December 23, 1978: The Talking Heads' first hit, a cover of Al Green's "Take Me to the River," entered the American Top 40.
After Talking Heads established themselves on the vanguard of New Wave with their debut album, Talking Heads '77, the group's choice of an Al Green song to cover was a surprise.
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The band gave the song its own distinctive treatment, with a stiffer, more mechanical arrangement under David Byrne's passionate vocal delivery. They added echoey special effects afterwards.
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December 23, 1967: The Buckinghams entered the US Top 40 with "Susan."
The song spent 12 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at No. 11.
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| The Buckinghams |
The song contains a short excerpt of Charles Ives' composition, Central Park in the Dark. Added by producer, James William Guercio, the group disliked it. This section was edited out by many radio stations that played the song.
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December 23, 1967: "Skip a Rope" by Henson Cargill entered the US Hot 100 singles chart.
Henson Cargill became an “overnight sensation” in 1968 and it was the perfect melding of a castaway song for a castaway artist. He was already established in Las Vegas when he had two trips to Nashville and attracted absolutely no interest. However, on the third trip of the Oklahoma native, he managed to set up a meeting with Columbia’s most-revered record producer Don Law.
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December 23, 1972: Hurricane Smith entered the America Top 40 with "Oh, Babe, What Would You Say."
"Oh, Babe, What Would You Say" was a demo of a song that Smith had written for a different artist to record. When he played it for Mickie Most, the record producer was impressed enough to tell him to release it as it was. When this knocked Elton John's "Crocodile Rock" off #1 on the Cashbox charts in the US, John Lennon sent a telegram to congratulate Smith.
Read more: Songfacts
December 23, 1978: Alicia Bridges peaked at Number 5 with "I Love the Nightlife (Disco Round)."
"I Love the Nightlife" was co-written by Alicia Bridges and Susan Hutcheson in 1977 for Bill Lowery, founder of Southern Music.
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| Alicia Bridges |
Bridges suggested to Hutcheson that they write a song with either "disco" or "boogie" in the title after Bridges saw a current top-ten hit list featuring several songs with dance-oriented titles. The original title of the resultant song: "Disco 'Round", became the subtitle under the main title "I Love the Nightlife" as Buckingham considered it an R&B number and did not want it labeled disco.
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Take Me to the River
Talking Heads
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