BIRMINGHAM RECORD COLLECTORS
DEDICATED TO THE COLLECTING OF MUSIC, ITS PRESERVATION AND LASTING FRIENDSHIP
THIS MONTH’S MEETING
THE SECOND SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12TH 2:00 PM
HOMEWOOD PUBLIC LIBRARY 1721 OXMOOR RD BIRMINGHAM, AL 35209
NEXT MEETING, DECEMBER 10TH 2:00 PM THE SECOND SUNDAY
THIS MONTH’S MEETING
At the October meeting our guest speaker was Ross Gagliano. He passed along some great stories and memories and with so many left he agreed to do Part 2 in November. So drop by this Sunday and hear more of what Ross has to say. If you missed him I assure you will not be disappointed.
EVERYTHING HAS A DAY SO WHY NOT THESE
9-9-81, a date that will live in my mind forever. I was working for the Birmingham Public School system and I had a student ask me if I knew what the day was. Other the date I couldn’t figure out they were talking about. Then I was told it is ‘square root day’. What?! I knew what a square root was but never knew a group of people, mathematicians particularly watched the calendar for such a thing. What is square root day? If you multiply the 9 X 9 you get 81. So, the square root of 81 is 9. The next square root day will be 5-5-25. Now what has this got to do with music? Well, I heard of a day that involves music last month but it was too late to include it in the September or October newsletter. You may have heard of doughnut day, hamburger day, corndog day, vodka day, greasy food day and there is even a national tight-end day which was started by George Kittle, a tight end for the San Francisco 49ers. Some of you celebrate Record Store Day, I am sure. But now I find out there is a National One-Hit Wonder Day. The date for you to mark on your calendar in the future is September 25. So, let’s look at some of the one-hit wonders that we remember so well. Depending on who you talk to, a one-hit wonder can have different criteria. My criteria will be a group that had a song in the national pop top 40 just once. Let’s start in the 1950’s and go from there. Happy Belated One-Hit Wonder Day!! Do you have a favorite?
To me the biggest surprise of a one-hit wonder may be ‘Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)’ by the Penguins. After such a great song and one that some doo wop collectors say is the national anthem of doo wop, the group never made the pop charts again. They did have one Top 20 on the R&B chart. A side note is that this was the second doo wop group to make the Top 10. The Chords, with their #5 hit ‘Sh-Boom’ in the summer of 1954 was the first. The Penguins hit charted in December 1954 topping at #8.
Another song that is still remembered today and has a sad reason that it was a one-hit wonder would be Johnny Ace’s, “Pledging My Love’. The song hit the charts one month after Johnny Ace, born John Alexander died of a self inflicted gun shot to the head. The song charted at #17. If you saw the 1983 movie, ‘Christine‘ you will know that song was very prominent in the movie from start to finish.
The El Dorados hit it big with ‘At My Front Door’ in 1955. But that was it, although I think the follow up, ‘Bim Bam Boom’ should have been given a chance. But it was an answer song and very similar to their hit so I guess most stations just didn’t play it. ‘At My Front Door’ was a #17 hit.
Using my aforementioned criteria for a one-hit wonder, ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ is just that. Carl Perkins had 9 top 40 C/W hits but this song was his only top 40 pop hit. And what a one-hit wonder it is. The song is in the Grammy Hall Of Fame, Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, #95 in the Rolling Stone magazine’s The 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time, and is included in the magazine’s 500 Songs That Shaped Rock & Roll and is included on the NPR 100 which is a list of the most important American musical works of the 20th century.
If I say Mickey & Sylvia you will immediately know their song, ‘Love Is Strange’. A song that when played everyone who remembers it will sing or hum along. But for the duo that song was it for them. There were some top 100 songs but they never broke into the top 40 again. This song is in the Grammy Hall Of Fame and had special moment in the movie, Dirty Dancing.
Who did write the book of love? That is the question the Monotones asked in their one-hit wonder, ‘Book Of Love’. Reaching #5 on the pop chart, the group had everyone in 1958 singing along with them asking that question.
The Elegants also wondered about something also. In their hit, ‘Little Star’, they asked where are you little star. The song topped the charts for a week in 1958 but then after that the group faded as all little stars will do. But just like all these one-hit wonders, what a memory is was and still is.
Were they named after the Chevy Impala or the fast animal? It would make sense that the group would take a name of a car since their lead singer, Joe ‘Speedo’ Frazier took his nickname from the Cadillacs hit, ‘Speedo’. But it is said that the group’s name is from the animal. They left us with a really fun song and unfortunately for them, their only hit. By the way, if you have a copy of the 45 is it entitled ‘Sorry (I Ran All The Way Home)’ or ‘I Ran All The Way Home’. The early releases had the second title. But whichever, it went to #2 in 1959, staying there 2 weeks. And the flip side, ‘Fool, Fool, Fool’ ain’t bad either.
Not only is it a one-hit wonder but it is also the shortest single to reach the top of the American charts coming in at 1 minute and 36 seconds. Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs did top the charts in 1960 for a week with the song ‘Stay’. I wonder, is it the shortest title for a song that topped the pop charts? The song was used in the movie ‘Dirty Dancing’.
Also in 1960 another song that was a crowd favorite and although you didn’t sing along with it since it was an instrumental was one that you couldn’t help but tap your feet, snap your fingers or just dance to was the one-hit wonder of the Fendermen, ‘Mule Skinner Blues’. Making it to #5 the group seemed to have found a sound that would be around for a while but this song was it for them. By the way, the Fendermen was a duo out of Wisconsin. The group took their name from the Fender guitar.
There was a time during the 1970’s I believe it was that if you went to a college football game it was almost for sure the home band would play ‘Hey! Baby’ and everyone would sing along. The song had the lyrics and the beat that is just timeless. And even today the tune will catch the attention to listeners when it comes on. Bruce Channel took the song to #1 in 1962 where it stayed there for 3 weeks. But unfortunately for Bruce he never had another song make the top 40.
How can an artist do a song like ‘Just One Look’ and then never have anything make even the top 100? Doris Troy gave us a fantastic recording but then was gone….at least as a female lead vocalist. Doris would go on to do lots of backup singing including being on Pink Floyd’s album, ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’, sang on the Rolling Stones song ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ and on Carly Simon’s ‘You’re So Vain’. I don’t know right off hand if the song was ever in a movie but it was used in a 1991 Super Bowl commercial for Pepsi. Her 1963 one-hit wonder is one of my all-time favorite songs.
My list left off so many great one-hit wonders. Here are some to close us out.
Ernie K-Doe – ‘Mother-In-Law’ (although he had many songs chart here in the Birmingham area)
The Hombres – ‘Let It All Hang Out’
The Tornadoes – ‘Telstar’
The Surfaris – ‘Wipe Out’
The Swingin’ Medallions – ‘Double Shot (Of My Baby’s Love)
Ram Jam – ‘Black Betty’
The Count Five – “Psychotic Reaction’
The Easybeats – ‘Friday On My Mind’
And the guy who made it OK not to have 45’s make the record charts also is a one-hit wonder: Jimi Hendrix – ‘All Along The Watchtower’
Here are some that didn’t chart that are worth a listen from a few of the artists above:
The Impalas
(Flip of their hit ‘Sorry (I Ran All The Way Home’))
The El Dorados
(Answer to their hit ‘At My Front Door’)
Ernie K-Doe
(1960 – The release after ‘Mother-In-Law’ that was played in Birmingham. Back then I thought it was a national hit)
See ya,
Charlie