EVERY Billboard #1 hit discussion thread 1958-Present

Yep. During Nancy Wilson's switch from a pop/jazz to an R&B singer in the '70s, her 1973 album I Know I Love Him is one the tan-orange label and it's bluesy as all get out and with the Crusaders. All In Love Is Fair appeared with one in the "old" label and the other in the R&B label.

Me? I thought the label/logos difference was kind of corny.

 

I thought In The Year 2525 was so profound at the time. Since then, if I never heard it again it wouldn't bother me. I do like the fact that this bit of psychedelia followed the MOR Romeo & Juliet instrumental. 1969 sure was schizo.

 

This song stressed me out when I was a kid. It was exactly at that age of six where I started to question our existence, and what would become of us as humans.

I like hearing it once in a while.

 

The stereo mix was apparently done by RCA itself from the original multi-track master (and sounds as hollow and muddy, sonic-wise, as much of what was recorded at 6363 Sunset in Hollywood up to around this point). No additional overdubs that I know of were made by the label. It would seem the trumpet heard in the opening part was mixed out on the original late 1968/early 1969 release on the regional Truth label, which was in mono - and the strings and horns far more prominent than on the RCA release. Here it is, for comparison:

Alas, when RCA UK released this record (in mono), they used a fold-down of RCA's stereo mix, rather than this original dedicated mono mix. (Ironically, RCA Custom pressed this release, at their Hollywood plant, with matrix numbers from the Hollywood block.)

 

This number was, after all, listed among the fifty worst rock and roll singles of all time in the book The Worst Rock & Roll Records of All Time. A few money quotes:
- "As William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and Jefferson Starship have proven, science fiction and rock and roll don't mix any better than Zsa Zsa Gabor and reality."
- " . . . as silly and vapid as an outtake from Abbott & Costello Go to Mars . . . "
- " . . . on top of the charts for forty days and forty nights."
- "Perhaps the only solace we can take in our desensing is the likelihood that in this future we won't be able to hear any Zager and Evans songs."

Me, I still dig it. Much better than a more recent song entitled "Year 3000" which was covered by The Jonas Brothers once upon a time . . .

Another point: The late Jerry ("When I Stop Talking, You'll Know I'm Dead") Weintraub was the one who brought this act - and the master - to RCA's attention. Never mind it was the only time the guys ever appeared on the charts . . .

 

And it was written in like 1964. It's a neat song to hear from time to time, it's just not essential for me. 6 weeks? Jeez, that's quite a spell to cast then disappear for all time.

 

"Now it's been 10,000 years, man has drank a million beers..."

We were mischievous little kids.

I'm kinda meh about 2525. Yeah, it's got stupid lyrics, but kinda catchy as psychedelic folk songs go. Z&E deserved to be one-hit wonders.

 

Never heard this song before... hopefully I never do again.

 

There it is. 6 weeks at #1 and someone's never heard it. It does indeed happen and I can point the finger in my own direction. Up until it's 7th or 8th week at #1, I'd never heard Despacito. Look where it currently is.

 

So "2525" was #1 when Woodstock was going on. Like, wow....

 

From Wikipedia:

It is unusual for a recording artist to have a number one hit and then never have another chart single. Zager and Evans are the only act to do this in both the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart.

 

Exactly how many songs were prevented from getting up to #1 during Z&E's time in the sun? I'm guessing one of CCR's was amongst them . . . ?

 

No, just "Spinning Wheel" and "Crystal Blue Persuasion", neither of which I like much better than "In the Year 2525".

Their follow-up single, "Mr. Turnkey," managed to be even more depressing: it was about a rapist who nailed himself to his cell wall. Little wonder that didn't burn up the charts, huh?

 

Both songs of which, I might add, are much preferable in mono (though a stereo mix of the overdubbed single version of "Spinning Wheel" exists, courtesy stereo promos made "back then"). Further, their respective mixes are unique from the stereo LP versions (the horns on "Crystal Blue Persuasion," for example, on the 45).

The Worst Rock & Roll Records of All Time book misspelled that title as "Mr. Turkey." Which I suppose, in terms of their subsequent career trajectory, was apropos. Again, I quote: "The narrator didn't bleed to death until after the song ended, roughly the same time Denny and Rick went their separate ways."

 

Lol, I wasn't alive in 1969, I was born over 20 years afterwards. That's a good reason why I'd never heard it. Like many of the #1's in this thread so far. When we get to about 1998/99 there wouldn't be one I wouldn't have heard I think.

 

And I suppose that might be because it's not a rock and roll record. It doesn't surprise me that rock and roll snobs can't appreciate something as unique as a psychadelic and folk-tinged Spanish march.

 

Unless The Clash had recorded it

 

I'm not saying I agree with their assessment, far from it. I just report. But it did seem that on some level, the authors have a Rolling Stone magazine-influenced stereotype about what rock music should be (presumably high on saxophones and mandolins) - not to mention this totally sailing over the authors' heads. ("Granny's Mini-Skirt" by Irene "Granny" Ryan from The Beverly Hillbillies wasn't rock and roll either - but it too made the list. Albeit misdated as 1965 when in fact it came out in 1968.)

 

The song always sounded like rock to me.

 

Now this is a gospel song I love. Who says I'm consistent anyway?

Although when I listen to it, I keep hearing...

'Oh Happy Day' (ha-re krish-na) 'When Jesus walked' (ha -re la -ma). Yeah, it sounds a lot like George Harrison's My Sweet Lord. Moreso than that song sounds like He's So Fine, I think. But considering Harrison was aiming for a Hindu spiritual, it's not so surprising he borrowed from gospel...

 

MARRS ~ Pump Up the Volume made #1 in the UK and they never even made another record let alone hit the charts again.

 

Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet

For never was a story of more woe
than this of Juliet and her Romeo​

Sounds like I'm in the (extreme) minority here, but I think this is a flat out beautiful and haunting melody. It was used to superlative effect in the (IMO) definitive film version of Romeo and Juliet, Franco Zefferelli's production from 1968. I will agree, though, that Mancini's version of the song does not have nearly the power or poignancy of either the version with vocals or the Nino Rota instrumental takes from the film. I think of this as the K-Tel version of that song, if that makes sense to those reading. Dumbed down for mass consumption.

I also happen to be a big fan of the film, and personally think Olivia Hussey is one of the most beautiful women who ever walked the Earth (she played Juliet for those who hadn't heard). I find it hilarious that she was not allowed to see the film at the premiere because she was too young. There's a nude scene, you see, so it was forbidden for teenagers to watch it (she was 16 at the time). The problem is, it was Hussey herself who was naked. So she wasn't allowed to see herself naked on screen, but she could go home and see herself naked anytime she wanted. LOL.

Romeo was quite smitten with her, as you might have heard:

See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand!
O, that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek!​

Of course, this film has been a staple of high school Shakespeare classes ever since. I was one of those who saw it in high school and fell for it then. Yes, it included the nude scene when we saw it; needless to say, that caused quite a stir in a 10th grade English class!

Photo: Olivia is shocked, SHOCKED, that there is nudity in the film



Meanwhile, I don't mean to snark on Mancini. I think he was one of the greats of the era. Besides the iconic Pink Panther theme and Baby Elephant Walk, he wrote Moon River, my all time favorite movie theme. God, what a beautiful song. Even if 'huckleberry friend' is an obscure reference, it somehow makes perfect sense in the context of that song (yes, I know it was Johnny Mercer who wrote the words!).

Of course, sometimes he got involved in somewhat embarrassing moments. Here's a clip from The Music of Lennon and McCartney, that weird variety show that John and Paul got roped into in 1965. The interplay here between Beatle and pianist is cringe-inducingly bad, but how fun is it to hear Henry Mancini take on the Beatles? It's not beat music, but it shows just how flexible to interpretation even their early stuff was:

 

From Mark Knopfler's ROMEO AND JULIET

Juliet the dice were loaded from the start
And I bet and you exploded in my heart
And I forget I forget the movie song
When you gonna realise it was just that the time was wrong Juliet?

 

After Buddah's Pavilion subsidiary acquired the master which was previously vanity pressed by Century (back when the group was called the Northern California State Youth Choir), stampers from that entity's original lacquers were used on some Pavilion pressings before they wore out and new lacquers had to be recut. (I actually have a copy of the original Century-made pressing of the LP from which it came, believe it or not.) As with most cases when practicable, the CBS Pitman is the way to go with this 45 for me. Very first pressings were on a white label, but unless otherwise marked was not a promo:

(The lead-out spacing here indicates a recut. The deadwax was very narrow on the original Century cuts.)