Transport Yourself Back A Decade Or Five With These Classic Rock VideosIn Correlation With Our Drum Charts
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| "Oh, Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison | "One Fine Day" by The Chiffons |
| Songwriter Bill Dees was over at Roy Orbison's house, trying to create a new song, when Roy's beautiful Claudette came in to ask him for some shopping money. Dees remarked, "Pretty woman never needs any money." Forty minutes later, by the time Claudette returned from her shopping trip, "Oh Pretty Woman" was written. Buddy Harman is the drummer on this recording, which became Roy's biggest hit, selling over seven million copies. | One of the many Top 40 hits penned by Carole King and her then husband Gerry Goffin, "One Fine Day" must surely rank as the most effervescent pop hit ever. Little Eva ("Loco-Motion") recorded this at first with King, who then gave it to the Tokens ("The Lion Sleeps Tonight"), who erased Eva's voice over the soundtrack, then re-recorded the song with the Chiffons for their second hit in a year (1963). The Laurie record label for this song might bring back memories for some viewers. |
| "Only The Lonely" by Roy Orbison | "Only The Lonely" by The Motels |
| "Only the Lonely" was Roy Orbison's first big. But before recording it, he tried to get Elvis Presley to record it. Arriving at Graceland at 6:00 a.m., Elvis was asleep, so Roy and co-writer Joe Melson drove on to Nashville, and ran into the Everly Brothers. Roy pitched it to Don and Phil, who were then recording their own material. It was then that Roy recorded the song himself. A few months later, the song peaked at number two in the country. What a difference five years make. In this video, check out the girls in the audience (American Bandstand), and Roy looks a little uneasy in this early performance. Five years later, on the "Pretty Woman" video above, Roy is relaxed and settled, and cooler looking with his sunglasses on. Also notice the girls of 1965 look way different than the girls of 1960. | The Motels were an LA band that paid its dues in local clubs before being signed to Capital. Fronted by sultry black haired singer Martha Davis, with drumming provided by Britisher Brian Glascock, the band hit the Top Ten in 1982 with "Only The Lonely." The next year they hit the Top Ten again with "Suddenly Last Summer." After two more postings in the Top 40, the band broke up in 1987. |
| "Out Of Sight" by James Brown | |
| It would not be an understatement to say that all the funk drummers of the '70s, and later, got their first inspiration from listening to the drummers of James Brown. From the mid-'50s, JB's records had always placed high in the R&B charts, but it wasn't until this song (which went to # 24 on the pop charts in 1964), that the rest of us caught up. Brown's musical arrangements (and what his drummers did) presaged funk music by five years. Just a smooth performance in this video. |
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