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Welcome to September 16, 1964. Wait, didn't you say last time it would be 1962? Well, yes, but then I realized I did 1962 fifty one weeks ago- The Four Seasons won in a landslide with Sherry- so I did a bit of recalculating and here we are. And what are we doing today? Why, we're watching the very first episode of the pioneering music show Shindig! Shindig! launched today with musical guests Sam Cooke, The Everlys, and the Righteous Bros, along with "house singers" Donna Loren (who was the "Dr Pepper girl" and did events for Pepper all over with Dick Clark), Jackie (Miller) and Gayle (Caldwell, castoffs from the New Christie Minstrels) and (pre-fame) Bobby Sherman. The host was DJ Jimmy O'Neil from LA's KFWB, and the dancers for this episode included Caroline Barry and Brenda Benet, who was married to Bill Bixby before her suicide in 1982. The show itself was aired from 1964-66, featuring guests shots from everyone who was anyone- including the Beatles, the Stones, the Beach Boys, and Elvis! It lost it's spot on ABC to make room for that classic TV hit:
POW! BANG! OOF! Welcome to this week's Time Machine, were this time we feature a tight race on the Panel Four (how about 3 points separating the top three?), the almost-return of all our regular features, and all the usual fun, without graphs this week!
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This week, our lovely Panel consists of: KOVO Provo UT, KPAY Chico CA (was this cable radio, lol?), WNIA Buffalo, KNAK Salt Lake City, CKPT Peterborough ON, WIBG Philly, WHOT Youngstown OH, WXYZ Detroit (I wonder if the call-letter jingle made Detroiters check their flys), KQV Pittsburgh, WLEE Richmond, KIMN Denver, and WOKY Milwaukee. They piled in 22 different songs, including #1 votes that didn't make the P4 from the Supremes' Where Did Our Love Go (Provo), J Frank Wilson's Last Kiss (Salt Lake and Detroit), The Four Seasons' Save It For Me (Philadelphia), Gale Garnett's We'll Sing In The Sunshine (Denver), and the Beatles with If I Fell (Richmond).
On the subject of the Beatles, this was one of their off weeks for 1964. A Hard Day's Night collected three votes- one shared with the flip I Should've Known Better- including a #3 from Richmond.So of course I looked to see how the Fab Four did up and down the various charts. Outside of Richmond, If I Fell was 14 in Provo and 38 in Denver; A Hard Day's Night was 18 in Provo, 3 in Peterborough, 11 in SLC, and 30 in Milwaukee. Also charting were the two sided Matchbox/ Slow Down, which was 23 in Provo, 15 in Chico (Matchbox solo) , 20 in Buffalo (Slow Down solo) , 10 in SLC (Matchbox solo) , 50 in Peterborough, 13 in Ohio, 37 in Richmond, 17 in Denver, and 17 in Milwaukee; Ain't She Sweet, 32 in Provo; And I Love Her, 10 in Peterborough; and the two sided I'll Cry Instead/Happy To Dance, which was 34 in Peterborough. Oh, and the entire Something New lp was at # 15 in Pittsburgh. Out of our 12 panelists, the Beatles were shut out only once- in Detroit.
The low charter from the Panel belonged to the Hondells' Little Honda, which was on the way up at #71. And the Panel Picks:
At #4 with no #1s but 17 points, the national #5, Ronnie and the Daytonas with GTO.
At #3 with 25 points and the #1 of Youngstown, the national #3 as well- and my least favorite here- the Newbeats and Bread And Butter.
At #2 with 26 points and the #1s from Pittsburgh and Milwaukee, the national # 2 as well, Roy Orbison and Oh Pretty Woman.
How about that- the Panel is going to be just one place off the national chart! Because at #1, with 3 #1s and 28 points, the national #1- stay tuned!
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One debut this week, and it is from a band that is high up on this week's M10 as well- New Zealand's Shakes, with a tune that will be heading up pretty fast itself:
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Now I'm not quite doing the "how low can you go" list, since I knew none of the bubbling unders this week. Instead, how about I give you the five strangest titles in bubbling under land- because they are some beauts:
In order of weird:
#5- Dern Ya, by Ruby Wright, sat at 113.
#4- how about the Young World Singers who were at 107 with Ringo For President.
#3- The Four-Evers with (Say I Love You) Boo Dee Bum...
#2- The Spats with a dinner menu of Gator Tails And Monkey Ribs (Yecchhh...)
And at #1- Bobby Goldsboro, of all people, with Me Japanese Boy I Love You. What?
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Today a word from colonizer of Africa Cecil Rhodes:
I have found out one thing and that is, if you have an idea, and it is a good idea, if you only stick to it you will come out all right.
And I have a great one! Let's all...
10- Marianne Faithfull had the hit version in the UK of the Stones' As Tears Go By. She would make our chats next January.
9- The Cashbox #4 this week- the Supremes and Where Did Our Love Go.
8- The CB #9 this week, Manfred Mann and Doo Wah Diddy.
7- Yet again, we have a sighting of The Bachelors, this time with I Wouldn't Trade You For The World, which would peak here at #69 next month.
6- And another sighting of Dave Berry, whose biggest hit was this week's The Crying Game.
5- The Four Seasons were #1 here back in July with Rag Doll.
4- Next up come a couple of hits that would peak on the US pop charts in December. The first is a country crossover from Jim Reeves- I Won't Forget You. It would hit #3 both in the UK and on the C&W charts.
3- The other is Herman's Hermits with I'm Into Something Good.
2- The Honeycombs were sitting at #97 back home with Have I The Right.
And top of the pops?
...the Kinks and You Really Got Me, with would peak on our charts in November!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I am about to give you a list of songs with one thing in common with the 6D victim.
Monday Monday, Mamas and Papas
Valleri, Monkees
I'd Really Love To See You Tonight, England Dan and JF Coley
Up Up And Away, Fifth Dimension
and Superstar, Carpenters.
And the thing these five + the 6DV have in common:
Bassist Joe Osborn. Another one of those guys that were everywhere, he was a member of the famed Wrecking Crew, Rick Nelson's band... oh and the band for Johnny Rivers in his Whiskey-a-Go-Go sessions, including the song at #11 that got no Panel Love- his cover of Chuck Berry's classic Maybellene.
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Wow, time for the M10 already! With Shakes installed at #10 already, the rest of the group looks like this:
The former #1s are falling- The Explorers' Club to #9 with California's Callin' Ya, and Phantogram to #8 with Fall In Love.
M.A.G.S. holds at #7 with My Love, as does Heatwave for Wild Ones at #6.
Break out yer toothbrush! Castlecomer moves a quick 4 to #5 with Judy.
Dinosaur Jr lumbers up one more spot to #4 with Tiny.
Dent May moves up 5 fast spots with Face Down In The Gutter Of Your Love at #3 this week.
Holding at the runner up spot, Keane's Somewhere Only We Know.
And at the top?
M10 says...
...a second week for Shakes with Strange Tides- making the M10 a big Shakes sandwich!
And on the Panel Four...
...the Animals and House Of The Rising Sun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, I think I'm safe this time in saying 1977 next time! And we'll see just how many slices of that Shakes sandwich they manage to gobble up...
Hi, Chris!
ReplyDeleteI'm off the road, on the laptop and found a pocket of time to ride your machine, so here I am.
1964 was a pivotal year in history and it yielded some of the greatest recordings on the soundtrack of my youth.
I watched Shindig religiously (praying they wouldn't have too many music guests from my parents' generation :). Electricity filled the air when shows like Shindig, Hullabaloo, Shivaree, Hollywood A Go-Go, Where The Action Is and The Lloyd Thaxton Show came on the air. At long last teenagers had their own tailor made programming!
"We'll Sing In The Sunshine" is one of the few recordings my parents loved that I loved, too. The song is linked in my memory to a 1964 family vacation at a log cabin in the mountains of northern Pennsylvania.
"Little Honda" is another favorite of mine. I owned the 45 and played it frequently along with the fab flip "Hot Rod High."
It's a small world after all. You've got the Newbeats on your post. I've got Larry Henley's sister Barbara Mills on my post.
I'm listening to Shakes on this tinny laptop and the distortion is terrible, but I can tell that I like this one.
What a cool feature - listing some of the goofiest titles on the Bubbling Under chart. I only knew one of them - the one by the Four-Evers. I have that recording and its my favorite one by that Four Seasons inspired vocal group. "Me Japanese Boy I Love You" by Bobby Goldsboro? I don't care. It's gotta be better than "Honey." :) "Ringo For President"? What the hell do we have to lose? :)
The Herman's Hermits' hit "I'm Into Something Good" was a huge memory maker for me. I was coming of age and constantly on the lookout for girlfriend material. (Granny C wouldn't reply to the cards, letters and gifts I sent her and eventually sought a restraining order). "Something Good" was originally waxed by Earl-Jean, a member of the R&B girl group the Cookies.
Johnny Rivers' three albums recorded live at the Whisky A Go-Go are among the first longplay vinyls I ever purchased. Thanks for letting me know that bass player Joe Osborn was involved in those sessions and played on many other hits of the 60s. Be sure to watch the documentary about The Wrecking Crew if you can.
Thanks, Chris. I'll see you next week when I should be home and able to listen to the sounds of '77 on better equipment. Have a Scrappy weekend!
When I hit the Shindig! story, I knew if anybody remembered it, it would be you. We went through playing the goofy titled songs, and I LOVED the Four-Evers! Goldsboro's contribution was a Bacharach/David comp, amazingly enough, and Dern Ya was an entertaining female answer to Dang Me.
DeleteI've run into Earl-Jean before somewhere along the way, and know I have one of the missing pieces to the REAL Granny story, lol!
Osborn was involved in so many records, I tried to stay with those I could guarantee 80% or better he was on the song and not just the lp. One of those lps was Seals and Crofts' Summer Breeze, which explains the ED&JFC connection.
When I was real little- and you were in your SD days- I had a mental list of what I called "end of the world songs"- I don't know how to explain them other than they were like songs that, to me, belonged on the soundtrack lp of the world right before the Cold war would destroy us. Of Course, Eve Of Destruction was the obvious headliner ( and the only one that actually made sense), but We'll Sing In The Sunshine was on that list. Along with What The World Needs Now, Walk On By, Love Child (to a certain extent), and others. The only song that ever added itself to that later on was Pet Shop Boys and West End Girls, until I discovered Gotye a couple years back and heard his Eyes Wide Open.
Anyway, have a safe and fun weekend, and Ill be checking your post in a bit!
Chris:
ReplyDelete---Ahh...Shindig (I do remember the Bobbys Sherman & Rydell on that show).
---Donna Loren was the Dr. Pepper Girl - well, that explains my woman I got hitched to AND my affinity for the soft drink in ONE shot...LOL!
---WIBG - "99" on the AM dial (990 actually, but who was keeping score?)
---Frankie Valli was ALWAYS huge in Philly (he was born in "Joisey").
---The Hondells - aka "the house band" for all those beach movies...heh.
---The band Shakes - sounds retro (kinda fits w/ the 60s)
---Okay, the "bubbling under" brigade stumped me - never heard of ANY of those tunes.
---Ah, saved by the UK list - now THOSE I have heard of...lol.
---Wow, that was the most DIRECT 6D yet...and very cool to find out about. Lotsa folks must have liked him and his style.
---Got to run w/ the Panel Four this week. LOVE that song (and used to be able to play it on the guitar (chords only, minds you...never a lead).
Very good ride this week.
(must be the freshly fermented apple cider in the gas tank...HA!)
Keep those hits comin' up there, brother.
You and I were both stumped on the bubble songs... but wait'll next week when I do a bubble-under special!
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