Throwing back to the week of February 22, 1955, we find the usual repeats in the top three spots before a newcomer at #4: Perry Como with ‘Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So).’
This was RCA Victor’s first rock record, and matching it with a white crooner like Como was, as one historian put it, an “industry effort to whitewash the racy, raunchy music of rhythm and blues before anyone’s daughter heard it.”
The week of February 16, 1985, gave us a classic pop hit, with Wham!’s ‘Careless Whisper’ spending its first of three weeks at #1.
The song was credited in the U.S. to “Wham! featuring George Michael” and in the UK to Michael as a solo artist, but it appeared on the duo’s sophomore album, Make It Big, and was released as that record’s second single. Interestingly, it was the only song on that album co-written by Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, yet it was the one attributed to Michael as a solo performer.
Throwing back to the week of February 15, 1975, we find Linda Ronstadt atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘You’re No Good.’ I featured the song, Ronstadt’s only #1 hit, a couple of years ago.
At #2 that week was ‘Pick Up the Pieces’ by the Average White Band, a Scottish funk outfit also known as AWB. The track is essentially an instrumental but for the background shouting of the title at various points. A week later the song reached #1, then dropped out of the top five.
It’s nice when Throwback Weekends unearth a bona fide classic that has somehow not appeared on the blog through more than 6,000 posts.
Such is the case with the song that topped the charts the week of Feb, 9, 1965: The Righteous Brothers’ ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’.’ This was the song’s second, and last, week at #1 as part of a 16-week stint on the Hot 100.
Throwing back to the week of February 8, 1955, we find the usual host of repeats atop the singles chart.
At #1 was ‘Sincerely‘ by the McGuire Sisters, followed by ‘Hearts of Stone‘ by the Fontane Sister. Then came ‘Let Me Go, Lover‘ by Joan Weber, and ‘Mister Sandman‘ by The Chordettes. The ladies were absolutely crushing it!
