remake is not something I care to remember. Therefore, I was not jumping ahead. Also, see the next paragraph. Really, though -----> no clarification of 1962 vs. 1975-1976 should have been needed. I was talking about a song from 1972 that was a cover. 1962 is earlier than 1972. Late 1975 is not earlier than 1972. It should have been obvious I was talking about the 1962 version of the song -- since the late 1975 version was the first appearance of the radical remake (and that last point should be obvious and did not need to be specified). Once again, not jumping ahead. To me, bold text is the equivalent of yelling while in typing mode. I'm sorry I'm misunderstanding you. but that's the way you are coming across. Please stop making assumptions about whether doing one song at a time is boring me ("you guys" does include me). It isn't boring me. I feel the same way W.B. does --- "it's not the process, it's the journey". All I am saying is that --- when I see an obvious error, I try to figure out what the error is, rather than just call the person out on it. A lot of times it's not that hard to figure out. (to be specific, here I am referring to David Cassidy/Partridge Family --- so we don't get into an argument over exactly what I am referring to!).
I really liked “Laughter in the Rain” - a nice light-hearted pop song with a catchy melody. At the time I thought of Neil Sedaka as just another current artist who appeared on the various tv talk/variety shows. I had no idea he was making a “comeback” or that his other song (which we haven’t reached yet in the discussion but since it’s been mentioned) was his own re-make.
For those who really want to go back in time, here is a Playlist of the top songs before there was a top 100. Billboard 1940-1958 Pre-Hot 100 #1 songs, a playlist by Michael Börjesson on Spotify by the way, what is your favorite year for #1 songs so far? I think mine is 1973, great fun diversity of songs that year!
I would say my favorite year for #1 songs is 1965. A lot of future in those groups that hit #1, and before things got crazy/weird. 1966 is close behind, but as a group, I like the 1965 songs more.
List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1965 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia These are the Billboard Hot 100 number one hits of 1965. Key The #1 song of 1965, "Wooly Bully" by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, never reached #1 on the weekly charts. Issue Date Song Artist(s) Reference January 2 "I Feel Fine" The Beatles January 9 January 16 "Come See About Me" The Supremes January 23 "Downtown" Petula Clark January 30 February 6 "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" The Righteous Brothers February 13 February 20 "This Diamond Ring" Gary Lewis & the Playboys February 27 March 6 "My Girl" The Temptations March 13 "Eight Days a Week" The Beatles March 20 March 27 "Stop! In the Name of Love" The Supremes [1] April 3 [2] April 10 "I'm Telling You Now" Freddie and the Dreamers [3] April 17 April 24 "Game of Love" Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders [4] May 1 "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter" Herman's Hermits May 8 May 15 May 22 "Ticket to Ride" The Beatles May 29 "Help Me, Rhonda" The Beach Boys June 5 June 12 "Back in My Arms Again" The Supremes June 19 "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" Four Tops June 26 "Mr. Tambourine Man" The Byrds July 3 "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" Four Tops July 10 "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" The Rolling Stones July 17 July 24 July 31 August 7 "I'm Henry VIII, I Am" Herman's Hermits August 14 "I Got You Babe" Sonny & Cher August 21 August 28 September 4 "Help!" The Beatles September 11 September 18 September 25 "Eve of Destruction" Barry McGuire October 2 "Hang On Sloopy" The McCoys October 9 "Yesterday" The Beatles October 16 October 23 October 30 November 6 "Get Off of My Cloud" The Rolling Stones November 13 November 20 "I Hear a Symphony" The Supremes November 27 December 4 "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)" The Byrds December 11 December 18 December 25 "Over and Over" The Dave Clark Five
List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1973 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia These are the Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1973. The longest running number one single of 1973 is "Killing Me Softly With His Song" by Roberta Flack which stayed at the top spot for five non-consecutive weeks. Key The yellow background indicates the #1 song on Billboard's 1973 Year-End Chart of Pop Singles. Issue Date Song Artist(s) Reference January 6 "You're So Vain" Carly Simon January 13 January 20 January 27 "Superstition" Stevie Wonder February 3 "Crocodile Rock" Elton John February 10 February 17 February 24 "Killing Me Softly with His Song" Roberta Flack March 3 March 10 March 17 March 24 "Love Train" The O'Jays March 31 "Killing Me Softly with His Song" Roberta Flack April 7 "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" Vicki Lawrence April 14 April 21 "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" Dawn featuring Tony Orlando April 28 May 5 May 12 May 19 "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" Stevie Wonder May 26 "Frankenstein" The Edgar Winter Group June 2 "My Love" Paul McCartney & Wings June 9 June 16 June 23 June 30 "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)" George Harrison July 7 "Will It Go Round in Circles" Billy Preston July 14 July 21 "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" Jim Croce July 28 August 4 "The Morning After" Maureen McGovern August 11 August 18 "Touch Me in the Morning" Diana Ross August 25 "Brother Louie" Stories September 1 September 8 "Let's Get It On" Marvin Gaye September 15 "Delta Dawn" Helen Reddy September 22 "Let's Get It On" Marvin Gaye September 29 "We're an American Band" Grand Funk October 6 "Half-Breed" Cher October 13 October 20 "Angie" The Rolling Stones October 27 "Midnight Train to Georgia" Gladys Knight & the Pips November 3 November 10 "Keep on Truckin' (Part 1)" Eddie Kendricks November 17 November 24 "Photograph" Ringo Starr December 1 "Top of the World" The Carpenters December 8 December 15 "The Most Beautiful Girl" Charlie Rich December 22 December 29 "Time in a Bottle" Jim Croce
Before we leave (at least for a while) Sedaka and Carpenters talk, here's one more item I remember from the time. The Carps were doing a Vegas tour and since Sedaka was enjoying renewed fame and wrote Solitaire, they offered him the opening slot. He proved to be so popular with the audience and was stealing their thunder so he was subsequently let go. Columist Rona Barrett detailed what went down and it looks like both sides came out looking bad.
Oh, I forgot about that. Elton would have a falling out with Neil not long after. That was the end of that comeback...
We've just started my favorite year so far! A lot of it is nostalgia because it's the first year I have a lot of strong memories of.
If you don't mind me asking, how old are you? I just turned 54 and for some reason the songs from 1972-1974 have a really unique place in my heart. It might be do to the fact that my older sisters had entered junior high and were really into listening to the radio and calling in requests. Seems like the radio was on all the time in those years.
Bobby, based on music you enjoy may I recommend that you pick up a cheap copy of Sedaka’s Back, which contains that song? I think it’s up your alley and a nice album. Not well recorded, but good music. The Immigrant is my favorite all time Sedaka song and is on there as well. As another poster mentioned, it was pieced together from two albums so that’s probably why it contains a lot of good songs. The opening song, Standing On The Inside is outstanding and should have also been a single. And if you can forget the “other version” we’ll discuss later, his version of Love Will Keep Us Together is very good and one of the few songs I like just about as much as a hit version by another artist. It’s easy to see why Elton signed him to his label. Unfortunately, at least for me personally, his albums were very weak after that one and a singles comp would be much better, but Sedaka’s Back stands on it’s own as a fine album from 1974. I have it on vinyl and don’t need my CD...if you can’t find it cheap PM me and I’ll send you mine in return for all your great threads and posts!
It could indeed totally melt down. What I’ve tried to do, and not always been successful at, is to only bring up hits by artists that we’re on their only number one, or the last number one by that artist, and therefore said artist is likely going to disappear from here because of that (I know...not very elegantly put...sorry but you get my point). Otherwise, a lot of good info will never get written. For example, Sedaka wrote Love Will Keep Us Together and we know his version was not the hit, but it will be coming up soon so I referenced it but did not mention the artist. But I think it was a good point as it was such a huge song, and he did a very good version of it imo. And I think this is kinda the solution others have agreed to as well, a few pages back. We’ll see how it works, but I agree we should try to adhere to that guideline. And, as you pointed out, we don’t want to all shoot our “wad” when some big monster hits start popping up from artists that aren’t as hot during this time frame.
Sedaka was so new to me when Laughter was being played all the time that I thought he was a female artist! Many others thought the same back then. He had been off the radio for a long time, so it’s understandable.
I just turned 54 myself! I was the oldest, and my folks were almost strictly into country so I pretty much had to blaze my own trail into pop music. Also, we lived way in the boondocks clear up until '77, so radio reception was strictly an "after sundown" thing. '75 was the year that it all clicked into place and I really fell in love with what was coming over those crackly AM signals. That said, a lot of pop songs from '71 to '74 made a huge impression as they played in the world around me. But it wasn't until late '74 that I actively pursued them.
My thoughts exactly. Carpenters are a perfect example of this - we know this is their last #1. We know they're not going to make much of an impact in the last half of the decade. And I don't know about anyone else, but these next five years are going to be jam-packed with other artists I intend to discuss. I probably would've spotlighted "All You Get From Love Is A Love Song" since I love it so much, but other than that there will be no compelling reason to bring them up. So why not give an act that's been a huge part of these pages for the last five years a well-deserved bon voyage and sum up the rest of their career? (BTW, Helen Reddy just had her final #1, but the gang here clearly don't love her as much. )
Curious point there. I've mentioned elsewhere how I've been noticing since I was a teenager, everyone seems to love at least one Carpenters song (and usually several), no matter how far removed that sound is from their usual tastes. That doesn't apply to many of their contemporaries, so it really seems specific not to early-70s mellow in general, but to the Carpenters in particular.
I think "at the time" many in the industry came to dislike her then-hubby Jeff Wald who had something of a "reputation," but other than that I'm not going further, and that backlash would affect her career. But it may have something to do with why her chart fortunes began to fall south after that final #1 of hers.