I do know almost all of the #1 songs at least through the '80s, since there was a "medley of #1 hits" on the History of Rock and Roll radio show that went up through March 1981 (in the show's second version), and I lived through the '80s so I know all those as well. After that it gets spotty. Been wanting to post this for a while but it seems it will take forever to get there timewise in this thread, so I'll post it here even though it is going ahead a few years. One of my all time favorite songs (as well as being #1) is "Grazing in the Grass" by Hugh Masekela from 1968.
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do must be one of the earliest U.S. number-one singles I'm familiar with, it's certainly better remembered than a lot of those around it, perhaps because it's so catchy and distinctive.
I'm replying to my own post, since I am not getting the edit option on the earlier post. (???) Anyway, I misspoke (mistyped) earlier. The medley of #1 hits I referred to earlier was called the "History of Rock and Roll Time Sweep", and the 1981 version went from Jan. 1956 Dean Martin "Memories Are Made of This" to March 1981 Eddie Rabbitt "I Love a Rainy Night". Since the Billboard Hot 100 did not exist until the beginning of August 1958, I figured out that they used the Billboard "Top 100" from Jan. 1956 to the end of July 1958.
I like Breaking Up is Hard to Do, but I always thought Next Door to an Angel was a significant upgrade. I never thought of a relation to I Can't Stay Mad at You (another one I like a lot), but it's not really a stretch. As for Linda Scott, Star Light Star Bright is a significant upgrade to I've Told Every Little Star, and one of the best songs of 1961. Other than Every Breath I Take by Gene Pitney and Johnny Remember Me by John Leyton, I can't think of any I like better.
"I Can't Stay Mad At You" is a Goffin/King song and Sedaka was a Brill Building colleague of theirs, so it's entirely possible there was influence.
BUIHTD was a great #1 pop song and well deserved following on the heels of Right Next Door To An Angel and Calendar Girl. I'm also partial to the beautiful ballad I Must Be Dreaming which never charted on its own but was a huge hit here in the islands.
Kind of, but the point is more that older folks were buying their kind of music in high enough quantities to have an effect on the charts. Also, remember that in the mid-to-late Fifties there were many radio stations that refused to play the new Rock 'n' Roll music. As the years go on for most people, their music purchases dwindle, so, those that put Horst Jankowski and Lawrence Welk on the charts would decrease in numbers to the extent that they would disappear altogether eventually. My dad was one of those who disliked that music so much that I was allowed to play my records only when he was away from the house. For the Christmas of 1956, I asked Mom if I could have a copy of Fats Domino's "Blueberry Hill," but when I unwrapped what I knew to be a 45 by the shape of the pack, Dad had substituted the Louis Armstrong version of the song... don't know where he found it. It was OK with me, though, but I ended up playing what was on the other side more.
All one has to do is watch those fundraising music programs on PBS to realize how different things would become in the Sixties. You are correct, of course. But having brought up PBS, here is one of my favorite performances... enjoy. Long Live the Sixties!
It has been said that this was written for Dee Dee Sharp, but she refused it.... I bet she regrets that decision!
Anyone who says the Pop charts were crap before '64 are full of....well, crapola. And this song is as good as any to confirm how great music was before you know who. Besides which, it charted with 2 other versions by Grand Funk (#1 1974) and Kylie Minogue (#3 1988). Of course, the original is still the best!
Amen! And a personal story on this one. A large group of us were to meet before dawn to go to Ocean City, Maryland the morning after our senior prom, in early June of 1962; there were about 25 of us altogether. We met in the high school parking lot at 5:00 AM then piled into 4 or 5 cars for the 150 mile ride to the beach. Once there the group disbursed with the understanding that we would meet at this designated place on the boardwalk at a specified time for the return home. I missed that time somehow, and couldn't think of what to do. I was almost completely out of money and started asking strangers for help. An older woman — probably about 40 — overheard me and called for me to come over to her. She spoke to me for a few minutes, then gave me $5 and directions to the Trailways Bus terminal. With luck on my side, I arrived just minutes before a bus would be leaving for DC, and the $5 I had was more than enough to cover a one-way ticket. When the bus arrived in DC, I started walking south several miles thinking that I had just enough time to get across the 14th Street Bridge into Virginia before dark. I had been walking an hour or so, and had reached the Southeast Parkway when I heard a car honking its horn and some people shouting my name. It turned out to be some of my friends who had been part of the beach party. When I ran up to the car that had pulled off the road they all asked what had happened to me so I told them this story. Seconds later the opening of "The Loco-Motion" blared out of the radio of my friend's 1957 Ford convertible (with the top down, of course). It was the first time that any of us had heard this song, and we were all laughing and digging it. Songs on the charts before '64 certainly were not crap, but as much as I find several new songs in '62 memorable, I must say that it is 1963 that stirs me the most... YMMV.
Breaking Up is Hard to Do is a fantastic record. Its doo-wop foundation riff, the combination of simplicity and sophistication in the instruments and voices, the way Sedaka overdubbed himself, the way background singers sound at the outro -- love everything about it. Always have. Next Door to an Angel was always too much like Breaking Up is Hard to Do Pt. II and to me, anyway, not quite as good. Mono is probably better, but I like the stereo mix too. The original -- it trumps them all, and this tune has been covered a lot. Here's the stereo mix:
When I used to make tapes, one compilation was called 63 Dreams because it was centred on that year, the year I first started buying a few records, and the other was called 57 Heaven, because there was so much fantastic stuff from that year that I was discovering after-the -fact. PS You've never heard Grand Funk's version? Where have you been?
I first heard this version at a high school dance in the mid 80's... Thought it sounded like INXS... lol
