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Post by chrislc on May 5, 2020 12:43:14 GMT -5
This would be a really good Top 40 featuring a not-so-good song at #1. So not necessarily the worst #1 song (in your opinion) but the greatest contrast between the overall quality of the Top 40 and the #1 song that week (in your opinion). I thought of this hearing Little (YOU'VE GOT TO!) Woman by Bobby Sherman at #1 in Cash Box in October 1969 - not the greatest Top 40, but still quite a contrast. So what would be your choice for Biggest Letdown at #1? My Ding-A-Ling? At This Moment? or...?
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Post by at40nut on May 5, 2020 14:00:29 GMT -5
I thought about the Billboard chart from 10-16-76-How can a great song like "Queen Of My Soul" by AWB only peak at#40 while the god awful "Disco Duck" by Rick Dees became a #1 hit? Mind boggling 😒
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Post by mga707 on May 5, 2020 18:58:11 GMT -5
This would be a really good Top 40 featuring a not-so-good song at #1. So not necessarily the worst #1 song (in your opinion) but the greatest contrast between the overall quality of the Top 40 and the #1 song that week (in your opinion). I thought of this hearing Little (YOU'VE GOT TO!) Woman by Bobby Sherman at #1 in Cash Box in October 1969 - not the greatest Top 40, but still quite a contrast. So what would be your choice for Biggest Letdown at #1? My Ding-A-Ling? At This Moment? or...? Where and how are you 'hearing' Cash Box charts, of all things? And as a personal opinion, "Little Woman" (which peaked at #3 on BB) by the world's oldest teen idol (Sherman was already 26 when it charted) is not bad at all. Far better than fellow teen idol Donny Osmond's horrible remake of "Go Away Little Girl" two years later, to compare with another record from the same genre.
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Post by OnWithTheCountdown on May 5, 2020 20:45:29 GMT -5
My guess is from the Cash Box Countdowns that djjoe1960 has been putting together for quite some time now. You can find that thread here. A good majority of them are from the pre-AT40 era (the Beatles years), and it's been enjoyable for me to hear countdown shows from an era of great music.
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Post by chrislc on May 5, 2020 21:05:44 GMT -5
This would be a really good Top 40 featuring a not-so-good song at #1. So not necessarily the worst #1 song (in your opinion) but the greatest contrast between the overall quality of the Top 40 and the #1 song that week (in your opinion). I thought of this hearing Little (YOU'VE GOT TO!) Woman by Bobby Sherman at #1 in Cash Box in October 1969 - not the greatest Top 40, but still quite a contrast. So what would be your choice for Biggest Letdown at #1? My Ding-A-Ling? At This Moment? or...? Where and how are you 'hearing' Cash Box charts, of all things? And as a personal opinion, "Little Woman" (which peaked at #3 on BB) by the world's oldest teen idol (Sherman was already 26 when it charted) is not bad at all. Far better than fellow teen idol Donny Osmond's horrible remake of "Go Away Little Girl" two years later, to compare with another record from the same genre. Yes he got it - Joe's Cash Box Countdowns. I have been binge-listening for - God maybe a year now. I will concede Little Woman was better than Go Away Little Girl. I'VE GOT TO! Also for me, since I love the charts from Autumn 76 - Disco Duck would be right up there. Not much to like about that song.
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Post by djjoe1960 on May 6, 2020 8:56:25 GMT -5
Interesting idea for a topic, Chris.
I am sure all of us have songs that reached #1 that left us puzzled--or upset. Certainly novelty songs are among those head scratchers but I have to agree that Little Woman is a song you don't want to hear too often (along with the Ballad Of The Green Berets & In The Year 2525). I think it's a shame that the only #1 for the Dave Clark 5 is Over & Over--when Glad All Over and Bits & Pieces are much better songs, IMHO.
Looking back over the Cash Box charts there were several times I looked at a #1 and thought I can't say anything positive about that song--so I didn't. Probably the show that stood out the most to me was the one for the week ending August 6, 1966--when the top 2 were by Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs and Napoleon XIV. I recall it took me about a dozen takes to get through the intro to They're Coming To Take Me Away.
By the way, the most difficult song to 'announce' was Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um by Major Lance--I never really did find a comfortable way to refer to that hit; most of the time calling it 'The Um Song'.
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Post by mga707 on May 6, 2020 12:28:27 GMT -5
By the way, the most difficult song to 'announce' was Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um by Major Lance--I never really did find a comfortable way to refer to that hit; most of the time calling it 'The Um Song'. DJs in 1993 had a near-identical conundrum with Crash Test Dummies' "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm".
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Post by mga707 on May 6, 2020 12:31:49 GMT -5
Interesting idea for a topic, Chris. I think it's a shame that the only #1 for the Dave Clark 5 is Over & Over--when Glad All Over and Bits & Pieces are much better songs, IMHO. Personally, I'd pick "Can't You See That She's Mine" and "Catch Us If You Can" (both #4 peaks), but point well taken.
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Post by matt on May 6, 2020 12:35:35 GMT -5
Half the #1 songs in 1986 ... in a year so flush with great music, several #1's of that year were rather banal.
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Post by 1finemrg on May 6, 2020 20:46:33 GMT -5
By the way, the most difficult song to 'announce' was Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um by Major Lance--I never really did find a comfortable way to refer to that hit; most of the time calling it 'The Um Song'. DJs in 1993 had a near-identical conundrum with Crash Test Dummies' "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm". Little bit of trivia... Major Lance's daughter, Keisha Lance Bottoms is the current mayor of Atlanta. Never a fan of Rod McKuen's work, With apologies to Terry Jacks, "Seasons In The Sun' is the most disappointing to me. When I hear that opening riff, it's "dum-dum-dum-click" for me.
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Post by slf on May 8, 2020 4:59:16 GMT -5
I think my choice for a letdown countdown would just happen to be the very first one, from July 11, 1970. The early '70's was a glorious time for pop, rock, and old school R&B. Here are several stellar examples in that debut countdown:
Question/The Moody Blues Westbound #9/The Flaming Ember Silver Bird/Mark Lindsey Save The Country/The Fifth Dimension United We Stand/Brotherhood Of Man My Baby Loves Lovin'/White Plains Loveland/Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band O-o-h Child/The Five Stairsteps Ride Captain Ride/Blues Image The Wonder Of You/Elvis Presley
among several other fine songs.
So what song is on top that week? That annoying "Mama Told Me Not To Come". The chorus isn't bad, but those slobbering, obnoxious vocals in the verses (I think by the late Cory Wells), are IMHO highly cringe-worthy. (Although I do like several other Three Dog Night songs, most notably the follow-up to this, the beautiful "Out In The Country".
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Post by mga707 on May 8, 2020 11:43:18 GMT -5
So what song is on top that week? That annoying "Mama Told Me Not To Come". The chorus isn't bad, but those slobbering, obnoxious vocals in the verses (I think by the late Cory Wells), are IMHO highly cringe-worthy. (Although I do like several other Three Dog Night songs, most notably the follow-up to this, the beautiful "Out In The Country". Yes, 'Mama' has Wells on lead vocal.
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Post by adam31 on May 8, 2020 13:49:53 GMT -5
"Look Away" by Chicago as the #1 song on the year end countdown of 1989.
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Post by at40nut on May 8, 2020 14:00:52 GMT -5
"Look Away" by Chicago as the #1 song on the year end countdown of 1989. Agree with you 100%. Should have been either "Miss You Much" by Janet Jackson or likely "Straight Up" by Paula Abdul
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Post by JMW on May 8, 2020 17:52:04 GMT -5
"Look Away" by Chicago as the #1 song on the year end countdown of 1989. Funny you post this today because there's now another " lost hits" article out that focuses on 1989 and includes this paragraph about Look Away:
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