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Post by mga707 on Jan 26, 2021 15:57:12 GMT -5
I've been perusing the 'Billboard' issues from 45, 50, and 55 years ago this week for some months now, and on this week's chart in 1966 I noticed something that does not happen often: Leaping from #15 to #2 was the Beach Boys' "Barbara Ann" (or, 'Barber Ann', as they pronounce it throughout the song ), landing right behind The Beatles' "We Can Work It Out", at #1 for it's third (non-consecutive) week. A 'lock' to hit #1 the following week, you would certainly think, right? You would be wrong! The cut from the quickly-made "Beach Boys Party" LP (Capitol wanted an LP fast for Xmas 1965 and Brian was still obsessively working on 'Pet Sounds'), featuring studio guest Dean Torrence of Jan and Dean on lead vocals, stayed at #2 for a second week. And it wasn't the Fab Four who kept the Boys out of the top spot: Petula Clark's "My Love" leaped from #9 to #1! The week after that 'Barbara' falls to #4. Any similar moves to #2 (or close), but no farther during the 'Casey era'? Closest one I can recall is in June of 1975, when Michael Murphey's "Wildfire" jumped from #13 to #3 but got no higher. Any others?
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Post by chrislc on Jan 26, 2021 16:06:53 GMT -5
I've been perusing the 'Billboard' issues from 45, 50, and 55 years ago this week for some months now, and on this week's chart in 1966 I noticed something that does not happen often: Leaping from #15 to #2 was the Beach Boys' "Barbara Ann" (or, 'Barber Ann', as they pronounce it throughout the song ), landing right behind The Beatles' "We Can Work It Out", at #1 for it's third (non-consecutive) week. A 'lock' to hit #1 the following week, you would certainly think, right? You would be wrong! The cut from the quickly-made "Beach Boys Party" LP (Capitol wanted an LP fast for Xmas 1965 and Brian was still obsessively working on 'Pet Sounds'), featuring studio guest Dean Torrence of Jan and Dean on lead vocals, stayed at #2 for a second week. And it wasn't the Fab Four who kept the Boys out of the top spot: Petula Clark's "My Love" leaped from #9 to #1! The week after that 'Barbara' falls to #4. Any similar moves to #2, but no farther during the 'Casey era'? Closest one I can recall is in June of 1975, when Michael Murphey's "Wildfire" jumped from #13 to #3 but got no higher. Any others? I thought of Live and Let Die, but like Wildfire that was to #3, from #21 to #3. And pre-Casey You Don't Own Me by Lesley Gore went #13 to #2 in early 1964. Being kept from #1 by I Want To Hold Your Hand? Understandable. But The Morning After? One of the great mysteries of the 20th Century. Personally, I'm glad Barbara Ann didn't make it, since there were probably two dozen better Beach Boys hits to make the Top 40, including many after Good Vibrations. Murry Wilson and the Sunrays had a couple of better hits than Barbara Ann, IMO.
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Post by pb on Jan 26, 2021 18:57:01 GMT -5
Only a mild jump, but in 1981 George Harrison's "All Those Years Ago" went #5-#2 and might have seemed like a likely #1 as the first solo Beatle single after John Lennon died, but "Bette Davis Eyes" blocked it.
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Post by Mike on Jan 26, 2021 20:30:22 GMT -5
The standard bearer for this has to be, appropriately enough, "Shattered Dreams". It leaped 8-2 on 5/14/88 only be pushed back to #3 the very next week by "One More Try" (which had also leaped 14-4 on 5/14), and ending up spending two more weeks at #2 behind that.
If you're looking for outside-of-Top 10-to-#2 moves, though, I'm not sure there are any.
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Post by dth1971 on Jan 26, 2021 21:10:58 GMT -5
What about Eddy Grant's "Electric Avenue" in 1983? It entered into the top 10 territory at #4 from #11, then went to #3, then to #2, but couldn't unseat the Police's "Every Breath You Take" from the #1 spot.
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Post by mga707 on Jan 26, 2021 21:17:55 GMT -5
I thought of Live and Let Die, but like Wildfire that was to #3, from #21 to #3. And pre-Casey You Don't Own Me by Lesley Gore went #13 to #2 in early 1964. I had forgotten about Paul's Bond theme, doh! That one is has got to be the most obvious example during Casey's tenure. And did not know about Ms. Gore's 'proto-feminist anthem' (as I've heard it described) getting blocked by the earliest onslaught of Beatlemania in the USA. Thanks for both of those. I've come to appreciate it's loose, goofy, charm, plus I love the backstory: Capitol pressuring Brian Wilson for 'product, NOW!', so he basically turns the rest of the group loose to make a 'live' album in the studio, guests and all ("sure, Dean, you can sing on it") while he works on his first great magnum opus, 'Pet Sounds'. Capitol gets a hit album and single, so they're happy as well. "...famous ashtrays!" "...scratch it, Carl, scratch it!"
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Post by Mike on Jan 26, 2021 21:33:05 GMT -5
What about Eddy Grant's "Electric Avenue" in 1983? It entered into the top 10 territory at #4 from #11, then went to #3, then to #2, but couldn't unseat the Police's "Every Breath You Take" from the #1 spot. Nope. The premise of this is that the jump would be directly to #2, no stops inbetween. And it turns out that "Shattered Dreams" is in fact the winner. The runner-up is 7-2, twice in the 70s: "Ramblin' Man" leaped 7-2 on 10/13/73, but then "Angie" leaped 5-1 the following week and pushed both it and "Half-Breed" down. (Though, they never would pull ahead of Cher on the way down.) "Do It (Til You're Satisfied)" leaped 7-2 on 11/16/74, the same week "Whatever Gets You Through the Night" leaped 3-1, only for "I Can Help" to leap 6-1 the following week. (Oddly enough, both BT Express and Billy Swan debuted the same week on the Hot 100, and both would last 18 weeks on the entire chart.) Below that is 6-2, which happened six times on Casey's watch: "Mama's Pearl" leaped 6-2 on 2/27/71, but "One Bad Apple" said No. "Use Me" leaped 6-2 on 10/14/72, only for "My Ding-a-Ling" to leap 7-1 the following week. (As it happens, Bill Withers had previously passed Chuck Berry on the way up on 9/16. That same week, Elvis Presley's "Burning Love" flew past both songs, only to itself later stop at #2 - also behind Chuck Berry - after Bill.) "More Than I Can Say" leaped 6-2 on 12/6/80, but "Lady" held it off until "(Just Like) Starting Over" caught up and jumped over in the wake of Lennon's murder (though that chart didn't get counted down, as it was 12/27/80). "Queen of Hearts" leaped 6-2 on 9/19/81, but "Endless Love" said No. "All I Need" leaped 6-2 on 1/12/85, but "Like a Virgin" said No. "Mercedes Boy" leaped 6-2 on 7/9/88, the same week "The Flame" leaped 3-1, but Pebbles couldn't dislodge Cheap Trick. There was also one that happened just prior to the start of AT40 - "Which Way You Goin' Billy" by The Poppy Family leaped 6-2 on 6/6/70, only for "The Long and Winding Road" to leap 10-1 the following week. 6-2 would then happen three more times before the chart change in 1991, all in 1990 - "Don't Wanna Fall in Love" leaped 6-2 on 4/14/90, only to be leapfrogged by "Nothing Compares 2 U" the following week. "Come Back to Me" leaped 6-2 on 8/18/90, but "Vision of Love" said No. "Pray" leaped 6-2 on 11/10/90, the same week "Love Takes Time" leaped 3-1, but MC Hammer couldn't dislodge Mariah Carey.
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Post by saltrek on Jan 26, 2021 22:25:23 GMT -5
Juice Newton "Queen of Hearts" 6-2-2-6. ran into "Endless Love" at #1. Randy Newman "Short People" - 5-2 while "Baby Come Back" was #1. Unfortunately, "Stayin' Alive" moved 10-3 that same week and became the next #1.
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Post by mga707 on Jan 27, 2021 0:05:50 GMT -5
What about Eddy Grant's "Electric Avenue" in 1983? It entered into the top 10 territory at #4 from #11, then went to #3, then to #2, but couldn't unseat the Police's "Every Breath You Take" from the #1 spot. Nope. The premise of this is that the jump would be directly to #2, no stops inbetween. And it turns out that "Shattered Dreams" is in fact the winner. The runner-up is 7-2, twice in the 70s: "Ramblin' Man" leaped 7-2 on 10/13/73, but then "Angie" leaped 5-1 the following week and pushed both it and "Half-Breed" down. (Though, they never would pull ahead of Cher on the way down.) "Do It (Til You're Satisfied)" leaped 7-2 on 11/16/74, the same week "Whatever Gets You Through the Night" leaped 3-1, only for "I Can Help" to leap 6-1 the following week. (Oddly enough, both BT Express and Billy Swan debuted the same week on the Hot 100, and both would last 18 weeks on the entire chart.) Below that is 6-2, which happened six times on Casey's watch: "Mama's Pearl" leaped 6-2 on 2/27/71, but "One Bad Apple" said No. "Use Me" leaped 6-2 on 10/14/72, only for "My Ding-a-Ling" to leap 7-1 the following week. (As it happens, Bill Withers had previously passed Chuck Berry on the way up on 9/16. That same week, Elvis Presley's "Burning Love" flew past both songs, only to itself later stop at #2 - also behind Chuck Berry - after Bill.) "More Than I Can Say" leaped 6-2 on 12/6/80, but "Lady" held it off until "(Just Like) Starting Over" caught up and jumped over in the wake of Lennon's murder (though that chart didn't get counted down, as it was 12/27/80). "Queen of Hearts" leaped 6-2 on 9/19/81, but "Endless Love" said No. "All I Need" leaped 6-2 on 1/12/85, but "Like a Virgin" said No. "Mercedes Boy" leaped 6-2 on 7/9/88, the same week "The Flame" leaped 3-1, but Pebbles couldn't dislodge Cheap Trick. There was also one that happened just prior to the start of AT40 - "Which Way You Goin' Billy" by The Poppy Family leaped 6-2 on 6/6/70, only for "The Long and Winding Road" to leap 10-1 the following week. 6-2 would then happen three more times before the chart change in 1991, all in 1990 - "Don't Wanna Fall in Love" leaped 6-2 on 4/14/90, only to be leapfrogged by "Nothing Compares 2 U" the following week. "Come Back to Me" leaped 6-2 on 8/18/90, but "Vision of Love" said No. "Pray" leaped 6-2 on 11/10/90, the same week "Love Takes Time" leaped 3-1, but MC Hammer couldn't dislodge Mariah Carey. Appreciate all of that chart data, thanks!
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Post by at40petebattistini on Jan 27, 2021 0:13:48 GMT -5
But The Morning After? One of the great mysteries of the 20th Century. And as you know, Maureen McGovern's "The Morning After" was issued on the 20th Century label. Well played, Chris.
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Post by mkarns on Jan 27, 2021 0:19:02 GMT -5
Juice Newton "Queen of Hearts" 6-2-2-6. ran into "Endless Love" at #1. Randy Newman "Short People" - 5-2 while "Baby Come Back" was #1. Unfortunately, "Stayin' Alive" moved 10-3 that same week and became the next #1. After "Stayin' Alive"'s four weeks at #1, it slipped to #2, then #6, and then jumped back to #2 where it stayed for five weeks--the Bee Gees couldn't dislodge their own "Night Fever".
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Post by mga707 on Jan 27, 2021 0:28:32 GMT -5
But The Morning After? One of the great mysteries of the 20th Century. And as you know, Maureen McGovern's "The Morning After" was issued on the 20th Century label. Well played, Chris. Indeed! Went right by me--thanks for pointing it out, Pete.
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Post by Mike on Jan 27, 2021 6:41:01 GMT -5
Appreciate all of that chart data, thanks! All made possible by the increased processing power from the laptop I got last summer - there's no way I could have flipped through the charts that quickly before then. For me, the question was whether I'd find one equal to or greater than the size of "Shattered Dreams" or not in the 70s charts. That's one chart move that's stuck in my mind ever since I first heard that countdown some years back - I will also note that when George Michael pushed them back to #3 the following week, they held onto their bullet. Such a "backwards bullet" move was practically unthinkable at the time. Ultimately, what I found was that large leaps to #2 were in fact more common in the 80s than in the 70s. These #1s took greater leaps to #2: "Endless Love" (14-2), "Truly" (10-2), and "Shout" (9-2). And after making a "monkey" out of Johnny Hates Jazz, George Michael would equal their 8-2 jump enroute to taking "Monkey" to #1 later that year. The flipside, of course, is that the biggest leap to #1 during the 80s was "Rapture" 's 6-1 - where in the 70s, equal-size or greater than that happened multiple times over.
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Post by secretman on Jan 27, 2021 8:30:31 GMT -5
My favorite one Would be “Waiting For A Girl Like You” by Foreigner. Back then it was a 'sure shot', but now i see it like a great frustration.
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Post by djjoe1960 on Jan 27, 2021 8:54:42 GMT -5
A few of the songs discussed above that reached the runner spot on Billboard did reach #1 on some other charts. Barbara Ann by the Beach Boys made it to #1 in both Cash Box & Record World. All Those Years Ago by George Harrison was a #1 hit on Radio & Records in 1981. Electric Avenue by Eddy Grant reached the top spot in Cash Box in 1983. One of my favorites from 1973, Ramblin' Man by the Allman Brothers Band made it to #1 in 1973 on the Cash Box charts. Paul McCartney & Wings made it to #1 in both Cash Box & Record World with Live & Let Die (1973). The Jackson 5 went to #1 in Cash Box with Mama's Pearl (and the follow up also reached the top--Never Can Say Goodbye--giving them 6 #1's in a row to start with). Randy Newman's Short People was not short changed in Cash Box as it made it to #1 in 1978. And a few #1's in Billboard never made it to the top spot in any other magazine--My Girl by Temptations (1965), Dock Of the Bay--Otis Redding (1968), Dark Lady by Cher (1974), and Pop Muzik by M (1979).
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