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This is probably gonna turn into a thread. I bought this book at an antique store last weekend- it’s a book cataloguing every song that hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 between its inception and mid-2003 (when it was published) with a nice little one page write up for each song.
As someone who has loved popular culture (specifically music) pretty much his entire life, the information in this book is fucking INSANE. Did you know a disco mashup of the Star Wars theme and the cantina band song hit #1? That’s absolutely nuts to me.
Think about every time you’ve listened to an oldies station in your life, how often do you hear this weird Star Wars disco song? For me, it’s zero. For a song to hit number one and then completely lose its cultural relevance is so wild to me.
You know what’s even crazier? Stuff that hit #1 in my lifetime that I have absolutely no recollection of. Did you know Sisqo has a solo #1 song, and that it’s NOT the “Thong Song?” CRAZY, right? It’s called “Incomplete,” and I have never fucking heard it.
This book tells me that Ashanti had a song called “Foolish” that was #1 for TEN WEEKS in 2002, making it one of the longest reigning #1 songs *in history.* I had to listen to it for reference, and I have never fucking heard this song. What the hell is going on?
There’s also a ton of stuff that I knew was popular, but not #1 hit level popular. Phil Collins has *SIX* solo #1’s. How? “Butterfly” by Crazytown, “With Arms Wide Open” by Creed, “Unbelieveable” by EMF- all songs that hit #1...I would not have guessed.
Think of all the artists that have never hit #1 but have been relevant for decades (Bob Dylan is one that comes to my mind), they gotta be like “fuckin Crazytown?!” Anyway, if anyone wants to talk #1 hits and how weird some of them are, hit me up. I got a lot of this left in me.
Last one, I promise- but seriously HOW did a medley cover of two ten year old songs by these goofballs hit freaking #1 in 1988? What were people thinking? (Big Mountain *also* did a cover of “Baby I Love Your Way” that hit #6 in 1994- only a few years later. Why?!)
