Day 54: Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Song: “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen
Reached #1: February 23, 1980 (their first, 4 weeks)

Get ready…

The music industry should miss Freddie Mercury.  As they try to invent “eccentric” performers like Lady Gaga, one of the truly eccentric performers has been gone for 20 years.

Mercury claimed to have written this song in “5 or 10 minutes” as a tribute to Elvis – and yes, you can certainly picture the King doing a song like this – and was allegedly recorded in 30 minutes.

Unfortunately, we lost Mercury far too soon when he became one of the highest-profile casualties of AIDS in 1991.  Queen managed to go on, though… Brian May and Roger Taylor kept the group alive through the ‘90s by doing concerts together as “Queen + (special guest lead singer)”.  In 2004, they committed to one lead singer – and picked merely one of the best ever in Paul Rodgers.  They worked together for 5 years before Rodgers, who never seems to stay in one group for too long, exited.

There have been off and on reports that Queen will restart in 2012 with American Idol Adam Lambert (who seems himself as a reinvention of Freddie Mercury, but is more like a dollar-store knockoff) – something that both sides have both denied and sort-of confirmed at various times. 

Of course, Lambert is more of the manufactured-eccentric that the music industry loves.  But he’ll never be Freddie Mercury, no matter how hard he tries.

I’m sure you’re surprised I noted this as Queen’s first Billboard #1 – but it’s true that  “Bohemian Rhapsody” never hit #1, either on its original 1976 release (#9) or its 1992 Wayne’s World-fueled re-release (#2). 

Tomorrow, a Canadian female singer who isn’t Céline Dion…

Other songs that reached #1 on February 23:
1991 – “All The Man That I Need” by Whitney Houston (her ninth, 2 weeks)
2002 – “Always On Time” by Ja Rule feat. Ashanti (his first, 2 weeks)

Day 53: Wannabe

Song: “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls
Reached #1: February 22, 1997 (their first, 4 weeks)

What DID they really really want?

They started as a response to the mid-‘90s boy-band craze in the UK.

A couple of producers put an ad in a trade magazine.  They were looking for 18-23 year old women who could sing and dance, and who brought a bit of attitude.  They got 400 responses.

On one level, of course, the Spice Girls succeeded – they sold millions of records, made tons of money, one of them married the most famous soccer player of our generation – but musically, what did they really accomplish?

This song.

That’s about it.  There’s probably as much of a cautionary tale about taking five strangers, throwing them in a studio, and telling them “go be famous” as there is a success story here.

After all, the Spice Girls barely made it 4 years before their first breakup… two more before their second… and never fully got the act together again.  Individually, they’re all famous, somewhat successful, and popular – but they never quite made the impact we thought they were destined for when “Wannabe” came out.

Sure, they did a lot.  But… again… what did they accomplish?

They’re all rich.  I guess that counts.

If you visit their website (linked above), you can read about their upcoming 2007-08 world tour… I suppose that says something, too…

Tomorrow, the first #1 from a band that accomplished a hell of a lot… and after having two rock legends as lead singers over the years, may be about to reinvent themselves with an American Idol up front…

Other songs that reached #1 on February 22:
1960 – “The Theme From ‘A Summer Place’” by Percy Faith & his Orchestra (their first, 9 weeks)
1975 – “Pick Up The Pieces” by AWB (Average White Band) (their first, 1 week)

Day 52: 9 to 5

Song: “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton
Reached #1: February 21, 1981 (her first, 2 weeks)

Joined in progress… oops…

Ah, yes… Dolly Parton… big hair, big voice, big ambition, big… yeah, that joke’s been made a few million times.

Dolly Parton circa 1981 is roughly equivalent to Taylor Swift circa 2011 – only without Taylor’s modesty.  Dolly wasn’t even going to pretend – she wanted to own the world… which is why she made the effort in 1981 to do a pop single for a movie she was co-starring in.

It didn’t really work out exactly as she planned – while Dolly is (and always will be) a country icon, her pop success was limited mostly to this song and a couple of crossover duets.  That’s not a bad thing, as she’s still well-known and much-loved by fans of all genres of music.

And she’ll always have Dollywood.

Tomorrow, we spice up the blog with one of the more notorious pre-fab pop groups…

Other songs that reached #1 on February 21:
2004 – “Slow Jamz” by Twista feat. Kanye West & Jamie Foxx (his first, 1 week)
2009 – “Crack A Bottle” by Eminem feat. Dr. Dre & 50 Cent (his second, 1 week)

Day 51: Seasons Change

Song: “Seasons Change” by Exposé
Reached #1: February 20, 1988 (their first, 1 week)

Seasons, and groups, change

The group we all heard as Exposé in 1988 isn’t the group that started in 1984.

They started in Miami as X-Posed – with three women you haven’t heard of as the singers.  This lineup, renamed Exposé, released “Point of No Return” in 1985 as a local dance single.  You also haven’t heard this version, probably.

In 1986, the original group was either fired or quit, depending on whose version you believe.  They went on to be part of the Will To Power album in 1988.  The new lineup, featuring the three women seen in the video, re-recorded “Point of No Return” and went on to complete the Exposure album.  And it’s that lineup that has pretty much been Exposé ever since.   There was one change as one of the singers developed a node on her vocal cord and was replaced in the early ‘90s, and the group took most of the ‘90s and early ‘00s off, but the 1986 lineup is the one doing reunion shows today.  They have even kept open the possibility of doing shows with a four-woman lineup including the replacement singer from the ‘90s.

Of course, if they hadn’t had to sue their producers and record label for a fair cut of the profits, you wonder if they’d have made it past Exposure.  Artists being cheated by their producers and/or labels… hmm… that never happens… tell me again why we should trust the record industry?

So I guess today’s moral is that seasons may change, but a successful music group lineup can last a long, long time…

See you tomorrow for a crossover country star, known for her big… voice, and one of her best-known pop hits…

Other songs that reached #1 on February 20:
1965 – “This Diamond Ring” by Gary Lewis and the Playboys (their first, 2 weeks)