The Rolling Stones’ desire to keep up with the Joneses bit them in the ass with their second release of 1967.
Their Satanic Majesties Request was a foray into psychedelic rock spurred by the ecstatic reaction to The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Even the cover art seemed like a nod to, or a knock-off of, their counterpart’s groundbreaking concept album.
But while Sgt. Pepper was a smash hit, this album left both fans and critics scratching their heads.
Today’s Throwback Weekend song comes from the week of September 15, 1973, when Helen Reddy’s ‘Delta Dawn’ topped the Hot 100 for a single week as part of its eight-week run in the top ten.
The song had previously been recorded by Bette Midler and Tanya Tucker, with the latter scoring a top ten hit on the Country chart. But Reddy, adding choir-like background vocals, was the first to score a major crossover hit with the track.
Throwing back to the week of September 14, 1963, we find The Angels on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with their only top ten hit, ‘My Boyfriend’s Back.’
This simple tale of promised revenge was inspired by a conversation overheard by co-writer Bob Feldman. A teenaged girl was rejecting the advances of an unwanted suitor, unaware that her dismissal would result in a massive hit. I wonder how many women of the era believed they might have been that girl.
In 1967, The Rolling Stones released their last album to receive different versions in the U.S. and UK. That record, Between the Buttons, continued their move away from R&B infused rock and toward the more experimental sounds of their peers.
That means a little Beatles here, a little Kinks there, a little Dylan on today’s SOTD, and a generally more fussed-over sound than they were known for.
April of 1966 saw the release of the first classic Rolling Stones album, Aftermath. Inspired by The Beatles’ Rubber Soul, the band moved away from their R&B staples and recorded a collection of entirely original songs. I love how the hottest bands of that era used the competition to fuel their creativity.
The UK version of this album clocked in at 52 minutes, then the longest running time for a popular release. The American version ran ten minutes shorter, cutting four songs and adding hit single ‘Paint it Black.’ Among the songs left off the tracklist were the great ‘Mother’s Little Helper’ and ‘Out of Time,’ making the American version the lesser of the two (‘Out of Time,’ today’s SOTD, was used beautifully in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.)
Meet Me In Montauk 