Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello hit #1 with “Señorita”

Señorita Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello

Writer(s): Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello, Andrew Wotman, Benjamin Levin, Alexandra Tamposi, Charlotte Aitchison, Jack Patterson, Magnus August Høiberg (see lyrics here) Released: June 21, 2019 First Charted: July 6, 2019 Peak: 11 US, 12 BA, 14 RR, 4 AC, 13 A40, 16 UK, 17 CN, 11 AU (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 5.0 US, 1.8 UK, 16.1 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 2010.94 video, 2704.29 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello first collaborated on “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” a song from Mendes’ 2015 debut album Handwritten. They connected and knew they wanted to work together again. SF Their second effort together struck gold – well, multiplatinum in thirteen countries. It also won an American Music Award, two MTV Video Music Awards, and a People’s Choice Award. It also won Best Single of the Year at the Juno Awards. The song was conceived at a Charli XCX session, but she decided not to release it herself, saying the “Latin pop flair just wasn’t right for who I am because I am not a part of that culture.” SF Andrew Watt, the producer, sent a rough chorus to Shawn Mendes, suggesting it as a duet. Mendes agreed, saying Camila would be the only person with whom he could do it. Mendes and Cabello made some changes to the melody and lyrics, using FaceTime to tweak some lyrics together. Then they met up to record in the studio together. Producer Benny Blanco lauded their chemistry together. WK In the “smooth Latin love song” SF the pair “croon about their fictious romance,” SF although they would end up an actual couple for more than two years. The Fader’s Shaad D’Souza praised the single as “effortlessly steamy and wonderfully lightweight.” WK Medium’s TJ Lovell called it “a sexy ode to a vacation rendezvous that allows the pair to flex their undeniable chemistry.” WK The song debuted at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and eventually dethroned Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” to ascend to the pole position. It reached the peak in more than 30 countries. WK It was the second chart-topper for each of them in the UK. It was his first trip to #1 in the U.S. and her second, following “Havana.” Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Shawn Mendes DMDB encyclopedia entry for Camila Cabello SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia First posted 4/2/2022; last updated 5/4/2024.

Avril Lavigne reached #2 with “Complicated”

Complicated Avril Lavigne

Writer(s): Avril Lavigne, Lauren Christy, Scott Spock, Graham Edwards (see lyrics here) Released: April 23, 2002 First Charted: April 13, 2002 Peak: 2 US, 18 RR, 13 AC, 116 A40, 3 UK, 1, 16 AU, 9 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.1 US, 0.89 UK, 3.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.8 radio, 753.98 video, 807.89 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Canadian singer/songwriter Avril Lavigne was 17 years old when her debut single, “Complicated,” was released. The song went all the way to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, halted by Nelly’s “Hot in Herre.” The song reached the top in Australia, Canada, Mexico, and New Zealand. She’d signed to Arista Records in November 2000. They’d also initially seen her as singing folk songs, but she had “just discovered guitar-based rock.” WK After she was teamed with the production team The Matrix, they worked with her punk-rock leanings and wrote what evolved into “Complicated.” WK There was some controversy over how much Lavigne contributed to the song. She said she wrote most of the lyrics, but The Matrix said they crafted most of the song. SF The song is about the facades people create. As Lavigne said, “People sometimes bother me how they’re not real and they’re just, like, putting on a face and being two-faces.” WK Despite the song’s theme, there was a very concerted effort to market her with a certain image, specifically that of “an indie-punk tomboy” who wrote her own songs. SF Entertainment Weekly’s Daid Browne said Lavigne was “the epitome of the blossoming anti-Britney movement.” WK Sal Cinquemani of Slant magazine saw the song as “more poser than punk” WK but All Music Guide’s Christina Saraceno said the song was “a gem of a pop/rock tune with a killer chorus.” WK It song was nominated for Grammys for Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. It also won Best New Artist in a Video at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards. It won a Juno Award for Single of the Year and an Ivor Novello Award for International Hit of the Year. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Avril Lavigne SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 2/13/2021; last updated 4/18/2024.

Bryan Adams released Waking Up the Neighbours

First posted 3/28/2011; updated 9/10/2020.

Waking Up the Neighbours Bryan Adams

Released: September 24, 1991 Peak: 6 US, 11 UK, 110 CN, 14 AU Sales (in millions): 4.0 US, 0.9 UK, 13.2 world (includes US and UK) Genre: mainstream rock

Tracks: (Click for codes to singles charts.) Is Your Mama Gonna Miss Ya? Hey Honey, I’m Packin’ You In! Can’t Stop This Thing We Started (9/14/91, 2 US, 12 UK, 2 AR, 40 AC, sales: ½ million) Thought I’d Died and Gone to Heaven (2/22/92, 13 US, 8 UK, 14 AR, 36 AC) Not Guilty Vanishing House Arrest Do I Have to Say the Words? (8/1/92, 10a US, 30 UK, 5 AC) There Will Never Be Another Tonight (11/23/91, 31 US, 32 UK, 36 AR) All I Want Is You (7/18/92, 22 UK) Depend on Me Everything I Do I Do It for You (6/29/91, 1 US, 1 UK, 10 AR, 1 AC, sales: 3 million, airplay: 3 million) If You Wanna Leave Me (Can I Come Too?) Touch the Hand (5/2/92, 13 AR) Don’t Drop That Bomb on Me

Rating: 3.177 out of 5.00 (average of 13 ratings) Quotable: “Old-fashioned good time…rock & roll.” – Jose F. Promis, All Music Guide Awards:

About the Album: “Although not as good as Reckless, Bryan Adams’ 1991 album, Waking up the Neighbours, signaled his commercial apex. Bridging the time gap between ‘80s arena rock and ‘90s angst-ridden grunge, the album also ushered in an era in which Adams became more known for his sweeping power ballads than his straight-ahead rock tunes. This album, filled with nearly 75 minutes of showstopping arena rockers and mid-tempo ballads, churned out no less than five hit singles, the most notable being the Robin Hood Prince of Thieves theme Everything I Do I Do It for You. That ballad spent seven weeks atop the U.S. pop charts, becoming the longest-reigning American chart-topper since Prince’s ‘When Doves Cry’ seven years earlier. The song also became a phenomenon in Europe, becoming Adams’ biggest hit ever” JF with a whopping sixteen weeks atop the UK chart. “Other singles which followed included the joyous rocker Can’t Stop This Thing We Started, which became a number two hit, the mid-tempo ballads Do I Have to Say the Words? and Thought I’d Died and Gone to Heaven, and the fun, straight-ahead rocker There Will Never Be Another Tonight.” JF “Waking up the Neighbours was co-produced by Robert Jon ‘Mutt’ Lange, and as a result, many of these songs sound as though they could have easily been Def Leppard recordings, especially All I Want Is You, which sounds like ‘Pour Some Sugar on Me’ part two. Nonetheless, Waking up the Neighbours is a fun album and perfect for those who expect nothing more than an old-fashioned good time from their rock & roll.” JF

Resources and Related Links: Bryan Adams’ DMDB Encyclopedia entry Mutt Lange’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry JF Jose F. Promis, All Music Guide

BTO hit #1 with “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet”

You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet Bachman-Turner Overdrive

Writer(s): Randy Bachman (see lyrics here) First Charted: September 21, 1974 Peak: 11 US, 11 CB, 14 GR, 11 HR, 13 RR, 1 CL, 2 UK, 13 CN, 4 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, 44.52 video, 237.48 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Randy Bachman made his name as a member of the Guess Who, co-writing their #1 hit “American Woman.” He went on to form Bachman-Turner Overdrive, who built a following and had a #12 hit with “Taking Care of Business.” When Charlie Fach, the A&R guy, listened to the band’s third album, Not Fragile, he liked it but didn’t hear a hit. The band played him “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” and he said “that’s the track. It’s got a brightness to it.” WK Bachman, however, saw it as an embarrassment. SG He wrote the song making fun of his brother, Gary, who had a stutter and was the band’s original manager. Randy thought, “just for fun, we’d take this song and I’d stutter and we’d send it to him. He’ll have the only copy in the world.” FB It was “the song that the band bangs out while procrastinating on doing their real work.” SG A “record company guy…heard about the gag recording, insisted on hearing it, insisted it be on the album, and later insisted it be released as a single.” PW Randy initially resisted, but BTO tried to record a straight version, and it just didn’t work. SJ Randy eventually relented, saying, “Why am I stopping this? Some of my favorite records are really dumb things like ‘Louie Louie.’ So I said, ‘OK, release it.’” PW The stuttering version, with its “marvelously free, unselfconscious, loud crunching, right-on-the-money power chords” PW became “the biggest thing his band would ever make” SG and “the song that defines the band.” SG Because of his religious beliefs, Bachman maintained strict rules about the band members staying away from drinking, drugs, and premarital sex on the road. SG The irony is that “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” is “about a guy who’s so overcome by having the best sex of his life that he basically loses his mind.” SG It became “one of the most giddily horny classic-rock anthems of the ‘70s.” SG Billboard described the song as a “basic rocker featuring licks of the Velvet Underground’s ‘Sweet Jane.’” WK Rock critic Dave Marsh called it “the ultimate Who pastiche.” DM Vocally, the stuttering is reminiscent of the Who’s “My Generation.” Bachman did acknowledge the song was made of “stitched-together parts” including the “surging rhythm guitar” of the Who’s “Baba O’Riley,” “the grand guitar melody” from Dave Mason’s “Only You Know and I Know,” the “bright, sparkly beat” from the Doobie Brothers’ “Listen to the Music,” and the heavy cowbell from Free’s “All Right Now.” SG Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Bachman-Turner Overdrive FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 382. DM Dave Marsh (1989). The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New American Library: New York, NY. Pages 445-6. SJ Bob Shannon and John Javna (1986). Behind the Hits: Inside Stories of Classic Pop and Rock and Roll. Warner Books, Inc.: New York, NY. Page 105. SG Stereogum “The Number Ones” by Tom Breihan WK Wikipedia PW Paul Williams (1993). Rock and Roll: The Best 100 Singles. Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc.: New York, NY Pages 159-60. First posted 4/3/2022; last updated 4/29/2024.