I’ve really enjoyed my Throwback Weekends, especially when I get the chance to dig into the hits of the 50s and 60s. The farther I throw back, the more interesting the results.
With that in mind, I’ve decided to throw way back this month… as in 9th century Europe. Today marks the beginning of a monthlong deep dive into the fascinating world of Gregorian chants.
Footloose (1984) is one of the great soundtrack movies, a kind of film we were treated to far more often in the 80s. Think Top Gun, Flashdance, Dirty Dancing, and any number of John Hughes movies.
Six of this soundtrack’s nine songs reached Billboard’s Top 40, and three reached the top ten. Of those, two made it to #1 — Deniece Williams’ ‘Let’s Hear it for the Boy’ and the title track by Kenny Loggins, today’s featured Throwback Weekend song.
When Cher was last featured on Throwback Weekends, it was for her #1 hit ‘Half-Breed,’ which topped the charts in October of 1973. The video for that song found her dressed in a bikini and a Native American headdres.
Given that history, I was a little nervous when I saw that her next release, which reached #1 the week of March 23, 1974, was titled ‘Dark Lady.’ Fortunately, though the no-longer-acceptable word “gypsy” does appear a few times in the song, it’s nowhere near as bad as I feared.
Jim Croce finished recording his fifth album, 1973’s I Got a Name, just a week before his death. On September 20, he and friend Maury Muehleisen (and four others) died in a plane crash while flying between gigs in Louisiana and Texas.
He died a day before the title track of the new album was released. One of the few covers he recorded since his debut album, the track reach #10 on Billboard’s Hot 100. The album made it to #2, right behind You Don’t Mess Around With Jim, which saw a resurgence in sales following his death.
Jim Croce released his fourth album, Life and Times, in July of 1973. The record was split pretty evenly between sentimental love songs and rollicking tracks about colorful characters inspired by people he’d met on the road.
Among the latter were ‘Roller Derby Queen’ and ‘Speedball Trucker,’ but the one that caught fire was ‘Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.’ The song became Croce’s first #1 hit and was nominated for two Grammys, including Record of the Year. Based on a friend Croce met during a brief stint in the National Guard, the song had a similar structure to his early hit ‘You Don’t Mess Around With Jim,’ in which the tough-guy protagonist is ultimately humbled.
Meet Me In Montauk 