Oldies Music

We sometimes look at there music as EWWW or GROSS, but honestly, we wouldn’t have any of our great bands today without them. Most band are said to be influenced by such great but old bands like Queen or the Carpenters.

Number 1 Songs in Chicago during the 50s, 60s and 70s

1957: Young love, Tab Hunter and Sonny James

1958: At the Hop, Danny & The Juniors

1959: Smoke Gets in your Eyes, Platters

1960: Running Bear, Johnny Preston

1961: Wonderland By Night, Bert Kaempfert

1962: Town Without Pity, Gene Pitney

1963: Go Away Little Girl, Steve Lawrence

1964: There! I’ve Said it Again, Bobby Vinton

1965: Down Town, Petula Clark

1966: The ounds Of silence, Simon and Garfunkel

1967: I’m A Believer/ (Im Not Your) Steppin Stone, Monkees

1968: Bend Me Shape Me, American Bread 

1969: Crimson and Clover, Tommy James & the Shondells

1970: Venus, Shocking Blue

1971: I Hear You Knocking, Dave Edmunds

1972: American Pie, Don McLean

1973: Your So Vain, Carly Simon

1974: One Tin Soldier; The Legend of Billy Jack, Coven

1975: Please Mr. Postman, Carpenters

1976: Convoy, C.W. McCall

1977: Blinded By the Light, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band

1978: We Will Rock You/ We are the Champions, Queen

1979: Le Freak, Chic

1980: Escape (The Pina Coloda Song), Rupert Holmes

…But these are just a few of our either still famous bands, or of our one hit wonders.

One of the most famous singers out there; you’ve heard of him, you’ve sang along to his music, he is the King of Rock and Roll…. Elvis Presley.

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He was born to Vernon and Glady’s Presley on January 8, 1935. His twin brother was still born. That left Elvis to grow up as an only child. They moved to Tennessee  in 1948. Elvis Graduated in the year of 1953. His greatest influences for music in his life were country, pop, R&B, and Church music (which he attended frequently). He began his singing career with Sun Records in 1955. By 1956 he was an international sensation. His sound and style was a mix of his diverse musical influences. He starred in 33 successful films, he made a lot of television appearances, and did many live concert performances. He had 14 Grammy nominations and 3 wins. He honorably served his country in the U.S. army. He is known as on of the most important figures of the twentieth century popular culture. Elvis Died at his Memphis home on August 16, 1977. In his lifetime he put out 49 albums and is still a hit in some peoples eyes today.

Another very popular and well known band is The Beatles. A very inspirational band to many of our bands today.

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The history of The Beatles can be traced all the way back to 1957 when John Lennon and his childhood friend, Pete Shotton, started a band called “The Black Jacks”. They soon after that changed the name to “The Quarry Men”. Most of their gigs were neighborhood events. They did skiffle music.  In 1957 “The Quarry Men” were setting up a show in a church hall when another member of the band introduced Lennon to Paul McCartney. He was at the time a 15 year old, self taught, left handed, guitar player. He later on auditioned for the band and was immediately invited to join, which he did in October, 1957. By February, 1958, they started moving away from the skiffle music and more towards the rock and roll. Which prompted there banjo player to leave the band which then gave McCartney the opportunity to introduce Lennon to his friend and former classmate, George Harrison. The band then, which at the time consisted of Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, piano player Duff Lowe and the drummer Colin Hanton recorded their first demo, consisting of Buddy Holly’s “That’ll Be the Day” and a Lennon-McCartney original, “In Spite of All the Danger.” The Quarry men broke up in 1959. Lennon and McCartney continued to write songs. Harrison then joined a band called “The Les Stewart Quartet”. They band soon reunited when Harrisons band broke up. When the gig ended they continued then as “Johnny and the Moon Dogs”. In 1960 Lennon and McCartney were introduced to their new drummer, Pete Best and bassist, Stu Sutcliffe.

They went through a long line of names, The Long Johns, The Silver Beatles, and The Beat Brothers, before settling on the name, The Beatles. After touring Scotland with a backing singer, Johnny Gentle, they came back with an invite to play at clubs in Hamburg, Germany. Stucliffe left the band soon after that to pursue his life as a photographer. Leaving only Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Best. Who then went and auditioned for Parlophone Records; where they eventually did most of their recording. Their first album, Please Please Me, was released in the UK in 1963. The singles, “Please Please Me” and “She Loves You” received scattered, limited airplay in the U.S. On Dick Clark’s show “American Bandstand”, the teen audience reacted to the band by laughing at there mop top hair cuts. Their second album, “With the Beatles”, was the second only album in the UK to sell only a million copies. By April, 1964, the band’s singles occupied the top five spots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. They then toured Australian and New Zealand, where their arrival in Adelaide was greeted by a crowd of more than 300,000. The first Beatles more was released in 1964, “A Hard Day’s Night”. The band released 7 albums in 1964 in the U.S. and U.K., all but 3 of them charting at #1. In 1969 Lennon told the band that he was leaving, the band persuaded him to stay a little longer until their album, “Let It Be.” The band breakup was announced in April, 1970.

There are many more bands that are influenced by our bands today. So don’t judge old music, no matter how small.

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