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Contributing Author Music Historian returns with the surprisingly dramatic tale of a chart system that once tried to out-Billboard Billboard. It’s a story featuring jukebox math, disputed No. 1s, and an extremely determined crooner who broke the algorithm – before algorithms existed.
Today is gonna be the day that Contributing Author DJ Professor Dan unpacks the moment Oasis tried to manifest legend status by opening an album with “Wonderwall” before anyone knew what a “Wonderwall” was – a power move surpassed only by Tupac strolling out of jail and immediately leveling California. What follows is a guided tour through Britpop beefs, West Coast mythmaking, and at least one chart upset so bewildering it nearly makes Robson & Jerome sound like a threat.
In this week’s dispatch, Contributing Author and historian Bill Bois introduces us to a man who heard a weird noise on Radio Moscow and thought, quite reasonably, that his radio had finally given up. Instead, it turns out Paul Pena was just warming up for his eventual career as Tuva’s most improbable “Earthquake,” proving once again that the universe rewards curiosity—and occasionally, bathroom acoustics.
Live concerts are back, and our ace Nashville correspondent Virgindog has been there to tell us the tale.
“The world is playing catch up with Poly Styrene, not the other way around.”