Well, if that doesn't seem like a belated wish for 2018, then nothing is. After all, it's already the first week of February. And probably the last thing on people's minds is this blog. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Well, to be honest, the last few weeks, this has been the last thing on my mind as well. Yes, I said I'd post my Top 100 of 2017, and I'm sure I will (it's on Facebook as a note, just in case you thought I didn't do one).
But there's a reason for this almost two-month hiatus. Shortly after Christmas, my Mom, Helen Sheldon, was admitted into the hospital for high blood pressure, by her visiting nurse. You see, she, almost 89 years of age, hasn't left her place in a couple years. She was, for the most part, self-sufficient, with friends coming in to check up on her. What she lacked physically, she more than made up mentally. Her mind was as sharp as a tack. It kept her going, for sure.
But, after battles with getting her BP down, followed by emergency surgery for a clot in her aorta, resulting in bypass surgery, which she seemed to recover from, her body said, peacefully, "enough" and she died quietly at around 6 AM on January 4th of this year.
Needless to say, the rest of the month entailed many visits to her condo, boxing up her possessions, and keeping some of her keepsakes, and painfully throwing others out. It was very stressful as well as painful, and I had a hard time getting some grieving time in. Many of my friends were there to help and listen, it had gotten me by, and had broken up some of the depression that had been stationed inside me all this time.
I know this is a music blog, and my Mom wasn't really a musician. But she was definitely a music fan, and she had so much inspired me to listen to music as well. Helen was actually a musician when you think about it: She played piano and was pretty good at it. When I went through her garage with all of her memorabilia, she had so much sheet music and books for piano that had been sitting there for decades. And hey, she had me take piano lessons in the summer of 1963, with an awesome teacher, Mr. Stuart, who had given me many pieces, including some popular songs of the day, as well as some patriotic numbers, to play.
But it was Helen's love of music listening that is the focus of my blog this week. Born in 1929, she grew up during the Big Band era and of course, she followed the stars of the day including Glenn Miller and the like. In 1946, she graduated from Roselle Park High School, and in her yearbook description, it said that her hobby was collecting Vaughn Monroe records. While Monroe may not have been remembered as much as his Swing-era peers, like Miller or the Dorsey brothers,he was quiet popular during the time Mom was in high school, garnering many top ten records, including "There, I Said It Again", #1 in 1945 (and covered by Bobby Vinton, who also took it to the top in 1964....Mom was a fan of him as well, by the way).
Helen had what you might call the typical timeline for a woman growing up in what is frequently called "The Greatest Generation", which came of age during the second World War. After she graduated, she took a job working at Prudential, in Newark NJ, for seven years, until she would meet my Dad, who was running for Mayor of Roselle Park. He won the 1953 election, and they got engaged shortly afterwards, and married during his first year in office.
My Mom assisted my Dad and pretty much remained in the background, supporting him during his endeavors. Together, they were into the Standards of the day, and not really into the budding Rock and Roll movement. They were Frank Sinatra fans, not Elvis Presley.
Many things changed as the 1960's rolled around, of course. The whole culture of the country evolved. President Kennedy got assassinated in November of 1963, my parents were notified of this as they were on a cruise. Then The Beatles invaded the country early the next year. In fact, the day after the Fab Four appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, my Mom left my Dad, and we moved crosstown. Civil rights, and especially the Women's Liberation movement started to take hold, and that's when my Mom moved out from behind Dad's shadow. She became empowered---not easy when you had to move into a two-bedroom garden apartment with two kids---got a job, and as a 35-year old women, got a job, and embraced the "free" sixties, including a beehive hair style....and embraced the pop music of the day.
It was indeed the sixties that my mother embraced---and I plunged head-first into pop music as well. "More", a top 10 instrumental hit by trombonist Kai Winding, was a song she really loved, and it provided me memories of an August 1963 vacation down the Jersey shore in Manasquan. Two months later, she loved another instrumental: "Washington Square", a top three hit by The Village Stompers. She bought that 45, and played it at my 7th birthday party that October. But she was just getting started.
We'd go to Manasquan every summer, and in 1965, she introduced me to radio station WABC, an iconic pop music station at 77 on the AM dial. I listened half-heartedly at the time, but I remember the #1 song while we were down there on the beach: "I Got You Babe" by Sonny & Cher. I also remember other songs around that time, including "Help" by The Beatles.
But it was June of 1966 that I started listening to WABC all the time. Being a numbers person, I particularly listened on Tuesday nights to Cousin Bruce Morrow's Top 20 survey being counted down. And my Mom was listening to it as well. Of course, she also listened to "Rambling With Gambling" on WOR, more of an 'adult' station, but she straddled both stations. She bought a slew of 45's in 1966: "Elusive Butterfly" (Bob Lind), "These Boots Were Made for Walking" (Nancy Sinatra), "A Sign of the Times" (Petula Clark), and "California Dreaming" (Mamas and the Papas), were just a few of the songs that made our portable turntable in the Spring of 1966. And each year down in Manasquan, many of the songs became the memorable soundtrack of those specific years.
1968 was her favorite year in music. We collected a lot of singles and a couple of albums. "Love is Blue", "The Might Quinn", "Just Dropped In", "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde" were much played in our house. But she loved The Vogues. "Turn Around, Look at Me" and "My Special Angel" were big favorites of hers.
In probably what was the icing on that cake was that Helen got a job in late 1967 working for Ampeg, a company that produces musical instruments and amplifiers, based in Linden NJ. She was a secretary and receptionists, and got to meet many music company suits and artists. Artists like Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, The Cowsills, 1910 Fruitgum Company and others would stop by the office and she'd get autographed pictures of them. She would also talk to artists and dealers on the phone and direct them to the proper department.
And of course there was her conversation with Jimi Hendrix, which you can read here:
Mom and Jimi Hendrix
By late 1969, she started bringing home music industry trade magazines, such as Record World, Cash Box, and Billboard. I was amazed that there were weekly lists of one hundred songs each week, much more than the twenty or twenty-five played on WABC. And she would still point out music that she loved: Tom Jones was a favorite and she'd watch his variety show on Friday nights. She also loved Aretha Franklin and would always yell out "Sing it out, Aretha", whenever a song of hers was on the radio. She got a kick out of afternoon DJ Dan Ingram on WABC also.
Ampeg merged with Magnavox in late 1972 and the Linden office closed, putting her out of a job temporarily. But the "damage" was done as I subscribed to Record World from 1973 until it went out of business in 1982, then subscribed to Billboard until 2003. I currently subscribe online to Billboard.
As for Helen, she was into pop music until around 1975, at which time, at the age of 46, she went back to listening to music she grew up with, but she would, occasionally reference a current song or artist. She threw me off-guard in 1992 when she bought R.E.M.'s Automatic for the People; that was a favorite of hers.
Her last big favorite? 2005's "You're Beautiful", a #1 hit for James Blunt. And while she (along with many of my friend at this point) had long given up on new music, she had a computer full of songs on it from throughout her life and she played them very frequently, and I would make her a mixed CD from time to time.
I think it's safe to say that Helen had a very full life and enjoyed the finer things in it. And that so much includes music. It's also safe to say that if it weren't for her, I wouldn't be the music fan that I have been for the last half a century. While my future in following new music or maintaining my blog is in question, I have to thank my Mom, Helen Sheldon, for installing that essential part of my life. Because music is the thing that can cheer you up, calm you down, be there with you during the bad times, and rally around the good time.
Best wishes to you up in heaven, Mom. I love you.
GOODBYE DELORES: There was another passing last month, by Delores O'Riordan, the lead singer for the Irish band The Cranberries. That band is mostly remembered from its 1990's hits like "Linger" in 1993, and "Zombie" in 1994, which landed at #8 on my year-end top 100 that year. Other notable songs by the band were "Salvation", "Dreams" and "Just My Imagination". By the late 1990's, their popularity decreased and they broke up in 2003.
However, they reformed in 2009 and released their first album in twelve years: 2012's Roses. And while that album was pretty much ignored, one track, "Tomorrow" was a big blog hit here, reaching the #1 spot in the winter of that year. Their most recent effort, 2017's Something Else, yielded an SNS top 10 with "Why", which is still on the SNS 100 this week, and actually rebounds 87-71 on the latest list.
O'Riordan died at the age of 46, the cause was not known, but it happened in a recording studio.
THE FUTURE: Once again, I need to decide whether to continue the blog. I had committed to listening to new music through the end of 2019, but, given the sad state of popular music, and especially the recent Grammy Awards, I will have to make a decision as to what direction I will be heading. I have always tried to incorporate some pop music into my list to be relevant, it is getting hard to do so. It will all depend on how my main genre, Alternative Rock will survive, and whether there will still be elements of rock, a genre which is all but dead in the pop world.
We shall see.
OFF AND RUNNING: The first SNS 100 appears below. In spite of it being almost two months since the last edition, it will (as it did during my three month hiatus in 2014) be seamless and pick up right where we left off in mid-December. Therefore, the "weeks on list" figure only gets incremented by one, and the "last week" figure actually means "last chart".
Ed Sheeran picks up right where he left off in 2017, when he had the #1 song of the year in "Shape of You", as "Perfect" ascends from #4 to take the top spot. It's his third SNS chart topper following "Shape.." and "Thinking Out Loud" which also topped my 2015 year-end list. The song spent ten weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 (which might be the last #1 I ever add from that chart...more on that in a subsequent week). Unfortunately, my hiatus prevented it from being a simultaneous #1 on both lists, something that's happened only a couple of times. Oh well.
It's a pretty quiet top 10 with just some jostling for position, except for Moon Taxi which rises 13-9. Being it's just one chart week from my December list, all of the holiday offerings that made the list are still there, many holding steady from last week. It enables The Hounds of Winter's cover of The Band's "Christmas Must Be Tonight" to inch into the top 10, becoming that outfits fifth top 10 in a row. Also moving up a notch is "Santa Stole My Lady", the 2010 holiday single by Fitz & the Tantrums which was revived this past season. The hiatus helped Michael Fitzpatrick and crew: It's enabling the band to complete five uninterrupted years on my SNS chart. More on that in a future blog. The Neighbourhood's '24/7 takes the Impact honors, but its followed closely by Alice Merton's "No Roots". The Florence Welch soundalike is doing well at Alternative radio and jumps 36-16 here.
Outside the top 20, the big mover is Hegazy's topical and controversial latest single "Here to Stay" (67-28). The latest songs by Walk the Moon (51-39) and Foster the People (41-35) are top five on Alternative as well, and should help continue their climb here.
Since it's been two months since my last blog, a slew of notable SNS artists make debuts this week, spearheaded by up-and-comer Christine Taylor's "American Dreamin'" at #66. Taylor, who got CMT and Radio Disney airplay on her That Girl EP last year and came oh-so-close to making the national charts with two songs from that album, is back with a brand new single. Hopefully this is the one to break her onto the charts. The Bleachers have an awesomely soulful entry in "I Miss Those Days" (#71), and Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, who score a #1 in 2015 with "SOB" are back with their latest endeavor, Tearing At the Seams, with "You Worry Me" (#74). Artists who also had blog success under their belt are entering this week, The Wombats, The Killers, The Decemberists, and Jessica Lea Mayfield, with impressive openings. New to SNS are Canadian band Metz, from Toronto, on the legendary Sub Pop label with their third album Strange Peace; Big Thief, an indie folk band out of Brooklyn with their second album Capacity.
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100
February 4, 2018
| This Week | Last Week | ARTIST-Title | Weeks on List |
| 1 | 4 | NUMBER ONE:
"Perfect"
Album: Divide
|
8 |
| 2 | 3 | The War on Drugs - Holding On | 14 |
| 3 | 2 | Portugal. The Man - Live In the Moment | 9 |
| 4 | 1 | Hegazy - Alive | 7 |
| 5 | 7 | Weezer - Happy Hour | 10 |
| 6 | 8 | Phillip Phillips - Miles | 8 |
| 7 | 6 | Cold War Kids f. Bishop Briggs - So Tied Up | 14 |
| 8 | 13 | Moon Taxi - Two High | 12 |
| 9 | 5 | The Palms - Levitate | 11 |
| 10 | 11 | The Hounds of Winter - Christmas Must Be Tonight | 4 |
| 11 | 12 | Fitz and the Tantrums - Santa Stole My Lady | 4 |
| 12 | 16 | Beth Ditto - Fire | 7 |
| 13 | 14 | Nick Waterhouse - Old Place | 10 |
| 14 | 10 | St. Vincent - New York | 16 |
| 15 | 27 | TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:
"24/7"
Album: Hard (EP)
|
6 |
| 16 | 36 | Alice Merton - No Roots | 9 |
| 17 | 9 | Pink - What About Us | 15 |
| 18 | 15 | Gwen Stefani f Blake Shelton - You Make It Feel Like Christmas | 4 |
| 19 | 19 | Five For Fighting f. Jim Brickman - Christmas Where You Are | 3 |
| 20 | 23 | Vance Joy - Lay It On Me | 6 |
|
|
Songs
with the greatest increase in favorite points over the prior week.
● Songs
with 25 or more plays on my iPod.
▲ Songs with 50 or more
plays on my iPod.
The “Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100” is a list
of current and recent song playlist which I am listening to.
No comments:
Post a Comment