Pina Colada song

[huedell]

Yeah, I love "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)", as well.

How about the Carpenters? Anyone?

The Carpenters Ian? Another great GREAT discography.
Great material from that band/duo, yes--- and very consistent too.
A lot of great cover tunes too.

And how about that intro to CALLING OCCUPANTS OF INTERPLANETARY
CRAFT? Brilliant.

[EmergencyIan]

Yeah, I love "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)", as well.

How about the Carpenters? Anyone?


- Ian

[megoat]

So just who are all these alleged super talented independant artists and labels you speak of? Obviously if they had any talent at all somebody would have signed them which might help explain why groups like Starland Vocal Band had a #1 Single with "Afternoon Delight" and you have yet to come up with anything better.

This is the singular funniest thing I've read on the internet this week. Thanks.

The only point I was trying to make was that by the late 70's, commerical mainstream radio had been dominated by a handful of major labels who made it impossible for outside independent voices to be heard. I did not make this up. Check the historical record. Much has been written about this. It is no secret. Oh yeah, your Billboard "Hot 100" books prolly ain't gonna talk about it much.....

My "evidence" is that great independent labels of the past like SUN or MOTOWN--that had HUGE AND GIGANTIC influence on popular music--could not operate outside of the uber corporate music industry climate of the late 70's. That is why you can not find an independent voice on the Billboard charts circa 1978.

And, IMO, this was the reason for my original assertion that the 1970's marked the beginning of the decline of popular radio.....

Obviously you see things differently........

[grayhank]

Well not my idea of an independant (and frankly I couldn't care less about independants). I have yet to see you come up with any facts whatsoever to support your statements. So just who are all these alleged super talented independant artists and labels you speak of? Obviously if they had any talent at all somebody would have signed them which might help explain why groups like Starland Vocal Band had a #1 Single with "Afternoon Delight" and you have yet to come up with anything better.

You're just taking a contradictory position for the sake of being contradictory, simply because you have nothing to base your opinions on. I think the conversation is done now.

[huedell]

I just read Rupert Holmes' wikipedia entry (the guy who wrote the PINA COLADA song)
and I was just stunned---

Not ONLY did Holmes write that song and a few other solo hits

and not ONLY did he work with Streisand on A STAR IS BORN and write hits for her...

Holmes also wrote songs for: Gene Pitney, the Platters, the Drifters, Wayne Newton
and television's The Partridge Family

Holmes also wrote the hugely successful play based on GEORGE BURNS' life "Goodnite, Gracie"
(you know, the one starring FRANK GORSHIN)

Holmes also wrote sixty PLUS episodes of a TV show called Remember WENN---all
of 'em wriiten by him HIMSELF (wow) for AMC

He's also written other successful plays and a novel---

Wow--that Pina Colada guy is a freakin' powerhouse prolific dude!

[huedell]

Thanks for the rock trivia grayhank Jim Steinman is a genius songwriter

[megoat]

Chrysalis 1972-1993

Call Me - Blondie (80)
Mickey - Toni Basil (82)
Hot Child in the City - Nick Gilder (78)
Power of Love - Huey Lewis (85)
The Tide is High - Blondie (81)
Mony Mony - Billy Idol (87)
I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles - Proclaimers (93)
Love is A Battlefield - Pat Benatar (83)
Jeans On - David Dunas (77)
Living In the Past - Jethro Tull (73)
Isn't It Time - The Babys (78)
Heartbreaker - Pat Benatar (80)
People Everyday - Arrested Development (92)
Don't Shed A Tear - Paul Carrack (88)
Bungle in the Jungle - Jethro Tull (75)

Ha, ha, ha. Chrysalis, is your idea of an independent? Man, conversation over.

As an aside, I had some dealings with the publishing side of Chrysalis in the mid 90's. One of the worst experiences of my life. What a bunch of wankers.....

[grayhank]

Chrysalis 1972-1993

Call Me - Blondie (80)
Mickey - Toni Basil (82)
Hot Child in the City - Nick Gilder (78)
Power of Love - Huey Lewis (85)
The Tide is High - Blondie (81)
Mony Mony - Billy Idol (87)
I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles - Proclaimers (93)
Love is A Battlefield - Pat Benatar (83)
Jeans On - David Dunas (77)
Living In the Past - Jethro Tull (73)
Isn't It Time - The Babys (78)
Heartbreaker - Pat Benatar (80)
People Everyday - Arrested Development (92)
Don't Shed A Tear - Paul Carrack (88)
Bungle in the Jungle - Jethro Tull (75)

And I never said that the 70s were the golden age of radio. I said you would hear more variety of music styles coming from radio stations in general. In the earlier days of Billboard there was basically only 1 chart that stations went by the Hot 100 Chart. As more and more styles of music became more evident, Billboard added charts to each style of music over the years. The R&B Chart, The Album Rock Chart, Latin Chart, C&W Chart, Dance Chart, Adult Contemporary Chart, Modern Rock Chart etc.

[megoat]

Big deal, you have a bunch of Billboard books. Yawn.

The point I was making, this is not a hypothetical, show me the evidence of say, by 1978, of a truly independent label, in the tradition of a Sun records or a Motown, scoring a top 40 hit. You'll have to look long and hard.

I was only responding to your initial assertion that somehow the 1970's were the golden days of radio, when in fact it was the beginning of the end of interesting popular radio. Gone was the ability for bands to have regional hits. Gone was the ability for small labels to have access to the airwaves. Gone was the ability for visionary DJ's to decide their playlists. The real action went underground......

I'm not sure what your point is. All labels are owned by somebody and yes there are subsidiaries and subsidiaries of other subsidiaries. You can't throw hypotheticals in there. You can't say what could have happened with Motown or Sun when and where because that history has already passed. We do know what did in fact happen with both those companies through their history. I just go by what the facts tell me through what I've researched.

http://a663.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...b0a795c086.jpg

[grayhank]

I'm not sure what your point is. All labels are owned by somebody and yes there are subsidiaries and subsidiaries of other subsidiaries. You can't throw hypotheticals in there. You can't say what could have happened with Motown or Sun when and where because that history has already passed. We do know what did in fact happen with both those companies through their history. I just go by what the facts tell me through what I've researched.

[megoat]

That is ridiculous. You do realize that most of the labels you listed for 1975 are under the umbrella of a handful of much larger media corporations? It's no secret that by the mid 70's the recording industry had consolidated its power, and while on the surface it may seem that there were a wide variety of labels, the truth of the matter is that a label like Motown, if it had started in say, 1975, would not have had a chance of getting airplay. Nor would have a Sun records or an Atlantic Records for that matter.

Out of that whole list you just posted, name one that is a true independent that was a new label in the 1970's..... Many of those labels started out as independents in the 50's/60's but by the 70's had been turned into something quite different. By the 1970's the game totally changed.

That's just plain wrong. Looking at the 100 Top Singles from 1975 alone, here are ALL the record labels present for that year:

RCA
A&M
Capitol
MCA
TK
Midland International
ABC/Dot
Asylum
Epic
Elektra
Playboy
Motown
Rocket
RSO
Avco
Warner Brothers
Curtom
Private Stock
Mercury
Atlantic
20th Century
Columbia
Grunt
Bell
Warner/Curb
Tamla
Chelsea
Anchor
Apple
Roadshow
T-Neck
UA
GRC
Fantasy
Shelter
EMI
Arista
Swan Song
Buddah
Wooden Nickel
MGM
Big Tree
Claridge
Spring
Rak

Now looking at the Top 100 Singles of 1956. The first five labels combined are over half of the 100 singles:

RCA (11 mentions)
Columbia (11 mentions)
Dot (10 mentions)
Capitol (8 mentions)
Mercury (13 mentions)
Era
Decca
King
Imperial
Liberty
Coral
Fraternity
Gee
Luniverse
Glory
ABC
MGM
Cadence
Speciality
Atlantic
Vik
London
DeLuxe
Verve
RPM
Modern
Sun
Aladdin

[megocrazy]

ABBA didn't perform "Afternoon Delight"

That was the Starlight Vocal band. I think they had their own show on television. Remembering seeing it as a kid. It was so horrifying. I can't decide which show was worse, that or Hee Haw.

I know. I'm almost disgusted with myself that I know but, I was just saying in addition to "Afternoon Delight" ABBA is another band I just can't handle listening to. My wife plays them all the time as she was a teen during the disco/nightclub times and just can't get enough of them. Along with the Bee Gee's, and all those other disco favorite's. If I hear "I will Survive" once more I may not survive!! I can't even stay home when she's cleaning the house because she cranks up the stereo and there's no where I can go that I can't hear it. Thank God I got her hooked on the Barenaked Ladies so at least we can find a happy medium to listen to once in a while. I actually had to buy her a record player so she can play her old records with all the scratchy sounding music goodness they supposedly offer.

[grayhank]

I totally disagree. The 1970's marked the end for the little guy and the beginning of an industry completely dominated by a few major corporate record labels. It became nearly impossible for little labels to thrive like they did in the 50's and 60's. By the 1970's, radio became the bland homogenized crud it is today......

That's just plain wrong. Looking at the 100 Top Singles from 1975 alone, here are ALL the record labels present for that year:

RCA
A&M
Capitol
MCA
TK
Midland International
ABC/Dot
Asylum
Epic
Elektra
Playboy
Motown
Rocket
RSO
Avco
Warner Brothers
Curtom
Private Stock
Mercury
Atlantic
20th Century
Columbia
Grunt
Bell
Warner/Curb
Tamla
Chelsea
Anchor
Apple
Roadshow
T-Neck
UA
GRC
Fantasy
Shelter
EMI
Arista
Swan Song
Buddah
Wooden Nickel
MGM
Big Tree
Claridge
Spring
Rak

Now looking at the Top 100 Singles of 1956. The first five labels combined are over half of the 100 singles:

RCA (11 mentions)
Columbia (11 mentions)
Dot (10 mentions)
Capitol (8 mentions)
Mercury (13 mentions)
Era
Decca
King
Imperial
Liberty
Coral
Fraternity
Gee
Luniverse
Glory
ABC
MGM
Cadence
Speciality
Atlantic
Vik
London
DeLuxe
Verve
RPM
Modern
Sun
Aladdin

[Adam West]

ABBA is the best .........

If someone don't like ABBA, stay far away from me.

I'm also a big fan of ABBA and even saw the Broadway show Mama Mia! which was excellent.

I really liked the way they blended all of ABBA's most well known songs into a storyline. Sounds kind of corny but it worked and it is the only time I have ever seen people from the audience up and dancing to songs by the end of the show.

[megoat]

What people fail to realize about the 70s radio is that there were NO basic formats to what they played. You would hear anything from a rock song to country to disco to soul to pop. It was all uniquely blended together. Now most radio stations will only play one style of music per station. It gets boring.

I totally disagree. The 1970's marked the end for the little guy and the beginning of an industry completely dominated by a few major corporate record labels. It became nearly impossible for little labels to thrive like they did in the 50's and 60's. By the 1970's, radio became the bland homogenized crud it is today......