Tag / Glen Campbell

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Fifty Years Of Music – 1975

Fifty years ago, I made my first appeared on the Earth.  In celebration, we are going to take a look at the year-end Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for each year of my life and see what songs resonated with me at the time and if they continue to do so to this day.

We continue our look back at the music of my lifetime with 1975, the first full year of my life.  Given my first birthday took place in late-October, I have no knowledge of these songs from their original release.  Only fifteen of the Hot 100 are familiar to me now, with only six of them appearing in my collection in one way or another.

#98: Bachman-Turner Overdrive – You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet
iTunes stats: N/A

Released in September of 1974, the song peaked at #1 on the Hot 100 charts in just seven weeks.

#67: Joe Cocker – You Are So Beautiful
iTunes stats: N/A

Released in November of 1974, the track, originally performed by Billy Preston earlier that year, became Cocker’s highest-charting solo hit, peaking at #5 on the charts.

#65: KC and the Sunshine Band – Get Down Tonight
iTunes stats: 18 plays

The beginning of the disco influence on the charts, the song, released in February of 1975, became the band’s first of five #1 hits.

#61: Styx – Lady
iTunes stats: N/A

Originally released in 1973 on a small, local label, the song was re-issued in November of 1974 after the band moved to A&M Records and made it to #6 in March of 1975.

#49: Barry White – You’re The First, The Last, My Everything
iTunes stats: 14 plays

Originally written as a country song in the early 1950s, White re-worked the lyrics and turned it into a disco song, which became his fourth top ten hit.

#39: Harry Chapin – Cat’s In The Cradle
iTunes stats: N/A

Chapin’s only #1 song, it was nominated for the 1975 Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2011.

#36: Barry Manilow – Mandy
iTunes stats: 21 plays

Switching from the original name of Brandy, the song became Manilow’s first #1 hit on the Hot 100 and Easy Listening charts.

#24: War – Why Can’t We Be Friends?
iTunes stats: N/A

The song, which required eight credited songwriters for its highly repetitive lyrics, managed to top out at #6 on the Hot 100 chart in the summer of 1975.

#23: Labelle – Lady Marmalade
iTunes stats: N/A

The track, which I only became aware of due to the 2001 cover featured in Moulin Rouge!, hit the top of the charts for one week in the spring of 1975.

#22: Van McCoy and the Soul City Symphony – The Hustle
iTunes stats: N/A

A staple of weddings for the last 40-some odd years, the disco track hit #1 during the summer of 1975 and took home the Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

#18: B.J. Thomas – (Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song
iTunes stats: 26 plays

Winner of the 1976 Grammy award for Best Country Song, the song became Thomas’ second #1 single in April.

#15: Carl Douglas – Kung Fu Fighting
iTunes stats: 20 plays

Owing its initial popularity to dance clubs, the tune, which ranked #100 in VH1’s listing of the greatest one-hit wonders, was released in the US after topping the British charts in September of 1974.

#11: John Denver – Thank God I’m a Country Boy
iTunes stats: N/A

The live version of the song released as a single became one of six songs released in 1975 that topped both the Hot 100 and the Hot Country Singles charts.

#2: Glen Campbell – Rhinestone Cowboy
iTunes stats: 11 plays

A cover of a song Campbell had heard on the radio while on tour in Australia, his version spent two weeks atop the Hot 100 during the summer of 1975.

#1: Captain & Tennille – Love Will Keep Us Together
iTunes stats: N/A

Originally recorded by Neil Sedaka in 1973, the title track from the duo’s debut album spent four weeks at #1 in June and July of 1975.

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The Non-Acting Oscar Predictions

side_oscarWith the Academy Awards scheduled for Sunday night, here’s my predictions for the non-acting awards.  I likely have seen very few of these movies, so I will mostly be going on gut feel and word of mouth.

Best Original Screenplay

Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. and Armando Bo, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman, Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler

I haven’t seen any of these films yet.  If I had to guess, which I guess I do, I would think it will come down to either Birdman or Boyhood, and I’m going to go with the crew from Birdman.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Jason Hall, American Sniper
Graham Moore, The Imitation Game
Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice
Anthony McCarten, The Theory of Everything
Damien Chazelle, Whiplash

Another category where I have not seen any of the nominated work.  I have heard nothing but good things about Whiplash, mostly from Balb Bryan of the Adam Carolla Show, so I will go with that.

Best Animated Feature

Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How To Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

Obviously, The Lego Movie will take home this prize.  Wait, what?  It wasn’t nominated?  In that case, I’ll take a shot in the dark and say Big Hero 6 will take home the statue.

Best Cinematography

Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman
Robert Yeoman, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Łukasz Żal and Ryszard Lenczewski, Ida
Dick Pope, Mr. Turner
Roger A. Deakins, Unbroken

I haven’t even heard of a few of these, so I’m going to guess that The Grand Budapest Hotel will get some love here.

Best Costume Design

Milena Canonero, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Mark Bridges, Inherent Vice
Colleen Atwood, Into the Woods
Anna B. Sheppard, Maleficent
Jacqueline Durran, Mr. Turner

I’m thinking Into the Woods will deliver a fairytale ending for Ms. Atwood.

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Goodbye, iPhone 4S – Music Edition

A little more than a week ago, I upgraded my phone from the iPhone 4S to the newly released iPhone 5S.  The biggest difference, aside from a slightly bigger screen, is the jump from 3G (or 4G, if you believe AT&T’s hype) to LTE.  I had the 4S for a little under 2 years, and in that time, we traveled the world together (well, at least going back to the UK) and have listened to a lot of podcasts and music. Here is every song (all 2079 of them) I’ve listened to on the phone, with some (ok, very little) bonus commentary.  Godspeed.

 

Let’s Go-Go-Go White Sox Captain Stubby and the Buccaneers 33
He’s a Pirate Klaus Badelt Pirates of the Caribbean (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture) 32
Take Me Out To The Ballgame Harry Caray 31
Thunderstruck AC/DC The Razors Edge 31
Gordon Beckham Intro 29
Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye Steam Billboard’s Top Rock ‘n’ Roll Hits: 1969 29
Don’t Stop Believin’ Journey Journey’s Greatest Hits 27
sox05_montage 27
We Are The Champions Queen Queen: Greatest Hits I & II 27
Your Love The Outfield Play Deep 27
2008 White Sox Central Division Champs Montage Chris Tannehill WSCR 670 The Score 25
Take Me Out To The Ballgame Nancy Faust 25
Harvester Of Sorrow Metallica …And Justice For All 20

You would hope that these numbers would have been higher, but this past season’s miserable performance by the White Sox has put the songs on their playlist out of mind more often than not.

Cannonball The Breeders The First 1000 Years- Rock 19
Man Or Muppet Jason Segel The Muppets 15
It’s Time For Our Song Miss Piggy The Muppets 14
Get Out There And Help Those Guys Jason Segel The Muppets 13
Main Title LOST Soundtrack LOST Soundtrack 13
Are You A Man Or A Muppet? Amy Adams The Muppets 12
How Charming, A Finale Uncle Deadly The Muppets 12
I’m On A Boat (ft. T-Pain) The Lonely Island Incredibad 12
Down At The Ole Barbershop Kermit The Muppets 11
Me and Drugs David Cross Bigger and Blackerer 11
The Antichrist Howard Stern Private Parts: The Album 11
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Mix Tape Monday – Ballads

After my tape deck crapped out in 1997, I was stuck listening to either the radio or full albums in whatever order the artist intended. That all changed in 2001, when the new-fangled MP3 technology got combined with my new CD burner.

In addition to the occasional series of CDs I had burned in order to keep abreast of new music, I had created a bunch of genre-specific mixes that could be used both in the car and at the gym. This week we will take a look at the disc covering the world of (mostly) 70s ballads and love songs.  Many of these songs are not ones that a man in my position is “supposed” to enjoy, but occassionaly one wants to turn down the hard rock and roll and mellow out with a good tune.  So, without further ado, I bring you Ballads, volume 1.

Neil Diamond – Cracklin Rosie

From 1970, this was Neil Diamond’s first #1 hit in the good ol’ US of A.

iTunes stats: 4 plays, most recently on 2/23/2011

BJ Thomas – Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song

From 1975, this tune became the longest titled #1 in the history of Billboard’s Hot 100.

iTunes stats: 3 plays, most recently on 7/21/2011

Billy Joel – Piano Man

From 1973, this was Billy Joel’s first hit and peaked at #25 on the American pop charts.

iTunes stats: 3 plays, most recently on 2/1/2013

Barry Manilow – Mandy

Originally titled Brandy, Barry Manilow changed the name when he covered it in 1974 to avoid confusion with Looking Glass’s Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl).

iTunes stats: 5 plays, most recently on 2/8/2013

The Carpenters – Rainy Days And Mondays

Released in 1971, the song did not chart in the UK until 1993.

iTunes stats: 1 play, on 1/27/2011

Rupert Holmes – Escape (The Pina Colada Song)

Released in September 1979, it wound up being the last U.S. number one song of the 1970s.

iTunes stats: 2 plays, most recently on 7/13/2012

Eric Carmen – All By Myself

From 1975, this was Carmen’s first solo release after leaving the Raspberries.

iTunes stats: Never played

Neil Diamond – Sweet Caroline

The stadium sing-a-long was released in 1969 and again in 1972.

iTunes stats: 2 plays, most recently on 7/30/2012

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