A Numbers Game

The other day, while preparing my #RockHistory feature for Twitter (and of course, I invite you to check it out and follow me!), I happened to notice that Michael Jackson's Thriller from 1982, still sits atop the world's top 10 selling album list.

That's in the whole world, folks! Pretty impressive! For 30 years now, there sits Thriller.

Thriller by Michael Jackson

The world's top 10 album sales list should be pretty clear cut and seldom changeable, right? Well most of the time, yes. But these days maybe not so much. Could that be true? Could Michael Jackson's Thriller be unseated from its lofty height? Yes music lovers, I think it could possibly happen.

As of this writing, most sources for the Top 10 albums of all time show no recent changes. But according to at least one source, namely the Rock Telegraph, Adele's album, 21, has moved into the No. 7 position.

Rumor Has It by Adele

Quite the dramatic themes happening in both of these videos, don't you think?

21 is still selling strong and shows no sign of moving into the slow lane anytime soon. To crack the top 3, it would need to surpass Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, now at No. 3 and AC/DC's Back in Black, currently the runner up.

Formidable competition to say the least. Still, in my mind, 21 stands a real chance of rising to the top. It has already surpassed Dark Side of the Moon in UK album sales. Without a doubt it could become the top seller of this century.

'Til next time, that's another classic track look back at rock history, not to mention a look ahead at the album that seems poised to reshape rock history a bit.

Lost: My Brave Face

On my Live 365 radio stations, 101.1 Doghouse Radio and 101 Maindog Gold. I like to play Lost 45s along with past hits that we still know and love. Lost 45s are songs that were once hits, but for some reason known only to the consultants who seem to rule terrestrial (aka traditional over-the-air) radio these days and they are played no more. (What's a 45, you ask?)

One of the Lost 45s that ought to be found by said radio consultants was recorded by none other than Paul McCartney.

Yes, they have overlooked Paul. Really! This 1989 hit called My Brave Face was from his album Flowers In the Dirt.

Holy Japanese, Batman!

Give it a listen and see if you can explain to this lost DJ why this 45 got lost.

'Til next time, that's another classic track look back at rock history.

Jumpin' Jack

This week's classic track look back is more about a man than about a song. But more on that in a second.

During the past few days, unless you've found yourself under a rolling rock, you've no doubt heard plenty about the Rolling Stones celebrating their 50th anniversary as a performing band. In fact, Mick Jagger is said to be thinking that maybe too much is being made of the occasion. So I'll make no more of it.

Instead, let's move ahead to 1968. That's when the Stones released their album Through the Past Darkly. The album included a future number 1 song called Jumpin' Jack Flash, which some viewed as a departure from the psychedelic and a return to the group's blues roots. But the story goes on.

Check out the beginning - John Lennon introduces the Stones in sign language!

Call it fact or fiction, Mick and Keith had apparently been up most of the night and were trying to catch some sleep. Well at some point in that rainy English early morning, Mick heard someone stomping about under the window and he asked Keith who was making all the noise.

Well now, perhaps the word asked is a bit of an understatement. I'm betting that the pros were prolific, though it's just my guess. Anyhow, Keith is said to have replied: "That's Jack, Jumpin' Jack.

Jumpin' Jack, as Keith called him, was Jack Dyer, his gardener, and it wasn't long before Jumpin' Jack Flash evolved from a gardener's name into another number 1 for the rockin' Rolling Stones. So if you, like me, like the song born of a gardener's name, then don't forget to raise a glass of whatever to one Jumpin' Jack Dyer.

'Til next time, that's another classic track look back at rock history.

Round Round Get Around

If I had to choose one song in rock history which signifies summer, It would be I Get Around by the Beach Boys (I'm providing the link for the Boys of Summer, but if you're here, I'm sure you know who they are! #justsaying).

It not only signifies summer...

It screams it!
It shouts it!!
It tells the world about it!!!

A hit that still rocks the Way Back Machine from the Summer of '64, I Get Around was the Beach Boys first #1 45, an accomplishment that might have been helped by the fact that its flip side, Don't Worry Baby was pretty cool in it's own right. In 1992, Beach Boy Mike Love sued his cousin Brian Wilson and won, seeking song writing credit and back royalties over the claim that he, not Brian, wrote recurring lyric "round round get around."

The Sound of Summer!!!

   

But isn't it really more important that the Beach Boys are together and touring again? One more question begs to be answered. How come a blind guy like me picks a car song as the record that signifies summer? 

After all, your sort-of-humble sometimes-writer never drove, right? 

 Well, almost right. There was that night when I was 18... but that's a story for another day. Oh, and besides, the teen me believed that you didn't need to drive to cruise. Back then I didn't elaborate on that particular conviction and I won't now. But I will maintain, and now I have explained why I Get Around still rules. 

'Til next time, that's another classic track look back at rock history.