Now that I have been spending more time in the little clubs and going to songwriter conferences, my respect for the songwriters has increased immensely. The performing artists have so many people to help them and so many advantages, everything from a backup band, hair and makeup artists, and bodyguards. But the songwriters mostly work alone or in small groups, toiling over every word and every note, and then handing it off to an artist or a label and hoping that someone will do justice to their handiwork.
Top Hits
As I’ve been building my play lists on Spotify, I have been trying to think of all the great songs that I used to listen to on the radio as a teen. There is not much about music on most of the regular start pages like Yahoo.com with links to everything else under the sun. But I did find a list of Hot Hits on the Billboard.com web site and it did bring up a lot of memories.
I am not in agreement with their ranking of the top hits of all time, but I’m sure they had a particular method to determine them. Sadly, I don’t agree with any of their top 10 hits of all time list. Who in their right mind would pick Chubby checker’s “The Twist” as the number one top hit of all time? Seriously?
Local
One of the many local bright spots here in Nashville are the local music venues. You can see all kinds of music an a daily basis, including more than the typical country music you would think would be featured here in Music City USA. I worked at several radio stations here in Nashville and I can proudly say not a one of them was a country music station. I like the classic rock and roll to listen to and if I have a choice I like news talk over country any day unless it is Rush Limbaugh, I hate him and can not stand to listen to him at all.