Joe Jackson (Photo by Frank Veronsky/Courtesy of Girlie Action Media)
“I revere Duke Ellington, but I didn’t want this to be a reverent album.” So says Joe Jackson of his new tribute to the great jazz master.
Kenny Rogers - "The Gambler" (UA, 1978)
One of Kenny Rogers‘ most popular albums, The Gambler sports one of country music’s most well-known and perfectly-illustrated covers.
LeBlanc & Carr - "Falling" (Big Tree, 1978)
Studio players of considerable reknown before they paired up, Lenny LeBlanc and Pete Carr found the Top 40 once while working together with 1978′s “Falling.”
Mariah Carey in 2010 (Getty Images/Gabriel Bouys/AFP)
Singer Mariah Carey celebrates her 42nd birthday today. She’s the biggest female star of the last two decades and arguably of all time with 18 #1 singles, the most of any solo performer in history, and six #1 albums. After the jump, we present five facts about Mariah Carey found in her Wikipedia entry.
Bachman-Turner Overdrive, c. 1974 (YouTube)
Working our way back in time through the greatest rock hits of all time, we consider 1974. Gas cost 55 cents a gallon, a new car ran about $3700 and a new house checked in at about $10K. On the charts, heavy numbers from heavyweights like BTO, Skynyrd and the former Fabs John and Paul.
This decidedly old-fashioned image was part of the cover of the soundtrack album from the 1965 film "The Sound of Music."
When we call the roll of the top stars of the mid 1960s, there’s one name that almost never gets mentioned. Find out which one after the jump.
Ringo Starr - "You're Sixteen" (Apple, 1974)
The second Ringo Starr single to hit #1, “You’re Sixteen” was a remake of Johnny Burnette‘s #8 single from December, 1960.
The Lion King (Disney, 1994)
Though Elton John‘s voice doesn’t appear in the movie, two of his solo renditions from The Lion King became hit singles. They helped the 12-song set of Afro-pop become the second best-selling soundtrack of the 1990s.
Gordon Lightfoot, 2005 (Photo by Donald Weber / Getty Images)
Along with his five gold albums, the bard born Gordon Meredith Lightfoot, Jr. in Orilla, Ontario has one single that has been named a gold record. Care to guess which one that is?
The great Patti Smith at last month's San Remo Song Festival, San Remo, Italy (Daniele Venturelli
Getty Images Entertainment)
Discovered by Clive Davis and signed to Arista in 1975, the Godmother of Punk, Patti Smith, had a surprise hit in 1978 with “Because the Night.”























