Today In Oldies 1/31/2011

Golden Hits Radio & GHR-2's Everything Oldies......where 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's music news comes first!

• An 80's teen idol accidentally "outed" last week says he was never really in
• The man who invented the instrument that defined 80's music has died
• The cast of TV's hottest show will be hitting the road with Madonna
• A member of rock n' roll royalty did not collapse according to her PR machine

 

Common Knowledge

Welcome to the first in our series of Everything Oldies Games!  Play along and show off your knowledge of the music of the 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's by leaving a comment with your answers.  Our first game is Common Knowledge.  We'll give you a series of 4 songs accompanied by video.....one each from the 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's.  You tell us what they have in common.  ***KEEP IN MIND THE COMMON BOND COULD BE FOUND IN THE SONGS, THE ARTISTS, AND/OR THE VIDEO CLIPS***  

Tell us what the following 4 clips have in common.........

 

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

Who won the very first Best New Artist Grammy award?

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

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

Which Michael Jackson classic was originally meant for Donny Osmond, who couldn't record it because of tour commitments?

Answer:

Today In Oldies 1/27/2011

Golden Hits Radio & GHR-2's Everything Oldies......50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's music.....read all about it!

• Yet another music legend who claimed he was retiring is at it again!
• And another legendary band says they're taking a break
• A native Canadian will be honored for humanitarian efforts there
• Tension within Aerosmith?  Breakup rumors?  Bogus, says their producer
• Who does Aretha Franklin want to portray her on the silver screen?  Someone who has already turned down the role!
• Jimmy Buffett is released from a Sydney hospital following his scary onstage fall (click here for video from TMZ)
• The only living soul who likes Kanye West is revealed!  And he's a music icon!

A View From The Top

For the next few weeks, Everything Oldies will spotlight #1 songs from 30, 40, and 50 years ago!  We'll give you the stories behind the songs and other things you might not have known about some of your favorite 60's, 70's, and 80's music.

The last #1 song of 1981, which carried over into 1982 and spent a total of ten weeks at the top of the charts (eclipsed at that time only by Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog" for longest stay at #1) began to demonstrate the sea change in music at the time.  With MTV slowly beginning to take hold, having a hit record was as much about what you could do with a song's message visually.  The music video created for this song was played for comic effect, and its setting (an exercise gym) was meant to take the focus off the rather overt sexual lyrics of the song, which a few stations refused to play during its run up the charts. 

Written by Steve Kipner and Terry Shaddick, the team behind Chicago's "Hard Habit To Break", the singer who eventually had a smash with this song wasn't comfortable with it at first and had concerns that it would clash with her squeaky clean image.  Her manager, sensing he had lightning in a bottle, convinced her to go with it.  A hit song is sometimes the fortunate recipient of good timing, and in this case, the music video created was the recipient of good timing.  Aerobics were becoming trendy in the U.S., and the gym setting for the video capitalized on this.  The comic twist at the end also proved to be a little too much for MTV, which was still in its infancy.  Initially, they cut the ending where the men who are gaga over the female in the video turn out to be gay.  It was also banned outright in Canada and the UK.  The overt lyrics of the song and the sexual connotations of the video probably only proved to be an extra catalyst to get it to the top. 

How does this song stack up against the biggest songs of all time?  How about #6 on Billboard's All Time Hot 100?  And #1 on their list of "Sexiest Song Of All Time"?  The song Olivia Newton-John almost turned down became her biggest hit.........

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

Which act holds the record for the fastest sellout of the now-defunct Shea Stadium in New York?

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

Believe it or not, Gilligan's Island and Raiders of the Lost Ark have something in common!  What is it?  (Think "theme songs")

Answer: Both theme songs were written by legendary TV and film composer John Williams

 

 

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)