BIRMINGHAM RECORD COLLECTORS
DEDICATED TO THE COLLECTING OF MUSIC, ITS PRESERVATION AND LASTING FRIENDSHIP
THIS MONTH’S MEETING WILL BE THE FIRST SUNDAY, MAY 3RD 2:00 PM
HOMEWOOD PUBLIC LIBRARY 1721 OXMOOR RD BIRMINGHAM, AL 35209
NEXT MONTH’S MEETING WILL BE HELD THE SECOND SUNDAY, JUNE 14TH AT 2:00 PM
HOMEWOOD PUBLIC LIBRARY 1721 OXMOOR RD BIRMINGHAM, AL 35209
THIS MONTH’S MEETING
We had a great time with our speaker last month. Bunky Anderson’s time spent in the music world brought him in contact with Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Janis Joplin, Big Brother & The Holding Company, Duane & Greg Allman, Johnny Sandlin, Lynyrd Skynyrd and local musicians Dale Serrano and Bob Cain among others. Whether backing acts on the drums, sitting at the control board in Muscle Shoals or being part of the concert promoting personnel Bunky was, as he said a ‘lucky man’. But he said he greatest thing in his life was attending Jefferson State Junior College and meeting his future wife. If memory serves me correctly they have been together for 56 years. It was great having along with Bunky, his wife and two son. Thanks to Bunky for being with us.
Our May meeting will be held on the FIRST Sunday, May 3rd. It will be a dual purpose meeting. Part business and part music related. Decisions about our upcoming August record show will be discussed and then we will spend some time enjoying some music history. We will have three of our members do a presentation on radio song surveys. They will share with us their passion for collecting those old surveys and point out some of the facts about them. Drop by and I am sure you will have some memories brought back.
THOSE SPECIAL SONG SURVEYS
If you were around in the 50’s or 60’s where did you go to get your favorite radio station’s ‘Top 40’, ‘Top 30’, ‘Tough 20’, ‘Hit Parade Survey’ or as we had in Birmingham from station WAQY, ‘The WAQY 20’. It was always fun going into a department or record store and get the new survey each week and see what songs are the most popular. Of course as a listener you knew what was best and your favorite but it was all part of the music world to have one of these surveys in your hands to compare.
In the 1930’s before radio station surveys became popular there was printed surveys showing what was the top selling sheet music rather than specific recorded songs. People would listen to ‘Your Hit Parade’ to hear popular songs. Sometimes songs heard were because of the popularity of a bandleader. Remember, this was the ‘Big Band Era’. Also, what you heard on the radio during this time was mostly live not recorded music.
The 1940’s brought about Billboard’s ‘National List of Best Selling Retail Records’. The first printing was on July 27, 1940. The first number-one recording was Tommy Dorsey’s ‘I’ll Never Smile Again’. Billboard was now tracking the recording itself. Data for the surveys was now coming from jukebox plays, retail record sales and reports from radio stations. You can now see that airplay boosted record sales.
The 1950’s was where things really changed as far as popularity of the surveys and a rise in radio involvement. This is when ‘Top 40’ became the popular phrase for stations to use and that list was the primary way for station managers and DJ’s to pick what was to be played and how often. The downside to this fun time was a thing called ‘payola’. Some DJ’s took money on the side from promoters, managers and the artists themselves to make sure certain records got airplay. I am not certain how prevalent this was but I am sure it was more than just Alan Freed.
Surveys reached their peak in the 1960’s when surveys were put out by practically all stations and the young kids expected to find a new survey each week at their records shop, department store, malt shops, etc. It was just always fun to check out where your favorite songs where on the chart.
The 1970’s would see the survey as we had become to know them start to fade and lose importance and interest among listeners. FM radio came along and the album-oriented rock stations became popular. Not as many listeners were concerned about the ‘Top 40’ like they did. LP’s became the thing and you can see that even today at record shows. There are still dealers and buyers who have an interest in 45’s but the younger customers seem to navigate towards albums. Check out popular artists such as Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Grateful Dead and one of my favorites, Little Feat. Hendrix only had eight charted45’s and only one of those was a Top 20 song. The Doors did have two #1 hits but only one other made the Top 10. Having one of the biggest followings of artists at the time, Grateful Dead had six 45’s chart and only one made the Top 10. And Little feat never had a 45 chart but they also had a large following of loyal fans. Hendrix has had 46 LP’s chart with nine of them making the Top 10. The Doors have had 28 LP’s chart with eight making the Top 10 including the first 6 LP releases all making the Top 10. The Grateful Dead has had 78 LP’s chart with only one making the Top 10. And Little Feat, with no 45’s charting has had 13 LP’s chart with over half making the Top 40. The 1970’s saw album rock make the Top 40 radio surveys all but disappear.
Billboard continues to do national charts but there is nothing like the local charts of the 1950’s – 1970’s to let listeners know how the songs and local bands in their area were doing.
Come to our May meeting and get a glimpse and feeling of the radio survey time, bring back some memories and take at look at some original radio charts from the ‘Golden Age Of Radio’.
SONG FACTS – ‘AIN’T NO SUNSHINE’
In a Songfacts interview with Bill Withers he explained how this song came about: “I was watching a movie called Days Of Wine And Roses (1962) starring Lee Remick and Jack Lemmon. They both portrayed alcoholics who were alternately weak and strong. It’s like going back for seconds on rat poison. Sometimes you miss things that weren’t particularly good for you. It’s just something that crossed my mind from watching that movie, and probably something else that happened in my life that I’m not aware of.”
This was Withers’ first hit. After spending nine years in the US Navy, he had a job at a factory making parts for airplanes when he was introduced to Booker T of Booker T & the MG’s. Booker was an elite session musician with Stax Records, where Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and many other soul legends recorded. He brought in some other top-notch musicians, including Stephen Stills on lead guitar, and produced this album for Withers, who was 32 when it was recorded. This was released as the B-side to another song called “Harlem.” Disc jockeys played this as the single instead and it became a hit.
All the instruments on this track are acoustic. Personnel are:
Withers: guitar, vocal
Booker T. Jones: keyboards
Stephen Stills: guitar
Jim Keltner: drums
Bobbye Hall: percussion
The part where Withers repeats “I know, I know,” has become a very recognizable piece of the song, but it wasn’t what he had in mind. Withers told Songfacts: “I wasn’t going to do that, then Booker T. said, ‘No, leave it like that.’ I was going to write something there, but there was a general consensus in the studio. It was an interesting thing because I’ve got all these guys that were already established, and I was working in the factory at the time. Graham Nash was sitting right in front of me, just offering his support. Stephen Stills was playing and there was Booker T. and Al Jackson and Donald Dunn – all of the MGs except Steve Cropper. They were all these people with all this experience and all these reputations, and I was this factory worker just sort of puttering around. So when their general feeling was, ‘Leave it like that,’ I left it like that.”
BRC RADIO
Don’t forget to check out the BRC Radio shows on the BRC website. Here are the latest shows from our hosts.
See ya,
Charlie