HouseoftheHits.com
Help support this blog by clicking on the sponsor ad!
JUMP TO:
• 1992 – TO BE WITH YOU / Mr. Big
• 1982 – CENTERFOLD / The J. Geils Band
• 1972 – WITHOUT YOU / Nilsson
• 1962 – HEY! BABY / Bruce Channel
• BONUS – WITHOUT YOU / Badfinger
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! And welcome to another installment of #1 Songs On This Date!
Sorry, but connections to the color green with any of these four songs or artists from March 17th (unless you consider all the ‘green’ they each earned).
Since it began in early January, 123 distinct number one singles from the years 1956 through 1995 have been featured – with hundreds more to follow.
They’re all part of a permanent archive that’s being built at HouseoftheHits.com which will ultimately feature ALL 837 different number one singles as listed in 2,080 weekly national music charts published by Billboard® within that 40-year timeframe.
•
Fortunately, HouseoftheHits has every one of those charts – plus secondary data – as published in the essential Joel Whitburn’s Record Research series (CD-ROM and eBook edition formats).
Everything is stored digitally on a HouseoftheHits computer – as are all 837 number one singles (in high-quality audio) from the music vault.
With the availability of precise data and the HOTH song files – together with some amazing technology – approximately 600 – 700 of those Billboard® chart-toppers will be presented this year – with the remainder to follow in early 2017.
•
As the archive grows you will have continual free access to the accumulating repository, indexed by Decade, Month and Year. Plus, EVERY Title and Artist will be (blue) hyper-linked for smooth, easy navigation from song to song – with more great features to be added along the way.
Again, it will contain every #1 single in America, plus interesting commentary about each song (written by yours truly) and presented with a crystal clear High-Definition audio version of the complete original hit to instantly play as often as you wish.
The ever-expanding library is found HERE and you can bookmark this link for future instant access.
Enjoy!
————————————————————————————————
If you like these posts, please click on a sponsor ad. The proceeds from the
clicks help the HOTH website and All-Music Blog keep on running. Thanks!
————————————————————————————————
[NOTE]
Due to copyright issues, some audio song files may not play on tablets,
smartphones and connected devices. A PC, Mac or laptop may be required.
•
————————
BACK TO THE TOP
————————
🎵🎵🎵
HouseoftheHits.com
Clicking on a sponsor ad helps support this blog
#1 / March 17th, 1992
TO BE WITH YOU
Mr. Big
[1992]
Number One: 3 weeks
Replaced: I’M TOO SEXY / Right Said Fred
Succeeded by: SAVE THE BEST FOR LAST / Vanessa Williams
•
With strong vocals from Eric Martin, the San Francisco rock band Mr. Big hit it huge on this date with their debut single To Be With You.
Also with strong vocal harmonies and musicianship, the Atlantic Records single held on to the top rung of Billboard for a solid three weeks.
After selling one million copies of To Be With You, the band released the follow-up song Just Take My Heart which climbed to #16 in May of ’92.
They later covered the 1971 (#11) hit Wild World by Cat Stevens which managed a respectable showing at #27.
[Trivia Bits] The group took their name from a song called Mr. Big, a track on the 1970 album Fire And Water by the UK rock band Free.
Paul Rodgers (who later replaced Freddie Mercury in Queen) was the vocalist for Free, who are best known for the Top 40 hit All Right Now.
————————
BACK TO THE TOP
————————
🎵🎵🎵
HouseoftheHits.com
Help support this blog by clicking on the sponsor ad!
#1 / March 17th, 1982
CENTERFOLD
The J. Geils Band
[1981]
Number One: 6 weeks
Replaced: I CAN’T GO FOR THAT (No Can Do) / Daryl Hall and John Oates
Succeeded by: I LOVE ROCK ‘N ROLL / Joan Jett and The Blackhearts
•
Boston-based rock group the J. Geils Band took it’s name from guitarist Jerome Geils and featured the vocals of former Beantown FM rock radio DJ Peter Wolf.
First known as the J. Geils Blues Band, they experienced relative chart failure throughout the 70s’ despite shortening their name and placing six singles on the Hot 100.
The highest achiever among them was Must Have Got Lost, which flirted with the Top 10, but finally stalled at #12 in 1975.
The second half of the decade saw them sign with a new record label and produce five more recordings, but none managed to climb above #30.
•
Perhaps the 70’s was just not meant to be for the JGB, because, with a mere flip of the calendar into the 80’s, their fortunes seemingly began to reverse.
But it was an adjustment to their musical style – less blues oriented to more commercial pop-rock leaning – that factored heavily in turning the corner for them.
Written, arranged and produced by group keyboardist Seth Justman, and from their album titled Freeze Frame, Centerfold was released in late 1981 and was wrapping up its impressive 6-week run at #1 on this date.
————————
BACK TO THE TOP
————————
🎵🎵🎵
HouseoftheHits.com
Clicking on a sponsor ad helps support this blog
#1 / March 17th, 1972
WITHOUT YOU
Nilsson
[1971]
(Single Version)
Number One: 4 weeks
Replaced: LET’S GET TOGETHER / Al Green
Succeeded by: HEART OF GOLD / Neil Young
•
Harry Edward Nilsson III initially made his mark as a songwriter during the early-mid 60’s by penning dozens of mostly obscure tunes – although recorded by major artists like Blood, Sweat & Tears, Ella Fitzgerald, Mary Hopkin, John Lennon, Lulu, Modern Folk Quartet, The Monkees, Rick Nelson, The Ronettes and The Turtles.
The Ronettes and Modern Folk Quartet were particularly significant in putting Nilsson on the musical map. The songs Paradise and Here I Sit (by the former) and This Could Be The Night were given by Nilsson to the influential Phil Spector for the fabled record producer’s acts to record.
•
Nilsson’s first success as a recording artist was Everbody’s Talkin’ from the soundtrack of the film Midnight Cowboy (1969 • #6). It also won the ‘Best Pop Male Vocal Performance’ Grammy for that year
His next two releases – I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City and Me And My Arrow – both failed to crack Billboard’s Top 30.
But when he rebounded big time in late 1971 with this week’s chart-topper Without You, he earned both his only gold record and another ‘Best Pop Male Vocal’ Grammy gramophone for his mantle.
[Trivia Bits] Ironically, Without You wasn’t written by Nilsson but was a cover version of a song by England’s Badfinger (the story and the original version below as the ‘Bonus Trak’).
One more Nilsson single would crack the Top 10 – 1972’s Coconut reached #8.
His biggest success as a songwriter was 1969’s million-selling One by the group Three Dog Night.
He also scored the movie Skidoo, the animated TV movie The Point, and TV’s The Courtship Of Eddie’s Father.
Harry Nilsson died from a heart attack in January, 1994 at age 52.
————————
BACK TO THE TOP
————————
🎵🎵🎵
HouseoftheHits.com
Bonus Trak
WITHOUT YOU
Badfinger
[1971]
Nilsson was visiting London, England and attending a party one evening when a song being played on BBC Radio caught his attention.
He was certain the record – titled Without You – was by The Beatles, only to learn it was the Beatlesesque UK group Badfinger, who so happened to record for the Fab Four’s own label, Apple Records.
Written by Badfinger members Peter Ham and Tom Evans, here’s the original version which inspired Harry to record his cover.
————————
BACK TO THE TOP
————————
🎵🎵🎵
HouseoftheHits.com
Help support this blog by clicking on the sponsor ad!
#1 / March 17th, 1962
HEY! BABY
Bruce Channel
[1962]
Number One: 3 weeks
Replaced: DUKE OF EARL / The Duke Of Earl (Gene Chandler)
Succeeded by: DON’T BREAK THE HEART THAT LOVES YOU / Connie Francis
•
Hey! Baby by Bruce Channel (pronounced like ‘Chanel’ perfume) was beginning its second of three weeks atop America’s premier weekly music chart.
The record initially came out of Fort Worth, TX on the tiny LeCam label (shown below incorrectly as ‘Le Cam’) but much larger Mercury Records in Chicago bought the master recording and re-released the single on its subsidiary label Smash.
The re-issued disc debuted on the Hot 100 on January 27th of ’62 and within 6 weeks was the nation’s top record.
[Trivia Bits] The great harmonica playing on the record was done by a musician named Delbert McClinton.
His second trip to Billboard’s elite elevation occurred in 1980 as a solo vocalist with Giving It Up For Your Love (#8).
McClinton evidently taught John Lennon some of the finer points to the art of harmonica playing when he appeared with Channel on an early 60’s package tour in the UK with the Beatles.
————————
BACK TO THE TOP
————————
Written By: Rick Murray Hunter
Songs Source: The Music Vault of HouseoftheHits Inc.
Billboard® Chart Data: Joel Whitburn’s Record Research (eBook Editions)
References: The Billboard Book Of Number One Hits (5th Edition) by Fred Bronson
The Archives of RollingStone.com
Record Sleeve & Label Graphics: Courtesy of 45cat
Other #1 Songs on This Date Posts are HERE
