Best of the Rest of the Top 40: 1958

Cafe Society
1

Once again, our retrospective series brings us to the peak of the first rock & roll boom. It’s 1958, and after filtering out the chart-toppers, we have 25 songs to look at in this poll. Which is your favorite?

Previous polls: 1956 1957

Best #1 single polls: 1955-56 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s All-time

2

Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire, this was an easy one!

3

Yes indeedy.

Regards,
Shodan

4

Indeed. Jerry Lee and his raucous song was rock music in its pure form.

5

I was just about to vote for “Tears on My Pillow” when I saw JohnT’s post and noticed that “Great Balls of Fire” was on the list.

6

The Killer is killin’ this poll in the early stages, and it’s no surprise.

7

Yep. I’m with crowd here–Jerry Lee Lewis.

8

Interesting that The McGuire Sisters had a hit tune this late in the game. I always thing of this era as primarily rock and roll, but some of the old timers were still hanging in there. Tommy Dorsey was dead, but his orchestra was still a working band, as was Billy Vaughn’s.

9

The out-of-control instrumentals in “Wear My Ring” that give you the feeling that if Elvis didn’t start singing the next verse, they might just all slide out of the studio and out into the street is what made that one a winner for me.

10

Going down the list, I was torn between “Sweet Little Sixteen” and “Book of Love,” but once I got to “Great Balls of Fire,” that settled it.

11

Guessing that it wouldn’t get too many votes, but it’s a great song anyway, I voted for “Catch a Falling Star”, mostly for the melody. I guess I was right…