Friday, August 22, 2014

50 years ago: Martha & the Vandellas chart with “Dancing in the Street”

Dancing in the Street

Martha & the Vandellas

Writer(s): William Stevenson/Ivy Hunter/Marvin Gaye (see lyrics here)

Released: July 31, 1964

First Charted: August 22, 1964

Peak: 2 US, 4 CB, 8 GR, 2 HR, 2 RB, 4 UK, 3 CN, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.2 UK, 1.21 world (includes US + UK)

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 3.0 radio, 12.89 video, 170.01 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

Martha Reeves was a secretary at Motown who had sung backup on Marvin Gaye’s hits “Stubborn Kind of Fellow” and “Hitch Hike” ^SS when she got the opportunity of a lifetime – she was given the chance to record a demo. ^RS500 The song, “Dancing in the Street,” was originally offered to Kim Weston, who would later marry William Stevenson, ^RS500 one of the writers, but she turned it down. ^NRR As Stevenson says, though, “When Martha got into the song…that was the end of the conversation!” ^RS500 She said, it “was Mickey’s greatest gift to me.” ^SS

Stevenson says the inspiration for the song came from riding through Detroit during the summer with Marvin Gaye, another of the song’s writers. To let the kids cool off, the city would open up the fire hydrants to release the water into the streets. Stevenson says, “They appeared to be dancing in the water.” ^SF In an amusing twist, Gaye sang backup on the song for the singer who used to sing backup for him. ^SS

Writer Paul Williams called it “the quintessential hymn of revolution.” ^PW Indeed, the song came at the peak of the civil rights movement which could lead one to interpret the song as a call to “mobilize for freedom. But even if taken on its own terms as intended by its creators – just a joyous celebration of music and dancing – this is a classic.” ^SS

Of all the dance songs ever written, none come as close as this one to “conveying not only the physical experience but the emotional tenor of what it means to dance publicly.” ^MA The song’s “primal rhythms [are]…so simple anyone can groove to it and so infectious everyone does.” ^AMG As “the quintessential hymn of revolution, riot, and rapture” it makes everyone want to join the party. ^PW Music historian Steve Sullivan says “no record exemplified the mergence of rhythm & blues’ new golden age like ‘Dancing in the Street.’” ^SS

Resources:

DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Martha Reeves & the Vandellas
^AMG All Music Guide
^MA Dave Marsh (1989). The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New York, NY; New American Library. Page 83.
^NRR National Recording Registry
^RS500 Rolling Stone (2011). “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”
^SF Songfacts.com
^SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Pages 99-101.
^PW Paul Williams (1993). Rock and Roll: The Best 100 Singles. New York, NY: Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc. Page 67.

First posted 8/22/2011; last updated 2/3/2023.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

New Book from Dave's Music Database!

The Top 100 Albums of All Time

is now available at Amazon.com for $13.95!

Ah, the music list. Music journalists love to create them and fans love to shred them. However, by aggregating hundreds of best-of lists, Dave’s Music Database has stripped away subjectivity in favor of cold, hard numbers. Commentaries about the albums consolidate the views of multiple experts instead of serving up single opinions. It all makes for one definitive, inarguable best-of-all-time list. Okay, maybe not – but here’s hoping you’ll find value in this list, even if that’s in dissecting, disagreeing, debating, or debunking it. Rock on and read on.

Monday, August 18, 2014

The Top 100 Albums of All Time

Dave’s Music Database:

The Top 100 Albums of All Time

This book is also available here on the DMDB website.

For the tenth anniversary of this book, it was revised and published as Top 100 Albums of the 21st Century in 2024. Click the link to see the details of that book.

Creating a list of the best albums of all time was really the bread and butter for the inspiration behind Dave’s Music Database more than a decade ago. This aggregate list was created by compiling more than 150 best-of lists from all manner of music publications and entities and crunching those figures into a database along with sales figures, chart results, critical ratings, and various awards. (Click links to see detailed sources).

Note: this list is also the basis of the Classic Albums Meetup group. Those albums which have been discussed (or are scheduled to be discussed as of 6/17/2024) by the group are highlighted.

Also – check out the sequel to this book, The Top 100 Albums of the 21st Century.

1. The Beatles Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
2. Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
3. Michael Jackson Thriller (1982)
4. Nirvana Nevermind (1991)
5. Fleetwood Mac Rumours (1977)
6. Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV (1971)
7. The Beatles Revolver (1966)
8. The Beatles The Beatles (aka “The White Album”) (1968)
9. The Beatles Abbey Road (1969)
10. The Beach Boys Pet Sounds (1966)

11. David Bowie The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)
12. U2 The Joshua Tree (1987)
13. The Clash London Calling (1979)
14. The Rolling Stones Exile on Main Street (1972)
15. The Jimi Hendrix Experience Are You Experienced? (1967)
16. The Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols (1977)
17. Velvet Underground & Nico Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)
18. Bruce Springsteen Born to Run (1975)
19. The Doors The Doors (1967)
20. The Beatles Rubber Soul (1965)

21. Radiohead OK Computer (1997)
22. Marvin Gaye What’s Going On (1971)
23. Bob Dylan Blonde on Blonde (1966)
24. Guns N’ Roses Appetite for Destruction (1987)
25. The Who Who’s Next (1971)
26. Various Artists South Pacific (cast album: 1949, soundtrack: 1958)
27. Pink Floyd The Wall (1979)
28. Prince & the Revolution Purple Rain (1984)
29. AC/DC Back in Black (1980)
30. The Jimi Hendrix Experience Electric Ladyland (1968)

31. R.E.M. Automatic for the People (1992)
32. Van Morrison Astral Weeks (1968)
33. Simon & Garfunkel Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970)
34. Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
35. Eagles Hotel California (1976)
36. Bob Dylan Blood on the Tracks (1975)
37. Paul Simon Graceland (1986)
38. Carole King Tapestry (1971)
39. Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin II (1969)
40. Stevie Wonder Songs in the Key of Life (1976)

41. The Rolling Stones Let It Bleed (1969)
42. The Smiths The Queen Is Dead (1986)
43. The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers (1971)
44. Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here (1975)
45. Public Enemy It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988)
46. Bee Gees/Various Artists Saturday Night Fever (soundtrack, 1977)
47. U2 Achtung Baby (1991)
48. Prince Sign ‘O’ the Times (1987)
49. Miles Davis Kind of Blue (1959)
50. Pearl Jam Ten (1991)

51. Patti Smith Horses (1975)
52. Neil Young After the Gold Rush (1970)
53. Elton John Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)
54. Joni Mitchell Blue (1971)
55. Bruce Springsteen Born in the U.S.A. (1984)
56. Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti (1975)
57. The Stone Roses The Stone Roses (1989)
58. Oasis (What’s the Story) Morning Glory (1995)
59. Stevie Wonder Innervisions (1973)
60. The Who Tommy (1969)

61. The Rolling Stones Beggars Banquet (1968)
62.Ramones Ramones (1976)
63. Love Forever Changes (1967)
64. Television Marquee Moon (1977)
65. Metallica Metallica (aka ‘The Black Album’) (1991)
66. Alanis Morissette Jagged Little Pill (1995)
67. Neil Young Harvest (1972)
68. Derek and the Dominos Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs (1970)
69. James Brown Live at the Apollo Volume 1 (live, 1962)
70. Jeff Buckley Grace (1994)

71. The Police Synchronicity (1983)
72. Radiohead The Bends (1995)
73. Various Artists West Side Story (cast album: 1957, soundtrack: 1961)
74. Various Artists The Sound of Music (cast album: 1959, soundtrack: 1965)
75. David Bowie Hunky Dory (1971)
76. Beck Odelay (1996)
77. Queen A Night at the Opera (1975)
78. Dire Straits Brothers in Arms (1985)
79. Talking Heads Remain in Light (1980)
80. The Allman Brothers At Fillmore East (live, 1971)

81. Meat Loaf Bat Out of Hell (1977)
82. The Band The Band (1969)
83. Black Sabbath Paranoid (1970)
84. The Clash The Clash (1977)
85. Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young Déjà Vu (1970)
86. Massive Attack Blue Lines (1991)
87. Joy Division Closer (1980)
88. Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin I (1969)
89. Van Morrison Moondance (1970)
90. John Lennon Imagine (1971)

91. Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison (live, 1968)
92. Van Halen Van Halen (1978)
93. Eminem The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)
94. John Lennon Plastic Ono Band (1970)
95. Lauryn Hill The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998)
96. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band Trout Mask Replica (1969)
97. John Coltrane A Love Supreme (1965)
98. Bob Marley & the Wailers Legend (compilation, 1984)
99. Various Artists (including Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta) Grease (soundtrack, 1978)
100. Elvis Presley The Sun Sessions (archives, 1955)