So. We have the Hot 100 polls. We have the alternative/modern rock polls. We even have polls wherein you can vote for your favorite album that had been previously voted on (professionally, no less) in the Village Voice Pazz & Jop year-end lists.
But what of the lowly country song?
Now, I know (I know that country music tends to be, um, under-appreciated on the SDMB (why, I have no idea; I suspect that it’s the same knee-jerk dismissiveness that I used to exhibit toward the form. You know, when I was seventeen). But in all reality, country music is as varied, deep, rich, and witty as is any other form of music. So I thought it’d be fun to vote for the best/your favorite country chart toppers over the years.
Here, we begin with the year 1944, and the very first Billboard country chart of all.
I’m not much of an expert on country music, but I have become quite interested in the minutiae of how the charts work over the last few months, so allow me to contribute to Eddie F.'s endeavor with a bit of commentary about how the Billboard country charts work.
Most of Billboard’s genre-specific charts (modern/mainstream rock, hip-hop, R&B, easy listening/adult contemporary, etc.) are airplay only, but the country chart is a notable exception that’s evolved several times over the years. When the chart started in 1944, it called the “Most Played Juke Box Folk Records” chart (the term “country” would not be adopted by Billboard until 1949) and, as the name implied, only tracked jukebox spins of singles, as reported by the management of venues owning them. A sales chart was started in 1948 and an airplay chart in 1949, all of which had no fixed size from week to week.
In late 1958, the same time that Billboard adopted the “Hot 100” name for its overall sales+airplay chart, the jukebox chart was dropped and the sales and airplay charts were combined to form the “Hot Country & Western Singles” chart, which got its current name, “Hot Country Singles”, in 1962 (“Singles” was replaced with “Songs” in 2001), and has grown and shrunk in the number of songs listed each week several times over its history (I believe it’s currently at 60). In 1990 the chart became radio-only, but in 2012 the formula was changed to be identical to that of the Hot 100 where it’s compiled from a combination of sales, airplay, and streaming/on-demand music from all sources, except that it only tracks songs promoted or identified by their publisher as being of the country music genre.
That being said, the only one of these songs I know is “Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby”, and only then because it was used in a Tom & Jerry cartoon I remember from my childhood, so I guess I’m stuck with voting for that.
Thanks for saving me from my own laziness, Smapti. But seriously, thanks for the chart history/minutiae. I pretty much had no idea.
Happy Lendervedder, that’s the plan, yes.
And as far as my vote, well, I couldn’t pass up voting for the wildly racist, xenophobic “Smoke on the Water”, because it never ceases to fascinate me how blithely prejudiced Americans were, and how unapologetic and entrenched in our culture racism was for so many years. (Also, it’s a catchy tune.)
That said, Der Bingle, Louis Jordan, Nat “King” Cole, and John Ritter’s dad all presented catchy-as-hell tunes, as well. They just lacked the, you know, racial element to put them over the top.
That explains some things. However, I still think it’s odd to see records by Bing Crosby, Louis Jordan, and Nat “King” Cole on a “country” (or “folk”) chart. I never realized they had such a broad definition of what constituted “country” (or “folk”) music in 1944.
I voted for “Smoke on the Water”, and I don’t really think it’s racist, especially when compared to the propaganda of the day. Jingoistic? Absolutely. He’s not attributing horrible things to the nations or saying they’re somehow inferior, but he’s certainly speaking in terms of the war that was still going on.
Is there really a need to vote here? It’s Louis Jordan singing Is You Is. I have no idea why it is in a Country Song poll, but if it’s there, you vote for it, dammit.
I played this for my kids when I made breakfast on the weekends when they were little, right after Saturday Night Fish Fry (you want a rockin’ song, check it out)…
Well, my years of growing up with Tom and Jerry lead me to vote for Louis Jordan’s “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby”, but I agree, HTF did this get classified on the country charts by Billboard? (As well as a couple other songs. Looks like “country” encompassed early jazz and blues, too.)
But seriously, thanks for the chart history/minutiae. I pretty much had no idea.
