#1 Songs - 1963

As promised, we are back to our regular posts. Let's get things going this week with the hit songs of 1963. Here are the contenders:

Telstar	The Tornadoes
Go Away Little Girl	Steve Lawrence
Walk Right In	The Rooftop Singers
Hey Paula	Paul and Paula
Walk Like A Man	The 4 Seasons
Our Day Will Come	Ruby And The Romantics
He's So Fine	The Chiffons
I Will Follow Him	Little Peggy March
If You Wanna Be Happy	Jimmy Soul
It's My Party	Lesley Gore
Sukiyaki	Kyu Sakamoto
Easier Said Than Done	The Essex
Surf City	Jan & Dean
So Much In Love	The Tymes
Fingertips - Pt 2	Little Stevie Wonder
My Boyfriend's Back	The Angels
Blue Velvet	Bobby Vinton
Sugar Shack	Jimmy Gilmer And The Fireballs
Deep Purple	Nino Tempo & April Stevens
I'm Leaving It Up To You	Dale & Grace
Dominique	The Singing Nun (Soeur Sourire)

As we go further into the 1960s, rock 'n' roll is starting to take over the charts, pushing country and instrumentals to the side. Some country hits still hold on, like "Go Away Little Girl," by Steve Lawrence, but the shift in popular music is undeniable. The song that stayed on top for the longest in 1963 was Jimmy Gilmer's "Sugar Shack." We also get our first number 1 hit by Stevie Wonder, who was only 12 years old at the time, the live song "Fingertips - Pt 2" (the whole song was too long to be a single in 1963). This year also bizarrely featured not one, but two foreign language songs: "Dominique," by the Singing Nun is in French, and "Sukiyaki," a song that is completely in Japanese. I had no idea Americans were listening to Asian pop music 50 years before "Gangnam Style" swept the nation.

The Best:

Overall, 1963 was a pretty good year in music. "Walk Right In," "Walk Like a Man," "He's So Fine," and "Fingertips - Pt 2" were all great songs. But the song that I think is not only the most fun, but also sounds ahead of its time is "If You Wanna Be Happy," by Jimmy Soul.

The Worst:

Not a whole lot of bad songs. There are a few songs that sound dated, or fairly pedestrian, but nothing really stands out. That is, until you get to the last hit of the year, "Dominique." This song really sticks out, and there was a song that's in Japanese (that is really quite good). I really do not understand how this song became an international hit.

Pat is crazy.

I'm Back!

Hello again, everyone! I don't have too much to say right now (so, business as usual). I recently got back from my vacation to New Zealand. Here are the things that apparently happened while I was gone:

The Gophers are still the Gophers - I left the day after their completely awesome Frozen Four victory over the [redacted], only to find out that they then went ahead and lost to Union in the final. The Gophers getting your hopes up only to ultimately disappoint? Yeah, we've been there before. But the victory over North Dakota was a great game. The last time I was so excited watching sports was Oakland's game 4 comeback over the Tigers in the 2012 ALDS.

Speaking of Oakland, they've been doing well, boasting the best record in the AL. The confusing thing is that the bullpen, which was expected to be a strength, has been the team's biggest weakness. If the bullpen can get their shit together, this is going to be a dangerous team. It would be really awesome if we could play somebody other than Detroit in the ALDS though.

The Sharks absolutely crushed the Kings in the first two games of the series. Man, I really wish I could have watched those games. Stay hot, Sharks!

Ok, that's all I got. It seems that not all that much happened while I was gone, and also that the only thing that I care about is sports. Well, sports and vinyl (I picked up two records in New Zealand - and neither of them are by Lorde (vinyl was more expensive there, I still might pick it up here)). Ok, I'll get back to my regularly scheduled posts next week. Until then, go Sharks! (And, what the hey, go Wild, too.)

Words I Wish People Would Stop Saying

1. Selfie

I get it. People take a lot of pictures of themselves these days. But it seems to me that the word "selfie" is starting to become synonymous with "picture." More and more, I seem to come across articles on the internet about so-and-so taking a selfie, but then the picture is clearly taken by somebody else. Sometimes from a considerable distance away. That's not a selfie! That's just a fucking photograph! Also, and this may be just personal taste, a true selfie should not have anybody else but the person taking the picture in it.

2. Photobomb

Anytime somebody is accidentally or unknowingly in somebody else's photo, they are not "photobombing." It has to be deliberate, with the intent of ruining the picture!

I hate people. Pat is crazy.

Oakland's Vinyl Vault - Sweetheart of the Rodeo

Sometimes bands take a sharp left turn. This week, we take a look at one classic example of that, with the Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo.

Release date:August 30, 1968
Singles: You Ain't Goin' Nowhere, I am a Pilgrim

Your Shoelace Is Untied

April fools! Gotcha!

Happy Friday!

Here's a random thought on this lovely Friday:

I've started going to the gym recently, and my biggest problem with it is that it is filled with ripped dudes. This makes it somewhat intimidating/embarrassing for me, who am weak, to lift weights in front of these Adonises. As I'm pretty sure I heard some comedian say before, all I can think when I see these guys in there is: What are you still doing here? You've already won!

So here is my proposed solution to this problem:

Open up a gym where the weight machines have limits on how high they can go, and no free weights above 20 lbs. This way, the weaklings like myself can still go there and get stronger, but the already buff dudes would just be wasting their time because the weights wouldn't be heavy enough for them to get anything out of it. I think it would be a very popular gym for people who don't go to the gym. It would probably go out of business within a year.

#1 Songs - 1962

It's been a little while since we looked at the number 1 songs, but I'm determined to not let this project die, so let's get back to it. Damn, that sentence was terrible. But, this is the internet and there's no time for editing or doing more than one draft! It's just type and publish. Anyway, here are the songs that topped the charts in 1962:

The Lion Sleeps Tonight	The Tokens
The Twist	Chubby Checker
Peppermint Twist - Part I	Joey Dee & the Starliters
Duke Of Earl	Gene Chandler
Hey! Baby	Bruce Channel
Don't Break The Heart That Loves You	Connie Francis
Johnny Angel	Shelley Fabares
Good Luck Charm	Elvis Presley With The Jordanaires
Soldier Boy	The Shirelles
Stranger On The Shore	Mr. Acker Bilk
I Can't Stop Loving You	Ray Charles
The Stripper	David Rose and His Orchestra
Roses Are Red (My Love)	Bobby Vinton
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do	Neil Sedaka
The Loco-Motion	Little Eva
Sheila	Tommy Roe
Sherry	The 4 Seasons
Monster Mash	Bobby Boris Pickett And The Crypt-Kickers
He's A Rebel	The Crystals
Big Girls Don't Cry	The 4 Seasons
Telstar	The Tornadoes

1962 was not a terrible year in music, but not an outstanding one either. The longest any song stayed on top of the chart was 5 weeks, and three songs managed to do that: "I Can't Stop Loving You," by Ray Charles, and "Sherry" and "Big Girls Don't Cry," both by the 4 Seasons. One rarity that happened in 1962: a number 1 from a previous year climbed back up to the top. That was "The Twist," by Chubby Checker, which first rose to number 1 back in 1960.

The best:

There were a few fun songs that came out in 1962 such as "Hey! Baby," "The Loco-Motion," and "Big Girls Don't Cry," but for me, the song that still holds up the best after all these years is the instrumental "The Stripper." SPOILER ALERT: The video is going to be the end of Slap Shot.



The worst:

There were also a few dreadful songs that somehow managed to top the chart in 1962. I normally don't like novelty songs like "Monster Mash," but it's not as terrible as our winner. "He's A Rebel" features some piano playing that doesn't really jive with the rest of the song, but even so it is still better than "Telstar," by the Tornadoes. It's "electronic music" was inspired by the satellite of the same name and supposed to sound futuristic or something, but it just doesn't hold up. At all. This is the 1980s CGI of songs.