The Beatles practically owned the charts in the 1960s. They had 20 No. 1 hit singles and several No. 1 albums. Since the Fab Four were constantly at the top, it blocked other acts from reaching the summit. The Beatles even prevented a cover of a John Lennon song from becoming a No. 1 single in 1963.
John Lennon | Pa Images via Getty Images The Beatles prevented the John Lennon song ‘Do You Want to Know a Secret’ from reaching No. 1
It’s hard to overstate The Beatles’ success in the 1960s. They had an incredible 64 top-100 songs during their active career. Nearly half of those — 31, to be precise — came in 1964 alone. On three occasions, their albums kept other Beatles records from hitting No. 1.
The band started cannibalizing their own success almost as soon as they hit the charts in 1963. The Beatles kept a cover of the John Lennon song “Do You Want to Know a Secret” from hitting No.
John Lennon | Pa Images via Getty Images The Beatles prevented the John Lennon song ‘Do You Want to Know a Secret’ from reaching No. 1
It’s hard to overstate The Beatles’ success in the 1960s. They had an incredible 64 top-100 songs during their active career. Nearly half of those — 31, to be precise — came in 1964 alone. On three occasions, their albums kept other Beatles records from hitting No. 1.
The band started cannibalizing their own success almost as soon as they hit the charts in 1963. The Beatles kept a cover of the John Lennon song “Do You Want to Know a Secret” from hitting No.
- 5/13/2023
- by Jason Rossi
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
The John Lennon and Paul McCartney songwriting partnership churned out hits for The Beatles. How good were they? One of their unreleased songs hit No. 1 when another band recorded it. So it’s no surprise two Lennon-McCartney songs spent 29 weeks on the chart for another group.
(l-r) Paul McCartney and John Lennon | Val Wilmer/Redferns The Fourmost spent 29 weeks on the chart with a pair of John Lennon and Paul McCartney songs
Even before they became synonymous with chart-topping hit songs, Paul and John weren’t shy about giving away songs they wrote to other artists. They let The Rolling Stones take on “I Wanna Be Your Man” before The Beatles recorded it. John and Paul gave up on the song “That Means a Lot,” handed it to American singer P.J. Proby, and he turned it into a modest success.
The Fourmost did much more than achieve middling success...
(l-r) Paul McCartney and John Lennon | Val Wilmer/Redferns The Fourmost spent 29 weeks on the chart with a pair of John Lennon and Paul McCartney songs
Even before they became synonymous with chart-topping hit songs, Paul and John weren’t shy about giving away songs they wrote to other artists. They let The Rolling Stones take on “I Wanna Be Your Man” before The Beatles recorded it. John and Paul gave up on the song “That Means a Lot,” handed it to American singer P.J. Proby, and he turned it into a modest success.
The Fourmost did much more than achieve middling success...
- 5/7/2023
- by Jason Rossi
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
The Beatles became titans of pop music thanks to their long list of No. 1 hits. Paul McCartney and John Lennon developed into such prolific songwriters that they could afford to give away hit songs. They gave “Bad to Me” to Billy J. Kramer, and it became his first chart-topping song.
(l-r) John Lennon and Paul McCartney; Billy J. Kramer | Fox Photos/Getty Images; Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images John Lennon and Paul McCartney gave Billy J. Kramer the song that became his first No. 1
John and Paul never hesitated to give away songs to other artists, even before they fully developed their songwriting skills. They gave up on the would-be Beatles song “That Means a Lot” and gave it to P.J. Proby. His rock-steady voice helped make it a modest success. The Fab Four’s arrangement of a pre-written tune was an unreleased Beatles song that topped the chart for Gerry & the Pacemakers.
(l-r) John Lennon and Paul McCartney; Billy J. Kramer | Fox Photos/Getty Images; Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images John Lennon and Paul McCartney gave Billy J. Kramer the song that became his first No. 1
John and Paul never hesitated to give away songs to other artists, even before they fully developed their songwriting skills. They gave up on the would-be Beatles song “That Means a Lot” and gave it to P.J. Proby. His rock-steady voice helped make it a modest success. The Fab Four’s arrangement of a pre-written tune was an unreleased Beatles song that topped the chart for Gerry & the Pacemakers.
- 5/1/2023
- by Jason Rossi
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
In addition to being expert songwriters, The Beatles also had a strong b.s. detector. They wrote nearly two dozen No. 1 hits in the United States but also walked away from music they knew wouldn’t perform well. John Lennon and Paul McCartney gave up on a song that turned into a modest success for an American singer.
(l-r) Paul McCartney and John Lennon; P.J. Proby | Mark and Colleen Hayward/Getty Images; Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images John Lennon and Paul McCartney gave away ‘That Means a Lot,’ and it became a minor hit for P.J. Proby
Once they developed their songwriting skills, Paul and John opened floodgates that proved hard to close. They gifted a hit song to The Rolling Stones, but they didn’t stop there.
John and Paul wrote “That Means a Lot” while working on the Help! soundtrack in 1965. The version that eventually...
(l-r) Paul McCartney and John Lennon; P.J. Proby | Mark and Colleen Hayward/Getty Images; Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images John Lennon and Paul McCartney gave away ‘That Means a Lot,’ and it became a minor hit for P.J. Proby
Once they developed their songwriting skills, Paul and John opened floodgates that proved hard to close. They gifted a hit song to The Rolling Stones, but they didn’t stop there.
John and Paul wrote “That Means a Lot” while working on the Help! soundtrack in 1965. The version that eventually...
- 4/27/2023
- by Jason Rossi
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Aretha Franklin, who died on August 16th at age 76, recorded more than 40 full-length albums in her six-decade career. It’s a deep catalog, crowded with indisputable classics and hidden gems. Rolling Stone’s music staff is paying its R.E.S.P.E.C.T.s to the Queen with tributes to our favorite Aretha LPs. Next up: Will Hermes on a late-’60s soul masterpiece.
I bought my copy of Lady Soul in the mid-’70s at my neighborhood record store in Queens for $2 – used but in perfect condition,...
I bought my copy of Lady Soul in the mid-’70s at my neighborhood record store in Queens for $2 – used but in perfect condition,...
- 8/20/2018
- by Will Hermes
- Rollingstone.com
Sometime during the week of Aug. 12, 1968, the band that would take over the world as Led Zeppelin held its first rehearsal in a small room in London.
The preceding May, Yardbirds guitarist and session veteran Jimmy Page found himself without a band when the other three members — who’d seen some success since the group first formed in 1963, but had fallen out of fashion — abruptly quit. With a Scandinavian tour already booked, Page and manager Peter Grant united bassist/keyboardist and fellow sessioneer John Paul Jones (with whom he’d performed on songs by Donovan and others) with two young musicians from the British Midlands, singer Robert Plant and drummer John Bonham, both 20, who’d performed together in a group called Band of Joy.
As the new quartet launched into the R&B chestnut “Train Kept A’Rollin’,” a Yardbirds live staple that the group had recorded in 1965, the chemistry,...
The preceding May, Yardbirds guitarist and session veteran Jimmy Page found himself without a band when the other three members — who’d seen some success since the group first formed in 1963, but had fallen out of fashion — abruptly quit. With a Scandinavian tour already booked, Page and manager Peter Grant united bassist/keyboardist and fellow sessioneer John Paul Jones (with whom he’d performed on songs by Donovan and others) with two young musicians from the British Midlands, singer Robert Plant and drummer John Bonham, both 20, who’d performed together in a group called Band of Joy.
As the new quartet launched into the R&B chestnut “Train Kept A’Rollin’,” a Yardbirds live staple that the group had recorded in 1965, the chemistry,...
- 8/13/2018
- by Jem Aswad
- Variety Film + TV
"I need you out here," Russ Meyer told me on the phone in 1977. It was 6 a.m. He could not conceive that I might still be asleep. "Have you ever heard of the Sex Pistols?"
"No," I said.
"They're a rock band from England. They got a lot of publicity for saying 'fuck' on TV. Now they have some money and want me to direct their movie."
"The Sex Pistols?" I said.
"Their manager is a guy named Malcolm McLaren. He called me from London. He said their singers were big fans of 'Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.' They go to see it every weekend they're in London. It's playing at the Electric Cinema on Portobello Road."
No director except possibly for Stanley Kubrick was better informed than Russ about where his movies were playing. Kubrick used to call specific theaters to complain about light intensity. Russ used...
"No," I said.
"They're a rock band from England. They got a lot of publicity for saying 'fuck' on TV. Now they have some money and want me to direct their movie."
"The Sex Pistols?" I said.
"Their manager is a guy named Malcolm McLaren. He called me from London. He said their singers were big fans of 'Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.' They go to see it every weekend they're in London. It's playing at the Electric Cinema on Portobello Road."
No director except possibly for Stanley Kubrick was better informed than Russ about where his movies were playing. Kubrick used to call specific theaters to complain about light intensity. Russ used...
- 4/13/2010
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
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