Those Other Hits

Thanks again to David Treadway for a great article he wrote for this blog:

Those “Other” Hits

It was a world without consultants and callout
research, devoid of the “experts” who make their
living by flitting market-to-market and taking twenty
minutes to tell Program Directors what the
“highest-testing” songs are. It was a time when Music
Directors actually called the shots about what songs
(we called ‘em records) got played on radio stations.
Before there were focus groups and number-crunching
computers, there was gut instinct. A good Music
Director could tell a hit record within the first
eight seconds of it hitting the turntable.

That’s why KAAY played so many great songs that have,
inexplicably, not made the cut for the so-called
greatest oldies of all time. Case in point: The
Uniques--on Paula Records out of Shreveport,
Louisiana, if memory serves. The first I ever heard of
them was a hard-rockin’ little number called “You
Ain’t Tuff.” You’ll not be finding this one on the
playlist of your Good Times/Great Oldies cookie-cutter
station, nor are you likely to hear the all-time slow
dance contender “All These Things.” Then there was the
good-timey, Lovin’ Spoonful-influenced “Groovin’ Out
(On Your Good, Good Lovin’)” on which lead singer Joe
Stampley took the main riff with tissue paper and
comb. I know this last part for a fact because I saw
him do it at the Malvern High School Senior Prom in
1968!

While we’re dealing with Northwest Louisiana and the
Jewel/Paula Records family, how’s about John Fred And
His Playboy Band? While you may be familiar with “Judy
In Disguise (With Glasses)”, you probably have not had
the pleasure of “Agnes English” with its gospel-tinged
backing vocals.

If you do frequent the sadly disappearing Oldies
stations, you have undoubtedly heard “Western Union”
by The Five Americans. But those stations somehow see
fit to ignore that group’s butt-rockin’ predecessor,
“I Saw The Light”

Likewise, you may just be familiar with
“I Go Crazy,” by The Buckinghams but you don’t know that Chicago’s
Buckinghams did a real good version of it and KAAY saw
fit to play it before “Kind Of A Drag” was a gleam in
anybody’s eye.

There are more groups and individuals who had some
measure of success Back In The Day, but who have
fallen into obscurity now, thanks to giant
corporations and the leeches who pass themselves off
as experts. Perhaps this piece will spark someone
else’s memories of those Other Hits and they will see
fit to write in (hint, hint).

Meanwhile, this was written with great love and
respect to the outside-the-lines memory and spirit of
The Mighty 1090 and a shout-out goes to Sonny Martin,
Jonnie King and all the other KAAY Music Directors who
made listening to the radio such an out-of-body experience!