100 years ago: Ben Selvin hit #1 with “Dardanella” for first of 13 weeks

Dardanella Ben Selvin

Writer(s): Johnny S. Black and Felix Bernard (music), Fred Fisher (lyrics) (see lyrics here) First Charted: January 24, 1920 Peak: 113 US, 11 GA, 13 SM (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 8.5 (includes 2.0 in sheet music) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Ben Selvin (1898-1980) launched himself as a professional musician at age 15 playing fiddle in New York City nightclubs. SB Over his career, his 2000+ recordings rank him above any other bandleader. PM The Guinness Book of World Records estimates his output as high as 20,000 song titles, giving him the distinction of having recorded more musical sides on 78-rpm discs than any other person. WK Part of his prolific output was due to him recording for dozens of different labels at a time when the industry was at high growth. WK His bands featured such famous sidemen as Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, and Benny Goodman AMG and vocalists like Ruth Etting, Ethel Waters, and Kate Smith. AMG In addition to working as a musician and bandleader, Selvin was an innovator and record producer. WK He had his first chart hit, the #1 “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles,” in 1919 when he was still just a teenager. His biggest hit, an instrumental version of “Dardanella,” came the following year. Its continuous bass line helps it stand out. DJ-44 As the first song to sell over 5 million copies PM it became the biggest hit of 1920, CPM one of the ten best sellers of the first half of the 20th century, PM and the biggest-selling song in the first quarter-century of recorded music. SB Prince’s Orchestra, Harry Raderman’s Jazz Orchestra, and the duet of Henry Burr and Albert Campbell all charted with the song in 1920 as well. PM It was revived in 1949’s Oh, You Beautiful Doll, a biopic about the song’s lyricist, Fred Fisher. DJ-44 Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Ben Selvin AMG All Music Guide DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 44. SB Songbook1.wordpress.com PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Pages 379, 490, and 631. CPM Joel Whitburn (1999). A Century of Pop Music. Record Research, Inc.: Menomonee Falls, WI. Page 35. WK Wikipedia.org First posted 1/24/2013; last updated 1/28/2023.

Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” won Grammys for Record and Song of the Year

Bad Guy Billie Eilish

Writer(s): Billie Eilish O’Connell/Finneas O’Connell (see lyrics here) Released: March 29, 2019 First Charted: April 13, 2019 Peak: 11 US, 6 A40, 34 AA, 12 MR, 2 UK, 11 CN, 12 AU, 12 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 6.0 US, 1.8 UK, 19.5 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1346.42 video, 2305.84 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The song most likely to be identified with 2019 for years to come is Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road.” The song logged a whopping 19 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the biggest song in that chart’s history. Of course, all songs must eventually fall and “Old Town Road” finally succumbed to Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy.” While the song only spent a solitary week atop the chart, it set a record of its own – the longest run at #2 (nine weeks) before sliding into the pinnacle position. SF At only 17 years old when the song hit its peak, Billie also secured another significant chart accomplishment. Born in 2001, she became the first artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 who was born in the 21st century. Just a few months earlier, in April 2019, she’d become the first artist born in the 21st century to top the Billboard album chart with When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, from which “Bad Guy” was lifted CNN as the fifth single. By year’s end, her youth also secured her another major accomplishment when she became the youngest artist in history to land Grammy nominations in the Big Four categories (Best Album, Best Song, Best Record, and Best New Artist). HP Two of those nominations – Record and Song of the Year – came for “Bad Guy.” The song – which has been called pop-trap and nu-goth pop – is a minimalist production built on a synth bass and kick drum. WK Billie didn’t have any expectations for it, considering the chorus has no hook. She told Billboard that she and her brother Finneas (who produced her album and co-wrote the song) tried “to write something else over that but we couldn’t do it because nothing else worked.” SF Vanity Fair said the song “treads the line between her slightly deranged aesthetic and a whiff of familiarity that keeps it squarely pop” VF Lyrically, the song mocks how people – including herself – try to present themselves as rule breakers. SF She sarcastically taunts her lover for being a bad guy, boasting with tongue firmly in cheek that she’s tougher than he is. As she said, “You will never catch a bad bitch telling everyone she’s a bad bitch.” SF The song earned Billie comparisons to Fiona Apple, Lorde, and Amy Winehouse. WK Sam Prance of Pop Buzz called it “the perfect anthem for anyone…who likes to get in touch with their dark side.” PB Resources: CNN CNN.com (4/10/2019). “This 17-year-old is the first artist born in the 2000s to have a No. 1 album.” By Kendall Trammell. HP Huffpost.com (11/20/2019). “Billie Eilish Becomes Youngest Person Ever Nominated in All 4 Top Grammy Categories” by Kimberley Richards PB PopBuzz.com (4/3/2019). “Billie Eilish sings about seducing your dad in NSFW ‘bad guy’ lyrics.” By Sam Prance. SF Songfacts VF Vanity Fair (7/2/2019). “9 Songs From 2019 That Might Predict the Future of Pop.” By DJ Louie XIV. WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 12/11/2019; last updated 7/25/2023.

Grammys: Albums of the Year Revisited

First posted 12/4/2011; updated 3/14/2021.

Grammy Awards: Albums of the Year Revisited

The Grammy for Album of the Year, given out annually since 1959, (see list here) is probably the most coveted award in the music industry. However, each year debate is sparked about whether the right album got the final nod. Here the DMDB compares the winner each year to its other nominees. Based on overall DMDB points, this list will show if the highest-ranked nominee each year won or not. Check out other album of the year awards here. 2020 WON: Taylor Swift Folklore SHOULD’VE WON: Taylor Swift Folklore 2019 WON: Bilie Eilish When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? SHOULD’VE WON: Bilie Eilish When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? 2018 WON: Kacey Musgraves Golden Hour SHOULD’VE WON: Kacey Musgraves Golden Hour 2017 WON: Bruno Mars 24K Magic SHOULD’VE WON: Kendrick Lamar Damn. 2016 WON: Adele 25 SHOULD’VE WON: Adele 25 2015 WON: Taylor Swift 1989 SHOULD’VE WON: Taylor Swift 1989 2014 WON: Beck Morning Phase SHOULD’VE WON: Beyoncé Beyoncé 2013 WON: Daft Punk Random Access Memories SHOULD’VE WON: Kendrick Lamar Good Kid m.A.A.d. City 2012 WON: Mumford & Sons Babel SHOULD’VE WON: Frank Ocean Channel Orange 2011 WON: Adele 21 SHOULD’VE WON: 21 2010 WON: Arcade Fire The Suburbs SHOULD’VE WON: Eminem Recovery 2009 WON: Taylor Swift Fearless SHOULD’VE WON: Taylor Swift Fearless 2008 WON: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Raising Sand SHOULD’VE WON: Radiohead In Rainbows 2007 WON: Herbie Hancock River: The Joni Letters SHOULD’VE WON: Amy Winehouse Back to Black 2006 WON: Dixie Chicks Taking the Long Way SHOULD’VE WON: Justin Timberlake FutureSex/LoveSounds 2005 WON: U2 How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb SHOULD’VE WON: U2 How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb 2004 WON: Ray Charles Genius Loves Company SHOULD’VE WON: Green Day American Idiot 2003 WON: OutKast Speakerboxxx/The Love Below SHOULD’VE WON: The White Stripes Elephant 2002 WON: Norah Jones Come Away with Me SHOULD’VE WON: Norah Jones Come Away with Me 2001 WON: O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack SHOULD’VE WON: O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack 2000 WON: Steely Dan Two Against Nature SHOULD’VE WON: Eminem The Marshall Mathers LP 1999 WON: Santana Supernatural SHOULD’VE WON: Supernatural 1998 WON: Lauryn Hill The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill SHOULD’VE WON: Shania Twain Come on Over 1997 WON: Bob Dylan Time Out of Mind SHOULD’VE WON: Radiohead OK Computer 1996 WON: Celine Dion Falling into You SHOULD’VE WON: Beck Odelay 1995 WON: Alanis Morissette Jagged Little Pill SHOULD’VE WON: Alanis Morissette Jagged Little Pill 1994 WON: Tony Bennett MTV Unplugged SHOULD’VE WON: Eric Clapton From the Cradle 1993 WON: Various artists (Whitney Houston et al) The Bodyguard (soundtrack) SHOULD’VE WON: R.E.M. Automatic for the People 1992 WON: Eric Clapton Unplugged SHOULD’VE WON: U2 Achtung Baby 1991 WON: Natalie Cole Unforgettable…With Love SHOULD’VE WON: R.E.M. Out of Time 1990 WON: Quincy Jones Back on the Block SHOULD’VE WON: M.C. Hammer Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em 1989 WON: Bonnie Raitt Nick of Time SHOULD’VE WON: Nick of Time 1988 WON: George Michael Faith SHOULD’VE WON: George Michael Faith 1987 WON: U2 The Joshua Tree SHOULD’VE WON: U2 The Joshua Tree 1986 WON: Paul Simon Graceland SHOULD’VE WON: Graceland 1985 WON: Phil Collins Phil Collins No Jacket Required SHOULD’VE WON: Dire Straits Brothers in Arms 1984 WON: Lionel Richie Can’t Slow Down SHOULD’VE WON: Prince & the Revolution Purple Rain (soundtrack) 1983 WON: Michael Jackson Thriller SHOULD’VE WON: Michael Jackson Thriller 1982 WON: Toto Toto IV SHOULD’VE WON: Donald Fagen The Nightfly 1981 WON: John Lennon & Yoko Ono Double Fantasy SHOULD’VE WON: John Lennon & Yoko Ono Double Fantasy 1980 WON: Christopher Cross Christopher Cross SHOULD’VE WON: Pink Floyd The Wall 1979 WON: Billy Joel 52nd Street SHOULD’VE WON: Supertramp Breakfast in America 1978 WON: Various Artists (Bee Gees et al) Saturday Night Fever soundtrack SHOULD’VE WON: Various Artists (Bee Gees et al) Saturday Night Fever soundtrack 1977 WON: Fleetwood Mac Rumours SHOULD’VE WON: Fleetwood Mac Rumours 1976 WON: Stevie Wonder Songs in the Key of Life SHOULD’VE WON: Stevie Wonder Songs in the Key of Life 1975 WON: Paul Simon Still Crazy After All These Years SHOULD’VE WON: Elton John Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy 1974 WON: Stevie Wonder Fulfillingness’ First Finale SHOULD’VE WON: Paul McCartney & Wings Band on the Run 1973 WON: Stevie Wonder Innervisions SHOULD’VE WON: Stevie Wonder Innervisions 1972 WON: George Harrison et al The Concert for Bangladesh SHOULD’VE WON: Don McLean American Pie 1971 WON: Carole King Tapestry SHOULD’VE WON: Carole King Tapestry 1970 WON: Simon & Garfunkel Bridge Over Troubled Water SHOULD’VE WON: Simon & Garfunkel Bridge Over Troubled Water 1969 WON: Blood, Sweat & Tears Blood, Sweat & Tears SHOULD’VE WON: The Beatles Abbey Road 1968 WON: Glen Campbell By the Time I Get to Phoenix SHOULD’VE WON: The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour 1967 WON: The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band SHOULD’VE WON: The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band 1966 WON: Frank Sinatra A Man and His Music SHOULD’VE WON: The Beatles Revolver 1965 WON: Frank Sinatra September of My Years SHOULD’VE WON: Richard Rodgers/Oscar Hammerstein II (composers) The Sound of Music soundtrack 1964 WON: Stan Getz/Joao Gilberto Getz/Gilberto SHOULD’VE WON: Stan Getz/Joao Gilberto Getz/Gilberto 1963 WON: Barbra Streisand The Barbra Streisand Album SHOULD’VE WON: Andy Williams Days of Wine and Roses 1962 WON: Vaughn Meader The First Family SHOULD’VE WON: Ray Charles Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music 1961 WON: Judy Garland Judy at Carnegie Hall (live) SHOULD’VE WON: Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim (composers) West Side Story soundtrack 1960 WON: Bob Newhart The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart SHOULD’VE WON: Bob Newhart The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart 1959 WON: Frank Sinatra Come Dance with Me SHOULD’VE WON: Sergei Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 (performed by Van Cliburn) 1958 WON: Henry Mancini Henry Mancini The Music from Peter Gunn (soundtrack) SHOULD’VE WON: Pyotor Il’yich Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (performed by Van Cliburn) So there you have it. Out of 62 years, the Grammys only got it “right” 25 times – a 40% success rate. This doesn’t even take into consideration albums which didn’t get nominated and should have. Some contests admittedly had very worthy candidates pitted against each other, such as OutKast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below vs. the White Stripes Elephant or Eric Clapton’s Unplugged vs. U2’s Achtung Baby. In other cases, such as The Bodyguard soundtrack vs. R.E.M.’s Automatic for the People or Celine Dion’s Falling into You vs. Beck’s Odelay the higher-ranked album would have been a more creative pick, but it is no surprise that the Grammys went with the more middle-of-the-road option. Still other times it is hard to fathom how a classic such as Pink Floyd’s The Wall can’t boast Grammy-winning status while Christopher Cross can. Vaughn Meader’s comedy album The First Family over Ray Charles’ Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music? Herbie Hancock’s River: The Joni Letters instead of Amy Winehouse Back to Black? It’s also hard to not refer to the awards as the “Grannies” when they opt to honor Steely Dan for Two Against Nature TWO DECADES past their prime compared to Eminem at the height of his powers with The Marshall Mathers LP. Alas. It is what it is. Resources and Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: “Grammys: Albums of the Year” Dave’s Music Database: “Grammys: Albums of the Year Ranked” Grammy.com: Grammy Awards Winners & Nominees for Album of the Year Wikipedia.org: Grammy Award for Album of the Year Dave’s Music Database: “Other Year-End Album Awards”

Billie Eilish wins Grammy for Album of the Year

When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? Billie Eilish

Released: March 29, 2019 Peak: 13 US, 5 UK, 11 CN, 11 AU Sales (in millions): 3.0 US, 0.3 UK, 4.51 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop/alternative

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. !!!!!!! (79 CN) Bad Guy (3/29/19, 11 US, 6 A40, 34 AA, 12 MR, 2 UK, 11 CN, 12 AU, worldwide sales: 19.5 million) Xanny (4/13/19, 35 US, 26 CN, 10 AU, worldwide sales: 1.2 million) You Should See Me in a Crown (7/18/18, 41 US, 7 MR, 60 UK, 27 CN, 16 AU, worldwide sales: 2.43 million) All the Good Girls Go to Hell (4/13/19, 46 US, 5 MR, 77 UK, 19 CN, 8 AU, worldwide sales: 1.2 million) Wish You Were Gay (1/30/19, 31 US, 13 UK, 12 CN, 5 AU, worldwide sales: 1.31 million) When the Party’s Over (10/17/18, 29 US, worldwide sales: 5.06 million) 8 (4/13/19, 79 US, 52 CN, 35 AU, sales: ½ million) My Strange Addiction (4/13/19, 43 US, 21 CN, 12 AU, worldwide sales: 1.2 million) Bury a Friend (1/9/19, 14 US, 12 MR, 6 UK, 10 CN, 3 AU, worldwide sales: 3.98 million) Ilomilo (4/13/19, 62 US, 25 MR, 38 CN, 23 AU, worldwide sales: ½ million) Listen Before I Go (4/13/19, 63 US, worldwide sales: 0.7 million) I Love You (4/13/19, 53 US, 35 CN, 20 AU, worldwide sales: 1.2 million) Goodbye (69 CN, 54 AU) Total Running Time: 42:56

Rating: 3.910 out of 5.00 (average of 28 ratings) Quotable: “No teenager I can recall has ever made such an impressive album.” – music critic Robert Christgau Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “Billie Eilish became a teen folk hero with her blockbuster debut — just your average 17-year-old songwriting prodigy with a head full of nightmares.” RS’20 She became the youngest artist in history to receive nominations for the Big Four Grammys. At the 2020 ceremony, she became only the second artist (after Christopher Cross) to win them all – Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of the Year (both for “Bad Guy”), and Album of the Year. She also won Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Engineered Album. By this time, she was eighteen, but still the youngest to ever take home the prizes for Record of the Year and Album of the Year. LeAnn Rimes was 14 when she won Best New Artist and Lorde was 17 when she landed Song of the Year for “Royals.” Eilish had already released an EP, but When We All Fall Asleep was her official debut album. It debuted at #1 in the U.S. and UK. She became the youngest solo female act ever to top the charts in the United Kingdom. WK Critic Robert Christgau said, “No teenager I can recall has ever made such an impressive album.” WK She “makes a bold entrance into the mainstream, leaving the fringes behind to embrace her role as an anti-pop star for the disaffected Gen Z masses.” AMG She has said the record, which explores climate change, drug addiction, heartbreak, mental health, and suicide, was inspired by lucid dreams and night terrors. WK Eilish largely co-wrote the album with her brother Finneas O’Connell, who produced it from his bedroom studio in the house where they grew up. His production focused on amplified bass, minimalist percussion, and acoustic sounds. Musically, it has been described as “a youthful, hybrid blend that incorporates elements of indie electronic, pop, and hip-hop.” AMG Exclaim!’s Matt Bobkin said the album displayed “a bold artistic vision and a willingness to move beyond the boundaries of pop conventions.” WK Critics described her vocal style “as soft and whispered;” WK The Daily Telegraph’s Neil McCormick said she could “shift from coquettish to threatening, playfully ironic to emotionally sincere in a breath.” WK He said she “sounds modern and old fashioned at the same time.” WK “Like Lorde’s devilish little sister, Eilish delivers her confessional lyrics in hushed bursts of breath, at times dirge-like in their sedateness and otherwise intensely threatening in their creepiness.” AMG Intro/“Bad Guy” The album kicks off with !!!!!!!, a thirty-second “intro in which Eilish slurps saliva from her Invisalign aligners and announces that ‘this is the album,’ before she and her brother descend into laughter.” WK She follows that with “the whispery trap-pop strut of Bad Guy,” RS’20 using “a bass, a kick-drum and amplified finger snaps.” WK Lyrically, she taunts her partner and suggests she is the “bad guy” and not him. The worldwide #1 hit – the fifth single from the album – was released simultaneously with When We All Fall Asleep. “Xanny” Xanny was inspired by a party where Eilish’s friends were drinking and throwing up and becoming “completely not who they were.” WK It was built around “a jazz-inspired loop in order to replicate the feeling of being ‘in secondhand smoke.’” WK “You Should See Me in a Crown” The “trap-influenced electropop song” WK was inspired by an episode of the BBC TV series Sherlock. Eilish sings over “blaring synths and rapid-fire hi-hats.” WK It was the first single, preceding the release of the album by six months. “All the Good Girls Go to Hell” Stereogum described this as a “punchy piano number” and one of the album’s “poppiest tracks.” WK It explores the notion that God and the Devil are observing humans as a meek group of people and pondering, “What are they trying to do here?” WK “Wish You Were Gay”/“When the Party’s Over” On this “jazzy classic pop song” WK Eilish sings about a man she likes who doesn’t show romantic interest in her. She wishes that he was gay so that it would explain his lack of interest in her. WK In a different vein, the “piano ballad” When the Party’s Over was written when her brother left his date’s house “kind of for no reason.” WK Both songs were top-40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. “8”/“My Strange Addiction” The album’s eighth song, appropriately titled 8, “is a ukulele-based lullaby which manipulates Eilish's vocals to make her sound like a small child.” WK the bass-heavy My Strange Addiction follows. She got approval from Steve Carrell, B.J. Novak, John Krasinski, and Mindy Kaling to use samples of their voices as featured in the “Threat Level Midnight” episode of the TV sitcom The Office. “Bury a Friend”/“Ilomilo” This was the second-highest charting song from the album, reaching #14. Eilish wrote this tale of “gothic angst” RS’20 from the perspective of what a monster under a bed feels. Musically, the “minimalist electronica and industrial song” WK contains a vocal line resembling the Doors’ “People Are Strange” and a beat similar to Kanye West’s “Black Skinhead.” WK The beat from the song “leads seamlessly into…Ilomilo, an electropop cut named after the 2010 video game.” WK “Listen Before I Go”/“I Love You”/“Goodbye” Finneas explained that the songs are related because they express “different sentiments about a farwell.” WK Eilish sings Listen Before I Go from the perspective of someone about to commit suicide. Eilish said I Love You, whose chorus has drawn comparisons to “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen, was about how “it sucks to be in love sometimes.” WK Goodbye features lines from each of the other songs on the album, except for the intro. Conclusion In the end, this is a remarkable beginning for such a young artist. “She’s a highly relatable kid – not yet of legal voting age at the time of the album’s release – and an avatar for an audience that deals with similar mental health struggles and growing pains.” AMG Notes: The Japanese edition added the tracks “Come Out and Play” and “When I Was Older.” A Japanese limited deluxe edition also added a remix of “Bad Guy” with Justin Bieber and a Japanese complete edition included “Everything I Wanted” as well. A reissue from Target added “When I Was Older,” Bitches Broken Hearts,” and “Everything I Wanted.”

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Billie Eilish AMG All Music Guide review by Neil Z. Yeung RS’20 Rolling Stone (9/22/2020). “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time” WK Wikipedia First posted 12/12/2020; last updated 4/25/2022.