Should Elvis really be counted in the most number ones? You only reviewed 7 of his hits. 10 of them were before the Billboard consolidated the Hot 100 in 1958.
Hall and Oates had two number ones ("I Can't Go For That" and "Maneater") that served as the building blocks for two other number ones ("Billie Jean" and "Part-Time Lover.") Hall and Oates conversation with black music is pretty remarkable. They paid their dues.
Is Tarzan Boy the best song of all time? No, obviously not.
Does Tarzan Boy always make me happy whenever I hear it? Of course, it's the best song of all time.
In a coincidence that seems like it was planned by Doc Brown, October 21st is Back to the Future Day. Today is the 35th anniversary of the first movie and the 5th year anniversary of the day Marty's arrived in 2015 in the sequel. Great Scott!
This is the song that inspired the very stupid thought, "What percentage of songs would have to be wiped out by an asteroid for this to be the best recorded song of all time?" I give it 60%
When I was in college, my Friday getting started ritual was listening to the 10 hour version of the Baker Street sax solo. Nothing says its the freakin' weekend baby, bout to have me some fun like wallowing in Noir levels dread.
https://youtu.be/AyH_W1tQGBc
As of today, 1108 songs have hit the number one spot. Tina Turner's "What's Love Got To Do With It" was the 554th. It's taken nearly 3 years, but Tom has finally reached the halfway point.
Rockwell claims that God wrote Somebody's Watching Me. After praying for the "creativity to write a song that’ll go to the top of the charts and tickle the taste buds of the music connoisseur," the song poured out of Rockwell. Since Rockwell stalled at #2, God must be a worse songwriter than Van Halen. Also out of the all the things to talk about, God chose a song about people being worried somebody's watching them, as if that isn't God's whole thing.
Bonus* Beats: Here's a clip from the pretty good sitcom Last Man on Earth, a show about a virus that wiped out humanity in 2020, https://youtu.be/g-T7bwXptq0
The strongest memory I have of this song is the time Lionel Richie performed it at midnight for one of Dick Clark's Rocking New Years Eves. Though theoretically, the song is four minutes, Richie kept repeating the closing call and response. I am convinced that it lasted 20 minutes, as if Richie was cursed by some monkey's paw to make the title a reality. The song still haunts me.
When I was kid my dream job was to be a parody songwriter. The first one I ever wrote was Sweet Dreams are made of cheese with the chorus:
Sweet Dreams are made of cheese
Who could ever diss some brie
I've traveled to Wisconsin for Colby
Everybody's looking for crackers
I have since left the songwriting to the professionals.
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