The years between 1958 and 1963 are often thought of as a sleepy time for rock and roll, a quiet time between the genre’s initial burst onto the charts and the onslaught of the British Invasion. However, lots of great records were charting during those years. Check out this playlist of thirty hits from 1961 for proof.
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A popular misconception that I sometimes fall into is that the years after The Day The Music Died (early 1959) and before The Beatles hit in America (early 1964) the pop chart was pretty dull. Sure, there was a lot of schmaltz on the Hot 100 – there always is – but there was a lot of exciting stuff, too, as today’s Throwback Thursday playlist will attest. Girl groups, Motown, Ray Charles, James Brown, Frankie Valli, Sam Cooke, The Beach Boys and lots of other good stuff made the top 40. Have a listen to thirty of 1962’s best.
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There’s the voice. In its 2008 survey of the greatest singers of all time, Rolling Stone placed Sam Cooke (born January 22, 1931) at number four.
There are the songs. “You Send Me,” “Wonderful World,” “Cupid,” and many others are classics, known to generations. Cooke not only sang these songs; he composed them as well. I think that when you listen to the Sam Cooke playlist below, you’ll recognize a lot more songs of his than you realized.
There’s the business acumen. Cooke was among the first African American entrepreneurs in the music business, starting his own record label, SAR Records, in 1961. Artists signed to the label included Bobby Womack, Johnnie Taylor and Mel Carter. He founded a song publishing imprint. He created a management firm.
There’s the civil rights activist. Cooke took an active role in the civil rights movement. Inspired by Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind,” Cooke composed and recorded “A Change Is Gonna Come.” Released as a single in December 1964, less than two weeks after he was shot to death at age 33, the recording is considered by many to be his finest work and a classic protest song.
There’s the legacy. Sam Cooke was among the charter inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He’s actually in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice – once as a solo artist and once as a member of the gospel group The Soul Stirrers. He’s in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He’s a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner. He has a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. In addition to his ranking on their Greatest Singers survey, Rolling Stone also placed him at number sixteen on their Greatest Artists of All Time list.
Today’s playlist pays tribute to the great Sam Cooke, with two dozen of his best recordings plus covers of a few of his hits.
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“You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. 1963
“He had a dream now it’s up to you to see it through, to make it come true” – “King Holiday”
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Inspired by the season and the December 21 birthdays of Beach Boys‘ Carl Wilson, Carla Thomas, Frank Zappa, Betty Wright, Nick Gilder, Gwen McCrae, Paul & Paula’s Ray Hildebrand, and Jane Fonda.
Inspired by the season and the December 15 birthdays of The Drifters’ Johnny Moore, Dave Clark, Jesse Belvin, and George Kranz.
Inspired by the November 25 birthdays of Rancid’s Tim Armstrong, Screaming Trees’ Mark Lanegan, Jocelyn Brown, Percy Sledge, Stacy Lattisaw, Bob Lind, Lighthouse Family’s Tunde Baiyewu and EPMD’s Erick Sermon.
Inspired by November 15 birthdays of ABBA‘s Anni-Frid Lyngstad, The Drifters’ Clyde McPhatter, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, The Trammps’ Jimmy Ellis, Little Willie John, C.W. McCall, and Soul Survivors’ Richie Ingui.
Inspired by the November 11 birthdays of XTC’s Andy Partridge, LaVern Baker, Wu-Tang Clan’s U-God, Marshall Crenshaw, Stubby Kaye, Peaches, Mose Allison, Raveonettes’ Sharin Foo, Dennis Coffey, Chris Smither, Static Major, The Ides of March’s Jim Peterik, and The Blasters’ Dave Alvin.
Inspired by the October 12 birthdays of Sam & Dave’s Sam Moore, The Smithereens’ Pat DiNizio, The Temptations’ Melvin Franklin, The Damned’s Dave Vanian, and Luciano Pavaroti.