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Billboard Notes: 2023-07-06
Jul. 6th, 2023 04:44 pmI'm still listening to lots of music from Billboard's Hot 100 from 1987. It's not my favorite year of music but there are some treats here and there. I should finish that year in a few more weeks.
Afterwards, I'll be listening to the second half of 1972. The first thing I do with this project is make a Spotify playlist of all 100 songs (or as many are on Spotify) from the first week (July 1, 1972) and slowly fill it in. I just reached the song at #11 with the longest artist I've ever encountered:
"Amazing Grace" by The Pipes And Drums And The Military Band Of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
It's exactly what it sounds like, an instrumental bagpipe version of "Amazing Grace". And I think ... why?? Why was this popular? Why in 1972? What was happening then? (Note: the song ended up peaking at #11.)
A funny note from Wikipedia:
"It is also a controversial instrumental, as it combined pipes with a military band. The Pipe Major of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards was summoned to Edinburgh Castle and chastised for demeaning the bagpipes."
Poking at this a bit ... it turns out that Judy Collins had recorded an a cappella version on her 1970 album Whales & Nightingales ... and it was a surprise hit on the radio and reached #15 on Billboard's Hot 100. Aretha Franklin also based her biggest album from 1972 around that spiritual hymn. It was just in the air.
Afterwards, I'll be listening to the second half of 1972. The first thing I do with this project is make a Spotify playlist of all 100 songs (or as many are on Spotify) from the first week (July 1, 1972) and slowly fill it in. I just reached the song at #11 with the longest artist I've ever encountered:
"Amazing Grace" by The Pipes And Drums And The Military Band Of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
It's exactly what it sounds like, an instrumental bagpipe version of "Amazing Grace". And I think ... why?? Why was this popular? Why in 1972? What was happening then? (Note: the song ended up peaking at #11.)
A funny note from Wikipedia:
"It is also a controversial instrumental, as it combined pipes with a military band. The Pipe Major of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards was summoned to Edinburgh Castle and chastised for demeaning the bagpipes."
Poking at this a bit ... it turns out that Judy Collins had recorded an a cappella version on her 1970 album Whales & Nightingales ... and it was a surprise hit on the radio and reached #15 on Billboard's Hot 100. Aretha Franklin also based her biggest album from 1972 around that spiritual hymn. It was just in the air.
