Post by Pete70s on Feb 17, 2007 23:19:38 GMT -5
We've done a lot of features regarding "Lost Hits", "Obscurities", "Bottom 20 picks", "Do You Remember?" "No One Else Remembers", and so forth. Well. this will be........ more of the same, essentially. OK, it is a little different. This is the first installment of songs that did not make the top 40 on the Billboard Top 40 chart, but DID chart in the Billboard Hot 100.
My inspiration to do this stems from my studying the old WRKO weekly surveys posted on their website. Consider the fact that "Hello It's Me" by Nazz did not make the national Top 40, yet was a #2 hit in Boston. Every major city radio station had their own list top hits each week, and there were quite a few big local hits that tanked nationally. The fact that they DID chart means that they had to be pretty decent sized hits in at least ONE major market. There were also huge local hits that did not make the Billboard chart.
I would like to be able to research and find out exactly which markets these songs were big in, but it would be a very long arduous task that I just don't have time for. So we'll just have to take it on faith that somewhere in this country, SOMEBODY was loving these records...
So here's the first installment: Some you may know, some you may not. Several of these I recently found on iTunes (a goldmine of obscure old singles!). Comments are welcome, of course, and I encourage you to seek them out if you can.
"Pushbike Song" - The Mixtures (Sire, 1971. #44)
A catchy little ditty that sounds like a cross between "In The Summertime" and "Brand New Key". The Mixtures were an Australian group that would not have another hit. Give it a listen:
www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B00008GELN002010/ref=mu_sam_wma_002_010/104-4452271-2723162
"No" - Bulldog (Decca, 1972 #44)
New group formed by former Rascals Gene Cornish & Dino Danelli in the early 70's. "No" was a Beatlesque piano stomper that, to my knowledge, has never been released on CD. I was able to find a clean 45, which I did a needle-drop to disc.
"Honey Honey" - Sweet Dreams (ABC, 1974 #68)
Fans of 70's pop will know Polly Brown for "Up In A Puff Of Smoke", but Polly had a history dating back to 1970, when she first charted with the group Picketywitch. In between those two chart runs, she sang under the guise of Sarah Leonne, decked out in a wig and (gasp!) blackface, in the duo Sweet Dreams. Yes, this was a cover of the ABBA song (ABBA's version debuted on the chart two weeks after this version did, and would hit #27). Couldn't find a link to a (postable) sample, but iTunes has the song, complete with a sample.
"Check Yourself" - The I.A.P. Co. (Collosus, 1970 #97)
The Italian Asphault & Paving Company were actually Doo Wop legends The Duprees. No Idea why they changed their name other than the fact that their records on the Herritage label in the late 60's were not selling. Well, neither did this record in most of the nation. But give this sample a listen and decide for yourself if it was an unjust failure:
www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B000000PRZ001005/ref=mu_sam_wma_001_005/104-4452271-2723162
"Love Me, Love Me Love" - Frank Mills (Sunflower/MGM, 1972 #46)
Eight years before "Music Box Dancer" became everyone's mother and grandmother's favorite song, pianist Mills hit the chart with this pleasant bubblegummy song. Perfect sound for the time, but missed the mark somehow.. (**NOTE** I just realized that this song was NOT an instrumental, as it is in the version I downloaded. If anyone has the vocal version, I'd like a copy. I'm posting a list of songs I'm looking for on the Trading Post board)
www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B000000N43001012/ref=mu_sam_wma_001_012/104-4452271-2723162
My inspiration to do this stems from my studying the old WRKO weekly surveys posted on their website. Consider the fact that "Hello It's Me" by Nazz did not make the national Top 40, yet was a #2 hit in Boston. Every major city radio station had their own list top hits each week, and there were quite a few big local hits that tanked nationally. The fact that they DID chart means that they had to be pretty decent sized hits in at least ONE major market. There were also huge local hits that did not make the Billboard chart.
I would like to be able to research and find out exactly which markets these songs were big in, but it would be a very long arduous task that I just don't have time for. So we'll just have to take it on faith that somewhere in this country, SOMEBODY was loving these records...
So here's the first installment: Some you may know, some you may not. Several of these I recently found on iTunes (a goldmine of obscure old singles!). Comments are welcome, of course, and I encourage you to seek them out if you can.
"Pushbike Song" - The Mixtures (Sire, 1971. #44)
A catchy little ditty that sounds like a cross between "In The Summertime" and "Brand New Key". The Mixtures were an Australian group that would not have another hit. Give it a listen:
www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B00008GELN002010/ref=mu_sam_wma_002_010/104-4452271-2723162
"No" - Bulldog (Decca, 1972 #44)
New group formed by former Rascals Gene Cornish & Dino Danelli in the early 70's. "No" was a Beatlesque piano stomper that, to my knowledge, has never been released on CD. I was able to find a clean 45, which I did a needle-drop to disc.
"Honey Honey" - Sweet Dreams (ABC, 1974 #68)
Fans of 70's pop will know Polly Brown for "Up In A Puff Of Smoke", but Polly had a history dating back to 1970, when she first charted with the group Picketywitch. In between those two chart runs, she sang under the guise of Sarah Leonne, decked out in a wig and (gasp!) blackface, in the duo Sweet Dreams. Yes, this was a cover of the ABBA song (ABBA's version debuted on the chart two weeks after this version did, and would hit #27). Couldn't find a link to a (postable) sample, but iTunes has the song, complete with a sample.
"Check Yourself" - The I.A.P. Co. (Collosus, 1970 #97)
The Italian Asphault & Paving Company were actually Doo Wop legends The Duprees. No Idea why they changed their name other than the fact that their records on the Herritage label in the late 60's were not selling. Well, neither did this record in most of the nation. But give this sample a listen and decide for yourself if it was an unjust failure:
www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B000000PRZ001005/ref=mu_sam_wma_001_005/104-4452271-2723162
"Love Me, Love Me Love" - Frank Mills (Sunflower/MGM, 1972 #46)
Eight years before "Music Box Dancer" became everyone's mother and grandmother's favorite song, pianist Mills hit the chart with this pleasant bubblegummy song. Perfect sound for the time, but missed the mark somehow.. (**NOTE** I just realized that this song was NOT an instrumental, as it is in the version I downloaded. If anyone has the vocal version, I'd like a copy. I'm posting a list of songs I'm looking for on the Trading Post board)
www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B000000N43001012/ref=mu_sam_wma_001_012/104-4452271-2723162
) and many never make the top 40, so that most of those are unfamiliar to most people except in regional areas like you say, Pete. -- But although I was always listening to WRKO in the late '60s-early '70s (it came in pretty well all the way up in Bangor, ME, where I was living at the time, I really don't remember these songs (other than Hello It's Me, which as you say was a huge hit in Beantown. I have the Nazz version and the Todd Rundgen solo version on one of my Play It Again CDs, and the Nazz version on No One Else Remembers) . For the most part I don't even remember the artists - other than Frank Mills, and the Duprees when they were the Duprees. 
