Pop Go The Holidays

It's the Holiday Season and to celebrate that, here is my first blog entry in more than a year. We got more than 40 pop and rock songs for your listening pleasure via our link to YouTube. Enjoy the season!



Merry Christmas!

Honokaa Jazz Band in Concert

The Honokaa High School Jazz Band is on its 2018 Oahu semester tour . The band is playing at several venues over the next few days. Last night (April 19) they played at Centerstage at the Ala Moana Center. Under band director Gary Washhburn, the band wows crowds with their renditions of popular jazz, pop and rock tunes. The band showcased their virtuosity by covering popular standards such as "Route 66," "Cry Me a River," "Moondance," "The Closer I Get To You," and several others. Washburn has written music for the band. They played two of his upbeat, toe-tapping, instrumental compositions which showcased the talents of various members on keyboards, drums, sax and brass. You can learn more about the Honokaa High School Jazz Band from their Facebook page.

Links

• Honokaa High School Jazz Band on Facebook
• Honokaa High School Jazz Band in Honolulu Photos
• Proclamation Presented to Honokaa Jazz Band
• Honokaa High School Jazz Band Page (DOE)

Can You Name a Song That Mentions The Weather?

This question was posted by News Channel 5 out of Nashville Tennessee to their Facebook page. I reposted it to my Facebook page and these are the songs that my friends replied* with:

1. Rain - The Beatles (myself)

2. Sunny - Bobby Hebb (Lani)

3. Stormy Weather - Billie Holiday (Laura)

4. Over the Rainbow - Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole (Sandra C.)

5. Stormy Weather - Ella Fitzgerald (Jolette)

6. Have You Ever Seen The Rain - Creedence Clearwater Revival (Daniel)

7. Rain - The Cult (Daniel)

8. Storm - Lifehouse (Daniel)

9. Singin' in the Rain - Gene Kelly (Sandra A.)

10. Rhythm of the Rain - The Cascades (Sandra C.)

11. Rhythm of the Rain - Ka'au Crater Boys (Sandra A.)

12. Riders on the Storm - The Doors (Darrin / DC on B93 B97 FM)

13. Stormy Weather [ditto] - (Cherylle)

14. Ain't No Sunshine - Bill Withers (Cherylle)

15. Before The Rain - Lee Oskar (Nate)

16. Rain - José Feliciano (Nate)

17. Rainy Day People - Gordon Lightfoot (Nate)

18. How Can You Mend a Broken Heart - Bee Gees (Jolette)

19. Rainy Days & Mondays - The Carpenters (Paul)

20. Like The Weather - 10,000 Maniacs (myself)

21. Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head - BJ Thomas (Nate)

It would seem rain is the most predominant topic among weather related songs most people have chosen from my small sample. Several songs have rain in their title and some with rain in their lyrics but not in the title. Is rain the topic of the most weather related songs?

Three people chose "Stormy Weather". The jazz classic must be a good one to cuddle up to for the hopeless romantics. And again... we probably have rain here.

* In the original Facebook thread I chose and provided the video links to songs that mentioned no artist.

Here is the YouTube compilation of all the songs listed:

Mel's Current Top 20 - 2018

Mel's Current Top 20 has been updated. It is a revision of the old Mel's Weekly Top 20 page. The Current Top 20 chart will be occasionally updated and reflected on this site through posts such as this one. For more detail on Mel's Current Top 20 visit this link:

http://macpro.freeshell.org/music/WTop20.html

Throwback Thursday:KKUA's Top 69 Hits of 1971

We resume our blog after a year long hiatus with this Throwback Thursday (#TBT) post which was originally featured at Hawaii Radio & Television Guide Archive. First up, is the Top 69 Hits of 1971 from KKUA Radio.

KKUA was the dominant top 40 radio station in Hawaii in the mid 1970s. They had a strong AM signal at 690 on the dial and could be heard throughout most of the state. Their main rival was KPOI which broadcast at 1380 on the AM dial as well as 97.5 on FM. KPOI’s AM played top 40 and was the most popular pop music station in Hawaii through much of the 1960s and early 1970s. Their FM played album rock tracks.

Some of the hit records from 1971.

Every year, KKUA counted down the year’s Top 69 songs. The chart below is from the Top 69 of 1971 which listed Three Dog Night‘s “Joy to the World” as the #1 song of the year.

Rank and Title	Artist	Peak Pos. on Top 20
1. Joy To The World	Three Dog Night	1
2. I’ve Found Someone of My Own	Free Movement	1
3. Just My Imagination	Temptations	1
4. Smiling Faces (Sometimes)	Undisputed Truth	1
5. Timothy	The Buoys	1
6. Go Away Little Girl	Donny Osmond	1
7. Knock Three Times	Dawn	1
8. Indian Reservation	The Raiders	1
9. One Bad Apple	Osmonds	1
10. Chatto-Matte-Kudasai	Sam Kapu	1
11. My Sweet Lord	George Harrison	1
12. Precious & Few *	Climax featuring Sonny Geraci	1
13. I’m So Poud	Main Ingredient	1
14. Sweet City Woman	The Stampeders	1
15. Life Is That Way	Jose Feliciano	1
16. It’s Impossible	Perry Como	1
17. Domino	Van Morrison	1
18. Superstar	The Carpenters	1
19. Woodstock	Matthew’s Southern Comfort	2
20. Never Can Say Goodbye	Jackson Five	2
21. Gypsies, Tramps & Theives	Cher	2
22. Maggie May	Rod Stewart	2
23. Yo Yo	Osmonds	2
24. Sweet & Innocent	Donny Osmond	2
25. It’s Too Late	Carole King	2
26. Mr. Big Stuff	Jean Knight	1
27. Stay Awhile	The Bells	2
28. Don’t Pull Your Love	Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds	2
29. If	Bread	2
30. Black Magic Woman	Santana	2
31. For All We Know	The Carpenters	2
32. The Pushbike Song	Mixtures	2
33. Mandrill	Mandrill	2
34. I Can’t Stop	Osmonds	2
35. Tears of A Clown	Smokey Robinson & the Miracles	2
36. Stick-Up	Honeycone	2
37. Liar	Three Dog Night	2
38. Watcha See, is Watcha Get	The Dramatics	2
39. Your Song	Elton John	3
40. Draggin’ The Line	Tommy James	2
41. Morning Of Our Lives	The Arkade	3
42. How Can You Mend A Broken Heart	Bee Gees	3
43. I Hear Those Churchbells	Dusk	2
44. Proud Mary	Ike & Tina Turner	2
45. I Love You For All Seasons	Fuzz	3
46. We Can Make It Girl	Society of Seven	3
47. Ain’t No Sunshine	Bill Withers	3
48. Albert Flasher	Guess Who	3
49. Most of All	B.J. Thomas	3
50. Three Cheers For Love	Dick Jensen	3
51. Mama’s Pearl	Jackson Five	4
52. Rainy Days And Mondays	The Carpenters	4
53. No Matter What	Badfinger	4
54. I Do Take You	Three Degrees	4
55. Somebody’s Been Sleeping	100 Proof Aged in Soul	4
56. Just An Old Fashioned Love  Song	Three Dog Night	4
57. I Just Want To Celebrate	Rare Earth	4
58. Put Your Hand In The Hand	Ocean	4
59. Oye Como Va	Santana	4
60. Love Means (You Never Have To Say You’re Sorry)	Sounds of Sunshine	4
61. Games	Redeye	5
62. Brown Sugar	Rolling Stones	5
63. Lola	The Kinks	5
64. I Dig Everything About You	The Mob	5
65. Love Song	The Vogues	5
66. What Are You Doing    Sunday?	Dawn	5
67. Baby I’m A Want You	Bread	5
68. Frisco Bay	Society of Seven	5
69. Born To Wonder	Rare Earth	5

The big hit of 1971 that was played to death on KKUA and practically all other top 40 stations was Three Dog Night‘s “Joy To The World.” The song was at the number one spot for was seven weeks, making it the most popular song on KKUA.CHART NOTES: 

That year a number of local records got airplay on mainstream Top 40 radio. The most prominent local hit of 1971 was Sam Kapu‘s “Chatto Matte Kudasai” which at first sounded totally out of place on a top 40 format, but eventually got so popular that it went number one in the summer summer. Records by the Society of Seven, who at the time had a record deal with Uni Records (which later became MCA) charted with the singles “We Can Make It Girl,” and “Frisco Bay”. Dick Jensencharted with his top 40 hit single, “Three Cheers For Love.” The local hits are indicated by blue type.

* Climax‘s “Precious And Few” was a number 1 hit in Hawaii during the summer of 1971 before breaking out nationally in 1972. The group was very popular in Hawaii having charted several more times with the hits “Life And Breath,” “Walking in the Georgia Rain” and “Caroline This Time”.

Several nationally released singles were hot in Hawaii and nowhere else. These included “Morning of Our Lives” by The Arkade, “Life is That Way” by José Feliciano, “I Dig Everything About You” by The Mob, “Love Song” by The Vogues, “Mandrill” by Mandrill, “I Can’t Stop” by The Osmonds, “I Hear Those Churchbells Ringing” by Dusk, and “The Pushbike Song” by The Mixtures.

Other songs that got a lot of airplay in 1971 that did not make this chart included “Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep” by Middle of the Road, “Give Up Your Guns” by The Buoys and “Keep it in the Family” by The Road Home.

Among the popular albums of 1971 were Three Dog Night‘s “Naturally” which contained the #1 hit “Joy To The World” as well as the very radio friendly ballad “Sunlight,” a track that never was released as a single. Also popular was Carole King‘s “Tapestry”, Santana‘s “Abraxus”, Sly & the Family Stone‘s “There’s a Riot Going On,” and several albums by theJackson Five and Osmonds.

KKUA’s 1971 Personalities included the following:

Jim Peters 6:AM
Steven B. Williams 9:AM
Gene Davis 12 noon
Ron King 3:PM
Scott Edwards 6:PM
Dick Wainwright 9:PM
Rick Shannon Midnight