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My wife and I have been watching Turner Classic Movies more than we usually do lately. Just a few nights ago we watched Sunset Boulevard (1950) starring Gloria Swanson and William Holden. It's about a washed-up, silent screen actress, Norma Desmond - played by Swanson - who can't come to terms with the fact her career is over. She lives in a dark, fantasy world where she's still a star. A down-on-his-luck screenwriter, Joe Gillis (Holden) - whom Desmond both torments and falls in love with - tells the former star, "You used to be big." Her famous reply: "I am big. It's the pictures that got small." The film reminded me of one of the great lyrical conquests of the Classic Rock era, The Kinks' "Celluloid Heroes." It's a single from their 1972 LP,  Everybody's In Show-Biz ,   that didn't chart   but still made an impact among devoted music and movie fans. Album-oriented radio stations mostly played...

Dave Mason passed away on April 19, 2026 at age 79, and I have to admit that although I always liked his work, I really hadn't thought about him in quite a long time. That's what happens when an artist stops recording new material for almost two decades (1987-2008) and disappears from the radio. During that time, he only released four live albums. Mason only experienced modest chart success, placing just two singles in the top 40 and none after 1978. His debut LP,  Alone Together,  was his most successful, peaking at #22. Is it because he didn't fall into one of the two major rock sub-genres most British classic rockers gravitated to in the early 70s, either blues-rock or prog-rock? As a solo act he always was an outlier. Mason's first single to make the top 100 was "Only You Know and I Know" that peaked at only #42. It was lifted from his debut, a very good, middle-of-the-road record that rocks without being ...

Modern English is a one-hit wonder whose most famous song never reached the Top 40. "I Melt With You" may have climbed to #7 on the US rock chart, but it never made it higher than #76 on the Hot 100, and that was after it was re-recorded and released a second time in 1990 on the quintet's Pillow Lips CD. The original version - and the one most people know from the album After The Snow - placed two spots lower. The video shows a couple dancing, but don't let the song's catchy melody and exuberance fool you. Its opaque lyrics reveal a serious theme. Lead singer Robbie Grey explained that "I Melt With You" is about a young couple making love during a nuclear holocaust. Grey wanted to write a love song, but he told Lori Majewski and Jonathan Bernstein, authors of   Mad World: An Oral History of New Wave Artists and Songs That Defined the 1980s , that " The last thing we wanted was to write a song where boy meets girl, they ...

Although he had a long recording career, gruff voiced Barry McGuire was technically a one-hit wonder. In 1965 he topped the charts with "Eve of Destruction," one of the most powerful pop protest songs of all time. The unlikely hit was written by highly regarded, 60s songwriter, P. F. Sloan who normally wrote lighter fare for artists like Herman's Hermits ("A Must to Avoid") and The Turtles ("You Baby"). He also composed "Secret Agent Man," a big hit for Johhny Rivers that was the theme song of a popular TV series at the time. 1965 was the year folk-rock began its reign as an influential sub-genre. It was the year The Byrds released "Mr. Tambourine Man" and Simon and Garfunkel debuted with "Sounds of Silence." If you were paying attention to the news during the mid-60s you'll understand the impact "Eve of Destruction" had in the music world. The record was far removed from the singles arti...

CD players were first introduced to the United States in early 1983. That made Marshall Crenshaw's second LP, Field Day , the last, new, 33 1/3 rpm album I bought in the 1980s. Unfortunately, I found it boring. All of the songs sounded exactly alike. On the other hand, I believed his eponymous debut was perfect, and I still believe that today. I hadn't purchased a CD player yet when I started buying discs, but I made sure I was going to be well supplied on the day I brought my Onkyo single disc player home from a long out-of-business chain store named Stereo Discounters. Among my initial purchases were Crenshaw's soon-to-be classic that I only owned on a poorly recorded homemade cassette that I dubbed from a friend. On that spectacular release, the rocker went out of his way to look and sound like Buddy Holly while playing a masterful combination of rockabilly, power pop, and garage rock that quickly resonated with music lovers, critics, and musici...

Here's an old post from ten years ago. It's been significantly revised and republished today as a new Almost Hits entry along with its original comments. The Supremes roared out of Detroit in 1963 with the classic Motown sound that young people all over America craved. It began their reign as the most successful female group of all time, a crown they held for decades. Unfortunately, The Spice Girls (ugh!) eventually sold more records and stole their throne. Signed by Berry Gordy in 1961, the trio made seven earlier attempts to have a hit, but until "When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes" reached number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 near the end of 1963 - just a few weeks ahead of the British Invasion - they had little success. After that, Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard and Diana Ross were off to the races. Over the next few years, they placed twelve #1 singles on the Hot 100. "Lovelight" had the vibrant accessi...

If you're mostly going to be remembered for one song "There She Goes" is a great one to have as your legacy. The La's - a rock quartet from Liverpool, UK - only issued one full-length, studio album and this very cool, power pop, single was one of its tracks. The song was originally released in Britian in 1988 and only went to #59. Two years later it was remixed by the renowned producer Steve Lillywhite. His version peaked at only #49 stateside when it was issued as a single along with the album. The second time around it did better in the UK, climbing all of the way to #13. It has been alleged that the song is about heroin, but to me, its overall vibe is too bright and popish to be discussing such a depressing subject. Both La's guitarist, Paul Hemmings, and lead singer and songwriter, Lee Mavers, rebuff those assertions despite lyrics such as "Racing through my brain" and "There she goes again, pulsing through my vein...

It should come as no surprise to those of you who know the song that Steppenwolf's "The Pusher" is among the more controversial rock records in history. It was released in 1968 on the hard rocking quintet's debut album - and for reasons we'll be discussing here - the backlash it received because of its lyrics overshadowed its powerful, well-meaning message. The song was written by multi-talented Hoyt Axton (1938 - 1999), who found success in Hollywood as a folk singer, a composer and as an actor. Axton suffered from a cocaine addiction that he was fortunate enough to overcome, but he was also a big proponent of medical marijuana. The composer wrote a lot of songs in addition to "The Pusher." Among them are "No-No Song," another anti-drug track made famous when it became a hit for Ringo Starr off of his Goodnight Vienna LP. The Kingston Trio recorded Axton's ...

Medleys are a group of unrelated, short songs that are joined together when played. The majority of side two of The Beatles' Abbey Road  is a significant example. Suites are different. They're also a group of individual songs or movements played together, but they are related to each other in some way. Audio Apartment  defines a suite as:  "an ordered set of individual pieces or movements tied together by themes or tonalities." According to the website CLRN :  "The concept of a suite dates back to the Baroque period, and it has evolved over time to incorporate various styles, forms, and instruments." By the late 1960s suites became part of the burgeoning, eclectic pop and rock music scene. It was a device frequently employed by The Moody Blues and Chicago in their early years, but one of the most prominent examples was the second single by the wonderfully talented composers and harmonizers, Crosby, Stills & Nash. ...

"Nights In White Satin" only managed to reach #103 on the Hot 100 in 1967. It didn't become a massive #2 hit until five years later, so its followup, "Tuesday Afternoon (Forever Afternoon)," became The Moody Blues' first top forty entry since a very different sounding band - with a future Wings member, Denny Laine, on lead vocals - made the top ten in 1965 with "Go Now." "Tuesday Afternoon" was released as the second single from the quintet's sophomore album, Days Of Future Passed . It peaked at #24 on the Hot 100 in 1968. Both the song and the LP helped set the tone for almost all Moody Blues' records in the future. The track was recorded by The Moodys' classic lineup that featured a fine, new, lead singer, Justin Hayward, who composed this soon to be classic on his acoustic guitar. John Lodge supplied backing vocals and bass, Mike Pinder played mellotron and piano, Roy Thomas played flute, and Graeme Edge w...

If you know "The Dark End Of The Street" at all there's a very good chance you've heard one of the many cover verions of James Carr's original, 1967 single. Subsequent renditions of the song have been released by artists as diverse as The Flying Burrito Brothers, Elvis Costello, Aretha Franklin, Peter Green, The Commitments, and Bruce Springsteen. I've recently been made aware of at least twenty-five interpretations of it by a friend who says it's his all-time favorite breakup song. "Dark End" was composed by two legends, Dan Penn and Chips Moman , who wrote the entire song in just about a half hour. Penn said their goal was to write "the best cheatin’ song. Ever!"   and in the opinion of many, they succeeded. The record was never a mainstream hit. It climbed to #10 on the Billboard R&B chart, but it only made it to #77 on the Hot 100 which means most top 40 radio stations never add...

The Honeydrippers, Volume One sounds nothing like Led Zeppelin, but Robert Plant said he loved working on this five-song EP more than any other music he ever recorded. The Honeydrippers were organized after the demise of Zeppelin to fulfill Plant's desire to work in a band with a heavy rhythm and blues foundation, so he became involved with an already existing R&B covers band. Then he brought in some famous friends to help out, including Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck. Paul Shaffer from David Letterman's band added piano. Nile Rodgers of Chic played guitar and served as co-producer. Volume One reached #5 on the American Billboard 200 albums chart. A cover of "Sea Of Love" from the EP went to #3 on the Hot 100, but the highlight of the sessions was a #25 hit, "Rockin' At Midnight," a remake of "Good Rocking Tonight," an old song originally released by composer Roy Brown in 1947. Some music historians considered this to b...

The late R&B singer Al Wilson (1939 - 2008) had the same name as a hated car salesman who built his new Pontiac dealership on our town's beloved little league baseball fields despite organized protests from neighbors around the same time the star released a unique single called "The Snake." I wanted to hate the record but I couldn't, and I was one of the people who helped send it to #27 on the Hot 100 in the summer of 1968. The great sixties vocalist, Johnny Rivers, produced the record and released it on his own Soul City label. Wilson - who reminds me of Lou Rawls - is better known for "Show and Tell," his #1 hit from 1973. Overall, he sent four singles into the top forty. The song's storyline is very similar to one of Aesop's ancient fables, The Farmer and The Viper . This fable tells us that even if you're kind to someone who is inherently evil they will eventu...

"Sultans of Swing," the first single released by Dire Straits in 1978 climbed all the way to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was a unique song that helped me become the huge Dire Straits/Mark Knopfler fan that I am today. The following year, the original quartet - composer, singer and lead axeman Knopfler; his brother and second guitarist, David Knopfler; bassist John Ilsley; and drummer Pick Withers - released their sophomore LP,  Communiqué . It sounded so much like the group's eponymous debut that I believed they shouldn't have bothered.  In other words, it was all filler, no killer. "Lady Writer," the album's lead single, felt like it was an exact clone of "Sultans." Perhaps that is why it only peaked at #45 even though today radio plays it almost as often as its superior predecessor. A now defunct English music magazine, Smash Hits , was brutal in its assessment of the song.  "Look, the only way you'll wa...

Controversy often limits a good song's exposure and hinders its climb up the charts. Such is the case with The Rolling Stones' double A-side single, "Let's Spend The Night Together" that only got as high as #55 on the Hot 100. It did much better in the UK, where it topped out at #3. It also served as the lead off track on their American LP,  Between the Buttons . The more famous and more deserving flip side, "Ruby Tuesday," reached #1 in the USA and #3 at home in England. Many American radio and television stations refused to play "Let's Spend The Night Together" because they considered it an obscene song, and in 1967 that wasn't surprising. Even with today's more lenient standards the lyrics still generate a lot of controversy. When the quintet appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in January 1967 to promote the record Sullivan told Mick Jagger - who composed the song with Keith Richards -   "Either the song ...

In 1996, Spacehog, a British one-hit wonder formed in New York City had a #32 hit with "In The Meantime," their very first single. The track was the group's commercial peak and they never came close to the top 40 again. It was also their highest charting single in their native UK. Resident Alien , the debut CD "In The Meantime" was pulled from was just moderately successful too, rising only as high as #49 on the US album chart. Each of Spacehog's two succeeding albums failed to make the top 100 and by 2002 the band was over except for a shortlived reunion in 2013 that produced a final album that earned little recognition. In a 2018 interview  composer and lead singer Royston Langdon discussed the single's opaque lyrics with Songfacts , "It's me trying to reach people. It's using some kind of metaphor of a worldly or inner-worldly search for the end of isolation, and the acceptance of one's ...

We all know that record sales are not calculated the same way they were thirty years ago when people were still buying physical copies of the music they loved. Things have changed so much in the modern era of streaming that it's much harder to gauge the popularity of a track today, but even with knowing that my favorite song of the 21st Century deserved a better fate. It's also the most current song to appear on this countdown. Sadly, Brandi Carlile's best known single, "The Story," is her only one to ever score a place on Billboard's Hot 100 where it only climbed to #75. Fortunately, the album of the same name did better. It peaked at #41 and that was good enough to earn the young singer-songwriter a gold record. Produced by the great T-Bone Burnett, "The Story" - written by Carlile's close frien...

The Vince Guaraldi Trio would probably be forgotten today if it wasn't for their much loved holiday album,  A Charlie Brown Christmas . It was released in 1965 to accompany the television cartoon of the same name. The importance of Guaraldi's 1962 single, "Cast Your Fate To The Wind" - and how it helped spawn his Christmas LP that probably wouldn't exist without his only non-holiday, top 40 entry - cannot be underestimated. The instrumental peaked at #22 at a time when it was still possible for a jazz record to make an impact on the the Hot 100. It inspired TV producer Lee Mendelson - who liked what he heard on the radio - to commission the piano player to compose the soundtrack to A Boy Named Charlie Brown , a television special that was never aired because the producer couldn't find a sponsor. However, a soundtrack album,  Jazz Impressions Of A Boy Named Charlie Brown,  from the untelevised program was released and included a tune...

I should have acknowledged the passing of the great Robbie Robertson - the late composer and unofficial leader of The Band earlier - but there have been so many nice tributes written about him already that I believed I had nothing pertinent to add. However, while looking around for something to say I discovered that the mostly Canadian quintet never placed any of their singles in the top twenty of the Hot 100 during their entire career. Their highest charting record was the double sided hit "Up On Cripple Creek" / "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" that fought its way to #25 in 1969. I considered writing about one of those two songs, but instead I'm going to discuss the first 45 RPM record the group released under the name of The Band. "The Weight," from their debut LP -  Music From Big Pink -  was very popular on FM, album oriented, rock radio stations, but it only managed to make it as high as #63 on Billboard's wee...