Monday, August 16, 2021

Music History Today: August 17, 2021

August 17, 1985: Dead Or Alive peaks at number 11 with "You Spin Me Round" on the Billboard Hot 100 single's chart. 
Dead or Alive had been going with various lineups since 1980, based around the commanding baritone and peacock glamour of front-man Pete Burns. 

Dead or Alive
Dead Or Alive

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You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) was secretly recorded while they were meant to be working on other songs. It took a 36-hour cocaine-fuelled marathon to finish the song, and 17 weeks for it to journey from No 79 to No 1. But there’s a merciless, exacting energy to You Spin Me Round that would have got it over the line one way or another. 
Read more: The Guardian
August 17, 1968: The Rascals' "People Got To Be Free" hits number 1 for the first of five weeks.
The Rascals hit the jackpot with a string of hits that began with their cover of The Olympics' "Good Lovin'" in 1966 and continued with their 1967 signature, harmonica-loving single "Groovin.'"

The Rascals
The Rascals

By the late summer of 1968, the Rascals returned to the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100 chart, but this time, they marched along to a different beat - one that resonated across the nation. Following the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and President Rob F. Kennedy, Eddie Brigati and Felix Cavaliere penned the lyrics to a song that called for unity and peace through an upbeat, fired-up tune.  


August 17, 1967: Gary Puckett & The Union Gap records "Woman, Woman."
The album with the debut hit from the Union Gap featuring Gary Puckett found the Top Five song "Woman, Woman" as the beginning of half-a-dozen smash tunes, five of which got into the Top Ten. The slick Jerry Fuller production is comparable to the work of James William Guercio on behalf of their labelmates, the Buckinghams, the difference being that the Buckinghams scored their five major hits all in the span of one year, 1967, while Gary Puckett's chart excursions happened over a two-year period from the end of 1967 to autumn of 1969. 
Read more: Allmusic


August 17, 1968: The Vogues make it to number 7 with "Turn Around, Look at  Me."
"Turn Around, Look at Me" is a song written by Jerry Capehart and Glen Campbell, though Campbell is not officially credited. In 1961, Glen Campbell released his version as a single. In 1968, The Vogues released their remake as a single. This version was by far the most successful, reaching #7 on the Hot 100 and #3 on the Adult Contemporary chart. 
Read more: Wikipedia

 

August 17, 1996 : Celine Dion debuts the first week in the Billboard Hot 100 at number 27 with "It's All Coming Back to Me Now."
Andrew Lloyd Webber reportedly called it "the greatest love song ever written," but depending on what side of the power ballad yay/nay binary you land on, "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" is either a swirling, bloated mess, or a gothic and grandiose weeper.

Celine Dion
Celine Dion

It clocks in anywhere from a little over five minutes to almost eight, depending on the version. A flurry of strings, the music box-like piano, and then the bruising, violent downbeat. What follows is an almost epic battle of thundering crescendos and hushed, broken whispers. There is no middle ground in a Jim Steinman song. He is a man of excesses and extremes: he wears Darth Vader-like sunglasses inside and thinks leather is an all-season fabric. His earliest musical inspiration was Wagner. He helped create Meat Loaf. 
Read more: CBC Canada

 

You Spin Me Round
Dead Or Alive

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