Boyz II Men “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday” hit #1 on R&B chart

It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday Boyz II Men

Writer(s): Freddie Perren, Christine Yarian (see lyrics here) Released: August 20, 1991 First Charted: August 17, 1991 Peak: 2 US, 12 CB, 6 GR, 11 RR, 11 RB, 36 CN, 100 AU, 3 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 0.5 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 20.9 video, 16.58 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Boyz II Men formed as an R&B vocal harmony quartet in Philadelphia in 1988. They signed to Motown Records and released their debut album, CooleyHighHarmony, in 1991. It was a success right out of the gate when the lead single, “Motownphilly,” was a platinum seller that reached the top 5 on the pop and R&B charts. The follow-up single, “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday,” was an even bigger chart success, going all the way to #1 on the R&B chart and spending four weeks at #2 on the pop chart behind Michael Jackson’s “Black or White.” It was not, however, the song’s first appearance on the charts. G.C. Cameron, another Motown artist who’d previously been with the Spinners, took the song to #38 on the R&B chart in 1975. It was featured in the movie Cooley High. Boyz II Men named their debut album after the film. WK In the context of the movie, the song was framed as a reflection of “the powerful emotions many students feel when high school eneds and they must move on.” SF However, the a cappella recording by Boyz II Men brought the song a new level of seriousness that made it popular for funerals. It is the second biggest a cappella song of all-time behind Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry Be Happy,” a #1 song from 1988. SF They had to push to get the single released because Motown didn’t think radio stations would play it. SF Boyz II Men went on to have some of the biggest hits in pop history. In 1992, they released the song “End of the Road” from the movie Boomerang and it spent thirteen weeks at #1, the biggest hit since Elvis Presley’s “Don’t Be Cruel” / “Hound Dog” double-A-sided single. They outdid themselves with “I’ll Make Love to You,” the lead single from their 1994 sophomore album, II. It spent fourteen weeks on top. Then they pulled off the feat again in 1995 when “One Sweet Day,” a pairing with Mariah Carey, spent sixteen weeks at #1. Resources: SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 12/26/2022.

Gloria Gaynor hit #1 with “I Will Survive”

I Will Survive Gloria Gaynor

Writer(s): Dino Fekaris, Freddie Perren (see lyrics here) First Charted: December 16, 1978 Peak: 13 US, 11 CB, 3 GP, 11 HR, 2 RR, 9 AC, 4 RB, 14 UK, 1 CN, 5 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, 1.02 UK, 14.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 229.7 video, 866.42 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: With its message of “of defiance and freedom,” FB “I Will Survive” became an anthem for both feminism and gay rights, AMG but for Gloria Gaynor it was a personal statement. Unlike the song’s narrator, she was happily married, SF but she was overcoming major obstacles, including the death of her mother, a career in freefall, and a literal fall from the stage. AMG Gaynor was crowned the Queen of Disco in the wake of her 1974 hit “Never Can Say Goodbye,” but subsequent failed singles left her career fighting for survival. In the spring of 1978, a tumble off the stage left her bedridden for nine months with a severe spinal injury. AMG Once out of the hospital, this declaration of resilience was just the kind of recovery she needed. The song is “equal parts dancefloor juggernaut and Broadway show-stopper,” AMG so full of “attitude and sass that it veers dangerously close to pure camp” AMG but Gaynor gives it an authenticity that lifts it above its melodramatic qualities. Originally this was a B-side for what Gaynor said was “the company president’s pet project so there was no way I could get the record flipped.” KL She persuaded club DJs to play the song and it became a favorite of the famed Studio 54 in New York. TB Polydor Records then promoted the song as “More than a hit – it’s a way of life.” AMG The song gained new life when it emerged as a hit again fifteen years after its original release. In 1994, it was featured in the drag-queen comedy The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and topped the charts in Australia, AMG showing that it was truly a song built to survive. Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Gloria Gaynor AMG All Music Guide review by Jason Ankeny FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 498. KL Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh (2005). 1000 UK Number One Hits: The Stories Behind Every Number One Single Since 1952. London, Great Britain: Omnibus Press. Page 246. SF Songfacts TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 179. Last updated 11/27/2022.

The Jackson 5 “ABC” hit #1

ABC The Jackson 5

Writer(s): Berry Gordy, Freddie Perren, Deke Richards, Fonce Mizell (see lyrics here) Released: February 24, 1970 First Charted: March 6, 1970 Peak: 12 US, 11 CB, 11 GR, 12 HR, 14 RB, 8 UK, 14 AU, 2 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.6 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 78.4 video, 328.97 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The Jackson 5, fronted by a pre-teen Michael Jackson, burst onto the scene in 1969 with their #1 hit “I Want You Back,” “a perfect song.” SG It was the group’s first Motown single with chief Berry Gordy actively involved in writing the song. It “was a Motown tradition for a follow-up to resemble the song it succeeded” FB so when it came to putting together a follow-up, “his brainstrust pretty much just rewrote ‘I Want You Back’ as closely as possible.” SG That would seemingly be “an artistically bankrupt move” SG but Gordy knew “how well formulaic pop music could work.” SG The resulting “ABC” mastered the formula, giving the group its second of four consecutive #1 hits. The song was “based around the goofy idea that learning about love is like learning the alphabet.” SG Freddie Perren, one of the songwriters, was a former school teacher. He said they wrote roughly ten verses before landing on the two “that conveyed just the right amount of energy and innocence.” SF “Pop history really would be much the poorer without ‘ABC,’ as it personifies all that is exciting about pop.” LW Like its predecessor, the song is “fast and jittery and joyous” SG and driven by “the way that Michael and his brothers would euphorically bounce their voices off of each other.” SG “It’s a ridiculously funky confection, with fuzzed-out guitars and berserker bongos and a nagging piano riff that keeps the song airborne throughout.” SG Michael “spends the whole song sounding like the teenage Superman at the precise moment that he figured out that he could fly.” SG Rapper 50 Cent says it was the first song he remembered hearing. WK In 1991, Naughty by Nature sampled the song in its hit “O.P.P.” Rosario Dawson dances to “ABC” in the 2006 movie Clerks II. Resources: FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 272. LW Alan Lewens (2001). Popular Song – Soundtrack of the Century. Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 131. SF Songfacts SG Stereogum (12/20/2018). “The Number Ones” by Tom Breihan WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 11/21/2022.