Showing posts with label Philadelphia. Show all posts

Friday, December 10, 2021

WXPN: Top 100 Albums of All Time

WXPN:

The All-Time Top 100 Albums

Starting December 2, 2021, the Philadelphia-based radio station WXPN did a countdown of the top 2021 albums of all time (!). The voter-based list took a week to play (it wrapped up on December 10), with lower albums getting one song apiece and then, by the time they got to the top 10, the entire albums were played. The station did a countdown of the top 885 albums (the station is 88.5 on the FM dial) in 2005. Links to both lists are included at the bottom of this page, but the top 100 from the 2021 list are included here.

Check out other publications and organizations’ best-of album lists here.

1. The Beatles Abbey Road (1969)
2. Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
3. Bruce Springsteen Born to Run (1975)
4. The Beatles Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
5. Stevie Wonder Songs in the Key of Life (1976)
6. The Clash London Calling (1979)
7. Bob Dylan Blood on the Tracks (1975)
8. Fleetwood Mac Rumours (1977)
9. Joni Mitchell Blue (1971)
10. Carole King Tapestry (1971)

11. The Beatles Revolver (1966)
12. The Rolling Stones Exile on Main Street (1972)
13. U2 The Joshua Tree (1987)
14. The Beach Boys Pet Sounds (1966)
15. David Bowie The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)
16. Paul Simon Graceland (1986)
17. Marvin Gaye What’s Going On (1971)
18. The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers (1971)
19. Steely Dan Aja (1977)
20. Radiohead OK Computer (1997)

21. The Who Who’s Next (1971)
22. Miles Davis Kind of Blue (1959)
23. The Beatles Rubber Soul (1965)
24. The Grateful Dead American Beauty (1970)
25. Nirvana Nevermind (1991)
26. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Déjà Vu (1970)
27. Pearl Jam Ten (1991)
28. The Beatles Meet the Beatles! (1964)
29. Prince & the Revolution Purple Rain (soundtrack, 1984)
30. Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV (1971)

31. The Rolling Stones Let It Bleed (1969)
32. Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
33. The Who Quadrophenia (1973)
34. Bob Dylan Blonde on Blonde (1966)
35. Bruce Springsteen The Wild, the Innocent, & the E Street Shuffle (1973)
36. Pink Floyd The Wall (1979)
37. Derek and the Dominos Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs (1970)
38. The Allman Brothers At Fillmore East (live, 1971)
39. Elton John Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)
40. Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here (1975)

41. The Beatles The Beatles (aka “The White Album”) (1968)
42. Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2001)
43. Joni Mitchell Court and Spark (1974)
44. R.E.M. Automatic for the People (1992)
45. Bruce Springsteen Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978)
46. Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti (1975)
47. Counting Crows August and Everything After (1993)
48. Van Morrison Moondance (1970)
49. The Beatles Let It Be (1970)
50. John Prine John Prine (1971)

51. Neil Young After the Gold Rush (1970)
52. Lucinda Williams Car Wheels on a Gravel Road (1998)
53. Pink Floyd Animals (1977) 54. Jeff Buckley Grace (1994)
55. Velvet Underground & Nico Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)
56. Neil Young Harvest (1972)
57. The Allman Brothers Band Eat a Peach (1972)
58. Talking Heads Remain in Light (1980)
59. Eagles Hotel California (1976)
60. Michael Jackson Thriller (1982)

61. Cat Stevens Tea for the Tillerman (1970)
62. George Harrison All Things Must Pass (1970)
63. The Jimi Hendrix Experience Are You Experienced? (1967)
64. Stevie Wonder Innervisions (1973)
65. The Replacements Let It Be (1984)
66. Peter Gabriel So (1986)
67. Van Morrison Astral Weeks (1968)
68. John Coltrane A Love Supreme (1965)
69. The Band The Band (1969)
70. Yes Close to the Edge (1972)

71. Tom Petty Wildflowers (1994)
72. Alanis Morissette Jagged Little Pill (1995)
73. Crosby, Stills & Nash Crosby, Stills & Nash (1969)
74. Lauryn Hill The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998)
75. U2 Achtung Baby (1991)
76. The Cure Disintegration (1989)
77. Radiohead In Rainbows (2007)
78. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Damn the Torpedoes (1979)
79. Amy Winehouse Back to Black (2006)
80. The Rolling Stones Some Girls (1978)

81. Billy Joel The Stranger (1977)
82. Kate Bush Hounds of Love (1985)
83. Pretenders Pretenders (1980)
84. Queen A Night at the Opera (1975)
85. The Cars The Cars (1978)
86. Bruce Springsteen Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ (1973)
87. Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin I (1969)
88. Tori Amos Little Earthquakes (1992)
89. Radiohead Kid A (2000)
90. Little Feat Waiting for Columbus (1978)

91. Bob Marley & the Wailers Legend (compilation: 1973-83, released 1984)
92. The Rolling Stones Beggars Banquet (1968)
93. The Who Tommy (1969)
94. Joni Mitchell Hejira (1976)
95. Beastie Boys Paul’s Boutique (1989)
96. Liz Phair Exile in Guyville (1993)
97. Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin II (1969)
98. R.E.M. Murmur (1983)
99. Jackson Browne Late for the Sky (1974)
100. The Moody Blues Days of Future Passed (1967)

Resources and Related Links:

Dave’s Music Database: Best-of Album Lists by Publications/Organizations
WXPN: “2021 All-Time Greatest Albums” (2021)
WXPN: “885 Countdown: Greatest Albums” (2005)

First posted 12/10/2021.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Dick Clark Takes Over American Bandstand: July 9, 1956

On October 13, 1952, WFIL-TV began a local show called Bandstand. Originally hosted by Bob Horn, it kept Philadelphia teenagers up-to-date on the latest dance steps. Horn was fired following a drunk driving arrest. On July 9, 1956, Dick Clark took over as host. By the spring of 1957, he pitched it to ABC and the show went national as American Bandstand on August 5, 1957. Clark held the job for the next thirty years, becoming a major media mogul and earning the nickname “America’s Oldest Teenager”.

Clark got his start in broadcasting right out of high school. After graduation in 1947, he worked at Rome, New York’s WRUN-AM, a station owned by his uncle and managed by his father. Clark quickly moved into a role as the vacationing weatherman and an announcer for station breaks. By 1952, he was a disc jockey at Philadelphia radio station WFIL. He also became a regular substitute host for Bandstand on the station’s affiliate television network.

Dick Clark

The show went through a variety of time slots and air times. After a few years airing as a weekday afternoon program, it was reconfigured in 1963 as a once-a-week Saturday show. A year later, it relocated from Philadelphia to Los Angeles. ABC was home to the show until 1987. A two-year stint in first-run syndication followed before the show went to the USA cable network. It only lasted there six months and then closed its doors in 1989.

Featured artists were expected to lip-sync their current hits while the commercially released version of the song played. Clark regularly asked teen audience members their opinions of the songs, giving rise to the well known phrase “It’s got a good beat and you can dance to it.”

Clark is rated as one of the top 1000 music makers of all time by Dave’s Music Database.

Les Elgart’s version of “Bandstand Boogie”, used as the theme in the show’s early national days

Resources and Related Links:

Sunday, January 6, 2008

50 years ago: “At the Hop” hit #1 for first of 7 weeks

At the Hop

Danny & the Juniors

Writer(s): Artie Singer/John Medora/David White (see lyrics here)

First Charted: November 18, 1957

Peak: 1⁷ US, 1⁵ CB, 1⁶ HR, 1⁵ RB, 3 UK, 1³ CN, 3 DF (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): 2.5 US, -- UK, 2.5 world (includes US + UK)

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, 9.79 video, -- streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

Just as Elvis Presley had appropriated black music to become the King of Rock and Roll, this white vocal quartet tapped into the doo-wop format largely owned by black groups. They formed in high school in Philadelphia in 1955 as the Juvenairs and sang on street corners and local dances and parties. Their break came in 1957 when they decided to sing at the street corner right under the window of record producer John Madara. He introduced them to a DJ who, in turn, introduced them to Artie Singer, who owned Singular Records. Singer signed them. ^SJ

The group recorded “Do the Bop,” a song written by Madara and band member Dave White. ^SJ Singer was acquainted with Dick Clark, who hosted American Bandstand from Philadelphia and played the song for him. Clark was impressed, but since the bop dance craze was on the way out, he suggested changing the title to “At the Hop.” ^SJ

It wasn’t the only break the group got from Clark. When another act scheduled to appear didn’t show up, Danny & the Juniors filled in. The song was picked up by ABC Paramount Records for national distribution and would go on to top the pop and R&B charts. This was their only top-ten pop hit, but it became the biggest single of 1958. ^CPM

The song is “one of the all time great slabs of rock ‘n’ rolling exuberance;” ^DT it “makes you want to dance.” ^PW It is “reminiscent of the blues, while capitalizing on the upbeat feeling of 50s music.” ^KW It is a “catchy tune” ^PW with an “attractive beat” ^PW “and dumb words. The joybful, liberating power of a few well-chosen dumb words should never be underestimated.” ^PW

Resources:

DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Danny & the Juniors
^KW Mic.com (12/25/2013). “30 Songs That Changed the Course of Musical History” by Kayli Woods
^SJ Bob Shannon and John Javna (1986). Behind the Hits: Inside Stories of Classic Pop and Rock and Roll. Warner Brothers, Inc.: New York, NY. Page 59.
^DT Dave Thompson (2011). 1000 Songs That Rock Your World. Krause Publications: Iola, WI. Page 281.
^TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 28.
^CPM Joel Whitburn (1999). A Century of Pop Music. Record Research, Inc.: Menomonee Falls, WI. Page 79.
^PW Paul Williams (1993). Rock and Roll: The Best 100 Singles. New York, NY: Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc. Pages 37-8.

First posted 4/15/2020; last updated 4/2/2023.

Wednesday, February 2, 1994

Bruce Springsteen released “Streets of Philadelphia”