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Think You Know Rock & Roll? Take This Rock Quiz!
1. “Barbara Ann” was first recorded by
A. The Regents
B. The Beach Boys
C. The Cadillacs

edgarstreetbooks
Feb 111 min read


Mary Weiss of the Shangri-Las: 'I Put a Lot of My Own Pain' Into 'Leader of the Pack'
The Shangri-Las have been cited as an influence on 1970s punk rockers Blondie and the New York Dolls. The group set itself apart from the girl groups of the 1960s by wearing skin-tight slacks and spike-heeled leather boots to promote a tough-girl image. Their first hit, “(Remember) Walking in the Sand,” reached the Top 5 in 1964. Its follow-up, “Leader of the Pack,” was a №1 hit later that year.

edgarstreetbooks
Feb 92 min read


'People Were Shocked I Was Black': 'Doctor's Orders' by Carol Douglas
“Doctor’s Orders” was recorded on Midland International Records in the US by disco diva Carol Douglas and became a №9 hit on the Hot Soul Singles chart in 1975.

edgarstreetbooks
Feb 32 min read


‘Disco Inferno’ by the Trammps: 'That Was a Bad Mistake' – At First
“Disco Inferno” was first recorded as the title track of the Trammps’ 1976 album. Released as a single, “Disco Inferno” only reached №53. When the Philadelphia group’s tune was included in the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever, “Disco Inferno” was re-released and shot up to №1 on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart.

edgarstreetbooks
Jan 312 min read


Famous Songs by Famous People About Fame
“Fame itself, of course, doesn’t really afford you anything more than a good seat in a restaurant,” David Bowie told Performing Songwriter. “I’m just amazed how fame is being posited as the be-all and end-all, and how many of these young kids who are being foisted on the public have been talked into this idea that anything necessary to be famous is all right. It’s a sad state of affairs.”

edgarstreetbooks
Jan 309 min read


The True Story of 'Harper Valley PTA' by Jeannie C. Riley
“Harper Valley PTA” was Jeannie C. Riley’s only pop hit but it made her the first woman to reach №1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Country Singles charts with the same song.

edgarstreetbooks
Jan 222 min read


'Foolish Heart' by Steve Perry: 'The Head and Heart Conflict Everybody Goes Through'
Perry included “Foolish Heart” on his 1984 album Street Talk, and it reached №18. “The feeling was just basically one of being confused about falling back in love again,” Perry explained to Dick Clark, “because your heart wants to so bad, but your head says, ‘Wait a minute, you’ve done that before and it doesn’t feel good.’

edgarstreetbooks
Jan 122 min read


'Missing You' by John Waite: 'It Was About the End of My Marriage and the Beginning of Something New'
“Missing You” is the №1 single from John Waite’s 1984 album No Brakes. The former frontman of the British band The Babys explained its inspiration in American Songwriting.
“I was getting divorced. I was trying to get home because my marriage was in genuine trouble — everything was wrong, and it had been wrong for a while."

edgarstreetbooks
Jan 72 min read


They Said 'These Dreams' Is Just Not a Heart Song
Sisters Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson are the basis of Heart, whose 1986 “These Dreams” became the band’s first №1 hit. With music by Martin Page and lyrics by Bernie Taupin, who was taking time off from working with Elton John, “These Dreams” was turned down by Stevie Nicks and Kim Carnes before it was offered to Heart.

edgarstreetbooks
Dec 24, 20252 min read


Think You Know Rock & Roll? Take This Rock Quiz!
Think You Know Rock & Roll? Take This Rock Quiz!

edgarstreetbooks
Dec 23, 20251 min read


The Who and Cream’s US Debut Was on the Same Bill
Murray the K presented the last of his package shows for nine days beginning March 25, 1967, at the RKO 58th Street theater at 154 East 58th Street in Manhattan. Billed as “Music in the Fifth Dimension,” the headliners were Mitch Ryder and Wilson Pickett. “Direct from England” were two bands making their American debuts: The Who and Cream, who were billed as “The Cream.”

edgarstreetbooks
Dec 22, 20253 min read


Percy Sledge Made a Tragic Mistake with 'When a Man Loves a Woman'
In early 1966, Sledge recorded “When a Man Loves a Woman” with some of the area’s finest musicians: Junior Lowe (bass), Spooner Oldham (organ), Roger Hawkins (drums), and Jimmy Johnson (lead guitar). The band was borrowed from Rick Hall’s FAME Studios, where the Muscle Shoals Sound was born.

edgarstreetbooks
Dec 18, 20253 min read


When a Ladies’ Room Attendant Inspired Donna Summer’s ‘She Works Hard for the Money’
“She Works Hard for the Money” is the title track of Donna Summer’s 1983 album. Released as the lead single, it was a №1 R&B hit that year. Summer wrote the song with producer Michael Omartian. Its inspiration came after the February 1983 Grammy Awards ceremony when Summer attended a party at Chasen’s restaurant in West Hollywood. Summer and manager Susan Muneo encountered an exhausted restroom attendant named Onetta Johnson.

edgarstreetbooks
Dec 16, 20252 min read


‘We Didn’t Think It Was Anything Anyone Would Buy’: The Newbeats’ ‘Bread and Butter’
“Bread and Butter” was a №2 hit in 1964 for the Newbeats: lead singer Larry Henley and brothers Dean and Mark Mathis. The group formed in Shreveport, LA, and was signed by Hickory Records on the strength of a demo of “Bread and Butter.”

edgarstreetbooks
Dec 15, 20252 min read


David Cassidy Never Wanted the Partridge Family's “Doesn’t Somebody Want to be Wanted”
“Probably the thing that they had to twist my arm the hardest to do,” Cassidy told Lost 45s, “was ‘Doesn’t Somebody Want to Be Wanted.’

edgarstreetbooks
Dec 13, 20252 min read


Remembering Connie Francis: The Interview
I had 18 sides, 9 bomb records before “Who’s Sorry Now.” So I didn’t think it was going to come. “Who’s Sorry Now” was going to be my last record for MGM. Of course, when Dick Clark played it, it became a hit.

edgarstreetbooks
Dec 12, 20257 min read


Christmas Songs That Rock
Elton John incorporated elements of Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound production techniques in recording “Step Into Christmas.” “We wanted to make an homage to Phil Spector,” John told the Sunday Post. “Part of what made Phil Spector records were the rooms, the musicians and the ambience.”

edgarstreetbooks
Dec 10, 20256 min read


Is “White Christmas” by the Drifters the Greatest Christmas Song?
The Drifters would place nine records in the R&B Top 10, including the greatest holiday song ever put on vinyl: “White Christmas.”

edgarstreetbooks
Dec 10, 20253 min read


The Drifters Were Fired — then Reborn — at the Apollo Theater
Things came to a head when one of the Drifters, who had been drinking, argued and cursed at Dr. Jive and Apollo owner Frank Schiffman. Treadwell fired the entire group backstage and offered four of the Five Crowns the opportunity to become the new lineup of the Drifters.

edgarstreetbooks
Dec 9, 20252 min read


Are You Ready for a Brand-New Beat? ‘Dancing in the Street' by Martha Reeves & the Vandellas
The song was ‘Dancing in the Street’ and it became the Motown anthem “At first, I didn’t like it. But then I thought about my neighborhood and how we’d stay up all night, dancing in the street.”

edgarstreetbooks
Dec 6, 20252 min read

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