RIP Doug Fieger

Funny how Boyz II Men had three absolutely monster songs (End Of The Road, I'll Make Love To You and One Sweet Day) and are one of only three acts (Beatles, Elvis) to succeed themselves at No. 1 when On Bended Knee replaced I'll Make Love To You, and had 10 top-3 songs. Then they just completely dropped off the radar. They had a couple of hits in 1997, and poof, people stopped listening to them. I thought their sound was built for the long haul, but apparently not.

 

What's lost/overlooked in "My Sharona" is an absolutely killer guitar solo.

 

And that was on top of what at the time were some crazy-long No. 1 runs before that: Bryan Adams at No. 1 for 7 weeks; Jacko's "Black or White" for 7 more; Vanessa Williams for 5; "Jump" by Kris Kross for 8; and "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-a-Lot for 5. That was the beginning of the SoundScan era.

Nowadays, five weeks at No. 1 is nothing on the singles chart. As far as Boyz II Men, don't forget their 16-week run in 1995-96 with Mariah Carey on "One Sweet Day." The godawful "Macarena" stayed for 14 weeks that year.

(Oh as an aside, "One Week" by Barenaked Ladies was No. 1 in 1998 for ... wait for it.)

Grunge tore up the album charts, but it sure didn't dent the singles charts much.

 

Grunge never had a chance. By that point, the only acts releasing singles to retail were pop, R&B and hip-hop. You didn't see much if any rock in the Hot 100 until they started allowing songs with no retail component to chart. By that point, most rock acts focused on the Modern Rock (now Alternative Songs) chart, and Top 40 was either strongly pop/R&B/hip-hop or exclusively in the case of CHR-Urban stations.

 

Their descent is/was absolutely astounding. No way they could maintain the clip they had from 92-97, but shit. You would have figured that was a band that would have aged gracefully as its core audience aged.

 

The state of the music industry today is a joke.

Back when a song like "My Sharona" or "Bette Davis Eyes" stayed at No. 1 for six weeks, that meant something.

When the Black Eyed Peas can take two songs and stay at No. 1 non-stop for SIX FUCKING MONTHS, either a) the chart methodology is majorly flawed or b) there's some crap music out there. I know b) is not true. That's just what happens when Clear Channel and CBS own all the pop stations and they have a 12-song playlist.

It's past time for another musical revolution.

 

Market fragmentation.

Back then you had Top 40. Now you have Top 40, Top 40-adult, Top 40-urban, Top 40-dance and Top 40-rock.

Back then you had Adult Contemporary. Now you have AC, Lite AC, Modern AC, Hot AC, Top 40-adult (which is apparently distinct from Hot AC in that is has more CHR songs), Adult Album Alternative (slightly different from modern AC), urban AC, rhythmic AC and smooth jazz.

Back then you had oldies. Now you have oldies, classic hits (generally MTV-era older songs), R&B oldies, classic rock early classic country and later classic country. Country begat new country and alt-country, as well as the aformentioned oldies formats. Rock begat modern and mainstream rock and the derivatives above. R&B begat hip-hop, R&B-dance and others.

So with so many segments to go after, many acts focus on the clusters they'll do well in, to the point where "top 40", rather than being a catch-all, is itself a narrowly-defined niche that only gets a few big hits at a time. Because sales are still a component of the Hot 100 chart (though not to the degree it used to be), that gives pop and hip-hop acts a boost because they still release retail singles, while rock acts generally don't (it's possible, of course, to download tracks off iTunes without getting the whole album, but rock fans are more likely to buy the whole album instead of doing it piecemeal, like I do.

And it's not just pop. The Alternative Songs chart, in which you'd expect more turnover, has had 20 songs with at least 10 weeks atop the chart (more recently Uprising by Muse, which spent 17 weeks there). The song on top of the chart now, 1901 by Phoenix, took 31 weeks on the chart to get there, and it was released as a single to radio a year ago. And seven of the top 10 songs have been on the chart for at least 20 weeks.

I know, I know. I'm never going to score.

 

Heck, "Never Surrender" charted higher than "Sunglasses at Night."

 

Both posts are spot on.

Even MMII's closing paragraph. I understand, pal. Do I ever.

Just a correction, though, F_B - "Bette Davis Eyes" had nine weeks at the top. But the sentiment is the same - it did mean something back then to have such a huge mega-hit.

 

It did, you're right - No. 3 versus No. 8 on the Billboard chart. But they still play "Never Surrender" on the radio up here fairly regularly.

 

I think iTunes sales count toward the chart now.

I haven't grown tired of "1901" yet because no station here plays that genre of music. The Clear Channel "alternative" station here that was kickass 10 years ago has morphed into new rock. I have several musical options on my laptop, fortunately. The only terrestrial radio I listen to now is sports talk.

 

Ah, 1981...when the only suspense for Casey's year-end countdown was whether "Bette Davis Eyes" or "Endless Love" would be No. 1 for the year.