Today In Oldies 12/31/2010

Golden Hits Radio & GHR-2's Everything Oldies.......ringing out 2010 with 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's music news!

• To ring in the new year, here are five legendary performances of "Auld Lang Syne" (click here for video)
• The TV special re-enacting Michael Jackson's autopsy will not be happening
• Paula Abdul.....singer.....dancer......MENSA member?!?!?!
• After 20 years, a rocker is headed to divorce court
• The man who was once rock's biggest Baby goes returns to his roots for a new album

Oldies On TV

• Madonna - Ellen DeGeneres (syndicated; check local listings)
• Bono & The Edge, more - New Year's Eve With Carson Daly (NBC)
• Rick Springfield, more - All American New Year's Eve (Fox News)
• Daryl Hall, John Oates, Smokey Robinson, Todd Rundgren, Jose Feliciano, more - Live From Daryl's House: A New Year's Eve Special (WGN America)

The Gift Of Music

This week, Everything Oldies will spotlight hit songs written by one music superstar and performed by another.  In some cases, the writer of the song had the artist in mind when putting pen to paper, and in others, they had someone else in mind when the song was written and were advised to keep it for themselves.  In any case, the artist made it his (or her) own and fully realized the writer's vision.

Today, we celebrate songs written by someone who has received every possible award and honor known to man.  We certainly don't have to tell you that Paul McCartney might be one of the world's most brilliant songwriters from his Beatles, Wings, and solo days, but he also wrote several hits for other artists!  We'll also take a look at one song originally written for someone else but eventually kept by the Fab Four, a wise decision since it became their biggest hit. 

• McCartney wrote a song for the 1969 Peter Sellers film The Magic Christian, but it doubled as a statement about the financial trouble surrounding The Beatles' Apple Corps business venture.  McCartney's original demo of the song can be heard on the Beatles' "Anthology" CD, but the song ended up in the hands of one of the first groups signed to Apple Records.  They wanted to put their own take on it, but McCartney insisted that it be done just as he had done it on the demo.  They obeyed, and as a result, Badfinger had their first hit!

• Riding the wave of the British Invasion, it certainly didn't hurt Peter Asher that Paul McCartney was dating his sister Jane during the Beatles' heyday.  As a result, he and John Lennon wrote Asher and his partner, Gordon Waller, a song that became a smash on both sides of the Atlantic for Peter and Gordon.....

• Paul originally wrote this song for Aretha Franklin.  Wisely, he decided to keep it and let The Beatles record it.  Otherwise, The Fab Four would have been denied one of their biggest hits!  

Golden Hits Radio & GHR-2's Burning Question of the Day

On New Year's Eve 1967, Sonny and Cher were informed that their invitation to appear at the next day's Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California had been rescinded.  What was the reason?

Check back Monday @ Everything Oldies for the answer, and leave a comment here with your best guess!

Yesterday's Burning Question (and Answer) of the Day

What 70's album holds the record for taking the longest amount of time from its initial release to hit #1?

Answer: Taking more than a year from its initial release (58 weeks), Fleetwood Mac's self-titled 1975 album

Today In Oldies 12/30/2010

Golden Hits Radio and GHR-2's Everything Oldies......where your favorites from the 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's are still making news!

• Sir Elton John explains how he chose the name for his new baby
• Yoko Ono is on hand to unveil another shrine to her husband
• Paul McCartney is honored at the Kennedy Center (click here for video)
• The favorites of the Baby Boomers and Generation X still packed 'em in in concert in 2010
• USA Today looks at how the Baby Boomers helped shape music and pop culture
• Michael Jackson's "people" think a TV re-enactment of his autopsy shouldn't take place
• Meanwhile, the defense attorneys in his case will claim he killed himself
• A 60's and 70's legend continues to rock us (gently) thanks to a little help from his much younger friends
• Daryl Hall talks about the gigs at his house that have become a Web sensation and the love for Hall & Oates

The Gift of Music

This week, Everything Oldies will spotlight hit songs written by one music superstar and performed by another.  In some cases, the writer of the song had the artist in mind when putting pen to paper, and in others, they had someone else in mind when the song was written and were advised to keep it for themselves.  In any case, the artist made it his (or her) own and fully realized the writer's vision.

Today, we look at songs written by any combination of the three members of The Bee Gees.  The Saturday Night Fever era which made them superstars was also a very prolific period in their career, when at least 5 songs they composed became hits for other artists in addition to their own string of hits. 

• A one hit wonder was born when a song Barry and Robin Gibb wrote for the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack ended up not being used.  They gave it to previously unknown Australian singer Samantha Sang, and with the help of Barry on background vocals, she gained her 15 minutes of fame!

• Since Barry Gibb had the Midas touch writing songs for movies, he tried his hand at it again after Saturday Night Fever, and the results were exactly the same!  Although it had a very definite Disco feel and sound, it was the title song for a soundtrack to a period musical.  Audiences didn't mind one bit that a song that was 100% 70's was featured in a movie about the 50's.  He wrote it with a particular artist in mind, and that artist gladly agreed to record it........making it the second solo #1 song for Frankie Valli.......

• Co-written by all three Bee Gees as an R&B song, and originally intended for Marvin Gaye, this one became a Country classic instead.  Hitting #1 in 1983, it would be 17 years before another Country song topped the Billboard Hot 100.  It won an American Music Award and was voted Top Country Duet of All Time in a 2005 CMT viewer poll.  Proving that two heads are better than one, Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton turned a song meant for Marvin Gaye into a classic.........

Golden Hits Radio and GHR-2's Burning Question of the Day

What 70's album holds the record for taking the longest amount of time from its initial release to hit #1?

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

Bobby Taylor & The Vancouvers were a Motown act who had a minor hit with "Does Your Mama Know About Me" in 1965.  That song was co-written by the group's guitarist who later became part of a wildly successful comedy duo.  Who is he?

Answer: Tommy Chong (of Cheech & Chong)

 

 

Today In Oldies 11/23/2010

Golden Hits Radio & GHR-2's Everything Oldies.....the worldwide leader in Oldies news

• If you're holding tickets to see Ray Davies on his upcoming tour, go ahead and change your plans
• Condolences to former Jefferson Airplane singer Marty Balin on the loss of his wife
• The European Union tells Italy to pay up for an Elton John gig
• Speaking of Sir Elton, he'll soon add another gig to his distinguished resume

Where In The World Is.......Brewer & Shipley?

In the short time that Brewer & Shipley were a force on the charts and had their names uttered regularly by DJs and the record buying public, they somehow managed to go from famous to notorious thanks to landing on a rather famous "list" that actually brought them as much attention as their one brief moment in the music spotlight.  They wreaked quite a bit of havoc for a one hit wonder! 

Brewer & Shipley's beginnings were innocuous enough.  They crossed paths numerous times in the Midwest playing various coffeehouses before deciding to team up, move to Los Angeles, and focus on songwriting.  They released two albums with little success, and in spite of having hugely successful friends from groups including Buffalo Springfield and The Association, they moved away from L.A., and by the time success finally hit, they were in the rock & roll hotbed of Kansas City, Missouri. 

Their third album, Tarkio (named after a regular gig they were playing at the time in Tarkio, Missouri), provided their national breakthrough.  A song that was written as a joke and something of an afterthought became a Top 10 hit, and got the attention of the White House in the wrong way.  "One Toke Over The Line" has a very unique distinction as being possibly the only hit song ever officially condemned by the Vice President of the United States (Spiro Agnew) as being "subversive to American youth" while being performed the same week on one of the most family friendly TV shows of all time, The Lawrence Welk Show.  On top of that, Lawrence Welk himself referred to the song as a "spiritual" following its performance!  Who knew that one song could attract so much attention, both positive and negative? 

The controversy over "One Toke Over The Line" didn't generate any more hits for Brewer & Shipley.  Separately, they collaborated with many superstars after they decided to split apart, including Stephen Stills, Bruce Springsteen, and (interestingly) Black Sabbath.  They regrouped in 1989 for a one-off gig, and continue to write, record, and play live periodically.  Michael Brewer lives outside of Branson, Missouri.  Tom Shipley is the director of distance learning at Missouri University of Science & Technology in Rolla, Missouri. 

Funny that in 1970, a duo that Richard Nixon's White House considered public enemies were choir boys according to Lawrence Welk.  Here's proof from a rare clip from The Lawrence Welk Show......

Golden Hits Radio and GHR-2's Burning Question of the Day

What was Motown Records' first #1 hit?

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

According to the Recording Industry Association of America, who is the best selling duo of all time in the U.S.?

Answer: Hall and Oates