Billboard's #1 Pop Singles

[quartermainefan]

this posting made me seek out the original. I think the original lyrics are far better. I never heard this version before, but there is more meat on the bone I think

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[Max]

Qfan, I really, really appreciate you finding the original version of "Blue Moon." That was such a treat to listen to.

Carl, although I dislike Saved by the Bell, I think I may have seen that episode as well.

This fascinating piece of information is something I never before knew, I Am A Swede. Thank you for sharing it.

Many rock elitists deride the early-60s as a period when rock and roll was too soft and tame. However, the classic hard rock tune--"Runaway" by Del Shannon--definately proves them wrong. "Runaway" spent four weeks at number one: the weeks ended 4/24/61, 5/1/61, 5/8/61, & 5/15/61.

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Charles Westover was born and raised in Michigan. Though he first sang under the stage name of Charlie Johnson, he was less than thrilled with the moniker. To help pay the bills, Charles was a carpet salesman; his boss drove a Cadillac Coupe de Ville, which gave him the idea for "Del." Westover and his one-time group--the Big Little Show Band--gave performances at the Hi-Lo club. Apparently, one of the Hi-Lo's patrons fantasized about becoming a professional wrestler and believed that Mark Shannon would be the perfect name for him.

One of the members of Shannon's former group was Max Crook. Max's area of expertise was playing an instrument called the musitron (which was a precursor to the synthesizer). A large part of the appeal of "Runaway"--a tune that Shannon and Crook wrote together--was due to the combination of Shannon's falsetto and the musitron solo that occurred in the middle of the song. Del's second biggest hit, "Hats Off To Larry" (#5 later in 1961), also made heavy use of these elements. Though Shannon accumulated seven additional top 40 hits, only two of them--"Little Town Flirt" (#12, 1963) and "Keep Searchin' (We'll Follow the Sun)" (#9, 1965)--recieve regular airplay on oldies stations.

Tragically, Shannon ended his life on February 8, 1990 (at age 55) by shooting himself. In 1999, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (IMO, despite the greatness of "Runaway," I really do not feel he belongs in the Hall of Fame, especially when there are several others more deserving who have get to be acknowledged.)

[DRW50]

I never knew he'd committed suicide.

I think Keep Searchin' was his best song.

[I Am A Swede]

My first introduction to "Runaway" came through the tv-series "Crime story" starring Dennis Farina, where it was used as the theme song:

[alphanguy74]

Here is him singing it live in 1988, just two years before he died. Many may not know this, but he killed himself just a few weeks after starting Prozac.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OwkQPSsIxc

[Max]

I really like that 1980s version of "Runaway" which Shannon recorded for "Crime Story." It is absolutely shocking that he killed himself only a few weeks after he started Prozac.

"Runaway" was knocked out of the #1 spot by "Mother-in-Law" by Ernie K-Doe, which held the peak position for one week: the week ended 5/22/61.

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New Orleans singer Ernest Kador, Jr. was one of the musicians on the roster at Minit Records. The label's owner, Joe Banashak, told Ernie that Kador was too difficult to enunciate and recommended that he change his last name to K-Doe. Upon meeting with Minit's A&R man Allen Toussaint, K-Doe looked inside the trash can and noticed that Toussaint had thrown away a song he wrote titled "Mother-in-Law." Ernie insisted upon recording the tune, and received uncredited assistance from labelmate Benny Spellman. (Spellman chanted the words "mother-in-law" in a deep voice during the times K-Doe took breaks from singing.)

Ernie K-Doe never scored another top 40 hit, and he died in 2001 at age 65. While I personally believe that "Mother-in-Law" is a good song, I really don't think it deserved to go to #1. I suspect that a large part of the record's appeal had to do with its very popular message.

[DRW50]

I never knew that was a #1. The song is a lot of fun. This was at a time when most popular black musicians were more clean-cut, so a song like this, which was a little funky and had character, must have been a surprise.

[alphanguy74]

I bet alot of men bought this record! LOL It is a fun song to listen to, and has some great piano work. Every time I hear it, I picture some old crone with horn rimmed glasses and a rolling pin in her hand ready to hit him over the head. A little bit of trivia, in 2007, his 1970 song, "Here Come the Girls" was used for a successful ad campaign in the UK, and the song was re-released, and reached #43 in the UK charts. The tacky girl group the Sugababes covered it the next year, and took it to number 3 in the UK.

and at the time of this recording, in 1970, he was signed to Janus records, along with Whitney Houston's mother, Cissy.

And here is the commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgduIknGejU

[Max]

Ernie K-Doe certainly deserved better than one-hit wonder status. I am shocked that a great song like "Here Come the Girls" was a commercial flop.

I already mentioned that my favorite Ricky Nelson song is his first chart-topper, "Poor Little Fool." His other number one single--"Travelin' Man"--is my second favorite. "Travelin' Man" spent two non-consecutive weeks at the top spot: the weeks ended 5/29/61 & 6/12/61.

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"Travelin' Man" was Ricky's first top ten hit in over twelve months. Jerry Fuller actually wrote the song for Sam Cooke, but his manager turned it down. The flip side of "Travelin' Man"--a song Gene Pitney wrote titled "Hello, Mary Lou"--also became a smash hit, peaking at #9. Shortly after this dual sided record was released, Nelson shortened his first name to Rick. For the remainder of the 60s, he would accumulate four more top ten singles:

"Young World" (#5, 1962)

"Teen Age Idol" (#5, 1962)

"It's Up to You" (#6, 1963)

"For You" (#6, 1964)

After "For You" became a hit in early 1964, Nelson found his career essentially wiped out by the Beatles. Whenever he performed at concerts, fans were interested in his old songs as opposed to any new material. One night, he was even booed off the stage at Madison Square Garden because he failed to sing what the fans wanted to hear. In response to this experience, he wrote "Garden Party," which he performed along with the Stone Canyon Band. The tune became an unexpected hit, reaching #6 in 1972.

On December 31, 1985 (at age 45), Nelson's like was tragically cut short when a private plane he boarded crashed in DeKalb, TX. In 1987, Rick was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Three years later, his identical twin sons--Gunnar and Matthew, performing together simply as "Nelson"--hit #1 on their own with "(Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection."

Alphanguy earlier mentioned his memories upon hearing about Nelson's death. Since I was only five years-old at the time, I do not remember the event back when it first occurred.

[alphanguy74]

Yes, I'll never forget, I was in high school, and driving my car on my way to the movies for a date, since it was New Year's eve. We were listening to the radio, and the announcement came on. I think Travelin Man is a pretty decent song, I wouldn't ahve chosen it for number one status, however. As I've said before, my hands down favorite of his is "Lonesome Town". Here he is singing it live in 1985, just a couple months before his death. These men here in his band in this clip also died in the crash:

[DRW50]

Poor beautiful, haunted Rick Nelson. So tragic. I was reading some old magazine article from 1960 speculating on who would replace Elvis, and they went on about how Rick had never had to work for a career in music. Yet his music is so timeless, proving that it's not about the usual rags to riches backstory, some of which is often made up anyway (like Vanilla Ice being stabbed in the backside, or whatever).

[DRW50]

Travelin Man is often considered the first, or one of the first, music videos.

[Max]

I never knew this.

One of the most respected names in all of rock is Roy Orbison. His first #1 hit, "Running Scared," spent one week at the peak position: the week ended 6/5/61.

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A Texas native, Roy Orbison was born on April 23, 1936 in the town of Vernon. Roy attended North Texas University, where he sought to follow in the successful footsteps of another of its students, Pat Boone. In 1956, Orbison and his group--the Teen Kings--signed with Sun Records and recorded a tune titled "Ooby Dooby." Though the song charted, it failed to make the top 40. After future singles bombed, Orbison left his group and the Sun label and focused his energies on writing songs for others.

By 1960, Roy had joined the roster of artists on Monument Records. He recorded his first smash hit--the wonderful "Only the Lonely" (which peaked at #2)--only after he first offered it to both Elvis Presley and the Everly Brothers. Later in 1960, Orbison had a #9 hit with "Blue Angel." Like those previous hits, "Running Scared" was co-written by Orbison and Joe Melson.

After "Running Scared," Roy scored even more top ten hits:

"Crying" (#2, 1961) [Like "Only the Lonely," this tune deserved to go to #1.]

"Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream)" (#4, 1962)

"In Dreams" (#7, 1963)

"Mean Woman Blues" (#5, 1963)

"It's Over" (#9, 1964)

In the fall of 1964, Orbison would return to the top spot with his signature song.

[alphanguy74]

I love Roy Orbison... it's not widely known that during the biggest time of his career in the early 60's, Bobby Goldsboro was his guitarist, and would later go on to his own major success. I like all of his songs, but "It's Over" is by far my favorite.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73GJqMPp-F0

Roy's haunting vibrato is what made him so unique, a quality that very few popular singer have aside from Roy and Robin Gibb.

Here he is singing the song live in 1965:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GePCrb8W13o

[Max]

"It's Over" deverved to do far better than #9. (It went to #1 in the UK.)

I never knew that Bobby Goldsboro was Roy Orbison's guitarist.

When "Travelin' Man" fell from the top spot for the second time, it was succeeded by "Moody River" by Pat Boone. "Moody River" (Carl's favorite song of Boone's) spent one week at number one: the week ended 6/19/61.

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The romantic "Moody River" was Pat Boone's third and final chart-topper. The song was written and first performed by country singer Chase Webster (who was a labelmate of Boone's at Dot Records). For the pop version of the song, executives at Dot felt that Pat would be the best choice to record it.

Though I never mentioned this earlier, below are all of Boone's top ten hits (aside from his three #1s):

"Ain't That a Shame" (#2, 1955)

"At My Front Door (Crazy Little Mama)" (#8, 1955)

"I'll Be Home" (#6, 1956)

"I Almost Lost My Mind" (#2, 1956)

"Friendly Persuasion (Thee I Love)" (#9, 1956)

"Don't Forbid Me" (#3, 1957)

"Why Baby Why" (#5, 1957)

"Remember You're Mine" (#10, 1957)

"A Wonderful Time Up There" (#4, 1958)

"It's Too Soon to Know" (#4, 1958)

"Sugar Moon" (#10, 1958)

"Speedy Gonzales" (#6, 1962)

Despite his phenomenal success, Pat never retured to the top 40 after "Speedy Gonzales." After his career in pop music dried up, he became a gospel singer. Boone had the good fortune to see one of his daughters, Debby, score the most popular hit of the 1970s with "You Light Up My Life." And for many decades, Pat has been involved with conservative politics.