EVERY Billboard #1 hit discussion thread 1958-Present

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

  1. tmoore

    tmoore Forum Resident

    Location:
    Olney, MD
    I still maintain - it is SO much easier to criticize poor choices 40 years on than it was in January 19"whatever year you want".

    I wonder what some people here would have chosen if they were on the nominating committee for the best new artist of 2019. Wonder how right you would have been if we were discussing this in the year 2060. Do you see what I mean??
     
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  2. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    I think when the most memorable thing about your soundtrack is a 70 year old Scott Joplin tune, you probably don't merit a Best New Artist Grammy.
     
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  3. Pretty much sums that song up completely. "Da Da Da" peaked at #3 thanks to "Up Where We Belong" & "Gloria".
     
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  4. Jmac1979

    Jmac1979 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    "Da Da Da" had a second run in the states in 96-97 because of a Volkswagen commercial that proved popular enough that Island threw together a Trio "Greatest Hits" to cash in and it made the charts. A lot of us had no idea it was already a 15 year old song because it sounded remarkably fresh in 1997.

    The passenger in the commercial, Antwon Tanner, went on to play Skillz on One Tree Hill
     
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  5. John54

    John54 Senior Member

    Location:
    Burlington, ON
    At #25 is a good one -

    The Spoons, Arias and Symphonies:



    It's maybe not quite Nova Heart or (my favourite) No Electrons, but still very good and the title track off their LP
     
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  6. Hoover Factory

    Hoover Factory Old Dude Who Knows Things

    Location:
    Spokane, WA
    I remember the commercial. Hard to believe that it was done 23 years ago!
     
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  7. Hey Vinyl Man

    Hey Vinyl Man Another bloody Yank down under...

    If your soundtrack sparks the biggest interest in its genre in 70 years, and if you did the arrangements and also composed some new songs that were so stylistically accurate listeners couldn't tell they were new without looking at the writer's credit, I don't see the problem.
     
  8. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    Now as to "Up Where We Belong": This has to be the most successful chart single to Buffy Sainte-Marie's credit, as she was the co-writer of this - along with Jack Nitzsche and Will Jennings (not Waylon). More so, it would seem, than what (by all the covers over the years, including Elvis) would have been her signature tune, "Until It's Time For You To Go." They would win an Oscar and Golden Globes Award for this - and Mr. Cocker and Ms. Warnes, a Grammy.
     
    Lance LaSalle likes this.
  9. Jmac1979

    Jmac1979 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    Right. This was what it was about before it turned into a s**t show. I actually don't have a problem with ATOH and they were certainly better than the 76 and 77 Best New Artist winners... it's just that hindsight is a bitch and a year that launched a substantial number of Hall Of Fame acts (Kate Bush isn't a Hall member but many have argued for her inclusion) lost when they turned out to be some of the biggest and most influential names of the next 10-15 years.
     
    Lance LaSalle likes this.
  10. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame doesn't get it any better than the Grammy Best New Artist awards, and the Hall has the benefit of decades of hindsight. So.:shrug:
     
  11. alphanguy

    alphanguy Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Missouri
    Next is "Truly" by Lionel Richie, #1 from November 21 - December 4, 1982.

     
  12. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    For a year with so much interesting stuff going on, so much tedious crap managed to top the charts. It's sorta the reverse of 1981, where the #1's were generally vastly superior to the rest of the countdown.

    I was so sick of Lionel Richie and these **** ballads by this point I spun the dial the second I heard some of his crap fire up. Who the hell was listening to this elevator muzak?
     
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  13. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Oh, and it's caterwauly, too.

    [​IMG]
     
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  14. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    His Can’t Slow Down album flew off the shelf when I owned a record store. I’m sure the women loved his stuff. I thought it was okay but hard to listen to now. Especially Truly.
     
  15. Grant

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

    I am very surprised this song hit #1!:eek: It doesn't even sound like a #1 to me. It's not a bad song, and I like it, but it's a very unlikely song to hit the top spot, at least on the pop chart.
     
  16. pablo fanques

    pablo fanques Somebody's Bad Handwroter In Memoriam

    Location:
    Poughkeepsie, NY
    Yeah when I think back on Lionel’s run this couldn’t be further from what comes to mind. I started to lose track of what topped the charts from this point until 1986 or so outside of the obvious ones. This one definitely wasn’t obvious
     
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  17. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    In a way, "Truly" to me sounded like "Son of 'Still'."
     
  18. Hoover Factory

    Hoover Factory Old Dude Who Knows Things

    Location:
    Spokane, WA
    “Truly” proves one thing: There is no “truly” such thing as rock bottom - it can always get worst. What a dreadful song. I really liked Lionel Richie when he was in the Commodores, and even liked some of his ballads. But, this is awful.
     
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  19. Hey Vinyl Man

    Hey Vinyl Man Another bloody Yank down under...

    I like some of Lionel Richie's ballads, including one we'll be discussing here in a while. Never liked "Truly", however.
     
    sunspot42 likes this.
  20. The Slug Man

    The Slug Man Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Carolina
    "Truly"

    Truly just about anything can hit #1.
     
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  21. HGN2001

    HGN2001 Mystery picture member

    I'm "truly" thankful that this one is largely forgotten today.
     
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  22. ChrisScooter1

    ChrisScooter1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Athens, GA
    It’s a strange performance to dissect and critique...putting the impossibly dated production and era wardrobe choices aside...she’s actually singing to a canned track...by herself...in front of the entire music industry, with friends and collaborators in the audience...while essentially doing aerobics in heals...and she delivered a near pitch perfect vocal most folks would kill to be able to pull off without the use of auto tune or other production tricks. The net effect is still cringe inducing, but there’s a LOT about it to applaud.
     
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  23. ChrisScooter1

    ChrisScooter1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Athens, GA
    “You Are” was a much better tune off this album than this turd.
     
  24. bare trees

    bare trees Senior Member


    I agree. Never cared for "Truly". It sounded to much like "Still" (another song that I'm not all that fond of). "You Are", one the other hand, boasts a memorable chorus that sticks in your head.
     
    sunspot42 likes this.
  25. I don't remember this one at all, and I'm afraid to watch the YouTube clip and have my memory click into place. I know 15 year old me hated it in 1982.
     
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