A Kool and The Gang klassic was just starting to climb the charts at the dawn of '74. Best served with a Royale with Cheese and a side of fries with mayo.
Very strange! "Jungle Boogie" was was being played in the dances and clubs way back in September of '73, but it didn't hit the charts until much later. Not only that, it debuted one week earlier on the pop chart than on the R&B chart. As we move into the era when R&B/funk singles became more prominent, we will see a lot more of this. Also, as a song that was very popular on the pop chart, we sure don't hear it on oldies radio. I never have. I don't know what a Royale with cheese is, and you can keep the fires and mayo. I'll stick with ketchup.
I'm certain the smooth dance grooves they adopted in the 80s kind of pushed their mid 70s funk off the radar. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this at the time and still do along with another similarly styled group The Ohio Players.
Ohio Players. There's another very successful 70s band we never hear today. Why??? Ask almost anyone under 50 today and they think "Love Rollercoaster" is a Red Hot Chili Peppers song.
Here's a situation where I was behind the public in that I initially didn't care for this song. In fact, that lasted for at least a year before I had a change of heart. Maybe the reggae flavor annoyed me which happens a lot with me as far as Reggae goes. I do know that I came to love the loping groove paired with the rocking chorus and Miller gives a great performance as The Pompetus Of Love. Is that right?
An iconic song from the 1970s. Unfortunately, every time I hear it, I think of Homer Simpson singing it! Steve Miller kind of reinvented himself from psychedelic blues to straight forward rock beginning here and achieved considerable success. Miller was one of my favorites during my High School years.
Oh lord, even worse than the last one! I like the early Steve Miller albums as much as anyone, but this is smarmy, self-mythologizing, easy-rockin' tripe that led to many more annoying hits, tho none more so than this one. Also, Miller is a jerk.
"The Joker" was issued in September 1973; it was one of the last where Winchester, VA pressings of a Capitol single used Varityper Univers . . . Its release preceded by a month that of a single that brings about rolled eyes from a few who frequent and contribute to this thread, "Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)" by Helen Reddy - another single that would have been a Fresh radio staple if that format were around then: Notice by then, Winchester was using the same IBM Selectric Composer version of Univers that the Los Angeles plant was using (and whose layout differed somewhat from this). Also, 'twas around this time that Todd Rundgren's "Hello It's Me" - a very slow starter, released in the exact same month (December 1972) as Maureen McGovern's "The Morning After" which only got to #1 in, what, August 1973? - finally reached its peak position of #5.
That's what they call a Quarter Pounder in Paris cause they got the metric system and wouldn't know what the heck a Quarter Pounder is.
This song was huge where I lived, and it's still a treat to hear. I never get tired of it. But, I associate it with 1973.
The Joker is a really fun song and the quick Mary Jane reference slipped by many at the time. I really like this phase of Miller's career. He hit it big - really big - playing simple tunes with no pretentiousness. He had a formula all right, but it worked over and over again. Miller's music was like a party where everyone was having fun and a great time.
"The Joker" is so so overplayed, but I never seem to tire of it. It's like the laid-back goofy dude camped on your couch - you wake up determined to ask him to move along, but walk out to find he's done the laundry and made waffles. To accompany the Midnight Toker, Gregg Allman's solo debut is at #44:
One more "Time In A Bottle" tidbit - like "Top of The World" it made it's debut on the nearly two-year old hit album before his more recent one.
Something that's become rather stale in recent years . . . but in all seriousness, what is known in the biz as "Hot AC" with mainly female acts (i.e. Taylor Swift, Adele, Meghan Trainor, Pink, Lady Gaga, Alessia Cara, Ellie Goulding, Halsey) and beta males (namely Ed Sheeran, also Shaun Mendes or Charlie Puth - oh, and don't forget Justin Bieber while you're at it). And you think the #1's from this period we're looking at were enough to make one's eyes roll? Half of today's stuff on said format make these look like stone-cold classics of perfection in comparison.
Only in "Top Of The World's" case, the steel guitar line, a few instrumental parts, and sections of Karen's vocals were re-recorded for that single release. So in that case it was half and half.
We have a "fresh" station as background noise at work (luckily I can escape it in my office) and am downright annoyed at the mewling and simpering vocal style of the male artists they play. I can't help but contrast them with the R&B singers we've been discussing here of late. One Teddy Pendergrass shout has more testosterone than all these guys' catalogs combined. Hell, so did Darryl Lamont of "Love Jones" fame, and he was only 12.
Sensitive guys are hot, we need less testosterone in guys, not more. Too much machismo in the world causes all the problems it seems.
I'd noted that rock was having a hard time of it on the pop singles charts in the year end review of '73. Now low and behold, along comes Steve Miller with his incredible stadium rock formula, and suddenly rock doesn't sound so tired anymore. You can certainly argue that this song is dumb, obvious, obnoxious and overplayed - and those are all valid arguments - but it's also undeniably fun. After years of limited commercial success, Miller finally broke thru to the bigtime. We'd be hearing more - a lot more - from him in a couple of years.
