Inspired by Chuck Small’s K-Tel Compilation Series, and the recent response article from Bill “Virgindog ” Bois…
If you’re of a certain pre-Amazon and strip-mall age, you probably had a thriving and traditional five-and-dime store in your town.
Depending on where you grew up, it was perhaps a Ben Franklin, a Kresge’s, or maybe a Woolworth’s.
Whatever the name over the door, they all looked exactly the same once you were inside. A lunch counter with spinning stools could often be found.
In my case, the local version was The W.T. Grant Company.
AKA “Grant’s,” as we locals had short-named it.
I liked going there on a cold winter day, because they would really crank up the heat. And during the hot summer? Grant’s was an air-conditioned oasis.
We would loiter for hours, especially on a Saturday, until we were asked to “either buy something or leave.” The resident wise-guy in our gang would innocently protest via a saccharine rendition of the theme song from the local radio commercials: “But, ma’am: “There’s soooo much more at W.T. Grant!”
I remember that the store seemed to “grow up” with my oh-so-urgent need of the moment. It had a knack for providing exactly what I wanted, regardless of how old of a kid I was. When I was six or so, it was candy and crayons. By the time I was nine, it was baseball cards.
Eleven? Two words:
Hot Wheels.
But now that I was aspiring to be a mature and cool seventh grader? Who, just six months earlier, had discovered the magic of Top 40 Radio? Clearly, it was time to ditch the die-cast, mauve Olds 442.
Bring on the records.
Grant’s had an end-cap on an aisle, featuring a modest hand-lettered sign humbly announcing that you had indeed found the “Music Department.” There were usually about two-dozen 45s and a smattering of albums on display. One fall Saturday, I just about lost my mind when I saw:
The very LP that had been featured the evening before on Channel 38, as an Official As Seen On TV™ Item:
I had been forgoing dessert at the school cafeteria for weeks, deftly scraping together enough spare change so that I could actually purchase an album. The most popular and talked about record of the month was now in my left hand, and my soon-to-be-gone $3.17 was in the other.
I was actually buying it. “This is huge,” I thought. I think I remember feeling “taller.”
And just like that… at least for today: I would be the coolest kid on the block. And then Gina Fannatuccci would have no choice but to say, “Yes!” when I asked her to meet me and hang at the pizza table at that night’s CYO dance, because: I know all of the words to all Of These 20 EXPLOSIVE Hits! And I would buy her a Cherry Coke with the very last of my pathetic, lint-covered lunch change. And then I would ask her to slow dan–
Sorry. Musical-induced teenage nostalgia is a hell of a drug. Where were we? Oh, yeah…
Side One features a pretty good snapshot of hit radio from about 1969 to early 1971:
- Mungo Jerry – In The Summertime
- Edison Lighthouse – Love Goes (Where My Rosemary Goes)
- Stairsteps – Ooh Child
- Box Tops – Cry Like A Baby
- Classics IV – Traces
- The Who – I Can See For Miles
- Alive and Kicking – Tighter Tighter
- Jaggerz – The Rapper
- Tee Set – Ma Belle Amie
- Bob Lind – Elusive Butterfly
It could be argued that The Who and Bob Lind tunes don’t really belong here, as they were from a few years earlier in the mid-to-late 1960s. But they still were fun to my 13-year-old ears.
I loved when it was time to flip the album over to Side Two, as it kicked off with an all time, 10/10 monster hit:
- Shocking Blue – Venus
- Hugh Masekela – Grazin’ In The Grass
- The Cufflinks – Tracy
- Tommy James – Ball And Chain
- Three Degrees – Maybe
- Canned Heat – Going Up The Country
- Box Tops – The Letter
- Tommy James And The Shondells – Church St. Soul Revival
- Intruders – When We Get Married
- Bill Deal and the Rondells – May I
You may have noticed that Tommy James had two hits in this collection. He sort-of had a third, as a songwriter for “Tighter, Tighter.” The conspiracy theorist in me is imagining that Morris Levy had a hand in it. The Box Tops also managed to appear twice.
Like Side One, a few of the songs on Side Two are late 60’s leftovers, but I’ll give it a pass.
My 2024 take on 20 Explosive Hits?
It’s not perfect. There are a couple of “padding” tracks included, and some seem to be a bit dated for a 1971 collection. But it’s still a fond memory to hear these songs, in this sequence. To this day, whenever Mungo Jerry’s lone hit plays on the radio, my mind expects to next hear Edison Lighthouse.
Sort of a one-hit wonder call-and-response.
In the case of 20 Explosive Hits, the listening experience was perhaps a bit greater than the sum of the parts. And when you’re 13, that’s exactly what it’s all about.
I have no doubt that my affection for this collection is because it was part of my early adolescent, peak music awareness, radio-dork phase. Which I hope I never outgrow.
And if you were wondering?
Yep. I still have it.
And, in honor and as a dedication to Gina – wherever you are…
Maple and I are going to give it a spin right now.
Thank You For Your Vote!
Sorry You have Already Voted!
Views: 65
Interesting compilation from a fascinating, diverse time in the top 40 landscape. I was just beginning to be aware of the radio in ’71. Looking at this list, only 12 of these songs are familiar to me, though upon listening, I may find that I’ve heard a few more. You mentioned Mungo Jerry and Edison Lighthouse as one-hit wonders (one song in the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100). Being that I’ve never heard of some of these artists, out of curiosity I checked and if I’m reading properly, 8 of the 17 were one-hit wonders- The Five Stairsteps, Alive ‘N Kickin’, The Cuff Links, Tee Set, The Jaggerz, Bob Lind, Shocking Blue, and Hugh Masekela.
The Hugh Masekela hit is one of the all-time greatest uses of the cowbell I’ve ever heard. If SNL ever wanted to do a skit on it, I’d watch.
My neighbor’s dog is also named Maple.
Interesting comment about Morris Levy. Tommy James had a lot of grimy details about Morris’ business dealings in his autobiography, but chart manipulation was not one of them. Then again, it probably wouldn’t have been in Tommy’s best interest to bring that up if it were happening.
It seems that whenever you mention a childhood crush, they are always Italian, assuming those are their real names. Does Gina actually have 3 consecutive c’s in her last name? How is that even pronounced?
Regarding Morris, I was alluding to the fact that he might have “suggested“ to the good folks at K-tel to stack the deck with records that he would receive a royalty for. I have no proof of this, but like all conspiracy theories, it’s fun to imagine the meet-up.
For you Sopranos fans, the character and story arc of Hesch is a nod to the real life story of Levy. I imagine that Steven Van Zandt had a hand in it as a creative consultant.
In my neighborhood, probably 85% of the kids were Italian. In the case of the aforementioned Gina, let’s just say that there is a slight obfuscation of the spelling for purposes of privacy. But all the stories are true.
Wait till I tell you all about my first fistfight over a girl…
WHAT? I can’t believe mt58 has ever thrown a punch. But that is a great future article.
I’m guessing he didn’t throw the first punch.
Correct. It was absolutely Buddy Terdtetski. And I have witnesses.
“The names have been changed to protect the guilty”
Proposed first three opening sentences:
“Even in the overtly sexist early 1970’s, I hated gender-based slurs. They made me so mad that I would abandon all rational thinking. Which, while perhaps a noble attitude, was a really good way to get tent-spiked.”
…
One of us has absolutely aged better than the other,
C’mon, she still looks great too…
What a collection! It’s downright explosive!
Thanks for the playlist. I’m sure the lovely Ms. Virgindog is tired of hearing my Super Rock Hits any time we get in the car. She’ll prefer this one, not only as a change of pace but because she’s a Tommy James fan and absolutely loves “Grazing In The Grass.”
My version of a Gina crush involved an opponent from another school when I was on the debate team. She was half French and half Greek and her slightly obfuscated name was Gigi Alexopoulos. I looked forward to debate matches but I never won against her.
“Venus” is indeed a 10/10. So is Maple.
Maple says, “bark.“ I know you speak dog, so you get it.
Meeting someone from your school and worshiping them from afar was tough. But when you had a crush on somebody from an entirely different town? That was the worst. Your mind would turn over and over again how you were going to navigate, three towns over. Not being old enough to drive was definitely a showstopper.
Those Intertown love affairs were a litmus test to see how committed you actually were. After mentally calculating the fourth bus change, I would usually give up and think, “it was not meant to be.”
Try a whole different country!
Could never have worked without internet.
Unless you’ve got some really good messenger pigeons.
^
This guy internationally romances. いい子がいる
Let me guess. That says Backstabbers is a 10.
“Good child is here.” 😆
It was the closest to “Atta boy” that I could find.
Ah, I see. They do say ”いい子、いい子。” sometimes. Though usually to a child, or to an adult in a sarcastic, condescending manner.
Just one of countless translational gaps across English and Japanese. Could make for a good article. 🤓
“Could make for a good article.”
I love an unintentionally funny transliteration. My favorite was a soft drink ad:
English:
“Come alive with the Pepsi Generation!”
Chinese:
““PEPSI BRINGS YOUR ANCESTORS BACK FROM THE GRAVE.”
Love the description of Grants. Very evocative, especially for someone not versed in five and dimes. We had Woolworths here too but there were no lunch counters, no air con but with the positive for us that the record section held prime position as a main attraction. Regardless of the music retailer chains, it was Woolworths that was the biggest seller of chart singles for decades.
More than half of these are new to me. The old familiars of The Who, Canned Heat and Shocking Blue are all top picks. Tommy James was a one hit wonder here (Mony Mony) but Ball And Chain especially makes me think we missed out. There’s no Maybe about how good The Three Degrees track is as well.
As for the bad, I’ll reserve that for Mungo Jerry. Unfortunately not one hit wonders here. Then again, even though they had another #1 plus six further top 40s they may as well be one hit wonders as In The Summertime is the only one that is remembered and was still being overplayed when I was a kid in the early 80s.
I don’t ever remember hearing “In the Summertime” when I was little (though I may have), but back in the early 80s when MTV was short on videos, they would sometimes play oldies. That’s the only way I heard songs like Blue Cheer’s “Summertime Blues” or Vanilla Fudge’s “You Keep Me Hanging On”. They also played “In the Summertime”. A lot, it felt like.
You said Mungo Jerry and my mind immediately went to…
The one that sticks out for me in this list, probably because I’ve really rediscovered it in the past few years is “Traces” by the Classics IV. Not too surprising, since it’s practically an easy listening song. Parts of the song sound kind of pedestrian, but then the chords make some changes that you aren’t expecting, and it’s really kind of beautiful.
I’m guessing that might not have been one of your favoritest songs on the album. It certainly did NOT live up to the ExPlOsIvE theme.
I see your 20 Explosive Hits and raise you 20 Power Hits:
All right. Let’s go.
You know what to do.