Medium photo 1961 RayCharles piano France 1500 crop 1

the #1 hit records on the pop charts 1961

THIS IS THE SECOND in a series of ten articles listing and addressing the #1 records of the year as they appeared on Cash Box magazine’s Top 100 chart from 1960 through 1969. It was originally published as “Take Good Care Of Runaround Sue” on my publication Tell It Like It Was on Medium on January 15, 2019. [Continue reading]

BrendaLee 1960 piano Billboard 1500

the #1 hit records on the pop charts 1960

THIS IS THE FIRST in a series of ten articles listing and addressing the #1 records of the year as they appeared on Cash Box magazine’s Top 100 chart from 1960 through 1969. It was originally published as “Save The Last Twist For Me” on my publication Tell It Like It Was on Medium on January 1, 2019. [Continue reading]

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why the hell isn’t gene clark in the hall of fame? (gene clark part 4)

ONCE UPON A TIME, it looked like the Byrds had a long, successful, productive career in front of them. In 1965, they had two #1 hits, Mr. Tambourine Man and Turn! Turn! Turn!, that effectively defined the recently coined term folk-rock. Their two albums were pivotal in the transition of rock musicians from being primarily singles-oriented to being primarily album-oriented. [Continue reading]

CrewCuts InPerson 1960 1500 crop

should the crew-cuts be in the rock & roll hall of fame?

THERE ARE GOOD PEOPLE AMONG US. They see a wrong and they set out to right it. Mostly, they fail. Nonetheless, we think of them as heroic for their efforts. There are others who set out merely to succeed at their own goals. While achieving those goals, they may also right a wrong, break down a barrier, or expand a horizon. [Continue reading]

PatBoone 1955 PublicityPhoto 1500

should pat boone be in the rock & roll hall of fame?

THE QUESTION ON QUORA was “Who was the first rock & roll superstar to be discarded and forgotten to time?” I answered with Bill Haley, Pat Boone, and Connie Francis. Each singer was a big star in their heyday—the word “superstar” did not exist then—but each has been under-appreciated by most critics and historians since rock & roll became self-reflective decades ago. [Continue reading]

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the first discarded and forgotten superstars of rock & roll

THE BURNING QUESTION on Quora today was “Who was the first rock & roll superstar to be discarded and forgotten to time?” Of course, I couldn’t resist, although my answer may not have been exactly what the questioner was looking for in forgotten superstars. But who knows—maybe this is exactly the kind of thinking-provoking answer the asker wanted? [Continue reading]

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what exactly was a “rock & roll album” in those days?

WHAT EXACTLY IS A ROCK & ROLL ALBUM? To answer that question, we need to answer another: What is rock & roll music? After sixty years, we still don’t have a definition that everyone agrees with! Arguments about its definition and its origin in the early ’50s—no wait, was it the late ’40s?—have [Continue reading]

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what was the first “rock” double-album of the ’60s?

 IT IS ACCEPTED “FACT” that two seminal works of popular music—the Beach Boys’ PET SOUNDS and Bob Dylan’s BLONDE ON BLONDE—were released on the same day, May 16, 1966. And there was a second reason to celebrate that date: BLONDE ON BLONDE was also the first rock double-album of all-new studio recordings, beating the Mothers of Invention’s FREAK OUT! [Continue reading]