EVERY Billboard #1 hit discussion thread 1958-Present

In this thread, I will post every night, in chronological order.... Every song to hit the #! spot on the Billboard hot 100, and we can discuss each song as it comes up, what we liked about the song, what we didn't, it's significance to music history.

 

This first Hot 100 #1 song is "Poor Little Fool" by Ricky Nelson, #1 from August 4-17, 1958

 

Like the idea of this thread. So many ups and downs

 

I've loved this song since I first heard it for myself -- in 1964 when my parents bought a Magnavox console stereo. The store threw in a handful of LPs in the deal and a copy Ricky Nelson's second LP was included in the bunch.

Besides the great vocals, one thing that really strikes me about this record is the clean sounding recording. Nice and clear considering the era.

The song itself is both catchy and memorable, which for me is unusual in a ballad.

The album is a great piece of 1958 rockabilly, well played and recorded and I still play it and still love it.

 

"Poor Little Fool" was written by Sharon Sheeley. She was riding in the car with Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran when it wrecked near Chippenham, Wiltshire, killing Cochran.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_Sheeley

James Burton plays guitar on "Poor Little Fool." It ranks right beside "Garden Party" as my favorite Ricky Nelson song.

 

there have been 1049 number-one singles since the hot 100 was instituted.

see you on 10 december 2018, after you've posted a song to this thread every single day.

 

What a great idea for a thread! I used to have a book that devoted a page to every Billboard hot 100 #1 hit single, discussing the impact of the song, the history of it or the artist recording it. I'll have to see if I still have that book on a shelf somewhere.

 

one of the great things about the early Ricky Nelson recordings other than James Burton's guitar licks, are the backing vocals by the 'Jordanaires'..
I believe Rick would hold on doing sessions until or unless the 'Jordanaires' were also available, who were incredibly busy doin' Elvis' stuff, other artists, and their own stuff too.
Rick had great taste in muso's.
RickB

 

James Burton, bassist James Kirkland (largely hidden), and Ricky Nelson, 1958

 

Is there a reason for starting in 1958? Billboard's Top 100 officially dates back to 1955. How else are we supposed to discuss Love Letters In The Sand or Tammy, let alone Hound Dog and Rock Around The Clock? Not to mention the first No.1 of '58 At The Hop.

 

The Hot 100 is separate and distinct from the Top 100, which existed alongside the Best Sellers in Stores, Most Played on the Radio, and Most Played in Jukeboxes charts. Only in 1958 was there a single chart.

 

When did Joe Osborn join?

If the drummer was from Louisiana that would've given Ricky (with Burton, Osborn, and Puddler Harris) an all Bayou State band.

 

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about the differing designations. Thanks for the re-mind. Carry on.

 

Sharon Sheeley (1940-2002)





Death Cab For Cutie:

I like "Poor Little Fool" well enough, but when it comes to Ricky Nelson, there is "Hello Mary Lou" and then there is everything else. That solo is James Burton's ticket to immortality.

 

In '58, most labels, including Imperial, were still issuing their product in 78 RPM format. By 1960, most had phased the format out. I love playing Rock 'n' roll 78s!

 

I'm grateful at having caught James Burton in concert with Elvis Presley. Never managed to see Ricky Nelson.

 

"Poor Little Fool" is one of my favorites. Ricky Nelson had such a great string of hits!

 

Alone among Ricky/Rick Nelson's 45s on Imperial from 1957 through 1962, "Poor Little Fool" was not issued with a picture sleeve.

It was on collectors' want lists for decades. Always, someone would claim that they'd seen it, or that they knew someone who knew someone who owned it. But no copy ever turned up.

The theory as to why "Poor Little Fool" didn't have a picture sleeve is that Ricky Nelson didn't like the song and never approved a photo to use on the 45. Daddy Ozzie Nelson approved the single release over his son's objection. Rick never sang it on the family's TV show.

 

This isn't completely true. The Top 100 and the Most Played on the Radio (Disc Jockey) charts both disappeared after the July 28, 1958 issue of Billboard, but the Best Sellers chart continued alongside the Hot 100 until October 13, 1958.

Based on my own chart research, by 1958 there was a fairly close concordance between the Best Seller chart and the old Top 100; the primary difference was that the larger chart listed individual sides rather than combining both sides into one entry, which the Best Sellers chart had done since 1955. The Disc Jockey chart was the strange one; songs made the top 20 of the radio chart that never appeared in the Top 100 Sides chart. These were often white-bread covers of others' hits or by artists we'd call "easy listening" today.

 

Sharon pitched Poor Little Fool, which was based on her experiences dating Don Everly, to Ricky by mentioning that Elvis was planning to record the song.

Ricky didn't care much for the song but reluctantly agreed to record it for inclusion on his second album. Ricky: "It was a different kind of song - real uptown. Singles were the important thing, and all of a sudden dee-jays started playing that song off the album, and I had to be talked into releasing it as a single."

Something tells me we'll be revisiting this type of story (song recorded as album filler that becomes a hit single) several times throughout this thread!

 

I have always enjoyed the sound of Ricky Nelson's early recordings, including Poor Little Fool. Some details on the techniques used for those recordings is summarized here:

http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/print/inside_the_techniques_used_to_record_rick_nelson

 

Every night?

 

Poor Little Fool is a strong start. I suspect there will be a lot of songs I don't like nearly as much as this one. Good idea for a thread.

 

Great idea for a thread! It will expose me to some great music I've never heard before hopefully.

 

This thread is going to be fun.
Love Ricky Nelson and "Poor Little Fool" is up there on my list of favorites from him.

Prior to the Beatles hitting it big in America, he was a huge name on the scene.
19 top 10 hits between 1957 and 1963... a few which were double A-sided.