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The Weekly One Hit Wonder


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Ok, sorry it's taken me so long to get back to this thread. I got a poke to get it moving last week, but I'm slow about things. LOL. Especially when it's nice outside. I love the outdoors. If I'm not indoors, that's where you'll find me.

Anyway, I figured since I peeked out of the 70's, into 1980 in my last post, I'd show the same respect to the other diroection, and go back a year, into 1969. Let's hop into the time machine and see what the earth was doing back then, shall we?

In 1969, the average cost of a brand new home was 27,900. You could park your awesome, brand new Pontiac Firebird ($4366.00) in the driveway.

A stamp cost .06 cents, and minimum wage was $1.60 an hour.

For the kids, in 1969 there was Silly String, Nerf footballs, and Upsy Downsy Babies. Weebles wobbled, but they didn't fall down. You could play tic-tac-toe with bean bags in a game called Toss Across. With an Easy Bake Oven, you could have your own cupcake, in about 6 hours, I think. (How long does it take to bake a cupcake with a lightbulb?)

At the movies, it was hard to say who was the coolest, with John Wayne showing he had True Grit, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid blowing up trains and jumping off cliffs into rivers, Steve McQueen setting the standard for car chases in Bullit, (even though it was released in late 68), and Peter Fonda, Jack Nicholson and Dennis Hopper being Easy Riders.

Topping all those movies, believe it or not was Herbie The Love Bug. Geez, the power of Disney.

On television, The Smothers Brothers was cancelled over censorship issues. But Hee Haw's long legs and big hair had no such problems. The Brady Bunch premiered, and is still on tv every day. Their over the top innocence was balanced out by the racy Love, American Style. Room 222 tackled social issues, and Karen Valentine was fine. Scooby Doo and HR Puffnstuff premiered on Saturday mornings.

Some of the more notable passings in 1969, Judy Garland was killed by Hollywood, (just check out her history, and I think you'll agree). Founding Stones guitarist Brian Jones was found atthe bottom of his pool, and the coroner's ruling was 'Death by misadventure'. Sharon Tate was murdered, along with 4 others, by Charles Manson acolytes.

In music, some of the albums released in 1969 were:

Abby Road ~ The Beatles

The Band - The Band

Bless Its Pointed Little Head - Jefferson Airplane

Empty Sky - Elton John

Grand Funk - Grand Funk Railroad

Hello, I'm Johnny Cash - Johnny Cash

Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin (debut)

Chicago Transit Authority - Chicago (debut)

Led Zeppelin II - Led Zeppelin

Let It Bleed - The Rolling Stones

Ummagumma - Pink Floyd

Yes - Yes (debut)

On the singles charts, the Stones and Beatles spent a collective 12 weeks at number one, with Marvin Gaye, Sly, and Diana, all crossing over during the year to claim the top spot. Tommy Roe was Dizzy, and the Archies' Sugar Sugar rounded out a very varied number one spot. Soul, funk, bubble gum, rock all spent time at the top.

There was also a decidedly long haired, groovy, hip, psychedelic presence at the number one spot throughout 1969, with the Zombie's 'Time of the Season' (a great song!), The Cowsill's 'Hair', the 5th Dimension's 'Aquarius/ Let the Sun Shine In', all taking turns at number one.

In the summer of 69, however, for 4 weeks, topping the charts was the one hit wonder,

Zager & Evans ~ In The Year 2525

A bleak look at the future of mankind, 2525 warned of the dangers of technology, the devolution of man back to an amoeba

like state.

Denny Zager and Rick Evans were friends at college. The song was originally written in 1964, and was released on Truth Record label in 1967. An Odessa, Texas radio stationed played the song two years later, and it was picked up and distributed nationwide by RCA.

zager__Evans.jpg

In the Year 2525

Ironically, this song was number one the day Apollo 11's lunar module The Eagle landed on the moon, and Neil Armstrong took those historic steps.

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I liked the song... whatever happened to the duo?

Actually, I read in Wiki that they never played again together, but remain friends. Denny Zager builds custom guitars, and Rick Evans continued to write and record, but I couldn't scrounge up anything on him.

I was tuckered out. These post are a lot of work! LOL.

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  • 5 months later...
Hi, This post of mine will surely updates knowledge and contain valuable information. However I would like suggestions about some specific information. If you can help me then please send me a private message. Many Thanks,

Bye bye botty.

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  • 1 month later...

"Driver's Seat" is perhaps the most popular song by British new wave band Sniff'n The Tears. It was released in 1978 and reached #11 in the Billboard Hot 100 Chart in the US. A big hit in many countries. It also reached the #1 spot in the Netherlands when re-relased in 1992. A tip of the hat to Fark/Blender for the find.

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  • 9 months later...

The McCoys

Hang On Sloopy (1965)

Hang on Sloopy" is a song by the pop group The McCoys which was #1 in America in October 1965 and is the official rock song of the state of Ohio and The Ohio State University. It was written by Wes Farrell and Bert Russell and is named for singer Dorothy Sloop (1913-1998), who used the name "Sloopy" on stage.

The McCoys were a pop group that started in Union City, Indiana, U.S., in 1962, and included guitarist Ricky Zehringer (later known as Rick Derringer) and his brother Randy on drums.

Fever (1965)

"Fever" is a song credited to Eddie Cooley and "John Davenport". The McCoys cover went to the #7 on the Billboard charts.

The song was later recorded by Madonna

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Little Willie John put Fever in the top 40 in 1956 at position 24.

Peggy Lee took it to #8 in 1958.

So the McCoys had a hit with a cover of a song that had been covered. :lol:

Rick Derringer of The McCoys was a hell of a guitarist. He later released solo records and also played with Edgar Winter

Rock and Roll Hootchie Koo

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Rick is a Hell of a guitarist 4sure. I have no idea how many albums he has released. You don't see them in cyberspace very often. In 2007 he released "Rockin' American". Damn good vid, Dude!

post-269-1223669911_thumb.jpg

Edited by Redneck4sure
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  • 6 months later...

The vocalist of BS&T that you're speaking of is David Clayton Thomas, who was on board for their greatest commercial recordings, although I prefer the first BS&T album, with Al Kooper, and even the unheralded New Blood album, featuring Jerry Fisher.

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  • 9 years later...

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