Celebrating the music that shaped our lives. The 50's. The 60's. The 70's. We give you the latest news from your favorite artists & track down those in obscurity!
Golden Hits Radio celebrates the life of one of the folks who is responsible for the fact that we exist......Dick Clark, who passed away following a heart attack yesterday at a hospital in Santa Monica, California. Whether it was on camera or behind the scenes, Dick Clark has been responsible for thousands of hours of our collective TV viewing since American Bandstand was first broadcast coast-to-coast in 1957.
While we can't possibly bring you every piece of news coverage and video from around the Web, we can bring you an overview across several media organizations, and hopefully you learn something about the man that you never knew!
Golden Hits Radio pays tribute to the late Don Cornelius, who died yesterday of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the age of 75. For many of us in America, Saturday afternoons not only played a big role in shaping our musical tastes but also taught us to dance, and Soul Train, along with American Bandstand, was the reason.
Cornelius was a journalist and part-time disc jockey by trade who had been successful promoting package shows around Chicago featuring soul and R&B artists. Chicago TV station WCIU took notice and gave Cornelius the chance to park the road show on television. Soul Train entered national syndication in 1971 after beginning as a local, Chicago-based program, but initially it only aired in 8 markets. It was an immediate hit, however, and within a few years it had spread to more than 100 stations across the country.
Soul Train became a necessary stop for the R&B A-list, and while most of the dancers and performers were African-American, several A-list white pop and rock artists were booked over the years, including David Bowie and Elton John.
Cornelius left the program as host in 1993 but continued on as Executive Producer until its cancellation in 2006. While he was rarely seen doing anything on camera other than introducing the songs played and the acts performing, in a rare moment in 1974 he took over the "Soul Train Dance Line" with former Supreme Mary Wilson. Here is the moment where Don Cornelius let loose and took the Soul Train dancers to school.........
Speaking of Soul Train, who was the first white artist to appear on the show (January 8, 1972) and which song did he perform?
Come back to Everything Oldies tomorrow to find the answer, and leave a Comment below with your best guess!
Yesterday's Burning Question (and Answer) of the Day
On February 1, 1975, Lisa Marie Presley's famous father arranged a meeting between her and her favorite singer for her 7th birthday. Who did she meet that day?
Today in 1969, The Beatles performed in public for the final time on the roof of Apple Studios on Savile Row in London. The idea for the "impromptu" performance had actually come several days earlier, but the roof had to be shored up to carry the weight of the band's equipment. The show became the backbone for the 1970 documentary film Let It Be, a movie which has yet to see a DVD or Blu-ray release due to surviving members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr due to scenes depicting the infighting which ultimately led to the group's demise.
After 42 minutes, London police ordered the Fab Four to end the performance, but fortunately cameras were rolling to document most of the show, which was originally meant to be a TV documentary. Attempts at posting the entire movie on YouTube have been met with removal due to copyright issues by The Beatles' record label, EMI. Some clips have remained however, and here is a snippet.............
Which legendary band, known for their stage theatrics, played their first concert together at New York's Coventry Club today in 1973?
Come back to Everything Oldies tomorrow to find the answer, and leave a Comment below with your best guess!
Yesterday's Burning Question (and Answer) of the Day
On January 24, 1967, Jefferson Airplane members Paul Kantner and Grace Slick had a baby girl. While she was later given the name China, what did they originally name her?
Today in 1969, The Beatles performed in public for the final time on the roof of Apple Studios on Savile Row in London. The idea for the "impromptu" performance had actually come several days earlier, but the roof had to be shored up to carry the weight of the band's equipment. The show became the backbone for the 1970 documentary film Let It Be, a movie which has yet to see a DVD or Blu-ray release due to surviving members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr due to scenes depicting the infighting which ultimately led to the group's demise.
After 42 minutes, London police ordered the Fab Four to end the performance, but fortunately cameras were rolling to document most of the show, which was originally meant to be a TV documentary. Attempts at posting the entire movie on YouTube have been met with removal due to copyright issues by The Beatles' record label, EMI. Some clips have remained however, and here is a snippet.............
Which legendary band, known for their stage theatrics, played their first concert together at New York's Coventry Club today in 1973?
Come back to Everything Oldies tomorrow to find the answer, and leave a Comment below with your best guess!
Yesterday's Burning Question (and Answer) of the Day
On January 24, 1967, Jefferson Airplane members Paul Kantner and Grace Slick had a baby girl. While she was later given the name China, what did they originally name her?
All this week, Everything Oldies will play "What if?", as we spotlight songs with their original working titles. Imagine what a different world we'd live in if the most covered song of all time were The Beatles' classic, "Scrambled Eggs".....which was the original working title of......"Yesterday". Enjoy the stories behind the titles.....and why they changed.
America wanted to write a song that captured the feel of the hot, dry desert depicted in a Salvador Dali painting in a recording studio they were working in while in England. Songwriter and band member Dewey Bunnell also wanted to wax nostalgic about his childhood rides through the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico while his father was stationed at Vandenberg Air Force Base. While the original title, "Desert Song", certainly seems appropriate, it was changed to one we know and love by the time it was added to their debut album.
Sometimes a major music superstar can bring about a change in a song's title. According to songwriter Sir Mack Rice, he changed the title of one of his songs based on the recommendation of Aretha Franklin. In 1966, Wilson Pickett made Rice's song a classic, but not with its original title. "Mustang Mama" had become..........
In 1988, Eric Carmen and songwriter Dean Pitchford (who had previously collaborated successfully on Mike Reno and Ann Wilson's "Almost Paradise" in 1984) were working on a song whose verses were heavy on music nostalgia, making references to several 60's classics. The original chorus had different lyrics, and the song had a different working title. They decided they really didn't want the song to be all nostalgia, so they changed the lyrics to the chorus and the title. Suddenly, "Long Live Rock and Roll" became a Top 5 smash without all the nostalgia, under the name.........
Which act had the most Top 10 singles in the U.S. in the 80's?
Check back tomorrow @ Everything Oldies for the answer, and leave a comment here with your best guess!
Yesterday's Burning Question (and Answer) of the Day
While it sometimes doesn't hurt to "go with your gut" when recording a song, it always helps to get a second opinion on its hit potential. Which superstar let the Ohio Players know they had a winner in "Fire"?
All this week, Everything Oldies will play "What if?", as we spotlight songs with their original working titles. Imagine what a different world we'd live in if the most covered song of all time were The Beatles' classic, "Scrambled Eggs".....which was the original working title of......"Yesterday". Enjoy the stories behind the titles.....and why they changed.
In 1982, Paul Davis was working on a song whose references were very 50's, including car hops, doo wops, and drive-ins. Appropriately, the working title was "'55 Love Affair". His record label, Arista Records, didn't like the idea of a song that would appeal to an older crowd, so they had him change the title in order to "young it down". The result was a Top 10 hit. You wonder if the American Bandstand crowd in this clip would have gone quite as crazy with the original title...........
As urban legend has it, a smash from 1972 was written about Don McLean, but the writers of the song tell a slightly different story. Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox wrote a song for a young artist named Lori Lieberman. They decided their original working title was a little old fashioned for 1972, so they changed the last word. After hearing it, Lieberman said it reminded her of being at a Don McLean concert, and the song's legend grew from there. It wasn't a hit for Lori Lieberman, but it became a #1 hit for Roberta Flack. Interesting how "Killing Me Softly With His Blues" became............
Song #54 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time had a rather unusual birth. The man who wrote it and sang it was working as a hospital orderly by day and club singer by night. Distraught over a broken relationship, he couldn't even bring himself to concentrate on the music he was to perform at the club. He asked his bassist and organ player to give him a slow blues backing, and he began to improvise a 6 minute song about the breakup. Realizing he might have something, he condensed it, took it to a producer, and recorded it in one of the early meccas of rock and pop music. The producer, realizing he had a hit, pitched the song to Atlantic Records, whose co-founder, Jerry Wexler, loved the song but didn't like the off-key performance of the singer. He ordered the singer and musicians back into the studio to re-cut it.........and accidentally released the off-key version anyway. The original title was "Why Did You Leave Me", but it became one of the most played songs of all-time as.............
While it sometimes doesn't hurt to "go with your gut" when recording a song, it always helps to get a second opinion on its hit potential. Which superstar let the Ohio Players know they had a winner in "Fire"?
Check back tomorrow @ Everything Oldies for the answer, and leave a comment here with your best guess!
Yesterday's Burning Question (and Answer) of the Day
For its last 6 months on TV, American Bandstand moved from its longtime home at ABC to cable's USA Network, and Dick Clark stepped down as host. Who was his replacement as host?
