Music History Today: March 12, 2021

March 12, 1966: The theme song to the TV series Batman reached its chart peak of Number 17.

Shortly before Batman premiered in January 1966, jazz composer and arranger Neal Hefti was enlisted to pen the theme to the new show. 

 Batman and Robin  in 1966 TV series 

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Though Hefti cut his teeth arranging for jazz greats like Count Basie, Woody Herman and Frank Sinatra, he was at first no match for Batman's theme song. Hefti "tore up a lot of paper" and "sweated over" the Batman theme song more than any other single piece of music he wrote. 

Read more: Techtimes

March 12, 1948: James Taylor was born in Boston, Massachusetts.

Singer-songwriter James Taylor creates music that combines folk, rock and pop sensibilities. Some of his hit songs include "Fire and Rain," "Mexico" and "Shower the People." 

James Taylor

Musician James Taylor rose to fame in the 1970s, when he became known for writing and performing sensitive, affecting songs. Over the course of a long-running career, Taylor has won five Grammy Awards and seen many of his albums go platinum. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000 and received a National Medal of the Arts in 2011. 

Read more: Biography

 

March 12, 1983: Def Leppard first appeared on the US music chart with their debut single, "Photograph."

Def Leppard’s 1983  hit, “Photograph”, is the lead single off their third album. Mutt Lange is behind the album’s production, who also had vital input in the songs, “Photograph” included.

Lange pitched in the line, “All I’ve got is a photograph”, which then gained momentum with the members and conceptualized around the theme of a guy who was crazy about a girl, but only had a photograph of her to keep for himself. 

Read more: I Love Classic Rock

March 12, 1988: Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" hit Number 1 in the US.

Prepare for the rickrolling experience of your life. CNET discovered that a video from YouTube user Revideo that was originally uploaded at the end of last month, on January 31st, had found internet favour and was going viral. Revideo said they used Topaz Video Enhance, an AI-powered program for upscaling video, to remaster the clip in 4K and RIFE (Floframes) to smooth it out to 60 frames per second. 

Read more: Tone Deaf

March 12, 1994: After three weeks at Number 2, Ace of Base finally took the top of the US charts with "The Sign."

Only nine musical acts topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1994, and the publication declared one the bestseller of the year: "The Sign" by Swedish-pop torchbearers Ace Of Base.

 

Ace of Base 

The song by the now-defunct quartet (siblings Jenny, Jonas and Linn Berggren and Ulf Ekberg) spent four weeks at number one starting the week of March 12, 1994, and returned to reign for two more weeks beginning May 7 after being displaced by R. Kelly’s "Bump n’ Grind" for four weeks in April. 

Read more: Grammy

Theme Song to Batman TV Series