I like this better than blu, too, but I think he's onto something with the suggestion that the song was a big middle finger to the record label asking for something more upbeat and pop-friendly, so the song needs to be listened to with that in mind, like some of the Turtles' songs -- especially "Elinore."
It reminds me of the flap between CBS and the sitcom Rhoda. In its second season, CBS moved Rhoda from 9:30 to 8:00, in the first season of the networks' newly instituted "Family Viewing Hour." The writers and producers of Rhoda hated the idea of having to tone down their material (which was never exactly NC17-rated to begin with) to pander to the 8 p.m. audience. So they redid the opening theme song, bringing in an unlistenably terrible chorus of little kids to sing the the theme song with a bunch of "La la la la las" while playing over scenes that included Rhoda looking down her own blouse and Rhoda grabbing Joe's ass. It was a dreadful theme song unless you were in on the joke.
While most artists in the early '90s were going the unplugged route on MTV, Bruce Springsteen went in the other direction and did "plugged" versions of his previously unplugged songs.
His "plugged" version of "Atlantic City" was a particular favorite of mine.
Among their earlier songs, "I Feel Fine" stands as one of the Beatles' very best from the pre-1966 period.
The feedback, that riff, that chorus ... and all wrapped up in a tidy 2:20.
Perfect. 10/10
I'm arriving here late today, and I really don't have anything to add about today's #1, but if I end up making only one comment today, it's this:
Gladys Knight deserves every bit of praise and love she gets, and "Midnight Train to Georgia" is a truly remarkable song. But if you held a gun to my head and asked me to pick Gladys Knight & The Pips' finest moment, it's "(I've Got to Use My) Imagination."
The building intensity of her vocal here is a wonder to be hold, the Pips are in rare form, and the song is a scorching banger of the first order. This is all kinds of a 10/10, and I hope folks give it plenty of love when they vote for the 4s/5s today.
These two albums rank a lot higher on my Springsteen list than they do for many of his most devoted fans. In addition to those tracks that you mentioned, "Leap of Faith," "Living Proof," "Man's Job" and "I Wish I Were Blind" are all top-notch. I saw him in concert in both 1992 and 1993, early and late in the same tour, and I was plenty satisfied.
Dan, we all relate best to the music we heard between the ages of about 10 and 25. The further past 25 we get, the harder it becomes for any new music to be truly evocative to us. That's my take, anyway.
Tom, who loves most Supremes songs, did not like "The Happening."
Guy K, who was never a big fan of Diana Ross & The Supremes, liked "The Happening" a lot (though my favorite Supremes song of all is the post-Diana anthem "Up The Ladder to the Roof").
"Not The Only One" by Bonnie Raitt is worth a mention, another beautiful song that is suitably upbeat following her heartbreaking masterpiece "I Can't Make You Love Me."
Lost amid TNOCS' JusticeForMagic# campaign, which took on a life of its own, was that Tom somehow gave twice as high a score to "Physical" as he did to "Magic."
With you on this, Chris. I am always a little skittish around here to express my dislike for Queen, but I never liked "Bohemian Rhapsody" any of the three times it was a hit.
"there was another song with Jump in the title that was released in 92 that is way better."
There were two songs in 1984 with "Jump" in the title that were both way better.
I stopped participating before the year 2000 because I either stopped recognizing or couldn't stand most of the songs.
The #4s/#5s is my favorite poll these days.
A reprise of my comment from when Michael Damien's remake of "Rock On" hit #1:
When David Essex recorded “Rock On” in 1974, he made a record that sounded like NOTHING else on the radio at the time.
When Michael Damian recorded his cover of “Rock On” in 1989, he made a record that sounded like EVERYTHING ELSE on the radio in 1989.
The first time 10-year-old me heard the David Essex original, I quickly gathered together the small change from my last few weekly allowances and went out and bought the record. It was cool and cryptic and mysterious. The original “Rock On” kicked ass, and was at least an 8/10.
Elsewhere, Carly Simon did a lot of great work. "Mockingbird" ain't part of that. Truly awful, and with no reason for ever existing. 2/10.
In retrospect, it's a wonder "Jungle Boogie" ever got any airplay. It's also a wonder these are the same guys who did "Cherish" a decade later. 7/10.
If ever there were a perfect example of the growing dichotomy between the music most of us heard and recognized, and the music that was actually reaching the upper levels of the Hot 100 by 1992, it is this: "Right Now" by Van Halen peaked at #55. That does not seem possible.
What prime fodder we have for discussion with today's four 1974 4s/5s.
1) There is not a bigger Three Dog Night fan on this entire form than me. But there's also not a worse Three Dog Night top 10 single in their catalog than "The Show Must Go On." 6/10.
2) "Oh My My" has been a personal favorite of mine since I was 10 years old, which was probably the last time it got airplay anywhere in either hemisphere. That's a shame. It's a legitimate banger. 9/10.
3) On April 27, "The Lord's Prayer" fell out of the Billboard Top 10. The next week, "Tubular Bells"--an instrumental from a movie about a girl possessed by the devil--entered the top 10. That's 1974 music in a nutshell: Every kind of song imaginable was fair game to become a hit, from heaven to hell. 7/10.
4) "Come And Get Your Love" is one of the greatest, most engaging and enduring pop classics of all time. It's a song with 25 hooks, at least, each one of 'em better than the last. A resounding 10/10.
Oh, it'll work out to a lot less than one per virtual year as we work our way through the '90s. We are soon getting to the point where I'm not going to be able to comment on #1s I don't even recognize on a regular basis, let alone give a rating to. I don't know, honestly, when the next 10 (among #1s) will come up. Could be at least five years away, maybe more, maybe never.
I know many Springsteen devotees who were turned off by his twin-release albums in 1992 without the E Street Band. I thought the albums were both really good, and I consider "Human Touch" in Springsteen's upper echelon of songs in his entire catalog.
For all the interchangeable adult contemporary ballads that both Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey turned out, neither one of them ever did anything as good as Vanessa Williams’ “Save The Best for Last.”
Combine a great melody with simple but relatable lyrics, then blend a vocal performance by Williams that’s expressive without ever being ostentatious with production that’s pretty without ever crossing over and becoming treacly, and you have a genuinely great ballad. A classic.
I can even forgive what is normally considered the most cliched of lyrical rhymes (“moon”/”June”) because the end product is so appealing. In the wrong hands, this song could have been a mess. Had someone like Bette Midler gotten a hold of this composition and insisted on putting her own overbearing, oversinging stamp on this thing, it would have been awful.
Vanessa Williams hits every note perfectly, at every turn resisting the temptation to do too much and overextend herself. Just listen to her phrasing on the lines “Cause how could you give your love to someone else, and share your dreams with me.”
I give out 10s to 1990s-era #1 songs as often as the sun goes ‘round the moon, but I’m doing it here. 10/10.
This initial video of "Good For Me" was pulled and re-shot at the record label's request because they were uncomfortable with even the vaguest implication that the video might be depicting a lesbian relationship here, and that was not in keeping with the image of Amy Grant that they wanted to project.
Two things about Peabo Bryson:
1) "If Ever You're in My Arms Again" was one of the best songs of 1984.
2) Peabo is, hands down, the greatest pitchman that has ever appeared on one of those Time/Life song collection infomercials. His delivery is smooth as silk and pitch perfect.
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