Here's a fun fact. The Eagles had 5 #1 singles but not one spent more than a week at the top. Not even that revered song about traveling accommodations in the Golden state.
Which doesn't mean no one else had any role whatsoever. Ringo didn't get writing credit for "A Hard Day's Night," after all. No, he didn't. If you reread my initial post, you'll see I never said anything about Don Felder claiming to have written any part of the song. He (and reportedly at least some of the others) simply talked Henley into changing that one line. ETA: Okay, I think I see the cause of the confusion. When I said "the rest of the band talked him out of it," by 'him' I meant Henley, not Felder.
Glam was never the force on the American charts that it was say, in the UK. It certainly dominated there in a way we yanks never heard or apparently, understood. Still, some songs and recording acts did manage to navigate their way through the R&B, Disco, Country and Pop that was the mainstay here and one of those is this great Glam/Pop rocker by Sweet, Ballroom Blitz (#5). It certainly brings back memories of Bowie, Queen, Mott the Hoople, T-Rex and yes, even the music of Rocky Horror.
This one is very Rocky Horror. Glam was well past its sell-by date at this point, and this single hailed from '73 in Europe. Sloppy Euro seconds. I have no memory of this song at all from the time, and don't remember ever hearing it on oldies radio. First time I remember encountering it was in the '90s, in association with Wayne's World. I sorta like it. But "Love Is Like Oxygen" is vastly superior in my book, in all of its proggy/pop glory.
I didn't like "The Ballroom Blitz" when it was on the chart precisely because it was too frantic for my tastes. I didn't know what punk was at that point. It wasn't until the 90s when I started to like the song. Now, it's one of my favorite 70s tunes.
I'm pretty much on the same page with this one. I wasn't a big glam fan until years later when I started to appreciate the genre. All in the rear view of course.
Oh, I liked some glam, just not this song. In 1975, my head was more into R&B, funk, and disco, with the occasional pop song.
First, "The Hustle" never did much for me. I suspect in the mid-70's, I learned to do that dance, or at least a few steps of it, but I can't remember it now. As for "One Of These Nights," I go back to a previous note and pick up the story: As I said in another note, said best friend and I fell in love (the 17 year old variety--but the first for both of us), and I declared "One Of These Nights" to be 'our song.' I bought the single so we could hear it repeatedly. (Her older brother also had the album that we listened to.) There was that "someday" element for us that was woven in the lyrics. (She was not in any way "the daughter of the devil himself.") I was thinking this peaked a little later in the year, because it was #1 the very week I started dating the second gal. In the 43 years since then, I can not hear this song without thinking of her. Oh, I'm happily married now for 37 years, and dated my now-wife for 2 years before that. Add to it, my wife is a big Eagles fan, and I have heard this song a lot with her sitting right beside me in the car. But just as "Love Will Keep Us Together" is forever associated with the first girlfriend, "One Of These Nights" will remind me of the second until I get Alzheimer's--and even then, I may still associate the two. All that said, it's not my favorite Eagles song--that would be "Life In The Fast Lane"--but I think I'd still enjoy it without those memories. JcS P.S. Just as I have located the first one on Facebook, the second one and I became friends there this year. Married with four kids, she is doing well, and looking back, I can say that she was wise to get away from me when she did.
Listen To What The Man Said went to #1 because it is an example of pop perfection at its finest. The production, the melody, the musicianship and the vocals are simply amazing. Underneath all those layers though, it may not be much of a song, but wow! the end result is insanely radio friendly. A gorgeous melody. Infectuous. It was played everywhere in 1975 and 1976. Classic craftsmanship of the highest order. Whenever I play the song, my wife, who is kind-of neutral when it comes to McCartney, says this song instantly takes her back to the mid seventies and the road trips she would take across Canada from Ontario to BC with her mother and grandmother in 75-76-77. The song still resonates with her on an emotional level after all these years.
Oddly, I don't really remember "Listen To What The Main Said" from the time. I associate it more with the late '70s and on into the '80s, probably thanks to oldies radio and my circa '82 - '85 Beatles fetish. But I've always liked it - it's really just in the past decade or so I've grown to love it.
Debuting this week was one of my favorite cheese-tastic songs of the decade: "Run Joey Run" by David Geddes.
errr ... can't say I actually "like" this - but the incredible cheesiness is enticing. I particularly like how the Spoiler: yeah I'm actually going to put a spoiler here pregnant daughter cannot sing on key to save her life
You’re being too kind. Cheese-tastic is too good for it. What a wretched, well, I can barely even use the word...song. What’s even worse is I have to own up to the fact I too owned a copy! His Blind Man In The Bleachers is just as bad.
Run Music Lovers Run away from this song. This is so far removed from the world of good records it's incredible.
Another song that could have been tailor- (not Taylor- but wait, on second thought . . . ) made for the "Fresh" format if it were around "back then." Around the same time as this, NBC on Saturday mornings had a live-action adventure show titled Run, Joe, Run; wonder how many thought this was the theme to that.
I seem to remember a country version of that, by Kenny Starr, that was played frequently on 1050 WHN.
The girl singing on "Run Joey Run" is the teenage daughter of songwriter Paul Vance, which makes it even cringier. Mr. Vance wrote a lot of earworms over the years: "Catch A Falling Star", "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini", "Tracy" (Cuff Links) ... And "Playground In My Mind", so this wasn't his first tune with an annoying kid on it.