Category Archives: charts

The Dead South, In Hell I’ll Be In Good Company

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Clever video. But simple.

Simple song. But maybe clever. The lyrics seem to show a dark murder ballad, though I didn’t get that on first listen.

Whatever. Somehow this cute video and folkish trad song has scored 44 million plays on YouTube. That’s huge, it is real money, and it comes from Canadians into bluegrass, even if the music isn’t bound by genre exactly.

More power to them. This isn’t rock, but if these folks can earn green on this fine but totally uncommercial song, I’d say they’re successful remnants.

Also, good title and band name. Especially for northerners. Maybe not as good as The Band.

Rolling Stone’s Top 40 Punk Albums of All Time is Alt Fact!

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When it comes to pissing matches and irreconcilable pluralism, no one does it better than Rolling Stone magazine.

They decided to make a list of the 40 best punk rock albums of all time. But, they limited each band to one elpee.  While I can see the reason for the limitation, I think having decided upon it, they should have realized that calling it the Top 40 Punk Albums of All Time was a falsehood.

Also, should compilation records qualify? Singles Going Steady was almost contemporaneous, sort of, but the Bikini Kill singles album came out way later. Terminal Tower was kind of Pere Ubu’s Kinks Kronikles, but does that make it chartworthy?

Might not be a bad idea for us to play around with our own Top 10s, with as many elpees from any band as you feel is warranted in, in the comments. Think I’ll invite Dave Marsh to contribute. I’m sure he’s got a Bob Seger record in mind.

So here it is. Sharpen your knives. Have fun.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/40-greatest-punk-albums-of-all-time-20160406/ramones-ramones-1976-20160406

While reading, listen to this, ponder (and read fast).

 

 

The Birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll!

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Here’s a fun one. Enter your birthday into this site and they’ll tell you what song was No. 1 the day you were born.

I doubt your song can be much cooler (or classic) than mine.

They’ll also tell you what song was No. 1 the night you were conceived, a real rock ‘n’ roll moment for sure. (I’ve posted about this song twice before, with various versions but not the giant hit that was Tennessee Ernie Ford’s.)

The Number One Albums of 1968

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gatefold-cheapthrillsJanuary and February: Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles

March: Blooming Hits, Paul Mauriat and His Orchestra

April, May, June and the first three weeks July: The Graduate soundtrack and Bookends, both by Simon and Garfunkle, interweaved

Last week of July, first week of August: Best of the Brass, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass

The rest of August: Wheels of Fire, Cream

The first three weeks of September, and the first week of October: Waiting for the Sun, The Doors

Last week of September: Time/Peace, The Rascals

Second week of October through the Second week of November, plus the last week of November through the middle of December: Cheap Thrills, Big Brother and the Holding Company

Middle two weeks of November: Electric Ladyland, Jimi Hendrix Experience

Third week of December: Wichita Lineman, Glen Campbell

Last week of December: The Beatles (White Album), The Beatles

Holy crap.