Saturday, April 26, 2014
Thursday, March 27, 2014
The Top 250 Hits of the Last 50 Years - #210 Upside Down - Diana Ross
"Upside Down" is a hit song by Diana Ross released on the Motown label. It was the first single taken from her 1980 album diana and hit number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on 6 September 1980. It also hit number 1 on the Billboard Disco/Dance and R&B charts. The single was released a full 4 weeks after the album was released. In its fifth week on the Billboard Hot 100, it made a dramatic leap into the Top 10 (*49-*10). It held down the number 1 title for 4 weeks.
The single was also a big hit internationally, topping the singles charts in Sweden, Italy, Norway and Switzerland, while reaching number 5 in Canada. It also rose to number 2 on the UK Singles Chart, marking the highest peak performance from Ross as a solo artist since "I'm Still Waiting" in 1971. It also earned her a British Phonographic Industry silver disc award for sales in excess of 250,000 copies.
The song listed at number 62 on Billboard's "Greatest Songs of All Time".
History[edit]
The song was written by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers (of the band Chic).
In a 2011 interview, Nile Rodgers said "Diana Ross was the first big star we ever worked with and we took it very seriously." Rodgers and Edwards interviewed her for several days. "This was the first time in her life somebody cared about who she was; what she was - everyone previously had treated her the way we had treated Sister Sledge - they got her in and said 'Sing this'. We (took a more personal approach)."
The song would be later covered and sampled by the likes of Salt-N-Pepa, Kid Rock, Missy Elliott, Alcazar, Puff Daddy, Collette and MC Lyte, who had a hit under the "Upside Down" sample in Lyte's 1996 hit, "Cold Rock a Party (Remix)". The Salt-N-Pepa version was featured on the Space Jam soundtrack.
The song was later covered by Destiny's Child during a tribute show honoring Ross and her career on a VH1 Divas special. Their version is featured on their album Single Remix Tracks.
In 1994, the song was used in Mickey's Fun Songs: Let's Go to the Circus with a different arrangement and lyrics.
In 1997, Ross performed the song live with British band Jamiroquai at "The Brit Awards" ceremony.
Upside Down was also covered and released as a single in late 2001 by Australian R & B girl group X3 (Times Three). It followed the release of their first single, and album, 'Girl Like Me'. The song received healthy airplay and was promoted well in Australia but did not chart well.
In 2001, contemporary jazz/fusion group Pieces of a Dream offered their version from the release "Acquainted With the Night."
In 2004, Alcazar sampled "Upside Down" in their song "This Is the World We Live In".
In 2013, the song was used in a Mercedes-Benz commercial featuring chickens being moved around while their heads remain stationery as an example of the car brand's "magic body control." It was also used by Jaguar Cars in a parody of the Mercedes-Benz commercial.
Charts (1980)[edit]
| Chart (1980) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report) | 1 |
| Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40) | 2 |
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) | 3 |
| Canada (RPM 100 Singles) | 5 |
| Canada (RPM Adult Contemporary) | 1 |
| Denmark (Tracklisten) | 1 |
| France (SNEP) | 2 |
| Germany (Media Control AG) | 3 |
| Ireland (IRMA) | 3 |
| Italy (FIMI) | 1 |
| Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) | 2 |
| Netherlands (Mega Single Top 100) | 3 |
| New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) | 1 |
| Norway (VG-lista) | 1 |
| South Africa (Springbok Radio) | 1 |
| Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) | 1 |
| Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) | 1 |
| UK Singles (Official Charts Company) | 2 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play | 1 |
| US Billboard Hot R&B Singles | 1 |
Year-end charts[edit]
| Chart (1980) | Position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 18 |
End-of-decade charts[edit]
| End of decade (1980–1989) | Position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 30 |
Track listing[edit]
- UK 12"
Side A
- "Upside Down" (93' Remix, David Morales & Satoshi Tomiie mix)
- "The Best Years of My Life" (Album Version)
Side B
- "Upside Down" (Morales Dub, David Morales & Satoshi Tomiie mix)
- "Upside Down" (Album Version)
- UK 12" #2
Side A
- "Upside Down"
Side B
- "Upside Down" (Remix by David Morales & Satoshi Tomiie)
Music video[edit]
The music video consists of previously filmed scenes from Ross's other productions over the years cut together with some photographs.
Language[edit]
Linguistically the song is notable for its use of the archaic form of the second person singular pronoun, Thou/Thee, in the phrase: "Respectfully I say to thee I'm aware that you're cheatin'."
Top 100(& 1) Artists Of The Rock Era(1955-Now) #41 Kenny Rogers
It took several tries before Kenny Rogers became a star. As a member of the First Edition (and the New Christy Minstrels before that), he shared in some million-sellers, among them "Reuben James" and "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town," an excellent Mel Tillis song about a disabled veteran. But superstardom lay ahead for this Texan, and it arrived in the late '70s. His experience with the two previous pop groups had prepared him well: he knew the easy listening audience was out there, and he supplied them with well done middle-of-the-road songs with a country flavor. Having gone solo, in 1976 Rogers charted with "Love Lifted Me." But it was with an outstanding song by writers Roger Bowling and Hal Bynum, "Lucille," that his star shot upward.
The rest (as they say) is history: award-winning duets with Dottie West and Dolly Parton, 12 TV specials, another song of the year with "The Gambler," "Daytime Friends," "Coward of the County," "We've Got Tonight," "Crazy," "Lady" (his first pop number one), etc., etc., etc. And that's just the musical side of Rogers. In 1980, the made-for-TV movie The Gambler blasted the competition, followed quickly by Coward of the County, then enough sequels to The Gambler to get him to Roman numeral IV. Throughout the '80s, Rogers remained a celebrity, even when his sales were declining. Even during the '90s, when he rarely charted, his name, face, and music were recognizable in a series of concerts, television specials, films, and even fast-food restaurants.
Like many country superstars, Rogers came from humble roots. Born in Houston, Texas, Rogers and his seven siblings were raised in one of the poorest sections of town. Nevertheless, he progressed through high school, all the while learning how to play guitar and fiddle. When he was a senior, he played in a rockabilly band called the Scholars, who released three singles, including "Kangewah," which was written by Louella Parsons. Following his graduation, he released two singles, "We'll Always Fall in Love Again" and "For You Alone," on the local independent label Carlton. The B-side of the first single, "That Crazy Feeling," was popular enough to earn him a slot on American Bandstand. In 1959, he briefly attended the University of Texas, but he soon dropped out to play bass in the jazz combo The Bobby Doyle Three. While he was with the group, Rogers continued to explore other musical venues and played bass on Mickey Gilley's 1960 single "Is It Wrong." The Bobby Doyle Three released one album, In a Most Unusual Way, before Rogers left the group to play with the Kirby Stone Four. He didn't stay long with Stone and soon landed a solo record contract with Mercury.
Rogers released a handful of singles on Mercury, all of which failed. Once Mercury dropped the singer, he joined the New Christy Minstrels in 1966. He stayed with the folk group for a year, leaving with several other bandmembers --Mike Settle, Terry Williams, and Thelma Lou Camacho -- in 1967 to form the First Edition. Adding drummer Mickey Jones, the First Edition signed with Reprise and recorded the pop-psychedelic single "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)." The single became a hit early in 1968, climbing to number five. Within a year, the group was billed as Kenny Rogers & the First Edition, and in the summer of 1969, they had their second and final Top Ten hit, "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town." The country overtones of the single hinted at the direction Rogers was taking, as did the minor hit follow-up, "Ruben James." For the next two years, the First Edition bounced between country, pop, and mild psychedelia, scoring their last big hit with Mac Davis' "Something's Burning" in early 1970. By the end of 1972, the group had its own syndicated television show, but sales were drying up. They left Reprise the following year, signing to Rogers' new label, Jolly Rogers. None of their singles became major hits, though a version of Merle Haggard's "Today I Started Loving You Again" reached the lower regions of the country charts late in 1973.Rogers left the group in 1974, and the band broke up the following year.
At the time the band broke up, Rogers was severely in debt and Jolly Rogers was out of business. In order to jump-start his career, he signed to United Artists in 1975, and with the help of producer Larry Butler, he devised an accessible, radio-ready, and immaculately crafted take on country-pop that leaned toward adult contemporary pop, not country. "Love Lifted Me," his debut single for the label, was a minor hit early in 1976, but it took a full year for Rogers to have a genuine breakthrough hit with "Lucille." Climbing to number one early in 1977, "Lucille" not only was a major country hit, earning the Country Music Association's Single of the Year award, but it also was a huge crossover success, peaking at number five on the pop charts. For the next six years, Rogers had a steady string of Top Ten hits on both the country and pop charts.
By the beginning of the '80s, Rogers' audience was as much pop as it was country, and singles like his cover of Lionel Richie's "Lady" confirmed that fact, spending six weeks at the top of the pop charts. Rogers also began performing duets with pop singers like Kim Carnes ("Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer," number three country, number four pop, 1980) and Sheena Easton ("We've Got Tonight," number one country, number six pop, 1983). Rogers also began making inroads into television and film, appearing in a number of TV specials and made-for-TV movies, including 1982's Six Pack and two movies based on his songs "The Gambler" and "Coward of the County." Late in 1983, he left United Artists/Liberty for RCA Records, releasing a duet with Dolly Parton called "Islands in the Stream" as his first single for the label. Written by the Bee Gees and produced by Barry Gibb, the record became one of his biggest hits, spending two weeks on the top of both the country and pop charts.
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
The Top 250 Hits of the Last 50 Years - #211 Work It - Missy Elliott
"Work It" is a hip hop song written by American rapper Missy Elliott and her producer Tim "Timbaland" Mosley for Elliott's fourth studio album Under Construction (2002). The song's musical style, and production by Timbaland, were heavily inspired by Old school hip hop from the 1980s, and includes a portion which samples Run-D.M.C.'s "Peter Piper". The beginning of the song samples Rock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three's "Request Line". Released as the album's first single in September 2002, the track reached the number two position on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on the issue dated November 16, 2002 for ten weeks (behind Eminem's "Lose Yourself"), becoming Missy Elliott's most successful single to date. It also reached number one for five weeks on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The song is tied with Foreigner's 1981 hit "Waiting for a Girl Like You" as the longest-running U.S. number-two single that did not reach number one; both song spent ten weeks at #2. A remix of this song features 50 Cent. The end of the song samples "Take Me to the Mardi Gras" by Bob James, and the synth pattern in the rhythm track samples the intro to "Heart of Glass" by Blondie.
Music video[edit]
The music video to "Work It" was directed by David Myers. Timbaland, Eve and Tweet make cameos in the video, as well as a brief appearance by actress/dancer Alyson Stoner. Aaliyah (1979-2001) and Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes (1971-2002), who at the time had both recently died, are commemorated in the music video with their images airbrushed on a car's hood. It also features an appearance by dancer and graffiti writer Mr. Wiggles from Rock Steady Crew. There is another music video that features 50 Cent rapping the first verse on the remix.
In shooting the video, director Myers shot the opening scene with live bumblebees; only one crew member was stung. Additionally, he forgot to replace a glass of wine with a glass of water when filming the restaurant scene, so Elliott was heavily drunk after production.
The video won the award for Video of the Year at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards.
Lyrics[edit]
A portion of the song's lyrics helped popularize the slang term "badonkadonk" with mainstream audiences ("Love the way my butt go bum-bump-bum-bump-bump/Keep your eyes on my bum-bump-bum-bump-bump/And think you can handle this badonk-a-donk-donk").
During the chorus, the lyric "I put my thing down, flip it, and reverse it" is simply played backwards, a part many mistakenly assumed to be gibberish. In the middle of the song, after the lyric"Listen up close while I take you backwards", the lyric "Watch the way Missy like to take it backwards" is also played in reverse. This vocal reversing trend made it to several of her productions during the following years.
Also, in the song's chorus, an elephant trumpeting is heard to hide a sexual reference ("If you got a big [elephant trumpet], let me search it"). In both the explicit and edited versions, the song uses onomatopoeia such as "ra-ta-ta-ta" and "buboomp buboomp boomp" to refer to sexual bodily moves.
Critical reception[edit]
John Bush of allmusic described the song as "turn[ing] the tables on male rappers, taking charge of the sex game, matching their lewdest, rudest rhymes, and also featuring the most notorious backmasked vocal of the year." Bush cited the song as an example of Elliott's "artistic progression, trying to push hip-hop forward...neatly emphasizing her differences from other rappers by writing tracks for nearly every facet of the female side of relationships." However, conservative writer and activist L. Brent Bozell III criticized the song's production and lyrical content: "The only melody on this "minimalist" single sounds like a siren on a toy fire truck...The lyrics are unbelievably blunt, and far too obscene for a family newspaper. You'll have to turn to your children's favorite station to hear them. How can this trash not trickle down to the kids who love listening to the radio and watching MTV?"
Rolling Stone ranked "Work It" 25th in its list 100 Best Songs of the 2000s.
Top 100(& 1) Artists Of The Rock Era(1955-Now) #42 Dionne Warwick
It is easier to define Dionne Warwick by what she isn't rather than what she is. Although she grew up singing in church, she is not a gospel singer. Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan are clear influences, but she is not a jazz singer. R&B is also part of her background, but she is not really a soul singer, either, at least not in the sense thatAretha Franklin is. Sophisticated is a word often used to describe her musical approach and the music she sings, but she is not a singer of standards such as Lena Horne or Nancy Wilson. What is she, then? She is a pop singer of a sort that perhaps could only have emerged out of the Brill Building environment of post-Elvis Presley, pre-Beatlesurban pop in the early '60s. That's when she hooked up with Burt Bacharach and Hal David, songwriters and producers who wrote their unusually complicated songs for her aching yet detached alto voice. Warwick is inescapably associated with those songs, even though she managed to build a career after leaving Bacharach andDavid that drew upon their style for other memorable recordings, and she remains a unique figure in popular music.
Marie Dionne Warrick was born into a gospel music family. Her father was a gospel record promoter for Chess Records and her mother managed the Drinkard Singers, a gospel group consisting of her relatives. She first raised her voice in song at age six at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey, and soon after was a member of the choir. As a teenager, she formed a singing group called the Gospelaires with her sister Dee Dee and her auntCissy Houston (later the mother of the late Whitney Houston). After graduating from high school in 1959, she earned a music scholarship to the Hartt College of Music in Hartford, Connecticut, but she also spent time with her group recording background vocals on sessions in New York. The Gospelaires are said to be present on such well-known recordings as Ben E. King's "Spanish Harlem" and "Stand by Me." They were at a Drifters session working on a song called "Mexican Divorce" composed by Burt Bacharach when Bacharach, attending the session, suggested Warrickmight do some demos for him. She did, singing songs he had written with lyricist Hal David. Bacharach and Davidpitched one of the songs to Florence Greenberg, head of the small independent Scepter Records label, andGreenberg liked the demo singer enough to sign her as a recording artist. Bacharach and David wrote and produced her first single, "Don't Make Me Over," in 1962. When the record was released, the performer credit contained a typo; it read "Dionne Warwick" instead of "Dionne Warrick," and she kept the new name. (Her sister Dee Dee eventually became Dee Dee Warwick as well.)
![Dionne [1972]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vnQAa6Jqhhg3DLCB6PF5TwO1xmH_E7cAR4dKmA8yu-JKudWOvBk9mDfkrj84mXR-SLfFQCHM2wl_Yn4DdBBvyP4PIYFVTY3kUkJFIeUiNcQ-5LiF21oA5s4PMan_I4pgbUmcvw4w1tDUw9AO-GMFBQEqFzlAtwG9MjeGs=s0-d)
Warwick bounced back with "Then Came You," a song she recorded with the Spinners, which topped the pop and R&B charts and reached the Top Five of the easy listening charts in October 1974, going gold in the process. It proved to be a one-off success, but Warwick (now without the "e") signed to Arista Records in 1979 and returned to the Top Five of the pop adult contemporary (formerly easy listening) charts with "I'll Never Love This Way Again," produced by labelmate Barry Manilow and featured on her first platinum-selling album, another LP simply titled Dionne. "Deja Vu," also from the album, was a Top 20 pop and number one adult contemporary hit. "I'll Never Love This Way Again" won Warwick her third Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female; "Deja Vu" won her her fourth for Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance, Female.
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