Billboard Notes: 2023-11-30

[dwvanstone]

I finished listening to six months of Billboard Hot 100 hits of 1972 and I've started listening to music from 1960. So far...nothing much is to my taste this first week. Part of this project is just to learn the names of famous artists and associate them with styles of music. I also like associating a year with the kinds of music that were popular. This is before the British Invasion (which started in 1964), before Brazilian pop (which started in 1965). I went through 1962 in the past and found lots of interesting music so I expect to find some favorites as I go along.

1960 was the third year in a row that the novelty Xmas song "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" charted. (It was the only Christmas song to hit #1 until Mariah Carey's current pop Christmas song whose name I shall not mention.)

Here are two songs from this year that caught my attention, clearly mimicking the Chipmunks:

  "Uh Oh! Part 1" (peaked at # 45)

and

  "Uh Oh! Part 2" (peaked at #14)

both by The Nutty Squirrels. I've never seen a song broken up into parts with both parts charting. This was a 45 RPM single with two sides. (The charts in 1960 combined record sales, radio plays, and jukebox plays.)

The Chipmunks liked to play pop music, the Nutty Squirrels sang jazz with their weird high-pitched scat singing.

Worth a listen!