A new feature. One of us will nominate a song, another with nominate a challenger. Debate and vote (there will be a voting widget in the sidebar). We’ll keep the vote open until a song gets (hmm, since we don’t have a ton of traffic these days) 12 votes (so please vote, don’t be shy). Then there will be a new challenger to the reigning champ.
Let’s get things started with a song that says a thing or two about rock ‘n’ roll, the Showmen’s “It Will Stand:”
Bring it on in the comments.
Later incarnated as Chairmen of the Board, of Give Me Just a Little More Time fame?
I only made it a minute in before I hit my buzzer. Whatever comes up next is gonna be hard-pressed to not get my vote. (Although I like “Give Me Just A Little More Time” quite a bit.)
I didn’t want to set the bar too high, but I like this boozy sway of this thing, which was indeed written and sung by General Norman Johnson and apparently produced by the young Allen Toussaint. General Johnson left the Showmen in 1968 and joined up with the Chairmen of the Board, who were the lead band of the new Invictus record label, headed by guys named Holland Dozier and Holland (who wrote Give Me Just a Little More Time).
We need a nominee!
Okay, I’m going to show how it’s done.
This slow dance isn’t the greatest song of the period, but the TV clip from an Idaho television program shows just how danceable The Diamonds’ Stroll is.
Vote for either It Will Stand or The Stroll in the sidebar!
I like the Stroll, but to me not even close. It Will Stand is a fave of the era.
I liked the idea of starting with a song that declares what rock ‘n’ roll is, and what it will do. It will party like thunder and it will stand. Or it will stroll. I’ve watched the kids strolling, as it were, a half a dozen times now and the song is growing on me, but it’s the video that is killing. I bet those kids had some pretty wild times after the cameras stopped rolling.
If you haven’t voted yet, do it now!