Tag Archives: pop

Sugar, Sugar

Sugar, SugarSugar, Sugar was a pop song by The Archies that I heard the other day and realised that I had not heard it since the 1960s.

The song was one of those strange songs that you never thought would be a hit since it was not recorded by the proper pop group. Like the Monkees, the Archies were a manufactured pop group and the track was produced, in fact, by unknown musicians in the studio. The song was written in 1969 and recorded in the same year and, as is often the case with unusual records, it caught the public imagination and was released all over the world

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Music, song, pop, 1960s, beatles

One of the most exciting songs of the 1960s, the Beatles with ‘I Saw Her Standing There’. It’s a simple song but a good one and one that sounds much better performed live.

The early Beatles songs had a lot of flair and drive to them and can really sound alive when they are performed and this song is no exception. The idea for the lyrics are believed to have come from Paul as he was driving home one day, the music being added later in one of their usual music collaboration sessions.

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House Of The Rising Sun

One of the most recognisable and remembered songs of the 1960s that still sends Goosebumps up my spine when I hear (or play) those opening notes.

It’s a song, an ‘if-only’ song, about a house said to be in New Orleans in the USA. No one knows who wrote the ‘House Of The Rising Sun’ and the oldest recording is from 1933 by folksingers Ashley and Foster and from here it was collected by Alan Lomax and passed into that vast common pool of similar songs. In fact, it’s probably a lot older and may well have been spawned from other similar folk songs brought to the United States.

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The Beatles First Time At The BBC

The first ever time the Beatles walked into a BBC recording studio was at the Playhouse Theatre in Manchester, England on Wednesday, 7th March 1962 before a live audience to perform on ‘Teenager’s Turn’, a regular radio pop music show.

Interestingly, the Beatles’s manager, Brian Epstein had insisted that they wear ties and suits to look smart and this was to set the Beatles’s look for the next few years of appearances in public. It also set the ‘standard’ look for most groups at the beginning of the 1960s and helped influence the way teenagers dressed.

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Please Mr Postman

Please_Mr__Postman_albumYes, I know this was recorded by the Beatles and we’ll come to their version later, but this is about the original recording and, in fact, a very important one for this was the very first Motown hit. That is it was the first Motown song to reach number one in the Billboard charts, which it did in 1961.

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No Milk Today Herman’s Hermits

no milk todayThis is another song that really represents the 1960s and which received considerable air time both then and since although it was not, it has to be said, the massive hit that people think it was.

The song ‘No Milk Today’ was written by Manchester songwriter and later 10cc member Graham Gouldman and recorded by Herman’s Hermits in the mid-1960s. For the record (pun intended) the B-side was ‘My Reservation’s Been Confirmed’ which I know little about other than it was written by the boys themselves (Noone, Leckenby, Hopwood and Green).

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The Price Of Music In The Sixties

Price Of MusicRecords, as they were called in the 1960s, were anything but cheap and a lot of pocket money went to buy them. Looking at price comparisons, you may find you are in for a shock.

In 1963 Woman’s Own, a weekly woman’s magazine, cost seven (old) pence which would be the equivalent of three and a half pence today. The magazine is still produced and is priced currently at 90p (eighteen shillings in pre-decimal money).

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Music Tamworth Bands

Tamworth_BandsI’ve just found a great website to bring you that details the history of bands and music in the Tamworth area in the Midlands in the UK.

The idea of the website is to record in detail the growth of the music scene that developed in Tamworth between 1960 and 1990. Each band mentioned is listed, with photographs, details of band members, songs, recordings and gigs.

If you lived in the Midlands, as I did, in the 1960s and beyond, it is well worth a look as it brings back a lot of memories. If not then it’s still worth a read because of the history that it documents of the changing attitudes to pop music and the way that a social phenomenon develops in a small town.

But that’s not all. It’s also worth taking time to explore the various links on the left that lead to some fascinating music related articles. Finally, if you like seeing photos of the period then the Gallery is worth a look.

This is a good resource that is well researched and with a lot of information that will be of interest to all and I recommend an early visit.

http://www.tamworthbands.com/