Today In Oldies 12/14/2010

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

• British TV personality and America's Got Talent judge Piers Morgan's new show on CNN hasn't even premiered yet......and already a major music superstar has been banned!  
• A superstar has been invited to play in what is currently a political hotbed.  Will he accept?
• Who didn't think much of one of his songs that became a #1 smash?
• Take it for what it's worth, but here's what is reported to be a leak containing the 2011 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees....as always, as notable for who didn't get in as those who did
• Mick Jagger breaks his silence about his feelings toward Keith Richards' autobiography

 Oldies on TV

• Annie Lennox - Regis & Kelly - (syndicated, check local listings)
• Barbra Streisand - Good Morning America and Nightline - ABC
• Bette Midler - Late Night With Jimmy Fallon - NBC (12:35 a.m. 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 first few copies distributed of this Beatles classic promoted it as being from a movie entitled "Eight Arms To Hold You".  That title, in fact, was supposed to have applied to both the single and the movie!  It was also originally written with a slower tempo by John Lennon, but was sped up to make it more palatable to radio.  The song originally called "Eight Arms To Hold You", with a much slower pace, became...........

• Another staple of American Oldies radio began with a much different title and lyrics.  The original theme of the song surrounded an interracial relationship, a taboo topic at the time of its release.  To make it more acceptable for radio airplay, the racial aspect was downplayed, and the title was changed.  While the line "makin' love in the green grass" was left in and still proved to turn off some radio stations, "Brown Skinned Girl" became better known as.............

• Songwriter Jim Vallance explains that this song's original title was "Best Days Of My Life".  Originally, it had only one reference to what eventually became the song's title.  He says that there were probably subconscious influences from the movie Summer of '42 and Jackson Browne's "Running On Empty", which contains the line "In '69 I was 21".  When it finally hit record stores and radio in 1985, it became a classic for Bryan Adams as...........

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

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

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

Which artist pre-taped a 1976 appearance on Saturday Night Live about an hour before the broadcast due to being overcome with stage fright?

Answer: Carly Simon -- who kept it together via the magic of videotape long enough to perform "Half A Chance" and "You're So Vain" while being backed by Chevy Chase playing a cowbell (due to a member of her band being unable to perform)

Today In Oldies 10/5/2010

Golden Hits Radio and GHR-2.......where Oldies news comes first! 

• Click this link at your own risk!  It's like riding by a car accident......
• Here's a complete rundown of John Lennon 70th birthday shindigs
• A rock legend.....and one of the rare males who has suffered from and beaten breast cancer.....commemorates Breast Cancer Awareness Month
• If you were making a list of the Top 10 Classic Rock Albums of All Time, would it look like this?  What would you add?  What would you remove?  
• From one British rock legend to another........
• Just give Van Morrison his privacy, and no one will have an injunction filed against them

Where In The World Is.......Zager and Evans?

Zager and Evans were a duo whose one hit had a futuristic, sci-fi-ish sound.  In reality, however, they grew up about as far from outer space as possible.  They met in Lincoln, Nebraska as students at Nebraska Wesleyan University.  Denny Zager and Rick Evans picked up a couple of side men to round out the band, and in 1969 they struck gold.......if only for a moment. 

Their one moment in the spotlight came with a song that was already 5 years old and had been released for over a year when it became a hit.  "In The Year 2525" covered some much deeper themes than what was generally heard on AM radio in 1969.  A cautionary tale about the dangers of technology and innovation, its lyrics ran counter to the major world event that captivated the world when it hit #1 the week of July 20, 1969.... Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon.  The song had been written long before the moon landing in 1964, and recorded in 1968 on the Truth Records label.  It finally became a hit thanks to a radio station in Odessa, Texas picking up on it.  The rest of the country soon followed, and RCA Records handled its distribution during its run up the charts.  As of 2010, the single has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.  RCA also signed Zager and Evans to an album deal following the success of "In The Year 2525", proclaiming them to be the "next big thing".  

RCA's "next big thing" didn't even do many little things in terms of chart success or record sales following "In The Year 2525".  They never hit the Hot 100 again, and by the mid-70's, the duo who had a smash hit about the events of the future were a thing of the past. 

Both Denny Zager and Rick Evans remain active in the music industry.  Zager now builds custom guitars, which you can find on the official Zager Guitars website.  Evans has worked primarily as a solo artist, continuing to write, record, and perform. 

From a TV appearance during the whirlwind that was 1969 for Zager and Evans.........

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

On Oct. 4, 1961, Bob Dylan played the legendary Carnegie Hall for the very first time.  In front of how many people did he perform? 

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

Which member of a huge 70's musical duo was the only female backup singer credited on Pink Floyd's landmark album, "The Wall"?

Answer: Toni Tenille of Captain & Tenille ("Love Will Keep Us Together", "Muskrat Love")