Now we have "You Don't Have To Be A Star" by Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr., #1 from January 2 - January 8, 1977.
I like how many No. 1s stay at the top for a week or two at most. I prefer it that way to the ones that hog the top position FOR NEARLY A MONTH, keeping many other great songs out of that high spot. Hence why I consider many No. 2-5s actually No. 1s.
The insult after being unceremoniously dumped by Clive Davis from his Arista label finally paid off for The 5th Dimension's lead husband and wife vocalists. The duo hit it big with this surprise single, and it was a biggie! It sounded perfect on the radio, too. We also discussed this #1 on the Every Billboard #1 Rhythm & Blues thread too.
And I mentioned this over there: It was another winner for producer Don Davis (presumably no relation to Billy), this on the heels of the magic he worked on Johnnie Taylor with "Disco Lady." Here, the arrangement is handled by R&B veteran Horace Ott.
Pleasant song - it’s got some early 1970s retro feel to it. I don’t like it as much as the tunes they did with the 5th Dimension - they were really unique and ground breaking pop.
"You Don't Have To Be A Star"- not a song you hear much nowadays. Song is OK but doesn't have that lasting power.
"You Don't Have To Be A Star" is pleasant enough pop, I guess--but I didn't like pop that was merely pleasant back then. Still don't, really. JcS
I think the group signed when Ms. McCoo and Mr. Davis were still with The 5th Dimension, then the duo bailed out of the group before the "Love Hangover" debacle we went through on both this and the R&B thread as pertaining to the prior year.
1977! Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr. - You Don't Have to Be a Star She's got a great voice and the vocals are the biggest selling point. The flute is doing much in the arrangement. The song's got kind of a light groove that's not fantastically deep, but it does the job. Not a bad way to start the year.
Liked this one as a kid. Read what I had to say about it over at the R&B #1s thread... EVERY Billboard #1 rhythm & blues hit discussion thread
I love the 5th Dimension and pimp them as much as possible on various threads, so I was gonna love this, no matter what. They had already released the title tune from their album I Hope We Get To Love In Time to the sound of crickets and the group proper had not had a Top 40 hit since '73 so it was a pleasant surprise, no really a shock when this went all the way to the top. It doesn't hold a candle to the 5th's best but it did give them another #1 so I'll take it.
I really like the 5th Dimension, but the duet between Billy and Marilyn really doesn't do it for me. It's not a bad song, but it's also nothing special. The vocals are the real draw here, the backing is pretty pedestrian.
Surprisingly... "You don't Have To Be a Star" sounded to me like kind of a natural progression from the title track of their last album before the split.
They had always had an amicable split... matter of fact, they came back together in 1992 (I think) for a reunion tour, and kicked it off with an appearance the Arsenio Hall show.
I stuck with them through the bitter end, well at least through Earthbound which, by the way, was there last album together. This tune from Soul & Inspiration may have been a source of consternation to long-time fans but I thought it was a good move. Yeah, I know, what do I know?
The irony there, The 5th Dimension's last works for Bell / Arista were produced by John Florez - who had worked with another group, The Friends of Distinction, on RCA; that group had at least one member (Harry Elston) who had previously been in another vocal group (The Hi-Fi's, I.I.N.M.) which also contained a few future 5th Dimension members. And to tie it in to "You Don't Have To Be A Star" - two of FoD's best-known hits, "Grazin' In The Grass" and "Going In Circles," also had a prominent flute.
I know this is a total necro/reanimation... but Lost is my favourite show of all-time, this scene is one of my favourite of the show, and it's been about two years since I last rewatched it... must be time again!
When I was 3 (maybe 4), my mother went to a conference at Penn State, which happened to be my dad's alma mater (he met Mom in grad school elsewhere). While she was busy with the conference, Dad took me around campus to all his old haunts, including the campus radio station. The student who was on the air at the time apparently thought I was cute and invited me to come say hello on the air. She said, "I'm here with David, who is going to introduce the next song." I have only the vaguest memory of all that, and I don't recall the song at all. But Dad says it was "You Don't Have to be a Star". So that's what the song reminds me of on the (very rare) occasions when I hear it! Nice song, can take or leave it, but it does have that nice memory associated with it.
Another candidate for shoulda-been-a-bigger-hit came courtesy of Dr.Buzzard's Original Savannah Band. Whispering/Cherchez La Femme/Se Si Bon needs to be spot-lighted not just for it's inventive big band arrangement and nod to a by-gone era but also for introducing the world to the dulcet tones of Cory Daye. Taking their cue from groups like the Manhattan Transfer, DBOSB combined the aforementioned Big Band, Swing and Rhumba styles that got old quickly but still left us with this giddy piece of fluff that deserved better than #27. They're all the same All the sluts and the saints. For misery Cherchez La Femme!
Time for me to present my choice for the 1976 song I most would have liked to see get to #1 that didn't. Here are some of the songs I really liked from the year, my 'consolation prize' list: You're My Best Friend Fox on the Run Evil Woman Devil Woman Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft Rhiannon Rock and Roll All Night Baby What a Big Surprise Dream Weaver Dream On Golden Years You Sexy Thing Rubberband Man Summer (War) Disco favorites: I already mentioned a few of these numbers. Interesting how so many of my favorite disco songs are by women; there will be more to come in the next few years! Turn the Beat Around Love to Love You Baby Right Back to Where We Started From More More More As for more rocking numbers, The Boys Are Back in Town is the most well known song by a great group that IMO doesn't get enough credit, Thin Lizzy. My favorite Aerosmith song, Dream On, also made a big splash in 1976. And then there's Anarchy in the UK, which I already talked about. All great choices, but not mine. The song I chose is not only one of my favorites from the year, it's a song that has become more and more popular over the years, to the point where this year they even named a hit movie after it. I think you might have figured out that my choice is Queen's classic hit Bohemian Rhapsody. Rhapsody is such a well known song these days that it's almost too famous. I don't think it's suffered a backlash yet, but I can imagine at least some reading this will be thinking, ugh, really? But I think it's legit for so many reasons. For one, it is a classic example of Queen at their best. It's operatic, over the top and instantly memorable, full of wonderful bits like the sudden burst of guitars at the end of the operatic bit, made famous to a new generation by the head bangers in Wayne's World. But listen to Rhapsody again, if you can, with fresh ears; this is one weird song. The first part is a fairly normal slow number, starting off with a nice synthesized vocal followed by a jolly little murder ballad. Freddie Mercury does a great job selling it, as he usually did. But after a nice classic Queen guitar break, the song goes into one of the strangest 'middle eight' sections I've ever heard in a hit song. Of course, this is the Galileo Figaro (Magnificoooooo) part. I'm not sure if I've heard it so often that it now makes perfect sense to me, or if there is some evil genius at work here that makes it work despite the oddness. Regardless, it's very cool and innovative. The band really went out on a limb putting a crazy extended operatic bit into a pop song, but boy does it work. It's the part most people seem to like the best (me, too). After that nice detour, the band burst out into another rocking part (Wayne and Garth, commence head banging!), and the song slowly winds down into its denouement: 'nothing really matters... to me'. Is it art? Is it camp? Yes and yes. It's spectacularly silly, which prevents it from being pompous (what other song repeats the word Galileo over and over?). But it also keeps bobbing and weaving in fascinating ways, the rocking parts really rock, the synth is used well, and Freddie sings his heart out at the piano. I'm not sure it's even my favorite song of theirs that made the chart this year (I really love You're My Best Friend, which is a lot more heartfelt), but without question it's their most memorable statement of intent. If you want to understand what Queen was all about, you HAVE to know this song. This is no doubt one of my top favorites from 1975 (it hit the top of the UK charts in January, 1976, and had most of its sales here that year as well, so I'm counting it as 1976). But even more than that, it is such an integral track in the classic rock canon that it is a real shame it only reached #9 in the US. So, I suggest correcting that, and hence it's my choice as the song to elevate to #1. Magnifico-o-o-o-o-o!
If the filmmakers had a macabre sense of humor, they could have called it Another One Bites The Dust.
