Gary US Bonds was still just “US Bonds” on the record labels until shortly after this record came out. This week we look at the story behind this song, and how it influenced another hitmaker to write and produce Bonds’ 1981 comeback hit.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 10:29 — 8.5MB)
Devo’s one trip to the Top 40 was a cultural touchstone partly because some people misunderstood the intent of the lyrics, and partly because MTV was starved for programming.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 12:59 — 10.5MB)
Zager and Evans provided the soundtrack to one of the most eventful summers of the 1960s, and then they vanished, a true One Hit Wonder. What made this song catch the public’s imagination?
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 13:29 — 10.9MB)
The story behind Tears For Fears’ US debut single.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 12:59 — 10.5MB)
John D Loudermilk wrote a song that’s nearly devoid of actual facts. When it became a hit, a couple of interviews he did about that song turned out also to be mostly devoid of facts.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 11:59 — 9.6MB)
Neil Sedaka spent a bunch of time in the Top Ten, but this was his first trip to the Number One slot. And he took the song to the Top Ten again several years later with a vastly different arrangement.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 13:14 — 10.7MB)
The Isley Brothers’ first charting hit from 1959 got its start not as a song, but as a bit they’d do to extend another song they were already singing in concert.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 14:29 — 11.6MB)
Ray Parker Jr wasn’t the first person approached to come up with a pop song to support this film, but he was the last, and the best.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 16:23 — 13.2MB)
Lou Reed’s signature song (he once joked that he knew his obituary would start with “doot, di-doot, di-doot…”) has its origins in people he knew and worked with at Andy Warhol’s studio, The Factory.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 15:44 — 12.6MB)
Benny Mardones may be the only person to be a one-hit wonder twice, charting two times with the same version of the same song.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 13:59 — 11.2MB)
