Hit Songs That Should Never Be Played On Radio Today

[JeffM]

I say that if the kids on American Bandstand in the 1950s couldn't dance to it, then it ain't rock & roll. "Helter Skelter" ain't "rock & roll". It's "rock".

"You kids call that $#!+ music??!!"

 

[DavidEduardo]

Actually, "All My Loving" WAS released on a single (Capitol 72144). It was pressed in Canada but released in the US and reached #45 on the US charts in 1964. The other songs you mentioned didn't receive "significant airplay" in my town on AM Top 40 radio. FM radio, especially FM stereo, was starting to develop in the mid '60s and only "underground" FM stations were playing album cuts.

Other than very early FM rocker WOR FM in NYC I do not recall any undreground stations until the FCC simulcast mandate spawned new formats from 1967 onwards.

FM stereo began in 1961.

 

[Avid Listener]

It's a sad state of affairs that anyone would regard what format of phonograph record was used to distribute a song as having any sort of meaning in determining if that song should be played on the radio today. That is sheer and total lunacy.

 

[oldies76]

I would say that their US Top 10 chart singles (except for "Get Back") were elevator music.

All You Need Is Love
Baby You're a Rich Man
Penny Lane
Strawberry Fields Forever
Hello Goodbye
I Am the Walrus
Hey Jude
Revolution
Something
Don't Bring Me Down
Come Together
Let It Be
Long and Winding Road......etc....etc...

Are elevator music?? Unless I'm missing something, I assume you're kidding here.

 

[oldies76]

I say that if the kids on American Bandstand in the 1950s couldn't dance to it, then it ain't rock & roll. "Helter Skelter" ain't "rock & roll". It's "rock".

It's rock "within" the rock and roll era.

 

[semoochie]

All You Need Is Love
Baby You're a Rich Man
Penny Lane
Strawberry Fields Forever
Hello Goodbye
I Am the Walrus
Hey Jude
Revolution
Something
Don't Bring Me Down
Come Together
Let It Be
Long and Winding Road......etc....etc...

Are elevator music?? Unless I'm missing something, I assume you're kidding here.

The Ballad of John & Yoko

 

[R_F_Burns]

Other than very early FM rocker WOR FM in NYC I do not recall any undreground stations until the FCC simulcast mandate spawned new formats from 1967 onwards.

FM stereo began in 1961.

I noticed earlier in this thread you mentioned you were at WERC I was at WSGN in 78 and 79 were you there when ERC-FM was underground at night?

 

[TheFonz]

Other than very early FM rocker WOR FM in NYC I do not recall any undreground stations until the FCC simulcast mandate spawned new formats from 1967 onwards.

FM stereo began in 1961.

That would explain to the poster who talked about airplay for album cuts why there wasn't any prior to 1967, although most of the Beatles album cuts we were discussing were from 1967 onward. FM stereo might have been developed in 1961, but few people had stereo FM radios. In fact, few people had stereo record players in 1961. I happened to have one in 1964 when I bought the first Beatles album. The store clerk said it was a good thing I wanted the stereo version because the mono version sold out fast.

 

[TheFonz]

It's a sad state of affairs that anyone would regard what format of phonograph record was used to distribute a song as having any sort of meaning in determining if that song should be played on the radio today. That is sheer and total lunacy.

I agree. Thankfully no poster in this thread said that.

 

[TheFonz]

All You Need Is Love
Baby You're a Rich Man
Penny Lane
Strawberry Fields Forever
Hello Goodbye
I Am the Walrus
Hey Jude
Revolution
Something
Don't Bring Me Down
Come Together
Let It Be
Long and Winding Road......etc....etc...

Are elevator music?? Unless I'm missing something, I assume you're kidding here.

You missed the point of my post, Oldies. I was talking about chart singles post 1966. With the possible exception of "Come Together", all of the chart singles in the group of songs you listed are elevator music. You wouldn't call "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields" rock & roll, I hope.

 

[TheFonz]

The Ballad of John & Yoko

You're right! I missed that one................a good rock & roll song.

 

[Mediafrog+]

In fact, few people had stereo record players in 1961. I happened to have one in 1964 when I bought the first Beatles album. The store clerk said it was a good thing I wanted the stereo version because the mono version sold out fast.

In those days a stereo album was typically $1 more expensive than the mono version, which would have been a 20-25% markup over the cost of the mono album. Easy to see why the mono albums sold out first.

 

[TheFonz]

In those days a stereo album was typically $1 more expensive than the mono version, which would have been a 20-25% markup over the cost of the mono album. Easy to see why the mono albums sold out first.

If you trashed your mono record player for a new stereo record player, wouldn't you spend the extra dollar? It took awhile for the conversion to stereo. Just like today.................going from tube TVs to flatscreens.

 

[TheBigA]

There was a point where mono versions of albums were no longer available. I think it was 1966. Perhaps Sgt. Pepper was the first that was only available in stereo.

 

[DavidEduardo]

I noticed earlier in this thread you mentioned you were at WERC I was at WSGN in 78 and 79 were you there when ERC-FM was underground at night?

I was PD of the AM and FM in '72 and '73. I took the FM to CHR with a rock flavor at night. AM was Doug Layton in mornings and pop AC all day.

 

[R_F_Burns]

I was PD of the AM and FM in '72 and '73. I took the FM to CHR with a rock flavor at night. AM was Doug Layton in mornings and pop AC all day.

Were you the one that fired Jan Jefferies?

 

[semoochie]

In those days a stereo album was typically $1 more expensive than the mono version, which would have been a 20-25% markup over the cost of the mono album. Easy to see why the mono albums sold out first.

No, the mono versions sold out first because the stereo versions were unplayable on mono equipment. I believe it had to do with a ceramic cartridge. This problem was fixed later on.

 

[Avid Listener]

No, the mono versions sold out first because the stereo versions were unplayable on mono equipment. I believe it had to do with a ceramic cartridge. This problem was fixed later on.

That's mostly accurate. The early stereo albums could be physically damaged by most mono cartridges. Over the course of the 60's, improvements in the physical media enabled manufacturers to make stereo recordings that could safely be played on any decent quality player, even mono. Most replacement cartridges for mono equipment upgraded the the turntable to be able to play stereo discs without damage. By the late 1960's, almost all 45 RPM singles from major labels were stereo.

From the labels' perspective, reducing the number of SKUs needed to sell any product was always a good thing.

I can recall reading in various "HiFi" magazines or articles about HiFi systems in other magazines the "professional" advice to only invest in the extra money for stereo recordings on instrumentals, where it mattered, and to save the extra dollar when buying an album that was mostly vocals. That struck my young teenaged mind as silly when I first read it. It still sounds silly today. But those people who always believed the experts simply because they claimed to be "experts" accepted that as gospel.

 

[semoochie]

That's mostly accurate. The early stereo albums could be physically damaged by most mono cartridges. Over the course of the 60's, improvements in the physical media enabled manufacturers to make stereo recordings that could safely be played on any decent quality player, even mono. Most replacement cartridges for mono equipment upgraded the the turntable to be able to play stereo discs without damage. By the late 1960's, almost all 45 RPM singles from major labels were stereo.

From the labels' perspective, reducing the number of SKUs needed to sell any product was always a good thing.

I can recall reading in various "HiFi" magazines or articles about HiFi systems in other magazines the "professional" advice to only invest in the extra money for stereo recordings on instrumentals, where it mattered, and to save the extra dollar when buying an album that was mostly vocals. That struck my young teenaged mind as silly when I first read it. It still sounds silly today. But those people who always believed the experts simply because they claimed to be "experts" accepted that as gospel.

If most 45rpms were stereo, by the late 1960s, they weren't labeled as such or at least most of the ones I saw. In the back of my head, I'm thinking that we had to wait until 1970 for a stereo version of "Hey Jude", for instance.

 

[TheBigA]

If most 45rpms were stereo, by the late 1960s, they weren't labeled as such or at least most of the ones I saw. In the back of my head, I'm thinking that we had to wait until 1970 for a stereo version of "Hey Jude", for instance.

I have a 45 RPM of The Doors and "People Are Strange" that says Stereo on the label. It's an original from the period, not a reissue.