Pollin' Tracks Spo-Dee-O-Dee! ILM does the 1950s—THE TOP 101 RESULTS THREAD

http://i.imgur.com/VwUWx.jpg

With 40 ballots cast and 533 individual tracks having received a vote, here are the top 100 101 results! Heaps of thanks to seandalai for once again twisting the knobs and pulling the levers of his magic tabulation machine and thanks to all of you (well, forty of you) for voting!

101. LOUIS & BEBE BARRON "Battle With the Invisible Monster" (1956) [296 points, 6 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkcS7-Heqzo

Really looking forward to this. Literally have no idea what to expect which isn't something I can say very often about these polls.

Oh goodness! I really didn't think they'd make it. Although I chose this one as I figured it stood up as a lone track most well out of their stuff I was expecting the majority of people to have dismissed them as more of an album thing. So... yay!

100. THE MONOTONES "Book of Love" (1958) [300 points, 6 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YvQdsfzVa4

(Too low (!) imo)

If I were to do the prediction thing I'd expect all of the following to make the top 10: Miles Davis, Elvis Presley, James Brown, The Flamingos, Isley Brothers, Bo Diddley, Buddy Holly and Little Richard. Though quite happy to be wide of the mark on all counts.

man if I had known that louis + bebe barron recording I totally would have voted for it, that rules

Monotone's "Book of Love" was in my top 60, had to let it go for other more personal favorites, figured other people would vote for it. Such is the way of ILX

Does everybody know that the melody was based on a old toothpaste ad?
"You'll wonder where the yellow went, when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent"

Well, the words and the melody

I do think the Monotones track is a pretty good example of its type, but, I dunno, most of those things are too saccharine for me. It's not even that I dislike the vocal technique - I actually think it's great, it just tends to be used for songs that don't resonate with me at all.

Whoa! we're starting at the 6 vote range? I predict only mmmm 12/50 of my ballot votes will make it... probably less. Either way happy to see we're starting the poll with a considerable consensus.

I do think the Monotones track is a pretty good example of its type, but, I dunno, most of those things are too saccharine for me

99. THE CHIPS "Rubber Biscuit" (1956) [303 points, 7 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14MZ8eiwcNE

oh man this is gonna be fun!

(didn't vote / haven't been posting much lately / didn't even know this was going on. but I plan to lurk the hell outta this thread!)

'Rubber Biscuit' was on my long list for ages but didn't make the cut. I think mainly because its been way overused in terrible adverts and films over the years and I can't really appreciate it in the way it should be appreciated.

I thought 'Rubber Biscuit' would be high. I love how it was used in Man Streets. Until I heard it for this poll I thought it was by Frank Zappa for some reason.

Cool! Plz do.

I take it that a lot of Rubber Biscuit's exposure is due to Mean Streets? That's what I gleaned by looking on youtube anyway. I've only seen that film half of one time, so I definitely didn't know the song prior to today. (I tried to get all the way through the nominations list, but didn't quite make it to the end.)

I don't think I've ever seen Mean Streets! But that may be where marketing execs etc picked up on it...

Indeed.

Thought its big exposure was The Blues Brothers

The song obviously, not the original version. I had never heard it until that movie came out and then, boy, did I hear it.

98. EDDIE COCHRAN "Somethin' Else" (1959) [305 points, 5 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibk5BWng1gA

(I didn't have room on my ballot for this one, so I'm really glad it made it anyway.)

You've got to be kidding me, only #98!

It just occurred to me how youtube-heavy this thread will end up being, so PLEASE make use of bookmarks.

97. BILL EVANS "Peace Piece" (1958) [306 points, 6 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4R9l2AJ3og

Can't witness the countdown due to work sadly, but very excited about it!

Wasn't sure if I knew that Cochran, but yeah, I have heard it before. It's pretty good.

'Peace Piece' was another one that stayed on the long list right up until the end. Just not quite enough room for it.

So, as it turns out (due to busyness/lazyness on my part more than anyone else's), our #94 entry is actually from 1964. Fuck it, I'm posting it anyway.

*smh*

I get the impression that Cochran's reputation is higher in the UK than the US, would be interesting to see the demographics of that vote.

So, as it turns out (due to busyness/lazyness on my part more than anyone else's), our #94 entry is actually from 1964. Fuck it, I'm posting it anyway.

*smh*

Oops, hope it's not one of mine. I found a couple of '60s numbers sprinkled in the nominations list but too late to really do anything about them aside from to excise them from my own ballot. We can always skip and bump the other tracks (which would make Louis & Bebe actually in the top 100, hurrah).

I get the impression that Cochran's reputation is higher in the UK than the US

I think that's probably true, for whatever reason.

re rubber biscuit, I first heard it via the Blues Brothers, & yes it was over-exposed. But haven't heard it so much lately, & Ace's Great Googa Mooga nonsense compilation brought it back to life for me a few years ago.

96. WANDA JACKSON "Fujiyama Mama" (1957) [309 points, 5 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCKCj3QAyG0

TOO LOW

Know the Pearl Harbor and the Explosions version better and so couldn't vote for it.

and so

"Peace Piece" is absolutely beautiful btw. I'd heard it a few times before today, but sometimes a right place/right time thing happens and a song just hits the spot. That's what happened to me today. Dang!

Ah, that is a great song. Should have voted for it, really (though I'm sure I'll say the same about a fair few other songs).

(That was about 'Fujiyama Mama', in case it was confusing.)

95. THE CHAMPS "Tequila" (1958) [310 points, 7 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxyEgb8jQxY

Excited about the results already. The Monotones made my ballot. Listening to "Peace Piece" right now, so beautiful.

Ismael, I think the Zappa title you're thinking of is "Rubber Shirt."

It's too early to drink tequila along with the song right now, isn't it?

It's always after 5pm somewhere!

(xp)
Not if you're a crocfarmer.

There is a rumor that Glen Campbell played on that record but he did not join The Champs until much later.

Our 94th favorite song of the '50s actually comes from 1964, der.

94. HOWLIN' WOLF "Killing Floor" (1964) [311 points, 6 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T27V376AF4

Haha. I'm guessing there will be a bunch more Howlin' Wolf to come - hopefully the others will be suitably '50s-created.

exciting! following on my phone at the moment which isn't ideal. Aw man, Wanda - TOO LOW

man, I have not heard any of these songs before except "Tequila" which I did not vote for.

"Killing Floor" was in my top 10. I didn't even think of it being a later song of his.

Don't think it's an unfriendliness per se, but more of an unfamiliarity. I was actually looking for more blues tracks I wanted to nominate early on, but most of my favorites were pre or post-50s.

Damn.. the 50's were so weird and awesome. I had no idea.

Just heard a pretty good version of "Somethin' Else" apparently by the Flamin' Groovies

I'm working through the Spotify link and it's great.

One question: I see that "Killing Floor" isn't on it, but it's still 101 tracks.

What's different?

It sneaked into the poll by mistake as it's a 1964 song. It was susbsequently disqualified but may not have been removed from the spreadsheet/main list upthread.

Yeah, I understood that, but there's still 101 tracks in the list, so something must have been added someplace.

It's not a killer, it's still a brilliant playlist, just fmi.

101 tracks on the Spotify playlist, I mean.

Thelonious Monk's Brilliant Corners was the original #102 and got bumped up.

Also I added two versions of one particular song, I added them both in because the votes for both were merged. Something about an ocean liner, definitely a nautical theme (don't have Spotify at work)...

Ah, righto.

Ah, "Sea Cruise", both tracks have the same backing track.

Play 'em simultaneously, make a duet!

Played some Chuck Berry for my seventh-grade class today on the last day of summer school. "What's this music?" one student asked. "Rock 'n' roll," I said, without thinking. They looked at the cover and seemed surprised. "He sounds white," another said. They liked it and wanted me to burn them a copy. But then they just wanted me to play Wiz Khalifa.

"He sounds white," another said.

Future ILXor in the making

Couldn't find Lou Reed quote I was looking for, but I did find this, from when he inducted Dion into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame:

It was 1958 and the cold winds of Long Island blew in from the ocean. Their high pitched howl mixing with the dusty musky mellifluous liquid sounds of rock and roll. The sounds of another life, the sounds of freedom. As Alan Freed pounded a telephone book and the honking sax of Big Al Sears seared the air waves with his theme song "Hand Clappin'," I sat staring at an indecipherable book on plane geometry, whose planes and angles would forever escape me. And I wanted to escape it and the world of SAT tests, the college boards - leap immediately and eternally into the world of Shirley and Lee. The Diablos, The Paragons, The Jesters, Lilian Leech and The Mellows -- "Smoke From Your Cigarette," Elica and The Rockaways -- "Why Can't I Be Loved?" -- a question that certainly occupied my teenage time. The lyrics sat in my head like Shakespearian sonnets with all the power of tragedy: "Gloria," "Why Don't You Write Me Darling, Send Me A Letter" -- The Jacks.

And then there was Dion -- that great opening to "I Wonder Why" engraved in my skull forever. Dion, whose voice was unlike any other I had heard before. Dion could do all the turns, stretch those syllables so effortlessly, soar so high he could reach the sky and dance there among the stars forever. What a voice that had absorbed and transmogrified all these influences into his own soul, as the wine turns into blood, a voice that stood on its own, remarkably and unmistakably from New York. Bronx Soul. It was the kind of voice you never forget. Over the years that voice has stayed with me, as it has, I'm sure, stayed with you. And whenever I hear it I'm flooded with memories of what once was and what could be.

It's been my pleasure to get to know Dion over the years and even, my idea of heaven, sing back-up for him. He doesn't know how long I'd rehearsed those bass line vocals. I was ready to back-up Dion. He had the chops and he practically invented the attitude. "Ruby Baby," "Donna The Prima Donna." 'I'll open my shirt and show her Rosie on my chest' -- "The Wanderer," a line so good that 20-odd years later I couldn't resist doing a variant on it for one of my own albums.

here's my boring ballot

2 Link Wray & His Ray Men - Rumble
3 Bo Diddley - Who Do You Love?
5 Ray Charles - What'd I Say
12 Jackie Wilson - Lonely Teardrops
14 Eddie Cochran - Summertime Blues
16 Sam Cooke - You Send Me
17 Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues
19 The Platters - Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
20 Chuck Berry – Maybelline
21 Peggy Lee — Fever
22 Little Richard - Tutti Frutti
29 Jacques Brel - Ne Me Quitte Pas
35 Jerry Lee Lewis - Great Balls of Fire
37 The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Take Five
38 The Isley Brothers - Shout
39 Richie Valens - La Bamba
49 Big Mama Thornton — Hound Dog
56 Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode
61 The Chordettes - Mr. Sandman
62 Little Richard - Keep a Knockin'
78 Nat King Cole - Unforgettable
85 Buddy Holly – Not Fade Away
86 Mighty Sparrow — Jean and Dinah
88 Fats Domino - Blueberry Hill
91 Little Richard - Long Tall Sally
93 The Teddy Bears - To Know Him Is To Love Him
101 Thelonious Monk — Brilliant Corners
108 Frank Loesser - Sit Down, You're Rocking The Boat
112 Buddy Holly - That'll Be the Day
124 Chuck Berry - Roll Over Beethoven
140 Benny More y Pedro Vargas – Obsesion
141 Hank Williams - Long Gone Lonesome Blues
156 Ray Charles - I Got A Woman
181 Anton Karas - Theme from The Third Man
184 Sonny Rollins – St. Thomas
186 Little Richard - The Girl Can't Help It
190 Little Richard - Lucille
191 Webb Pierce - There Stands The Glass
194 Marilyn Monroe - Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend
215 Elvis Presley – Blue Moon of Kentucky
230 Hank Williams - Ramblin Man
242 Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim — Tonight (West Side Story)
243 Olavi Virta ja Harmony sisters - Sinitaivas
251 Elvis Presley - Jailhouse Rock
263 Esquerita - Rockin' the Joint
288 Bo Diddley - Diddy Wah Diddy
298 Ray Charles - Hallelujah I Love Her So
315 Johnny Guitar Watson - Gangster Of Love
The Dave Brubeck Quartet — Blue Rondo a la Turk
Don Gibson - I Can't Stop Loving You

RIP Gil Bernal, who played sax on "Youngblood" and "Searchin'" among others. http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/2011/07/rip_gil_bernal_los_angeles_ten.php

:(

Didn't know much about him, thought King Curtis played all those, but see here: Gil Bernal - Search & Destroy

Enjoying listening to the playlist. There are a couple of re-records instead of originals here and there but I supposed that couldn't be helped. Really liking how the different strands intertwine, like I-95 and the Hutchison River Parkway.

Also liking the closely placed Minguses. May be time to go see the Mingus Big Band again soon, especially while Conrad Herwig is playing with them.

24 Charles Mingus - Haitian Fight Song
25 Edgard Varèse - Poème électronique
26 Muddy Waters - Mannish Boy
27 Johnny Burnette - The Train Kept A-Rollin'
28 Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong - Summertime
29 Jacques Brel - Ne Me Quitte Pas
30 Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs - Foggy Mountain Breakdown
31 Karlheinz Stockhausen - Gesang der Jünglinge
32 Frankie Ford - Sea Cruise

Is there a more schizophrenic sequence of tracks in any other ILM poll?

not sure it's schizophrenic. feel it reflects the age, tho that's a dangerous concept I realise. traps of telescoping, imposition of canon, bias of inclusivity - a good one - all at play.

but classical from period is still fairly well known, jazz was in its extended heyday, rock and pop in mid-teen genesis.

great poll.

Ha, that's great. Someone should put on a 50s club night and mix that sequence.

We've done a lot of corkers, but this was the best poll.

It's an excellent run, is what it is. And yeah, this is definitely right up there in 'best polls' for me.

a ilm masterpiece

Please help me locate a complete list of nominations and/or a list of the winning tracks from this poll?

http://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmydPg1ULhKNdFlOdWpJWmhkT0ZaVThEQ0k5bW96WEE&hl=en_US&pli=1#gid=0

yes!!! thank you!!!

No problem, nominations thread here: Pollin' Tracks Spo-Dee-O-Dee! ILM does the 1950s— NOMINATIONS THREAD.

one more question - i know there was a spotify playlist -- is there a youtube playlist?

just looking through the list of songs on that spreadsheet is making me absurdly happy
i asked my mom about her experience as a kid listening to music in the 1950s (she was age 5-15 during that decade) and she had a lot to say but really lit up when she talked about buddy holly. it almost made me cry how much she loved buddy holly <3

Buddy Holly rules. in many ways so ahead of his time. plus he could write a tune.

"in the still of the night" snuck up on me -- i was reading through the list (again) and thinking about how much i like all of these songs and then POW -- that one. i adored this song as a kid. in 6th grade i made my friends perform a lip synch routine to it with choreography and everything. i was super into it. this is a most excellent list of songs, thank you so much.

just like this only we were 12 year old girls, lol (i don't remember ever seeing this clip before -- thank you youtube)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBT3oDMCWpI

Got into a "Who's left?" (from the '50s) thing on Facebook today, following the death of Huey Smith.

A friend suggested Smokey Robinson and Chubby Checker, both of whom I consider '60s guys...until I checked, and the Miracles' first two charted hits were indeed from the '50s, and both were iconic ("Got a Job" and "Bad Girl"). "The Twist" is 1960, one minor hit from '59; that one's shakier.

After that--and discounting Pat Boone/Frankie Avalon-types--all I could come up with were Dion (83), Billy Emerson (not all that well known, but 97!), and Sonny Curtis (Crickets' guitarist, 85). There are undoubtedly some doo-wop people left, but not anyone who also had solo success, I don't think. Berry Gordy and Mike Stoller, too, but they're different.

The '50s are almost gone. Even more today than yesterday.

Huh, fun to scroll back through this one. Along with Madonna and Elton John, this was my favorite ILM poll to run.

Real long shot, I know, but you don't have a spreadsheet anywhere with voters' lists, do you? I only post my Top 10, and I'm curious what my other 40 were. I usually have these lists in my e-mail, but this one was a Google Form.

sad to note the Spotify playlist has been deleted

xp I'm sure I don't. That was 2 computers ago.

There’s a spotify playlist with the nominations https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4dZR1lNRm0gmFVX5Ovg7vH?si=wfX4LsjWQ1GwZcSbW_CugA

Maybe someone’s keen enough to do the top 101.

Brenda Lee (78) and Wanda Jackson (85) are still around.

...and Jackie DeShannon (81) made her first records in the '50s.

Hey hey, Ronald Isley (81).

As Tom and Jerry, Simon and Garfunkel had a charting single in the 50s (although of course they're not "seen as 50s").

Those listed below are probably insufficiently rockin' but:

I watched the 1956 musical comedy The Girl Can't Help It last night; Fats Domino and Little Richard are gone, but which musical performers from the film are still around?

Johnny Olenn, 85
Nino Tempo, 87
Ray Anthony, 100

― Halfway there but for you, Friday, October 21, 2022 6:43 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Brenda Lee and Wanda Jackson were pointed out to me on the FB thread. Definite oversights, in that they had iconic singles in the '50s. (I went by two online lists that missed them too.) Ronald Isley too, obviously--I'm sure I missed a few people who members of groups. I do think of Jackie DeShannon as the '60s, in spirit if not in fact.

"who were"

Ditto Simon & Garfunkel.

Cliff Richard (82) & Hank Marvin (81)

Marilyn Maye is more of the '60s but first sang on a record in the '50s and is now 94 and still singing. She appeared on Johnny Carson's show more often than any other singer.

Elephant In The Room: Pat Boone (88)

Smaller elephant: Frankie Avalon (82), who started charting in '54 and had two #1s in the '50s.