Hangin' Out In 100b

So after moving to a whole new country and spending many hours drowning in boxes, I finally have the time and energy to scribble something down for our lovely blog. The problem is, I don’t have any of those handy internets in my new house yet. So I went old school on this post and used books. Yup, those paper things that take way longer to search through than getting information from the tubes.

All I could really use to look up chart information was Rock & Pop: Year By Year by Luke Crampton and Dafydd Rees, a great overview of popular music since 1954, like the title says, year by year. I started at the beginning – 1954, commonly believed to be the birth year of Rock ‘n Roll – and checked out the songs that held the #1 spot every 10 years. I also had a look at the amazing songs that weren’t nearly as popular yet have become classics over the years.

1954
Perry Como – Wanted
Kitty Kallen – Little Things Mean A Lot

Both of these songs held the top spot for 9 weeks. Have you ever heard of either of them? Nope, me neither. And somehow, Crew-Cuts’ “Sh-Boom” – probably the best doo-wop pop song ever – only held the spot for 7 weeks.

   Crew-Cuts – Sh-Boom

1964
The Beatles – I Want To Hold Your Hand

Number 1 for 7 weeks. Which is pretty awesome, I really can’t find any fault with that.

1974
Barbara Streisand – The Way We Were
Terry Jacks – Seasons In The Sun
Ray Stevens – The Streak
Paul Anka – (You’re) Having My Baby

All of these spent three weeks at number 1. The only one I even know is “The Way We Were”, which I do enjoy for the cheese factor, but there’s no way it’s better than:

   John Lennon with The Plastic Ono Band – Whatever Gets You Thru The Night

which only got to shine for one measly week. That’s just wrong.

1984
Madonna – Like A Virgin

“Like A Virgin” spent 7 weeks at the top. I’m ok with that.

1994
Boyz II Men – I’ll Make Love To You

Boyz II Men really rocked 1994. “I’ll Make Love To You” was number 1 for 14 damn weeks, which was followed by their next single, “On Bended Knee”. Lisa Loeb had a respectable 3 weeks with this 90s classic:

   Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories – Stay (I Missed You)

2002 *
Ashanti – Foolish
Nelly ft Kelly Rowland – Dilemma

These two songs spent 10 weeks at the top of the chart each, but I don’t remember that Ashanti song. Was it that one where she sang a a little and danced a little and made sultry badass faces? Hmm. Like everyone else, I liked “Dilemma”. But not as much as I liked “Lose Yourself”, which was at number 1 for 8 weeks in 2002 and I hope stayed on for at least a few more weeks into the next year.* This anthem just has to have beat out a song I can’t even remember.

   Eminem – Lose Yourself

* The book is awesome but it only goes up to 2002. Hey, I think I done pretty good for an internet-less post, even if the whole thing is a tiny bit pointless.