Michelle Branch helps make Billboard chart history

I'd hit it

 

Clearly, you were fortunate enough not to have your heart broken in the summer of 1992, when "End Of The Road" was played every four minutes.

Seriously. I worked mornings stocking auto parts that summer and had the local top 40 station on the whole time. I once heard "End of the Road" four times in 3 1/2 hours.

 

I think my old high school had Boyz II Men tracks as their senior song for two consecutive years. That was one of them.

 

End of the Road (spoken)
Girl you know we belong together
I have no time for you to be playing
With my heart like this
You'll be mine forever baby, you just see (verse)
We belong together
And you that I'm right
Why do you play with my heart,
hy do you play with my mind? Said we'd be forever
Said it'd never die
How could you love me and leave me
And never say good-bye? When I can't sleep at night without holding you tight
Girl, each time I try I just break down and cry
Pain in my head oh I'd rather be dead
Spinnin' around and around
Chorus:
Although we've come to the End Of The Road
Still I can't let you go
It's unnatural, you belong to me, I belong to you
Come to the End of the Road
Still I can't let you go
It's unnatural, you belong to me, I belong to you
Girl, I know you really love me,
You just don't realize
You've never been there before
It's only your first time Maybe I'll forgive you, hmm
Maybe you'll try
We should be happy together
Forever, you and I Can you love me again like you loved me before
This time I want you to love me much more
This time instead just come to my bed
And baby just don't let me, don't let me down
Chorus
(spoken)
Girl I'm here for you
All those times of night when you just hurt me
And just run out with that other fella
Baby I knew about it, I just didn't care
You just don't understand how much I love you do you?
I'm here for you I'm not out to go out and cheat on you all night
Just like you did baby but that's all right
Hey, I love you anyway
And I'm still gonna be here for you 'till my dying day baby
Right now, I'm just in so much pain baby
Coz you just won't come back to me
Will you? Just come back to me (Lonely)
Yes baby my heart is lonely
(Lonely)
My heart hurts baby
(Lonely)
Yes I feel pain too
Baby please This time instead just come to my bed
And baby just don't let me go
Chorus
Chorus (a cappella)

Just in case you forgot the words.

 

I used to think that I was the only one that couldn't tell Carlton and Branch apart.

 

No problem. Brings back memories for me too.

"Wind Of Change" was moving down on this particular chart. It had been No. 4 one week earlier.

"The Promise Of A New Day" did in fact hit No. 1. It was Paula Abdul's sixth and final chart-topper and dethroned Bryan Adams the very next week. One week later it too was gone, usurped by Color Me Badd.

"Waiting For A Girl Like You" no longer holds the record for the longest stay at No. 2. "Exhale" by Whitney Houston debuted at No. 1 in 1995 and then spent the next 11 weeks looking up at "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men. In 2002, "Work It" by Missy Elliott tied Foreigner by also staying at No. 2 for 10 straight weeks without going to No. 1.

And "Everything I Do" was indeed the first monster hit of the Soundscan era. It was No. 1 for seven weeks (and now holds the U.K. record with 16 weeks) in 1991. The last song to be at No. 1 for that long on the Hot 100 was "Every Breath You Take" by the Police in 1983, which actually had eight weeks on top.

 

Damn, Double J, you're a fucking walking encyclopedia of this stuff. Makes up for you forgetting Sammy Sosa and the Cubs made the playoffs in 1998.

Do you know how many songs have been at no. 1 for seven weeks or longer since 1991? I bet it's a ton.

I'll bet Paula Abdul's six no. 1 hits, without looking, were (and yes, I think I can refer to her time as a chart-topper in the past tense):

Straight Up
Forever Your Girl
Cold Hearted (this is the only one I'm not sure of, are you sure she had six no. 1s and not five?)
Opposites Attract
Rush Rush
The Promise Of A New Day

 

Comparing Hot 100 charts from the last few years to those from the 80's and early 90's is unfair because of the way charts are determined today. Once you had to have good sales and good airplay to get on the charts, but as single sales began to slip, airplay began to take on a larger portion of the points formula until one day they allowed songs that never got released as retail singles to chart. This is probably why the charts became more and more heavily hip hop/R&B, because they were still making retail singles (even if just vinyls for the clubs), whereas the rock and AC acts had given up on those precious $4 single sales.

The new formula also led to much higher debuts and longer stays at the top. I stopped paying close attention to the charts a couple of years ago (not surprisingly coinciding with my XM purchase), so I don't know how much this has changed with the revival of the retail single as download. All I know is I hate every song that made No. 1 this year with the exception of the Ne-Yo song.

Oh, and the AC chart has never been known for tumultuous change. I bet What A Fool Believes would still be in the top 50 if the chart went that deep. Adult Top 40 isn't a whole lot better. Does Billboard do a AAA chart? I know Radio and Records does.

Finally: does "mainstream rock" exist as a genre anymore? I remember picking up a Billboard a few weeks ago and noticing they don't have a chart. I know from a few years ago the mainstream chart was little more than the modern rock chart with a Metallica song thrown in like a random pepper in your salad.

I lied, THIS is finally: are Canadians still like two months behind the U.S. when it comes to big acts, or has the world market finally bridged the gap? Used to be you could read the Canadian top 20 for Oct. 10 and it looked like the U.S. top 20 for Aug. 4 with a couple of Canadian acts in there.

 

I graduated high school in '92, so of course "end of the road" was played while we were asked to pose for a class picture during prom night. And if that wasn't bad enough, I went to a catholic all guys high school......

 

Be thankful "I Wanna Sex You Up" got rejected, then.

 

What would be really unusual is a high school that used "Never Say Goodbye" by Bon Jovi as the senior song two years in a row.

 

Or that horrible "Graduation (Friends Forever)" song by Vitamin C from 1999.