EVERY Billboard #1 hit discussion thread 1958-Present

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by alphanguy, Jan 29, 2016.

  1. Manapua

    Manapua Forum Resident

    Location:
    Honolulu
    Well, there is that pesky little detail of her dying and all that may make some want to bring it up during the 80s discussion.

    How 'bout I make a note to bring up Emotion. Ain't No Way To Treat A Lady and You're My World when the time comes? Oh dear, I just did!
     
  2. Black Thumb

    Black Thumb Yah Mo B There

    Location:
    Reno, NV
    Remarkable, isn't it? That voice surely has much to do with it, and a well--crafted pop song is hard to resist.

    Definitely. It's not that adult contemporary chanteuses had become passe, we'll see a bunch of those. She'd also shown a knack for adapting to changing styles. Her nosedive (no Airport '75 pun intended) was on him.

    It'll be a good excuse to take a break from the Men At Work analysis. ;)
     
    Hey Vinyl Man and sunspot42 like this.
  3. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    It’s really interesting how certain artists bring us out for pages of comments, and others get three comments while time crawls on waiting for the next entry!
     
    Grant likes this.
  4. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    All really good songs imo, but really, she was pretty tuckered out of decent material after that. And that might be the biggest reason why her chart fortunes quit. Her greatest hits album is one of the better one’s out there as it contained all her good songs and little filler.
     
    sunspot42 likes this.
  5. John54

    John54 Senior Member

    Location:
    Burlington, ON
    I like Laughter in the Rain, although not excessively. How many times have I said that? Not so much lately, because the no. 1 songs don't hold a candle to the previous decade (neither do nos. 2-50). I also like The Immigrant, although I'm less enthused about the rehash of Breaking Up is Hard to Do.

    (What I really like from the Sedaka playbook, however, are Next Door to an Angel (a seriously turboed-up version of Breaking Up is Hard to Do) and Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen. Oh, and Star-Crossed Lovers)
     
  6. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    No, it wasn't obvious you were talking about the 1962 version because there is that remake. If you forgot about the 1975 version, remember that we cannot read your mind to know that.

    I don't use bold type to yell. I use it to stress a point. I could use italics, but not only does that not come through when being quoted, but some people use a font that may be similar to it.

    The way many thread participants jump ahead makes me believe that they are bored with the process, and, yes, it is a process to me. Also, a journey to me suggests going through the steps one at a time.

    SomeCallMeTim just posted Neil Sedaka's cover version of his own original, No, it didn't hit #1, but it was released as a single a whole year later, and I do prefer it over the original. That's big-time jumping ahead. But, again, i'm not complaining anymore because I hope you all will see how doing that confuses the time-line.

    I vote that we call a truce on this and move on. Are you game?
     
  7. Manapua

    Manapua Forum Resident

    Location:
    Honolulu
    I was a fan in '62 probably because they appealed to an 8 year old kid as much as they were great pop songs. Everything you named is prime Sedaka and I'll add my favorite ballad that was huge around these parts - I Must Be Dreaming.

     
  8. Dr. Pepper

    Dr. Pepper What, me worry?

    I hear laughter in the rain walking hand in hand with the one I love...

    What a great lyric, great feeling, great song! Amazing how you can read those words and "wham" the song jumps into your head and "bam" you are thrown back in time to the mid seventies! Music is magic, man!
     
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  9. alphanguy

    alphanguy Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Missouri
    One chart anomaly that continued in 1975 was the appearance of a Eurovision song for a third consecutive year. Before and since, the American record buying public didn't seem to pay much mind to Eurovision songs, but starting with "Eres Tu", and rolling on through "Waterloo"... 1975 saw yet another Eurovision winner hit the top 40. It would happen again in 1976, and then not again.

     
    sunspot42 likes this.
  10. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    This was a great Eurovision song. I think it made the top 10 here.. If it didn’t it was close. Our entry that year was the Shadows’ Let Me Be The One, which I’m assuming didn’t get much love Stateside? The Shadows came second in the contest that year.
     
  11. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    When I used to do my US chart polls on here, Helen mostly got the fewest votes. No matter what the song! Kenny Rogers fared poorly also.
     
    sunspot42 likes this.
  12. Mylene

    Mylene Senior Member

    [​IMG]
     
  13. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Karen Carpenter is one of the great singers in pop history. Reddy, not so much. Not that I don't like Helen Reddy - I actually do (saw her live about 6 years ago - her advancing senility was already apparent and she couldn't remember the lyrics to "You And Me Against The World" anymore, poor thing, although her voice seemed great for her age). It's just that she was no Karen.

    But then, who is...
     
  14. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    That sounded like ABBA had a baby with Astrud Gilberto...
     
  15. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Both acts seem kind of hermetically sealed in the '70s, even tho Kenny had pop hits into the mid-'80s. I think they were both alright, along with Lionel Richie, but were maybe played a little more than their talents justified during their peak years. Phil Collins and Invisible Touch-era Genesis suffered from the same malady after overexposure in the '80s, although in the past few years I find myself enjoying their stuff again quite a bit.
     
  16. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    Now that’s a pretty weird one...I don’t know for sure if I like or hate it! That could be a grower after a few listens. Very slight resemblance to ABBA.
     
  17. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    I kinda think anyone with a decent voice could have had hits with any of Reddy’s singles. Not true at all with the better Carpenter songs. And I liked Reddy too, but not for her voice particularily, but for the songs themselves.
     
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  18. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Reddy had that kind of "swallowed" sound, if that makes any sense. Like Alicia Bridges or Terri Gibbs, who were both briefly popular later in the decade.
     
    pablo fanques likes this.
  19. Splungeworthy

    Splungeworthy Forum Rezidentura

    Re: Carpenters "Please Mr. Postman"-not my favorite Carps song by a long shot, but it is what it is. As was previously mentioned it's hard to believe "Only Yesterday" never hit the top.
    Re: Neil Sedaka "Laughter In The Rain"-a beautiful pop song I still like today. 1975 is gonna be a big year.
     
    Jrr likes this.
  20. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    I don't know if that's the description I'd use. Almost pinched/nasal like. Elliot Lurie had it too, in the Looking Glass' "Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)."
     
  21. Manapua

    Manapua Forum Resident

    Location:
    Honolulu
    She always sounded like she was pinching her nose while she sang to me, too. Or talked for that matter.
     
  22. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    It's not quite a nasal sound to me though because it's a little too rich for that. Nasal tends to be a bit tinny, which Reddy (and Alicia Bridges, etc.) weren't. To me it sounds more like singing from the top of the throat instead of from the diaphragm.
     
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  23. pablo fanques

    pablo fanques Somebody's Bad Handwroter In Memoriam

    Location:
    Poughkeepsie, NY
    Or like she just had some pound cake and forgot to wash it down
     
  24. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    Keep in mind also with "LITR" and Sedaka's other "new" tracks (one of which we'll get to some time from now), Rocket only issued his material in the U.S. In Canada, he was still on Polydor. Not even its U.S. division would have touched him when Elton stepped in.
     
  25. alphanguy

    alphanguy Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Missouri
    Nest up is "Fire" by the Ohio Players, #1 from February 2 - February 8, 1975.

     

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