See what normal song was #1 on the day you were born!

Yeah, I know..., but not everyone is a "country music" fan (whatever that means today, or used to mean back in the day). Most of us grew up listening to "pop music" on our transistor radios, our grandfathers mainly listened to Porter Waggoner and the Hee Haw bunch.

Pop music today isn't what it was 50 years ago. The very first #1 Billboard pop song, Rickey Nelson's Poor Little Fool, is arguably by today's standards about as 'country" as you can get. So is about 1/2 of the 1970s California pop scene (Eagles, Jackson Brown, Linda Ronstadt, etc.), and much of the blues revival material (Grateful Dead, Flying Burrito Bros., etc...., even a lot of Janis Joplin's stuff).

This is a link for all of the #1 songs since 8/4/1958. I was 3 months old, so my "birth song" isn't there. It's interesting to see that dedicated "country and western" songs make frequent appearances as #1 overall. Actually there's a pretty good mix of rock, pop, soul, r&b, c&w, novelty, etc. songs early on. More recently there is pretty uniform pop/hip-hop mix.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/5149230/hot-100-55th-anniversary-every-no-1-song-1958-2013

Yeah, I know..., but not everyone is a "country music" fan ...

This is a link for all of the #1 songs since 8/4/1958.

And not all of us were born after 8/4/1958. In fact, quite a few of us were born in earlier decades!

This is all after the inventing of "playola",,,,,grump,,,Ben

Yeah, I know..., but not everyone is a "country music" fan (whatever that means today, or used to mean back in the day). Most of us grew up listening to "pop music" on our transistor radios, our grandfathers mainly listened to Porter Waggoner and the Hee Haw bunch. Pop music today isn't what it was 50 years ago. The very first #1 Billboard pop song, Rickey Nelson's Poor Little Fool, is arguably by today's standards about as 'country" as you can get. So is about 1/2 of the 1970s California pop scene (Eagles, Jackson Brown, Linda Ronstadt, etc.), and much of the blues revival material (Grateful Dead, Flying Burrito Bros., etc...., even a lot of Janis Joplin's stuff). This is a link for all of the #1 songs since 8/4/1958. I was 3 months old, so my "birth song" isn't there. It's interesting to see that dedicated "country and western" songs make frequent appearances as #1 overall. Actually there's a pretty good mix of rock, pop, soul, r&b, c&w, novelty, etc. songs early on. More recently there is pretty uniform pop/hip-hop mix. http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/5149230/hot-100-55th-anniversary-every-no-1-song-1958-2013

Dave: You sound like you are the same age as me. The 70's were the best years of my life. Riding bikes everywhere, hanging out at the local store to eat candy and drink pop { no convenience stores in my neck of the woods then }. Playing softball,basketball, football and pitching horse shoes all day in the summer time. We also spent lots of time listening to AM radio. There were a lot of cross-over hits and artists back then. Glen Campbell, Charley Rich, Donna Fargo, as well as many others had songs on both charts. For the record, I consider the 70's the best decade of music ever. Great times. As Chicago put it " Old Days ".

Although I enjoy listening to a wide variety of music, including southern gospel, bluegrass, some pop, and country, and I find Rickey Nelson and the Eagles very nice, none of the artists you mention in your second paragraph is a country music singer and if they sing a country song in some other style (pop, rock, or whatever as many have tried to do) it does not make them a country music singer.

If you play the entire Heart Like a Wheel lp by Linda Ronstadt and compare it to any Shania Twain cd, or the first Eagles (eponymous) lp to any similar "country" group cd of the last 20 years, IMHO I find it difficult to discern any substantive difference in style. I'm nobody's music authority, although I am a serious collector and owner of every release by all the 1970s artists I mentioned. However, again IMHO, I think there's a lot more difference between Hank Snow and Paul McCartney than there is between Garth Brooks and Paul McCartney.

BTW, I graduated high school in 1976, at what I consider the nadir of popular music. ("The Night Chicago Died is the #1 selling song of 1976? Why?) I was born too late for my favorite era, which is the blues/soul era that gave birth to the British Invasion of the 1960s. Someday I hope to own every release on Chess/Checker/Argo Records, Stax/Volt Records, and Duke Records (pre-ABC). Toss in a good helping of surf/drag (especially Brian Wilson/Beach Boys) and the British Invasion stuff itself, along with the post-Blues Brothers derivative "blues revival" stuff (Alligator/Blind Pig/Arhoolie/et. Records), and I'm a happy guy!:cool:

Every era has good and bad music to it's credit, and I have hundreds of 1970s records I listen to all the time. But more often then not you'll find me listening to stuff from just the other sides (fore and aft) of that era.

I recently moved to a new state and city. It's a small city with a large population of retired people. We have a radio station called the calm (kahm) and a oldies station which plays mainly 60's music with some late 50's and 70's music. These stations if you want to listen to that type of music have a lock on the subject matter. The calm station can play some music from the 40's, but it's generic orchestrations of a hit by George Michael or Glenn Miller has anything BUT a calming effect. I can't understand why they won't play the original. The 60's station on the other hand only plays a selection segment of popular music of the 60's. In other words the station does not represent what we heard in the 60's only a portion. If you take 1958 for example you would hear songs like Volare (which was #1 for 58) to All I have to do is Dream, to Andre Previn and his "Like Love" and back again to Silhouettes "Get A Job". Take 1964 for example you have The Beatles I want to hold your hand to Dean Martin's Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime back to the Animal's House of the Rising Sun to Louis Armstrong's Hello Dolly. There is not a oldies station I know of today that plays what we actually heard back then. Back then I could be in the car with my parents and there was something for everyone in popular music....and it tied our different generations together. I remember my mom saying after a playing of "Deep Purple" by April Stevens and Neno Temple" that I should check out Larry Clinton's 1939 edition of the song with Bea Wain, at which time my dad added that the song was also a hit in 1923 by it's author Peter DeRose. The thing is music today is so segregated that there is no cross generation going on and the oldies stations are also a reflection of this trend, only playing what they think oldies are.

Dave: You sound like you are the same age as me. The 70's were the best years of my life.

If the 70's were the best years for you, then you are younger than me. Suffice it to say that I was one of the many, many kids who started the "baby boom!"

The #1 recording when I was born was: "I Can't Begin to Tell You," by Bing Crosby and Carmen Cavallaro. What does that tell you?

I believe Ricky Nelson is more rock than country.

You can always check out XM / Sirius radio. Their genre stations 50's, 60's etc. hit the mark better than conventional oldies stations. They used to have a 40's station which I liked to listen to especially when I was working on one of my 30's-40's cars but I think they just did away with it. The 50's which is one of my regular stations plays everything from the big #1 hits to alot of obscure stuff. They even have the Bobby B doo wop Shop. I won't pay for cable but I will pay for XM. I have the radio on from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed. I drag the XM unit with me to the shop, On the road etc. just so I don't have to pay for multiple subscriptions. Infact I have worn out 3 units and I'm on my forth. I wore the plug ins out on them from taking them back and forth so much. Oh by the way, I was born in 74.

The 40's on 4 has been changed to a Billy Joel station for 70 days. Sucks and I complained to Sirius. They did not care. 70 days it will switch back.

The 40's on 4 has been changed to a Billy Joel station for 70 days. Sucks and I complained to Sirius. They did not care. 70 days it will switch back.

Good to hear. I got worried when I went to listen to it and it was gone. Alot of good programs and DJ's got the AX when they merged the 2. I think XM was better before the merger. I liked the Matt the Cat show. It kind of had the feeling of the old DJ's. It seemed like XM had more specialty shows.

Someday I hope to own every release on Chess/Checker/Argo Records, Stax/Volt Records, and Duke Records (pre-ABC) along with the post-Blues Brothers derivative "blues revival" stuff (Alligator/Blind Pig/Arhoolie/et. Records), and I'm a happy guy!.

I'm with you on the blues revival stuff. Norton Buffalo (RIP), Rory Block, Charlie Musselwhite, Leslie West, etc. My brother, prior to his passing, was friends with Roy Rogers. When we attended his shows, he would come and sit at our table between sets. A real quiet, down to earth guy. His slide guitar playing is second to none. I am not a huge fan of the later Rogers/Ray Manzarak stuff, but he and the Delta Rythym Kings are the best. I have all their recordings

You can always check out XM / Sirius radio. Their genre stations 50's, 60's etc. hit the mark better than conventional oldies stations. They used to have a 40's station which I liked to listen to especially when I was working on one of my 30's-40's cars but I think they just did away with it. The 50's which is one of my regular stations plays everything from the big #1 hits to alot of obscure stuff. They even have the Bobby B doo wop Shop. I won't pay for cable but I will pay for XM. I have the radio on from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed. I drag the XM unit with me to the shop, On the road etc. just so I don't have to pay for multiple subscriptions. Infact I have worn out 3 units and I'm on my forth. I wore the plug ins out on them from taking them back and forth so much. Oh by the way, I was born in 74.

Lucky for me when it came time to re-up for SIRIUS they had dropped the 40's station...so I dropped them.

Lucky for me when it came time to re-up for SIRIUS they had dropped the 40's station...so I dropped them.

SIRIUS did not drop the 40's station. It is a Billy Joel station for 70 days. Sometime in June it will revert to the 40's once again.

My music was the 60s/70s, but I was born a bit late as I really like the 50s/early 60s harmony/doowop stuff. Some of it is a bit vapid and lame, but there were some real jewels made during that time. The Del Vikings, The Platters, The Flamingos, The Jive Five, The Edsels. Listen to The Demensions version of "Somewhere, Over the Rainbow" and tell me it isn't better that Judy Garland's original.

I'm with you on the blues revival stuff. Norton Buffalo (RIP), Rory Block, Charlie Musselwhite, Leslie West, etc. My brother, prior to his passing, was friends with Roy Rogers. When we attended his shows, he would come and sit at our table between sets. A real quiet, down to earth guy. His slide guitar playing is second to none. I am not a huge fan of the later Rogers/Ray Manzarak stuff, but he and the Delta Rythym Kings are the best. I have all their recordings

OK, I listened to the Demensions of Over The Rainbow and Judy Garland sings the song better ( a better voice and executed better ) and sings it the way the songwriter and the lyricist intended it to be sung.

SIRIUS did not drop the 40's station. It is a Billy Joel station for 70 days. Sometime in June it will revert to the 40's once again.

70 days is too long to replace good for bad...they're out.

70 days is too long to replace good for bad...they're out.

I'm with ya! I was highly irate. In so much as lodging a complaint on their FB page and SIRIUS site. The sole reason I signed on to SIRIUS is 40's on 4. The 50's on 5 plays all rock. There is so many other types of music to play. The Ames Brothers, Hi-Lo, Four Freshmen and The Lettermen. I generally stick to the 40's all day as a result. I'll live to June with change but going to voice my disapproval and advise that doing this in the future is not good for business.

I'm with ya! I was highly irate. In so much as lodging a complaint on their FB page and SIRIUS site. The sole reason I signed on to SIRIUS is 40's on 4. The 50's on 5 plays all rock. There is so many other types of music to play. The Ames Brothers, Hi-Lo, Four Freshmen and The Lettermen. I generally stick to the 40's all day as a result. I'll live to June with change but going to voice my disapproval and advise that doing this in the future is not good for business.

There are so many good songs and artist in the era of 1932-1954 it is ashamed to loose it all. If no one has the opportunity to experience it, it will be lost. Take a look at the Great American Song Book, the majority of the songs in it are of that era.