Listening to Number One songs through the years

[alkeiper]

Now that I've heard the original, this is my second favorite Simpsons music reference:

Tighten Up, Pt. 1 - YouTube

Homer's One Man Band - YouTube

Number one is Homer reacting to meeting George Harrison by asking him where he got the brownie.

 

[King Kamala]

Rover Hendrix was best Simpsons music reference but a bit past the time period we're talking about.

 

[alkeiper]

The Bee Gees received a lot of derision from their disco work. But "How Deep Is Your Love," is a pretty good track and a show of what they were capable of outside the disco genre. If you've never heard them, check out "Holiday" and "New York Mining Disaster 1941."

 

[King Kamala]

Anyone who is still deriding the Bee Gees disco work in 2020 is considered rockist IMO.

 

[Epic Springs]

"If I Can't Have You" is my favorite Bee Gees song but sadly, Yvonne Elliman's cover is more well-known (thanks Saturday Night Fever!)

 

[King Kamala]

I would say The Bee Gees are a Top 10 all time band and their disco and non-disco work is equally great. By Spirits Having Flown, schtick had worn a bit thin but "Jive Talkin'" and "Nights on Broadway" are indisputably great songs (which isn't even to mention Satuday Night Fever soundtrack).

 

[Epic Springs]

The Bee Gees are a Top 10 all time band and their disco and non-disco work is equally great.

Let's not go that far, bud.

Seriously though, they were far better than their disco input suggests.

 

[King Kamala]

@Winter Epicland is the leading rockist of TRTSM apparently.


I'm speaking, objectively IRT chart success RE: them being a Top 10 band. Not necessarily Top 10 greatest band of all time though I would have no qualms putting them in that category.

 

[alkeiper]

Saturday Night Fever was released on December 14, 1977. December 24 "How Deep Is Your Love" hits #1. After three weeks it is replaced by Player's "Baby Come Back." After that "Stayin' Alive" has a four week run. Andy Gibb's "(Love Is) Thicker Than Water" spends two weeks at number one, followed by "Night Fever" for eight weeks. Then Yvonne Ellison's cover of "If I Can't Have You" for a week. Almost five months of the number one spot dominated by one band and soundtrack.

 

[King Kamala]

More testament to how the Bee Gees were one of the GOAT, @The Art of Postin' . Besides The Beatles no one ever had such sustained dominance!

 

[Valeyard]

Bee Gees were the perfect pop group. Still not fair there's more Gibbs than Ramones left. Both of them are also my favorite Simpsons musical gags: "Have the Rolling Stones killed" and a moment in a later one with Bart remembering you're supposed to give CPR to the beat of the Bee Gees, so he starts pumping someone's heart to "How Deep Is Your Love."

 

[alkeiper]

1979. "My Sharona" by the Knacks is the first MTV sounding song, though MTV itself was a year or two away. "Pop Muzik" by M is the first song I could identify as new wave.

Into 1980. I got annoyed by a lot of Michael Jackson's music in the '70s. "Rock With You" is a step towards his best work.

"Another Brick In the Wall, Part II." Required listening on the Pizza Hut juke box.

 

[snuffbox]

Glad to see I'm not the only Bee Gees fan around here.

 

[alkeiper]

Listening to a playlist I'm not apt to pay attention to why or perhaps even when a song hit #1. I'm sure that other songs reached due to historical events. But John Lennon's "Starting Over" is obvious.

"Stars on 45," probably the truest representation of the roots of disco and it only arrived after the disco craze ended.

"Physical" by Olivia Newton John. The #1 song on the day of your birth something something.

 

[alkeiper]

1982. Lots of yacht rock. My wife loves this shit.

1983. Michael Jackson hits with "Billie Jean" and "Beat It." I'm not made of stone, Thriller was an amazing album.

 

[strummer]

Also love The Bee Gees. When I was a kid they were a punchline because of the disco stuff but I realized they were way more than that when I was in my 20s or so. Check out Andy Gibb singing Massachusetts on Carson in 1970- whatever to see what a voice this dude had

 

[alkeiper]

Well into the 1980s, getting into a period of homogeny. I commented on my facebook feed that the typical song of the '80s was usually better than the typical song of the '70s. I think that's true of pop music. But I also observe less risks being taken.

The USA for Africa group is interesting. Wonder why they didn't stick together?

 

[alkeiper]

1986

Veterinarian's' Hospital. The continuing story of a quack who's gone to the dogs...

Janice: Dr. Bob, you give this hospital a bad name!
Rawlf (as Dr. Bob): You're right. Fred is a terrible name for a hospital.

Every time I hear Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name," I go back to that joke. Fred is a terrible name for love.

I can't say there's no variety. "Rock Me Amadeus" and "Walk Like An Egyptian" come from this year. Most songs topped for 1-2 weeks, so I honestly thought I was further along given the volume of songs.

Dionne Warwick had her biggest hit with "That's What Friends Are For." Most of my generation remembers her for the Psychic Friends Hotline infomercials. She always came off as a bit of a joke. Her legacy deserves better.

 

[alfdogg]

Fred is a terrible name for love.

It's also a silly name for a Japanese wrestler

 

[King Kamala]

She always came off as a bit of a joke. Her legacy deserves better.

Luckily I think her Twitter being fire won over Gen Z and will redeem her legacy from the corny informercials and her being a weirdo in the ‘90s/‘00s (along with her decades of hits, of course...)

 

[alkeiper]

1987. Covers are popular and two hit this summer. "You Keep Me Hanging On" by Kim Wilde and "La Bomba" by Los Lobos. I think Lobos did their song justice. Wilde's version did not impress me.

A lot of Whitney Houston. Never a big fan but she could belt out a song with the best of them.

 

[alkeiper]

The year also gave us "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tiffany (fairly good) and "Mony Mony" by Billy Idol (I think many would be surprised that it's actually a cover).

 

[alkeiper]

Sometimes I wonder about the thought process that goes into choosing a song to play on the radio. Phil Collins puts out a song, of course people listen to it. He's got a track record. But who listens to something like "Red, Red Wine" and decides that everyone and their mother has to listen to it?

1989 has a surprising run of good songs, like "The Look" by Roxette. Don't get comfortable, Milli Vanilli is coming.

 

[alkeiper]

How come Batman doesn’t dance anymore?!

Often a song hits because of a hot movie release. We covered Saturday Night Fever. Working Girl helped chart “9 To 5” and that was certainly deserving. And then there’s Prince’s “Batdance.” I’m not a Prince expert but I have to think he created about fifty better songs.

 

[BUTT]

'89 was the year Sheriff's "When I'm With You" went to #1, but the song was actually released in 1982. For some reason it started getting radio play in late '88, because that's the sort of thing that could happen back then if a program director liked the song, and after a few months it topped the charts. However the band had broken up years earlier and was unable to capitalize on the hit. The singer and drummer, after failing to persuade their ex-bandmates to reunite, instead formed a band called Alias with three ex-members of Heart and scored a #2 hit with "More Than Words Can Say" in 1990.

Anyway, I don't like that song all that much but '89 is also when "Toy Soldiers" was a number one hit and I am a big fan of that song.

 

[Epic Springs]

"Partyman" was a good song (though it dates Batman '89 pretty hard). Batdance (and that fucking video) can die in a fire, though.

 

[Smues]

1963 has more bad than good. But "Little" Stevie Wonder playing Fingertips is an absolute marvel of energy for the time.

Last four weeks of 1963 sees Dominique by the Singing Nuns as the #1 song. It's a nice song, but the most popular song in the country for a month? Early 1960s pop music was weird.

No love for Jimmy Soul? When I was a kid I couldn't make out what they were saying to do if you wanted to be happy, but I really liked the song as it just sounded happy. Then I rediscovered it as a teenager and both enjoyed it musically and laughed maniacally at the lyrics.

Hey I saw your wife the other day.
Yeah?
Yeah and she's UGGGGLLLLYYYYYYYYYY!
Yeah she's ugly but she sure can cook baby!

 

[strummer]

Oh man. I can remember listening to Toy Soldiers every day in the summer of 89 with my cousins. We all had crushes on Martika irc. Probably because she reminded us of Phoebe Cates.

Also a young Jennifer Love .Hewitt is a background performer in the Toy Soldiers video. She would have been 9/10 years old

Oh and that story about Sheriff is pretty incredible. I kinda miss days where something like that could happen.

"When I'm with You" is on the soundtrack to the iconic film Joe Dirt as well

 

[Mickey Massuco]

"When I'm with You" is on the soundtrack to the iconic film Joe Dirt as well

took the word iconic right out of my mouth

 

[alkeiper]

Toy Soldiers didn't connect with me, I guess I need to watch a music video.

Milli Vanilli. Someone else should've written their songs too.

New Kids on the Block. The boy band trend hits the charts. Oh joy.

Going into 1990 with "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You" by Michael Bolton. I mean, who doesn't worship his entire catalog?