[music]

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now, back to our WNYC Centennial series, 100 Years of 100 Things. We did 100 years of The New Yorker earlier in the show. Now, ahead of the Grammy Awards, which will be presented Sunday night, it's thing number 64, 100 years of the Billboard music charts. According to the Library of Congress, it was exactly 100 years ago, 1925, that electrical recording was successfully implemented and introduced by both Columbia and Victor Records. In 1926, in the era that became known as the Jazz Age, there were things like this. Red Hot Peppers by Jelly Roll Morton.

[MUSIC - Jelly Roll Morton: Red Hot Peppers]

Brian Lehrer: A little taste of a Red Hot Pepper by Jelly Roll Morton from 1926. We'll sample from each decade in this 100-year segment. It should be a lot of fun. In those days, the Billboard music charts were sheet music charts. Charts not yet rankings of recorded music sales. Let's talk about this history. We're very happy to have, as our guide and as our guest, Gary Trust, Billboard's New York-based managing director of charts and data operations. Gary, thanks a lot for coming on with us. Welcome to WNYC.

Gary Trust: Thank you so much, Brian. Honored to be here.

Brian Lehrer: Listeners, we'll try to make this participatory fun too. We'll take your oral history calls in a few chronological chunks on this question, what do you remember as the biggest hit song from when you were in high school? We'll take calls first from anyone who went to high school in the 1950s or earlier. 212-433-WNYC. Again, what do you remember as the biggest hit song from when you were in high school? We'll take calls first from anyone who went to high school in the 1950s or earlier. 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692. Everyone else, wait up. You'll get your turn.

You don't even have to have liked the song. Maybe you hated the biggest hit you remember being saturated with and you couldn't escape from high school. That's okay. What was the biggest hit that sticks with you today that seemed to be everywhere, or that everyone was listening to when you were in high school? 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692. To make it even more fun when you get on the air, we'll give you a chance to win a Brian Lehrer Show prize if you can name a song from your decade that we'll play and see if you the song or artist. If you can do it, we'll send you a Brian Lehrer Show pro-democracy tote.

The main thing is your recollection. What do you remember as the biggest hit song from when you were in high school? We'll take calls first from anyone who went to high school in the 1950s or earlier. 212-433-9692. With Gary Trust from Billboard Magazine. Gary, the prehistory here is that the name Billboard Magazine was a reference to actual billboards in the 19th Century. Do I have that right?

Gary Trust: That is correct. I wasn't at Billboard then, but from what I know of my history. Yes, billboard advertising literally was tracking what was on billboards throughout the country. Even though now, and for decades, Billboard has been known for attracting music, it started tracking when circuses would come to town. Carnivals, vaudeville, burlesque shows as well. It was about entertainment when it was getting into an era where it was becoming national. All these acts were traveling. Yes, the first issue was [crosstalk]

Brian Lehrer: Yes, measuring audiences. I see the sheet music charts debuted in 1910. Was that a list of bestselling pieces of sheet music that people were buying to play on their own instruments?

Gary Trust: Yes, as far as I know, there were reported lists of what was selling for sheet music. Before radio, records, and record players were as big as they would become, entertainment for new songs was about sheet music. People would play them on their pianos, in their living rooms. It was family entertainment. You needed the sheet music generally to play that. That's an early barometer of musical success, what songs were people playing at home by sheet music.

Brian Lehrer: We heard Jelly Roll Morton from 1926 to get us going. We'll dip into 1937 next, next decade, with a sample from a song called Powerhouse by Raymond Scott. That wasn't a hit per se in its own right but became so familiar to people. See if you recognize it as, "Oh, I've heard that in cartoons," because it was used in background music for action or assembly line scenes in many cartoons. Check this out.

[MUSIC - Raymond Scott: Powerhouse]

Brian Lehrer: The cat is chasing the mouse and the mouse is running away or the cartoon character is putting widgets on the assembly line pieces as they move by a little too fast. Powerhouse. Throwing in that 1930s cartoon music for a little fun. Now, we get to the debut of the actual Billboard music charts in 1940. Gary, why 1940? What did it measure at that time?

Gary Trust: At that point we saw, as I mentioned before, record players starting to become much more of the currency of hit music. There were advertisements in Billboard about hundreds of thousands of phonographs in use and how so many billions of songs were being played in jukeboxes and record players. It evolved at that point where recorded music was now becoming measurable. It was July 27th, 1940 when Billboard published the first national top 10 singles chart based on actual sales. It was called Best Selling Retail Records. A pretty cool number-one, the first one, Tommy Dorsey's I'll Never Smile Again, with vocals by somebody named Frank Sinatra. The first number-one.

Brian Lehrer: I think I've heard the name. Wow, the first number-one. Frank Sinatra and Tommy Dorsey in 1940. Let's see. I think Eileen in Brooklyn went to high school in the '40s. Is that right, Eileen? Hi.

Eileen: That's right, yes. My favorite song was Stardust.

Brian Lehrer: Was that a big hit at the time?

Eileen: Yes, I think so. We danced to that.

Brian Lehrer: Okay. Now we're going to give you a chance to win a Brian Lehrer Show tote if you can recognize another song from the 40s. I pulled a musical great, who was popular in the '40s, to sample from that decade. You tell me if you can name either the artist or the song. We'll take either one. Either the artist or the song. Gary will tell us if he made the charts much in that decade. Here we go.

[MUSIC - Duke Ellington: Cotton Tail]

Brian Lehrer: All right, Eileen, any idea?

Eileen: Not a clue. Sorry, I didn't-- I don't remember so many fast songs. It was the slow, sleepy ones that I remember.

Brian Lehrer: Eileen, thank you.

Eileen: Thank you anyway.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much for remembering Stardust. That was Cotton Tail by Duke Ellington. Gary, did Duke have commercially successful recordings in the '40s as measured by Billboard, if you know?

Gary Trust: He did, yes. All the way from the '40s throughout the decade. Some top 10s. Don't Get Around Much Anymore, Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me, I’m Beginning to See the Light. Those were some of his biggest hits in the mid-'40s.

Brian Lehrer: All right, let's see. Terry, in Melbourne, Florida, went to high school in the '50s. Terry, you're on WNYC. Hi.

Terry: Yes. Hi there, Brian. One of the first songs I remember was right at the threshold of high school. Little Things Mean a Lot by Kitty Kallen.

Brian Lehrer: Wow. Never heard of that one. [crosstalk]

Terry: After that, there was Heartbreak Hotel with Elvis.

Brian Lehrer: All right, Terry.

Terry: I was graduated in '58.

Brian Lehrer: '58. Now, let's see if you can recognize this to win a Brian Lehrer Show tote, which was big near the start of the decade.

[MUSIC - Elvis Presley: All Shook Up]

Terry: All shook Up. It's Elvis.

Brian Lehrer: [laughs] That's not the one I meant to play, but you got it right. I'll tell you why we pulled both of those. Absolutely. Hang on, Terry and we're going to--

[fanfare]

Brian Lehrer: That's not from the 1950s. That's our "You won" fanfare. We're going to send you a Brian Lehrer Show pro-democracy tote. Let's take another caller from the '50s. Then we're going to play the other one that I pulled and I'll explain why we pulled two only for this decade. Susan in Rybrook, you're on WNYC. Hey, Susan, what do you remember as the dominant song from your high school years?

Susan: Wake Up Little Susie by the Everly Brothers. As you said, my name is Susan, and I thought they were singing directly to me.

Brian Lehrer: That's so neat.

Susan: When we moved east from Michigan, from the potato capital of Michigan in tiny little Podunk, town to the east, I sat in the backseat and the Everly Brothers sang to me. It was so poignant and memorable.

Brian Lehrer: That's so great. Now let's see if you can recognize this one. Either the song or the artist from the earlier 1950s.

[MUSIC - Nat King Cole: Mona Lisa]

Brian Lehrer: Hi, Susan. any idea?

Susan: An idea, but deep inside, unlike the other caller, I like the fast songs.

Brian Lehrer: [laughs] That was a slow one, so you don't know it, right?

Susan: I don't.

Brian Lehrer: Okay. Sorry. Thanks for calling, though, Susan, with your memory. That was Mona Lisa by Nat King Cole. This is the only decade, Gary, for which I pulled two tracks because popular music changed so much from the beginning of the decade in ways that separated everything that came before and everything that has come since. That was the introduction of electricity to pop music. Do you look back on it that way?

Gary Trust: For the 1950s, Brian?

Brian Lehrer: Yes.

Gary Trust: Yes, absolutely. That is definitely [crosstalk]

Brian Lehrer: Mona Lisa, if we had played those in chronological order, the wonderful but relatively traditional Nat King Cole Mona Lisa and then Elvis is rocking out with All Shook Up by the end of the '50s, and that changed everything.

Gary Trust: Right. Mona Lisa was a number-one hit for two months in 1950. Right at the middle of the decade, that's where you see Elvis comes along. He starts having number-one hit after number-one hit. He also, along with other rock and roll acts at that point, pretty much sparked the creation of the Billboard Hot 100, which now for 66 years has been the premier Billboard songs chart that ranks the number one song in the country. Back then, it was based on radio airplay, sales, jukebox play. The same chart nowadays, but based on streaming. Still based on radio and sales, but the methodology changes through the decades. The artists change, but the charts are always tracking what's the most popular however people are consuming music.

Brian Lehrer: I see that Billboard introduced various charts at various times to measure different genres of music. You were mentioning some of the cuts on what charts they had. After the first Top 10 singles chart debuted in 1940, as we discussed, I see you launched an R&B chart in '42. Then the first album chart in '45. Then in '59, this is hilarious, you split the album charts into bestselling stereo albums and bestselling mono albums. Really? Do you know if they were much different at any point, what people were buying in stereo and in mono?

Gary Trust: Yes, I would have to look at the different numbers. A lot of number ones, as far as I know, were still popular on both. Obviously, enough differences that different charts were needed. Only four years later they merged again as of 1963. Vinyl went away and now vinyl is huge again. It is funny. Even at the beginning, you mentioned Jelly Roll Morton. Here we are 100 years later, Jelly Roll is one of the most popular artists. It is funny how much some things completely go away. Other things come right back around.

Brian Lehrer: We're in our 100 Years of 100 Things series. Thing number 64, 100 years of the Billboard music charts. We're going decade by decade with your memories. Listeners of the biggest hit from when you were in high school and playing a little Name That Tune with you, with Gary Trust from Billboard. Let's go next to Diane in Fort Monroe, Virginia, who went to high school in the '60s. Hey, Diane.

Diane: Hi, how are you?

Brian Lehrer: Good. What's the dominant song that you think of in relation to your high school years?

Diane: I remember Sherry Baby because I would be sitting in English class. I was in a high school with no air conditioning and the windows were huge. The windows were always open. A friend of mine, Warren Richards, had a convertible and his lunch hour was at the same time as my English class. He would drive up and down the street in front of the school playing Sherry Baby with the top down every day. I don't remember anything about my English class, but I remember that song.

Brian Lehrer: Sherry by The Four Seasons. Now you get a 1960s Name That Tune quiz. Let's see. This one is from 1967. Let's see if you know it.

[MUSIC - The Monkees: I'm A Believer]

Brian Lehrer: All right, Diane, do you know it? Artist or song?

Diane: Well, I'm A Believer--

Brian Lehrer: Yes, that's it. That's it.

Diane: I'm A Believer.

Brian Lehrer: I'm A Believer is the name of the song.

[fanfare]

Brian Lehrer: Do you know what group? Just for fun.

Diane: I can't think right now.

Brian Lehrer: It was the Monkees. Diana--

Diane: Oh, The Monkees.

Brian Lehrer: Hang on. We're going to take your address and we'll send you a Brian Lehrer Show pro-democracy tote. Gary, talk about the Monkees. When I was looking at the Billboard charts, prepping for this segment, I was thinking, "Okay, 1967, we're going to see Jimi Hendrix, we're going to see Sergeant Peppers, we're going to see Acid Rock." Yet, what's the number-one song that I found on the charts? I'm A Believer. Where does the pop stuff--? Where do the Monkees fit in? What else was happening?

Gary Trust: Yes, it's funny. I saw Micky Dolenz, from the Monkees, in concert a month ago.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, he still plays.

Gary Trust: He sounded great. He closed. He still closed with I'm A Believer. Everyone was singing along. It was a really fun show. Yes, they were huge. Obviously. the Beatles were the biggest act on the charts in the '60s through 1970. They had 20 number-ones. That's still a record on the Hot 100. That's 19 number-one albums. The Monkees, similar sound in some ways, obviously, the popularity of the TV show, which we saw with glee in the 2010s. The power of music and TV together. Yes, the Monkeys had four number-one albums in 1966, '67. The Monkees- 13 weeks at number one. War of the Monkees- 18 weeks. Really one of the biggest runs at number one for a single act in the entire history of the chart, even to today.

Brian Lehrer: Let's go on to Pat in Old Greenwich, who went to high school in the '70s. Hey, Pat.

Pat: Hi.

Brian Lehrer: What song sticks with you after 50 years? Hi.

Pat: Well, I always remember this. It always comes back to me year to year, because for graduation, we marched into Bridge Over Troubled Waters. That's Simon and Garfunkel.

Brian Lehrer: Simon and Garfunkel. A big hit. Was that a big hit on the charts, Gary?

Gary Trust: That was.

Pat: It was in the '70s.

Gary Trust: That was number-one for six weeks.

Brian Lehrer: Yes. All right, so you get a Name That Tune from the 1970s, Pat. Let's see if you can name either the artist or this song from 1977.

[MUSIC - Rod Stewart:

Pat: Is that Rod Stewart?

[music continues]

Brian Lehrer: Pat. Do you know it?

Pat: Yes. That's Rod Stewart.

[fanfare]

Brian Lehrer: That absolutely is Rod Stewart with Tonight's the Night. Pat, thank you very much. Hang on, we're going to take your address and send you a Brian Lehrer Show pro-democracy tote. What would you say about the 1970s on the Billboard charts, Gary?

Gary Trust: That's a number-one for eight weeks as well. A lot of different sounds. Elton John with the singer, songwriter. A lot of disco. A lot of Bee Gees. A lot of classic rock that's still enduring today. What's funny is against all that, the longest leading number one of the '70s was a totally different sound. You Light Up My Life by Debby Boone for 10 weeks. A little bit of everything on the charts in the '70s.

Brian Lehrer: All right, we're going to go on to the '80s and another caller. Also, I want to invite now, as we clear the lines of people who are calling in for those earlier decades, people to call in if you went to high school in the '90s or beyond. In the '90s or anytime in the 21st century, if you were in high school anytime from 1990 forward. Now the lines are for you, 212-433-WNYC. Before we run out of time, at the top of the hour, we're going to try to squeeze in a call representing the '80s, the '90s, the 2000s, and the 2010s. If you went to school in the '90s, the 2000s or the 2010s, give us a call and tell us what song was so dominant in high school that you associate it with that even today. 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692. With Gary Trust from the Billboard charts. Lyron in Long Island City went to high school in the '80s, right?

Lyron: Yes. Brian, it was so great to see you on MLK Day at the Apollo.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, I'm glad you were there.

Lyron: Yes, it was awesome. You did an awesome job. Quite a few songs because my taste is eclectic. It would be Raspberry Beret by Prince and A-Ha's Take On Me.

Brian Lehrer: Neat. You're right, your taste is eclectic. Let's see, maybe you'll be able to remember this hit song and recognize it from 1989.

[MUSIC - Janet Jackson: Miss You Much]

Lyron: Janet Jackson.

Brian Lehrer: You got it. Miss You Much. Janet Jackson. Good job, Lyron. We're going to take your address--

[fanfare]

Brian Lehrer: -off the air and send you a Brian Lehrer Show pro-Democracy tote. Talk about the '80s. A lot of new stuff was happening in the 80s. New kinds of rock. New kinds of pop. Rap was breaking out.

Gary Trust: Yes, Michael Jackson, Madonna, carrying the mantle for pop music. Physical by Olivia Newton-John. Ten weeks at number-one was the longest leading number-one of the

'80s. Yes, Brian, you start to get, by the end of the decade, Tone Loc and young MC. Rap was starting to become more common. It would explode in the '90s. A lot of pop, driven by pop, Take On Me, A-Ha, that was a number-one. Miss You Much, Janet Jackson, a number-one. Yes, by the end of the decade, it was starting to see that music was going to splinter off in a lot of different directions into the '90s.

Brian Lehrer: Carol in Brooklyn went to high school in the '90s. Hi, Carol. What song do you remember as most associated with your high school years?

Cheryl: Hello, it's Cheryl from Brooklyn.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, I'm sorry.

Cheryl: No worries. Remembering a song that I don't feel I can listen to anymore because this person has been canceled. It is R. Kelly, and the song is I Believe I Can Fly. I grew up in Chicago and Michael Jordan's Space Jam was a big deal, and this song was everywhere and a slow dance favorite.

Brian Lehrer: It was on Space Jam, and it was everywhere. I Believe I Can Fly. All right, let's see if you can recognize this song or the artist from 1999.

[MUSIC -

Brian Lehrer: Any idea? We're definitely genre-flipping here, but any idea?

Cheryl: Okay, I didn't hear much, but I'm going to guess and say it was Cotton Eye Joe.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, that's a good guess with the way that started out and you have the right genre, more or less. That was the start of a song by Garth Brooks in 1999. Thank you for calling, Carol. Garth Brooks topped a chart and not just the country charts, which is part of what made him so big. Is that right, Gary?

Gary Trust: Yes, he didn't cross over as much as Country does today. we were starting to see that there'd been different times in the rock era where Country was big in the '70s, lots of John Denver. Garth was so big and genre almost didn't matter with Garth. He was one of the first artists in Country to be so big, whether he was having a lot of pop hits. That was some of his hits in the early '90s, all the way through the decade still. Still some of the biggest Country hits of the last 25, 30 years.

Brian Lehrer: We're so close to being out of time, I'm going to see if you can identify these last two as we go up the final two decades. How about this from 2009, we'll see if it. Gary Trust from Billboard.

[MUSIC - Black Eyed Peas: Boom Boom Pow]

Gary Trust: I'm hitting my buzzer already.

[music continues]

Brian Lehrer: You're hitting your buzzer because it's--?

Gary Trust: That's Boom Boom Pow by Black Eyed Peas.

Brian Lehrer: Black Eyed Peas. Let's jump right to the final decade that we're doing because we're not doing the 2020s on this history segment. 2019 comes--

[MUSIC - Billy Eilish: Bury a Friend]

Brian Lehrer: Do you know it, Gary?

Gary Trust: I do. I'm so glad I got these right. Hopefully. Bury a Friend by Billy Eilish.

Brian Lehrer: Absolutely. Where, where are we now in our last 30 seconds on the Billboard music charts? What can you tell us about who we are as a culture by what music people are listening to?

Gary Trust: We're streaming, we're still watching and interacting on TikTok. Taylor Swift is still probably the biggest current artist and Die with a Smile by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars is number-one right now on the Billboard Hot 100.

Brian Lehrer: Well, this has been so much fun. 100 years of the Billboard music charts. Thing number 64 in our 100 years of 100 thing series. Listeners, thanks for your aural histories of the biggest hits from your high school years. Gary Trust, Billboards New York-based managing director of charts and data operations, thanks so much for being so game to do this with us. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

 

 

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