This is one of those unpalatable, indigestible ideas that has stuck in my craw many times before, often when I’ve just surrendered to bedtime sometime after midnight. Too often, I just roll over and drift off to sleep too lazy to rouse myself. Finally, it grabbed me on the right side of my waking cycle — 5.30am this morning — by the throat, and wouldn’t let go. I dedicate this to one of those famous deejays of the Rock Era, who was proudest of his evident efforts to giving pop music a bad name. He gave himself a stupid name to fit: “Cousin Brucie”, turning himself into a New York celebrity in a New York minute. His credo went something like, Take a simple song, stuff in as many fatuous cliches as you can fit, and it takes on a kind of “magic.” Maybe he owed his career to an influential uncle, but he had millions of cousins among the disc-buying public making his eyes sparkle with dollar signs.
Homeless and ‘displaced’ refugees: more uncounted statistics
The next time any of us is tempted to persist ten minutes into a mindless, meathead action movie and waste another hour and a half we could be spending more profitably on, say, navel-gazing, just remember people are out there on the frontiers of human civilisation every day literally losing their lives so that we don’t have to aspire to the lowest common denominator of human thought. “Ordinary” citizens, investigative journalists, front-line activists, peacekeeping soldiers put their lives on the line every day so that we don’t have to — usually in some other “God-forsaken” part of the world — including that 14-year-old girl whom the Taliban attempted to silence by shooting her face off. Or whenever we are tempted to settle for second, third or 7,556,132,404th best (that’s the worst on the planet) in a choice of politicians, favorite celebrities, sports heroes or role models of any kind.
On the same exalted level, not that he could be accused of ever dumbing down, even Einstein was proudest of some of his lesser known discoveries — Was he the one behind Wella incorporating 68% more “bounce-back body”? Mid 20th Century pop culture being my bag, I’m here to apply the principle to pop songs. Not counting those iconic biggies never intended to be more than amusing nonentities (The Chipmunk Song, Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini…) the following list of massive, trite, totally expendable hits all sold more than four million copies in the USA alone:
It’s Now or Never (Elvis Presley) 1960
I Want to Hold Your Hand (The Beatles) 1963
Ballad of the Green Berets (Sgt Barry Sadler) 1966
Honey (Bobby Goldsboro) 1968
Dizzy (Tommy Roe) 1969
Sugar, Sugar (The Archies) 1969
In fact, these were the only songs to surpass the US four million mark during the Sixties — which should tell us something. It was a decade that supplied exquisite music aplenty, of which I submit a small sample below: all overlooked classics among the very best performances of the acts listed. Billboard ‘peaks’ are stated in those cases where the song rose high enough in our collective imagination to enter sales charts at all.
Reeling and Rocking (Fats Domino) nil, 1952
Tutti Frutti (Little Richard) #21, 1955
Too Much Monkey Business (Chuck Berry) nil, 1956
Young Blood (The Coasters) #18, 1957
The Girl Can’t Help It (Little Richard) #49, 1957
Teach Me How to Shimmy (Isley Bros) nil, 1961
Three Cool Cats (The Coasters) nil, 1962
When the Lovelight Shines (The Supremes) #23, 1963
The Warmth of the Sun (The Beach Boys) nil, 1964
Big Man in Town (The Four Seasons) #20, 1964
Goodbye My Love (The Searchers) #52, 1965
Early Morning Rain (Peter, Paul & Mary) nil, 1965
In My Life (The Beatles) nil, 1965
With These Hands (Tom Jones) #27, 1965
My Generation (The Who) #74, 1966
I’m a Boy (The Who) nil, 1966
Try a Little Tenderness (Otis Redding) #21, 1966
Bowling Green (The Everly Bros) #40, 1967
Mas Que Nada (Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66) nil, 1967
Why Do Fools Fall in Love? (The Happenings) #41, 1967
Guide For the Married Man (The Turtles) nil, 1967
Pata, Pata (Miriam Makeba) #12, 1967
To Love Somebody (The Bee Gees) #17, 1967
Twelve Thirty (The Mamas & the Papas) #20, 1967
Will You Love Me Tomorrow (The Four Seasons) #24, 1968
Workin’ On a Groovy Thing (The Fifth Dimension) #20, 1969
Fortunate Son (Creedence Clearwater Revival) nil, 1969
Oh Me, Oh My (Lulu) #22, 1970
Me About You (The Turtles) nil, 1970
Out in the Country (Three Dog Night) #15, 1970
Source:
http://ift.tt/1in8viz