Today In Oldies 12/16/2010

Golden Hits Radio & GHR-2's Everything Oldies.......No chit chat.  More Oldies news!

• The Queen of Soul is home and "in great spirits"  
• How will Michael Jackson's "new CD" perform its first week in record stores?
• A legendary record producer and artist laments the boom of iTunes and the death of album liner notes 
• Rock's most famous groupie speaks out.....and says her kind gets a bad rap
• Who were the most notable snubs among this years Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class.....and why?

Oldies on TV

• Stevie Wonder - Tavis Smiley - PBS (check local listings)
• Paul Simon - The Colbert Report - Comedy Central (11:30 Eastern/10:30 Central)

A Shot At The Title

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.

• The title of this one hit wonder, originally written as an ode to influential British singer/songwriter Nick Drake, was originally titled "Morning Lasted All Day".  Their record label was less than enthused with the song, feeling it needed more drums.  The band refused to change it, but did give it a different title.  The retitled song became a Top 10 hit for the Dream Academy.  The title became.....

• This early disco classic began with the name "Drive Talking".  Producer Arif Mardin suggested a name change to play to teenage sensibilities of the time, so a word used to indicate slang was substituted for "drive", and the song became a smash.  The Bee Gees took "Drive Talking" all the way to the top of the charts in 1975 as.......

• Originally a B-side, this song began its life as "That's What I Like".  While the A-side got some airplay, the B-side eventually became a smash and one of the most played songs of 1958.  Its legend would grow even bigger with the death of the artist on The Day The Music Died.  We know "That's What I Like" better as..........

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

Over the course of its 8-year run on TV, Solid Gold had a total of 5 different hosts.  Name three. 

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

What do Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones all have in common?

Answer: Each one died at the age of 27.  Hendrix, Joplin, and Morrison also have something else in common, having all passed in 1970. 

 

Today In Oldies 12/15/2010

Golden Hits Radio and GHR-2's Everything Oldies.......Oldies news first! 

• First up on the agenda for Sony's 10 album megadeal w/ the late Michael Jackson......a reissue of one his his classics
• How did the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees react to the news that they were in?  We get it straight from the source with Dr. John, Alice Cooper, Darlene Love, and Neil Diamond!
• Levon Helm is hospitalized
• Remember the rather bizarre pairing of Bing Crosby and David Bowie that produced "Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy" for a TV special in 1977?  It's parodied by two Hollywood heavyweights here. 
• Daryl Hall's internet series comes to real TV New Year's Eve! 
• Here's a look at this week's new (and reissued) CD releases from many of the folks heard each day @ Golden Hits Radio and GHR-2

Oldies On TV

• Natalie Cole - Christmas With The Tabernacle Choir - PBS (check local listings)
• Barbra Streisand - Larry King Live - CNN (9:00 Eastern/8:00 Pacific)
• Roger Waters - Conan - TBS (11:00 Eastern/10:00 Central)
• Ronnie Spector - Late Show With David Letterman - CBS (11:35 Eastern/10:35 Pacific)
• Annie Lennox - Late Night With Jimmy Fallon - NBC (12:35 Eastern/11:35 Pacific)

A Shot At The Title

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.

• The title of this 1959 hit was changed due to the founder of the record label of which it was released (which was founded by a Seattle DJ for the sole purpose of distributing music made by a single act) thinking the original title would be too suggestive, thus turning off AM radio DJs.  So "Come Softly" became a smash for The Fleetwoods as..........

• Omnipresent 80's musical maven Phil Collins was in the process of producing and playing drums on the debut solo album of one of the lead vocalists for Earth, Wind, and Fire.  He approached bassist Nathan East and mentioned that the album lacked a hit single.  They set out to remedy that by playing around with a piano riff in the studio with the singer adding the words "Choosy Lover" over it.  Realizing they had a hit, Collins agreed to join the up and coming artist on the finished version, further enhancing the chances of the song being a hit.  It was a Top 5 smash for Philip Bailey once "Choosy Lover" morphed into...........

• Singer/songwriter Walter Egan had a rough outline of a song he planned to call "Don't Turn Away Now".  He had some of the biggest names in music at the time behind his debut album, including co-producer Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks providing background vocals.  He developed a crush on Nicks, and the song evolved to be about her.  He developed a metaphor about the attraction between two people, and "Don't Turn Away Now" became.........

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

What do Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones all have in common?

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

What was the first #1 song under Billboard's Hot 100 chart format?

The answer is below.......and it happened on August 4, 1958