#2? I knew it was a bigger hit in the UK than the US but #2? Wow. Thank God it's pretty much forgotten here in the States.
...Blue Swede were certainly treated as one-hit wonders by U. S. EMI! Was"t the LP corresponding to HOAF their only U. S. LP release? Even though they scored another Top Ten with their " Never My Live " remake - which I never heard on the radio or knew of at sll then, IIRC, BTW. If there was never a film of the Chess musical, BTW - and I do not think there was - there was never a soundtrack album of it, by the way eBonker, post: 18740013, member: 74551"]Sunshine on My Shoulders This song was one I really liked as a kid. I was about 7 at the time, and we are now getting into the period where I remember a lot of the tunes we'll be encountering. As far as the song goes, there really isn't much to it. No doubt the nostalgia is what draws me to it. But that's as valid a reason to value something as any other I guess. Hooked on a Feeling My younger brother (he was around 5 at the time) liked Seasons in the Sun a lot, but THIS SONG was his favorite. He used to go around the house singing the ooga chaka refrain, and when it came on the radio when we were driving somewhere, we always would make a point of listening. IIRC, the name 'Blue Swede' was an American record company creation. The actual group was in fact Swedish, but was known as Bjorn Skifs and Blablus. Blablus is Swedish for blue denim, hence where the 'Blue Swede' name came from for American audiences who would never have remembered their other name. My brother has a cool compilation of this group (of course he does). I especially like their version of Never My Love, but there were several interesting numbers on there. There also are a few fun live clips of the group on YouTube. Here's one in case you ever wondered what Bjorn Skifs looked like. Fun fact: Skifs later appeared on the soundtrack album for Chess, the musical that spawned the hit One Night In Bangkok.[/QUOTE]
Boy, do I ever have a complicated reaction to "The Streak". On a theoretical level, I get why it hit so big - and it did hit big: 3 weeks at #1 in a revolving door year, and took only 6 weeks to get there. It also burned out relatively fast, which was why it only managed #8 on the year-end chart. It surfed in on a cultural phenomenon, it was simple and amusing enough to appeal to a broad audience and did have a few LOL moments - "he's just in the mood to run in the nude" is genuinely amusing. But as a pop music fan (and a comedy fan), it's garbage. Puerile tripe. A "hyuck hyuck, ain't I a clever one" manure pile that makes Hee-Haw look like high art. Look at the far more worthy songs down the charts. It kept "Dancing Machine" at #2. "You Make Me Feel Brand New", "Midnight at the Oasis" and "Help Me" are in the Top 10. And as our thread host mentioned, Mr. Stevens was capable of so much better. He did a cover version I utterly love, but won't spotlight until we get to Spring '75. Finally on a personal level, I never got to see a streaker. Living in the boondocks didn't help in that regard, I suppose. So the song reminds me of how deprived I was as an adolescent.
Two of the biggest groups of the '70s had their Hot 100 debuts while "The Streak" was stinking up the top spot. ABBA with "Waterloo" and these fellas with their cover of an old Bobby Rydell hit:
Not to get into a argument about current music, but for me that number is a little lower (I'm going to say about 80%, plus or minus). I suspect you are talking about music on the current singles charts, for which I do agree with you about the 99%. I think "The Streak" is a load of you-know-what. And I do remember it.
ray steens boogity boogity - Bing images ^^^^It was a very sobering experience as a kid seeing Ray Stevens' Boogity Boogity album in the neighborhood Sears. Even though the #1 hit in the country was on it, it took some nerve to display an album cover displaying a man's naked body. Yes, the private parts were hidden from view, but still...
Well, it was a fad for awhile, people would run naked through malls, or onto a ball field, or just about anywhere they thought would be attention grabbing. I even remember people running naked through my school a couple times. It was pretty much everywhere for awhile (hence the song).
I prefer the earlier, classic Doobie Bros. sound. But I understand why the previous lead singer, Tom Johnston, left. His choice completely. Plus, he stopped contributing songs. Funny because the Michael McDonald era DB was the Doobies that scored hits while I was in high school.
Speaking of The Doobies, it was around this time that a single containing a future #1 was released. That song that would top the charts nearly a year from this was, in this iteration, the B side of a number (seen below) which had, from what I recall, a middling chart presence: (Notice I've been holding back on mentioning what that B side was. That's for when we get to it.)
Anybody who watched TBS in the early '90s probably remembers this commercial airing every 20 minutes:
This songs so reminds of spending summers with my older brother in Denver back around 75-76.He had the lp.Still enjoy it to this day.
A friend and I streaked the National Honor Society ceremony at my high school in 1974 (which we both actually should have been participating in, but we had way more interest in raising hell).
I have memories of this from the early summer of 1974. One of the things I was allowed to do because I had just turned eighteen, was take part in the American Cancer Society's Bike-A-Thon. I, and a reasonably-close-friend went out and did the route from Harlem|Irving Plaza to downtown and back. Somehow, in this non-existant era of rapid communication, we learned on the inbound route the bike-a-thon had been streaked . Depending on who had done this, I may have enjoyed encountering this. But if we're going to confine this to released records, oh man, how about this one (on Curtom, no less)!
In my parts, it was done by some older kids in a wooded park with bike trails. I had to avoid that place for a while, being younger and smaller.
Stevens himself had put out some much better songs in the then-recent past, but this was apparently his first top 40 hit since "Everything is Beautiful". Not sure what to make of that. At my college (early-mid 90s, and also in the boondocks), it was fairly common, although for the most part it wasn't "streaking" as such - certain people would just walk around naked. They called it streaking, though. Men and women both, and in both cases, not the ones you'd probably want to see strolling about in the altogether!
Take Me In Your Arms by the Doobies was not a Top 10 record (#11). So many great songs in the top 10 and this towers over all of them. Where's the justice?
I liked "The Streak" when it was a hit, never got tired of it, and never bought it because I didn't need it--I heard it enough on the radio. But I wound up with a copy of the album BOOGITY BOOGITY. In 1977-78, I was living in the dorm on the campus of Arkansas Tech University--Paine Hall, for any that would know of which I speak--and a friend of mine had the album. I took a shine to "Bagpipes, That's My Bag" for some reason. Anyway, I taped an album onto 8-track for him (Stories ABOUT US as I recall) and he felt like he should reciprocate, so he gave me the album. I've rarely played it over the four decades since, but it brings back fond memories of the guy. (We reconnected last year via Facebook, the first contact we'd had since I graduated in 1979.) I heard "The Streak" on the 70's XM station a few weeks ago, and quite enjoyed it. If I don't hear it again for the rest of this year, I'll be fine. If I hear it again next week, I'll listen again. I saw Ray Stevens in concert in the late 80's/early 90's at the Arkansas/Oklahoma State Fair. He was still doing his Vegas act, I thought, and it didn't work well in the rodeo arena. I have no idea what he played that night--he may have played "The Streak" and he may not have. I remember liking, but not loving, the show. My favorite Ray Stevens song is still "Gitarzan." When I was 11, I remember taping it off the radio onto my dad's reel-to-reel, and learning all the words. My sixth grade teacher told me to shut up one day when I kept singing it. JcS
