Thursday, November 12, 2020

Music History Today: November 13, 2020

November 13, 1982: Men at Work's debut album, Business as Usual, hit Number 1 in America.

Business As Usual was originally released in November 1981 in Australia, the home country of the five piece rock band Men At Work. 

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The lead single from the album, “Who Can It Be Now?” was released even earlier and had become a #1 hit Down Under by late summer 1981.    
Read more: Classic Rock Review

November 13, 1961: "Please Mr. Postman" delivered a Number 1 R&B song for the Marvelettes.

“Please Mr. Postman” spent almost half a year on the US chart, hitting No.1 in December 1961 – an impressive result for a girl group from Inkster, Michigan, on its first visit to a recording studio. 

The Marvelettes

Florence Ballard of The Supremes, another girl group in need of a break, sagely advised them to relax at the sessions, a tip which Horton later admitted was “dead on – we were all tight, petrified.” The drummer on the session was another inexperienced performer, a skinny 22-year-old hopeful named Marvin Gaye. 

Read more: U Discover Music

November 13, 1965: The Lovin' Spoonful released "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice."

"You Didn't Have to Be So Nice" is the second single released by The Lovin' Spoonful. The song was featured on their 1966 album, Daydream. It reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1966. The song has been cited as an inspiration for the composition of the song "God Only Knows" by The Beach Boys. 
Read more: Wikipedia

November 13, 1971: Three Dog Night released "An Old Fashioned Love Song."

At the start of the 1970s, Paul Williams was really on a roll. The pop songwriting great had just found out he'd scored a gold record with a recent tune he wrote, and the good news inspired him to crank out another hit that same evening. 
Three Dog Night

It was "An Old Fashioned Love Song," one of several singles he composed for rockers Three Dog Night. Williams recalled writing "The quickest song that I've ever written" with Bart Herbison of Nashville Songwriters Association International.  
Read more: The Tennessean

November 13, 1989: Rod Stewart released the single "Downtown Train."

"Downtown Train" is a song by Tom Waits released on his album Rain Dogs in 1985. Rod Stewart recorded a cover version that became a number-three hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart after being released as a single in late 1989. 

Rod Stewart

Stewart received a Grammy nomination for the song in the category Best Male Pop Vocal performance. Stewart's cover featured the slide guitar playing of Jeff Beck.  
Read more: Wikipedia

 

Down Under
Men at Work

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