#601: Apeman by The Kinks

Peak Month: January 1971
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKVN chart
Peak Position #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #45
YouTube.com: “Apeman”
Lyrics: “Apeman”

The Kinks were an English rock band formed in 1963 in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies and Pete Quaife. Known as a British Invasion band in North America, the Kinks were one of the most significant and influential bands of the era. The Kinks first came to prominence in 1964 with their third single, “You Really Got Me” written by Ray Davies. It became an international hit peaking at #1 in the UK, #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 in Vancouver on CKLG. Extremely influential on the American garage rock scene, You Really Got Me has been described as “a blueprint song in the hard rock and heavy metal arsenal. In 1965 the Kinks toured internationally headlining with other groups including Manfred Mann, The Honeycombs and The Yardbirds.
Continue reading →

#602: The Unknown Soldier by The Doors

Peak Month: May 1968
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #3
1 week Hit Bound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #39
YouTube.com: “The Unknown Soldier”
Lyrics: “The Unknown Soldier”

The Doors were a psychedelic rock band from Los Angeles featuring Jim Morrison on vocals, Robbie Kreiger on guitar, Ray Manzarek on keyboards and drummer John Densmore. In 1965 Morrison and Manzarek were UCLA film students. They met each other for the first time on Venice Beach. Morrison had graduated and was living a vagabond life, sleeping on the beach, taking drugs and writing poetry. Morrison told Manzarek, “I was taking notes at a fantastic rock ‘n’ roll concert going on in my head.” Then he sang “Moonlight Drive” to Manzarek. Discovering their addition interest in music, the two decided to form a band. Jim Morrison was born in Melbourne (FL) in 1943. He was the oldest child and his father was a U.S. Naval officer. Morrison suggested the name of the band. It came from the novel by Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception. Huxley’s novel, in turn, drew inspiration from poet William Blake’s “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.” In that poem Blake writes: “If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.” The Doors signed a record contract with Columbia Records in the winter of 1965-66.

Continue reading →

Peak Month: April 1963
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #17
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #82
YouTube.com: “Spanish Twist”

On May 1, 1961, Billboard magazine reported that the Holiday Inn motel chain had begun a record label in Memphis, Tennessee, called Holiday Inn Records. The head of the Holiday Inn label was Wayne Foster. It was reported the record company “would sell entirely through distributors, who would most likely receive tie-in advertising from the motel chain, which uses 50 radio stations and numerous consumer magazines nationwide for its own promotion.” Billboard added that Holiday Inn records debut single release was “Rimshot Pt. 1” by the Roller Coasters. The single was released on April 1, 1961. Foster told Billboard that “Rimshot Pt. 1” already had “sales figures totaling 6,000 for an eight-day period in the Memphis and New Orleans area.” It was reported the instrumental was receiving airplay as well in Atlanta. It was anticipated that the Memphis-area Roller Coasters would be made use of in the Holiday Inns “promotion work for the motel chain.” “Rimshot Pt. 1” climbed to #10 in Memphis and #13 in Shreveport, LA.

Continue reading →

#1309: One Potato – Two Potato – Three Potato – Four by The Dovells

Peak Month: April 1964
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN’s chart
Peak Position #16
Twin Pick Hit March 21/64
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “One Potato – Two Potato – Three Potato – Four”

Len Borisoff was born in Philadelphia in 1942. After serving in the U.S. Coast Guard in 1957, he formed the Brooktones. In the spring of 1958 they had a regional hit in Buffalo and Rochester (NY) titled “Cute And Collegiate”. The doo-wop group changed their name to the Dovells in December 1960. Len Borisoff was a tenor and the lead singer of the group. The other singers were Mike Freda (second tenor), Jim Mealey (bass), Jerry Gross (tenor and sometimes lead vocalist), Arnie Silver (baritone) and Mark Stevens (part-time tenor). They got a record contract with Parkway Records in 1960.  In the fall of 1961 The Dovells debut single, “Bristol Stomp”, stayed climbed to #4 where it remained at its peak for three weeks on the Vancouver pop charts over a 12-week chart run. The single peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1962 the group (pictured above) was back on the Top 40 in Vancouver with two minor dance tunes, “Hully Gully Baby” and “The Jitterbug”. They also had a Top 40 hit in the USA titled “(Do The New) Continental”. Jim Mealey left the group for personal reasons during 1962.

Continue reading →

#603: But You Know I Love You by The First Edition

Peak Month: February 1969
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #3
1 week Hit Bound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #19
YouTube.com: “But You Know I Love You”
Lyrics: “But You Know I Love You”

Kenneth Ray Rogers was born in Houston, Texas, in 1938. Rogers has both Irish and American Indian ancestry. In 1956 he formed a doo-wop group called The Scholars. He began his recording career with a teen ballad “That Crazy Feeling” in 1957. The single climbed to #2 in Houston in February 1958 and appeared on the bottom of the CHUM Hit Parade in Toronto. By 1960 Rogers gained a reputation as a bass player and joined The Bobby Doyle Three, a jazz trio. The third member was Don Russell. At the time Rogers was a student at the University of Texas. In 1962 the trio released an album titled In A Most Unusual Way. They disbanded in 1965. Rogers released a single as a solo artist in early 1966 which was a flop. He joined The New Christy Minstrels in July 1966 as on vocals and double bass. Feeling stuck in the folk groove, he left the group and formed The First Edition. The other members of The First Edition also exited The New Christy Minstrels with Rogers. They were Mike Settle, Terry Williams and Thelma Camacho.
Continue reading →

#604: Love Becomes Electric by Strange Advance

Peak Month: April 1988
12 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #8
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Love Becomes Electric”
Lyrics: “Love Becomes Electric”

From 1974 to 1977 Drew Arnott and Darryl Kromm played in a Vancouver band called Stan. The band split up and the pair parted ways. But they reunited in the late ’70’s and in 1979 were playing gigs around Vancouver in a band named Remote Control. The bass player for Remote Control was Paul Iverson. The three met up in 1980 and formed a band named Metropolis. But they changed their name to Strange Advance when they learned another band in Germany had the name Metropolis. Strange Advance was formally launched in Vancouver in 1982. Arnott played keyboards, percussion and usually backing vocals. Kromm played guitar and was the lead vocalist. While touring with Bryan Adams, Kromm gave him a demo tape of the tunes he and Arnott were working on. Adams liked what he heard and passed it on to producer Bruce Fairbairn. Along with Iverson, Arnott and Kromm went to the recording studio and made an album titled Worlds Away. It was produced by Bruce Fairbairn, a producer of Loverboy, Bryan Adams and Prism albums. The sound of Strange Advance was a fusion of progressive rock and new wave. Their debut single from the album, “She Controls Me”, became a regional hit, but not in Vancouver. The single climbed to #3 in Ottawa and the Top 20 in Montreal, Regina and Halifax. The album won Strange Advance a Juno nomination for “Most Promising Group of The Year” in 1983.
Continue reading →

#605: Lemon Tree by Peter, Paul and Mary

Peak Month: May 1962
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #35
YouTube.com: “Lemon Tree”
Lyrics: “Lemon Tree”

Peter Yarrow was born in Manhattan in 1938 to Ukranian Jewish immigrants. His mother and father arrived in 1922, and his father Bernard Yaroshevitz anglicized his name in 1925 in order to get into Columbia University. During World War II Bernard Yarrow was recruited to work for the OSS (Office of Strategic Services), the forerunner to the CIA. Peter’s parents divorced in 1943. After World War II, Bernard Yarrow worked in the lawfirm Sullivan and Cromwell, where Alan Dulles and John Foster Dulles had been employed. In 1952 Bernard Yarrow became a senior vice-president of the CIA-funded Radio Free Europe. Yarrow was a bright student and attended Cornell University where he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology in 1959. Yarrow’s classmate, Richard Fariña, went on to be a folk singer and wrote numerous protest songs. Yarrow performed in public at Cornell in 1958-59 while attending Professor Harold Thompson’s popular American Folk Literature course. On June 25, 1960, Peter Yarrow performed at the second Newport Folk Festival.

Continue reading →

#1312: I’m A Dreamer, Aren’t We All by Marcy Jo

Peak Month: September 1962
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Lyrics: “I’m A Dreamer, Aren’t We All”

In 1944, Marcy Rae Sockel was born in Pittsburgh. She grew up in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh. In her teens, each Saturday, for four consecutive years she took transit to the city center. At the Carlton House Hotel she’d take singing lessons from songwriter and co-owner of Robbee Records, Lennie Martin. The year before Martin had produced the Top 30 hit “Pennies From Heaven” by The Skyliners. When she turned seventeen, Marcy Joe wrote a song about her boyfriend Howard. She called it “Ronnie”. Martin was impressed with the song and quickly composed an arrangement for the tune. He produced a recording session of “Ronnie” at Pittsburgh’s United Recording Service studio and got local Robbee Record artists Lugee & the Lions to sing back up. Lugee & the Lions were comprised of Lou “Lugee” Sacco (later known as Lou Christie), Amy Sacco (Lou’s older sister), Kay Chick and Bill Fabec. In March 1961 the song was released.

Continue reading →

#1305: No Good To Cry by The Wildweeds

Peak Month: June 1967
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #13
1 week Hit Bound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #88
YouTube.com: “No Good To Cry”
Lyrics: “No Good To Cry”

Alan Gordon Anderson was born in 1947. In his teens he learned to play guitar. By 1966 he formed a band in the Hartford (CT) area called The Weeds. Anderson was the frontman. He was joined by drummer Andy Lepak, keyboard player Ray Zeiner, bass player Bob Dudek and Martin “Skip” Yakaitis on percussion. Andy Lepak’s dad, Alex Lepak Sr., became the band’s manager. Lepak Sr. was a musician and music teacher in his own right. The band changed their name to the Wildweeds and got a record deal with Cadet after recording some songs at Syncron Sound Studios.

Continue reading →

#606: The Last To Know by Celine Dion

Peak Month: May 1991
13 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “The Last To Know”
Lyrics: “The Last To Know”

Céline Marie Claudette Dion was born in the Montreal suburb of Charlemagne, Quebec, in 1968. She developed a talent for singing in early childhood. At the age of 13 she recorded an album which included a song she wrote titled “Ce n’était qu’un rêve” (“Nothing But a Dream”). The song climbed into the Top Ten in Quebec. She competed in Tokyo, Japan, at the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival and won awards for Top  Performer and Best Song. In 1983 she recorded the single “D’amour ou d’amitié” (“Of Love or Friendship”) which became a number one hit in Quebec and peaked at #5 on the national pop chart in France. In early 1984 in Germany, Dion also released a German-language version of “D’amour ou d’amitié” titled “Was bedeute ich dir”. In 1988 she won the Eurovision contest in Dublin for her rendition of “Ne partez pas sans moi” (“Don’t Leave Without Me”). The song was composed by Atilla Şereftuğ, a Swiss citizen, and Dion was entered as a Swiss Eurovision contestant. That same year she gave 75 concerts as part of her Incognito tournée in the province of Quebec to support her latest French-language album.

Continue reading →