Twostepcublog

    " A Long December " - Counting Crows from the album Recovering The Satellites (1996) Billboard Hot 100 peak: ineligible to chart Billboard Hot 100 Airplay peak: #6 (one week) Weeks in the Airplay Top-40: 24   Today's song of the day comes from the alternative rock band Counting Crows , whose lead radio promo from their second album Recovering The Satellites , " Angel Of The Silences ", wasn't released as a commercial single, and just missed the top-40 on the airplay component of the Billboard Hot 100 in the fall of 1996. For the second song hyped to radio, the band also didn't release a single, for at the time it was the common thought that doing so would goose up the sales of the album (which IMHO was a bad gamble and ended up turning a lot of people off of buying music and eventually ushering in the Napster era). "A Long December", written by the band's Adam Duritz, David Bryson, Charlie Gillingham, Matt Malley, Ben Mize, and Dan ...

    " Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel " was a big club hit for the family soul/disco group Tavares . Produced by Freddie Perren, who wrote the song with Keni St. Lewis, "Heaven" appeared on their fourth album Sky High . On the Disco File Top-20 chart in Record World magazine, the single spent two weeks at #1 in 1976, while making it to #3 on the R&B chart and #15 on the pop Hot 100 in Billboard magazine.      (Click below to see the rest of the post)

    Today's Friday, and it's time yet again to run down my top 100 "hit" tunes from the previous week. Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande remain on top for a third week, while Harry Styles (pictured above) leaps four notches to come within striking distance at #3. Songs from Ray Lamontagne, Sofi Tukker/Gorgon City, and Shinedown make some of the biggest jumps (moves of 10+ places highlighted in red ), while former big hits from Maroon 5 and Usher/Ella Mai drop off my list. And everything is playlisted on Spotify below to sample it all.  52. Oh bother.   This Week                 Song/Artist (Last week's position in parentheses) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Rain On Me - Lady Gaga & Ariana Grande (1) 2. Break My Heart - Dua Lipa (2) 3. Watermelon Sugar - Harry Styles (7) 4. Honeybee - The Head and the Heart (6) 5. Roses (Imanbek Remix) - SAINt J...

    " Barely Breathing " - Duncan Sheik from the album Duncan Sheik (1996) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #16 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 42   Today's song of the day comes from singer/songwriter Duncan Sheik , who hails from Montclair, New Jersey. Sheik released his self-titled debut album in the summer of 1996, with the first single from the record, "Barely Breathing" arriving not until November. A midtempo song about the pains of loving someone who is indifferent to it, still had enough of an positive vibe on the production that fooled many a casual listener, who might not have gotten the sour tone of the lyrics...      "Barely Breathing" became Duncan's first and only top-40 pop hit in May of 1997, barely making the top 20 but staying on Billboard 's Hot 100 chart for over a year, at the time one of the longest stays on the list. The song spent a week at #2 on Billboard 's Adult Top-40 radio chart, while making it to #19 on their Adult ...

    " Boogie With Me " was a club hit for the studio group Poussez. Appearing on their debut album Poussez! , the song was written and produced by Alfonse Mouzon, and featured vocals from Christine Wiltshire and Holly Oas. On Billboard magazine's Disco Top 80 chart, the Poussez! album was listed as a single entry with all four cuts tagged as key cuts, where it climbed to #15 in 1979, spending a hefty 23 weeks on the chart.       (Click below to see the rest of the post)

    " Thirty-Three " - Smashing Pumpkins from the album Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness (1995) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #39 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 2   Today's song of the day comes from alternative rockers Smashing Pumpkins , whose double-disc masterpiece Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness won rave reviews, landed the band's only #1 album, and already scored three top-40 pop hits with " Bullet With Butterfly Wings ", " 1979 ", and " Tonight, Tonight ". Another two tracks from the set, " Zero " and " Muzzle ", had reached the top ten on the Alternative Rock radio chart (#9 and #8 respectively), and made the airplay portion of the Hot 100 as well (#49 and #57 respectively). The fourth and final commercial single from the double album was "Thirty Three", written by Billy Corgan, who produced the record with Flood and Alan Moulder.   "Thirty-Three" became the fourth top-40 pop ...

    " Pipeline " was a club hit for peripheral Beach Boy Bruce Johnston. Appearing on his album Going Public , the track is a remake of the surfer-rock instrumental classic from the Chantay's that went to #4 on the pop chart in 1962. The album also includes his original of "I Write The Songs", which he won a Grammy for the Barry Manilow hit version. This verson of the song written by Brian Carman and Bob Spickard was produced by Gary Usher, who helmed a lot of the Beach Boys mid-career records. On Billboard magazine's National Disco Action Top-40 chart, Johnston's cover peaked at #17 in 1977, while making it to #33 on the British pop chart as well. It was a favorite of DJ Larry Levan at the Paradise Garage nightclub.      (Click below to see the rest of the post)