Number Ones That Never Were:Best of 2006 Edition

(Click the fabulous Sony Cube Radio to listen)

Excerpted from last year's post:

When I was growing up, before the heady days of FM Radio, I had four major sources that contributed to my musical education:

01) My father’s vast collection of Big Band, Jazz, Show Tunes, Frank Sinatra and Novelty Records (one of my personal childhood favorites, Boots Randolph's "Yakety Sax," was perfect for running around the house like an idiot); 02) My two older brothers’ combined record collection (the usual suspects: Beatles, Stones, Iron Butterfly); 03) Sixties TV (Ed Sullivan, Hulllabaloo, Where the Action Is and Happening (both featuring Paul Revere & the Raiders), American Bandstand; and 04) WABC-AM, New York.

The last one perhaps had the most profound and perverse affect on my musical tastes. Back in the sixties, Top 40 radio was unbelievably eclectic. Just take a look at this list from 1965:

1. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, The Rolling Stones
2. I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch), Four Tops
3. Wooly Bully, Sam The Sham and The Pharaohs
4. My Girl, Temptations
5. You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin', Righteous Brothers
6. Downtown, Petula Clark
7. Help!, The Beatles
8. Can't You Hear My Heartbeat, Herman's Hermits
9. Crying In The Chapel, Elvis Presley
10. You Were On My Mind, We Five
11. I Got You Babe, Sonny and Cher
12. Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter, Herman's Hermits
13. The Birds And The Bees, Jewel Aikens
14. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Mel Carter
15. Shotgun, Jr. Walker and The All Stars
16. Help Me, Rhonda, Beach Boys
17. This Diamond Ring, Gary Lewis and The Playboys
18. The "In" Crowd, Ramsey Lewis Trio
19. King Of The Road, Roger Miller
20. Stop! In The Name Of Love, Supremes
21. Unchained Melody, Righteous Brothers
22. Silhouettes, Herman's Hermits
23. I'll Never Find Another You, Seekers
24. Cara, Mia, Jay and The Americans
25. Mr. Tambourine Man, Byrds
26. Cast Your Fate To The Wind, Sounds Orchestral
27. Yes, I'm Ready, Barbara Mason
28. What's New Pussycat?, Tom Jones
29. Eve Of Destruction, Barry McGuire
30. Hang On Sloopy, McCoys
31. Ticket To Ride, The Beatles
32. Red Roses For A Blue Lady, Bert Kaempfert and His Orch.
33. Papa's Got A Brand New Bag, James Brown and The Famous Flames
34. Game Of Love, Wayne Fontana and The Mindbenders
35. The Name Game, Shirley Ellis
36. I Know A Place, Petula Clark
37. Back In My Arms Again, Supremes
38. Baby I'm Yours, Barbara Lewis
39. The Jolly Green Giant, Kingsmen
40. Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte, Patti Page

Could you imagine hearing so many great songs on one commerical radio station these days? It’s an almost perfect collection of pop songs (with very few exceptions). In contrast, take a look at the crap on this chart from 2003:

1. 1. Yeah!, Usher Featuring Ludacris & Lil' Jon
2. This Love, Maroon 5
3. The Reason, Hoobastank
4. With You, Jessica Simpson
5. Leave(Get Out), Jojo
6. Toxic, Britney Spears
7. My Immortal, Evanescence
8. The Way You Move, Outkast Featuring Sleepy Brown
9. Someday,Nickelback
10. Pieces Of Me, Ashlee Simpson
11. Burn, Usher
12. Meant To Live, Switchfoot
13. Hey Ya!, Outkast
14. Numb, Linkin Park
15. She Will Be Loved, Maroon 5
16. Naughty Girl, Beyonce
17. My Happy Ending, Avril Lavigne
18, I Don't Wanna Know, Mario Winans Featuring Enya & P. Diddy
19. Dip It Low, Christina Milian Featuring Fabolous
20. Here Without You, 3 Doors Down
21. Tipsy, J-Kwon
22. Turn Me On, Kevin Lyttle Featuring Spragga Benz
23. Hey Mama, Black Eyed Peas
24. Let's Get It Started, Black Eyed Peas
25. If I Ain't Got You, Alicia Keys
26. On The Way Down, Ryan Cabrera
27. Move Ya Body, Nina Sky Featuring Jabba
28. Suga Suga, Baby Bash
29. Everytime, Britney Spears
30. It's My Life, No Doubt
31. Don't Tell Me, Avril Lavigne
32. One Thing, Finger Eleven
33. Perfect, Simple Plan
34. Roses, Outkast
35. My Band, D12 Featuring Eminem
36. Breakaway, Kelly Clarkson
37. Goodies, Ciara Featuring Petey Pablo
38. The First Cut Is The Deepest, Sheryl Crow
39. One Call Away, Chingy Featuring J. Weav
40. Headstrong,Trapt


Yes, I’m sure people will be listening to Hoobastank, Maroon 5 and Switchfoot 40 years from now (well, maybe some people will be forced to at Gitmo).

Of course the sixties didn't have a monopoly on good music. There’s been plenty of great music over the years; you just never hear it on commercial radio anymore (unless you have satellite radio). That’s been the motivation for my Number Ones That Never Were series (see lefthand sidebar): In a perfect world, bands on the margins would be enjoying boffo record sales and people from Jabip would be singing their songs instead of “Hey Ya” (which admittedly was a fun song…the first 5,000 times I heard it).

This year, I’m presenting a Number Ones That Never Were: Best of 2006 Edition. One of the greatest things about WABC was that every year around this time they would countdown the top 100 songs of the year. I was addicted to these countdowns and would take my trusty AM radio everywhere I went so I wouldn’t miss a song (and yes, I did have a Sony Cube Radio like the one above. I also had an AM radio shaped like a baseball and one shaped like a football).

I mentioned before that WABC had both a profound and perverse effect on my musical tastes: Profound because it taught me that Dylan, The Stones, The Beatles, James Brown, The Temptations, Sam the Sham and The Beach Boys could all co-exist; perverse because that same world could also include Petula Clark, Bert Kaempfert, Roger Miller and Patti Page (and I use the term perverse with love).

So, if you click on the fabulous Sony Cube, you’ll hear my profound and perverse version of what I think commercial radio should have sounded like this year. Enjoy!

(Note: The majority of these songs, with the exception of artists like Beck and Xtina who prefer to do business with major labelage, were downloaded from the most-excellent music subscription service, emusic.)

P.S. - I'll be gone until the 6th of January so this will more than likely be the last post until then. Happy New Year!

- Original art by the lovely and talented Lauren Bergman

Requiem for Christmas Trees

The Children Is Our Future:

Nothing Quite Says "Happy Birthday Jesus" Like a Pair of Giant Underpants

Hope y'all had a merry one.

-Krup (and nephew Will)

Merry Christmas

...and R.I.P. James:

James Brown - Papa's Got a Brand New Bag
Uploaded by Dan_of_the_Land

Are You Ready for Santa?

(Better douse that fire before you go to bed tonight.)

And, just in case you can't find any decent holiday programs on the tube tonight, here's a couple of classics:

A Dreary* Saturday Christmas Double Feature!

Plus a cartoon:


Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer


Santa Claus Conquers The Martians


It's a Wonderful Life


*Trust me, it's dreary in Jersey. Unseasonably warm, but dreary.

Update: The sun's coming out! Get off the computer and get outside (these movies will be here when you get back)!!!

The 57th Annunal Six Degrees Traveler Holiday Music Extravaganza!

From the Six Degrees Records website:

The new installment of Six Degrees' weekly internet radio broadcast is now up on i-Tunes' Radio Section (Under the Eclectic or Electronica headings) or at live365.com.

We are also now on Jazz Iz Radio at jazzizradio.com

On this week's edition of Six Degrees Traveler we bring you our third annual Holiday Music Special presented by our special guest host Krup (the undisputed king of eclectic holiday tunes). This is not your typical holiday music show. I REPEAT- THIS IS NOT YOUR TYPICAL HOLIDAY MUSIC SHOW! Krup rocks X-Mas Traveler style with an insane collection of rarities, mash ups, remixes and rockers both old and new.

Check out the full playlist at sixdegrees.com.

And best of all, it's FREE!

Let Me Stand Next To Your Fire

(Click to watch)

A horrifying holiday reminder from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (h/t: WFMU's Beware of the Blog).

Guitarmageddon!

George Lays Out The Case For His Own Impeachment

...if not having a clue as to what you're talking about and being arrogant about it at the same time were impeachable offenses:



(Click to watch)

A Semi-Reverent Tribute to the Late Joseph Barbera

(by way of John K.)



Hanna-Barbera WAS my childhood. Although I preferred the more sophisticated Warner Bros. cartoons (Bugs, Daffy, etc.), I could not escape the sheer volume of entertainment provided by the H-B empire: Yogi, Quick Draw McGraw, Jonny Quest, Huckleberry Hound, Magilla Gorilla, Top Cat, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, etc.

More recently, Hanna-Barbera became a huge part of my adulthood thanks to the Adult Swim show that started it all, Space Ghost: Coast to Coast:



So, thank you Joe (I think) and R.I.P.. Take it away John:

+ Expiration Date = U2:

It's sad to say, but after their last two albums and now this piece of crap, U2 have officially joined bands like R.E.M. in the "we-simply-don't-matter-anymore" pile (try as they might).

How Do You Spell Lame?

T.I.M.E.

Happy Hanukkah!

(Click the menorah to listen to a special Hanukkah song)



(Mel Gibson menorah courtesy of NPR.)

Toast Approves Too!

We Have Achieved Tree

...and it's a big mofo:



(Once again, Wahoo approves.)

The Krup "2006" Christmas Mix

Just in time for Hanukkah:



(Click to listen)

Some of you out there (and you know who you are) may be saying, "Hey, isn't this last year's mix?" Well, yes and no. You see, for almost two decades, yours truly has been sending out Christmas Comp CDs (or Mix Tapes during the pre-digital age) to special F.O.K.'s (friends of Krup's). Past comps include Let's Put the Krup Back in Christmas, Trent Lott's White Christmas and my personal favorite, Do Jews Hear What Goys Hear.

So yes, indeed, this was last year's CD -- but not last year's blog mix (see the "Holiday" tree on the left hand column). Delaying the online mix one year enables the special F.O.K.'s to feel truly special when they receive their CD in the mail. For most of you out there in the blogosphere, this mix will therefore seem "new."

However, if you're reading this blog, that means that you are all now my new special little F.O.K.'s so I feel obligated to throw you a bone. Therefore, beginning next week, I'll be hosting the 57th Annual Six Degrees' Traveller Radio Show Holiday Extravaganza, featuring many songs that will appear on this year's CD. Simply click the Six Degrees Records logo below to go to the Six Degrees channel on live365.com (or go to iTunes where you'll find the show under the Electronica and/or Eclectic categories). Oh, and did I mention it's FREE?





But wait! There's more!!! The fantabulous DJ Riko has just released his 2006 Christmas mix. Click below and begin the holiday season with fresh ears:

A Very Special Episode of "Scrubs"

(Click to watch)

Not originally intended for public consumption (it was made for a Christmas party), the cast of Scrubs lend their voices to a reworking of the holiday classic. If you're not watching Scrubs on Thursday nights (or in syndication), you should be.

(H/T to freakgirl)

For the (non-Scrubs) alternate ending, click here (H/T to Chris T. over at WFMU's Beware of the Blog).

Neither clip is terribly SFW and both are probably just a wee bit offensive...

Goodbye Already!

Jon Stewart, madder than hell, channels Howard Beale and, once again, bids adieu to Donald Rumsfeld (who should be rotting away in some Abu Ghraib-like prison but instead will be dividing his time between his five homes*):




*From Vanity Fair's Neo Culpa:

As we leave the restaurant together, (Kenneth) Adelman points to an office on the corner of Washington's 18th Street Northwest where he and Rumsfeld first worked together, during the Nixon administration, in 1972. "I've worked with him three times in my life. I have great respect for him. I'm extremely fond of him. I've been to each of his houses, in Chicago, Taos, Santa Fe, Santo Domingo, and Las Vegas. We've spent a lot of vacations together, been around the world together, spent a week together in Vietnam. I'm very, very fond of him, but I'm crushed by his performance. Did he change, or were we wrong in the past? Or is it that he was never really challenged before? I don't know. He certainly fooled me."