Is this the most obscure #1 Billboard hit song?

[WordMan]

@burpo_the_wonder_mutt

“Little Willy.” By Sweet. #3 in 1972.

B Side = Blockbuster.

Loved that song. Little Willy Willy won’t - go home!

Silly song, but Desolation Boulevard by The Sweet is a fucking great album. Fox on the Run. Ballroom Blitz. No You Don’t (covered by Pat Benatar). The Six-teens. AC/DC (covered by Joan Jett with a great video with Carmen Electra).

The Sweet rocked.

[burpo_the_wonder_mutt]

I would say “Ringo” by Lorne (“Bonanza”) Greene is more obscure then “Billy…” #1, 1964, I have no idea how it goes.

[BeeGee]

Trip back with me to 1975 when Silver Convention had an international #1 hit with “Fly, Robin, Fly.” Fly robin fly up up to the sky. That’s the lyrics. All of them.

[drad_dog]

@burpo_the_wonder_mutt

I would say “Ringo” by Lorne (“Bonanza”) Greene is more obscure then “Billy…” #1, 1964, I have no idea how it goes.

You wouldn’t. It’s spoke sung, with TV backing musicians playing upbeat vaguely western music and each verse ends with a deeply intoned “Ringo…” kind of like in “Big Bad John” by Jimmy Dean.

[burpo_the_wonder_mutt]

@drad_dog

You wouldn’t. It’s spoke sung, with TV backing musicians playing upbeat vaguely western music and each verse ends with a deeply intoned “Ringo…” kind of like in “Big Bad John” by Jimmy Dean.

There’s a category I’d like to tally.

Do you think Mr. Greene charted again?

[burpo_the_wonder_mutt]

@WordMan

B Side = Blockbuster.

Loved that song. Little Willy Willy won’t - go home!

Silly song, but Desolation Boulevard by The Sweet is a fucking great album. Fox on the Run. Ballroom Blitz. No You Don’t (covered by Pat Benatar). The Six-teens. AC/DC (covered by Joan Jett with a great video with Carmen Electra).

The Sweet rocked.

Ev…ry…bo…dy…wants…a…piece of the. ACTION!ACTION!ACTION!ACTION!ACTION!ACTION!ACTION!

[Odesio]

@buddha_david

It’s not uncommon for even the biggest hit songs to sometimes fade away into obscurity – for example, when was the last time Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical” got played on the radio?

I heard it just last week here in Little Rock though I can’t remember the last time I’d heard it before that. I can’t remember the last time I heard Elvis on the radio. It’s been at least ten years I think. I guess it just depends on what station you listen to.

[Odesio]

@buddha_david

Quickly perusing the list of Billboard Hot 100 #1’s from 1978 onward, I came across “Shake You Down” by Gregory Abbott, a rare example of me never having heard of the song OR the artist before.

Sorry for the double reply. I remember the song but I don’t think I’ve heard it since the late 80s. Had no idea who sang it though.

[Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil]

@WordMan

Dude, go back and find Smapti’s pop song ranking thread for 1974. That song isn’t obscure; it is simply awful. And 1974 owns awful.

I was born in 1974 :mad:.

[kiz]

What, no love for Neil Sedaka’s “Laughter In The Rain”?

Or…anything by Barry Manilow?

:boggle:

Rock The Boat, Fly Robin Fly, and The Hustle were my favorites from that era, btw. Oh, and I loved “The Night Chicago Died”. I think I still have the 45.

I didn’t like/understand the album-oriented groups back then. Most guys I knew at that time were crazy for Led Zeppelin because they WERE album-oriented. My feeling was, “If I can’t dance/sing to it, then what’s the use?”

[GrumpyBunny]

@nearwildheaven

The year before, Starland Vocal Band (how’s that for the worst band name ever?) took “Afternoon Delight” to #1, and that became a variety show that lasted several episodes, and had David Letterman on a few times. :o

That song was really amazingly awful.

Much of the 70s was amazingly awful. I now know why my mom usually had on either classical, jazz, or NPR.

[WordMan]

@Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil

I was born in 1974 :mad:.

Any idea what was playing on the radio at the time?

[Leo_Krupe]

@drad_dog

Thats not even the half of it. Billy dont be a hero was a Paper Lace original. They got covered by Bo Donaldson for the American hit, and then released the night Chicago died on us all all in the same summer. [snip]

I didn’t know that. Thanks for the info.

[Leo_Krupe]

@BeeGee

Trip back with me to 1975 when Silver Convention had an international #1 hit with “Fly, Robin, Fly.” Fly robin fly up up to the sky. That’s the lyrics. All of them.

Not a 70s album, but I think it was released in the early 80s…Neil Young released “Reactor” with the song “T-bone”. The entire set of lyrics is “Ain’t got no T-bone…got mashed potatoes.” But in my opinion, it’s a pretty good guitar jam.

[jrbor76]

I keep picturing all of you talking to yourselves as you’re posting, like you’re ID’ing the songs you’ve named on the radio in your best Steven Wright voices.

Dammit, I really want to watch Reservoir Dogs now.

[Bricker]

@Leo_Krupe

I always couple the OP’s song with Paper Lace’s “The Night Chicago Died,” although I won’t say that went to #1, but I heard them on the radio about the same time frame. It was a good time in my life, although the music pretty much sucked. But good memories going to sleep listening to Hues Corporation’s “Rock the Boat.”

“The Night Chicago Died,” did go to #1.

So did Rock the Boat!

[Chefguy]

Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polkadot Bikini, by Brian Hyland. #1 in 1960.

[burpo_the_wonder_mutt]

@Chefguy

Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polkadot Bikini, by Brian Hyland. #1 in 1960.

I dunno, Chefguy, it’s still pretty popular for beach commercials and the like.

[Wendell_Wagner]

I knew there was one time years ago that we discussed “Billy, Don’t Be a Hero”, but it took me a long time to find it:

Family Disagrees About "Billy, Don't be a Hero". Help!

[John_DiFool]

And who can forget the alien woman on helium singing “Daydream Believer”?

No, not a cover of the Monkees’ Sixties hit…

Cheer up, sleepy Jean, oh what can it mean
To a daydream believer and a homecoming queen?
Cheer up, sleepy Jean, oh what can it mean
To a daydream believer and a homecoming queen?