Would You Believe .. . .?
Surprising and little known facts about rock 'n
roll.
The Week of May 19, 2024:Would You Believethe Top 4 selling albums of the 1960s were all by The Beatles– 1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts ClubBand2. Abbey Road3. Revolver4. The Beatles (The White Album)?
The Week of May 12, 2024:Would You Believethat Elvis’manager, “Colonel” Tom Parker, forbade him from
touring internationally? The reason was Parkerwas in the U.S. illegally and
feared the country wouldn’t allow him back in if he and Elvisever traveled
abroad.
The Week of May 5, 2024: Would You Believe that there is nothing strange or mysterious about Cream’sbig No.6
charting hit “White Room” from the fall of 1968, but rather is simply about someone’s new, empty apartment?
It’s basically a Zillowor Redfinad with
music.
The Week of April 28, 2024:Would You Believethat Chuck
Barris, creator of The Dating Gameand The Newlywed
Game, wrote “Palisades Park”, a big No.3 hit
for Freddy “Boom Boom”
Cannonin
1962?
The Week of April 21, 2024:Would You Believethat The Rolling
Stonesmonster hit, “(I Can’t Get No)
Satisfaction” was written in Keith
Richards’sleep? He woke up with the song in his
head, recorded about 30 seconds of it, and fell back asleep. He then forgot it even existed until he
relistened to it in the morning.
The Week of April 14,
2024:Would You
Believethat The Beach Boysmega hit “Good Vibrations” cost around $100,000 to make in the 1960s – a staggering amount of money then?
Adjusted for inflation, the record would cost nearly $900,000 to make in todays
money.
The Week of April 7,
2024:Would You
Believethat the opening line of “Hello darkness,
my old friend” from Simon &
Garfunkel’sNo.1 Gold Single “The Sound Of
Silence,” was surprisingly literal? Paul
Simonused to go sit in the dark of his bathroom,
alone, to have quiet, and to write songs.
The Week of March 31,
2024:Would You Believethat The
Surfarishuge No.2 instrumental Gold Single “Wipe
Out”, initially debuting on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart in June 1963 and then reentering again in July 1966,
spent a total of 30 weeks on the chart? And according to BMI Inc., the song has been played on the radio over
5 million times!
The Week of March 24, 2024:Would You Believe that on The
Beatles“Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)”, a
song from their 1965 Rubber
Soulalbum, George Harrisonplayed the sitar for the very first time in Western pop music
history?
The Week of March 17,
2024:Would You Believe
that Chas Chandler, bassist for
The Animals, helped Jimi
Hendrixform The Jimi HendrixExperienceand gave
Hendrixthe idea to set his guitar on fire?
The Week of March 10,
2024:Would You
Believethat John Lennonwas a huge fan and admirer of Buddy
Holly? In considering a name change for the band
he formed in 1956, The
Quarrymen, he selected The Beatles,
chosen for its double meaning and as a wink to Buddy Holly’sband,
The Crickets.
The Week of March 3,
2024:Would You Believe
that The Monkeesoutsold
The Beatlesand The Rolling
Stonesin 1967? In fact, their album sales topped
both of these popular British bands’ sales combined that year.
The Week of February 25,
2024: Would You Believe that Little
Richard hired and brought in both
Jimi Hendrix and Billy
Preston as backing musicians for his band
before they became stars?
The Week of February 18,
2024:Would You
Believethat Grateful Deadare considered the first jam band in rock and roll as they played their songs differently in each of
their shows?
The Week of February 11,
2024:Would You Believe
thatThe Beach Boys vocal sound was inspired by
that of The Four
Freshmen – both groups featuring brothers and a
cousin?
The Week of February 4,
2024:Would You
Believe that
the MotownRecords labelachieved spectacular success for a small
company with 79records in the Top 10 of
theBillboard Hot 100
Chart between 1960
and1969?
The Week of January 28,
2024:Would You
Believethat Bill Dana,
Head Writer for The Steve Allen
Showand creator of the Latin American comic
character Jose
Jimenez, cut a novelty record in 1961 called
“The Astronaut (Parts 1 & 2)” released under his character’s name (Jose Jimenez)
which became a fluke hit for Dana peaking at No. 19 and earning
him his only success in his music career?
The Week of January 21,
2024:Would You
Believethat Domingo “Sam”Samudio, frontman/lead singer for the
popular 1960s rock and roll band Sam The
Sham And The Pharaohs, became a street preacher
in Memphis in the mid-1980s and played Gospel music in prisons?
The Week of January 14,
2023:Would You
Believe that SSgt. Barry Sadler(U.S. Army Special Forces)and best remembered for his gigantic hit single, “The Ballad Of The Green
Berets”, and awarded numerous Armyand AirForcemilitary awards including
the Purple
Heartand National DefenseService Medal, was convicted
ofVoluntary
Manslaughter in the
shootingdeath of a man who was involved in a dispute
with Sadler over a woman with whom both
men were romantically involved?
The Week of January 7,
2024:Would You
Believethat in the mid-to-late
1960s, Petula
Clarkwas sometimes called “the First Lady of the
British Invasion?” Between January 1965 and April 1968, Clark charted nine Top
20hits in the US.
The Week of December 31,
2023:Would You
Believethat the song “House Of The Rising Sun”
by The Animalsin 1964 was the first commercially successful folk song to be recorded with
rock and roll instrumentation?
The Week of December 24,
2023:Would You
Believethat The Beatles’all-time best-selling single in the United Kingdom is “She Loves You?”
The Week of December 17,
2023:Would You
Believe that
the Edwin Hawkins
Singers No. 4 charting Gold Single from
1969, “Oh Happy Day”, marked the first time a straight-up gospel song hit the Billboard Top 10since Mahalia
Jacksona few decades
earlier?
The Week of December 10,
2023:Would You
Believethat JeanineDeckers, better known
as The Singing
Nunand recording artist behind the No. 1 hit
single, “Dominique” in 1963, committed suicide in 1985 along with her companion of ten years as a result of
financial and tax problems stemming from the recording of the song?
The Week of December 3,
2023:Would You
Believethat the title
for TheBubble Puppy’searly 1969 hit single, “Hot Smoke & Sasafrass” was inspired by a line of dialogue heard in an episode
of The Beverly
Hillbillies?
The Week of November 26,
2023:Would You
Believethat the lead singer
on Strawberry Alarm
Clock’shuge No.1 Gold Single, “Incense And
Peppermints”, was not even a member of the band, but from another Los Angeles-based rock band? And even more
interesting is the fact that the vocalist, Greg Munford, was only 16 years old at
the time!
The Week of November
19,2023:Would You
Believethat in a 1969 interview
on The Dick Cavett
Show, Janis Joplintold Cavettthat Tina
Turnerwas an artist she enjoyed listening to and
was her current favorite?
The Week of November 12,
2023:Would You
Believe that English
guitarist, Jeff
Beck, a member of The Yardbirdsand later founder and frontman for The
Jeff Beck Group, is really into collecting
classic Ford hot rods? He even built a replica of the yellow deuce coupe used
in George
Lucas’s1973 film American Graffiti.
The Week of November 5,
2023:Would You
Believe that “the
last Beatles song”, “Now And Then” was
released on November 2, 2023?
The Week of October 29, 2023:Would You Believe that The
Wrecking Crewsession
drummer, Hal
Blaine, appeared on the most number one hits at
thirty nine between 1961 and 1976?
The Week of October 22,
2023:Would You
Believe that The Beatlesare one
of just two acts to have both the year-end number-one and number-two songs in the same year with “I Want To Hold
Your Hand” and “She Loves You” in 1964?
The Week of October 15,
2023:Would You
Believe the song with the most versions on
the Billboard Hot 100
Chartis “Unchained Melody” which charted with nine
different performers?
The Week of October 8,
2023:Would You
Believethat the Texas
band, Sunny & The
Sunglowsare presumed to be the first Latino band
to have a Top 40 hit on the Billboard Pop
Chartdating back to September of 1963? The name
of their No. 11 charting hit single was “Talk To Me”.
The Week of October 1,
2023:Would You
Believethat in the song “Nobody But Me”
by The Human
Beinzin 1968, the word “no” is sung over 100
times and the word ”nobody” repeated 46 times more?
The Week of September 24,
2023:Would You
Believethat The Beatles hit song “Yesterday” would earn the band $30 million in royalties as well as holding the title of the
second most played song in the history of radio?
The Week of September 17,
2023:Would You
Believethat Johnny Cymbalhad several unsuccessful follow-ups to his No. 16 hit “Mr. Bass Man” in 1963 and subsequently decided to
change his name to Derek? As Derekhe had
but just one more Top 40 hit in the U.S. with “Cinnamon” in 1968.
The Week of September 10,
2023:Would You
Believethat the British Invasion band from
Liverpool, The
Searchers, took their name from the classic
1956 John Fordwestern The
Searchersstarring John Wayne?
The Week of September 3,
2023:Would You
Believethat a study on 12,665 pop music
musicians who passed away between 1950 and 2014 found that they tend to die at younger ages than the average
American. They also have higher rates of death by homicide and accidents.
The Week of August 27,
2023:Would You
Believethat Denny Zager,
half of the folk-rock duo of Zager &
Evanswho had the No.1 Gold Single “In The Year
2525 (Exordium & Terminus)” in 1969, went on to form a company called Zager Guitarin the same year which he still operates to this day in Lincoln, Nebraska?
The Week of August 20,
2023:Would You
Believethat Paul Simonand Art
Garfunkel(Simon & Garfunkel) were first signed at age 15 as an act called Tom & Jerry? The duo’s first single was “Hey Schoolgirl,” which sold more than 100,000 copies.
The Week of August 13,
2023:Would You
Believethat the late 1969 No. 1 Gold Single, “Na
Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” by the one-hit-wonder studio band, Steam, would
not truly acquire its national claim to fame until a 1977 Chicago White Soxbaseball game? This event turned “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” from a one-hit-wonder into a legendary
sports song!
The Week of August 6,
2023:Would You Believe
that the group, theHollywood Argyles, best remembered for their huge No. 1 Gold Single,“Alley-Oop” in 1960,were named by lead singerGary
Paxton after the recording studio’s
location for “Alley-Oop”on Argyle Street and
Hollywood Boulevard?
The Week of July 30,
2023:Would You Believe
that the song “Do You Love Me”by The
Contours not only was a huge, No. 3 hit in
1962, but alsocharted to No. 11 on
the Billboard Hot 100
Chartonce again in 1988 after it was featured in
the box office smash movie, Dirty
Dancingstarring Patrick Swayzeand Jennifer
Grey?
The Week of July 23,
2023: Would You Believe that Janis
Joplinonly lived to be 27 but made a mark on the
music world like few other artists. Joplin’selectric stage presence and
emotional lyrics were inspiration for many other artists and groups after her time. At her
height, Joplinwas called the first “Queen of Rock and Roll.”
The Week of July 16,
2023:Would You Believe
that Diana Ross, a
founding member of The
Supremesand an indisputably successful solo
artist, has been nominated twelve times for a Grammy Award, but has yet to win
one?
The Week of July 9,
2023:Would You
Believethat in 1966, the bestselling album
was Whipped Cream & Other
Delights byHerb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass? The record won three Grammy Awardsand became the fourth bestselling album of the 1960s.
The Week of July 2,
2023:Would You Believe
that the 1965 hit single,“Wooly Bully” by Sam The Sham And The Pharaohswas the first
American record to sell a million copies during the British Invasion and was
named Billboard’s number-one song of the
year despite never reaching No.1 on a weekly Billboard Hot 100 Chart?
The Week of June 25,
2023:Would You
Believe that The Beatlesmega
hit, “Hey Jude”, a #1 charting Gold Single that topped the Billboard Pop Chartfor a record-setting nine weeks and ranks #12
on Billboard’s All-Time
Hot100 Chart, never won a Grammy Award?
The Week of June 18,
2023:Would You
Believe that in 1965, four years
before Woodstock, The Beatlesdrew over 55,000 attendees at Shea Stadium in New York, making it the largest concert to date? It was
also this concert in which John
Lennonlater said, “At Shea Stadium, I saw the
top of the mountain.”
The Week of June
11,2023:Would You
Believe that Tina Turnerwas the
second artist on the cover of Rolling
Stoneand the first woman and Black artist on the cover
of the famed magazine?
The Week of June 4,
2023:Would You
Believe that the first members
of “The 27
Club”, that is, singers and musicians who
coincidently died at the age of 27, were prominent recording artists or musicians from the 1960s? They
include, Jimi
Hendrix, Brian Jones(founder of The Rolling
Stones), Allan “Blind Owl” Wilson(co-founder and leader of Canned Heat), Janis
Joplin, Jim Morrison(lead singer of The
Doors), Ron “Pigpen” McKernan(founder of Grateful Dead), Rudy
Lewis(vocalist
with The
Drifters), MalcolmHale(original member and lead guitarist
for Spanky And Our
Gang) and Pete Ham(lead
vocalist, keyboardist, songwriter and leader for Badfinger).
The Week of May 28,
2023:Would You
Believe that Simon & Garfunkel’s huge #1 Gold Single, “Mrs. Robinson” from 1968, started out as “Mrs. Roosevelt”,
with lyrical leanings that would suggest the song could have been written
about Eleanor
Roosevelt? Once it became a candidate for
inclusion in the movie, The
Graduate, the song naturally became “Mrs.
Robinson”, a natural fit with the character of the same name portrayed by Anne Bancroft.
The Week of May 21,
2023:Would You
Believe The
Beatles and Usher are the only two artists to have both the
year-end number-oneand
number-two songs in the same
year?In the case ofThe Beatles, the songs were “I Want ToHold Your Hand” and “She Loves You” in 1964.
The Week of May 14,
2023:Would You
Believe that Bob Dylan was a real fan of Marshal Matt
Dillon on the long-running Western TV
series, Gunsmoke? In as much as he
idolized Dillon, when it came time to choose a professional name as his musical career began
to take off, Dylan chose the last
name Dylan in honor of his TV show hero,
the only difference being in the spelling which was altered for stylistic
reasons.
The
Week of May 7, 2023: Would You Believe that The Left Banke’s 1966 hit single, “Walk Away
Renee” (#5) is often considered to be the first recognizable Baroque
Pop single? Baroque Pop is a fusion genre that emerged in the
mid-1960s that combines rock music with particular elements of classical music in which harpsichords figure
prominently along with oboes, French horns and string quartets.
The
Week of April 30, 2023:Would You Believe that
in 1986, Chuck
Berry became the first inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
The Week of April 23,
2023:Would You
Believethat
the big #1 hit, “Please Mr. Postman” by The Marvelettesin 1961 would also be a #1 hit fourteen years later
for The Carpenters?
The Week of April 16, 2023:Would You Believe that throughout their career, Ringo Starr received far more fan mail than any of the other Beatles?
The Week of April 9, 2023:Would You Believethat the iconic rock hit, “Louie Louie” by The Kingsmen in 1963 tells the story
from the first-person perspective of a Jamaican sailor coming home to see his
love?
The Week of April 2,
2023:Would You
Believethat the huge 1969 hit single, “In The
Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)” by Zager & Evans, is one of the few #1
Gold Singles on both sides of the Atlantic in which the artists never had
another Billboardcharting single the rest of
their career?
The Week of March 26, 2023:Would You Believethat the Cleveland girl group, The
Secrets(“The Boy Next Door”-#18) were the last
group to appear on American
Bandstandin Philadelphia before the program was
relocated to Los Angeles?
The Week of March 19, 2023:Would You Believe that the instrumental hit single, “The Horse” (#2 Gold Single)
by Cliff Nobles &
Co. from 1968, was released as the B-side of the
single, “Love Is All Right” and is simply an instrumental version of that song? And
further, Noblesdoes not even perform on the track.
The Week of March 12, 2023:Would You Believe that in 2021, the 63rdAnniversary
of the Billboard Hot 100
Chart, that Chubby Checkers, “The Twist” (1961 & 1962) ranks #2 on Billboard’s Top 10 Songs of All Time?
The Week of March 5, 2023:Would You Believethat Neil
Sedaka is one of only three acts to have
hit the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100
Chartwith two different versions of the same
song – “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do” (#1 in 1962 and #8 in late 1975)?
The Week of February 26, 2023: Would You Believe that the song, “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’”
by The Righteous
Brothersfrom late 1964 was the most played song
on American radio and TV in the 20thCentury?
The Week of February 19, 2023:Would You Believe that on the early 1964 hit single “Letter From Sherry”
by Dale Ward, recording artist Robin Ward(no relation), performed the
spoken word passage in the song?
The Week of February 12, 2023:Would You Believe that the song, “Oh Happy Day”, a No.4 Gold Single from May of 1969
by The Edwin
Hawkins’Singers Featuring Dorothy Combs
Morrison, is the first traditional gospel song
to crossover and become a hit on the Billboard Pop Chart?
The Week of February 5, 2023: Would You Believe that noted harmonica player and country music
star, Delbert
McClinton, who played the famed harmonica riff
on Bruce
Channel’sNo. 1 Gold Single, “Hey! Baby,”
gave Beatle John
Lennonsome tips on playing the harmonica while
in London which Lennonimmediately used
on The Beatleshit singles, “Love Me Do” and later, “Please Please
Me?”
The Week of January 29, 2023: Would You
Believe that Beatle JohnLennonwas considered legally blind and
without his glasses was supposedly “blind as a bat?” His blindness occurred over the last ten years of his
life and is unusual for someone that young
The Week of January 22, 2023:Would You Believe that the No.1 GoldSingle, “Mrs.Robinson” by Simon & Garfunkel, became the
first GrammyAward for Record of the
Yearwith ties to rock
music?
The Week of January 15, 2023:Would You Believe that two instrumentals, “Grazing In The Grass” and “The Horse” became the
first to ever chart to No. 1 and No. 2 in the same week on the Billboard Pop Chart– an occurrence that has never
repeated?
The Week of January 8, 2023:Would You Believe when the hit single, “I’m Leaving It Up To You” by Dale & Gracetopped the Billboard Pop
Chart in late 1963 that this was the first
time ever that a duet ever immediately succeeded another duet with their song at the top spot? The song and
duet Dale &
Gracereplaced at No.1 was “Deep Purple”
by Nino Tempo & April
Stevens.
The Week of January 1,
2023: Would You
Believe that “Riders On The Storm”, a song
title Jim
Morrisoncame up with while he
and The Doorswere messing around with the 1948 cowboy song “Ghost Riders In The Sky”,
would be the last song Morrisonrecorded? If you listen closely,
there’s a whisper voice on the song which is a whispered overdub by the group’s leader, added beneath his
vocal that becomes the last thing he ever did …an ephemeral, whispered overdub.
The Week of December 25, 2022: During this Christmas season, Would You Believe that “Little Drummer Boy” by The Harry Simeone
Choralis the only single of the rock era to reach
the Top 40on the Billboard
Hot 100Chart for five consecutive
years,between 1958 and
1962?
The Week of December 18, 2022:Would You Believethat Michigan
Rockand Roll Hall of
Fameartist, Del Shannon holds the distinction of being the first artist to chart in the United States with
a Beatles’song? The song was “From Me To You” in June of
1963.
The Week of December 11, 2022:Would You Believethat the song, “Ring Of Fire”, a #17 Pop hit and a #1 Country hit for Johnny Cashin
1963, was almost used as background music for a Preparation H hemorrhoid cream TV
commercial? Merle
Kilgorewho co-wrote the song along
with June
Carter Cash, thought that it was funny and a good idea, but when presented to
the Cash family for approval, was flatly turned down as being demeaning to the
song.
The Week of December 4, 2022: Would You Believe that despite their name, none of the members
of The Statler
Brothers band have the last
name Statler, but rather, the group actually named themselves after a brand of facial
tissue they once saw in a hotel room?
The Week of November 27, 2022:Would You Believethat Carla
Thomas was just 16 years old when she wrote
the song, “Gee Whiz (Look At His Eyes)” – a #10 charting hit single in 1961? Thomas also became the first woman to chart a Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart with a song she wrote herself.
The Week of November 20, 2022:Would You Believe that Paul
McCartneyis the only artist to have separate Top
10 singles as a solo act, as half of a duo, as a third of a trio, as a fourth of a quartet, and as a fifth of
a quintet?
The Week of November 13, 2022:Would You Believe that it was LifeMagazinethat once and for all dispelled
the “Paul is dead” rumor in their November 7, 1969 issue and that Paul McCartneywas very much alive and well spending some time on his farm in
Scotland?
The Week of November 6, 2022:Would You Believe that noted British pop singer and recording
artist, Tony
Burrows was the lead singer for six
different bands in the late 1960s and early 1970s and famously appeared on one British TV show three times in
one night with three different bands?
The Week of October 30, 2022: Would You Believe that Beatle
John Lennon was so impressed with the
harmonica intro to “Hey! Baby” by Bruce
Channel in
1962 that a similar harmonica passage showed up
about a year later on The
Beatles#1 hit single, “Love Me
Do?”
The Week of October 23, 2022: Would You Believe that on The
Troggsbig, #1 hit of 1966, “Wild Thing”, the
memorable solo in the middle of the song was not played on a flute, a recorder, or even a primitive organ,
but on an ocarina – a small, inexpensive circular vessel flute that dates back over 12,000 years to China and
to the Mesoamerican Mayan and Aztec cultures?
The Week of October 16, 2022:Would You Believe that Brian
Jones, co-founder
of The Rolling
Stones, was proficient at over 60 musical
instruments?
The Week of October 9, 2022:Would You Believe that Hubert
H. Humphrey, the former Vice President of the
United States, wrote the liner notes for the
1968 album,Crimson And
Clover byTommy James And The
Shondells?
The Week of October 2, 2022:Would You Believe that “Angel Baby”, a #5 charting hit from late 1960
by Rosie And The
Originals, was written
by Rosie
Hamlin when she was only 14 years old and
later recorded in an abandoned airline hangar? Interestingly, in 1969, the
late Beatle
John Lennonnamed Rosie as one of his favorite
vocalists and even covered “Angel Baby” on his 1986 compilation album, Menlove Ave.
The Week of September 25, 2022:Would You Believe that James
Brown holds the record for
most Billboard Hot 100
Charten tries with ninety nine without a #1
song?
The Week of September 18, 2022:Would You Believe that the Bee
Gees had never even been to Massachusetts
when they recorded what would become their #11 charting hit single in 1967, “(The Lights Went Out In)
Massachusetts”?
The Week of September 11, 2022:Would You Believe that the #1 song on September 11, 2001 – the date of the 9/11 terrorist
attacks on the Twin Towers in New York City was “I’m Real (Murder Remix)” by Jennifer Lopez featuring Ja Rule while on this date forty
years earlier in 1961 it
was“Michael”byThe
Highwaymen …quite the contrast,
right?
The Week of September 4,
2022: Would You
Believe that The Monkeeswere one
of the very first rock and roll bands in the 1960s to use a Moog Synthesizer as can be heard on their 1967 album, Pisces, Aquarius,Capricorn, & Jones Ltd.?
The Week of August 28,
2022:Would You
Believe that The Beatles big hit, “Eleanor Rigby” (#11) from 1966 is former President Bill Clintons favorite Beatles song?
The Week of August 21,
2022: Would You
Believe that
when The
Beach Boys album That’s Why God Made The
Radio peaked at #3 in the Summer of 2012,
it became the band’s first Top 10 LP of original material in 49 years?
The Week of August 14,
2022:Would You
Believe that Mick Jagger and Keith
Richards of The Rolling Stones have known each other since they were both 5 years old? The pair first met
while students at Wentworth Primary School.
The Week of August 7,
2022:Would You
Believe that the #2 instrumental
hit,“Apache”, by Jorgen Ingmannin
1961 and written by English songwriter and composer Jerry Lordanwas inspired after Lordan watched the
1954 American Western
film Apache? He later
said, “(I) wanted something noble and dramatic, reflecting the courage and savagery of the Apache Indian
warrior, Massai, played by Burt Lancaster.”
The Week of July 31,
2022:Would You
Believe that
when Art
Garfunkel cut ties
with Paul Simon, he became a math teacher at a private school in
Connecticut?
The Week of July 24,
2022: Would You
Believe that Bobby Darin became the youngest headliner at
the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas where he was once a
busboy?
The Week of July 17,
2022:Would You
Believe that The Murmaids big #3 hit of 1963, “Popsicles And Icicles” was written
by David Gates, the future founder of the Soft Rock group, Bread?
The Week of July 10,
2022:Would You
Believethat a dentist
introduced The
Beatles to LSD by secretly slipping it into
their coffee?
The Week of July 3,
2022:Would You
Believethat when The Beach Boys album That’s
Why God Made The Radio peaked at #3 in the
Summer of 2012, it became the band’s first Top 10 LP of original material in 49
years?
The Week of June 26,
2022:Would You
Believethat the original and
famous Sun
Records building in Memphis eventually
became a warehouse for auto parts, but then in 1987 was reopened as Sun Studio, a
recording label and tourist attraction?
The Week of June 19,
2022:Would You
Believe that The 5thDimension, one of the most popular groups in
1969, had at least one song on the Billboard Hot
100 Chartfor all but four weeks of that
year?
The Week of June 12,
2022:Would You
Believe that the instrumental piece, “Take Five”
by the Dave Brubeck
Quartet in 1961 is one of the very few Jazz
songs that became a Pop hit? “Take Five” was also
written in an unusual 5/4 meter and was one of the first Jazz songs with a time signature other than the standard
4/4 beat or 3/4 waltz time.
The Week of June 5,
2022:Would You
Believe that The Doors were
the first American band to accumulate eight consecutive Gold and Platinum LPs?
The Week of May 29,
2022:Would You
Believet hat the #1 hit, “The House Of The
Rising Sun” by The
Animals was recorded in just one take and
is considered by many musicologists as the “first folk rock hit?”
The Week of May 22,
2022:Would You
Believethat several dance halls in the United
Kingdom actually banned the playing of the song “Bits And Pieces” by The Dave Clark Five over fears that teens stomping to the beat would damage wooden dance
floors?
The Week of May 15,
2022:Would You
Believe when Ringo Starr’s 1963 Ludwigdrum kit
was sold at an auction in December, 2015, it was the first time they had been seen in public in over 50
years?
The Week of May 8, 2022:Would You Believe that Booker T.
Jones of Booker T. & The MG’S was still in high school when he wrote the groups #3 instrumental
Gold Single, “Green
Onions?”
The Week of May 1, 2022: Would You Believe that Bob
Dylan became the first songwriter to win
the prestigious Nobel Prize for
Literature? Dylan was awarded the prize in 2016.
The Week of April 24, 2022: Would You Believe that The
Zombies #2 smash hit from 1964, “She’s Not
There”, was only the third song that Rod Argent ever wrote? He was just
eighteen at the time.
The Week of April 17,
2022: Would You
Believe that the Southern California surf rock
band, Chantay’s, who had the huge #4 instrumental hit, “Pipeline” in 1963 was the only rock and
roll band to ever appear on The Lawrence Welk
Show?
The Week of April 10, 2022:Would You Believethat Sam The Sham
AndThe
Pharaohs hauled their band equipment in a
1952 Packard hearse with maroon velvet curtains?
The Week of April 3,
2022:Would You
BelieveThe
Doors were the
first American band to accumulate eight
consecutive Gold and Platinum LPs?
The Week of March 27,
2022:Would You
Believethat the instrumental
hit,“Groovy Grubworm”was the last one-hit-wonder song of 1969 as well as
the sixties decade and also charted to #30 on
theBillboard Pop
Chart and
sold over a million copies? The song was also
nominated for a Grammy
Award in1969. Who
would have ever “thunk?”
The Week of March 20,
2022:Would You
Believethat Eagles guitarist Joe
Walsh and Beatle Ringo Starra re brothers-in-law? Starris
married to Barbara
Bach who is the sister
of Walsh’s wife,Marjorie.
The Week of
March 13, 2022:Would You
Believe that the song “To Sir With Love”, the
1967 hit by Lulu, went all the way to #1 in the
United States where it would remain for five weeks? In her homeland of the United Kingdom, the record didn’t
chart at all.
The Week of March 6,
2022:Would You
Believe that the
song“A Whiter Shade Of Pale”by Procol
Harumhas been recognized as the most played
record by British broadcasting of the past 70
years?
The Week of February 27,
2022:Would You
Believe that Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman”, a #3 Gold Singleon
the Billboard Pop
Chart and a
#1 Adult
Contemporary hit, was the
most played song on Country radio in the last century?
The Week of February 20,
2022:Would You
Believe that the studio musicians known as “The
Wrecking Crew” were so named by drummer Hal Blaine because older, more conservative
players said that these young session guys were going
to “wreck the business.”
The Week of February 13,
2022:Would You
Believe that Woodstock Ventures,
the sponsors of the original Woodstock
Festival in 1969,
lost more than 1.3 million on the concert
despite 450,000 people in attendance?
The Week of February 6,
2022:Would You
Believe that the greatest rock and roll DJ of all
time, Wolfman
Jack, was also an ordained minister and
officiated at the wedding of Beach
Boys’vocalist Mike Love to CathyMartinez in 1981?
The Week of January 30,
2022:Would You
Believe that during a six-year period between
1967 and 1972, The Grass
Roots set a record for being on
the Billboard
Charts an unbelievable 307 straight weeks, or 5.8
years?
The Week of January 23,
2022:Would You
Believe that Tommy Chong of Cheech &
Chong TV fame was a guitarist with the Canadian
one-hit-wonder group Bobby Taylor & The
Vancouvers? The band’s lone hit was “Does Your Mama
Know About Me” (#29) from May of 1968.
The Week of January 16,
2022:Would You
Believe that after
the British Invasion duo
of Peter And
Gordon had run their
course,Peter
Asher went on to become the manager of Linda Ronstadt and James
Taylor?
The Week of January 9,
2022:Would You
Believe the big instrumental hit, “No Matter What
Shape (Your Stomach’s In)” that was used in Alka
Seltzer commercials in 1965 went on to become a
#3 hit for the studio group, The
T-Bones. The touring group
contained Dan
Hamilton, Joe Frank Carolloand Tommy
Reynolds who would top
the Billboard Pop
Chartin 1975 with “Fallin’ In Love”
as Hamilton, Joe Frank
& Reynolds.
The Week of January 2,
2022: Would You
Believe that Dean Torrenceof Jan &
Dean fame actually sang the lead vocal
on The Beach
Boys’1965 #1 hit record, “Barbara
Ann”?
The Week of December 26,
2021:Would You
Believe that the
late Glen Campbell actually played lead guitar on The Beach
Boys big hits, “Dance, Dance, Dance” and “Help Me
Rhonda”?
The Week of December 19,
2021:Would You
Believe that before being
signed to Capitol Records in 1962,The Beach
Boys were rejected
by Dot, Liberty,
and Decca
Records? They would go on to have
thirty-five Billboard Top
40 hit records
for Capitol.
The Week of December 12,
2021:Would You
Believe that country music
star Jessi
Colter, best remembered for her 1975 hit single,
(“I’m Not Lisa”) was married for seven years to the Sultan of Twang, Duane
Eddy?
The Week of December 5,
2021:Would You
Believe that five former members
of The New Christy
Minstrels went on to find other fame
including Kenny Rogers, Barry
McGuire(“Eve Of
Destruction”), Gene
Clark (TheByrds), Kim Carnes (“Bette Davis Eyes”), and Dolan
Ellis (Arizona’s Official State
Balladeer)?
The Week of November 28,
2021:Would You
Believe that the first
instrument Beatle John
Lennon learned to play was the harmonica, not the
guitar?
The Week of November 21,
2021: Would You Believe that of the twenty-five instrumental songs that have topped the Billboard Hot 100 Chart in
the Rock and Roll era, half of them occurred between 1955 and 1962?
The Week of November 14,
2021: Would You Believe that Jan Berry of Jan & Dean fame was reported to have an I.Q. of 180 which
places him well into the genius category?
The Week of November 7,
2021: Would You Believe that before enjoying success as a musician, Glen Campbell drove a garbage truck for a
living?
The Week of October 31,
2021: Would You Believe that Chuck Berry, often referred to as the Father of Rock and Roll, served three jail terms
– two and a half years for Armed Robbery in 1944, twenty months for violation of The Mann Act in 1959, and four
months for Tax Evasion in 1979?
The Week of October 24,
2021: Would You Believe that noted songwriter Richard Rodgers hated The Marcels’ Doo-Wop arrangement of “Blue Moon”
so much that he took out advertisements in UK trade papers urging people not to buy it?
The Week of October 17,
2021: Would You Believe that in 1969, Tommy James turned down an offer to perform at The Woodstock Festival
after his booking agent described the event as “A stupid gig on a pig farm in Upstate New York?” That decision cost
the band millions in royalties.
The Week of October 10,
2021: Would You Believe that between March of 1956 and February of 1981, Elvis Presley placed 114 songs in the Top
40 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart
The Week of October 3, 2021:
Would You Believe that throughout their career, Ringo received far more fan mail than any of the other
Beatles?
The Week of September 26,
2021: Would You Believe that despite all the hits that they have had, The Who have never had a #1 record in the
U.K. or the U.S.?
The Week of September 19,
2021: Would You Believe that Herb Alpert is the only recording artist to hit #1 on the Billboard Hot
100 Chart as both a vocalist (“This Guy’s In Love With You” – 1968) and an instrumentalist (“Rise” -
1979)?
The Week of September 12,
2021: Would You Believe that the parents of Bobby Hebb (“Sunny” - #2 Gold Single) were both blind
musicians?
The Week of September 5,
2021: Would You Believe The Beatles’ “Hey Jude” is the longest playing #1 hit in American rock and roll history at
7 minutes 11 seconds in length?
The Week of August 29, 2021:
Would You Believe that The Hollies big #9 hit single “Carrie-Anne” from the summer of 1967 was written about
British songstress Marianne Faithful – a recording star who notched four Top 40 hits on the Billboard Pop
Chart?
The Week of August 22, 2021:
Would You Believe that Zager & Evans’ #1 Gold Single, “In The Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)” was
written in just 30 minutes, but spent twelve weeks on the Billboard Top 40 Chart, six of them at
#1 while selling over five million copies?
The Week of August 15, 2021:
Would You Believe that the 1962 instrumental hit, “Stranger On The Shore” by Mr. Acker Bilk was the first UK single
to reach #1 in the US – nearly two years before The Beatles “I Want To Hold Your Hand” topped the Billboard Hot 100
Chart on February 1, 1964?
The Week of August 8, 2021:
Would You Believe that in 1996, Beatles drummer Ringo Starr appeared in a Japanese advertisement for apple sauce.
Coincidently, “Ringo” means apple in Japanese.
The Week of August 1, 2021:
Would You Believe that the phrase “Teen age idol” was first used by Time Magazine to describe 16 year old Rick
Nelson in the cover story of their December 1958 issue? Nelson would release a song called “Teen Age Idol” in July
of 1962 that would peak at #5 on the Billboard Pop Chart.
The Week of July 25, 2021:
Would You Believe that Lulu’s huge Gold Single hit, “To Sir With Love” from 1967 that was a #1 hit on both
the Billboard Top 40 and Cashbox Best Sellers Charts failed to chart at all in her homeland of the
U.K.?
The Week of July 18, 2021:
Would You Believe that Hank Ballard And The Midnighters made music history in September 1960 when they became the
first band to have three songs on the U.S. Hot 100 Chart at the same time– “Finger Poppin’ Time”, “The Twist”, and
“Let’s Go, Let’s Go, Let’s Go?”
The Week of July 11, 2021:
Would You Believe that before forming The Dave Clark Five and scoring seventeen Billboard Top 40 hits, drummer Dave
Clark worked as a stuntman in over 40 films?
The Week of July 4, 2021:
Would You Believe that while playing in front of a large lake at the Crystal Palace Bowl in London in 1970, Pink
Floyd played so loud that a number of fish were killed?
The Week of June 27, 2021:
Would You Believe that up until 1984, the B-side of Nino Tempo and April Stevens’ #1 hit “Deep Purple” in 1963,
“I’ve Been Carrying A Torch For You So Long That It Burned A Great Big Hole In My Heart” was the longest title of a
flipside of a Billboard #1 hit?
The Week of June 20, 2021:
Would You Believe that British vocalist Cilla Black, best known for her #1 U.K. hit “Anyone Who Had A Heart” and
her #26 U.S. hit, “You’re My World”, was actually born as Cilla White? And oh, yes, Cilla Black had red
hair!
The Week of June 13, 2021:
Would You Believe that “The Sounds Of Silence” by Simon & Garfunkel had the largest drop from #1 on the
Billboard Pop Chart of any 1960s hit single when it dropped from the top spot to #12 on January 29,
1966?
The Week of June 6, 2021:
Would You Believe that Henry Gross, best remembered for his big #6 hit “Shannon” in 1976, was the youngest
person at age 18 to perform on the main stage at Woodstock in 1969 as a founding member of Sha Na
Na?
The Week of May 30, 2021:
Would You Believe that before becoming a national recording star, Martha Reeves of Martha & The Vandellas
worked at Motown Records in Detroit answering phones and doing payroll?
The Week of May 23, 2021:
Would You Believe that Chris Montez who had five Top 40 hits in the 1960s including “Let’s Dance” (#4 in 1962) and
“The More I See You” (#16 in 1966) is the youngest of twenty children?
The Week of May 16, 2021:
Would You Believe that The Beatles still hold the record for having the most #1 singles in a
calendar year with six (1964)?
The Week of May 9, 2021:
Would You Believe that Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts worked as a graphic designer and would in fact design
many of the band’s album covers, concert posters, and stage sets? Now that’s a talented
musician!
The Week of May 2, 2021:
Would You Believe that Del Shannon’s #1 monster hit, “Runaway” was also a #1 hit in the UK and was the biggest
selling single there in 1961?
The Week of April 25, 2021:
Would You Believe The Ran-Dells hit single, “Martian Hop” (#16) in 1963 has been recognized for innovative and
pioneering use of a sine wave generator, a first in the pop music genre? This was one of several songs recorded in
the 1960s that capitalized on space exploration and the possibility of threatening
alien.
The Week of April 18, 2021:
Would You Believe that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones first met when they were five-year-olds
and were in primary school together until Jagger moved away in 1950? Now that’s a long
friendship!!!
The Week of April 11, 2021:
Would You Believe that “Wooly Bully” by Sam The Sham and The Pharaohs was the #1 song on the Billboard Year-End
Chart for 1965 even though it peaked at #2 on the Billboard Pop Chart that year?
The Week of April 4, 2021:
Would You Believe that The Archies were the first fictitious band to have a #1 hit (“Sugar, Sugar”) on the
Billboard Pop Chart and the only group to do so without ever performing live?
The Week of March 28, 2021:
Would You Believe that John Lennon was once asked if he believed that Ringo Starr was the best drummer in the world
to which he replied, “Ringo isn’t even the best drummer in The Beatles.”
The Week of March 21, 2021:
Would You Believe that the B-Side of the huge № 3 hit record, “They’re Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!” by
Napoleon XIV is simply the A-Side of the record played in reverse?
The Week of March 14, 2021:
Would You Believe that Brian Wilson, the creative writing and producing genius behind so many of The Beach Boys hit
singles, is almost completely deaf in his right ear after an early incident when his father hit him with a wooden
plank?
The Week of March 7, 2021:
Would You Believe that from 1962 to 1975 Bobby Vinton had more #1 hits than any other male vocalist including Elvis
Presley and Frank Sinatra?
The Week of February 28,
2021: Would You Believe that Hal Blaine, the famous studio musician drummer with The Wrecking Crew, performed on
the most #1 hits at 39 between 1961 and 1976?
The Week of February 21,
2021: Would You Believe that the lead singer of The Peppermint Rainbow (“Will You Be Staying After Sunday”), Bonnie
Lamdin Phipps would go on after her time in pop music to earn an MBA Degree and become a Certified Public
Accountant while later becoming the President and CEO of St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore? Now that’s a career
change!!!
The Week of February 14,
2021: Would You Believe that the inspiration for The Beach Boys #1 Gold Single, “Good Vibrations”, came from the
boy’s mother who told Brian Wilson as a young boy that dogs could pick up “vibrations” from people so that the dog
would bark at bad vibrations? Wilson turned this into the general theme for the song.
The Week of February 7,
2021: Would You Believe that the song “Do You Love Me” by The Contours charted twice on the Billboard Pop Chart –
first in 1962 as a #3 Gold Single and then 26 years later in 1988 peaking at #11? The song was featured in the hit
movie Dirty Dancing starring Patrick Swayze.
The Week of January 31,
2021: Would You Believe that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones are not only great musicians in
their own right, but are also one of the most productive song-writing duos in history? Together Jagger and Richards
have written hundreds of songs including fourteen of Rolling Stone Magazine’s “500 Songs of All Time” and were
inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in 1993.
The Week of January 24,
2021: Would You Believe that Bob Dylan’s first Top 40 hit, “Subterranean Homesick Blues” whose famous line, “You
don’t have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows” inspired the founding of the Weathermen, the
radical youth organization of the 1960s?
The Week of January 17,
2021: Would You Believe that the 1968 hit single “Harper Valley PTA” by Jeannie C. Riley reached #1 on the
Billboard Hot 100 Chart and the Billboard Country Chart making Riley the first female to accomplish such a feat
with the same song?
The Week of January 10,
2021: Would You Believe that the late Gerry Marsden formed the British beat band Gerry And The Pacemakers at the
young age of just seventeen?
The Week of January 3, 2021:
Would You Believe that after all these years, The Beatles still hold the record for the most #1 hits on the
Billboard Pop Chart with 20?
The Week of December 27,
2020: Would You Believe that Joey Powers, the artist who had a #10 hit song with “Midnight Mary” in late 1963, won
a wrestling scholarship to The Ohio State University where he later would return as a wrestling coach. Years later
he would return to college again and become an ordained minister and would subsequently establish a church in New
Jersey. In 2002 he moved to Saint Petersburg, Russia where he established a Christian orphanage. And they say rock
artists don’t have character???
The Week of December 20,
2020: Would You Believe that the #1 hit single, “Hang On Sloopy” by The McCoys is the official rock song of the
State of Ohio and also the unofficial fight song of The Ohio State University Buckeyes and is played at many
athletic events by the OSU bands?
The Week of December 13,
2020: Would You Believe that the ASCAP certification license for the song “They’re Coming To Take Me Away,
Ha-Haaa!” was not only withdrawn while the hit single was still charting, but the song took a huge nosedive on the
Billboard Top 40 Chart dropping from #3 to #37 in just two weeks – one of the greatest drops in Billboard
history!
The Week of December 6,
2020: Would You Believe that the song “They’re Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!” by Napoleon XIV in 1966 is the
only song whose certification license (ASCAP) was withdrawn while it was on the charts? Without a valid performance
license from ASCAP, a song cannot be legally aired.
The Week of November 29,
2020: Would You Believe that the main reason The Rolling Stones invited Bill Wyman to become their new bassist was
because he owned his own amplifier? Lucky Guy!
The Week of November 22,
2020: Would You Believe that Richard Harriswho recorded “MacArthur Park” in 1968 went on to perform as Albus
Dumbledorein the first two Harry Potter films?
The Week of November 15,
2020: Would You Believe that Gary Paxton who produced and sang lead vocals on The Hollywood Argyles #1 hit, “Alley
Oop” was also one of the members of Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s Crypt-Kickers on the #1 Gold Single “Monster Mash”in
1962?
The Week of November 8,
2020: Would You Believe that the #7 hit single “Cool Jerk” from 1966 by the Detroit R&B vocal trio The Capitols
was actually secretly recorded by The Funk Brothers, the Motown Records house band?
The Week of November 1,
2020: Would You Believe that Brian Wilson, the creative force behind The Beach Boys huge success, received an “F”
in his high school music class for writing what would be The Beach Boys’ first single, “Surfin’”? The grade was
later changed to an “A” in 2018 when Wilson was 75.
The Week of October 25,
2020: Would You Believe that if still alive, Beatle John Lennon would have turned 80 years old earlier this month?
Lennon was born on October 9, 1940.
The Week of October 18,
2020: Would You Believe that the one-hit-wonder band The Rose Garden (“Next Plane To London”{#17}) was one of very
few groups to come out of West Virginia in the 1960s and who selected their band’s name based on the-then
popularity of ‘flower power’ in 1967?
The Week of October 11,
2020: Would You Believe “Unchained Melody” holds the record as the song with the most versions to chart on the
Billboard Hot 100 Chart with nine different performers?
The Week of October 4, 2020:
Would You Believe that the popular TV show The Partridge Family was actually supposed to feature The Cowsills, but
the Cowsill family said no when Screen Gems wanted to replace mother Barbara Cowsill with actress Shirley
Jones?
The Week of September 27,
2020: Would You Believe that the great singer-songwriter, guitarist and keyboard player for the ‘70s mega-group
Bread wrote the #3 charting hit single “Popsicles And Icicles” for the teenage one-hit-wonder girl group, The
Murmaids?
The Week of September 20,
2020: Would You Believe that the shortest charting record of the rock era was “Little Boxes” by The Womenfolk in
1964 at 1 minute 3 seconds? The song peaked at #83 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart.
The Week of September 13,
2020: Would You Believe that Lou Reed, lead vocalist, guitarist and main songwriter for the seminal rock band, The
Velvet Underground and later solo recording artist (“Walk On The Wild Side”-#16), earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree
in English (Cum Laude) from Syracuse University in 1964?
The Week of September 6,
2020: Would You Believe that Jim Morrison of The Doors thoroughly enjoyed poetry and even published two volumes of
poetry in 1970?
The Week of August 30, 2020:
Would You Believe that wrinkly Rolling Stones rocker Ronnie Wood is an avid stamp collector, sending out assistants
to go to specialist shops to buy the best stamps?
The Week of August 23, 2020:
Would You Believe that Denny Zager, part of the legendary recording duo of Zager & Evans (“In The Year 2525” -
#1 Gold Single in June 1969) owns a large guitar manufacturing company in Lincoln, Nebraska and also creates guitar
lessons for all levels of guitar players?
The Week of August 16, 2020:
Would You Believe that in the song “Nobody But Me” (#8) by The Human Beinz in 1968 that the words “no” and “NObody”
are repeated a whopping 103 times throughout the song?
The Week of August 9, 2020:
Would You Believe that studio drummer (The Wrecking Crew) Hal Blaine performed on the most #1 hits at 39 between
1961 and 1976?
The Week of August 2, 2020:
Would You Believe that the Los Angeles-based psychedelic rock band Love (“7 And 7 Is”) took their name from the
L.U.V. Brassiere Company in LA where lead singer/guitarist Arthur Lee once worked?
The Week of July 26, 2020:
Would You Believe that Honey Lantree, the drummer for The Honeycombs best remembered for their huge #5 hit “Have I
The Right?” in late 1964 would become the most well-known female drummer in the world thanks to the touring and
film and television appearances that followed their big hit?
The Week of July 19, 2020:
Would You Believe that all of the following 1960s rock and roll artists died at the age of 27? Rudy Lewis (The
Drifters), Rockin’ Robin Roberts (The Fabulous Wailers), Malcolm Hale (Spanky And Our Gang), Brian Jones (The
Rolling Stones), Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson (Canned Heat), Jimi Hendrix (The Jimi Hendrix Experience), Janis Joplin
(Big Brother And The Holding Company), Jim Morrison (The Doors), and Ron “Pigpen” McKernan (Grateful
Dead).
The Week of July 12, 2020:
Would You Believe that the name of the British rock group Procol Harum was actually taken in 1967 from the pedigree
name of a Burmese cat of a friend of the bands manager? Translated, the Latin phrase means “Beyond these
things.”
The Week of July 5, 2020:
Would You Believe that the Herman’s Hermits hit single “No Milk Today” (#35) has absolutely nothing to do with
milk? In addition, Hermit’s lead singer Peter Noone has said this was the best song the group ever
recorded.
The Week of June 28, 2020:
Would You Believe that The Kinks rip-roaring hard rock song “You Really Got Me” was intentionally recorded to sound
as gritty as possible? The influential distortion sound of the guitar riff was created after guitarist Dave Davies
sliced the speaker cone of his guitar amplifier with a razor blade and poked holes into it with a
pin.
The Week of June 21, 2020:
Would You Believe that on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart for March 10, 1962 there were no less than ten (10) songs
with the word “twist” or a variation of it in the title?
The Week of June 14, 2020:
Would You Believe that Jerry Mathers who played Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver on the popular TV series Leave It To
Beaver started a rock and roll band while in high school in 1962 called Beaver And The Trappers? The band only
recorded one single, “Happiness Is Havin’” which did not even make it onto the Billboard Hot 100
Chart.
The Week of June 7, 2020:
Would You Believe that former Mouseketeer Don Grady who also played middle son Robbie Douglas on the ‘60s family TV
series My Three Sons founded the band The Yellow Balloon? The group would have only one Top 40 hit, “Yellow
Balloon” that peaked at #25 on the Billboard Pop Chart in April 1964.
The Week of May 31, 2020:
Would You Believe that Walter Scott, lead singer with Bob Kuban And The In-Men on the 1966 hit “The Cheater” whose
lyrics speak of infidelity, was brutally killed by his wife’s lover and later husband? Scott disappeared two days
after Christmas in 1983 and his body was not discovered until well into 1987 …hog-tied and shot in the back
floating in a cistern.
The Week of May 24, 2020:
Would You Believe that just four months after the release of the #2 charting teen tragedy song “Last Kiss” by J.
Frank Wilson And The Cavaliers in 1964 that the band including producer Sonley Roush were in a fatal car accident?
Roush was killed and Wilson and the other members of the group were seriously injured. The tragic accident caused
record sales of “Last Kiss” to increase even more.
The Week of May 17, 2020:
Would You Believe that aside from vocals, none of The Beatles play on “Eleanor Rigby”? The song was performed
entirely by studio musicians.
The Week of May 10, 2020:
Would You Believe the number one hit with the shortest running time is “Stay” by Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs
at 1:37 from late 1960 – a record that still stands to this day?
The Week of May 3, 2020:
Would You Believe that Charlie Watts of The Rolling Stones collects classic cars …well, not that unusual for a rock
and roll star except for the fact that Watts does not even have a driver’s license?
The Week of April 26, 2020:
Would You Believe that John Kay, lead singer and guitarist of Steppenwolf, is legally
blind?
The Week of April 19, 2020:
Would You Believe that the original four members of the 1960s British mod band Small Faces really were all very
short in stature, each measuring only between 5’4”and 5’6”?
The Week of April 12, 2020:
Would You Believe that the youngest artist to hit № 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart was Little Stevie Wonder at
the tender age of just 13 with “Fingertips – Pt 2?” Wonder’s single was also the first live recording to top the
chart.
The Week of April 5, 2020:
Would You Believe that The Who’s Roger Daltry owns a successful trout farm which has been in operation for over 30
years?
The Week of March 29, 2020:
Would You Believe that “Mama” Cass Elliot of The Mamas & The Papas and Keith Moon, legendary drummer for The
Who, both died in the same apartment in London about four years apart and both at the age of 32? Elliot and Moon
were mutual friends of Harry Nilsson who owned the apartment and would often loan it out to friends while out of
town.
The Week of March 22, 2020:
Would You Believe that in 1964, 60% of the records sold in the U.S. were Beatles
records?
The Week of March 15, 2020:
Would You Believe the solo in The Beatle’s song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” was actually not performed by one of
the Fab Four, but by Eric Clapton?
The Week of March 8, 2020:
Would You Believe that The Ventures are one of only three acts to have hit the Top 10 on the Billboard Pop Chart
with two different versions of the same song – “Walk—Don’t Run” (#2) in 1960 and “Walk-Don’t Run ‘64” (#8) in
1964?
The Week of March 1, 2020:
Would You Believe The Eagles were originally the backup band for Linda Ronstadt, the Queen of Rock and
Roll?
The Week of February 23,
2020: Would You Believe that the hobby of Eric Clapton, one of the very best guitarists of all time and of The
Yardbirds and Cream fame is fly fishing? He once said that dying with a fly rod in his hand wouldn’t be a bad way
to go.
The Week of February 16,
2020: Would You Believe that Creedence Clearwater Revival holds the Billboard record for the most #2 hits with five
without ever hitting #1?
The Week of February 9,
2020: Would You Believe that today there are more than 4,000 versions of The Beatles #1 Gold Single
“Yesterday”?
The Week of February 2,
2020: Would You Believe when Bob Dylan was in high school that his ultimate dream was to be part of Little
Richard’s band?
The Week of January 26,
2020: Would You Believe that “The Queen of Philadelphia Soul”, Dee Dee Sharp and best remembered for her big hits
“Mashed Potato Time”, “Gravy (For My Mashed Potatoes)” and “Ride!” earned a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University
of Pennsylvania?
The Week of January 19,
2020: Would You Believe that legendary rock and roll artist Chuck Berry originally wanted to be a professional
photographer and started performing music so he could afford photography equipment?
The Week of January 12,
2020: Would You Believe that Daryl Dragon and Toni Tennille, better known as the popular 1970s recording duo
Captain & Tennille, were both keyboardists for The Beach Boys in the 1960s?
The Week of January 5, 2020:
Would You Believe the one-hit-wonder group The Rocky Fellers (“Killer Joe” - #16) consisted of a father and his
four sons from Manila, Philippines?
The Week Of December 29,
2019: Would You Believe Little Peggy March was only 15 when her hit song “I Will Follow Him” topped the Billboard
Pop Chart making her the youngest female singer to have a #1 single on the chart?
The Week of December 22
2019: Would You Believe The Cascades, the one-hit-wonder group whose high-charting single “Rhythm Of The Rain” (#3
Gold Single) named themselves after seeing a box of Cascade dishwashing detergent sitting on a
table?
The Week of December 15,
2019: Would You Believe that The Strangeloves, best remembered for their #11 charting hit “I Want Candy” were
actually an American songwriting production team who promoted themselves as three brothers who were raised on an
Australian sheep farm?
The Week of December 8,
2019: Would You Believe that the 1966 mega hit “Wild Thing” by the British rock band The Troggs was actually
written by film star Angelina Jolie’s uncle, John Wesley Voigt, a.k.a. Chip Taylor?
The Week of December 1,
2019: Would You Believe that there were 454 songs by one-hit-wonder acts that charted on the Billboard Hot 100
Chart during the decade of the 1960s?
The Week of November 24,
2019: Would You Believe that Neil Young of The Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash (& Young) is a
big time model railroad hobbyist … so much so that he is part owner of Lionel Trains!
The Week of November 17,
2019: Would You Believe that the superstar group The Buffalo Springfield remembered for their hit single and
protest song, “For What It’s Worth (Stop, Hey What’s That Sound)” took their name after seeing a
Buffalo-Springfield steam roller parked outside a residence where they were staying?
The Week of November 10,
2019: Would You Believe the Easton, Pennsylvania pop-rock band The Cyrkle was managed by The Beatles’ Brian Epstein
and named by John Lennon?
The Week of November 3,
2019: Would You Believe that Little Richard kicked the legendary Jimi Hendrix out of his band in the 1950s for
apparently upstaging him with his eccentric style and guitar skills?
The Week of October 27,
2019: Would You Believe that the ageless rocker, Mick Jagger is an experienced ballet dancer with years under his
belt? No wonder the guy just glides across stages!
The Week of October 20,
2019: Would You Believe that none of the five members of The Rivieras whose #5 hit single, “California Sun” had
ever even been to California before they recorded what would become the official unofficial anthem of California’s
surf and sun culture?
The Week of October 13,
2019: Would You Believe that the drummer of the boogie-rock group ZZ Topwho formed in 1969 is the only member of
the band without a beard even with his last name being Beard?
The Week of October 6, 2019:
Would You Believe that the great Soul singer, songwriter, producer and arranger Barry Whitewas once the drummer for
a short time for The Bobby Fuller Four?
The Week of September 29,
2019: Would You Believe that the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, recorded over 600 songs with not even one
writing credit?
The Week of September 22,
2019: Would You Believe that the#1 rock and roll hit with the shortest running time ever was “Stay” by Maurice
Williams & The Zodiacs at just 1:37?
The Week of September 15,
2019: Would You Believe each of the following well-known child actors we remember from the 1960s, Paul Petersen,
Johnny Crawford, Shelley Fabares, and Patty Dukeall had two or more Top40hit singles during the
1960s?
The Week of September 8,
2019: Would You Believe The Ronettes and the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklinwere not only popular music acts in the
early 1960s, but helped popularize what would become a very dujour women’s hairstyle – the
Beehive?
The Week of September 1,
2019: Would You Believe that the № 1 pop hit at the time of President Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963 was
“I’m Leaving It Up To You” by Dale & Gracewho were actually in the crowd of bystanders in Dallas and watched
President Kennedy’s motorcade pass by literally seconds before he was shot?
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