EVERY Billboard #1 hit discussion thread 1958-Present

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

  1. Hoover Factory

    Hoover Factory Old Dude Who Knows Things

    Location:
    Spokane, WA
    Another favorite from 1979 - “The Girl of My Dreams” by Bram Tchaikovsky.

    Power Pop at its finest!

     
  2. Dougd

    Dougd Forum Resident

    Location:
    Fla.
    Great one. Should've been a much bigger hit.
     
  3. Nipper

    Nipper His Master's Voice

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    Best #1s of the 1970s:

    1. "Bridge Over Troubled Water" - Simon & Garfunkel. Art just owns this song.
    2. "Let It Be" - Beatles. I wish George had recorded fifty solos for this; I'd love them all.
    3. "Hotel California" - Eagles. Best guitar duet/trading solos ever!
    4. "American Pie" - Don McLean. That''ll be the day.
    5. "Superstition" - Stevie Wonder. Funkiest groove.
    6. "Bennie And The Jets" - Elton John. Electric boots/mohair suits.
    7. "Band On The Run" - Paul McCartney & Wings. All I need is a pint a day.
    8. "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" - Jim Croce. I lived on the south side of Chicago in 1968.
    9. "Stayin' Alive" - Bee Gees. The CPR theme song.
    10. "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" - Paul & Linda McCartney. I think RAM is now my most-played album of the 70s.
    11. "Sundown" - Gordon Lightfoot. As good as anything in the top ten.
    12. "American Woman" - Guess Who. That Randy Bachman guitar tone!
    13. "My Sweet Lord" - George Harrison. Cuz the pope owns 51% of GM.
    14. "Me And Bobby McGee" - Janis Joplin. Windshield wipers slappin' time.
    15. "Dreams" - Fleetwood Mac. Hard to believe this was their only #1 single.
    16. "Rich Girl" - Hall & Oates. Love Daryl's voice.
    17. "Miss You" - Rolling Stones. What's the matter man?
    18. "Song Sung Blue" - Neil Diamond. My favorite song when I was in kindergarten.
    19. "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" - Paul Simon. Stevie Gadd!
    20. "The Joker" - Steve Miller Band. Peaches.

    Honorable Mention:

    "Cat's In The Cradle" - Harry Chapin
    "Cracklin' Rosie" - Neil Diamond
    "You're The One That I Want" - John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John
    "Pop Muzik" - M
    "Blinded By The Light" - Manfred Mann's Earth Band
    "Grease" - Frankie Valli
    "Too Much Heaven" - Bee Gees
    "Fame" - David Bowie
    "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" - BJ Thomas
    "Angie" - Rolling Stones


    Best non-#1s of the 1970s:

    "The City Of New Orleans" - Arlo Guthrie. Steve Goodman's anthem for the heartland.
    "Piano Man" - Billy Joel. An anthem for Saturday night. Tonic 'n gin.
    "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" - Elton John. Couple of vodker 'n tonics.
    "Kodachrome" - Paul Simon. Nice bright colors.
    "Lyin' Eyes" - Eagles. Truer words rarely sung so sweetly.
    "It Don't Come Easy" - Ringo Starr. Got to pay your dues.
    "The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald" - Gordon Lightfoot. The legend lives on.
    "What's Going On" - Marvin Gaye. Preach.
    "Lookin' Out My Back Door" - Creedence Clearwater Revival. John deserved a #1 somewhere out of all those #2s!
    "Levon" - Elton John. My favorite Elton song.
    "Baker Street" - Gerry Rafferty.
    "Instant Karma!" - John Lennon. We all shine on. Could list "Imagine" too.
    "Dream On" - Aerosmith. Sentimental.
    "We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions" - Queen. And "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Killer Queen".
    "Day After Day" - Badfinger. Such sweet guitar.
    "YMCA" - Village People. Silly fun is ok.
    "Go All The Way" - Raspberries. Power pop.
    "Black Magic Woman" - Santana.
    "Miracles" - Jefferson Starship.
    "Slip Slidin' Away" - Paul Simon. And many others, like "American Tune", "Me & Julio..."...
    "Sultans Of Swing" - Dire Straits. This Knopfler guy should produce Dylan.
    "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" - Bob Dylan. And "Tangled Up In Blue" too.
    "Driver's Seat" - Sniff 'n' The Tears. Little driving on a Saturday night.
    "The Bitch Is Back" - Elton John. Artist of the decade?
    "Maybe I'm Amazed" - Paul McCartney & Wings. Live from WOA.
    "Rock Steady" - Aretha Franklin. Move your hips.
    "Magic Man" - Heart.
    "Radar Love" - Golden Earring. Brenda Lee, comin' on strong.
    "More Than A Feeling" - Boston.
    "Do It Again" - Steely Dan. "Reelin' In The Years".
    "Night Moves" - Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band. Autumn's closin' in.
    "25 Or 6 To 4" - Chicago. And I'm going to be up until that time if I don't stop this list now.
     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2019
  4. Hey Vinyl Man

    Hey Vinyl Man Another bloody Yank down under...


    That's an attractive label. Very 1979, but attractive. I don't think I've ever seen it before.
     
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  5. MielR

    MielR THIS SPACE FOR RENT

    Location:
    Georgia, USA
    Here's a "live" performance of Please Don't Go from when the song was released. Their last tour as the classic "sunshine band", sadly.
     
  6. AppleBonker

    AppleBonker Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    Agreed. Then there's George's Ding Dong Ding Dong, which almost never gets played (didn't help that his voice was a bit shot when he recorded it, and it isn't exactly the most compelling thing he ever wrote). Did Ringo ever do an Xmas tune?

    Here's a pretty funny video for the song. George rummaged through his closet for his costumes in this one!

     
  7. AppleBonker

    AppleBonker Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    Yup, Ringo DID do a Christmas song. He re-recorded the Beatles fan club number 'Christmas Time is Here Again' in 1999. Considering how, uh, rudimentary that song is, I wondered how he managed to make it go on for four+ minutes. If you want to know how he did it, click below!

     
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  8. AppleBonker

    AppleBonker Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    I was surprised to discover that Video Killed The Radio Star was released in late 1979. The song by the Buggles is famous as the first video ever played on MTV, which would not start up for a couple of years yet, so I assumed that it was released closer to that time.

    The song was a super smash hit in much of the world. In Australia, it was the biggest selling single for 27 years. It also topped the charts in the UK in October, 1979, and reached number one in Japan and Italy as well. But it only got to 40 in the US, which is really stunning considering how often I heard it on the radio (and saw it on MTV).

    Here's the iconic video (for some reason including about 30 seconds of blank padding at the end; perhaps this is the point when video had in fact killed the radio star).

     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2019
  9. Nipper

    Nipper His Master's Voice

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    "Please Don't Go" always gives me the impression that it's pining for the fjords of the 70s. Yeah, on the surface it's pleading with a lover not to go, but as the #1 song at the transition of the decades it is also lamenting the passage of that time. And it works! Its lover Piña Colada returns for another week! And we are treated to a redux on the charts for a few years until the "real" 80s sound arrives.

    At the end of the 1940s, Frankie Laine's #1 hits "That Lucky Old Sun" and "Mule Train" (get along!) usher out the decade that ended the world war and the depression. Transition to the boomer-childhood-glorified 50s with "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer".

    The 50s come to an end with Frankie Avalon's "Why" at #1. "I'll never let you go. Why? Because I love you...". Then the gunslinger West arrives in 1960 with "El Paso".

    The last 'real' :D #1 of the 60s is the Beatles with "Come Together/Something". Then in December we get three 'Goodbye' #1 hits: Steam's "NaNa Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye"; Peter, Paul & Mary's "Leaving On A Jet Plane"; and the Supremes' "Someday We'll Be Together". Transition to the 70s - can't shake the gloom - BJ Thomas with "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head".

    p.s. - I like "Please Don't Go", and don't mind "Escape", both nice-sounding tunes whose shallow lyrics occupy that space in time.
     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2019
  10. I have been a silent observer of this thread & love it. Great commentary.

    I will take a look at different angle, I hope it's okay. As a strength trainer for teen athletes, I have music playing almost all day & it's interesting which songs maybe didn't hit #1 but yet are known by young people today.

    In that category from 1979 (& thanks to movies, commercials & pop culture in general) which come to mind:
    "YMCA"
    "September"
    "My Sharona"
    "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough"
    "Bad Girls"
    "London Calling"
    "Hot Stuff"
    "I Will Survive"
    "The Logical Song"
    "I Want You To Want Me"
    "The Devil Went Down to Georgia"
    "Rock Lobster"

    I'd say the top 3-4 are know by the vast majority, yet the top 2 never hit #1.
     
  11. Nipper

    Nipper His Master's Voice

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    Yeah, "September" has been really popular with our high school students here the last few years.
     
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  12. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Oh yeah, I loved this one as a kid. Always reminds me of a Greyhound trip I took with my aunt from our hometown of Superior down to her place in Phoenix, circa the winter of '72/'73, on a grey wet day.

    One of the great hits of the decade. Co-written by Allee Willis, who also co-wrote the Pet Shop Boys / Dusty Springfield duet "What Have I Done To Deserve This".
     
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  13. alphanguy

    alphanguy Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Missouri
    Next is "Rock With You" by Michael Jackson, #1 from January 13 - February 9, 1980.

     
  14. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    OK, now we're getting a real glimpse of what the '80s were gonna sound like (minus the disco strings).

    Michael & Quincy were a dynamite combo.
     
  15. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    I much prefer the mix as on the (edited) 45 and on later pressings of the Off The Wall album - with handclaps on the chorus, and claves heard during the bridge and instrumental break. Some 'round here prefer the mix with neither, which was on first-pressings of the LP (and Japanese-made CD's from when they were first introduced in late '82).
     
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  16. tommy-thewho

    tommy-thewho Senior Member

    Location:
    detroit, mi
    Love Rock With You!!

    Love Off the Wall.
     
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  17. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus

    Pretty hard not to love "Rock With You".
     
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  18. Hey Vinyl Man

    Hey Vinyl Man Another bloody Yank down under...

    I was 10 when Thriller was huge. I don't recall being aware of anything MJ did before that. It's funny what we miss. Great song.
     
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  19. The Slug Man

    The Slug Man Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Carolina
    "Rock With You"

    Give me Off The Wall any time over Thriller.
     
  20. Victor/Victrola

    Victor/Victrola Makng shure its write

    I've always preferred MJ's Motown stuff over the Columbia era. I can't deny that Jackson has an abundance of talent but I never warmed up to Off The Wall or Rock With You.
     
  21. Grant

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

    I don't like the remix of "Rock With You" I prefer the original without the handclaps.
     
  22. tmoore

    tmoore Forum Resident

    Location:
    Olney, MD
    I remember when I first heard the Off the Wall album (late 1979 IIRC). I remember being very excited by "Rock With You" -- this was the new "grown-up" Michael Jackson. This must have been in late 1979, before the single was big, because when my sister played the album for me, it was the first time I had heard the song. I'm sure the then-upcoming decade change also had something to do with me feeling that way.

    In spite of what happened subsequently (meaning the next (and last) 29+ years of his life), the song still makes me feel that way.
     
    Last edited: Sep 16, 2019
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  23. tmoore

    tmoore Forum Resident

    Location:
    Olney, MD
    This whole thing about "Escape" rising to the top in two separate decades, to me, is a crock. It's not unheard of for songs to rehit #1 "during the same chart run". Somewhat unusual, but certainly not unheard of, when looking at past charts. This just happened to be around the decade change.

    At 11:59:55 on Dec 31, it was the '70s. 10 seconds later at 12:00:05, it was Jan. 1 and the '80s. Two different decades. But only 10 seconds apart. That's how I feel about this "accomplishment".

    Maybe I'm jaded because I lived through that time and it wasn't much different on Jan. 1, than it had been on Dec. 31.

    If it had been two separate chart runs, ala "The Twist", now that would be an accomplishment.
     
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  24. Cheevyjames

    Cheevyjames Forum Resident

    Location:
    Graham, NC
    I've never heard that one until now. I like it better than Please Don't Go, but it's also doesn't really "go" anywhere. I get the feeling that a lot of KC's songs are about a singular feeling and there's not much depth besides that. Granted I've only heard less than 10 of his overall output so it may not be correct. Anyway...

    MJ - Rock With You

    I like this song a lot. That melodic change on "sunlight" is genius.
     
  25. Grant

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

    You make a good point. You gotta figure that most songs that were released and charted in the first half of any decade were recorded during the previous year because of the slow way the record industry worked during the time.

    The music was still the same, but, at least what I always heard, was that radio started to change up their playlists somewhat on January first or second in the new year.
     

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