April 20, 2025 • 37 mins
Looking back exactly 50 years, we explore the Billboard Hot 100 charts from April 26, 1975 – a time capsule that reveals a diverse musical landscape. From America's "Sister Golden Hair" to Queen's "Killer Queen," each song carries its own fascinating backstory that connects to broader cultural moments of the era.
We share personal memories of these songs, including childhood misinterpretations (like thinking Pure Prairie League's "Amie" was actually singing "Hey Me") that reveal how differently we experience music as young listeners.
Listen now, for more stories on songs that rocked the charts back then. We also discuss Elton John's contribution to The Who's 'Tommy' film soundtrack. We compare the soundtrack vs the original album. Ready to rediscover the sounds that defined spring 1975? Let the musical memories transport you.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
He's got the feeling in his toe-toe.
He's got the feeling and it'sout there growing.
Hey everybody, this is Jim Boge, and you're listening to Music
In my Shoes.
That was Vic Thrill kicking offepisode 75.
As always, I'm thrilled to behere with you.
(00:45):
Let's learn something new orremember something old.
So, Jimmy, I thought it wouldbe cool to go back and look at
Billboard charts from a certainweek, kind of look at some of
the songs and just kind of talkabout them.
I just thought that I've beenwanting to do that.
All right, and I finally waslike, let me just do it now.
So I picked Billboard Hot 100charts from April 26th 1975.
(01:12):
And that's 50 years ago, andyou know I looked at them.
We can't talk about all 100,you know that wouldn't be fun.
All right, so I decided tostart at number 32.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Okay, that's a good yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Just seemed like a good number and we're not going
to talk about all 32.
I jump around, I just pickedout some songs, all right.
So number 32 that week SisterGolden Hair by America.
Oh Well, I keep on thinkingabout you, sister Golden Hair,
surprise.
And I just can't live withoutyou.
Can't you see it in my eyes?
(01:48):
I can, I'm glad that you can.
That song eventually made it tonumber one on June 14th 1975.
Number 30, shaving Cream.
This is a great story, jimmy.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Really interesting.
I don't know, shaving Cream.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
By Benny Bell and it's one of those novelty songs.
You know how every once in awhile a novelty song just hits
and everybody likes the song.
Yeah, it was actually recordedin 1946.
All right, and when you listento it it sounds like a song from
1946.
You know that post-war typesound.
(02:26):
And it was on Dr Demento.
Did you ever listen to DrDemento back in the day?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
No, but I've heard of it.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
So Dr Demento would play this song for a long time
and then it got popular on astation WNBC in New York, 66 on
your AM dial.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
And the next thing you knew they released it as a
single in 1975, after all theseyears, and it's just crazy that
it peaks at number 30.
And it's just really cool.
What is the song like?
It's funny that you say thatbecause I know the words.
(03:12):
I mean, it's one of thosenovelty songs as a kid you
really like.
And it starts off with I have asad story to tell you.
It may hurt your feelings a bit.
Last night when I walked intomy bathroom I stepped in a big
pile of shaving cream and thenit goes it's one of those songs.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
It was too racy for 1946.
They were like that can't go onthe air, but in 1975, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
People wanted to hear that.
That was what people wanted tohear, and that's kind of how all
the verses go.
You know, it's just anotherhear and that's kind of how all
the verses go.
You know, it's just anotherthing.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
That's funny because I remember this movie.
You remember those Disneymovies that would have Don
Knotts and Tim Conway and peoplelike that in it.
So there's one called PrivateEyes and it was right around
that time.
It would have been probably 75to 77 era time.
(04:09):
It would have been probably 75to 77 era and it, uh, it had one
of those jokes in it where,okay, we know what the word at
the end of this rhyme issupposed to be, but then they
say something else oh, really,yeah, I don't think I've ever
heard of that and I think that Iknow a lot of the disney movies
yeah, they had uh appledumpling gang I know that one
Apple Dumpling Gang rides again,uh-huh yeah.
And Private Eyes was kind of Idon't know, it was just another
one.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
When I hear Private Eyes, I think of Hall Oates.
Remember that's it Private Eyes, they're watching you.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Mm-hmm, they see your every move.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
There you go.
And speaking of seeing everymove, someone who saw all of our
moves hit number 29, DavidBowie with Young Americans.
It peaked at number 28, May10th 1975.
I really like this song.
Yeah, I think it's a reallygood song for David Bowie at the
time really to kind of crossover from one generation to
(05:02):
another generation.
I think a lot of people reallylike this song.
Still a good song 50 yearslater.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Very timely where he says do you remember your
President Nixon?
Well, he had just resigned ayear earlier.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Correct, and you know .
And what is it?
Sweet Home Alabama where theytalk about.
You know, do you remember?
You know the governor, and youknow just all these different
things in songs and here, allthese years later, because I
think Sweet Home Alabama waswhat?
74, 73,.
You know?
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Watergate did not bother him.
No, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
But does number 27, Pure Prairie League, Amy, bother
you?
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Oh, Amy, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Amy what you want to do.
I have a story about Amy.
I think I could stay with youfor a while, maybe longer if I
do, If that's not freakingfantastic, I'm not sure what is?
Speaker 1 (06:00):
So when I was a kid, so this would have been, I would
have been almost six years oldthis top 32, you know, as the
kids say, I thought the song wassaying hey me, what you gonna
do.
It was an introspective, it wasquestioning himself.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Wow, when did you realize it wasn't?
Speaker 1 (06:22):
I really don't know.
I think I probably sang it thatway and my brother probably
told me I was wrong, you know.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
It's funny that you say that, because this is the
pure prairie league.
My youngest daughter, when shewas young, whenever Living on a
Prayer by Bon Jovi came on, shethought it was living on a
prairie.
She singing like that, and whenshe was older and realized that
that wasn't it, she was likealmost arguing with us that we
(06:52):
were wrong, that, you know,everything was wrong.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
It was always living on a prairie like it kind of
changes the meaning of the song.
Yeah, a lot.
She think it's uh, we'rehalfway there-y.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I don't know about that-y, but that's a good
question-y.
We'll have to find out-y.
Amy, country rock.
It was on the 72 album, bustin'Out, which was released as a
single in 1973, and it didn't dowell at all, but college radio
(07:23):
just kept playing it.
They loved it for some reason.
And word has it that Lenny Kayof the Patti Smith group, who
joined us in studio severalepisodes ago, he suggested to
the RCA folks they might want tore-release it, and they did,
(07:43):
and it went to number 27.
Crazy.
The band kind of had broken up.
They had been released by RCA,rca got them back together and
then the whole rest is history.
Now there's no members in itnow that were in it back in the
day.
It's one of those bands thatthey just keep changing out
(08:04):
throughout time.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
It's one of those bands that they just keep
changing out throughout time.
Well, I wonder if thepopularity of the Eagles had
changed things.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
I would think so.
The Eagles, the Flying BurritoBrothers, Graham Parsons, all of
those people that were doingthat country rock thing that
really made it popular, becausea lot of those bands were being
played on college at the time.
Yeah, Number 24, Ringo Starr no, no Song.
(08:33):
And this is where Ringo singsabout all of his vices and that
he doesn't do them anymore.
No, no, no, no.
I don't drink it no more.
I'm tired of waking up on thefloor.
Are you familiar with this song, Jermaine?
Not at all.
Yeah, this was a big song.
It would be 14 more yearsbefore Ringo decided I don't
(08:56):
drink it no more just for thereal thing out there.
So 8-track Johnny, remember8-track Johnny, of course,
8-track Johnny actually had this45 and lent it to me and I was
listening to this Rented it toyou or lent it to you.
Lent, he lent it to me.
Sorry, no, he did not rent it tome.
He lent it to me, got it andI'm eight years old and I'm
(09:20):
singing this.
You know, no, no, no, no.
You know I don't drink in nomore time.
You know, like and I look backat it now like I cannot believe
I was eight singing it and theytalk about other things besides
drinking moonshine fromNashville, and it's just so
funny that this song had peakedat number three on Billboard.
(09:40):
It's just crazy.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
That is.
You know, I can't even picturethe song.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
It's just crazy, that is, I can't even picture the
song Number 23,.
Labelle, lady Marmalade.
Oh, former number one song,patti LaBelle on vocals.
How could you not like a songwith the words yaya dada, gitchy
, gitchy, yaya, here, mochachocolata, yaya creole, lady
(10:10):
marmalade, come on.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Yeah, it sounds great when you do it.
You think so.
Yeah, do do do, do, do.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Anyway, be careful.
Yes, I mean, it just was areally cool song and it was just
different.
I like songs that are different, you know, and they sound cool.
Patti LaBelle, you know, leadvocals on it.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
She even speaks French in it.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
She does.
I don't know how to say allthose words so I'm not even
going to try.
Yeah, but again, we're talkingabout some of the songs from the
Billboard Hot 100, april 26,1975.
Some of the songs from theBillboard Hot 100, april 26,
1975.
Number 22, John Denver ThankGod I'm a Country Boy.
(10:57):
It reached number one on thecharts on June 7, 1975.
And I know several baseballteams play it as part of their
seventh inning stretch.
I know the Braves do at times,I can't think of who else, but I
know other teams do it and youknow they'll play God Bless
America.
And then they'll play thisright after and it's a fun song
and I think by teams doing thatit brings it out to people now
(11:18):
that would never hear the song,that would never know the song.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Right, But's a fun song.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
It is a fun song A little, you know.
Kick up your feet and you knowdo-do-do-do-do you know, Number
20, john Lennon's cover of theBenny King song Stand by Me.
Really good version, reallygood version, really, really
like his version.
(11:43):
I like Benny King's as well.
But when John Lennon did thisman, it was good, it really was.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
I don't even think I know that.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Give it a try, give it a listen.
Good, good song Ace at number19 with how Long?
Lead singer Paul Carrick alsosang lead on the 1981 squeeze
song Tempted and the 1989 songby Mike and the Mechanics, the
Living Years.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
That's three pretty cool songs for three different
bands.
You know to be singing.
I mean, he's pretty talented.
How long has this been going on?
That's the main premisethroughout the whole entire song
.
But it's a good song and Ithink it was Phil Collins that
said he could sing the phonebook and it'd be something that
(12:39):
was melodic or it would soundfantastic.
Like his voice is just one ofthose voices that he can pull
off anything.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
I think you could just read the phone book.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
You think I could?
Yeah, I might try that.
That sounds like a good idea.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
We'll do an episode just based on the phone book.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
We have the title already the phone book Number 18
, queen Killer, queen.
Number 18, queen killer, queen.
I think it starts off withsnapping fingers.
If I'm not mistaken and I'vealways loved these lines To
avoid complications she neverkept the same address In
conversation.
(13:17):
She spoke just like a baroness.
I just love that.
Even as a kid I was like Idon't even know what a Baroness
is, but it sounds really cool,you know.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah, you know, it's fancy.
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
And with a Killer Queen guitar solo.
I mean it's just.
The solo is perfect for thesong.
You know, it's not one of thosethings where they go over the
top.
They make it fit and it's great.
I just absolutely love itreally.
Do Number it fit and it's great.
I just absolutely love it.
Really, do Number 16.
I never heard this song before,but the title caught my
(13:51):
attention so I listened to thissong, just to listen to it,
because I've never heard it.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Okay, well, let me see if I've heard it, this is
number 16.
Okay, with the song, the.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Birther, but Boogie.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Okay, I do not know that.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Never heard this song , but it made it to number 16 on
the charts.
The Birther but Boogie Okay.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
What kind of song is it?
Speaker 2 (14:21):
It's an R&B song, you know, kind of like Baby Got
Back.
You know songs Rump Shakerreminds me of like all of those
songs, so I just never had heardof it.
A song I did hear of number 14,ozark Mountain, daredevils,
jackie Blue.
I don't know any words otherthan something like ooh, ooh,
(14:44):
jackie Blue.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
You know something like that.
Number 11, earth, wind, Fire,shining Star.
It reached number one May 24th1975.
You're a Shining Star, nomatter who you are, and you are
too Jimmy.
You are too Jim, thank you.
Number four, Minnie Riperton,loving you.
(15:10):
Now, we talked about her oncebefore and I don't even remember
how she came up.
But Loving you is easy becauseyou're beautiful, and that's how
the song begins.
And then it just goes throughthis whole thing of love that
she has.
I'm assuming most of it's forher husband if you read the
words.
But it was a former number onesong in early April of 75 and it
(15:35):
was sung by the mother of thefuture.
Saturday Night Live cast member, maya Rudolph.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Oh, yeah, right.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Minnie says Maya's name at the end of the song and
it's kind of like Maya Maya.
You know a lot more melodicthan what I'm doing, but you
know she says it three or fourtimes.
So I've always liked that song.
I just think that it's kind ofcool.
You know, unfortunately shedied of cancer in 1979.
(16:06):
I think she was only like 31years old or so.
She had it for a long time.
She lived longer than what theythought she was going to.
But she kept recording untilthe end.
She kept doing everything thatshe possibly could.
And you know, my hat's off toher.
Number two, elton John,philadelphia Freedom, another
(16:34):
former number one song, a songnot written about the US
Bicentennial coming up in 1976,like I thought it was.
I thought it was all aboutprepping for the bicentennial
Because in 75, we wereEverything seemed to be getting
ready for it, talking about it,what was going to happen and
(16:56):
everything.
And you were buying stuff.
I remember buying littlelicense plates for my bicycle to
put on.
I had the bicentennial logo.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
I had like my bike all decked out.
The spokes had red, white andblue things in them.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Yeah, and we were getting ready early.
We wanted to be ready for whenit happened.
We knew it was July 4th 1976,but we still wanted to do
everything we could to beprepared for it.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Yeah, it was really that whole year that it was very
bicentennial and, like you said, even in 75, leading up to it
Very bicentennial-ish.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Yeah, that's what I would say.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
It was like growing up in colonial America, you know
.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
It's funny you say that they actually replaced the
streetlights on my street notjust my street but throughout
the town that I grew up in andthey put wooden posts with that
old colonial lamp light lookingthing at the top.
Now they're all gone.
They went back to the you knownormal, you know metal overhang
(18:01):
ones.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
But it was a trend.
It was a trend and even in likeclothing there were some people
that would wear kind of likewomen would wear the colonial
looking dresses and inspired bythat sort of stuff.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
There you go.
Everybody was bicentennial-ish,but the song was not, even
though we all thought it was.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
What was?
Speaker 2 (18:19):
it.
It was inspired by tennisplayer Billie Jean King and the
tennis team she played on, thePhiladelphia Freedoms.
Billie Jean King, elton Johnwere friends and he decided that
he was going to write a song, alittle bit of a tribute, yet
they don't mention her.
The only Philadelphia Freedomthing is when they say
(18:40):
Philadelphia Freedom, but if youlisten to the song to me, they
say Philadelphia Freedom.
But if you listen to the songto me, it's not about tennis,
it's about the Bicentennial yeahSet match point.
Because that takes us to thenumber one song on the Billboard
Hot 100 chart for April 26,1975.
(19:02):
1975, bj Thomas.
Hey, won't you Play anothersomebody done somebody wrong
song, which at the time was thelongest title of any song to hit
number one on the Billboardcharts.
Oh, I liked, I thought it waspretty good.
(19:30):
So please play for me.
A sad melody, so sad that itmakes everybody cry.
A real hurtin' song about alove that's gone wrong.
That was pretty cool lookingback 50 years ago on the
Billboard Hot 100 charts.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
That was cool.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Yeah, I liked it.
So, Jimmy, I mentioned EltonJohn at number two with
Philadelphia Freedom.
Well, he had another song allover the radio in 1975, Pinball
Wizard.
Oh yeah, From the Tommy moviesoundtrack.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
And it's a cover of the classic song by the who.
He did a great job with it.
I mean I liked it, I thought itwas really good.
Classic song by the who.
He did a great job with it, Imean, I liked it, I thought it
was really good.
It was not released as a singlein the US, it was only a radio
promo that they would play.
But you had to buy the album,the soundtrack album, if you
wanted to get the song.
So, as much as it was played,it didn't make the charts
(20:24):
because you have to commerciallyrelease it in order for it to
make the Billboard Hot 100.
Oh, so he plays the part of thepinball wizard in the movie
Tommy Mm-hmm and he worefour-and-a-half-foot boots that
were really stilts and they looklike giant Doc Martens and they
(20:50):
were pretty crazy and heactually kind of got used to
being able to walk in them.
If you ever see the film likehe does a good job.
I mean they are literally fourand a half feet tall that he's
standing on.
He's like a giant over everybodyas he's singing this song, how
does he play pinball?
I guess his piano is raised, soit's a pinball machine with a
(21:12):
keyboard on the front of it.
So it's kind of cool.
It really is.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Now, he had a pinball machine called Captain
Fantastic.
Did that name come from thefilm?
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Well that you know Captain Fantastic.
I think he was actuallyrecording that album, because
that album came out I'm going tosay the album came out in like
May of 1975.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
And I'm going to go with June of 75,.
Somebody Saved my Life Tonight,the big single off that.
I think that came out in Juneof 1975, if my memory is correct
.
So him having that pinballmachine makes sense because he
stopped recording to do thePinball Wizard and, I think, to
do some of the filming for thefilm.
(21:59):
Also stars the who singer RogerDaltrey as Tommy and Margaret
Oliver Reed, who played BillSykes in the 1968 film Oliver.
When you watch Tommy and ifyou've watched old movies,
immediately like I know this guyfrom somewhere and you have to
look it up to see and sureenough, it's because he was Bill
(22:22):
Sykes in Oliver and it all of asudden makes sense.
If you watch old films, ericClapton was in it, jack
Nicholson was in it, tina Turnerand the rest of the who.
Have you seen the movie?
I don't think I have.
Well, you know what I'm goingto tell you that you're not
(22:42):
missing much.
And I don't mean to be.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Yeah, I have a feeling.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
The who, tommy, that album I consider one of the best
albums of all time and thatthey did all this touring and I
really think that they createdthe who off of that.
Yes, the who had a bunch ofstuff out before that, but in
1969, their whole trajectorychanged by releasing Tommy and
(23:13):
just touring on it for a numberof years and playing the whole
entire thing.
And to me it's a real seriousthing.
Like you listen to it and I'velistened to the Woodstock songs
for many, many you know ages andthis is kind of campy.
I don't want to say it's cheesy, but it's kind of campy.
(23:34):
And that is so different.
Now, when I was a kid and I sawit because it used to be on
cable all the time when I was akid because it didn't do great
in the box office, so it hitcable quickly and I would see it
all the time and I think as akid it was like oh, that's funny
.
And you know it's not so funnyanymore to me as I've grown
(23:56):
older and you know I'm notsaying to other people it's not,
but to me it's just sodifferent.
Like I consider Tommy thisreally important piece of music
in the world of rock and rolland then when they have these
other people singing it andadding some songs, like Eric
Clapton plays a song and youknow it's like he doesn't even
(24:19):
want to be there, you know it'sjust kind of rough.
So Elton John's song is goodand Tina Turner, she does Acid
Queen.
It's just kind of rough.
So Elton John's song is goodand Tina Turner, she does Acid
Queen and it's her.
Ronnie Wood of the Faces onguitar, who went on to join the
Rolling Stones right about thesame time in 1975.
(24:40):
Kenny Jones of the Faces ondrums, and he would go on to
replace Keith Moon in the whoafter his death and I think he
was with the who, I'm going tosay like 1979, like Keith Moon
died in September 78, and theyasked him somewhere, you know,
after he died and he was withthem through the 82 Farewell
(25:05):
Tour and then he joined themevery once in a while.
But you know, end of 82 wasreally the end for him.
Nicky Hopkins on piano.
Nicky Hopkins did a ton ofstuff for the Rolling Stones, a
ton of stuff for John Lennon.
He is a great piano player.
We need to talk about him onetime and all the pieces of music
that he has been a part of,because he is a fantastic piano
(25:29):
player that I don't think a lotof people know about, kind of
like how I feel about KlausVorman, the bassist.
He's done so much that peoplehave no idea who he is, right,
you know.
So again, the movie doesn'tcompare to the album.
You know, in my thought, at all.
You know, I really don't thinkit does.
(25:50):
You know, I don't know.
The who album to me is classicTommy, the film soundtrack not
so good, oh gotcha.
Yet the soundtrack peaked atnumber two on Billboard 200 on
May 31st 1975.
Peaked at number two onBillboard 200 on May 31st 1975.
The who's Tommy album peaked atnumber four September 19th 1970
(26:14):
.
All right, that's a year afterWoodstock.
It originally entered thecharts June of 69, two months
before Woodstock, and it tookthat long to grow and grow and
grow and peak at number four.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
I think it is too Listening to you.
I get the music Gazing at you,I get the heat.
Following you, I climb themountains.
I get excitement at your feet.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Thanks, Jim.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
You're welcome.
Speaking of the who, they letgo drummer Zach Starkey, who had
been with the band since 1996.
And according to several mediaoutlets, it was due to his
drumming during two shows inMarch.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Isn't Ringo Starr's real name Starkey?
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Yes, it is Because, ironically, the original who
drummer, keith Moon, gave Zackhis first drum kit when he was a
kid.
Moon was also Zack's godfather.
And all this because Keith Moonand Zack's dad, zach's dad,
ringo star, were great friends.
You're very good, jimmy.
(27:33):
Thank you very good.
Yes, ringo star, the drummer ofthe beatles.
For those of you not connectingeverything, zach also played
with oasis from 2004 until 2008.
And I read today you know he'sdefinitely upset about the whole
thing, he's surprised andsaddened by the whole thing, and
(27:56):
supposedly what they're sayingis that he was overplaying,
which is kind of ironic again,because no one overplayed the
drums more than Keith Moon.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Yeah, when you think about it, and no one really
underplayed him more than Ringo.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
There you go.
I mean it's just crazy, justcrazy.
You know, we'll see where itgoes.
I know Oasis is going on tourthis summer.
I don't know if they've named adrummer yet.
We shall see they coming toAtlanta.
They're not, they're onlyplaying in like five cities in
North America in major stadiums.
(28:31):
So they're doing, you know, newYork, chicago, la, somewhere in
Canada.
It might be, that might be it,that might be it.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
All right.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
So April 27th 1985, we're going to move ahead here
At number 71, peaking at number71 on the Billboard Hot 100,
curtis Blow with the songBasketball.
It's a rap song with the chorusthey're playing basketball.
We love that basketball.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Do you know that song I do.
My kids get a kick out of it.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
They think it's pretty funny and it because it
mentioned some of the greats.
I used to go to dinner and thentake the girl to see tiny play
against earl the pearl and willbig o and jerry west to play
basketball at its very best.
And I just you know, if Iremember correctly, friend of
(29:28):
the show, chris cassidy.
He was a year younger than meand when he was a senior I went
to some of his basketball gamesat the high school that I went
to and they had a boom box andthey were playing that song and
that's how I learned of the songthrough all that.
It's not like today where youknow the music's piped in
through elaborate sound systemsat sporting events at high
(29:51):
schools.
Back then if you wanted to havesome music, somebody had to
bring a boombox, a boombox thatwas it the optimal way to hear
the song basketball, by the wayyou think so, yeah, there you go
.
But uh, yeah, that was a prettycool song.
I think it still is, and it'sfunny because I kind of asked
around and a bunch of peopletold me their kids know the song
(30:12):
also.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
So here we are, 40 years later, and people still
know it I wouldn't say theynailed it with the lyrics right
out of the gate.
Basketball is my favorite sport.
I love the way they dribble upand down the court.
There you go.
Okay, yeah, all right.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
There you go.
I know it's been redone.
I don't know who redid it, butCurtis Blow with that one.
That was a good one.
Well, jimmy, according to mywatch, it's Minute with Jimmy.
It's time for Minute with Jimmy.
Minute with Jimmy.
Minute with Jimmy.
It's time for Minute with Jimmy.
Minute with.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
Jimmy Minute with Jimmy All right.
In April 1990, fugazi releasedtheir second album, repeater,
and also an EP called ThreeSongs.
They kind of have them packagedtogether and I really liked
their first album.
Ian McKay was in Minor Threat,a hardcore punk band, and then
(31:10):
Fugazi was sort of thisamalgamation of different types
of music.
It had some elements of punk init but it was a lot slower and
it had more dynamics.
So things would get reallyquiet or the guitar would just
be kind of like real rhythmickind of things going on and then
it might get real loud and thenquiet again.
I love a lot of songs on thisrecord.
I'd say my favorite song iscalled Blueprint, but just about
(31:33):
everything on it's great.
And then song number one wasone of the ones from the EP.
The Violets used to cover thatone back in 1990.
I saw Fugazi on that tour at the40 Watt Club, the small version
of the 40-Watt Club.
My friends and I loved the showso much that we drove to Chapel
Hill, north Carolina, to go tothe show the next night, which
(31:56):
is about six hours away.
There was no internet.
We didn't know anybody inChapel Hill.
We just got in the car anddrove to Chapel Hill and we got
there and there's a line ofpeople outside the place without
tickets because it's been soldout.
So it's a place called theCat's Cradle.
The other thing is that Fugaziand Ian McKay, on principle they
(32:17):
will not allow fans to selltickets for more than face value
, and back then they would notplay a show for more than five
dollars.
So it was five bucks for aticket but you couldn't get one
and people couldn't sell.
You know, we were like we'llpay extra.
They're like no, they, theywon't even let us do that, like.
So we went up to the door andwe told the guy.
(32:40):
We said look, there are four orfive of us, whatever, and we
drove all the way from Athens togo to this show.
He's like you are lying.
If you guys show me yourdriver's licenses right now and
you're all from Athens, georgia,then I'll let you in.
And we did, and he let us in.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
It was great.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
I bet it was.
That's pretty cool.
So the Cat's Cradle, I know,you know I don't know a whole
lot about it, but I know it'sone of those clubs that's been
an important club for a numberof years for a number of bands
to play in.
That's really cool to hear that.
You drove all the way there andit's again.
Back then, no internet.
You just did things on a whimand just hoped that things would
(33:21):
work out.
Yeah, so it's funny.
You bring up minor threat Fugazi.
I don't know anything aboutFugazi, I have nothing to add.
But what I can tell you is thatin the late 80s on USA Network
they used to show on like Fridaynights maybe it was at midnight
, 11 o'clock at night.
They would show these reallycool documentaries or movies or
(33:46):
something.
And they showed one aboutsocial distortion and the I
guess the premise of it issocial distortion was going to
go on tour.
They had a van.
You know this is before theywere anybody.
This is when they were stillkind of really punk rock type
and Mike Ness it seemed likeevery day would change his hair
(34:08):
color to something else.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
And if the van broke down the camera crew they
couldn't do anything.
They were on their own.
And they show this and theyshow them going to Washington DC
and they stay with Minor Threat.
Some of the members of MinorThreat and that's how I got
introduced to minor threat washearing it on this thing and I
remember saying to myself thisguy you know Mike Ness, there's
(34:35):
no way that this guy's going tostay alive.
I mean, they showed, you know,drug addiction, you know it just
was really, really bad.
And to think that he was ableto eventually clean himself up
after going through a whole lotof trial and tribulations to be
(34:55):
able to then come out.
And I think it was in you know19, you know early 1990s, that
he started to release songs thatwere kind of autobiographical.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
You know about him and I love the story of my life,
the story of my life.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
I mean just some really good songs.
But whenever I think of socialdistortion I think of Minor
Threat.
I can't remember what the nameof the movie was off the top of
my head, but it was really cool.
I remember taping it on on aVHS tape so I would just keep
watching it.
It had the commercials but Ididn't care.
I thought it was super cool.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
It's probably even cooler now if you could find it
with the commercials you know,you see, like the 80s stuff.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Yes, probably would be, and that was a very cool
Minute with Jimmy.
I liked that one Thanks Minutewith that one thanks.
Listen.
If you want to contact us totalk about minute with jimmy or
our top 100 billboard from april26 1975, or talk about tommy,
the film versus tommy, the who'stommy album music in my shoes
(36:03):
at gmailcom is where you can go.
Please like and follow theMusic In my Shoes Facebook and
Instagram pages.
Please share with your friends.
We always do appreciate it.
That's it for episode 75 ofMusic In my Shoes.
I'd like to thank Jimmy Guthrie, show producer and owner of
Arcade 160 Studios located righthere in Atlanta, georgia, and
(36:26):
Vic Thrill for our podcast music.
This is Jim Boge and I hope youlearned something new or
remembered something old.
We'll meet again on our nextepisode.
Until then, live life and keepthe music playing.
I'll lay you on your own.
He's got the feeling in his toe-toe.
He's got the feeling and it'sout there growing.
Hey everybody, this is Jim Boge, and you're listening to Music
In my Shoes.
That was Vic Thrill kicking offepisode 75.
As always, I'm thrilled to behere with you.
(00:45):
Let's learn something new orremember something old.
So, Jimmy, I thought it wouldbe cool to go back and look at
Billboard charts from a certainweek, kind of look at some of
the songs and just kind of talkabout them.
I just thought that I've beenwanting to do that.
All right, and I finally waslike, let me just do it now.
So I picked Billboard Hot 100charts from April 26th 1975.
(01:12):
And that's 50 years ago, andyou know I looked at them.
We can't talk about all 100,you know that wouldn't be fun.
All right, so I decided tostart at number 32.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Okay, that's a good yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Just seemed like a good number and we're not going
to talk about all 32.
I jump around, I just pickedout some songs, all right.
So number 32 that week SisterGolden Hair by America.
Oh Well, I keep on thinkingabout you, sister Golden Hair,
surprise.
And I just can't live withoutyou.
Can't you see it in my eyes?
(01:48):
I can, I'm glad that you can.
That song eventually made it tonumber one on June 14th 1975.
Number 30, shaving Cream.
This is a great story, jimmy.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Really interesting.
I don't know, shaving Cream.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
By Benny Bell and it's one of those novelty songs.
You know how every once in awhile a novelty song just hits
and everybody likes the song.
Yeah, it was actually recordedin 1946.
All right, and when you listento it it sounds like a song from
1946.
You know that post-war typesound.
(02:26):
And it was on Dr Demento.
Did you ever listen to DrDemento back in the day?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
No, but I've heard of it.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
So Dr Demento would play this song for a long time
and then it got popular on astation WNBC in New York, 66 on
your AM dial.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
And the next thing you knew they released it as a
single in 1975, after all theseyears, and it's just crazy that
it peaks at number 30.
And it's just really cool.
What is the song like?
It's funny that you say thatbecause I know the words.
(03:12):
I mean, it's one of thosenovelty songs as a kid you
really like.
And it starts off with I have asad story to tell you.
It may hurt your feelings a bit.
Last night when I walked intomy bathroom I stepped in a big
pile of shaving cream and thenit goes it's one of those songs.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
It was too racy for 1946.
They were like that can't go onthe air, but in 1975, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
People wanted to hear that.
That was what people wanted tohear, and that's kind of how all
the verses go.
You know, it's just anotherhear and that's kind of how all
the verses go.
You know, it's just anotherthing.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
That's funny because I remember this movie.
You remember those Disneymovies that would have Don
Knotts and Tim Conway and peoplelike that in it.
So there's one called PrivateEyes and it was right around
that time.
It would have been probably 75to 77 era time.
(04:09):
It would have been probably 75to 77 era and it, uh, it had one
of those jokes in it where,okay, we know what the word at
the end of this rhyme issupposed to be, but then they
say something else oh, really,yeah, I don't think I've ever
heard of that and I think that Iknow a lot of the disney movies
yeah, they had uh appledumpling gang I know that one
Apple Dumpling Gang rides again,uh-huh yeah.
And Private Eyes was kind of Idon't know, it was just another
one.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
When I hear Private Eyes, I think of Hall Oates.
Remember that's it Private Eyes, they're watching you.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Mm-hmm, they see your every move.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
There you go.
And speaking of seeing everymove, someone who saw all of our
moves hit number 29, DavidBowie with Young Americans.
It peaked at number 28, May10th 1975.
I really like this song.
Yeah, I think it's a reallygood song for David Bowie at the
time really to kind of crossover from one generation to
(05:02):
another generation.
I think a lot of people reallylike this song.
Still a good song 50 yearslater.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Very timely where he says do you remember your
President Nixon?
Well, he had just resigned ayear earlier.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Correct, and you know .
And what is it?
Sweet Home Alabama where theytalk about.
You know, do you remember?
You know the governor, and youknow just all these different
things in songs and here, allthese years later, because I
think Sweet Home Alabama waswhat?
74, 73,.
You know?
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Watergate did not bother him.
No, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
But does number 27, Pure Prairie League, Amy, bother
you?
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Oh, Amy, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Amy what you want to do.
I have a story about Amy.
I think I could stay with youfor a while, maybe longer if I
do, If that's not freakingfantastic, I'm not sure what is?
Speaker 1 (06:00):
So when I was a kid, so this would have been, I would
have been almost six years oldthis top 32, you know, as the
kids say, I thought the song wassaying hey me, what you gonna
do.
It was an introspective, it wasquestioning himself.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Wow, when did you realize it wasn't?
Speaker 1 (06:22):
I really don't know.
I think I probably sang it thatway and my brother probably
told me I was wrong, you know.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
It's funny that you say that, because this is the
pure prairie league.
My youngest daughter, when shewas young, whenever Living on a
Prayer by Bon Jovi came on, shethought it was living on a
prairie.
She singing like that, and whenshe was older and realized that
that wasn't it, she was likealmost arguing with us that we
(06:52):
were wrong, that, you know,everything was wrong.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
It was always living on a prairie like it kind of
changes the meaning of the song.
Yeah, a lot.
She think it's uh, we'rehalfway there-y.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I don't know about that-y, but that's a good
question-y.
We'll have to find out-y.
Amy, country rock.
It was on the 72 album, bustin'Out, which was released as a
single in 1973, and it didn't dowell at all, but college radio
(07:23):
just kept playing it.
They loved it for some reason.
And word has it that Lenny Kayof the Patti Smith group, who
joined us in studio severalepisodes ago, he suggested to
the RCA folks they might want tore-release it, and they did,
(07:43):
and it went to number 27.
Crazy.
The band kind of had broken up.
They had been released by RCA,rca got them back together and
then the whole rest is history.
Now there's no members in itnow that were in it back in the
day.
It's one of those bands thatthey just keep changing out
(08:04):
throughout time.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
It's one of those bands that they just keep
changing out throughout time.
Well, I wonder if thepopularity of the Eagles had
changed things.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
I would think so.
The Eagles, the Flying BurritoBrothers, Graham Parsons, all of
those people that were doingthat country rock thing that
really made it popular, becausea lot of those bands were being
played on college at the time.
Yeah, Number 24, Ringo Starr no, no Song.
(08:33):
And this is where Ringo singsabout all of his vices and that
he doesn't do them anymore.
No, no, no, no.
I don't drink it no more.
I'm tired of waking up on thefloor.
Are you familiar with this song, Jermaine?
Not at all.
Yeah, this was a big song.
It would be 14 more yearsbefore Ringo decided I don't
(08:56):
drink it no more just for thereal thing out there.
So 8-track Johnny, remember8-track Johnny, of course,
8-track Johnny actually had this45 and lent it to me and I was
listening to this Rented it toyou or lent it to you.
Lent, he lent it to me.
Sorry, no, he did not rent it tome.
He lent it to me, got it andI'm eight years old and I'm
(09:20):
singing this.
You know, no, no, no, no.
You know I don't drink in nomore time.
You know, like and I look backat it now like I cannot believe
I was eight singing it and theytalk about other things besides
drinking moonshine fromNashville, and it's just so
funny that this song had peakedat number three on Billboard.
(09:40):
It's just crazy.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
That is.
You know, I can't even picturethe song.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
It's just crazy, that is, I can't even picture the
song Number 23,.
Labelle, lady Marmalade.
Oh, former number one song,patti LaBelle on vocals.
How could you not like a songwith the words yaya dada, gitchy
, gitchy, yaya, here, mochachocolata, yaya creole, lady
(10:10):
marmalade, come on.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Yeah, it sounds great when you do it.
You think so.
Yeah, do do do, do, do.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Anyway, be careful.
Yes, I mean, it just was areally cool song and it was just
different.
I like songs that are different, you know, and they sound cool.
Patti LaBelle, you know, leadvocals on it.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
She even speaks French in it.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
She does.
I don't know how to say allthose words so I'm not even
going to try.
Yeah, but again, we're talkingabout some of the songs from the
Billboard Hot 100, april 26,1975.
Some of the songs from theBillboard Hot 100, april 26,
1975.
Number 22, John Denver ThankGod I'm a Country Boy.
(10:57):
It reached number one on thecharts on June 7, 1975.
And I know several baseballteams play it as part of their
seventh inning stretch.
I know the Braves do at times,I can't think of who else, but I
know other teams do it and youknow they'll play God Bless
America.
And then they'll play thisright after and it's a fun song
and I think by teams doing thatit brings it out to people now
(11:18):
that would never hear the song,that would never know the song.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Right, But's a fun song.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
It is a fun song A little, you know.
Kick up your feet and you knowdo-do-do-do-do you know, Number
20, john Lennon's cover of theBenny King song Stand by Me.
Really good version, reallygood version, really, really
like his version.
(11:43):
I like Benny King's as well.
But when John Lennon did thisman, it was good, it really was.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
I don't even think I know that.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Give it a try, give it a listen.
Good, good song Ace at number19 with how Long?
Lead singer Paul Carrick alsosang lead on the 1981 squeeze
song Tempted and the 1989 songby Mike and the Mechanics, the
Living Years.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
That's three pretty cool songs for three different
bands.
You know to be singing.
I mean, he's pretty talented.
How long has this been going on?
That's the main premisethroughout the whole entire song
.
But it's a good song and Ithink it was Phil Collins that
said he could sing the phonebook and it'd be something that
(12:39):
was melodic or it would soundfantastic.
Like his voice is just one ofthose voices that he can pull
off anything.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
I think you could just read the phone book.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
You think I could?
Yeah, I might try that.
That sounds like a good idea.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
We'll do an episode just based on the phone book.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
We have the title already the phone book Number 18
, queen Killer, queen.
Number 18, queen killer, queen.
I think it starts off withsnapping fingers.
If I'm not mistaken and I'vealways loved these lines To
avoid complications she neverkept the same address In
conversation.
(13:17):
She spoke just like a baroness.
I just love that.
Even as a kid I was like Idon't even know what a Baroness
is, but it sounds really cool,you know.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah, you know, it's fancy.
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
And with a Killer Queen guitar solo.
I mean it's just.
The solo is perfect for thesong.
You know, it's not one of thosethings where they go over the
top.
They make it fit and it's great.
I just absolutely love itreally.
Do Number it fit and it's great.
I just absolutely love it.
Really, do Number 16.
I never heard this song before,but the title caught my
(13:51):
attention so I listened to thissong, just to listen to it,
because I've never heard it.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Okay, well, let me see if I've heard it, this is
number 16.
Okay, with the song, the.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Birther, but Boogie.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Okay, I do not know that.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Never heard this song , but it made it to number 16 on
the charts.
The Birther but Boogie Okay.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
What kind of song is it?
Speaker 2 (14:21):
It's an R&B song, you know, kind of like Baby Got
Back.
You know songs Rump Shakerreminds me of like all of those
songs, so I just never had heardof it.
A song I did hear of number 14,ozark Mountain, daredevils,
jackie Blue.
I don't know any words otherthan something like ooh, ooh,
(14:44):
jackie Blue.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
You know something like that.
Number 11, earth, wind, Fire,shining Star.
It reached number one May 24th1975.
You're a Shining Star, nomatter who you are, and you are
too Jimmy.
You are too Jim, thank you.
Number four, Minnie Riperton,loving you.
(15:10):
Now, we talked about her oncebefore and I don't even remember
how she came up.
But Loving you is easy becauseyou're beautiful, and that's how
the song begins.
And then it just goes throughthis whole thing of love that
she has.
I'm assuming most of it's forher husband if you read the
words.
But it was a former number onesong in early April of 75 and it
(15:35):
was sung by the mother of thefuture.
Saturday Night Live cast member, maya Rudolph.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Oh, yeah, right.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Minnie says Maya's name at the end of the song and
it's kind of like Maya Maya.
You know a lot more melodicthan what I'm doing, but you
know she says it three or fourtimes.
So I've always liked that song.
I just think that it's kind ofcool.
You know, unfortunately shedied of cancer in 1979.
(16:06):
I think she was only like 31years old or so.
She had it for a long time.
She lived longer than what theythought she was going to.
But she kept recording untilthe end.
She kept doing everything thatshe possibly could.
And you know, my hat's off toher.
Number two, elton John,philadelphia Freedom, another
(16:34):
former number one song, a songnot written about the US
Bicentennial coming up in 1976,like I thought it was.
I thought it was all aboutprepping for the bicentennial
Because in 75, we wereEverything seemed to be getting
ready for it, talking about it,what was going to happen and
(16:56):
everything.
And you were buying stuff.
I remember buying littlelicense plates for my bicycle to
put on.
I had the bicentennial logo.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
I had like my bike all decked out.
The spokes had red, white andblue things in them.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Yeah, and we were getting ready early.
We wanted to be ready for whenit happened.
We knew it was July 4th 1976,but we still wanted to do
everything we could to beprepared for it.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Yeah, it was really that whole year that it was very
bicentennial and, like you said, even in 75, leading up to it
Very bicentennial-ish.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Yeah, that's what I would say.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
It was like growing up in colonial America, you know
.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
It's funny you say that they actually replaced the
streetlights on my street notjust my street but throughout
the town that I grew up in andthey put wooden posts with that
old colonial lamp light lookingthing at the top.
Now they're all gone.
They went back to the you knownormal, you know metal overhang
(18:01):
ones.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
But it was a trend.
It was a trend and even in likeclothing there were some people
that would wear kind of likewomen would wear the colonial
looking dresses and inspired bythat sort of stuff.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
There you go.
Everybody was bicentennial-ish,but the song was not, even
though we all thought it was.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
What was?
Speaker 2 (18:19):
it.
It was inspired by tennisplayer Billie Jean King and the
tennis team she played on, thePhiladelphia Freedoms.
Billie Jean King, elton Johnwere friends and he decided that
he was going to write a song, alittle bit of a tribute, yet
they don't mention her.
The only Philadelphia Freedomthing is when they say
(18:40):
Philadelphia Freedom, but if youlisten to the song to me, they
say Philadelphia Freedom.
But if you listen to the songto me, it's not about tennis,
it's about the Bicentennial yeahSet match point.
Because that takes us to thenumber one song on the Billboard
Hot 100 chart for April 26,1975.
(19:02):
1975, bj Thomas.
Hey, won't you Play anothersomebody done somebody wrong
song, which at the time was thelongest title of any song to hit
number one on the Billboardcharts.
Oh, I liked, I thought it waspretty good.
(19:30):
So please play for me.
A sad melody, so sad that itmakes everybody cry.
A real hurtin' song about alove that's gone wrong.
That was pretty cool lookingback 50 years ago on the
Billboard Hot 100 charts.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
That was cool.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Yeah, I liked it.
So, Jimmy, I mentioned EltonJohn at number two with
Philadelphia Freedom.
Well, he had another song allover the radio in 1975, Pinball
Wizard.
Oh yeah, From the Tommy moviesoundtrack.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
And it's a cover of the classic song by the who.
He did a great job with it.
I mean I liked it, I thought itwas really good.
Classic song by the who.
He did a great job with it, Imean, I liked it, I thought it
was really good.
It was not released as a singlein the US, it was only a radio
promo that they would play.
But you had to buy the album,the soundtrack album, if you
wanted to get the song.
So, as much as it was played,it didn't make the charts
(20:24):
because you have to commerciallyrelease it in order for it to
make the Billboard Hot 100.
Oh, so he plays the part of thepinball wizard in the movie
Tommy Mm-hmm and he worefour-and-a-half-foot boots that
were really stilts and they looklike giant Doc Martens and they
(20:50):
were pretty crazy and heactually kind of got used to
being able to walk in them.
If you ever see the film likehe does a good job.
I mean they are literally fourand a half feet tall that he's
standing on.
He's like a giant over everybodyas he's singing this song, how
does he play pinball?
I guess his piano is raised, soit's a pinball machine with a
(21:12):
keyboard on the front of it.
So it's kind of cool.
It really is.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Now, he had a pinball machine called Captain
Fantastic.
Did that name come from thefilm?
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Well that you know Captain Fantastic.
I think he was actuallyrecording that album, because
that album came out I'm going tosay the album came out in like
May of 1975.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
And I'm going to go with June of 75,.
Somebody Saved my Life Tonight,the big single off that.
I think that came out in Juneof 1975, if my memory is correct
.
So him having that pinballmachine makes sense because he
stopped recording to do thePinball Wizard and, I think, to
do some of the filming for thefilm.
(21:59):
Also stars the who singer RogerDaltrey as Tommy and Margaret
Oliver Reed, who played BillSykes in the 1968 film Oliver.
When you watch Tommy and ifyou've watched old movies,
immediately like I know this guyfrom somewhere and you have to
look it up to see and sureenough, it's because he was Bill
(22:22):
Sykes in Oliver and it all of asudden makes sense.
If you watch old films, ericClapton was in it, jack
Nicholson was in it, tina Turnerand the rest of the who.
Have you seen the movie?
I don't think I have.
Well, you know what I'm goingto tell you that you're not
(22:42):
missing much.
And I don't mean to be.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Yeah, I have a feeling.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
The who, tommy, that album I consider one of the best
albums of all time and thatthey did all this touring and I
really think that they createdthe who off of that.
Yes, the who had a bunch ofstuff out before that, but in
1969, their whole trajectorychanged by releasing Tommy and
(23:13):
just touring on it for a numberof years and playing the whole
entire thing.
And to me it's a real seriousthing.
Like you listen to it and I'velistened to the Woodstock songs
for many, many you know ages andthis is kind of campy.
I don't want to say it's cheesy, but it's kind of campy.
(23:34):
And that is so different.
Now, when I was a kid and I sawit because it used to be on
cable all the time when I was akid because it didn't do great
in the box office, so it hitcable quickly and I would see it
all the time and I think as akid it was like oh, that's funny
.
And you know it's not so funnyanymore to me as I've grown
(23:56):
older and you know I'm notsaying to other people it's not,
but to me it's just sodifferent.
Like I consider Tommy thisreally important piece of music
in the world of rock and rolland then when they have these
other people singing it andadding some songs, like Eric
Clapton plays a song and youknow it's like he doesn't even
(24:19):
want to be there, you know it'sjust kind of rough.
So Elton John's song is goodand Tina Turner, she does Acid
Queen.
It's just kind of rough.
So Elton John's song is goodand Tina Turner, she does Acid
Queen and it's her.
Ronnie Wood of the Faces onguitar, who went on to join the
Rolling Stones right about thesame time in 1975.
(24:40):
Kenny Jones of the Faces ondrums, and he would go on to
replace Keith Moon in the whoafter his death and I think he
was with the who, I'm going tosay like 1979, like Keith Moon
died in September 78, and theyasked him somewhere, you know,
after he died and he was withthem through the 82 Farewell
(25:05):
Tour and then he joined themevery once in a while.
But you know, end of 82 wasreally the end for him.
Nicky Hopkins on piano.
Nicky Hopkins did a ton ofstuff for the Rolling Stones, a
ton of stuff for John Lennon.
He is a great piano player.
We need to talk about him onetime and all the pieces of music
that he has been a part of,because he is a fantastic piano
(25:29):
player that I don't think a lotof people know about, kind of
like how I feel about KlausVorman, the bassist.
He's done so much that peoplehave no idea who he is, right,
you know.
So again, the movie doesn'tcompare to the album.
You know, in my thought, at all.
You know, I really don't thinkit does.
(25:50):
You know, I don't know.
The who album to me is classicTommy, the film soundtrack not
so good, oh gotcha.
Yet the soundtrack peaked atnumber two on Billboard 200 on
May 31st 1975.
Peaked at number two onBillboard 200 on May 31st 1975.
The who's Tommy album peaked atnumber four September 19th 1970
(26:14):
.
All right, that's a year afterWoodstock.
It originally entered thecharts June of 69, two months
before Woodstock, and it tookthat long to grow and grow and
grow and peak at number four.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
I think it is too Listening to you.
I get the music Gazing at you,I get the heat.
Following you, I climb themountains.
I get excitement at your feet.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Thanks, Jim.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
You're welcome.
Speaking of the who, they letgo drummer Zach Starkey, who had
been with the band since 1996.
And according to several mediaoutlets, it was due to his
drumming during two shows inMarch.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Isn't Ringo Starr's real name Starkey?
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Yes, it is Because, ironically, the original who
drummer, keith Moon, gave Zackhis first drum kit when he was a
kid.
Moon was also Zack's godfather.
And all this because Keith Moonand Zack's dad, zach's dad,
ringo star, were great friends.
You're very good, jimmy.
(27:33):
Thank you very good.
Yes, ringo star, the drummer ofthe beatles.
For those of you not connectingeverything, zach also played
with oasis from 2004 until 2008.
And I read today you know he'sdefinitely upset about the whole
thing, he's surprised andsaddened by the whole thing, and
(27:56):
supposedly what they're sayingis that he was overplaying,
which is kind of ironic again,because no one overplayed the
drums more than Keith Moon.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Yeah, when you think about it, and no one really
underplayed him more than Ringo.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
There you go.
I mean it's just crazy, justcrazy.
You know, we'll see where itgoes.
I know Oasis is going on tourthis summer.
I don't know if they've named adrummer yet.
We shall see they coming toAtlanta.
They're not, they're onlyplaying in like five cities in
North America in major stadiums.
(28:31):
So they're doing, you know, newYork, chicago, la, somewhere in
Canada.
It might be, that might be it,that might be it.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
All right.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
So April 27th 1985, we're going to move ahead here
At number 71, peaking at number71 on the Billboard Hot 100,
curtis Blow with the songBasketball.
It's a rap song with the chorusthey're playing basketball.
We love that basketball.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Do you know that song I do.
My kids get a kick out of it.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
They think it's pretty funny and it because it
mentioned some of the greats.
I used to go to dinner and thentake the girl to see tiny play
against earl the pearl and willbig o and jerry west to play
basketball at its very best.
And I just you know, if Iremember correctly, friend of
(29:28):
the show, chris cassidy.
He was a year younger than meand when he was a senior I went
to some of his basketball gamesat the high school that I went
to and they had a boom box andthey were playing that song and
that's how I learned of the songthrough all that.
It's not like today where youknow the music's piped in
through elaborate sound systemsat sporting events at high
(29:51):
schools.
Back then if you wanted to havesome music, somebody had to
bring a boombox, a boombox thatwas it the optimal way to hear
the song basketball, by the wayyou think so, yeah, there you go
.
But uh, yeah, that was a prettycool song.
I think it still is, and it'sfunny because I kind of asked
around and a bunch of peopletold me their kids know the song
(30:12):
also.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
So here we are, 40 years later, and people still
know it I wouldn't say theynailed it with the lyrics right
out of the gate.
Basketball is my favorite sport.
I love the way they dribble upand down the court.
There you go.
Okay, yeah, all right.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
There you go.
I know it's been redone.
I don't know who redid it, butCurtis Blow with that one.
That was a good one.
Well, jimmy, according to mywatch, it's Minute with Jimmy.
It's time for Minute with Jimmy.
Minute with Jimmy.
Minute with Jimmy.
It's time for Minute with Jimmy.
Minute with.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
Jimmy Minute with Jimmy All right.
In April 1990, fugazi releasedtheir second album, repeater,
and also an EP called ThreeSongs.
They kind of have them packagedtogether and I really liked
their first album.
Ian McKay was in Minor Threat,a hardcore punk band, and then
(31:10):
Fugazi was sort of thisamalgamation of different types
of music.
It had some elements of punk init but it was a lot slower and
it had more dynamics.
So things would get reallyquiet or the guitar would just
be kind of like real rhythmickind of things going on and then
it might get real loud and thenquiet again.
I love a lot of songs on thisrecord.
I'd say my favorite song iscalled Blueprint, but just about
(31:33):
everything on it's great.
And then song number one wasone of the ones from the EP.
The Violets used to cover thatone back in 1990.
I saw Fugazi on that tour at the40 Watt Club, the small version
of the 40-Watt Club.
My friends and I loved the showso much that we drove to Chapel
Hill, north Carolina, to go tothe show the next night, which
(31:56):
is about six hours away.
There was no internet.
We didn't know anybody inChapel Hill.
We just got in the car anddrove to Chapel Hill and we got
there and there's a line ofpeople outside the place without
tickets because it's been soldout.
So it's a place called theCat's Cradle.
The other thing is that Fugaziand Ian McKay, on principle they
(32:17):
will not allow fans to selltickets for more than face value
, and back then they would notplay a show for more than five
dollars.
So it was five bucks for aticket but you couldn't get one
and people couldn't sell.
You know, we were like we'llpay extra.
They're like no, they, theywon't even let us do that, like.
So we went up to the door andwe told the guy.
(32:40):
We said look, there are four orfive of us, whatever, and we
drove all the way from Athens togo to this show.
He's like you are lying.
If you guys show me yourdriver's licenses right now and
you're all from Athens, georgia,then I'll let you in.
And we did, and he let us in.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
It was great.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
I bet it was.
That's pretty cool.
So the Cat's Cradle, I know,you know I don't know a whole
lot about it, but I know it'sone of those clubs that's been
an important club for a numberof years for a number of bands
to play in.
That's really cool to hear that.
You drove all the way there andit's again.
Back then, no internet.
You just did things on a whimand just hoped that things would
(33:21):
work out.
Yeah, so it's funny.
You bring up minor threat Fugazi.
I don't know anything aboutFugazi, I have nothing to add.
But what I can tell you is thatin the late 80s on USA Network
they used to show on like Fridaynights maybe it was at midnight
, 11 o'clock at night.
They would show these reallycool documentaries or movies or
(33:46):
something.
And they showed one aboutsocial distortion and the I
guess the premise of it issocial distortion was going to
go on tour.
They had a van.
You know this is before theywere anybody.
This is when they were stillkind of really punk rock type
and Mike Ness it seemed likeevery day would change his hair
(34:08):
color to something else.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
And if the van broke down the camera crew they
couldn't do anything.
They were on their own.
And they show this and theyshow them going to Washington DC
and they stay with Minor Threat.
Some of the members of MinorThreat and that's how I got
introduced to minor threat washearing it on this thing and I
remember saying to myself thisguy you know Mike Ness, there's
(34:35):
no way that this guy's going tostay alive.
I mean, they showed, you know,drug addiction, you know it just
was really, really bad.
And to think that he was ableto eventually clean himself up
after going through a whole lotof trial and tribulations to be
(34:55):
able to then come out.
And I think it was in you know19, you know early 1990s, that
he started to release songs thatwere kind of autobiographical.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
You know about him and I love the story of my life,
the story of my life.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
I mean just some really good songs.
But whenever I think of socialdistortion I think of Minor
Threat.
I can't remember what the nameof the movie was off the top of
my head, but it was really cool.
I remember taping it on on aVHS tape so I would just keep
watching it.
It had the commercials but Ididn't care.
I thought it was super cool.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
It's probably even cooler now if you could find it
with the commercials you know,you see, like the 80s stuff.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Yes, probably would be, and that was a very cool
Minute with Jimmy.
I liked that one Thanks Minutewith that one thanks.
Listen.
If you want to contact us totalk about minute with jimmy or
our top 100 billboard from april26 1975, or talk about tommy,
the film versus tommy, the who'stommy album music in my shoes
(36:03):
at gmailcom is where you can go.
Please like and follow theMusic In my Shoes Facebook and
Instagram pages.
Please share with your friends.
We always do appreciate it.
That's it for episode 75 ofMusic In my Shoes.
I'd like to thank Jimmy Guthrie, show producer and owner of
Arcade 160 Studios located righthere in Atlanta, georgia, and
(36:26):
Vic Thrill for our podcast music.
This is Jim Boge and I hope youlearned something new or
remembered something old.
We'll meet again on our nextepisode.
Until then, live life and keepthe music playing.
I'll lay you on your own.
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