by Kevin Burton The shirt I had just bought said “Sweet Home Kansas’ or “Down Home in Kansas,” something like that, and it was supposed to make a statement. With decidedly mixed emotions I had just taken a job in Kansas and left my homeland, Ohio, behind. The shirt was one way of …
Tag Archives: Hot 100
“Love Will Keep Us Together” Is Pop Perfection
by Kevin Burton Did you know the 1975 smash “Love Will Keep Us Together” by Captain and Tennile is actually a breakup song? Hey, I was there. Yes it is, a breakup song! Well, sort of. Fifty years ago today it was in the beginning of a four-week run at the …
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Can’t Forget The Breakfast Club, Simple Minds
by Kevin Burton It’s been 40 years and I haven’t forgotten. But it would appear that my limited affection for Simple Minds begins and ends with Ally Sheedy and The Breakfast Club. Both the band and the Brat Pack were white hot in 1985, 40 years ago this week, when “Don’t You …
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Happy 80th Birthday To The Great Bob Seger
by Kevin Burton Bob Seger’s highest charting song is not the song closest to his heart, nor, I’m guessing, is it foremost in the esteem of his true-blue fans. The beloved singer-songwriter from Ann Arbor, Michigan turns 80 today. So I looked up his chart history to see if he had ever had …
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Billy Preston Almost Joined The Beatles
by Kevin Burton In the late 60s and 70s when DJs would spin “Get Back” by The Beatles, they didn’t say anything about Billy Preston, not that I ever heard anyway. But Preston was working closely with the Beatles on the album “Let It Be.” He was a big part of what they …
“My Sharona” Exploded, The Knack Fizzled
by Kevin Burton This song was headed for the top. No two ways about it. It was d-d-destiny, to borrow a stuttered word from the lyrics. The first time The Knack played “My Sharona” at MCA Whitney Recording Studios, producer Mike Chapman told the band it was going to be a number …
Imperfect Tens: Hits Dionne Warwick Hated
by Kevin Burton The artist hated them, I loved them and so did millions of others. From the 60s genius of legendary songwriting team Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and the 80s (post-70s really) brilliance of the Bee Gees, came two smash hits for Dionne Warwick. Both songs went to number 10 …
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Get Off My Lawn And Give Me The Old Songs!
by Kevin Burton Look out kids, there may be science behind my old-man curmudgeonality. It seems newer songs are really not like the songs of old. Furthermore, technology is partially to blame. I’m having a good day! “If you feel curmudgeonly for thinking ‘They don’t make hits like they used …
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I Love A Rainy Night And I Like Eddie Rabbitt
by Kevin Burton If you’re like most people, when you think of a nice day, you’re thinking about picnic weather, right? Well I’m not like most people. My nice days have a soundtrack to them. I am a son of the Midwest. What you call spring and summer, I call tornado season. …
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Mary Wells Disappeared After “My Guy”
by Kevin Burton In my alternate Motown universe there is a lot more Martha Reeves and a lot less Diana Ross. There is also at least a little more Mary Wells. It’s Wells we focus on today. Sixty years ago, Wells’ “My Guy” became the first Motown record to hit number one on …
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