H/D's List: 123 songs that should still be played ...

[Hoosier Daddy]

I've been mulling this idea around in my head for some time: Putting together a list of great songs that ought to be played on the radio but aren't. It's a non-scientific list, meaning there is no specific formula I use to determine what sticks, and it's also subjective, meaning the list is based on my knowledge of music and my personal tastes. If you were to put together a list of your own, we'd probably see at least 100 differences if the lists were compared. So, it's all in fun, and I am using nothing more than the past 40+ years I have logged either listening to the radio and Top 40 music and/or working in the radio broadcasting business as my point of reference.

Here are some qualifiers:

* I'm a huge fan of early 60s music. I could easily fill a list of 123 songs using nothing but artists like Del Shannon, Roy Orbison, The Shangri-Las, Gene Pitney, Little Richard, and every record Phil Spector ever touched with his musical genius. The 'girl groups' from this era were, for the most part, kick-ass awesome.

* I'm also a huge fan of mid-to-late 60s music -- the post-British invasion stuff. There was a period of time from about 1964 to 1968-ish when the hits were coming so fast and from so many different directions, a lot of really good music never made it to the airwaves or it got knocked off the charts before ever taking hold by a dark horse curveball that came out of nowhere.

* Music splintered in the early 70s. Some of it was hard, some of it lite rock, and crossover country became more noticable on Top 40 radio stations. I am making a point of picking something from all the categories.

* I like bubblegum rock. It was an important part of the 'feel good' sound that radio had back in the day and you'll find a significant number of songs on this list from that sub-genre. The same principle applies with disco. How can you be a 70s radio station and not play disco? It dominated the Top 40 charts for at least 5 years of that decade. I always thought there was an (undeserved) snobbery among programming gurus toward bubblegum and disco, since a lot of oldies stations seem to avoid this music like the plague. In any case, you'll hear it here.

* If music splintered in the early 70s, it blew apart in the early 80s. You had hair bands, leftovers from the disco era, the headbangers, new wave euro-pop, crossover country (that was quickly replacing MOR as an adult contemporary format), and the British punk invasion battling it out in the early 80s, and this is where I lost a lot of interest in following Top 40 music. There were brief moments of sunshine, like the late 80s/early 90s dance-pop explosion (think: Janet Jackson, C & C Music Factory, Salt 'n Pepa, Another Bad Creation, et al) that gave us a welcome change from the worn out/sound-alike hair bands like Van Halen, Night Ranger, Stryper, etc., but it was killed off by the Emo/Seattle music scene and their "whiner rock" (as Mike Blair called it) in about 1994. I have a few songs from the 80s for my list but not many. The majority of my selections are from 1960-1975.

So there you go. And here we go!

[Hoosier Daddy]

123. SHE'S A RAINBOW - Rolling Stones (1967)

Wow! The Rolling Stones did something else besides 'Satisfaction'? Who knew?!




122. INDIAN WEDDING - Roy Orbison (1964)

The B side of "It's Over". Good stuff here!




121. WHEN YOU WALK IN THE ROOM - Jackie DeShannon (1964)

Timing is everything. Jackie wrote and sang the song first in '64, right in the middle of Beatlemania exploding across America. A year later, a British group called the Searchers covered the song and made it a hit. It seems America wanted the Merseybeat sound instead of a beautiful little blond-haired girl from Hazel, Kentucky. I've listened to both songs and Jackie's is - by far - the better version. This is a rare live performance from 'Hollywood a Go Go'.

[Scott Reppert]

I love Bubblegum Rock.

The period between Elvis going in the Army and the arrival of The Beatles is the abyss of rock and roll.

This should be fun.

"She's A Rainbow": first song WMQC played during the "Big Format Switch Of '90"...

[Greg Goodfellow]

Gentlemen (and any ladies out there), I'll take any suggestion and go with it, provided I can find the music (gotta be wav. files). We want our station, WRSG, to preserve the oldies and hopefully introduce our audience to songs that originally didn't get the attention they shoould have deserved. IF there is a place where we can buy such music (sounds difficult), please share sources.

[Hoosier Daddy]

120. CHIRPY CHIRPY CHEEP CHEEP - Mac and Katie Kissoon (1971)

The song was written and originally recorded by Irish artist Lally Stott. A few months later, a Scottish band called Middle of the Road covered the song and it became a #1 song in the UK and sold over 10 million copies worldwide. Mac and Katie Kissoon (they're brother and sister, not husband and wife) covered the song the same year and made it a hit in the United States, reaching #20 on Billboard's Hot 100.




119. PAY TO THE PIPER - General Johnson and the Chairmen of the Board (1971)

A Motown power R&B tune you never hear anymore. Sad. What a kickass song ...




118. RIVER DEEP, MOUNTAIN HIGH - Ike & Tina Turner (1966)

Many consider this record to be producer Phil Spector's finest work. Spector and Ike Turner were at each other's throats throughout much of the studio time. The tempest culminated with Spector refusing to use Ike Turner's voice on the record and paying him $20,000 to stay away from the studio. The Wall of Sound just thunders on this signature hit for Tina Turner, and this rare video of a live performance shows the raw emotion Tina brought to the music. Ike's cold stare gives me chills. Rolling Stone magazine listed River Deep at #33 on the list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

[Scott Reppert]

Me, Tubby Blanston and "The Majestic Lover" rockin' out "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" at full volume this morning around 12:45.

Should be played on ALL Oldies stations...

[Greg Goodfellow]

Lovin' this, folks! Thank God for YouTube! KEEP 'EM COMIN'!

One of the MANY reasons this is such an awesome site! The fact that you share your collective musical knowledge is phenomenal! IF I can find these songs, rest assured that you have helped WRSG be the station it was always meant to be!

Greg

[Hoosier Daddy]

117. OUT IN THE STREETS - Shangri-Las (1966)

Just about every oldies station plays Leader of the Pack. The ones that brag about having a really deep playlist throw in Remember Walking in the Sand from time to time. But there's so much more. The Shangri-Las made some amazing music from 1963 to 1967; much of it buried by the tsunami of British Invasion hits that came from across the pond during those years. Most people think of the Shangri-Las as a trio and that's not the case. The group consists of two sets of sisters from Andrew Jackson High School in Queens, New York. Margie and Mary Ann Ganser were the dark-haired identical twins that usually sang background vocals. Mary Weiss, the youngest girl and the only one with long blonde hair, was the lead singer and is the most recognizable member of the group. Mary's older sister Betty was also a background singer but was a recluse. She participated in studio recording sessions but rarely travelled with the group or made public appearances.





116. THE FLY - Chubby Checker (1961)

Here's another great forgotten classic. I double dare you to sit still ...





115. DON'T CALL US, WE'LL CALL YOU - Sugarloaf (1975)

This tune is notable because it contained a practical joke at the expense of CBS Records, which had just turned (lead singer) Jerry Corbetta and Sugarloaf down for a recording contract. The song includes the sound of a touch-tone telephone number being dialed near the beginning and ending of the record. Those numbers were an unlisted phone number at CBS Records and a public number at the White House. You'll also hear a snippet of Wolfman Jack screaming about 'Stereo 92'. Numerous tracks of this line were cut to match local radio markets. The video is from a Bell System film on how a rotary dial telephone is constructed.

[jag]

This is, indeed, a thought-provoking thread. SO many good...nay, great...tunes that, for whatever reasons, didn't become huge (i.e., overplayed) "hits." Love the Mac & Katie tune! "The Fly" was worthy, too. Sugarloaf? Always a keeper, especially when it captures the moment in so many ways! And who could deny Jackie DeShannon a well-deserved listenership?

Kudos for the thread, Hoosier! Keep 'em coming! I know I, myself, have any of a number of good ones I think belong on the list.

[Scott Reppert]

Whenever a Sugarloaf song comes on the radio, I instinctively reach for the radio knobs. If "Green Eyed Lady" comes on I automatically reach to change the station. If "Don't Call Us" comes on, I automatically reach to crank it up.

"The Fly" always sounded to me like it was recorded with a Remington DeLuxe Men's Model, thus I have never been a fan. Whereas, I rank "Hooka Tooka"/"Loddy Lo" as one of the great two-sided singles of all time.

I do need to state one thing here: when you see what comes up on my "Top 50 Albums" countdown between albums #2 and #1, just remember that I started creating it on June 4, 2011. It resembles what HD is doing here, although his is more realistic and plausible whereas mine is bathed in eclecticity and drenched in fantasy...

[Hoosier Daddy]

I do need to state one thing here: when you see what comes up on my "Top 50 Albums" countdown between albums #2 and #1, just remember that I started creating it on June 4, 2011. It resembles what HD is doing here, although his is more realistic and plausible whereas mine is bathed in eclecticity and drenched in fantasy...

And that's what makes this forum so wondeful. I am enjoying Scott Reppert's Top 50 albums as much as I hope he (and others) are enjoying my little list. I appreciate eclectic music and I've stumbled across a lot of new stuff I really like (and probably wouldn't have found on my own) through Rep's posts.

Please note my list of 123 songs that should still be played isn't presented in any particular order. I reach in to my grab bag of about 350 songs every couple of days and pick three and post 'em. Number 123 has no more special signifigance than Number 1 will have.

Now ... back to the music!

[Hoosier Daddy]

116. OPEN UP YOUR DOOR - Richard and the Young Lions (1965)

The mid 60s brought us much more than Beatlemania. There were still some notable hangers-on from the early 60s music scene that kept cranking out the hits, a fledgling psychodelic pop genre was building steam, folk music was finding a voice that would culminate in 1967's 'Summer of Love', and Garage Bands gave us some hard driving, teeth-chattering rock and roll. Here is one of my favorites: Richard Tepp and the boys from Newark, New Jersey!




115. LAUGH AT ME - Sonny Bono (1966)

Sonny Bono used to tell people this song was a medley of his greatest hits. Powerful Wall of Sound arrangement on the background music.




114. HOW DO YOU DO - Mouth and MacNeal (1972)

Before there was ABBA, the Netherlands gave us Willem Duyn and Sjoukje van't Spijker, two unrelated solo artists that performed together as Mouth and MacNeal. WMEX/Boston disc jockey Jim Connors (who, supposedly, was the inspiration for Harry Chapin's "W.O.L.D.") is credited for bringing this song to the U.S. where it became an RIAA Million Seller and charted at #8 on Billboard's Hot 100.

[Scott Reppert]

"Laugh At Me" & Mac And Katie Kissoon are your biggest "winners" so far.

For a completely different and very powerful take on "Laugh At Me" check out Mott The Hoople's first album...

[Hoosier Daddy]

113. UP IN A PUFF OF SMOKE - Polly Brown (1975)

Former lead singer of the English pop group Pickettywitch, here is her one-hit-wonder as a solo artist.





112. SYLVIA'S MOTHER - Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show (1972)

This was the first hit record of many from Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show. The band's original name was The Chocolate Papers. After a club owner told the group to 'make a sign and put it in the window' to announce their upcoming performance, band member George Cummings created a poster that said "Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show: Tonic for the Soul". And that's how it all began ...





111. PIED PIPER - The Changin' Times (1965)

Here's a rare one and it's the original. British artists Steve Duboff and Artie Kornfeld ("The Changin' Times") wrote and sang this song in '65 and it enjoyed modest success, but Crispian St. Peters covered it in 1966 and had the much bigger hit. I like the original best because it has a harder edge and a lot more kick. Decide for yourself ...

[Greg Goodfellow]

"Up In a Puff of Smoke"-can't remember the last time I heard this one. Great submission!

[Dave Loudin]

Listening to it now on the iPod from what I ripped off the 45.

[Hoosier Daddy]

110. LITTLE BOY - The Crystals (1963)

Imagine you're back in 1963. Late at night, you have the AM radio turned on in your room while doing your homework. The tubes in your radio are glowing as skywave signals from far away bring rock and roll music into the bedroom. At that distant radio station, the request lines are jammed, the disc jockey is cranking out hit after hit, and the jingles, the reverb, the audimax and the level devils are making those songs sound better that they ever did on your portable record player. A tune like Little Boy (tweaked for AM radio broadcast by master producer Phil Spector) just thunders out of that radio speaker and drives a nail dead-square in the heart of the station's P1 listening audience ...




109. AT THE SCENE - Dave Clark Five (1966)

Yup. They did more than Because and Glad All Over ...




108. SHAPES OF THINGS - The Yardbirds (1966)

From the group that gave us Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, here's one of the era's first psychodelic rock songs. Q Magazine rated this song at #61 on the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks of All Time.

[Hoosier Daddy]

107. SOMETHING'S BURNING - Kenny Rogers and The First Edition (1970)

Back before Kenny Rogers was clearly defined as a country artist, he had a number of charting Top 40 hits. Here's one of my favorites ...






106. SUGAR BABY LOVE - The Rubettes (1974)

Bring on the bubblegum! If this song sounds familiar, the refrain was used in Jackson Browne's 1983 tune Lawyers in Love.





105. NOTHING BUT A HEARTACHE - The Flirtations (1968)

First time I heard this song, I thought it was a lost hit from Diana Ross and the Supremes. Not so. Four young ladies from South Carolina formed this group back in 1962 and they were originally called The Gypsies. The girls enjoyed some regional airplay as R&B artists over the years but Heartache is considered their signature hit, as it was the only song to chart on Billboard's Hot 100.

[Scott Reppert]

"At The Scene"

[lastone]

"Sugar Baby Love" was also used in the Ausie film "Muriel's Wedding".