DavesMusicDatabase.com is devoted to ranking, rating, and reviewing music of all genres and eras. The DMDB blog serves up music history snapshots, best-of lists, and music-related essays.
In her Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee bio, Janis Joplin is described as “the greatest white urban blues and soul singer of her generation.” In 1968, she was still forging that voice, having come off a triumphant performance at the Monterey Pop Festival the summer before. Her San Francisco-based group, Big Brother & the Holding Company, charted soon after with their self-titled debut, but it stalled at #60. Their second album, Cheap Thrills, fared better, spending a whopping eight weeks atop the charts. Rolling Stone magazine named it one of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
The same week the album launched its chart run, Janis & Co. hit the Billboard Hot 100 with their maiden entry, “Piece of My Heart”. The song peaked at #12, but reached iconic status. It has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and is featured on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s list of “The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll”.
The song was written by Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns. Erma Franklin, the sister of Rock Hall inductee Aretha Franklin, recorded the song in 1967 and took it to the top ten in the R&B charts. Big Brother & the Holding Company’s rendition a year later has become the definitive version, but it has been notably covered by others, including Dusty Springfield, Sammy Hagar, Faith Hill, and as a duet between Melissa Etheridge and Joss Stone.
Joplin embarked on a solo journey after Cheap Thrills, but her days were numbered. A heroin overdose cut her life short at 27 years old on October 4, 1970. 1971’s Pearl and “Me and Bobby McGee” were posthumous #1 hits.
Its 17 weeks at #1 makes “Near You” the biggest #1 pop song in Billboard history. It was one of only two hits for a has-been orchestra leader who was closing in on his 50th birthday. Francis Craig was a Nashville-based pianist and composer who had led bands since the 1920s, PM including a band at the city’s Hermitage Hotel which he’d led for 20 years. TY He was also a staff member of a Nashville radio station for 25 years, and was on NBC for 12 years TY with a Sunday night network program.
However his dance-band format was out of style in post World War II. Still, he decided to record his theme song, “Red Rose”, for Bullet Records. WK Needing a B-side, TY he also recorded “Near You”. He had written the melody as a gift for his grandchildren and was given an assist on the lyrics by New Yorker Kermit Goell. WK Blind singer and trumpeter Bob Lamm contributed the vocals. WK With 2.5 million copies sold, it was the first major hit on an independent label. PM It also became Milton Berle’s television theme song.
JA David A. Jasen. (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 144.
TY Don Tyler (1985). Hit Parade 1920-1955. New York, NY: Quill. Page 132.
WHC Joel Whitburn (1999). A Century of Pop Music. Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. Page 66.
PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. Page 102.
Orbison and co-writer Bill Dees were writing when Roy’s wife interrupted them to ask for some money to go to the store. Dees shot back that a “pretty woman never needs any money.” RS500 From that, Roy came up with the idea of a man watching a pretty woman walk by and wondering if she might be lonely like him.
The path from inception to release was, as Dees says, “the fastest thing I ever saw.” KL He says they wrote the song on a Friday, recorded it the next Friday, and by the following Friday it was released. KL Chet Atkins called it the “best commercial record I ever heard.” HL
The flirtatious nature of the song was amusingly ironic, depicting Orbison (or at least the song’s protagonist) “as a trolling stud.” MA The image was far better suited to singer David Lee Roth’s machismo when his hard-rock band, Van Halen, took their 1982 cover of the song to #1 on the album rock chart and #12 on the pop charts. Six years later, Orbison died of a heart attack, but as a testament to the song’s timeliness, a version recorded live in September 1987 hit the adult contemporary and country charts in 1989 – twenty five years after the original.
HL Michael Heatley and Spencer Leigh. (1998). Behind the Song: The Stories of 100 Great Pop & Rock Classics. London, England: Blandford Books. Page 16.
KL Jon Kutner/Spencer Leigh (2005). 1000 UK Number One Hits: The Stories Behind Every Number One Single Since 1952. London, Great Britain: Omnibus Press. Page 103.
MA Dave Marsh (1989). The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New York, NY; New American Library. Page 32.
Two major country artists of more recent vintage celebrate birthdays today – Shania Twain (1965) and LeAnn Rimes (1982). Both appear on the DMDB’s list of the top 100 country songs of all time, which was initially posted on Facebook on April 3, 2011. 22 different lists (see sources here) were consolidated into one aggregate list. 52 of these songs appear in the DMDB’s the top 1000 songs of the 20th century and two others appear in the DMDB’s list of the top 100 songs of the 21st century.
1. Stand by Your Man…Tammy Wynette (1968)
2. Crazy…Patsy Cline (1961)
3. El Paso…Marty Robbins (1959)
4. He’ll Have to Go…Jim Reeves (1959)
5. Your Cheatin’ Heart…Hank Williams (1953)
6. He Stopped Loving Her Today…George Jones (1980)
7. I Fall to Pieces…Patsy Cline (1961)
8. Friends in Low Places…Garth Brooks (1990)
9. Ring of Fire…Johnny Cash (1963)
10. King of the Road…Roger Miller (1965)
11. Forever and Ever, Amen…Randy Travis (1987)
12. Sixteen Tons…Tennessee Ernie Ford (1955)
13. Hello Walls…Faron Young (1961)
14. I Walk the Line…Johnny Cash (1956)
15. I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry…Hank Williams (1949)
16. Always on My Mind…Willie Nelson (1982)
17. Lovesick Blues…Hank Williams (1949)
18. Hello Darlin’…Conway Twitty (1970)
19. It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels…Kitty Wells (1952)
20. The Devil Went Down to Georgia…Charlie Daniels Band (1979)
21. Help Me Make It Through the Night…Sammi Smith (1971)
22. Crazy Arms…Ray Price (1956)
23. The Dance…Garth Brooks (1990)
24. I Will Always Love You…Dolly Parton (1974)
25. Mama Tried…Merle Haggard (1968)
26. Walking the Floor Over You…Ernest Tubb (1941)
27. Oh Lonesome Me…Don Gibson (1958)
28. Sweet Dreams of You…Patsy Cline (1963)
29. I’m Moving On…Hank Snow (1950)
30. I Hope You Dance…Lee Ann Womack (2000)
31. I Can’t Stop Loving You…Ray Charles (1962)
32. Breathe…Faith Hill (1999)
33. Folsom Prison Blues…Johnny Cash (1956)
34. The Battle of New Orleans…Johnny Horton (1959)
35. Okie from Muskogee…Merle Haggard (1969)
36. Hey, Good Lookin’…Hank Williams (1951)
37. Make the World Go Away…Eddy Arnold (1965)
38. For the Good Times…Ray Price (1970)
39. Behind Closed Doors…Charlie Rich (1973)
40. The Wild Side of Life…Hank Thompson (1952)
41. Faded Love…Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys (1950)
42. Amazed…Lonestar (1999)
43. Jambalaya on the Bayou…Hank Williams (1952)
44. Rhinestone Cowboy…Glen Campbell (1975)
45. Mammas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys…Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson (1978)
46. Wabash Cannonball…Roy Acuff & the Smoky Mountain Boys (1938)
47. I Never Promised You a Rose Garden…Lynn Anderson (1970)
48. Before the Next Teardrop Falls…Freddy Fender (1975)
49. Blue Moon of Kentucky…Bill Monroe (1947)
50. I Don’t Hurt Anymore…Hank Snow (1954)
51. Bouquet of Roses…Eddy Arnold (1948)
52. Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning…Alan Jackson (2001)
53. Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)…Waylon Jennings (1977)
54. Will the Circle Be Unbroken…The Carter Family (1935)
55. San Antonio Rose…Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys (1939)
56. Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain…Willie Nelson (1975)
57. Please Help Me, I’m Falling…Hank Locklin (1960)
58. Coal Miner’s Daughter…Loretta Lynn (1970)
59. Harper Valley P.T.A….Jeannie C. Riley (1968)
60. Tennessee Waltz…Patti Page (1950)
61. Amarillo by Morning…George Strait (1983)
62. God Bless the U.S.A….Lee Greenwood (1984)
63. Act Naturally…Buck Owens (1963)
64. There Stands the Glass…Webb Pierce (1953)
65. Tumbling Tumbleweeds…Sons of the Pioneers (1934)
66. Don’t Rock the Jukebox…Alan Jackson (1991)
67. Smokey Mountain Rain…Ronnie Milsap (1980)
68. Coat of Many Colors…Dolly Parton (1971)
69. I’ll Hold You in My Heart Till I Can Hold You in My Arms…Eddy Arnold (1947)
70. Walk on By…Leroy Van Dyke (1961)
71. Galveston…Glen Campbell (1969)
72. Anytime…Eddy Arnold (1948)
73. You’re Still the One…Shania Twain (1998)
74. Slipping Around…Margaret Whiting & Jimmy Wakely (1949)
75. Singing the Blues…Marty Robbins (1956)
76. Young Love…Sonny James (1956)
77. On the Other Hand…Randy Travis (1985)
78. The Gambler…Kenny Rogers (1978)
79. Cold, Cold Heart…Hank Williams (1931)
80. Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’…Charley Pride (1971)
81. Blue…LeAnn Rimes (1996)
82. Flowers on the Wall…The Statler Brothers (1965)
83. You Are My Sunshine…Jimmie Davis (1940)
84. Wildwood Flower…The Carter Family (1928)
85. Green, Green Grass of Home…Porter Wagoner (1965)
86. Once a Day…Connie Smith (1964)
87. There Goes My Everything…Jack Greene (1967)
88. She Thinks I Still Care…George Jones (1962)
89. Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! That Cigarette…Tex Williams (1947)
90. In the Jailhouse Now…Webb Pierce (1955)
91. Slow Poke…Pee Wee King & His Golden West Cowboys with Redd Stewart (1951)
92. Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy…Red Foley (1950)
93. D-I-V-O-R-C-E…Tammy Wynette (1968)
94. Walking after Midnight…Patsy Cline (1957)
95. Alabam…Cowboy Copas (1960)
96. Family Tradition…Hank Williams, Jr. (1979)
97. Kaw-Liga…Hank Williams (1953)
98. Wings of a Dove…Ferlin Husky (1960)
99. Big Bad John…Jimmy Dean (1961)
100. Blue Yodel #1 (T for Texas)…Jimmie Rodgers (1928)
This content is taken from the The Top 100 Songs of the Rock Era, 1954-1999, available at DavesMusicDatabase.com as a standard book or ebook!
“Mack the Knife” originated in 1928 as “Moritat,” which translates to “murder deed.” RCG Bertlot Brecht and Kurt Weill wrote the original German song about “a bloodthirsty Berlin gangster” RS500 on the prowl for the musical The Three Penny Opera. Despite the song’s gruesome subject matter, the irresistible melody made the song hit-worthy. KL Instead of translating the lyrics literally, Marc Blitzstein was assigned to give the song a rewrite. SJ
The song had become a standard before Darin ever recorded it. “Mack” charted six times in 1956; the Dick Hyman Trio’s #8 instrumental version being the most successful. However, Darin’s version trumped them all.
A year earlier, at age twenty-two, Darin first hit with the “Splish Splash”, followed by three more hits which cemented his appeal to the teen market. However, Darin wanted the kind of longevity enjoyed by Frank Sinatra. At the time he even told Billboard, “In night clubs I learn to other things. I even do ‘Mack the Knife.’” BB100
For his standards album That’s All, Darin recorded the song, but he never saw it being a single. SJ His record company thought otherwise and the song transformed Darin’s image into that of “a finger-snapping sophisticate at home in the cocktail lounge.” RS500
KL Jon Kutner/Spencer Leigh (2005). 1000 UK Number One Hits: The Stories Behind Every Number One Single Since 1952. London, Great Britain: Omnibus Press. Page 59.
August 22, 2011: Songwriter, producer, and performer Nickolas Ashford died of complications from throat cancer at age 70. He was born in Fairfield, South Carolina, on May 4, 1942. He met Valerie Simpson in 1963 and they began working together as writers and performers. They married in 1974.
In the mid-‘60s, the pair composed hits for Aretha Franklin, the Fifth Dimension, Ronnie Milsap, Maxine Brown, the Shirelles, and Chuck Jackson. In 1966, they scored a major break when Ray Charles took his cover of the Coasters’ “Let’s Go Get Stoned” (written by Ashford & Simpson) to #1 on the R&B charts.
Their work with Charles brought them to the attention of Motown’s Berry Gordy. The team then joined Motown where they became the primary writers for the duets between Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, including “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” (#19 pop, #3 R&B), “Your Precious Love” (#5 pop, #2 R&B), “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing” (#8 pop, #1 R&B), and “You’re All I Need to Get By” (#7 pop, #1 R&B).
At Motown, they also worked with Gladys Knight & The Pips, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, The Marvelettes, and The Supremes. The pair also wrote and produced hits for Diana Ross, including three 1970 hits – “Reach Out and Touch Somebody’s Hand” (#20 pop, #7 R&B), a cover of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” (#1 pop, #1 R&B), and “Remember Me” (#16 pop, #10 R&B).
They left Motown in 1973 but still found success, most notably with Chaka Khan’s 1978 hit “I’m Every Woman” (#21 pop, #1 R&B). Whitney Houston covered the song in 1993 with even greater success (#3 pop, #1 R&B). During their post-Motown years, Ashford & Simpson also found their greatest success as performers with 1984’s “Solid” (#12 pop, #1 R&B).
August 22, 2011: Jerry Leiber, one of the most important songwriters in rock history, died of cardiopulmonary failure at age 78. He generally wrote lyrics while Mike Stoller, his songwriting partner for 60 years, typically handled the music. Among the artists for whom the pair penned songs were Elvis Presley, the Coasters, and the Drifters.
Leiber was born in 1933 to Jewish immigrants from Poland and grew up on the edge of the black ghetto in Baltimore. Leiber was a high school senior when he met Stoller, a Queens-born New Yorker who shared Leiber’s love of boogie-woogie and the blues. Before they were even 20, they’d penned “Hound Dog”, which became a #1 R&B hit for Big Mama Thornton in 1953. Three years later, Elvis Presley’s cover of the song would become one of the biggest songs in rock and roll history. Elvis recorded more than twenty Leiber/Stoller compositions, including the #1’s “Jailhouse Rock” and “Don’t”.
They also were successful as producers. After a successful run with Atlantic Records in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, they launched their own label, Red Bird Records, in 1964. They helped shape the girl-group sound with classics like the Dixie Cups’ “Chapel of Love” and the Shangri-La’s “Leader of the Pack”. Their last major hit as a producing team came with Stealers Wheel’s “Stuck in the Middle with You” in 1972.
Other artists to record songs by the famous writing team include The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, James Brown, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers, Bill Haley and the Comets, Barbra Streisand, Jimi Hendrix, Muddy Waters, Johnny Mathis, Joe Williams, Count Basie, John Mellen-camp. Lou Rawls, Tom Jones, Edith Piaf, Bobby Darin, Chet Atkins, Aretha Franklin, Luther Vandross, B.B. King, and Otis Redding. SH
Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog” and “Jailhouse Rock” and Ben E. King’s “Stand by Me” are all featured in the DMDB book The Top 100 Songs of the Rock Era, 1954-1999. They are DMDB top 1000 songs along with Wilbert Harrison’s “Kansas City”, the Coasters’ “Searchin’”, and the Drifers’ “On Broadway” and “There Goes My Baby”.
According to the DMDB, these are the top 20 songs with Jerry Leiber writing credits:
1. Elvis Presley “Hound Dog” (1956)
2. Ben E. King “Stand by Me” (1961)
3. Elvis Presley “Jailhouse Rock” (1957)
4. Wilbert Harrison “Kansas City” (1959)
5. The Drifters “On Broadway” (1963)
6. The Drifters “There Goes My Baby” (1959)
7. The Coasters “Searchin’” (1957)
8. Big Mama Thornton “Hound Dog” (1953)
9. The Coasters “Yakety Yak” (1958)
10. George Benson “On Broadway” (1978)
11. Ben E. King “Spanish Harlem” (1960)
12. Aretha Franklin “Spanish Harlem” (1971)
13. The Coasters “Young Blood” (1957)
14. Elvis Presley “Don’t” (1958)
15. Peggy Lee “Is That All There Is?” (1969)
16. The Coasters “Charlie Brown” (1959)
17. Sean Kingston “Beautiful Girls” (2007)
18. The Coasters “Poison Ivy” (1959)
19. The Clovers “Love Potion No. 9” (1959)
20. Mickey Gilley “Stand by Me” (1980)
This content is taken from the The Top 100 Songs of the Rock Era, 1954-1999, available at DavesMusicDatabase.com as a standard book or ebook!
Martha Reeves was a secretary at Motown when she got the opportunity of a lifetime – she was given the chance to record a demo. RS500 The song, “Dancing in the Street,” was originally offered to Kim Weston, who would later marry William Stevenson, RS500 one of the writers, but she turned it down. NRR As Stevenson says, though, “When Martha got into the song…that was the end of the conversation!” RS500
Stevenson says the inspiration for the song came from riding through Detroit during the summer with Marvin Gaye, another of the song’s writers. To let the kids cool off, the city would open up the fire hydrants to release the water into the streets. Stevenson says, “They appeared to be dancing in the water.” SF
Of all the dance songs ever written, none come as close as this one to “conveying not only the physical experience but the emotional tenor of what it means to dance publicly.” MA The song’s “primal rhythms [are]…so simple anyone can groove to it and so infectious everyone does.” AMG As “the quintessential hymn of revolution, riot, and rapture” it makes everyone want to join the party. WI
What’s astonishing about Cline’s place in country music history is how little impact she had from a chart standpoint. At the time of her tragic death by a plane crash in 1963, she had charted a mere nine songs on the Billboard country charts. She had another ten posthumous hits, but her total of nineteen chart doesn’t even rank her in the top 200 country artists of all time according to the Billboard charts!
The song was written by Willie Nelson before he became one of country music’s most celebrated singers. She needed a follow-up to another one of her classics – “I Fall to Pieces” – and was interested in Nelson’s song “Funny How Time Slips Away”. Unfortunately, Nelson had already given it to his long-time friend Billy Walker. Walker suggested “Crazy”, but Cline was not impressed with it. She didn’t want a slow, torch song, but something more up-tempo. However, her producer Owen Bradley convinced her to give it a shot. The result was her only top ten pop hit and what Willie Nelson called “the favorite of anything I ever wrote.” CL
August 20 marks the birth of one of the greatest classic rockers of all-time – Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant (1948). The day before saw the birthdays of three others – Cream drummer Ginger Baker (1939), Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan (1945), and Queen bassist John Deacon (1951). What better way to celebrate than with a list of the best classic rock albums of all-time, a list on which each of the aforementioned groups appears at least once?
This list was determined by an aggregate of 13 best-of lists focused on classic rock. It is very apparent how much classic rock is an album format when comparing this list to the best-albums-of-all-time list. 49 of the albums on this list also make the top 100 albums of all time list. Another 46 titles make the DMDB list of the top 1000 albums of all time.
Note: This list was originally posted on Facebook on May 2, 2011. Also, most of the album titles (and all of the album photos) below link to more detailed pages about that album.
Garth Brooks’ 1989 self-titled debut sported four top ten country singles, two of which hit #1. His second album, 1990’s No Fences, made him the biggest superstar country music had ever known. The album 17 million in U.S. sales alone ranks it in the top 100 best-selling albums of all-time.
The album’s lead single, “Friends in Low Places”, was the first of four #1 country songs off Brooks’ sophomore effort – and the biggest hit of his career. He found the song through writers Bud Lee and DeWayne Blackwell. Brooks was working as a shoe salesman in Nashville and looking for his big break when the songwriting team came in to buy boots. They agreed to let Brooks record some demos for them. CL The last one, “Friends in Low Places”, came after Brooks had landed a deal with Capitol Records and was about to release his debut album. Brooks was taken enough with the song to record it a year later when he was readying his second album.
In the meantime, Mark Chesnutt recorded the song for his Too Cold at Home album, but it wasn’t released as a single. Once Brooks laid down his version, though, it became one of the top 100 country songs of all-time according to Dave’s Music Database. The DMDB also ranks it as one of the top 1000 songs of the 20th century. “Friends” also took home Single of the Year honors from both the Academy of Country Music (ACM) and the Country Music Association (CMA).
He was born in Philadelphia, Pennysylvania on May 25, 1877 and raised in Denver, Colorado. His death on August 17, 1954, marked a last hurrah for the pre-1920s pioneer era of music. He has been called the most sensational record seller of that time. At a time before radio ruled the waves and recording technology remained primitive, Billy Murray’s success gave the fledgling recording industry the credibility to develop into a popular form of entertainment. “In an era dominated by the operatically-influenced singing style, he helped to popularize a more natural approach. He was an incredibly versatile artist” JL whose “records serve as excellent representatives of the music and events of American culture.” DN The recording careers of other 20th century musical giants such as Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, and the Beatles pale in comparison.
He charted more than 200 hits and 30 number ones are songs as a solo artist and as lead with the Haydn Quartet, the American Quartet, the Columbia Comedy Trio, and the Heidelberg Quintet. He also recorded numerous duets with Ada Jones. Among those songs are a number of classics which make the Dave’s Music Database list of the top 1000 songs of the 20th century. These include “Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis” (1904), “In My Merry Oldsmobile” (1905), “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” (with the Haydn Quartet, 1908), “By the Light of the Silvery Moon” (with the Haydn Quartet, 1910), “Casey Jones” (with the American Quartet, 1910), “Come, Josephine, in My Flying Machine” (with the American Quartet & Ada Jones, 1911), “Oh, You Beautiful Doll” (with the American Quartet, 1911), and “K-K-K-Katy (The Stammering Song)” (1918).
In keeping with the daily-dose-of-musical-history format which I adopted in June 2011, my initial intent was to work up a 300-500 word piece capturing a snapshot of the famous Woodstock music festival from August 15-18, 1969. In the end, however, the endeavor failed. A proper vision of Woodstock throws objectivity out the window, so I opted instead to rewind to an essay I wrote two years ago in celebration of Woodstock’s 40th anniversary. I’ve infused that original piece with images and video. Anyway, check out the link below. Peace.
“The Prisoner’s Song” is a sad ballad about a prisoner being transferred between jails and pondering his sweetheart and ‘a pillow of stone.’” RCG It was recorded on August 13, 1924, but didn’t chart until March 21, 1925.
There is some debate over the song’s authorship. Dalhart copyrighted the song in the name of his cousin, Guy Massey. He gave Massey 5% of the songwriting royalties and took the other 95% himself. WK Dalhart heard the song from Guy, who sang it while staying at Dalhart’s home. However, Guy reportedly heard it from his brother Robert Massey, who may have heard the song while doing time in prison. WK It has even been suggested that Robert F. Taylor carved the lyrics into a county jail cell wall in Blakely, Georgia. WK Regardless of authorship, the publishers were happy to hype the song as written by a jailbird. RCG
Nat Shilkret fought for authorship as well. He was the A&R man over the country division of Victor Records and claimed he had to rewrite the music because what Dalhart brought in was unusuable. WK
Check the Dave’s Music Database Facebook page for daily music-related posts. Also check out books by Dave Whitaker, including the collection of past blog entries, No One Needs 21 Versions of “Purple Haze”…And Other Essays from a Musical Obsessive.
August 12, 1877, is the date generally cited for the invention of the phonograph, AB a term which means “sound writer” WK and refers to a device for playing sound recordings. Thomas Edison is credited as “the first person to ever record and play back the human voice” VI although it may technically have been one of his assistants who recorded the first test. VI The work was done in his Menlo Park, New Jersey laboratory. WK
Thomas Edison
The phonograph came about from work Edison was doing on the telegraph and telephone. He was working on a machine to transcribe telegraph messages on to paper tape and wondered if a telephone message could be recorded in similar fashion. ML Edison attached a large, hard-pointed needle known as a stylus AL from a telegraph repeater to the diaphragm from a telephone mouthpiece. The vibrations from the voice caused the needle to make indentions on wax-coated paper which was hand fed into the machine. This was later changed to tin foil mounted on a metal cylinder which was cranked by hand during recording and playback. VI The first message he recorded was a recital of “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
the first phonograph
In actuality, work was probably not finished until three or four months later. AB Charles Batchelor, one of Edison’s assistants, noted in his diary that the phonograph wasn’t constructed until December 4. Edison filed for the patent on December 24, 1877 AB and received it on February 19, 1878 (U.S. patent #200,521). WK
In 1878, Edison created the Edison Speaking Phonograph Company to sell his invention and toured the country with it. He suggested it could be used for “letter writing and dictation, phonographic books for blind people, a family record (recording family members in their own voices), music boxes and toys, clocks that announce the time, and a connection with the telephone so communications could be recorded.” AB He was invited to the White House in April to demonstrate it for President Rutherford B. Hayes. AB
These are the top 100 R&B/soul albums of all time as determined by Dave’s Music Database. This list was devised by compiling 22 R&B and/or soul-oriented best-of lists into an aggregate list. This list was then merged with the albums’ overall status in Dave’s Music Database to create this R&B/soul-specific list.
81. Jill Scott Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1 (2000)
82. Al Green Let’s Stay Together (1972)
83. Maxwell Urban Hang Suite (1996)
84. John Legend Get Lifted (2004)
85. Prince Diamonds and Pearls (1991)
86. Destiny’s Child Survivor (2001)
87. Marvin Gaye Here, My Dear (1978)
88. Janet Jackson The Velvet Rope (1997)
89. Janet Jackson Design of a Decade 1986/1996 (1995)
90. Al Green Greatest Hits (1975)
91. Sly & the Family Stone Fresh (1973)
92. Black Eyed Peas Monkey Business (2005)
93. Nelly Nellyville (2002)
94. Sade Love Deluxe (1992)
95. 2pac Me Against the World (1995)
96. Stevie Wonder Hotter Than July (1980)
97. Beyonce B’Day (2006)
98. Arrested Development 3 Years, 5 Months, & 2 Days in the Life of… (1992)
99. George Michael Ladies and Gentlemen – The Best of (1998)
100. Waiting to Exhale soundtrack (1995)
