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3 days ago
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Forever No. 1: The Beach Boys' ‘I Get Around'
Forever No. 1 is a Billboard series that pays special tribute to the recently deceased artists who achieved the highest honor our charts have to offer — a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single — by taking an extended look back at the chart-topping songs that made them part of this exclusive club. Here, we honor Brian Wilson, who died on Wednesday (June 11) at age 82, by looking at the first of The Beach Boys' three Hot 100-toppers: the irresistible pop smash 'I Get Around.' The Beach Boys had racked up four consecutive top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 (discounting B sides) prior to 'I Get Around,' but this ebullient song was their first single to reach No. 1. They recorded it in April 1964, making it the first song they recorded after The Beatles arrived in the U.S. that February. More from Billboard The 20 Best Beach Boys Songs (Staff Picks) Don Was Remembers Brian Wilson's 'Mystical' Genius: 'He Explored Creative Territory Where No Musicians Had Gone Before' How LadyLand, the Scrappy Festival That Could, Is Shaping Queer Culture & Live Music In NYC If The Beach Boys felt threatened by the Fab Four's explosive arrival, they were not going down without a fight. 'I Get Around' is chock-full of hooks – great harmonies, handclaps, twangy guitar work and the inspired 'round-round-getaround' hook. In his liner notes for the 1990 reissue of Little Deuce Coupe and All Summer Long, Beach Boys expert David Leaf said the track represented 'a major, revolutionary step in Brian's use of dynamics.' He added: 'From the opening note to the falsetto wail on the fade, this is one of the greatest tracks the Beach Boys ever cut. … Powered by the driving lead guitar break, the explosive harmonies and the handclaps, everything about this track was very spirited.' The song runs a highly efficient 2:14, making it the second-shortest No. 1 hit of 1964. The Beatles' 'Can't Buy Me Love' was a couple of seconds shorter. With this song, The Beach Boys continued to move away from the surf music fad that they rode in on, with such hits as 1962's 'Surfin' and 'Surfin' Safari' and 1963' 'Surfin' U.S.A.' and 'Surfer Girl.' Like its immediate predecessors 'Be True to Your School' and 'Fun, Fun, Fun,' 'I Get Around' has nothing to do with catching a wave, but instead is more generally capturing teen life in early-'60s California. (And, when you think about it, driving songs played nearly as big a part of the early Beach Boys success as surfing songs, between 'I Get Around,' 'Fun, Fun, Fun,' 'Little Deuce Coupe,' '409' and others.) Mike Love sang lead vocals on 'I Get Around,' with Brian Wilson contributing falsetto lead vocals on the chorus. All five members of the group – also including Al Jardine, Carl Wilson and Dennis Wilson – contributed harmony and backing vocals. The fabled Wrecking Crew of top Los Angeles session players, including Hal Blaine and Glen Campbell, played on the track. The song has a line that seems autobiographical, given the group's rising level of success over the previous two years: 'My buddies and me are gettin' real well-known.' The song also includes one of the most charming lines ever in a pop song: 'None of the guys go steady 'cause it wouldn't be right/ To leave your best girl home on a Saturday night.' The group projects a strutting confidence throughout. Biographer Mark Dillon compared the lyrics to 'the braggadocio of a modern-day rapper' — fitting that nearly 30 years later, one of the all-time most legendary MCs would recycle the title for his own cockiest hit. The song entered the Hot 100 at No. 76 for the week ending May 23, 1964. It was the week's fourth-highest new entry, behind hits by Elvis, Bobby Vinton and Lesley Gore, though it wound up eclipsing all of those. The song reached No. 1 in its seventh week, July 4, displacing Peter & Gordon's 'A World Without Love,' which was written by Paul McCartney (though officially credited to Lennon/McCartney.) McCartney and Wilson, two of the greatest songwriters of all time, spurred each other on to ever-greater heights for many years. The Beatles' 'Back in the U.S.S.R.' was clearly an homage to The Beach Boys' 'Surfin' U.S.A.' 'I Get Around' topped the Hot 100 for two weeks, before being displaced by The 4 Seasons' 'Rag Doll.' (These groups, representing the pinnacle of West Coast and the East Coast pop, respectively, were among the few American groups from the pre-Beatles era that continued to thrive after the British invasion.) 'I Get Around' also put The Beach Boys on the map in the U.K., becoming their first top 10 hit in that country. The B side of 'I Get Around' was the equally great 'Don't Worry Baby,' making this one of the strongest double-sided singles in pop music history. It ranks with Elvis' 'Don't Be Cruel'/ 'Hound Dog,' The Beatles' 'Penny Lane'/'Strawberry Fields Forever,' The Beach Boys' own 'Wouldn't It Be Nice'/'God Only Knows' and a handful of others. The song was the opening track on (and only single released from) the group's sixth album, All Summer Long, which reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200 in August 1964. In his liner notes to the 1990 reissue, Leaf noted, 'All Summer Long was the last regular studio album The Beach Boys recorded before Brian quit the touring band – the last complete Beach Boys album Brian cut before he suffered a nervous breakdown in late December of 1964.' Incredibly, 'I Get Around' didn't receive a single Grammy nomination. The Beach Boys' only songs to receive Grammy nods were 'Good Vibrations' and the 1988 Brian-less hit 'Kokomo.' The Recording Academy has since sought to make amends, awarding The Beach Boys a lifetime achievement award in 2001 and inducting five of their most classic works (including 'I Get Around') into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Wilson was initially the only songwriter credited on the song. In 1992, Mike Love sued to get a credit on this and many other songs. Love prevailed in December 1994, when he was awarded co-writing credits on 35 songs – as well as $13 million. In his series 'The Number Ones,' Stereogum writer Tom Breihan wryly summarized the dispute: 'Mike Love later sued Brian for a co-writer credit, and if he really did come up with the round round getaround part, he deserved it.' While there is no improving on The Beach Boys' recording of 'I Get Around,' several artists have taken a stab at it over the years. Red Hot Chili Peppers performed it at the 2005 MusiCares Person of the Year gala where Brian Wilson was honored. My Morning Jacket performed it on the 2023 special A Grammy Salute to the Beach Boys (which CBS re-aired on Sunday night). Billie Joe Armstrong posted his version of the song on Instagram on Wednesday (June 11), hours after the news of Wilson's death broke. 'Thank you Brian Wilson,' Armstrong wrote. 'I recorded a cover of 'I Get Around' a few years ago. ..never got to share it. One of my all time favorite songs ever.' Check back tomorrow and Wednesday for our Forever No. 1 reports on The Beach Boys' second and third No. 1 hits, 'Help Me Rhonda' and 'Good Vibrations.' Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Four Decades of 'Madonna': A Look Back at the Queen of Pop's Debut Album on the Charts Chart Rewind: In 1990, Madonna Was in 'Vogue' Atop the Hot 100
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Forever No. 1: The Beach Boys, ‘Help Me, Rhonda'
Forever No. 1 is a Billboard series that pays special tribute to the recently deceased artists who achieved the highest honor our charts have to offer — a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single — by taking an extended look back at the chart-topping songs that made them part of this exclusive club. Here, we honor Brian Wilson, who died on Wednesday (June 11) at age 82, by looking at the second of The Beach Boys' three Hot 100-toppers: 'Help Me, Rhonda,' the final classic of the Beach Boys' earliest golden age. What a difference an 'h' makes. When 'Help Me, Ronda' was originally featured on The Beach Boys Today! in early 1965, the band didn't think too much of the shuffling love song with the repetitive hook; you can tell by how little care they took to normalize the volume levels, which inexplicably jump around in the song's last two choruses. But leader Brian Wilson believed in the song's potential, and after the band re-recorded it or single release (and for inclusion on the band's second 1965 album, Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)) as 'Help Me, Rhonda,' it became the latest in a stunning streak of smashes for the family-and-friends quintet from Southern California. More from Billboard The 20 Best Beach Boys Songs (Staff Picks) Addison Rae Announces Dates For Debut 2025 Headlining World Tour How Brandon Lake Is Leading A Whole New Flock To 'What's Real And What's True' In Christian Music In fact, by early 1965, The Beach Boys was one of the only American bands still holding its own against the pop-rock raiders from overseas. The British Invasion was in full swing, and The Beatles alone had topped the Hot 100 six times in 1964. In between No. 1s four and five for the Fab Four that year came the Boys' eternal teen anthem 'I Get Around' and the group had two additional top 10 hits by the end of '64: the wistful 'When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)' (No. 9) and the the ebullient 'Dance, Dance, Dance' (No. 8). Both of those were included on The Beach Boys Today! at the top of 1965, and the set also spawned a third single in a cover of Bobby Freeman's 'Do You Wanna Dance?,' which just missed the top 10 (No. 12) that April. As the Beach Boys were still enjoying their run of fun-and-sun early hits, Brian Wilson was beginning to stretch out both as a songwriter and a producer. 'I Get Around' was backed by 'Don't Worry Baby,' Wilson's first real attempt to outdo his idol Phil Spector, with impossibly dreamy production and harmonies and a gorgeous rising verse melody that somehow elevated into an even-higher-flying chorus. The flip-side to 'Dance, Dance, Dance' was 'Please Let Me Wonder,' another Spectorian love song with strikingly fragile verses and a near choir-like refrain. And perhaps most notably, Today! included the lovely but disquieting 'She Knows Me Too Well,' Wilson's first real lyrical examination of his own romantic insecurities and failings. All of these would ultimately point the way to the artistic leap forward the band would take on 1966's Pet Sounds, the band's intensely personal and overwhelmingly lush masterwork which disappointed commercially, but made them critics' darlings for the first time. But they weren't there yet. In mid-'65, they were still fighting to maintain their place in an increasingly crowded pop-rock landscape — and, not having reached the Hot 100's top five since 'I Get Around' nearly a full year earlier, they needed a no-doubter to lead off Summer Days. So Brian Wilson dug back in on the song he'd relegated to deep-cut status on the album before. 'Ronda' was much more in line with the group's earlier, simpler hits than the more lyrically and musically complex fare Wilson was starting to explore, but he was right that the song had real potential: It was a clever number that basically managed to be both a breakup ballad and an upbeat love song at once, with a chorus so relentless that you could hear it once and remember it for the rest of your life. It just needed a little extra maintenance. In truth, Brian did a lot more on the re-recording of 'Help Me, Ronda' than add an 'h' to her name and keep his finger steadier on the volume controls. He also clipped the intro, so it began right with its 'Well, since she put me down…' intro, dropping you right into the middle of the song's narrative. He tightened the tempo a little, and added some 'bow-bow-bow-bow' backing vocals to tie together the 'help-help me, Rhonda' pleas of the chorus. He added some extra piano and guitar to give the song's instrumental bridge a little extra zip. And perhaps most importantly, he laid an extra falsetto backing 'Help me, Rhonda, yeah!' on top of the chorus climax to make it stand out a little better from the rest of the refrain. They're all small additions, but you don't realize how much difference they make until you go back to the Today! original and wonder why the whole thing sounds so empty and lifeless by comparison. But while Brian Wilson allowed the song to soar, 'Rhonda' was anchored by a less-celebrated Beach Boy: Al Jardine. A high school friend of Brian's, Jardine had mostly served as a glue guy in the band to that point and had never sung lead on one of their songs, much less a single A-side. But Brian was intent on giving his buddy a spotlight moment, and decided Jardine would take the reins for 'Rhonda.' It was a good match: While the Wilsons' voices drifted towards the ethereal and sentimental, and Mike Love's had a more muscular, occasionally snide edge to it, Al Jardine's voice had both a sturdiness and an unassuming everyman quality to it. He was the Beach Boy best equipped to sell a relatable song like 'Rhonda.' And while 'Rhonda' was a less musically and lyrically ambitious song than others Wilson was attempting contemporaneously, there is still a bit of trickiness to it. It's a lyric that mourns a romantic split with one girl while attempting to simultaneously ask a new girl to ease his pain — and the vocal matches the shift; Jardine's singing is frenzied and pained and in the first half of his verses and smooth and composed in the second. From a less likable or compelling vocalist, the whole thing could've very easily come off like a cheap come-on, like he doesn't actually give a damn about either girl. But Jardine manages to sound sincere, like he actually is going through it and is genuinely in need of the help that only the titular female can provide. When he begs on the chorus for Rhonda to 'get 'er outta my heart!' — after a couple dozen shorter pleas from the rest of the Boys — you really hope she succeeds in doing so. With its new arrangement and new title, 'Rhonda' did indeed prove the no-doubter that the Beach Boys were hoping for to re-establish their pop supremacy in '65. The song debuted on the Hot 100 on April 17 at No. 80, and seven weeks later, it replaced — who else — The Beatles' 'Ticket to Ride' to become the band's second No. 1 hit, lasting two weeks on top before being replaced by the other dominant American pop group of the era: The Supremes, with 'Back in My Arms Again.' The Beatles would, of course, be heard from again just a few months later with a 'Help!' No. 1 of their own — and in between them in June, the Four Tops reigned with 'I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch).' (Draw your own conclusions about a generational cry for additional assistance amidst the turmoil of the mid-'60s if you so desire.) 'Help Me, Rhonda' would mark something of the end of an era for The Beach Boys and Brian Wilson, as it was their last major pop hit before the group started rapidly scaling up its ambitions. Even 'California Girls,' the group's universally accessible No. 3-peaking follow-up to 'Rhonda' — which, wouldn't you know it, got stuck behind The Beatles' 'Help!' on the Hot 100 — came affixed with a cinematic instrumental intro and a vocal outro in-the-round that no other pop group of the time would have dared attempt. By 1966, the group was pushing pop music into the future at a rate that would ultimately prove uncomfortable for both the public and for the Beach Boys themselves — though it would culminate in one more all-time classic pop single before it all fell apart. And 'Help Me, Rhonda' stands alone in all of pop history in at least one respect: It remains the lone Billboard Hot 100 representation for all Rhondas worldwide. No other song (or artist) with that name — outside of a No. 22-peaking Johnny Rivers cover of the song in 1975, featuring Brian on backing vocals — has ever reached the chart since its 1958 introduction. (No 'Ronda's either.) Tomorrow, we look at the final of the Beach Boys' three Brian Wilson-led No. 1s: the forever singular 'Good Vibrations.' Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Four Decades of 'Madonna': A Look Back at the Queen of Pop's Debut Album on the Charts Chart Rewind: In 1990, Madonna Was in 'Vogue' Atop the Hot 100
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Forever No. 1: Sly & the Family Stone's ‘Everyday People'
Forever No. 1 is a Billboard series that pays special tribute to the recently deceased artists who achieved the highest honor our charts have to offer — a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single — by taking an extended look back at the chart-topping songs that made them part of this exclusive club. Here, we honor Sly Stone, who died on Monday (June 9) at age 82, by looking at the first of Sly & the Family Stone's three Hot 100-toppers: the simple, yet profound 'Everyday People.' Sly & the Family Stone, a genre-fluid, interracial, mixed-gender group (at a time when all three things were unique) was formed in San Francisco in 1966. The group was led by Sly Stone, a musical prodigy who was just 23 at the time. His main claim-to-fame at that point is that he had produced a string of hits for the pop/rock group The Beau Brummels, including 'Laugh, Laugh' and 'Just a Little.' More from Billboard Sly Stone Dead at 82 DJ Akademiks Denies Taking Payola From Drake During Kendrick Battle Raekwon and Ghostface Killah Release Trailer for 'Only Built 4 Cuban Linx' Documentary Sly & the Family Stone made the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1968 with its first chart hit, 'Dance to the Music.' That funky celebration of dance music wasn't topical at all, but after the stunning events of 1968 – a year of assassinations, riots and a war without end in Vietnam – acts almost had to say something, and Sly & the Family Stone did on 'Everyday People,' which was released that November. The song is a plea for understanding and racial unity, which is so understated in its approach that it's easy to lose sight of just how progressive its sentiments seemed in 1968. The record has a gentle tone and a disarming opening line: 'Sometimes I'm right and I can be wrong/ My own beliefs are in my song.' Who ever starts out a conversation by conceding 'I can be wrong?' The sense of urgency and passion picks up on the proclamation 'I am everyday people!' which is repeated three times during the song, and then on the call to action 'We got to live together,' which is repeated twice. Stone, who was born Sylvester Stewart, wrote and produced 'Everyday People.' His genius move on this song was to simplify the discussion to the level of a childhood playground taunt – 'There is a yellow one that won't accept the Black one/ That won't accept the red one that won't accept the white one/ Different strokes for different folks/And so on and so on and scooby-dooby-dooby.' The unspoken, but unmistakable, message: Isn't all this division really pretty childish? Sly makes the point even more directly in the second verse: 'I am no better and neither are you/ We are the same whatever we do.' The reasonableness of his argument instantly disarms any detractors. The song's politics are expressed most directly in the third verse, in the song's depiction of counter-culture types vs. establishment types; progressives vs. conservatives. 'There is a long hair that doesn't like the short hair/For being such a rich one that will not help the poor one.' The bridges of the song contain the line 'different strokes for different folks,' which was initially popularized by Muhammad Ali. It became a popular catchphrase in 1969 (and inspired the name of a 1978-86 TV sitcom, Diff'rent Strokes). Sly wisely kept the record short – the childlike sections, which are charming in small doses, would have become grating if the record had overstayed its welcome. The record runs just 2:18, shorter than any other No. 1 hit of 1969. Three Dog Night took a similar approach on 'Black & White,' which was a No. 1 hit in September 1972 – putting a plea for racial unity and brotherhood in simple, grade-school language. Three Dog's record isn't as timeless or memorable as 'Everyday People,' but it shows Sly's influence. 'Everyday People' entered the Hot 100 at No. 93 for the week ending Nov. 30, 1968. You might assume that a record this catchy and classic shot to the top quickly, but it took a while. In the week ending Jan. 11, 1969, it inched up from No. 27 to No. 26, looking like it might not even match 'Dance to the Music''s top 10 ranking. But then it caught fire. The following week, it leapt to No. 15, then No. 5, then No. 2 for a couple of weeks behind Tommy James & the Shondells' 'Crimson and Clover,' before finally reaching the top spot in the week ending Feb. 15. It stayed on top for four consecutive weeks, the longest stay of Sly's career. The song was of a piece with such other socially-aware No. 1 hits as Aretha Franklin's 'Respect' (1967) and The Rascals' 'People Got to Be Free' (1968). 'Everyday People' remained on the Hot 100 for 19 weeks, a personal best for Sly, and wound up as the No. 5 song of 1969 on Billboard's year-end chart recap. The song was included on the group's fourth studio album, Stand!, which was released in May 1969. The album reached No. 13 on the Billboard 200 and remained on the chart for 102 weeks – also a personal best for the group. The album, which also featured 'Sing a Simple Song,' 'Stand!' and 'I Want to Take You Higher,' was inducted into the National Recording Registry in 2014 and the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2015. The band included 'Everyday People' in their set at Woodstock on Aug. 17, 1969. Fun Fact: It was the only No. 1 Hot 100 hit performed by the original artist during that landmark three-day festival. The song is widely acknowledged as a classic. Rolling Stone had it at No. 109 on its 2024 update of its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. Billboard included it on its 2023 list of the 500 Best Pop Songs: Staff List. (We had it way down at No. 293, clearly proving the wisdom of Sly's opening line, 'Sometimes I'm right and I can be wrong.') While Sly was bedeviled by personal demons that shortened his run at the top, he lived to get his flowers. The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 (in its first year of eligibility). On his own, Sly received a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy in 2017. Numerous artists covered 'Everyday People' in the wake of Sly's recording. Between 1969 and 1972, the song was featured on Billboard 200 albums by The Supremes, Ike & Tina Turner, The Winstons, Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, Supremes & Four Tops, Billy Paul and Dionne Warwick. Spend any time on YouTube and you can also find cover versions of 'Everyday People' by everyone from Peggy Lee to Pearl Jam (who performed it in concert in 1995). Other artists who took a stab at it: Aretha Franklin, The Staple Singers, William Bell, Belle & Sebastian, Maroon 5 (on a 2005 remix and cover album Different Strokes by Different Folks) and the unlikely team of Cher and Future, who covered it for a 2017 Gap ad that has recently gone viral. A couple artists even had Hot 100 hits with their new spins on the song. Joan Jett & the Blackhearts covered the song in 1983 and took it to No. 37. Arrested Development drew heavily from the song for their 1993 hit 'People Everyday,' which reached No. 8. (The song used the chorus and basic structure of the original, with new verses written by lead singer Speech.) Sly & the Family Stone nearly landed a second No. 1 hit in 1969, but 'Hot Fun in the Summertime' stalled at No. 2 for two weeks in October behind The Temptations' 'I Can't Get Next to You.' 'Hot Fun' wound up at No. 7 on the aforementioned year-end Hot 100 recap, making Sly the only act with two songs in the year-end top 10. Questlove, who directed the 2025 documentary Sly Lives (aka The Burden of Black Genius), shared a touching tribute to the icon on Instagram on Monday. 'Sly Stone, born Sylvester Stewart, left this earth today, but the changes he sparked while here will echo forever … He dared to be simple in the most complex ways — using childlike joy, wordless cries, and nursery rhyme cadences to express adult truths.' That last part was a clear reference to 'Everyday People.' Questlove also recalled what he called that song's 'eternal cry' – 'We got to live together!' Said Quest: 'Once idealistic, now I hear it as a command. Sly's music will likely speak to us even more now than it did then. Thank you, Sly. You will forever live.' Later this week: Two additional Sly & the Family Stone No. 1s take the group into darker and murkier territory, with similarly spellbinding results. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Four Decades of 'Madonna': A Look Back at the Queen of Pop's Debut Album on the Charts Chart Rewind: In 1990, Madonna Was in 'Vogue' Atop the Hot 100
