Saturday, February 15, 2014

The Saturday Surveys (2-15)

Here's a vintage chart from 1962.  Eddie Fisher tops the chart with "Milk And Honey", a record that didn't even chart in Billboard!



Sausage King Jimmy Dean had THREE Top Ten Hits this week in '62 with "Dear Ivan" (#5) and his two-sided hit "To A Sleeping Beauty" / "Cajun Queen" at #9.  (In fact you'll find EIGHT Two-Sided Hits on this week's chart!)

We were still twistin' in '62 ... Chubby Checker was at #4 with "The Twist" and Joey Dee and the Starliters held down the #7 spot with "The Peppermint Twist".  Gary "US" Bonds threw "twist" into the title of his latest hit, too ... "Dear Lady (Twist)" owned the #15 spot.  (Scoot down to the bottom ten positions and you'll also find twist tunes by Sam Cooke ... "Twistin' The Night Away" ... and The String-A-Longs with "Theme For Twisters".)  Joey Dee's already got his "twist" follow-up record planned ... "Hey, Let's Twist" was one of the pick-hits listed on KLMS' "Wax To Watch" list!

Elvis was promoting a different kind of dance with his hit "Rock-A-Hula Baby" from his latest film, "Blue Hawaii", which also featured one of the all-time classics from The King, "Can't Help Falling In Love".


Jump ahead ten years and you'll find that San Diego's KGB survey offered up a wide variety of music in 1972.  The Top Ten features hits by The Osmonds (teeny-bopper pop), Neil Young (an FM staple), Climax (adult contemporary / middle-of-the-road), Nilsson (power pop), Grand Funk Railroad (hard rock), The Carpenters (soft rock at its finest), T-Rex (Glam-Rock), Santana (Latin Rock), Redbone (Native American / Indian Rock???), Paul Simon (Folk Rock) and Three Dog Night (the most successful pop act on the planet at that moment in time.)  Wow!


Radio wouldn't DREAM of programming this music side-by-side today!  (For that matter, other than right here in Forgotten Hits, when's the last time you heard "Footstompin' Music" by GFR, "White Lies, Blue Eyes" by Bullet, "My World" by The Bee Gees or "Rock And Roll Lullabye" by B.J. Thomas?)

GREAT tracks, each and every one!










Here's a Canadian Chart courtesy of our FH Buddy Doug Thompson.  (Boy, Bill Trebilcoe had a face MADE for radio, didn't he?!?!?)

 

Peter Noone and company are up on top with "Listen People" ... (they also occupied the #29 spot with "A Must To Avoid") ... and one of our all-time favorite Forgotten Hits holds down the #5 spot ... "Andrea" by The Sunrays,  produced by Beach Boys Dad Murry Wilson!  And, speaking of The Beach Boys, you'll find them at #23 with "Barbara Ann". 

Quite a few artists had multiple hits on the chart this week, including The Beatles (#8 and #14), The Dave Clark Five (#10 and #46) and Canada's very own Guess Who, with two records that never made a dent here south of the Canadian border ... "Baby's Birthday" (#21) and "Believe Me" (#36).
I'm guessing "Porky's Picks" was CKY's version of a Country Chart as NONE of these records ever made a dent on the pop charts!