Tuesday, July 13, 2021

Music History Today: July 14, 2021

July 14, 1984: "Ghostbusters" from Ray Parker, Jr. moved from Number 19 to 8 on this date.

“Ghostbusters” exists as a song because a bunch of people said no. Columbia Pictures knew it had a hit on its hands with Ghostbusters.

1984 "Ghostbusters" movie poster

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The movie was done, and it was getting great marks from testing audiences, but director Ivan Reitman wanted a theme song — something fun and upbeat, with the movie’s title in it. He had trouble finding someone who would record it. Lindsey Buckingham reportedly said no. Huey Lewis, fatefully, also turned Reitman down. But Reitman finally had some luck when he hit up the pop-R&B lothario Ray Parker, Jr. 
Read more: Stereogum

July 14, 1962: Bobby Vinton's "Roses Are Red (My Love)" hits Number 1 for the first of four weeks.

Composed by Al Byron and Paul Evans, “Roses Are Red (My Love)” was recorded by Bobby Vinton and was his first hit. The song was released in April 1962. Vinton found the song in a reject pile at Epic Records. He first recorded it as an R&B number but was allowed to re-record it in a slower more dramatic arrangement, with strings and a vocal choir added. 
Read more: Country Thang Daily

July 14, 1969: The movie Easy Rider, which opens with the heavy metal thunder of "Born To Be Wild," opens in theaters. 

After years of pandering, brutalizing and titillating films exploiting the spirit of vague protest comes Columbia’s Easy Rider, a production of the Pando Co. in association with Raybert Productions. Its central characters ride motorcycles, yet this is no chopper film. 

Movie poster Easy Rider

They have some contact with drugs, yet this is no cheap trip of matinee psychedelics. Easy Rider is very likely the clearest and most disturbing presentation of the angry estrangement of American youth to be brought to the screen, played against the barren and bountiful beauties of a cross-country pilgrimage that is at once a search for freedom and a tragic encounter with the intolerance that corrupts the ideals of freedom. If Easy Rider succeeds in illustrating a manifest disillusionment with the land of the free, it is because it simultaneously and clearly chronicles the idealism of its youth. 

Read more: Hollywoood Reporter

July 14, 1973: "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)" by Al Green is cruising up the music chart from Number 73 to 46.

"Here I Am (Come and Take Me)" Al Green is the second single released from his album Call Me.  Green wrote "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)" with Teenie Hodges, with whom he also collaborated in writing "Take Me to the River," "Love and Happiness," "Full of Fire," and other songs. The song reached number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the Hot Soul Singles chart. It was certified as a gold record by the Recording Industry Association of America. 
Read more: Wikipedia

July 14, 1990: "Oh, Girl" by Paul Young makes it's debut on the Billboard singles chart.

"Oh Girl" was first recorded by the soul vocal group, The Chi-Lites and released on Brunswick Records in 1972. The track was most prominently covered in 1990 by Paul Young, from his album Other Voices. It became a Top 10 hit in the U.S. (number 8) and Canada (number 4). It was also a major adult contemporary hit, reaching number one on both the US and Canadian Adult Contemporary charts. 
Read more: Wikipedia

 

Ghostbusters
Ray Parker, Jr.

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