Showing posts with label Life magazine. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 1, 1992

Life Magazine "40 Years of Rock & Roll": The Songs

Life Magazine:

40 Years of Rock & Roll: The Songs

In 1992, Life magazine devoted a special issue to celebrate rock & roll, using the Moondog Coronation Ball held on March 21, 1952 in Cleveland as their starting point for rock & roll. They picked five songs to represent each year from 1952 to 1991. They also picked one album for each year from 1955 to 1991.

Click here to see other lists from publications and/or organizations. 1952:

The Dominoes “Have Mercy, Baby”
Lloyd Price “Lawdy Miss Clawdy”
Johnny Ace “My Song”
The Clovers “One Mint Julep”
Jimmy Forrest “Night Train”

1953:

Willie Mae Thornton ““Hound Dog”
The Clovers “Money Honey”
The Orioles “Crying in the Chapel”
Ruth Brown “Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean”
Bill Haley & His Comets “Crazy Man Crazy”

1954:

The Chords “Sh-Boom”
Johnny Ace “Pledging My Love”
Hank Ballard & the Midnighters “Work with Me Annie”
The Drifters “Honey Love”
Big Joe Turner “Shake, Rattle and Roll”

1955:

Chuck Berry “Maybellene”
The Platters “Only You (And You Alone)”
The Penguins “Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)”
LaVern Baker “Tweedle Dee”
The Cadillacs “Speedoo”

1956:

Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?”
The Five Satins “In the Still of the Nite (I’ll Remember)”
Little Richard “Tutti Frutti”
Fats Domino “Blueberry Hill”
Elvis Presley “Don’t Be Cruel” / “Hound Dog”

1957:

Buddy Holly & the Crickets “That’ll Be the Day”
Sam Cooke “You Send Me”
Jerry Lee Lewis “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On”
The Coasters “Searchin’”
The Everly Brothers “Bye Bye Love”

1958:

Dion & the Belmonts “I Wonder Why”
Little Anthony & the Imperials “Tears on My Pillow”
Chuck Berry “Johnny B. Goode”
Jackie Wilson “Lonely Teardrops”
Eddie Cochran “Summertime Blues”

1959:

Dion & the Belmonts “A Teenager in Love”
Wilbert Harrison “Kansas City”
The Drifters “There Goes My Baby”
Ritchie Valens “Donna” / “La Bamba”
The Crests “Sixteen Candles”

1960:

Brenda Lee “I’m Sorry”
Mark Dinning “Teen Angel”
Percy Faith “Theme from ‘A Summer Place’”
Roy Orbison “Only the Lonely”
Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs “Stay”

1961:

Ray Charles “Hit the Road Jack”
The Dovells “Bristol Stomp”
The Marvelettes “Please Mr. Postman”
The Marcels “Blue Moon”
Del Shannon “Runaway”

1962:

The Four Seasons “Big Girls Don’t Cry”
The Crystals “He’s a Rebel”
The Miracles “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me”
Gene Chandler “Duke of Earl”
The Isley Brothers “Twist and Shout”

1963:

Little Stevie Wonder “Fingertips (Part 2)”
The Ronettes “Be My Baby”
Jan & Dean “Surf City”
The Chiffons “He’s So Fine”
The Kingsmen “Louie Louie”

1964:

Mary Wells “My Guy”
The Beach Boys “I Get Around”
The Animals “The House of the Rising Sun”
The Kinks “You Really Got Me”
The Supremes “Baby Love”

1965:

The Beatles “Yesterday”
The Byrds “Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)”
The Temptations “My Girl”
The Who “My Generation”
Bob Dylan “Like a Rolling Stone”

1966:

Simon and Garfunkel “The Sounds of Silence”
The Monkees “Last Train to Clarksville”
The Beach Boys “Good Vibrations”
Percy Sledge “When a Man Loves a Woman”
Four Tops “Reach Out (I’ll Be There)”

1967:

The Box Tops “The Letter” The Doors “Light My Fire”
Sly & the Family Stone “Dance to the Music”
Aretha Franklin “Respect”
Jefferson Airplane “White Rabbit”

1968:

Otis Redding “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay”
Cream “Sunshine of Your Love”
Steppenwolf “Born to Be Wild”
Marvin Gaye “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”
The Beatles “Hey Jude”

1969:

The Fifth Dimension “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In”
The Band “Up on Cripple Creek”
The Rolling Stones “Honky Tonk Women”
Creedence Clearwater Revival “Bad Moon Rising”
Santana “Evil Ways”

1970:

The Kinks “Lola”
The Miracles “The Tears of a Clown”
James Taylor “Fire and Rain”
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young “Woodstock”
Van Morrison “Moondance”

1971:

Rod Stewart “Maggie May”
Derek and the Dominos “Layla”
Janis Joplin “Me and Bobby McGee”
Led Zeppelin “Stairway to Heaven”
Marvin Gaye “What’s Going On”

1972:

Don McLean “American Pie”
Neil Young “Heart of Gold”
Stevie Wonder “Superstition”
Jackson Brown “Doctor My Eyes”
Randy Newman “Sail Away”

1973:

Edgar Winter Group “Frankenstein”
Lou Reed “Walk on the Wild Side”
Gladys Knight & the Pips “Midnight Train to Georgia”
The Rolling Stones “Angie”
The O’Jays “Love Train”

1974:

Lynyrd Skynyrd “Sweet Home Alabama”
Bachman-Turner Overdrive “Takin’ Care of Business”
Steely Dan “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number”
Eagles “Best of My Love”
Joni Mitchell “Help Me”

1975:

Eagles “One of These Nights”
Linda Ronstadt “You’re No Good”
Queen “Bohemian Rhapsody”
David Bowie “Fame”
Bob Marley & the Wailers “No Woman, No Cry”

1976:

Peter Frampton “Show Me the Way”
Paul Simon “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”
Heart “Crazy on You”
Daryl Hall & John Oates “She’s Gone”
Boz Scaggs “Lowdown”

1977:

Eagles “Hotel California”
Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band “Night Moves
Aerosmith “Walk This Way”
The Steve Miller Band “Fly Like an Eagle”
Boston “More Than a Feeling”

1978:

Talking Heads “Psycho Killer”
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers “Breakdown”
Billy Joel “Just the Way You Are”
Elvis Costello “Watching the Detectives”
Meat Loaf “Paradise by the Dashboard Light”

1979:

The Police “Roxanne”
Dire Straits “Sultans of Swing”
Donna Summer “Bad Girls”
The Doobie Brothers “What a Fool Believes”
Joe Jackson “Is She Really Going Out with Him?”

1980:

Blondie “Call Me”
The Pretenders “Brass in Pocket (I’m Special)”
Pink Floyd “Another Brick in the Wall Part II”
Bruce Springsteen “Hungry Heart”
Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band “Against the Wind”

1981:

Kim Carnes “Bette Davis Eyes”
The Cars “Shake It Up”
The Go-Go’s “Our Lips Are Sealed”
The Pointer Sisters “Slow Hand”
REO Speedwagon “Keep on Loving You”

1982:

Joan Jett & the Blackhearts “I Love Rock and Roll”
Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes “Up Where We Belong”
The Clash “Rock the Casbah”
Human League “Don’t You Want Me?”
Men at Work “Who Can It Be Now?”

1983:

Eurythmics “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This”
The Police “Every Breath You Take”
Prince “Little Red Corvette”
Billy Idol “White Wedding”
David Bowie “Let’s Dance”

1984:

Tina Turner “What’s Love Got to Do with It?”
Cyndi Lauper “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”
Madonna “Like a Virgin”
Van Halen “Jump”
John Waite “Missing You”

1985:

Huey Lewis & the News “The Power of Love”
U.S.A. for Africa “We Are the World”
Dire Straits “Money for Nothing”
Foreigner “I Want to Know What Love Is”
Lionel Richie “Say You, Say Me”

1986:

Bruce Hornsby & the Range “The Way It Is”
Robert Palmer “Addicted to Love”
Prince “Kiss”
Whitney Houston “How Will I Know”
Steve Winwood “Higher Love”

1987:

Billy Medley with Jennifer Warnes “I’ve Had the Time of My Life”
Michael Jackson “Bad”
Bon Jovi “Livin’ on a Prayer”
Suzanne Vega “Luka”
Los Lobos “La Bamba”

1988:

Tracy Chapman “Fast Car”
INXS “New Sensation”
Terence Trent D’Arby “Wishing Well”
Guns N’ Roses “Sweet Child O’ Mine”
Def Leppard “Love Bites”

1989:

Paula Abdul “Straight Up”
Public Enemy “Fight the Power”
Bonnie Raitt “Thing Called Love”
Fine Young Cannibals “She Drives Me Crazy”
Tone Loc “Wild Thing”

1990:

Sinéad O’Connor “Nothing Compares 2 U”
Faith No More “Epic”
Mariah Carey “Vision of Love”
Chris Isaak “Wicked Game”
Technotronic “Pump Up the Jam”

1991:

Metallica “Enter Sandman”
Nirvana “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
EMF “Unbelievable”
C & C Music Factory “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)”
R.E.M. “Losing My Religion”

Resources/Related Links:

Dave’s Music Database: “Lists from other publications and/or organizations”
Life (12/1/1992). “40 Years of Rock & Roll”

First posted 4/9/2021.

Monday, May 9, 1988

Terence Trent D’Arby “Wishing Well” hit #1

Wishing Well

Terence Trent D’Arby

This post has been moved here.

Saturday, May 23, 1987

Suzanne Vega “Luka” charted

Luka

Suzanne Vega

Writer(s): -- (see lyrics here)

First Charted: May 23, 1987

Peak: 3 US, 4 CB, 3 RR, 3 AC, 15 AR, 1 CO, 23 UK, 5 CN, 21 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 85.73 video, 87.45 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

The ‘80s and ‘90s saw the rise of female singers rooted in folk and alternative rock such as Tracy Chapman, Melissa Etheridge, the Indigo Girls, Sheryl Crow, and Sarah McLachlan. They were all preceded, however, by Suzanne Vega who gained a following first at college radio, but eventually on the pop charts. As author Toby Creswell said, “Vega almost single-handedly started her own female folk boom.” ^TC

Vega was born in 1959 in California but grew up in New York. She attended the High School of the Performing Arts and started playing small clubs at Greenwich Village while studying at Barnard College. She released her self-titled debut in 1985. It didn’t gain a lot of attention in the United States, although it reached #11 in the UK and generated a #21 hit with the song “Marlene on the Wall.” She gained more attention with the track “Left of Center” from the Pretty in Pink soundtrack the next year.

On her second album, 1987’s Solitude Standing, Vega “moved from coffee-house folk singing to exotic and unpredictable musical experimentations.” ^SS The album reached #2 in the UK and #11 in the United States, largely on the strength of her top-5 hit “Luka.” The song, which was actually written before her debut album, ^SF was nominated for Grammys for Record and Song of the Year. It featured backing vocals by Shawn Colvin, another folk/alternative rock female singer who would rise to acclaim and commercial success in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

The song is about a boy who is abused and forbidden to talk about it. Vega based the song on a real boy named Luka who she would see playing with other children in front of her building. He really did live upstairs from her and she met him one day in the elevator. ^SF She said, “I didn’t know much about him, but he just seemed set apart from these other children…In the song, the boy Luka is an abused child – in real life I don’t think he was. I think he was just different.” ^WK She revealed years later that the song was also inspired by her own abusive experiences with her stepfather. ^WK

The song was nominated for Grammys for Record and Song of the Year. It featured backing vocals by Shawn Colvin, another folk/alternative rock female singer who would rise to acclaim and commercial success in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

Resources:

^TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Page 829.
^SF Songfacts
^SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Pages 246-7.
^WK Wikipedia

Saturday, December 13, 1986

Bruce Hornsby “The Way It Is” hit #1