Legacy of the Number Forty One

I am called Coralium Ru. Red corn Mineral plant or An animal I've sparked many lively debates in my time. Not only was my classification difficult to determine, but to find me Curiosity is required. One has to dive deep into the depths to locate me. Listen now to Voice of Juls Podcast by Lick Cole, School of Jewelry Arts, supported by Ven Klfen A Pels Pressure to have a summer worth posting about is real. so is financial stress, social exhaustion, and the anxiety that sneaks in right when things are supposed to feel good. Gr therapy can help with that. Whether it's your first time in therapy or your fiftieth, G makes it easier to find a therapist who fits you, not the other way around They connect you with thousands of independent licensed therapists across the US offering both virtual and in person sessions, nights and weekends. Whatever challenges you're facing, Gr Thrapy is here to help. Gr accepts over one hundred insurance plans. Sessions average about twenty one dollars with insurance and some pay as little as zero dollars depending on their plan Visit growthapy dot com slash ACast today to get started. That's growthapy dot com slash ACast Grtherraapyot com slash ACast. Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan Welcome to Hip parade. Podcast of pop Chart History from Slate Magazine. about the hits from coast to coast. I'm Chris Milanthy, Chart analyst, pop critic, and writer of Slate's Why is this song number one series onn today's show forty seven years ago, in the summer of nineteen seventy nine, sister sledges We are familyamily scaled the charts and took its place as an everlasting celebration anthem The only catch, it never reached number one Peking on Billboards hot one hundred at number two. So Hip parade always talks about numbers. We're a chart show, after all, and numbers are pretty important But today on the show, we're going to talk about three very special numbers, two Eleven and forty one No, that's not your high school locker combination. Those numbers represent near misses. Let me explain. Nearly a decade ago, we did a hit parade episode about a trio of seminal, heartbreaking number two hits. The miracles shop around, which reached number two in nineteen sixty one. Ma me The G' We got the Beat, which peaked in the runner up spot in nineteen eighty two and Kelly Clarkson's Since you've been gone which silver metedaled in two thousand five. But heartbreaking hits happen all over the Hot one hundred. A near miss can be a number two hit, a number eleven hit, or a number forty one. Billboard charts measure popularity only one week at a time, but over time, some lower charting hits become legendary. Anytim in chart history will have its share of near miss hits, and some of them may surprise you So today, we're going to zoom in on one era of near misses. In this episode, we're going to walk through sevventies chart history. and it's well remembered number two, number eleven And number forty one hits That my friend. By the way, near miss hits are still with us. Let me give you a few current examples If you caught the recent Grammy Awards, you may have seen Olivia Dean, the British R and B singer, winning the Best new Artist prize. Her hit, Man I Need has been knocking around the top ten since last fall But it's never gone higher than number two. definitely deserve to be a number one hit. It I w or Rise Where is My husband, which has received near universal acclaim from pop fans. It's one of my favorite songs of this year But it's gotten stuck at number eleven And finally, Sombers twelve to twelve, a new wave slash disco banger that he performed on Last Fall's videoideo Music Awards and the Grammys and Saturday Night Live. Despite all that, twelve to twelve only got as high as number forty one So So, how do we measure the reach of a near miss hit? One good way is to compare its chart peak with its Spotify streams. This is not a perfect measurement, but it's a proxy for how a song is regarded in the modern day. For example, Spotify will sometimes reveal that an act's number two hit is better remembered than its number one hit, some modern examples. About a decade and a half ago, the British R and B singer Tyo Cruz scored a pair of hits The number one hit, break your heart and the number two hit, Dynamite Sometimes say If you've been on a wedding dance floor in the last fifteen years, I'm sure you've heard dynamite. You don't really hear brereak your heart anymore And sure enough, on Spotify, the streams for dynamite are far higher than they are for Break Your Heart We want to go back to the nineteen seventies for this episode because this is the decade that launched Casey Kayson's radio show American Top forortty, which established the topop forty as a public yardstick of hit making Welcome to American Top forty. I'm Casey Kaysom, and this is our week. At the end of the seventies, Kaysum would extend that franchise to television with his syndicated show America's Top ten. Now here's Casey Kaysom. Thank you, Charlie, and hello again everybody. Welcome to America's Top ten. Let's get right to the action this week on Billboard's Pop singles Ch And of course, on all of his shows, the biggest most dramatic moment was the revelation of the number one song So Annietta, Bjorn, Benny and Annafred You can start packing. This week, you've got the most popular song in America. At number one, here's Abba and Dancing Queen Of course, most of chart history is dominated by number one hits, top ten hits, and top forty hits But my argument is that the number twos, number eleven s, and number forty ones reveal how songs develop their own legacy And it reminds us that the Hot one hundred is not always the final word ick around I'm called Calium Ruper Red corn plant or Animal sparked many lively debates in my time Not only was my classification difficult to determine, but to find me Curiosity is required. has to dive deep into the depths to locate me Listen now to Voice of Jels cast by Lake Cole, School of Jewelry Arts, supported by Van Klfenar Ps. Pressure to have a summer worth posting about is real. so is financial stress, social exhaustion, and the anxiety that sneaks in right when things are supposed to feel good. Gr therapy can help with that. Whether it's your first time in therapy or your fiftieth, G makes it easier to find a therapist who fits you, not the other way around They connect you with thousands of independent licensed therapists across the US offering both virtual and in person sessions, nights and weekends. Whatever challenges you're facing, Gr Thrapy is here to help. Gr accepts over one hundred insurance plans. Sessions average about twenty one dollars with insurance and some pay as little as zero dollars depending on their plan Visit growtherraapy dot com slash ACast today to get started. That's growthapy dot com slash ACast Grtherraapy dot com slash ACast. Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan. This is Cat and Nat from Cat and Nat Unfiltered and this episode is sponsored by Michaels, your destination for all things birthday parties If you've ever planned a birthday celebration, you know it goes from cute idea to full on chaos real fast. The party shop at Michael's makes life easier with over four thousand five hundred party supplies in sixty plus themes like Bluey, Rdeo, soccer, raainbow, and more. Starting at just ninety nine cents, you can shop same day delivery or order online for pickup in store and They even do free helium inflation on Sack Boon styles. Michael's everything to celebrate anything, Visit Michael's in store or shop online now So let's start with the songs that almost made it all the way to the top, the number two hits of the nineteen seventies Mind you, some acts only ever have a number two hit, for example. The Moody Bues only ever got as high as number two with their classic Nights in White satin The Alman brothers only ever got to number two with Ramblin man L our far family Randy Newman only ever reached number two as a performer with his novelty hit, Short People no sure And one of my personal favorites, Jerry Rafferty got to number two with Baker Street. Remember that awesome sax What's more surprising about acts with number two hits are the ones that actually did go to number one, but now their number two hit is better remembered or more acclaimed. There have been a few of these that we've already covered on hit parade. For example, the Carpenters, the Brother sister soft rock duo of the early seventies They actually scored several number two hits and the best of them by general acclaim is we've only just begun Rolling Stone magazine ranked it among its top five hundred hits of all time And then John Denver, whom we covered in an episode just a couple of months ago, none of John Denver's number one hits have half as many Spotify streams as his number two hit, Take M homeome Country Roads We will Take me home T the place I be love But now let's focus on three number two hits that I think are among the most exceptional number two s of the seventies Live a let die Wings Live and let Die was the direct follow up to a number one hit, the nineteen seventy three ballad, My loveove. which by the way, was the first single credited to Paul McCartney and Wings When Live and Let Die peeaked at number two, it was the closest to that date that a James Bond theme had ever gotten to number one. Back in the sixties, Shirley Bassy's gold finger peaked at number eight Oh Kinger of this. What's also crazy about Live and Let Die is that it spent three weeks at number two behind three different number one hits The Morning After by Maureen McGovern It' got to be a morning after moving closer to the shore. Touch Me in the morning by Diana Ross L. T tell me in the m. and the stories, brrother Louis Live and Let Die is better remembered than any of these number one hits, and it fell behind all of them. I call shenanigans Liv and let die As for legacy, although Live and Let Die is not Paul McCartney's biggest Wings era hit, on Spotify for the record, it's behind Banned on the Run, which has three hundred seventy million lifetime streams Still, Live and Let Die with two hundred twenty million streams crushes the number one hit that it followed, My Love, which only has eighty million streams For our second number two hit, I want to talk about one of my favorite seventies bands, Chic. But their most legendary seventies hit is arguably a song they gave away to a different group It peaked at number two, and it's now better known than their number one hits The song is We Are Family, sung by the four woman sibling group, Sister Sledge. Written and produced by Sheks Niil Rogers and Bernard Edwards, it's now a staple of weddings, gay pride marches, and even the nineteen seventy nine World Series champion, Pittsburgh Pirates. In the summer of ' seventy nine, it got stuck at number two behind Donna Summer's chart topper Hotstuff It was a good summer for female fronted R and B. Hot stuff is a disco rock classic We are family is an all purpose anthem. One of the most enduring songs the Chic team ever produced. doesn But I would argue that the ultimate seventies number two hit is the Spinners, the rubber bandman The spinners only scored one hot one hundred number one. That was in nineteen seventy four when their duet with Miss Dion Warwick, the Philly soul disco bop, then came you top the chart. B The spinners have other hits that are favorites on the radio. Their oldies staple is their disco medley cover of the four seasons working my wayay Back to You. As popular as those two hits are, their all timer on Spotify is the Rubber Bandman It's got two hundred nine million streams on Spotify, more than two times the streams of working my way back to you, and sixteen times the streams of the Deion Warwick duet then came you man man. We can stay h. And of course, longtime Muppet show fans may recall that when Linda Carter hosted the show with Kermit in the gang, she performed the Rubber Band manan too Take it, Sam And here they are, ladies and gentlemen, the rubber bandman. So those are some great number two hits from the nineteen seventies. Let's travel a little further down the chart and talk about number eleven hits. What makes those especially frustrating The top ten is regarded as the winner's circle on the Hot one hundred. Many chart feats revolve around top ten hits Stalling at number eleven is basically the difference between a hit and a big hit, the kind that's likely to make the year end chart. However, we've discussed several singles on hit parade that are well remembered despite peaking at number eleven For example, in our Woodstock episode, we talked about the biggest hit by Crosby Stills Nash and Young would stop written by Joni Mitchell. at number eleven in nineteen seventy We are sccared S back to the God In our Fleetwood Mac episode, we talked about the breakthrough album before Rumors, their self titled nineteen seventy five LP. It had no top ten hits, but it had two hits that reached number eleven. Rhannon And say you love me. S the lights go down There's not anotherother li a solar pan until the sun comes up Finally, in our Jim Steinman episode, Meatloaf's biggest hit on Bat Out of Hell wasn't Paradise by the Dashboard lightight, or you took the words right out of my mouth. Both of those songs peakked way down at number thirty nine And may it took the try out of somebow One must stud in m were kiss and me The biggest hit on the album was the number eleven hit, twoo out of three Ain't Bad No say Thises to have three b So let's talk about three seventies acts that wound up with some pretty big number eleven hits The first act I want to discuss is Steey Dan. whichich actually scored two of their biggest hits at number eleven. A classic from their Asia album in nineteen seventy seven is the hit, Pg. essential yacht rock song, it's got Spotify streams of one hundred twenty six million, and it never cracked the top ten. even bigger than Peg, is their rocker reeling in the years? Are you reeling in the years? Stowing away the time? Are you gathering at the? H you had enough m That's their biggest Spotify hit, with three hundred ninety four million lifetime streams. By the way, that's about fifty million higher than the number six Steeely An hit, do it again Fel turn round So you might say Steely Dan were Kings of the number eleven spot What about Jackson Brown? Jackson Brown did score top ten hits, both in the nineteen seventies. For example, Doctor My Eyes reached number eight in nineteen seventy two And in the eighties, somebody's baby got all the way to number seven She's good omebodyday She's so fine. She's probably s. But Jackson Brown's most anthemic hit, Running on Empty is an even better remembered song When Running on Empty peaked at number eleven in april nineteen seventy eight, there was some tough competition in the top ten. The winner's circle was filled with hits from both Saturday Night fever and Grereease. C However, today, running on empty has two hundred thirty eight million streams on Spotify. Far and away, Jackson Brown's most played track And it's his classic rock radio standard Pies to the Takes on n But I would argue that the ultimate number eleven hit of the seventies is from Kat Stehvens, Wild World So why work? It's hard to get back. just a paal smile Wild World is Cat Stevens' signature hit. It's got eight hundred eighty million streams on Spotify. That's higher than his next two hits combined. Father and son and mourning has broken Morning in Hasbough Yeah likeike the first m morning Bird has sp Kat Stevens did score four top tenens in the nineteen seventies, including the aforementioned morning has Broken As well as peace train peace take this country Okay we hold again And oh very young. Oh very young, what will you leave us this tide you had a chance to change your mind. But none of these Cat Steven' top ten hits has nearly the number of streams as Wild World China Maybe it's a w. So the number eleven s are the ones that almost made it into the winner's circle. What about the songs that didn't even get counted down by Casey Kaysom? What makes number forty one hits the cruelest of all listen to the music that my eyes made I knew every single record the DJs play. From honky, honk to Hound Hk to Johnny be good chain gang I is train. More in a moment Pressure to have a summer worth posting about is real. so is financial stress, social exhaustion, and the anxiety that sneaks in right when things are supposed to feel good. Gr therapy can help with that. Whether it's your first time in therapy or your fiftieth, G makes it easier to find a therapist who fits you, not the other way around They connect you with thousands of independent licensed therapists across the U. S offering both virtual and in person sessions, nights and weekends. Whatever challenges you're facing, G therapapy is here to help G Gro accepts over one hundred insurance plans. sessions average about twenty one dollars with insurance, and some pay as little as zero dollars, depending on their plan Visit growthapy d. com slash ACast today to get started. That's growtherraapy dot com slash ACast Grtherraapy dot com slash ACast. Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance pl My name is Perito transparent green gemstone. I was discovered by chance in the center of Patagonia. While most stones are born in the Eth's crust, my origin is rather different Bi Extraterrestrial Listen now to Voice of Jewels, a podcast by Lees Cole School of Jewelry Arts, supported by Ven Clefand Arpeels. By definition, these songs are not top forty hits To be fair, some number forty one hits are curios, and it's remarkable they got as high as the threshold of the top forty For example, Wigwam, a loungy Bob Dylan near instrumental from nineteen seventy. I say near instrumental because it does have lyrics, but they go laa da di da da and ta daa da da No W or bloat on, a Cich Chen Chang parody of the floatater's number one R and B number two pop hit flloat on. Bloat O also reached number forty one. And finally, we just discussed a few months ago, David Bowie's Changes. It's an undeniable classic, but it missed the top forty twice, reaching number sixty six on its first release in nineteen seventy two and number forty one in nineteen seventy five D change it This the stng to change ares Some So those are the curios, but a handful of number forty one hits in the seventies were truly historic. Let's talk about ease on down the road This duet between Diana Ross and Michael Jackson is from the movie musical The Whiz I'm on my way to find the wiz He's gonna get me back home with'ice. Thank you. That alone makes it a historic song because it's the start of Michael Jackson's relationship with producer Quincy Jones. Moreover, Diana and Michael worked together on other hits. in the eighties, Michael wrote Diana's hit muscles. I want myself. And he even kind of dueted with her on her hit Eaten Alive. But ease on down the road, a number forty one hit in nineteen seventy eight is the only time a credited duet between Diana Ross and Michael Jackson made the Hot one hundred. That in itself is historic While we're talking about number forty one hits, I would be remiss if I didn't bring up yet again, Elton John's Tiny dancer. Blue jean bab b LA laid in. Seamsstress for the bang Is it possibly the most famous number forty one hit? It's certainly the one with the biggest turnaround in fortunes. It's now considered one of Elton Jean's standards, but it was an also ran in nineteen seventy two As we discussed in our legacy hits episode of Hit Parade, before the year two thousand, Tiny Dancer was considered a deep cut, only occasionally played in concert by Elson John But then, the scene in the movie almost famous made it a radio staple. O are ty f. up to go home. It's now got nearly a billion streams on Spotify. at last count, nine hundred seventy one million