Music History Today: July 19, 2020

July 19, 1986: Genesis reached Number 1 with "Invisible Touch" while former Genesis member Peter Gabriel had Number 2 with "Sledgehammer."  

Peter Gabriel credits the "Sledgehammer's" success solely on the music video, telling Rolling Stone, 

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“I think it had a sense of both humor and fun, neither of which were particularly associated with me. I mean—wrongly in my way of looking at it—I think I was seen as a fairly intense, eccentric Englishman.”  

Read more: Zoomer

July 19, 1966: Johnny Rivers begins recording "Poor Side Of Town." It will become his only Number 1 hit.

Lou Adler was a sort of LA scene king  who opened the Roxy, co-produced the Monterey Pop Festival, discovered Cheech & Chong, and helped get The Rocky Horror Picture Show made. 

Johnny Rivers

Johnny Rivers was an Italian kid who was born in New York, but he’d mostly grown up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He broke into music as a Nashville songwriter and session musician, but he eventually got a gig at the LA club the Whiskey A Go-Go, which is where Adler first encountered him.  

Read more: Stereogum

July 19, 1973:  Paul Simon released the single "Loves Me Like A Rock."

"Loves Me Like a Rock" was the second single from Paul Simon's third studio album, "There Goes Rhymin' Simon." 

Paul Simon

It features background vocals from the Dixie Hummingbirds, a Southern black gospel group. Although the lyrics are not typically associated with gospel music, the Dixie Hummingbirds were eager to record the song with Simon, and they recorded their own version of the song soon afterward.  

Read more: Wikipedia

July 19, 1975: Paul McCartney & Wings' "Listen To What The Man Said" hits Number 1 on the charts.

Like a whole lot of other Paul McCartney songs, “Listen To What The Man Said” is all about love. And like a whole lot of other Paul McCartney songs, it’s almost maddeningly vague. McCartney babbles on and on, and his half-formed thoughts are very close to gibberish: “Soldier boy kisses girl / Leaves behind a tragic world / But he won’t mind / He’s in love and he says love is fine.”  

Read mire: Stereogum

July 19, 1982:  John Cougar (Mellencamp) released "Jack & Diane," the follow-up to "Hurts So Good."

It was the “little ditty” that became a big hit, and caused some huge headaches for John Mellencamp along the way. 

John Couger-Mellencamp

For a feel-good, singalong song, “Jack & Diane” has an awfully tortured history – one that didn’t end with the single’s chart-topping success in 1982.

Read more: Ultimate Classic Rock

Sledgehammer
Peter Gabriel