I don’t remember if I mentioned this before, but when I first launched this podcast, I recorded the first four or five episodes and then decided that I hated them, so I recorded them again, and that’s what went out to the world.
Now, every podcaster looks at their first few episodes and they cringe at how those episodes sound, and I’m no exception to that, but the purpose of re-doing a bunch of these older episodes is to bring them a little more in line with changes I’ve made in formatting and program elements.
So today we’re going all the way back to Episode One, to talk about 10cc’s breakout hit from 1975: where that funky background sound came from, what the title is about, and the rumors about how the band got its name.
Also: listen to the episode before reading the last paragraph.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 11:25 — 9.5MB)
During the episode, I noted that the song peaked at Number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, and that in each of the three weeks it spent in that position, there was a different #1 song. Here are the three songs:
When it first reached #2 the week of July 26, 1975, the #1 song was “The Hustle” by Van McCoy.
For the week of August 2, 1975, The Eagles’ “One of These Nights” was at #1.
And finally, on my oldest daughter’s (negative seventeenth) birthday, it was “Jive Talkin’” by the Bee Gees.
As a 12-year-old that year, I was pretty immersed in pop music and I’d look at the Top 20 chart that was published in Long Island’s Newsday every week. I kind of remember that summer being one in which the charts churned a lot of change from week to week. So remaining in one position, even if it was #2, for several weeks, was still a bit of an event.