vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jul 18, 2013 21:18:50 GMT 1
Hmm. Very "Music for Pleasure". Which often was nothing of the sort. The first-ever single on MFP was "There's No-One Quite Like Grandma". Pretty much says it all.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jul 18, 2013 21:19:59 GMT 1
Prince Royce (10 December 2011)
Our other bachata star in the list, and our last “featuring”, as Prince Royce’s one mainstream appearance has come via the good offices of Mexican rock band Mana, whose biggest - indeed only other - Billboard hit topped out at 82 in 2006.
Geoffrey Royce Rojas is from a Dominican Republican family in the Bronx and started writing and recording in 2005, when just fifteen, as part of the duo El Duo Real, before deciding to concentrate on his own bachata magic. He was signed up to the Ricano label Top Stop based on his first demos and his eponymous debut album was an outstanding success; topping the Tropical album charts (for 53 (!) weeks, so perhaps not the most competitive of charts), plus Latin album charts (albeit it took over a year to make it that far - and was deposed by, er, Mana), but most importantly it made it to 77 in the Billboard 2000; outstanding for a debut bachata cut. And the best-selling Latin album for 2011.
Follow-up Phase II did even better, making the Billboard top 20. Which makes his singles chart career all the more perplexing. There’s a significant market for his material, with both albums going multi-platinum (albeit in the Latin category, so sales in the six rather than seven figures), yet he has never had a solo top 100 hit (“Incondicional” did bubble under in 2012). Something’s wrong somewhere. My vote goes to “airplay points”...
Anyhoo, in April 2013 Sony announced it had signed Royce up to a deal, which caused Top Stop to throw in a lawsuit. However this might mean Royce will get himself off the list; with major payola support, and an album in English, he might indeed be a Next Very Big Thing.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jul 19, 2013 21:06:46 GMT 1
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Post by vastar iner on Jul 19, 2013 21:09:12 GMT 1
Alejandro Sanz (25 November 2006)
Another slight cheat, as a year and a bit before Sanz nearly made the top 20 with “La Tortura”, a duet with Shakira. But on his Tod this is the best he’s managed.
In fact many of the comments in the latter part of the Prince Royce capsule would apply to the Madrileño singer/guitarist. Because four of his albums have made the 200, the most recent of which - 2012’s La Musica No Se Toca - peaking at 26. And he has had four chart-toppers on the US Latin chart, plus his collaboration with Shakira. Seems a surprise that this one track is his sole appearance as a soloist on the Hot 100; were it in English, I reckon it would have been much bigger, it could have caught a sort of Fray audience.
Then again he is surely compensated by his performance in Spain. Four solo number one singles, plus his duet with Shakira and another with Alicia Keys both topping the listings. And seven number one albums...
Not bad for a jobbing flamencoist who was originally a staff songwriter before persuading Warner Music to take his own demos seriously. His first releases were under the name Alejandro Magno, before he reverted to his birth name, and his fifth album Más, released in 1997, broke him in the wider Hispanophone market. Indeed it was the best-selling Spanish album ever, with over 2,000,000 sold...
Since then he has concentrated on the international market, doing an MTV Unplugged in 2001 (which brought him a Grammy), and with his albums gradually making their way from the lower to upper part of the US album charts one might expect him also to get off the list with his next cut. However, being twice Prince Royce’s age, time might be running out.
Tomorrow, comes one I can pretty much guarantee everyone will recognize...
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jul 20, 2013 10:05:20 GMT 1
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Post by vastar iner on Jul 20, 2013 10:07:36 GMT 1
Helen Shapiro (4 December 1961)
The 15 year old’s third UK single became her third UK top five, second chart-topper, and first US hit. But she would only have one more top five at home - and never hit the US chart again.
Talk about bad timing. The Charlotte Church of her day (discovered via a television talent show) had the world at her feet; she’d starred in her own film, WBTH had topped the charts from Ireland to Israel, and global megastardom beckoned. And headlined a nationwide pop tour as 1962 became 1963 with an unknown Scouse band called The Beatles somewhere amongst the lower reaches of the bill. By the time it was over, they were the megastars and she was old school. Finished before she was 17...
It might have been different. A grateful Lennon and McCartney wrote her a song, “Misery”, while on tour, which ought to have rebooted her career. Shapiro’s manager Norrie Paramor however turned it down on her behalf, and sent it to Kenny Lynch (who had been on the same tour) instead. You have to expect that the much more famous Shapiro would have had a better punt at chart success.
It might have been different in another way as well. She was in a group with Marc Bolan. Albeit they were 10 and 9 respectively...they went to school together and messed around with instruments with their friends.
For the remainder of the sixties Shapiro did the pubs and clubs, without ever getting close to repeating her previous success, before turning to stage performing, including being Nancy in a 1980s production of Oliver!.
The surprise for me is how this reached 100 in Billboard (it missed out entirely in the other two charts, although Helen did hit 88 with “You Don’t Know” in Music Vendor). I would have expected it either to miss out entirely, or, once it generated enough steam, to become a huge hit; it sounded contemporary, it would have had the novelty of being by a British act, a teenager to boot, and would surely have been a big hit coming from someone like Brenda Lee (riding high in the top five at the time).
I suppose the problem was the stringent competition. The chart of 4 December 1961 had a disproportionate number of classics; the number 1 from Jimmy Dean, the next number 1 from The Marvelettes, the recently deposed number 1 from Dion, future number ones from Chubby Checker and The Tokens, and classic songs like “Moon River”, “There’s No Other Like My Baby”, “Walk On By”, “Can’t Help Falling In Love” (a new entry at 57), “I Hear You Knocking” and “Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen”. There’s over 10% of the chart right there. Even today they’re more memorable than, say, this week’s chart...
(Incidentally, bubbling under this week were Pete Bennett & The Embers, whom we shall meet in due course.)
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jul 21, 2013 12:08:44 GMT 1
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Post by vastar iner on Jul 21, 2013 12:14:22 GMT 1
Skillet (12 September 2009)
There are many word triplets that have the same effect on me as nails being scraped on a blackboard. “Extended sax solo”, for example. “Featuring Robbie Williams” another. And a third is “Christian rock band”. If there’s anything more required to prove there is no God...
Skillet have come closer than most to escaping the list. In 2009 their single “Monster” topped the Bubbling Under listings; it wouldn’t have taken much to have either single nudge above the basement position. But again in an indication that the singles market, with its airplay reliance, is much less representative of what people are buying than the album market, the band have been as high as 2 on the Billboard 200 with their last-but-one long-player Awake, from which both singles were taken. Last month, their latest cut Rise also went top five, thanks partly with a fanbase (called the Panheads) so devoted they have their own website; yet the lead-off single “Sick Of It” has not come close to the Hot 100.
The band was formed in 1996, by singer John Cooper and guitarist Ken Steorts, who had been members of different bands which had broken up, and their mutual pastor suggested they get together. After various line-up changes the band had settled down into Cooper, Ben Kasica on lead guitar, Korey Cooper (Mrs John - instead of wedding rings, they tattooed gold bands on their fingers) on rhythm and Jen Ledger (making the band a quarter British, as she’s from Coventry) on drums by the time they scored their one chart hit, although since then Seth Morrison has taken over on guitar; this quartet is the band’s current line-up, with regular string backers Jonathan Chu and Tate Olsen in the touring outfit.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jul 22, 2013 18:57:00 GMT 1
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Post by vastar iner on Jul 22, 2013 19:02:23 GMT 1
The Stompers (3 March 1962)
I mentioned Gary S. Paxton above as having hit the top and bottom of the charts. The toppers were both novelty singles; the first under the name The Hollywood Argyles, basically a session group he put together to perform the woeful novelty “Alley Oop”; he had to release it anonymously as he was already signed up to a different label as Flip of Skip & Flip. (This entry does not have the most promising start, does it?) Although once it broke nationwide Paxton found that, actually, he was no longer under contract, and could emerge from behind the curtain of pseudonym to promote the single himself. In one of those Chuck Berry moments, drumming legend Sandy Nelson appeared on this, smashing drumlids together, providing the caveman yelps and thus scoring Nelson his biggest hit...
The second chart-topper was a lot better, and followed on from his chart-bottomer. In 1959 A singer/actor from Massachusetts called Bobby Pickett moved to Hollywood to make his name. A few months later some of his schoolfriends followed suit and suggested they try to make it as singers; they therefore banded themselves together, and called themselves The Cordials. Eventually Paxton signed them up in a desperate attempt to cash in on various dance records (Twist [be it Chubby Checker’s or the Peppermint Club’s version], Mashed Potato, Pony &c) and surf music at the same time. To make the message even less subtle the group changed their name to The Stompers, and although the single was originally titled “Surf Stomping”, which after all matches the lyrics, there was another bandwagon on which to jump. Gary “US” Bonds had topped the charts with “Quarter To Three”, so The Stompers would go one better and make it the “Quarter To Four Stomp”.
Result? Stomperflop. In Billboard (100) and Cashbox (97). Oddly, it did the best of any Billboard 100 Clubber in Music Vendor, topping out at 65 - one ahead of The Charmettes, who did better in Cashbox. Perhaps this encouraged a follow-up single for the Christmas market, and judging from its title of “Stompin’ Around The Christmas Tree” alone it got all the unsuccess it deserved. So a re-think was needed.
Pickett gave up and quit The Cordials to sign with an acting agent. Two weeks later the agent died. So he called fellow Stomper Leonard Capizzi (whose brother Bill was also a Stomper) to write a song together; Pickett had incorporated impersonations of Boris Karloff in his live shows and The Cordials had kicked around an idea of making a record exploiting this. This was the chance.
Pickett and Capizzi wrote a quick knock-off and put down a demo, which they took over to Paxton, who in turn touted it around the majors. Who were uninterested. So Paxton, confident it would be a success, set up his own Garpax label to release it, and he held it back for the Hallowe’en market under the inevitably unsubtle name of Bobby (Boris) Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers. And it went all the way to the top of the charts.
Indeed, it returned to the US top ten in May 1973, a vanishingly rare achievement Stateside, and on the back of that made the UK top five. And to keep the Paxton run of having legendary musicians achieve their biggest hits on novelty fluff, the Crypt-Kicker pianist was then-sessionista Leon Russell.
Pickett had a couple of desultory follow-ups and other records which became staples of Dr Demento, and starred in a “movie” called Monster Mash: The Movie. He died of leukaemia in 2007, aged 69. Post-Mash, as far as the Capizzi brothers, or the other Stompers (Ron Deltorta and Lou Toscano), are concerned, other than a film appearance as a singing extra for Leonard in a 1978 film based on Alan Freed’s life story, history is silent.
Paxton continued as a successful producer, and post-conversion was closely involved in gospel, Christian rock and country (indeed in 1977 he won a Grammy for Best Inspirational Performance). In 1980 an assassin hired by a disgruntled singer shot him three times, which put him out of action for eight years, but he still works on his own projects.
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Post by vya on Jul 22, 2013 22:38:43 GMT 1
Helen Shapiro: quite a voice, sounds far older than her years.... But while WBTH is (a bit more than) alright, "You Don't Know" is almost sublime..
Skillet: far more bearable than I was expecting. Formulaic but inoffensive. Though why try to sound so much like Evanescence?
Stompers: utterly forgettable
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jul 23, 2013 21:39:26 GMT 1
The Stompers one was OK, although they should have stuck with their original title. It does sound however as if it wouldn't be out of place on a Wiggles album. Anyway, here's an extremely decent one.
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Post by vastar iner on Jul 23, 2013 21:52:07 GMT 1
The Swallows (22 September 1958)Chronologically the first act in the list. And a little unfair to include them, given that, had there been a Hot 100 earlier, they would surely have had a few hits. The Swallows were an R&B vocal group from Baltimore who started out as 13 year olds in 1946 (originally as The Oakaleers) and did the usual US thing in the fifties of changing memberships quicker than a Singaporean changes football club support; however from 1948, when the mother of southpaw guitarist/baritone vocalist Frederick “Money” Johnson picked the word “Swallow” out of a dictionary for a name-change, they had a consistent core membership including Earl Hurley as tenor and arranger, Eddie Rich as second tenor, Larry Coxson on lead, Junior Denby adopting whichever mid-range was appropriate (and also penning many of the group’s songs) and Bunky Mack giving them their bass. But chart-wise they had a couple of hits on the R&B charts in 1951 and 1952, in an era when there was just a top ten listing, and when the popular charts did not extend past 30; given the comparative size of top ten R&B hits half-a-decade later they would have been looking at a top 50 place at the very least. By 1956 their lead singer was Bobby Hendricks. He was also their last as they split up. But temporarily. As in 1958 Hendricks joined The Drifters, which inspired Sue Records, who had recordings of some of Hendricks’ solo material over the previous couple of years, to tidy it up and put it out. The most successful of these was “Itchy Twitchy Feeling”, written by Jimmy Oliver who also provided an orchestra to back him up, and featured The Coasters as backing vocalists. The single debuted in Billboard that August and made a respectable 25 on the 100 - and 5 on the R&B charts, showing that The Swallows’ earlier R&B top ten performances would have surely been chart-worthy, given the chance. Post-split, Eddie Rich sang with The Honey Boys, led by Calvin Rowlette, and one night at a Baltimore club one of the acts on their scheduled bill did not turn up. An occasional Swallow, Buddy Crawford, and Buddy Bailey, brother of former member Dee Ernie Bailey, were there with other acts, and so were “Money” Johnson and Earl Hurley. They filled in on an impromptu basis and decided to give it another go under the Swallow name. They signed up to King Records, and their final single was “Who Knows, Do You”. On the flip they decided to put Hendricks’ new single, possibly as homage, but with DJs having familiarity with the song they tended to play “Itchy Twitchy Feeling” - and did so enough to sneak it into the chart. And as a little extra perspective as to the unfairness of it all, a no. 100 Hot 100 single didn’t make the mow 20-strong R&B chart at all... The group then split, although Rich still performed occasionally with Sonny & The Dukes. Amazingly enough, the 78 year old Rich is still recording with a new flock of Swallows - catch a performance from April here. Johnson, who became Rich’s brother-in-law when Eddie married Money’s sister, however died in 1998. They did better than other members. Rowlette died of cirrhosis and Hurley of heart problems before they hit 35. Rather sadly, I can also confirm that Herman “Junior” Denby, who left The Swallows in 1952 to join the army and re-joined in 1983, died aged 82 just 9 days ago.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jul 24, 2013 7:44:07 GMT 1
And another good one! It's almost a hat-trick.
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Post by vastar iner on Jul 24, 2013 7:44:39 GMT 1
The Texans (27 March 1961)
The Rock & Roll Trio - Memphis brothers Johnny & Dorsey Burnette and a mate, Paul Burlison - were one of the pioneering rockabilly acts. Needless to say they were too rock & rolly for the pre-Hot 100 charts, their mid-fifties singles all missing out, but generating a reputation that has seen the trio enter the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, and also being a strong influence on The Beatles, who covered R&RT tracks in their gigs.
However, after half-a-dozen failed singles, the Burnette brothers called it a day and left Tennessee for California to try their luck there. Burlison also gave it a brief go but quit the industry, at least until a 1980s comeback. It sort of worked. Although the one Burnett Brothers release missed the charts, as soloists they both scored hits; and in an interesting sign as to just how mainstream Billboard was compared to the alternatives, all their solo hits topped out in Cashbox and Music Vendor well above their Billboard peaks.
Johnny got a Billboard top ten in 1960 with “You’re Sixteen” (which top fived over here and topped the US charts for Ringo Starr fourteen years later), having previously hit number 5 in Music Vendor with “Dreamin’”, which also hit the top ten in Cashbox. Dorsey was less successful, but his “Tall Oak Tree” made the top twenty of Music Vendor and Cashbox, falling short in Billboard.
Their hits dried up by the end of the following year (at least in the US; Johnny had one final hit in the UK on the back of a British tour, “Clown Shoes”, written by the future PJ Proby), but before that they performed a couple of throwaway instrumental singles for a couple of small labels, under the name The Texans. The first of these, “Green Grass Of Texas”, was indeed the first release for the Infinity label and peaked at 72 in Music Vendor and 84 in Cashbox. But a mere 100 in Billboard...
When Johnny was without a label, he started his own, Magic Lamp. His first couple of releases were unsuccessful. On 14 August 1964, he went fishing on Clear Lake in California. His boat was struck by a cabin cruiser and sunk. Burnette tragically drowned. He was just 30. Dorsey Burnette moved towards a pure country direction and scored a final hit in 1969, but he also died young; a heart attack took him in 1978, aged 49.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jul 25, 2013 19:25:58 GMT 1
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Post by vastar iner on Jul 25, 2013 19:32:19 GMT 1
Trick-Trick (17 December 2005)
Despite being a mate of Eminem, Detroit rapper Christian Mathis missed out on joining D12. Perhaps in consolation Mr Mathers joined him on the lead-off single for his debut album The People Vs., named following his acquittal on murder charges, but even the stardust of the Oscar-winning chart-topper, and a video appearance from the now-late D12er Proof, could not bring it any higher than 100 in the Hot 100, and the parent album any higher than 115. I guess people actually listened to it first.
It might have been said to be at least a foundation on which to build, but no other single was released from the album. And the lack of success saw him dropped by Motown. Trick-Trick therefore signed up to Koch, for whom he recorded follow-up album The Villain. Its sale prospects were not exactly helped by Trick-Trick’s remarks that he did not want homosexuals to purchase the album, or, in his sparkling and deathless repartee that has served him so well in the rap market, “I don’t want their faggot money any goddam way.”
Despite production work from Eminem and Dre, The Villain's lead-off single missed the chart. And so did a follow-up featuring Ice Cube and Lil Jon. Hm. Trick-Trick, Eminem, Dre, Ice Cube, Lil Jon. Four of them have had US chart-toppers. Wonder where the problem lies? Let’s put it this way. Trick-Trick needs autotune to rap.
Since then Trick-Trick’s plans at world domination have stalled - one non-charting track earlier this year seems to be his sole recorded output with him as featured artist, although he has guested on some minor stuff, and has a more regular (and more unsuccessful) role with his homies Goon Sqwad. Indeed he seems to have moved more into acting, currently shooting a film provisionally called LandLord.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jul 26, 2013 18:04:44 GMT 1
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Post by vastar iner on Jul 26, 2013 18:07:22 GMT 1
The 21st Century (31 May 1975)Discovered by songwriter Marvin Smith, who had had a few unsuccessful sixties singles and who wrote and produced their one hit, the members - Pierre Johnson, Alonzo Martin, Alphonso Smith, Tyrone Moores and Freddie Williams (at 23, the oldest of the group by six years) - were all students from the Henry Horner projects in Chi-town. The name was meant to demonstrate the future of music, that the youngsters were to set the standard for the 21st century in which they would mature, and their debut single caused such a minor storm locally that they were snapped up by RCA and promoted nationwide. And I’m guessing that, as the average age of the group was 16, this was more an airplay than sales hit; it didn’t make the Record World or Cashbox charts. Certainly I doubt that anyone who heard it would have gone out and bought it; it is one of the very worst, perhaps THE worst, entries in what is already a not-very-inspiring list. Remember BVSMP? The 21st Century made them sound like Sam & Dave. Nevertheless, even though the single only got to 100 and the album Ahead Of Our Time didn’t chart at all, Motown snapped them up. And the first thing they did was change the name, as a gospel group was claiming dibs. So they became The 21st Creation. But it didn’t quite work; the second album Break Thru was a bit of a hack job and went nowhere. They apparently still sing together on and off, and there was a move to get them back together in 2008 that did not get anywhere further than Johnson recording some demos. Johnson himself had kept his hand in via jingle writing and recording. Tyrone Moores died in 2011, otherwise the group members are all living in Chicago.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jul 27, 2013 9:08:22 GMT 1
OK, back to some actual music...
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