#1182: All I Wanna Do by Doucette

Peak Month: October 1978
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “All I Wanna Do”
Lyrics: “All I Wanna Do”

In 1952 Jerry Doucette was born in Montreal into a musical family. At the age of four his family moved to Hamilton, Ontario. At the age of six got his first guitar. When he was eight he began to take guitar lessons. When he was eleven he joined a band called the Reefers. When he turned 16 he moved to Toronto and was a member of a number of bands including Brutus. He moved to Vancouver in 1972 and  played with the Alexis Radlin Band. Soon after he joined the Seeds of Time who were searching for a guitarist. In 1974 they changed their name to the Rocket Norton Band. Doucette remained with this band until he decided to go solo in 1977, after Mushroom Records expressed support for such a move.

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#631: Young Blood by Bad Company

Peak Month: May 1976
7 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #20
YouTube.com: “Young Blood”
Lyrics: “Young Blood”

Bad Company was a band from London, UK, who formed in 1973. Two band members, Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke, were formerly with Free who had a Top Ten hit in 1970 titled “All Right Now”. Rodgers was the lead singer for Free, and carried on as lead singer for Bad Company. Kirke continued as a drummer. Rounding out the band was former Mott the Hoople guitarist, Mick Ralphs, and bass player Bob Burzell who left King Crimson to join Bad Company. Paul Rodgers recalls the idea came from a book of Victorian morals that showed a picture of an innocent kid looking up at an unsavoury character leaning against a lamp post. The caption read “beware of bad company”

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#632: Rave On by Buddy Holly

Peak Month: June 1958
8 weeks on CKWX’s Vancouver Chart (peak #7)
Peak Position ~ #4 Red Robinson Chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #37
YouTube.com: “Rave On”
Lyrics: “Rave On”

In 1936, Charles Hardin Holley was born in Lubbock, Texas. When he was five years old he won $5 when he entered a local talent show and sang “Down The River of Memories.” He listened to the Grand Ole Opry growing up and after trying to learn the piano settled on taking up the guitar. During his Junior and Senior years in school, Holley entered some talent shows with friends in duos and doing gigs with a band playing a blend of country & western and rhythm & blues. He had a band that performed live on the Lubbock radio station KDAV. After high school graduation Holly focused on making a career as a musician. He heard Elvis Presley in concert in Lubbock in 1955. Shortly after Hollry would appear as the opening act for Presley in concert three times in 1955. Owen Bradley, who would also produce records for Conway Twitty, Brenda Lee, Patsy Cline and Gene Vincent, became Holley’s record producer after he signed a record deal with Decca Records in February 1956. After signing the record deal, Buddy Holley dropped the “e” from his surname to become Buddy Holly.

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#633: You Can’t Do That by The Beatles

Peak Month: April 1964
7 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #48
YouTube.com: “You Can’t Do That”
Lyrics: “You Can’t Do That”

Paul McCartney was born in Liverpool in 1942. He attended the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys and met fellow classmates  George Harrison on a school bus. When Paul was 14 his mom died from a blockage in one of her blood vessels. In his early teens McCartney learned to play trumpet, guitar and piano. He was left-handed and restrung the strings to make it work. In 1957, Paul met John Lennon and in October he was invited to join John’s skiffle band, The Quarrymen, which Lennon had founded in 1956. After Paul joined the group his suggested that his friend, George Harrison, join the group. Harrison became one of the Quarrymen in early 1958, though he was still only 14. Other original members of the Quarrymen, Len Garry, Rod Davis, Colin Hanton, Eric Griffiths and Pete Shotton left the band when their set changed from skiffle to rock ‘n roll. John Duff Lowe, a friend of Paul’s from the Liverpool Institute, who had joined the Quarrymen in early 1958 left the band at the end of school. This left Lennon, McCartney and Harrison as remaining trio. On July 15, 1958, John Lennon’s mother died in an automobile accident.

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#1237: Rockin’ Goose by Johnny And The Hurricanes

Peak Month: October 1960
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #8
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #60
YouTube.com: “Rockin’ Goose”

John Matthew Pocisk was born in rural Ohio near Toledo in 1940. He learned to play the saxophone. Poscisk formed his first band while he was in high school. Subsequently, he formed a band in October 1957 name the Orbits. The name was taken from news stories about the Space Race between the USA and the USSR that began in the mid-50’s. On October 4, 1957, the USSR had a successful launch of Sputnik 1 which was the first satellite to orbit the earth. The band called the Orbits were based in Toledo, Ohio. They developed a following and were soon noticed by talent agents who heard one of their demos. The Orbits were approached by Harry Balik and Ira Micahnik of Artists Inc. in Detroit. Balik and Micahnik managed Little Willie John and the Royaltones. and taken under the wing of management who had their name changed to Johnny And The Hurricanes. Johnny Pocisk was billed as Johnny Paris while performing with the Hurricanes.

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#635: Keep Away From Other Girls by Babs Tino

Peak Month: January 1963
7 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #4
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Keep Away From Other Girls”
LyricsL “Keep Away From Other Girls”

There is next to nothing online to be found about Babs Tino. She was from Philadelphia and composed her debut single, on Cameo Records, titled “My Honeybun” in 1957. One of the few narrative threads is found in the liner notes from the 1997 Ace Records album, Early Girls Vol. 2. The liner notes reveal: “Babs Tino had the looks and the talent but failed to get the breaks and therefore barely qualifies as a footnote to a footnote in the history books. Having made a solitary single for Cameo Records in 1957, it seems she did not record again until 1961 when she signed with Kapp Records and had six singles released between then and 1963. Owner Dave Kapp was a pillar of New York’s musical establishment, a man with strongly held views on the linear alignment of musical notes in relation to pitch and tempo, and no-one got through the door at Kapp unless they could count bars and sing in tune. The best arrangers/songwriters (including Bacharach and Leiber & Stoller) were assigned to Tino’s sessions but only her third single, ‘Forgive me’, made any sort of impression ‘bubbling’ under the Hot 100 for one week in 1962 and gaining a UK release.

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#636: Games by New Kids On The Block

Peak Month: February 1991
12 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Games”
Lyrics: “Games”

Jordan Nathaniel Marcel Knight was born in 1970 in Worcester, Massachusetts. Both of his parents are Canadian and he is a duel American-Canadian citizen. He was still 13 years-old when New Kids On The Block was formed. Knight’s vocal style was influenced by The Stylistics. Jonathan Knight was born in 1968, the fifth of six children, and is the older brother of Jordan. Joey (Joseph Mulrey) McIntyre was born on December 31, 1972, making him the youngest member of NKOTB. He joined the band in 1985 while he was 12-years-old. Mark Wahlberg was initially a member of NKOTB, but left the band in 1985 to be replaced by McIntyre.  Mark Wahlberg’s older brother, Donnie, was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1969. Daniel William Wood was also born in 1969 in Dorchester.

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Peak Month: July 1973
10 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Dreams Are Ten A Penny”
Lyrics: “Dreams Are Ten A Penny”

John Nicholas Shakespeare was born in 1942 in Birmingham, UK. He formed a skiffle band around 1957. In 1961 he co-founded a duo named Carter-Lewis and the Southerners. Jimmy Page, later of the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin, played guitar on a three of their non-hit singles recorded in 1963 and 1964. From 1964 to 1966 Carter was a member of a backing vocal session trio named The Ivy League. They backed The Who on “I Can’t Explain“. In 1965 The Ivy League had two Top Ten hits on the UK singles chart, “Funny How Love Can Be” and “Tossing And Turning”. The latter tune was not a cover of the 1961 Bobby Lewis hit stateside.

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Peak Month: February 1980
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Don’t You Hide It”

In 1969 guitar player Ray Roper, drummer Brian Lousley and bass player Dan Atchison were high school students. They decided to form a band named Perth Amboy, possibly after the city in New Jersey. (In 1968 a band from Michigan called the Amboy Dukes had a Top 20 hit titled “Journey To The Center Of Your Mind”). Roper was from England. Perth Amboy played at high school dances and many small venues in the Lower Mainland. In 1973 they changed their name to Stonebolt. They added John Webster on keyboards and David Wills on vocals around 1976, according to an email to this website from David Wills. David Wills left the Seattle band, Shaker, to join Stonebolt.

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#638: Full Measure by the Lovin’ Spoonful

Peak Month: January 1967
8 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #87
YouTube.com: “Full Measure”
Lyrics: “Full Measure”

Bass player Steve Boone (born on Long Island) and drummer Joe Butler (born on Long Island in 1941) had been playing in a band called The Kingsmen based on Long Island in the early 1960’s. By 1964 their band (not to be confused with the Kingsmen from Washington State who had a hit with “Louie Louie”) were one of the top rock and roll bands on Long Island. Their live sets included folk songs put to a rock beat, pop standards and some new hits showcasing the British Invasion. Steve’s brother, Skip Boone, and several three other bandmates filled out the group. In 1964, Joe and Skip chose to relocate to Manhattan. They focused on writing original material and blending a rock bass and drums with their jug band sound. Three other bandmates chose not to move, except Steve Boone, who joined Joe and Skip in New York City’s Greenwich Village, the nexus of the folk music scene.

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