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Post by Kapitan on Jul 19, 2023 14:35:51 GMT
The Billboard Hot 100 is an institution that feels eternal. But as with every mountain, continent, or even planet, it had a beginning: August 4, 1958, since which date (as of this writing) there have been 1,150 different songs to top the weekly charts. Its predecessors go back to July 1913, when Billboard published the "Last Week's Ten Best Sellers Among the Popular Songs” chart (catchy name, eh?) listing the nation’s top-selling sheet music. "Popular Numbers Featured by Famous Singers and Leaders” appeared in 1928, incorporating radio appearances and in-person appearances. In 1936, they launched "Ten Best Records for Week Ending,” which listed the 10 top-selling records as reported by the three major record labels of the era. The charts continued to evolve through the years, with three primary charts at the dawn of the rock and roll era: “Best Sellers in Stores;” “Most Played By Jockeys,” the first radio chart; and “Most Played in Jukeboxes,” which captured the youth vote. In 1958, three men changed the way Americans (and the world) looked at popular music by creating the Billboard Hot 100: - Tom Noonan began working for Billboard while in college as a temporary replacement for someone on vacation; by 1954 he was head of the pop charts. (Noonan died of bladder cancer in 2006 at age 78.)
- Paul Ackerman, a fan of roots music but one of the first music journalists to write about the nascent form rock and roll, was music editor of Billboard magazine from 1943 to 1973. He died in 1977.
- Seymour Stein was a 16-year-old clerk to Noonan in 1958 who went on to become an industry powerhouse, a VP of Warner Bros. and co-founder of Sire Records, and signing a handful of legendary artists. He died of cancer in April 2023.
The three of them collectively created the Hot 100 (Stein claimed not to recall who thought of the name), and it debuted as the primary, all-genres singles chart in late summer 1958. The criteria for the ratings have changed through the years, with the current primary components being: - Radio Songs, as monitored by Billboard, comprising approximately 1,000 stations’ airplay.
- Hot Singles Sales, compiled by Billboard, using a sample of retail outlets and internet sales reports.
- Digital Songs, as provided by Nielsen SoundScan, tracking digital sales.
- Streaming Songs, as collaboratively determined by Billboard, Nielsen SoundScan, and the National Association of Recording Merchandisers, tracking the most-streamed songs on major digital platforms.
This thread will span the history of the chart-toppers, beginning with the Aug. 4, 1958, entry and continuing until … well, I’m not sure. Either when the thread loses steam, or gets uninteresting, or the world ends, or some other impetus to stop. (Probably the '80s sometime?) I anticipate posting about two songs per week, though it will be flexible to accommodate activity and schedules. It may—or may not—include year-end polls for the top #1s of each year. Welcome to the Billboard Hot 100. We shall proceed presently. |
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 19, 2023 14:57:02 GMT
Ricky Nelson, “Poor Little Fool”
The first Number One on the new Billboard Hot 100 chart was “Poor Little Fool,” performed by Ricky Nelson.
Sharon Sheeley wrote the song when she was just 15 years old, around 1955. Eighteen upon its release, she was the youngest woman to have written a #1. Sheeley reportedly had Nelson in mind for the song all along, driving to his house and faking a car breakdown, seeking his help. As he obliged, she showed him the song.
A California native, Sheeley also wrote songs for Eddie Cochran, Ritchie Valens, Brenda Lee, and others. She was romantically involved with Cochran and was with him and Gene Vincent in April 1960 in the UK when a car accident killed Cochran and injured the others, including breaking Sheeley’s pelvis. Her career continued through the mid-60s and included co-creating the television show Shindig! with her then-husband Jimmy O’Neill. She left the business after their divorce and died in 2002.
“Poor Little Fool” was produced by the composer, arranger, and producer Jimmie Haskell along with Ozzie and Ricky Nelson. It features on background vocals the gospel group The Jordanaires, known for backing Elvis Presley and Patsy Cline, among others. The song was first released as part of Nelson’s second album, Ricky Nelson, in July 1958.
It was then used in an EP excerpting four songs from that album, at which point it became a hit. Only then did Imperial Records chief Lew Chudd rush out a single version—a decision Nelson opposed, thinking it would hurt album sales. (He refused to sign off on the cover art in protest.)
The single topped the first Hot 100 chart on August 4, 1958, and it remained atop the charts for two weeks. It was the first of Nelson’s two chart-toppers.
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Post by kds on Jul 19, 2023 17:05:11 GMT
I have fond early childhood memories of hearing Ricky Nelson's greatest hits on a cassette that my mother always had in the tape deck of the car back when I was....maybe four or five years old.
Oddly enough, I really didn't start listening to his music again until fairly recently. I think after I got into The Beach Boys, I started listening to more pre Beatles era early rock/pop.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 19, 2023 19:14:39 GMT
I don't remember having ever heard this song before today, but I like it. It feels like a deserving song to kick off the Hot 100 to me.
And the story of the songwriter--whom I'd also never heard of, Sharon Sheeley--was pretty interesting. Wrote a hit when she was 15, dated ("unofficially engaged") Eddie Cochran and was there for the big car accident, co-founded Shindig!, all before she was 25 or 26.
I think this thread will either be really educational for me; or I'll absorb a million stories, confuse them with one another, and end up even dumber than I am now.
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Post by kds on Jul 19, 2023 20:04:50 GMT
I don't remember having ever heard this song before today, but I like it. It feels like a deserving song to kick off the Hot 100 to me. And the story of the songwriter--whom I'd also never heard of, Sharon Sheeley--was pretty interesting. Wrote a hit when she was 15, dated ("unofficially engaged") Eddie Cochran and was there for the big car accident, co-founded Shindig!, all before she was 25 or 26. I think this thread will either be really educational for me; or I'll absorb a million stories, confuse them with one another, and end up even dumber than I am now. I'm guessing you're familiar with Ricky's sons' - Matthew and Gunner - work under the banner Nelson. They've actually been touring the last several years doing Ricky Nelson Tribute sets. Right before COVID, they played in Annapolis, MD, and I'm kicking myself for not going.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 19, 2023 20:14:58 GMT
Yep, I definitely recall the Nelson kids from the early '90s. And I know of Ricky Nelson (and Ozzie and Harriet), though I was never really into any of them. Somehow my parents didn't seem to pass along any Ricky Nelson music. Maybe it was too "teenybopper" for my dad, who would have been in his late teens by the time Ricky was releasing music. I'd guess it would have been perfect for my mom, though. Sometime I'll have to ask her if she was a fan. She tended to like a lot of popular music of that era. (She was born in '46, so she'd have been in her early teens when he started releasing music.)
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Post by kds on Jul 19, 2023 21:01:04 GMT
Yep, I definitely recall the Nelson kids from the early '90s. And I know of Ricky Nelson (and Ozzie and Harriet), though I was never really into any of them. Somehow my parents didn't seem to pass along any Ricky Nelson music. Maybe it was too "teenybopper" for my dad, who would have been in his late teens by the time Ricky was releasing music. I'd guess it would have been perfect for my mom, though. Sometime I'll have to ask her if she was a fan. She tended to like a lot of popular music of that era. (She was born in '46, so she'd have been in her early teens when he started releasing music.) I think my father (B. 1952) watched Ozzie and Harriet growing up, and got into Ricky's music there. Now, I remember hearing Ricky's music growing up, but I never really got into it because I thought it was "teenybopper" stuff (I used to somewhat think that about The Beach Boys at one time).
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Post by jk on Jul 19, 2023 21:31:33 GMT
My first encounter with Ricky Nelson (and with pop music in general) was in 1961 when "Hello Mary Lou" was a UK hit. "Fools Rush In" of two years later was another favourite of mine (he'd dropped the "y" by then).
Not living in the States, I knew nothing of Ricky's TV career...
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Jul 19, 2023 22:18:28 GMT
I don't remember having ever heard this song before today, but I like it. It feels like a deserving song to kick off the Hot 100 to me. And the story of the songwriter--whom I'd also never heard of, Sharon Sheeley--was pretty interesting. Wrote a hit when she was 15, dated ("unofficially engaged") Eddie Cochran and was there for the big car accident, co-founded Shindig!, all before she was 25 or 26. I think this thread will either be really educational for me; or I'll absorb a million stories, confuse them with one another, and end up even dumber than I am now. I'm very surprised you've never heard of this. It was of course a big hit, but also Ricky is one of those artists from the 50s that has managed to be well known (relatively speaking) today. I'd be curious to know if you haven't heard any of his other big hits.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 19, 2023 22:24:49 GMT
I don't remember having ever heard this song before today, but I like it. It feels like a deserving song to kick off the Hot 100 to me. And the story of the songwriter--whom I'd also never heard of, Sharon Sheeley--was pretty interesting. Wrote a hit when she was 15, dated ("unofficially engaged") Eddie Cochran and was there for the big car accident, co-founded Shindig!, all before she was 25 or 26. I think this thread will either be really educational for me; or I'll absorb a million stories, confuse them with one another, and end up even dumber than I am now. I'm very surprised you've never heard of this. It was of course a big hit, but also Ricky is one of those artists from the 50s that has managed to be well known (relatively speaking) today. I'd be curious to know if you haven't heard any of his other big hits. Just scanning his singles discography, the only two I'm familiar with are "Hello Mary Lou" and "Garden Party." I wonder if it's just the ebb and flow of these things: you know, especially before the streaming era, so-and-so has his catalogue reissued, then it fades out of fashion, then it becomes cool again because somebody-cool-or-other likes it and it's reissued again, etc. For example, Queen were HUGELY unpopular (at least as far as I knew) when I got into them, then their whole catalogue was reissued and Wayne's World happened, etc., and they were right back. (Then they faded again, then they bounced back again.) The Doors had their moment in the early 90s because of the movie. And so on. Point being, maybe between my parents apparently not being into Ricky Nelson--or at least not having any around the house when I was little--and the coincidences of what was reissued or pushed when, it all just happened to pass me by. But yeah, for whatever reason, he's more a guy I knew of than I guy I knew.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jul 20, 2023 0:20:11 GMT
Great topic! This will bring a lot of variety of music to discuss, and hopefully a variety of members participating. There's something for everyone. Looking forward to it as I've (cough) been around for the entire chart history. 
Now, onto "Poor Little Fool". I'm surprised that I never heard of Sharon Sheeley, especially with her resume' and interesting story. She is a part of rock & roll history.
I've been a fan of Ricky Nelson for a long time. As a kid I used to watch The Adventures Of Ozzy And Harriet TV show. Even at a young age I could tell that Ricky was the star of the show. I always liked the episodes where he performed with his band. Obviously I had no idea that a young James Burton was his lead guitarist, but I knew he rocked! As a teenager, I got a hold of Ricky Nelson's Greatest Hits. Good stuff. Ricky could sing all types of music - pop, rockabilly, country, and ballads. And with his good looks and personality, he was the epitome of a teen idol. Like most teen idols, he eventually tried to grow out of that stigma and changed his name/billing to Rick Nelson.
"Poor Little Fool" is one of Ricky's best. A catchy tune with ironic or...unbelievable...lyrics. Ricky Nelson a poor, little fool?  The Jordanaires are very prominent. It's a well-produced record.
As an aside, a Beach Boys' aside, Ricky Nelson always reminded me of, not a Beach Boy, not just one Beach Boy, but a combination of Beach Boys. He looked like the young Beach Boys or vice versa, he was clean cut, and he played early rock & roll and sang youthful ballads. With his brother, David, and his parents Ozzy and Harriet, who were kind of his manager (at least on TV) and also had musical talent of their own, it just kind of seemed like the Wilsons in Hawthorne.
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Jul 20, 2023 12:16:22 GMT
I'm very surprised you've never heard of this. It was of course a big hit, but also Ricky is one of those artists from the 50s that has managed to be well known (relatively speaking) today. I'd be curious to know if you haven't heard any of his other big hits. Just scanning his singles discography, the only two I'm familiar with are "Hello Mary Lou" and "Garden Party." I wonder if it's just the ebb and flow of these things: you know, especially before the streaming era, so-and-so has his catalogue reissued, then it fades out of fashion, then it becomes cool again because somebody-cool-or-other likes it and it's reissued again, etc. For example, Queen were HUGELY unpopular (at least as far as I knew) when I got into them, then their whole catalogue was reissued and Wayne's World happened, etc., and they were right back. (Then they faded again, then they bounced back again.) The Doors had their moment in the early 90s because of the movie. And so on. Point being, maybe between my parents apparently not being into Ricky Nelson--or at least not having any around the house when I was little--and the coincidences of what was reissued or pushed when, it all just happened to pass me by. But yeah, for whatever reason, he's more a guy I knew of than I guy I knew. I guess really there's so much music out there, it's easy to miss even the top hits, especially from 20-30 years before one was born. There's a guy I know who could name maybe one or two Beatles songs, for example. One of the reasons I like driving when out with other people or hosting a party of some sort is I'm generally exposing people to music they've never heard before. Too bad most people don't give a second thought to 95% of the music made before they were born. I think we had a topic about this a while back about when music from the 50s-60s will drift into obscurity like the music that came before it. As I get older and meet more people around my age, I think it's well under way.
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Post by kds on Jul 20, 2023 12:29:21 GMT
Just scanning his singles discography, the only two I'm familiar with are "Hello Mary Lou" and "Garden Party." I wonder if it's just the ebb and flow of these things: you know, especially before the streaming era, so-and-so has his catalogue reissued, then it fades out of fashion, then it becomes cool again because somebody-cool-or-other likes it and it's reissued again, etc. For example, Queen were HUGELY unpopular (at least as far as I knew) when I got into them, then their whole catalogue was reissued and Wayne's World happened, etc., and they were right back. (Then they faded again, then they bounced back again.) The Doors had their moment in the early 90s because of the movie. And so on. Point being, maybe between my parents apparently not being into Ricky Nelson--or at least not having any around the house when I was little--and the coincidences of what was reissued or pushed when, it all just happened to pass me by. But yeah, for whatever reason, he's more a guy I knew of than I guy I knew. I guess really there's so much music out there, it's easy to miss even the top hits, especially from 20-30 years before one was born. There's a guy I know who could name maybe one or two Beatles songs, for example. One of the reasons I like driving when out with other people or hosting a party of some sort is I'm generally exposing people to music they've never heard before. Too bad most people don't give a second thought to 95% of the music made before they were born. I think we had a topic about this a while back about when music from the 50s-60s will drift into obscurity like the music that came before it. As I get older and meet more people around my age, I think it's well under way. I've definitely noticed that, in particular with music from the 50s and the first half of the 60s. Just occasionally listening to FM Classic Rock, you rarely hear music from the 60s anymore, and if you do it's definitely 1967-69. (Get Off My Lawn Comment) Just as I grew up in an era when The Beatles, Stones, The Who, Doors, and Zeppelin were revered as Classic Rock artists, we're now in an era where Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Weezer, Green Day, and Red Hot Chili Peppers are revered as Classic Rock artists. Yikes.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 20, 2023 12:33:15 GMT
I think we had a topic about this a while back about when music from the 50s-60s will drift into obscurity like the music that came before it. As I get older and meet more people around my age, I think it's well under way. One thing that I think might counter that natural flow of things is the unnatural reality of the online world: my hypothesis about why I never really heard more than a song or two from Ricky Nelson was based on me having grown up in an analog world. But a huge percentage of recorded music is now immediately and (more or less) freely available. A single pop-culture moment, whether song placement, a celebrity name-dropping, or anything else, can bring back anything immediately without the need for a label recognizing the opportunity, getting corporate approval for a reissue, product manufacturing and marketing, etc. It's just there. An example: the 1986 blues-guitar movie Crossroads (starring Ralph Macchio and with a scene-stealing Steve Vai) introduced me and many other young aspiring guitar players to the blues icon Robert Johnson. But I couldn't find a Robert Johnson recording until a 1990 box set was released. That's four years I was looking! I'm sure there were places where Johnson's music was to be found, but it wasn't on cassette in the mall-chain music stores I had semi-easy access to (though even those were 30-45 minutes away from my music-storeless small town), and it wasn't in the BMG or Columbia House music clubs, which focused on current music or hits of legacy artists. Compare that to the impact shows like Stranger Things have on older music. Immediate chart success and legions of new, young fans. So I think older music might naturally fade as it always has, but individual artists or songs are probably more likely to more often bubble back up into the pop consciousness. They'll be easier to revisit, at least unless or until our platforms and business models change.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jul 20, 2023 17:17:15 GMT
I guess really there's so much music out there, it's easy to miss even the top hits, especially from 20-30 years before one was born. There's a guy I know who could name maybe one or two Beatles songs, for example. One of the reasons I like driving when out with other people or hosting a party of some sort is I'm generally exposing people to music they've never heard before. Too bad most people don't give a second thought to 95% of the music made before they were born. I think we had a topic about this a while back about when music from the 50s-60s will drift into obscurity like the music that came before it. As I get older and meet more people around my age, I think it's well under way. I've definitely noticed that, in particular with music from the 50s and the first half of the 60s. Just occasionally listening to FM Classic Rock, you rarely hear music from the 60s anymore, and if you do it's definitely 1967-69. (Get Off My Lawn Comment) Just as I grew up in an era when The Beatles, Stones, The Who, Doors, and Zeppelin were revered as Classic Rock artists, we're now in an era where Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Weezer, Green Day, and Red Hot Chili Peppers are revered as Classic Rock artists. Yikes. Yes, the "oldies" stations that play the music of the 50s, 60s, and much of the 70s are disappearing. I do remember when FM oldies and classic rock stations started, and it was very enjoyable to listen to them. I didn't think of it as "keeping that music alive" as much as I just dug listening to that music in various settings. However, little by little, year by year, those artists/songs were phased out. Now, on those FM stations, disco songs are the new golden oldies! The only Beatles you hear are the singles from Abbey Road or Let It Be. The only Beach Boys you hear is "Kokomo". The only Rolling Stones you hear is from Some Girls or Tattoo You. Those stations will feature these Saturdays With The 70s or Sundays With The 70s, and they think they're going waaaaay back. I laugh to keep from crying.
Oh, I get it. The demographics. The people who grew up with the 50s, 60s, and 70s music are now in the range of 60-90 years old. Radio stations aren't marketing to them. I don't want to come off as some Joe Oldie or somebody who is out to "save the music" or somebody who is out to "educate the kids", but I do think a lot of younger music fans are missing out on a lot of great music. No, they're not going to automatically tune into it, but they'd find it. They would.
Both of my parents lived in retirement/nursing homes at the end of their lives, and I remember the first time I visited my Dad. The first song I heard playing in the halls over the ceiling speakers was a Four Seasons' song. That was followed by a Beatles' song, and yes, eventually a Beach Boys' song. And I remember thinking, "Well, kudos to whoever is programming the music, but isn't it a little...too young...for the residents?" Then it hit me (at the time), Frankie Valli was already in his 80s and the surviving Beatles and Beach Boys were fast approaching that age. They were older than a large number of the residents! And, yes, THAT was the music of their youth. But keep playing it, just keep playing it. 
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The Jordanaires are very prominent. It's a well-produced record. 
