When “Hey! Baby” topped the Hot 100, the harmonica was still a novelty. The instrument hadn’t really been heard on popular records until the emergence of Chicago Blues just a few years prior. While the harmonica would become a staple of rock radio, thanks to British blues, garage and Dylan, in 1962 musicians were still [...]
Archive for August, 2009
66) Bruce Channel – “Hey! Baby”
Posted in 04, 1962, tagged bruce channel, delbert mcclinton on August 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
65) Gene Chandler – “Duke of Earl”
Posted in 06, 1962, tagged gene chandler on August 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Dion jumping ship from The Belmonts may have been symptomatic of pop’s drift toward rock and roll, but doo wop wasn’t dead yet. Though “Duke of Earl” is billed as a Gene Chandler solo record, it’s actually built on the layered vocals of The Dukays. It’s Chandler’s former group that provides the song’s big, memorable [...]
64) Joey Dee and the Starlighters – “Peppermint Twist – Part 1″
Posted in 06, 1962, tagged joey dee and the starlighters, joey dee and the starliters on August 7, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Where there’s a fad, there’s bound to be a whole bandwagon full of copycats and also-rans. After The Tokens‘ three-week reign atop the Hot 100 was a return visit of an old chart-topper: Chubby Checker’s “The Twist,” which had peaked previously in 1960. This second run of “The Twist” was triggered by adults finally discovering [...]
63) The Tokens – “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”
Posted in 08, 1961, 1962, tagged the tokens on August 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
While Motown was helping African-American musical styles crossover to the mainstream, a group of Italian Brooklynites served as unlikely ambassadors for the music of the mother continent. The Tokens’ adaptation of the 1939 song “Mbube” (“Lion”) by Zulu musician Solomon Linda weds South African vocal traditions with American doo wop with surprisingly successful results. Pete [...]
