Second Nature

A little while ago, I asked a few questions about a song which will celebrate its 40th year of play, next year; thinking that a little bit of musical trivia might be fun. Seems that the questions were a bit much for people to handle, as nobody zeroed-in on the proper info--so far.

Since I'm not one to leave you writhing in pain, walk with me for a moment...

OK. Let's start with the very generous hint I gave you:

Part 1: Casey Kasem's "American Top 40" radio program had its debut broadcast via seven radio stations on July 4, 1970. Prior to this time, there was no weekly radio production showcasing the top forty American singles from Billboard magazines record charts; so, any chart-topping single which wasn't featured on Casey Kasem's "American Top 40" radio program had to be before that date, or after August 13, 1988 when the show was ditched. However, I effectively limited the interval to 1960 - 1980, so the pre-July 4, 1970 time-frame applies.

Part 2: StarTrek (OTS) was in planning for six years, before airing its first episode on September 8, 1966; and was cancelled due to low ratings (if you can believe that)--the final episode airing on June 3, 1969. Thereafter, the series was no longer in production, but enjoyed a long life in syndicated reruns. This eleminates the 1960 to June 3, 1969 interval of time that I originally specified.

So putting both parts together gives us a 13 month interval (June 3, 1969 to July 4, 1970) during which the song received airplay and generated chart statistics. I saved you from searching through 240 months-worth of music data, and gave you a mere 13 months of Billboard charts to look at.

Yeah. Somebody out there just said, "Wow! He's really not that bad a guy, you know?"

You heard him too, huh?

Anyway, the path to enlightenment is found in the Billboard charts; which happen to tell us that...

There were only three songs matching the 4 week, #1 slot criteria, during the June 3, 1969 to July 4, 1970 timeframe, on the US charts:
"Honky Tonk Women" The Rolling Stones August 23 1969 - September 13 1969
"Sugar, Sugar" The Archies September 20 1969 - October 11 1969
"Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" B. J. Thomas January 3 1970 - January 24 1970


On the UK charts, from June 3, 1969 to July 4, 1970, there was only one #1 song holding for 8 weeks:
"Sugar, Sugar" The Archies September 20 1969 - October 11 1969

Cross-checking the entries for Number 1 single of the year, we have "Sugar, Sugar", The Archies, in 1969; and "Bridge over Troubled Water", Simon and Garfunkel, in 1970; which effectively nails-down the year (1969), the group (The Archies), and the song title (Sugar, Sugar).

That was easy, wasn't it?

The rest of the answers can be obtained via Internet searches:

The folks involved in creating "Sugar, Sugar" were:
1. Ron Dante
2. Toni Wine
3. Andy Kim
4. Ellie Greenwich
5. Ray Stevens
6. Jeff Barry
7. Don Kirshner

The unique aspect of this achievement is that, as session musicians, the performers were a fictional band. No other fictional band produced a song that made number one single of the year; before that time, or since.

Billboard magazine listed the song as #63 on the List of Greatest Songs of All Time.

SUGAR, SUGAR (GSAT #63)
The Archies
Label: Calendar
Peak Date: 9/20/1969
Peak Position: 1 (4)

On the Sept. 20, 1969, Hot 100, the top five comprised Three Dog Night, Johnny Cash, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Rolling Stones and, at No. 1, a group that actually never existed. The Archies comic strip, created in 1942, became a hit Saturday morning TV show created by Don Kirshner-who had guided the Monkees. The bubble-gum bauble remained at the peak for four weeks and sold 3 million copies. Obviously its melody had legs: A year later, Wilson Pickett recorded a cover of "Sugar, Sugar," which reached No. 25 on the Hot 100. The Archies were hardly a one-hit wonder; among their four top 40 hits, follow-up "Jingle Jangle" reached No. 10 later that year.
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/specials/hot100/charts/top100-titles-70.shtml

...and that's the way it was, when I was 9 years old.

It seems that there are new, late Fall fashion statement arrivals for the "GOP Emos", this year.

The hard-core Republican contingent, taking a very unoriginal idea from the "sorryeverybody.com" site, and giving it a 180° turn and pretending that no more Diebold-izing elections, lower taxation, increased employment, a recovering economy, a reduced federal deficit, and less flexing of our "inalienable right" to attack other countries without justification just doesn't matter to the voters.

You have a fashionable way of telling the world that you're sorry that the farcical Bush years couldn't continue forever:



Très Chic!

And to impress those "liberal socialists" (heh) with your right-wing savvy and angst on the freeway, here's a bit of dressing for your bumper:



For the more Chris Crocker-inclined amongst the red states, there's always the new ''Conservative in Exile'' bumper sticker:



which is being hawked for a ridiculous price:

"List Price: $99.50
Your Price: $29.88
You Save: $69.62 (70%)"

with the following with the following whinge:

"Conservatives may have been exiled until 2012, but we're letting everyone know that we've not been swept up by the big-government entitlement movement (disguised as "Change") that's claimed more than 50% of our beloved country."

and, like all the promises of the Bush Administration, you can pay for them before they actually exist:

"--IN STOCK NOVEMBER 28th"

yet, as they say, on those late night imnfomercials,

"Don't answer yet...there's more!"

Those of you in the Blue States will just love the "Liberals Gone Wild" calendar.



Yes, folks, just in time for the Obama Inauguration. You also can get the CD-ROM companion



which will allow you to

"Search 365 Facts to Shut Up Your Liberal Friends During Political Debates!"

which really means that they came-up with 365 quotes--taken entirely out of context--to make you feel superior as you ignore 8 years of the failed policies of a corrupt administration.

Now, the immediate benefit of the non-Palin merchandise is that, even though you will be perceived by all who behold you as blind, and just a bit on the "Bless your heart! slow" side; you won't be branding yourself as a complete blithering idiot.

To console yourself over the trouncing the GOP took at the polls, you can leaf through Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream by Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam.

As you may know, Ross Douthat is the author of Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class (which should tell you just how balanced he is not) and a senior editor at the Atlantic.

Reihan Salam is an associate editor at the Atlantic and a fellow at the New America Foundation. He was in favor of Tom McClintock as a GOP VP running mate, because McClintock, "looks and sounds like a man possessed....that’s clearly why I like him."

Hmmmmmmmmm.

Additional comfort may be sought in the pages of this thoroughly bizarre 160 page offering:Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska’s Political Establishment Upside Down by Kaylene Johnson. Kaylene has four Alaska-centric books to her credit, and numerous faith-oriented articles. This appears to be her first foray into the world of politics.

Various catchy phrases (pseudo-endorsements) are being used to promote the book:

"Alaska's governor is a politician with eye-popping integrity." - Fred Barnes, Fox News Network

Governor Palin "stands out in a state that has seen few fresh faces in politics. She is untainted by government scandal and unburdened by political debt." - New York Times

"American needs a vice president who can eat a mooseburger" - GOP strategist Alex Castellanos

"Wildly popular, she’s more than just a pretty face." - Alaska Magazine

Well, so much for accuracy in advertising.

All of this Right-Wing propaganda garbage costs too much money, so save yours today...or send some of it in to cover the deficit that your "good ol' boy" ran-up chasing ghosts and making enemies in the Middle East, and protecting his buddies in Corporate America, for the past 8 years.

The smoke from all the fires in SoCal has nearly obscured the sun--and it's raining a bit of ash, here.

The "Sayre Fire", in Los Angeles County; the "Freeway Complex Fire", in Riverside/Orange Counties; and the "Tea Fire" in Santa Barbara County have claimed more than 1400 homes.

Updates may be found here.

If you take a look at the MEPIS Mirror, in the testing directory, you'll notice that SimplyMEPIS 8.0 is now in Beta 5 iteration.

Changes in this release include:

• 2.6.27.5 kernel
• rebuilt "extra drivers"
• Grub 0.97-33
• MEPIS core remains in sync with the pending Debian release, Lenny

Please support the continued development of SimplyMEPIS by buying a Gold Download Subscription from the MEPIS Store.

Since I preached about supporting Open Source development efforts, back on 2008.10.20, I'll skip the sermon this time.