Six Types of Songs That Aren’t on the Pop Charts Anymore

23 Jan 2013 3 Comments

by Ed Cyphers in Best of the Blog, General Posts Tags: , , , ,

If you’re over the age of 40 and continue to be exposed to contemporary pop radio I don’t have to tell you the landscape has changed a bit since say, the 70’s.

Some of the more profound and obvious developments would include the greater prominence of the “bottom end” in the sound mix (70’s AM radio catered to the portable transistor radio) and of course the emergence of rap and hip-hop.

But there are several whole types of pop songs that were much more commonly found on the radio in past decades whose absence you may not have even noticed. Allow me to call attention to a few:

Six Types of Songs That Aren’t on the Pop Charts Anymore

greenbaum

1. Songs About God

The pop charts are a more secular place these days, while religion formerly found a regular spot on the radio, particularly in the five-year period from 1969-74. For example:

  • “Oh Happy Day”-Edwin Hawkins Singers (#4 in 1969)
  • “My Sweet Lord”-George Harrison (#1 in 1970)
  • “Spirit in the Sky”-Norman Greenbaum (#3 in 1970)
  • “Put Your Hand in the Hand”-Ocean (#2 in 1971)
  • “The Wedding Song (There is Love)”-Paul Stookey (#24 in 1971)
  • “Mighty Clouds of Joy”-B.J. Thomas (#34 in 1971)
  • “Morning Has Broken”-Cat Stevens (#6 in 1972)
  • “Amazing Grace”-Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (#11 in 1972)
  • “Day By Day”-Godspell (#13 in 1972)
  • “Speak to the Sky”-Rick Springfield (#14 in 1972)
  • “Why Me”-Kris Kristofferson (#16 in 1973)
  • “The Lord’s Prayer”-Sister Janet Mead (#4 in 1974)

take five

2. Jazz Crossover Hits

It’s strange to even realize there was a time–called the Big Band Era–when jazz was the top 40. I’m not going too far out on a limb to predict it’ll never happen again. But jazz had at least a presence on pop radio right up until about 1980–a little later if you consider what Kenny G did to be jazz, or allow for a bit of a one-off with US3’s “Cantaloop” in 1993. What happened to the jazz hit song?

  • “Take Five”-Dave Brubeck Quartet (#25 in 1961)
  • “The Girl From Ipanema”-Stan Getz with Astrud Gilberto Byrd (#5 in 1964)
  • “The ‘In’ Crowd”-Ramsey Lewis (#5 in 1965)
  • “The Look of Love”-Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 (#4 in 1968)
  • “Grazing in the Grass”-Hugh Masekela (#1 in 1968)
  • “Breezin'”-George Benson (#63 in 1976)
  • “Feels So Good”-Chuck Mangione (#4 in 1978)
  • “Morning Dance”-Spyro Gyra (#24 in 1979)

vangelis

3. Instrumental Hits

Of course, there’s a certain degree of overlap between instrumental and jazz hits of past decades, but there have been countless surf, R&B, disco and movie soundtrack instrumental hits too. When was the last time a pure instrumental became a top 40 hit?

  • “Sleep Walk”-Santo & Johnny (#1 in 1959)
  • “Last Date”-Floyd Cramer (#2 in 1960)
  • “Stranger on the Shore”-Acker Bilk (#1 in 1962)
  • “Classical Gas”-Mason Williams (#2 in 1968)
  • “Love is Blue”-Paul Mauriat (#1 in 1968)
  • “Popcorn”-Hot Butter (#9 in 1972)
  • “The Entertainer”-Marvin Hamlisch (#3 in 1974)
  • “TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)”-MFSB (#1 in 1974)
  • “Pick Up the Pieces”-Average White Band (#1 in 1974)
  • “Gonna Fly Now (Theme from Rocky)”-Bill Conti (#1 in 1977)
  • “Music Box Dancer”-Frank Mills (#3 in 1979)
  • “Chariots of Fire”-Vangelis (#1 in 1982)
  • “Axel F Theme” (from Beverly Hills Cop)”-Harold Faltermeyer (#3 in 1985)

eddie fitz

4. Story Songs

Maybe it’s testament to our shorter attention spans nowadays, but nobody’s telling a linear story in a hit song anymore. Honestly I find it very difficult to think of the last time a true story song was a hit. Once again it seems that the period loosely encompassing the first half of the ’70’s was the last time pop radio was fertile ground for this type of thing. Leaving out such novelty songs as “The Unicorn” (and anything written by Shel Silverstein) here are some examples:

  • “Silhouettes”-The Rays (#3 in 1957)
  • “Ode to Billie Joe”-Bobbie Gentry (#1 in 1967)
  • “Harper Valley P.T.A.”-Jeannie C. Riley (#1 in 1968)
  • “The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde”-Georgie Fame (#7 in 1968)
  • “Timothy”-The Buoys (#17 in 1971)
  • “You Don’t Mess Around with Jim”-Jim Croce (#8 in 1972)
  • “Taxi”-Harry Chapin (#24 in 1972)
  • “Brother Louie”-Stories (#1 in 1973)
  • “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree”-Tony Orlando & Dawn (#1 in 1973)
  • “Daisy a Day”-Jud Strunk (#14 in 1973)
  • “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia”-Vicki Lawrence (#1 in 1973)
  • “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown”-Jim Croce (#1 in 1973)
  • “Billy, Don’t Be a Hero”-Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods (#1 in 1974)
  • “The Night Chicago Died”-Paper Lace (#1 in 1974)
  • “Dark Lady”-Cher (#1 in 1974)
  • “Cat’s in the Cradle”-Harry Chapin (#1 in 1974)
  • “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”-Gordon Lightfoot (#2 in 1976)
  • “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”-Charlie Daniels Band (#3 in 1979)
  • “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)”-Rupert Holmes (#1 in 1979)
  • “Coward of the County”-Kenny Rogers (#3 in 1980)
  • “Same Old Lang Syne”-Dan Fogelberg (#9 in 1981)

welcome back

5. TV Show Theme Songs

It used to be the popularity of a hit TV series coupled with a catchy theme song might create a spin-off radio hit. No more. If you liked being able to purchase the full-length version of the theme of your favorite sitcom or drama, then as Archie and Edith sang on their 1972 hit single, “Those were the days”…

  • “Hawaii Five-O”-The Ventures (#4 in 1969)
  • “Quentin’s Theme” (from Dark Shadows)-Charles Randolph Grean Sounde (#13 in 1969)
  • “The Rockford Files”-Mike Post (#10 in 1975)
  • “Theme from S.W.A.T.”-Rhythm Heritage (#1 in 1976)
  • “Happy Days”-Pratt & McClain (#5 in 1976)
  • “Making Our Dreams Come True” (from LaVerne & Shirley)-Cyndi Grecco (#25 in 1976)
  • “Nadia’s Theme (The Young and the Restless)”-Barry DeVorzon and Perry Botkin, Jr. (#8 in 1976)
  • “Welcome Back” (from Welcome Back Kotter)-John Sebastian (#1 in 1976)
  • “Theme from ‘Greatest American Hero’ (Believe it or Not)”-Joey Scarbury (#2 in 1981)
  • “The Theme from Hill Street Blues”-Mike Post (#10 in 1981)
  • “Moonlighting”-Al Jarreau (#23 in 1987)

fifth

6. Re-worked Classical Music

Whether you tend to see the pop reimagining of masterpieces by Bach, Beethoven and Rachmaninov as musically adventurous or horrible misguided and cheesy, the arrow once again seems to point in the direction of the 70’s as the decade of this type of song’s proliferation.

  • “A Lover’s Concerto”-The Toys (#2 in 1965)
    • Adapted from Bach’s Minuet from The Anna Magdalena Notebook
  • “A Song of Joy”-Miguel Rios (#14 in 1970)
    • Based on the last movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony
  • “Mozart Symphony No. 40 in G Minor”-Waldo De Los Rios (#67 in 1971)
    • (Self-explanatory)
  • “Joy”-Apollo 100 (#6 in 1972)
    • Based on Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring
  • “Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)”-Deodato (#2 in 1973)
    • Written by Richard Strauss in 1896
  • “A Fifth of Beethoven”-Walter Murphy (#1 in 1976)
    • Based on Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony

Note: There are plenty of examples of more (or less) subtle borrowing of classical themes and melodies, from Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale” (Bach’s Air on a G String) to Starship’s “Sara” (Fantasia by Tallis) to “I Can” by rapper Nas (Beethoven’s Fur Elise) and Beyoncé’s “Ave Maria”. A few other examples:

  • “Could it be Magic”-Barry Manilow (#6 in 1975, originally released in 1971)
    • Inspired by Chopin’s Prelude in C Minor
  • “All By Myself”-Eric Carmen (#2 in 1976)
    • Based on Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2
  • “Never Gonna Fall in Love Again”-Eric Carmen (#11 in 1976)
    • Based on Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony
  • “This Night”-Billy Joel (B-side in 1983)
    • Based on Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata

…but the era of an artist hitting the top 40 with an actual contemporized cover of a classical composer’s work is well behind us.

The overarching point being: there seems to be an overall narrowing of the definition of a hit song. It can represent any of a number of genres or styles, but it seemingly can’t be religious, or jazz, or an instrumental, or classical homage, or a story song, or a song created for a TV show. I’d venture the opinion that this isn’t a positive development–certainly not if you like diversity in pop music.

Comments on this topic or other examples of songs in the above categories are welcome.

Songs You May Have Missed #300

21 Jan 2013 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Best of the Blog, Songs You May Have Missed Tags: , , ,

Zach Sestili

Zach Sestili: “When the Lashes and the Stars Fall” (Year Unknown)

Frequently I hear musicians capable of producing enjoyable music. Occasionally I’m fortunate enough to come across someone with a true musical gift. Rarely is my soul graced by an artist who inspires true awe. And exactly once in my life I was blessed to be able to call such an awe-inspiring artist my friend.

Zach Sestili, whose performing name at the time was Zee Steel, used to haunt the weekly local (Pittsburgh) open stages in the 90’s. Since I also owned a guitar and wrote songs, we did this together. But we didn’t really do it together. More accurately, I played Salieri to his Mozart. Zach praised in earnest tones the melodies I came up with, but I always wondered if he was busting out in that mischievous Tom Hulce giggle behind my back. Because when Zee Steel took the stage, jaws dropped across the room.

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Zach Sestili was born in Pittsburgh and moved to Mobile, Alabama at age 6.

Beginning at age 7 when his dad taught him some drumming technique, Zach had quickly progressed in his mastery of: drums, saxophone, piano, guitar, bass, vocals, songwriting and music theory. At age 11 he sang lead vocals and played drums as his band performed Yes’ “Owner of a Lonely Heart” in his middle school talent show. By age 12, with his brother on guitar, Zach’s band was actually gigging, and he was developing his compositional skills.

Influenced mainly by progressive rock at the time, Zach’s next band (ages 14-16) covered Yes, Rush, Genesis and Mr. Mister and actually played in the 1988 Mardi Gras parade, and their accompanying outdoor courtyard performance placed them in front of a crowd of about 6,000.

Moving to Atlanta at age 16, Sestili met new friends who helped expand his horizons by introducing him to jazz fusion. For the next several years some major influences were Michael Hedges, Pat Metheny, Al DiMeola, Kazumi Watanabe, Chic Corea and Weather Report.

It was the intrigue this complex, colorful music held for him that sparked an interest in music theory and effectively charted the course of his subsequent musical interests. While beginning to read widely on  relationships between modes and scales, he found published sources to lack the explanations he sought regarding what he calls the “logical but intangible relationships” between musical moments within related scales and modes. His desire to understand the nature of the interconnectedness of modes and scales has led to his own original modal theory, which he has been working on for about two decades. He lives in Hawaii now and has presumably had his head so deep in modal theory that he’s only recently begun reconnecting with the outside world via the wonderful world of social media. I hear he’s married.

_________________________

When I first met Zach (then “Zee Steel” and later “Zach Pendulum”) he was back in Pittsburgh (temporarily) and around 21 years of age, managing the keyboard department of a now-defunct downtown music store, writing musically adventurous songs in a genre that seemed to blend jazz fusion complexity with new age optimism, and playing solo at open stages. While he was most enthusiastic about playing his latest compositions, he was a gracious performer and always willing to give a slot in his 3-song set to one of his older songs that we his friends and fans begged him to do.

One such song is “When the Lashes and the Stars Fall”, which Zach says he mainly wrote at age 16, finishing the guitar parts by age 17. Although this is only a demo, sourced from a cassette that must be at least 20 years old, you can still hear the complex interweaving of instruments–all played by Zach himself–in a song that is screaming for a modern digital upgrade.

There are so many moments of musical magic here, from the quite original drum pattern that opens and closes the song, to the echo-effect guitar that vaguely trails the vocal melody, to the little vocal exhalation that follows the line “caught in my mind, it’s impossible”, to the variety of keyboard sounds that begin to inhabit the corners of the song shortly after the first chorus, playing lines of such subtlety I only discerned some of them for the first time on recent re-listening.

Yes, it’s a muddy old analog recording. Yes, it might sound dated to your ears (although not to mine–I’ll admit to a complete lack of objectivity here.) But it’s hard to deny this is an imaginative composition wondrously arranged. On the  occasion of hearing it again for the first time in years I had all the mixed emotions I once had every Thursday night at The Artery in Shadyside: the awe of hearing someone who clearly seems to be touched by God, and the little twinge of envy that comes from knowing the same gift was not given to me, much as I desired it. I’ve always thought if I could write and perform just one song as good as “When the Lashes and the Stars Fall” in my life, I’d be content with that.

But I’ve come to accept that my destiny was merely to be witness to the Gift–to be Salieri.

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2015/04/27/songs-you-may-have-missed-529/

Recommended Albums #35

07 Jan 2013 6 Comments

by Ed Cyphers in Best of the Blog, Recommended Albums Tags: ,

ketelby

Ketèlbey: In a Monastery Garden (1959)

Most of us probably have strong feelings about the music our parents loved–either affection or revulsion. I look back as an adult at the music collection of my father with admiration: right up until age fifty or so he was buying and listening to then-current top 40 music, adding it to an eclectic collection encompassing every era since the time of big band jazz (one style he had little use for).

In every decade and in nearly every genre it seems he found something to like, and a scan of his albums and 45’s reveals his discernment of quality music: The Ames Brothers–genius. Roger Miller–genius. The Carpenters–genius. Herb Alpert, The Seekers, The Stylistics, The Spinners, Stevie Wonder, ABBA, Nat Cole, Bobby Darin, Jerry Reed, Marty Robbins, Johnny Cash, Glen Campbell…the degree to which my father’s taste shaped mine is astonishing, and I only wish I’d told him sooner–like when I was shutting the bedroom door to blare my Elvis Costello records.

But Dad also took great enjoyment in what some would now call “guilty pleasure” music (although I’m sure he did so without guilt because to him music was never about hipness or cred, only enjoyment). Tony Orlando & Dawn, Sandie Shaw, Connie Francis, Bobby Sherman and Olivia Newton-John were some of the artists he enjoyed without shame. And I’m grateful that he was no elitist. From this I learned that music is for enjoyment primarily, and doesn’t need to challenge to have validity.

Thanks at least in part to my dad I know it doesn’t have to be Miles Davis, or Mozart, or Dylan to matter. And sometimes I drive around with ELO playing from my car because, whatever a critic or an ordinary hater might have to say, the enjoyment is the thing.

Which brings us (trust me) to Albert Ketèlbey. Although my dad’s record collection included more serious classical music, it was the “light music” of Ketèlbey that more often made it into the thick stack of albums the record changer would drop in succession onto Dad’s turntable.

Ketèlbey could be considered the Henry Mancini or Leroy Anderson of his time, his time being from about 1912 to the mid-1930’s. During that period the English composer made music that was more about charm than pretension, more about pure enjoyment than depth or so-called substance. And he was so successful doing it that he was able to retire to the Isle of Wight while still only in his forties.

In a Monastery Garden: The Immortal Works of Ketèlbey was the recording that the majority of the eleven kids in my family grew to love without realizing it at the time. It’s an album that was background music to our childhood years, hardly noticed, but has become dear to us since our dad passed on, as nostalgia for those innocent years grows.

Perhaps this album’s particular attraction for us among my dad’s many records is due to the built-in nostalgic feel of Ketèlbey’s melodies. That’s the magic of Ketèlbey’s impressionistic music: He didn’t rigorously adhere to authentic Persian or Egyptian styles in writing songs like “In a Persian Market” or “In the Mystic Land of Egypt”. “In a Chinese Temple Garden” doesn’t sound remotely like the music of China. Rather he immersed the listener in an imagined version of faraway places, incorporating such flourishes as birdsong, church bells, monks’ chant, and most importantly, hauntingly beautiful melody.

With no disrespect to the Bachs and Beethovens of the world, what Ketèlbey created is just as dear to many, especially in his homeland of England. There’s nothing “light” about the beauty of Albert Ketèlbey’s melodies.

Listen to: “In a Monastery Garden”

Listen to: “In a Persian Market”

Listen to: “Wedgwood Blue”

Listen to: “Bells Across the Meadows”

Steve Shows You Howe

11 Dec 2012 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Best of the Blog, General Posts Tags: , , , ,

The Yes lead guitarist demonstrates three of prog rock’s most indelible riffs:

‘Roundabout’

‘I’ve Seen All Good People’

‘Long Distance Runaround’

I Didn’t Know That Was a Cover! Part 2

20 Nov 2012 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Best of the Blog, I Didn't Know That Was a Cover! Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In the interest of the betterment of your overall pop music knowledge/ability to spout random trivia…here’s another installment in the always popular (with me) I Didn’t Know That Was a Cover! series. Part 2 is subtitled: I Didn’t Know That Would Become a Series! Let’s dive in:

____________________

Our first three songs are examples of artists covering themselves; that is, revisiting songs they’d previously recorded with less well-known bands.

“Do Ya”-Electric Light Orchestra

Years Before Jeff Lynne’s “Do Ya” appeared on ELO’s 1977 A New World Record LP and peaked at #24 on the pop chart, he recorded a less polished version with The Move, a band that included English rock legend Roy Wood and another ELO member, Bev Bevan. Their version came with no strings attached–but plenty of cowbell.

____________________

“Somebody to Love”-Jefferson Airplane

Grace Slick’s band The Great Society recorded the original version of her “Somebody to Love”, as well as “White Rabbit”. Both later appeared on Jefferson Airplane’s 1967 Surrealistic Pillow album and are probably that band’s two most important/popular recordings. This clip suggests that Airplane was much the better band.

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“Cherry Bomb”-Joan Jett & The Blackhearts

Another member of The Runaways was mentioned in the previous post on this topic. This time it’s Joan Jett, whose “Cherry Bomb” was first recorded with that band. While both versions have their fans, neither exactly blew up (blew up I say) on the pop charts.

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“Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me)”-The Doobie Brothers

The Doobies proved their versatility in 1975 by following up their first #1 single–the bluegrass-flavored “Black Water”–with an old Holland-Dozier-Holland chestnut originally recorded ten years earlier by Kim Weston.

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“They Don’t Know”-Tracey Ullman

British actress/comedienne and sometimes singer Tracey Ullman was a one-hit wonder in the U.S. although several of her singles were well-received abroad. Her schtick was to update the 60’s girl group sound, and “They Don’t Know” was an irresistible nugget of retropop. The backing vocals were supplied by the same woman who provided the song itself, Kirsty MacColl. Kirsty’s version is much the same–Tracey just upped the cute factor some.

____________________

“Big Ten Inch Record”-Aerosmith

This song certainly clashed stylistically with the rest of the classic 1975 Toys in the Attic album, but I think that was the point. It’s a safe bet to be the only Bull Moose Jackson song in most Aerosmith fans’ collections.

____________________

“Unchained Melody”-The Righteous Brothers

What we have here is your all-purpose guide to “Unchained Melody”, starting with the Righteous Brothers and moving backward in time. (We will ignore versions by LeAnn Rimes, Heart, The Sweet Inspirations and even Elvis Himself, all of whom recorded versions after the Righteous Brothers, none of whom should have bothered.)

The above clip is a little medley, a Bill Medley if you will, of snippets of the six versions of this song that matter. Here’s what you hear in succession:

  1. The newly recorded 1990 version done by the Righteous Brothers in response to demand created by the song’s inclusion in the Patrick Swayze/Demi Moore film Ghost. This is not, however, the version which appeared in that movie. This version charted at #19 in 1990.
  2. The Righteous Brothers’ first hit version, which went to #4 in 1965 and climbed to #13 in 1990 after its inclusion in Ghost. Yes, incredibly they had two different recordings of their song chart at numbers 13 and 19 in the same year.
  3. Vito & The Salutations’ fast doo wop version from 1963. Sounds like a parody of the Righteous Brothers, but it actually came two years earlier.
  4. Roy Hamilton’s #6 hit from 1955
  5. Al Hibbler’s #3 hit from 1955
  6. Finally, Les Baxter’s #1 version, also from 1955 and the only time the song has gone to the top of the charts. If you count June Valli’s #29 hit of the same year, the song had four top 40 versions in 1955 alone, three of them top ten.

If you’ve always wondered why this song carries around such a strange title, it’s because Les Baxter’s original version was from the movie Unchained (which starred football star Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch).

p.s. Why don’t football players have nicknames like “Crazylegs” anymore?

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2012/11/19/i-didnt-know-that-was-a-cover/

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2016/06/11/i-didnt-know-that-was-a-cover-part-3/

Anatomy of a Classic: Deconstructing the Raspberries’ ‘Go All the Way’

17 Nov 2012 6 Comments

by Ed Cyphers in Best of the Blog, General Posts Tags: ,

When Eric Carmen wrote the Raspberries’ first and most timeless hit, the quintessential power pop classic “Go All the Way”, he took inspiration (to say the least) from some other great songs. Let’s have a listen:

Although The Who and Faces are most often mentioned as the templates for the Raspberries’ sound, I think The Rolling Stones’ “Brown Sugar” is the closest match for Carmen’s opening riff and may have inspired it. This is speculation on my part, but there’s a clear similarity:

The next bit isn’t speculation at all; Carmen has admitted he lifted the staccato guitar in the verses from The Beach Boys’ “Don’t Worry Baby”:

For the chorus, Mr. Carmen said he was aiming for the sound of The Left Banke’s “Walk Away Renee”. This isn’t quite as obvious, but see if you can hear the similarity:

The bridge pretty clearly seems to be nicked from The Beatles’ “Please Please Me”:

Here’s an edit containing all four points of comparison:

Amazingly, this Frankenstein of assembled stolen song parts turned out to be not a mess of ugly stitches, but a seamless pop classic in its own right, perhaps even the equal of those that inspired it:

Even the idea for the song was directly inspired by another song–The Rolling Stones’ “Let’s Spend the Night Together”. When Carmen saw them perform it on TV, forced to sing it as “Let’s Spend Some Time Together”, he got the idea to write a sexually explicit lyric that would be understood by kids but could avoid similar censorship. Carmen also cleverly had the most explicit line, ‘please go all the way’ come from the song’s female subject and not directly from its male protagonist. As you can see by its performance on the Mike Douglas show below, he succeeded in skirting the censors.

Raspberries trivia: the band’s first album came with a raspberry scented scratch-and-sniff sticker. While searching for names for the band, one member rejected another’s suggestion by quoting a line from the old Our Gang comedies saying, “Aw, raspberries”. It stuck.

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2012/03/10/songs-you-may-have-missed-43/

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/04/09/songs-you-may-have-missed-386/

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