"Look at all his music post thingies." --My High School Drama Teacher
Q: How many kids with ADD does it take to change a light bulb?
A: You guys wanna go ride bikes?
MP3's
Ok, MP3's on this blog (designated by the links that seem like maybe they're songs) are for sampling purposes. So, if you like something you find on this site go buy some stuff by that artist. Go see a show.
If you're not happy that I put an MP3 up on this blog, just email me to take it down and it'll be down.
All MP3's are up for 10 days. Or when I remember to get take them down.
If you want to email me to say hi, ask me to take something down, ask me to put something up (i.e. bands wanting me to check out their music), or anything else, email me at aodblog@gmail.com. You can remember it because it's the Appetite FOr Distraction blog!"But James, you say, why isn't it afdblog?" The answer is, of course, I didn't pay attention to the letters in the initials of my blog. Le sigh.
Here we are, about to introduce the truly BIG DOG in the Instrumental #1's Game. This is a song that spent 9 WEEKS at #, almost double the next longest run.
Incidentally, here's the Wikipedia synopsis of what A Summer Place was, which is something I've never known.
A Summer Place is a 1959 romantic drama film based on Sloan Wilson's 1958 novel of the same name,
about teenage lovers from different social classes who get back
together twenty years later, and then must deal with the passionate love
affair of their own teenage children by previous marriages.
Percy Faith - Theme from A Summer Place (2/22/60-4/18/60)
Two instrumentals that I'm not at all familiar with, though I am familiar with the artists from SNL and Barenaked Ladies fame, respectively! I would also like to point out that this means that 1961 started with nearly two solid months of instrumental #1's!
I enjoyed both of these, and i bet you will too!
Lawrence Welk - Calcutta (2/13/61-2/27/61)
Bert Kaempfert - Wonderland by Night (1/9/61-1/30/61)
We've got two songs for the year 1968. I was confused because I thought, "But I know the words to 'Grazing in the Grass'!" And then I realized it was an instrumental cover. The 60's were crazy, man. AND HOLD THE PHONE. The instrumental was the original! The version that I know by The Friends of Distinction came out a year later. That really is insane.
Hugh Masekela - Grazing in the Grass (7/20/68-7/27/68)
This second song was at #1 for 5 weeks, which we haven't seen since the first week we were doing this theme, with Baauer's "Harlem Shake" staying at #1 for 5 weeks as well! There's only one instrumental that stayed at #1 for longer than 5 weeks. Can you guess what it is?
I totally whiffed on remembering to post this last week, so we're just going to wrap two weeks' worth of content into one week! We're also going to finish up the 70's! So let's get into it!
MFSB and The Three Degrees - TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia) (4/20/74-4/27/74)
This song rose (heh) to popularity when it was used as the background music when a woman was raped on General Hospital. And then it was played in future weeks on the show to evoke the memory of that rape. Ah, the 70's.
It was also sampled in future #1 "Hypnotize" by the Notorious B.I.G. (1997)
So after 2013, we go back almost 30 years before the next instrumental #1! Throwback indeed! We're jumping back to almost exactly this week in 1985.
This is one of two TV themes that would make #1, although we have a #1 coming up in a couple of weeks that was #1 because of its inclusion on a TV show! Stay Tuned for that. But for now, it's Hammer time.
Welcome to the new season (?) of Throwback Thursday! We're going to be looking back at all of the instrumental songs that have hit #1 on the charts! There are no instrumental songs from the 90's that hit #1, so it'll be refreshing to not do any 90's songs for a while.
And before anyone says anything, these are instrumental songs, but they might have some vocal parts in them. it's just that they're instrumental enough to be called instrumental by Billboard.
Here's the only instrumental song to hit #1 since I have been able to read! It jetted up to #1 after a meme started going around YouTube and Facebook. You can probably search YouTube for "Harlem Shake Videos" and see TONS. Billboard made changes to how they tallied the Hot 100 right around the time that the Harlem Shake meme was really hot. The change was that they would allow YouTube videos that featured songs to push those songs up the chart. So it was only natural that this one blasted up to the top and stayed there for 5 weeks!
Enjoy! And dance!
Baauer - Harlem Shake (2/2-2/23)
And here's a Top Ten Countdown of the Best Harlem Shake videos because apparently there was never an official music video for it
Well here it is. The crown jewel of the Hot 100. The song with the most weeks at #1. Recently tied, but not defeated. Enjoy! And check back in next Thursday for a new series of Throwback Thursday posts. Thanks for joining me as we made our way back through the 90's!
Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men - One Sweet Day (12/2/95-3/16/96)
This is the penultimate edition of Throwback Thursday: Backwards Through the 90's! Next week will be the song with the most weeks at #1 in the 90's (and, until it was recently tied, of all time). And then we'll start something new.
Enjoy another classic!
Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You (11/28/92-2/27/93)
Well I scheduled this to go up almost 5 months ago, but here it is! We're getting near the end of this journey through the 90's and I have recently figured out what's next for Throwback Thursday. It's going to be good. Enjoy!
Ok, whoa. I totally didn't realize that TODAY is the 20th anniversary of Diana's death. That is so weird. I just had this feeling like "I think I'll post that Throwback Thursday video that I've been sitting on". Life is strange.
Elton John - Candle in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight (10/11-1/10/98)
