I hope you've not become tired of games/polls yet...I just got an idea of a new game that is a bit complicated but I think it could be a lot of fun.

We could pretend that this is a daily radio show with a top 10 list based on listeners' votes. However, in this game the outcome each day is decided by only one forum member, and the contenders for the list are the AM top 10 songs from each year.

The first year with 10 songs at AM is 1951 and I'm gonna use 1951-1952 as an example of the game and then we can continue with 1953 and take one year per day until we're at year 2007. At the end we'll see which song was the final winner, the longest runner, spent most time at no. 1, etc.

OK, so the 1951 list is as follows:
1. Jackie Brenston - Rocket 88
2. Elmore James - Dust My Broom
3. Les Paul & Mary Ford - How High the Moon
4. Hank Williams - Hey Good Lookin'
5. Hank Williams - Cold, Cold Heart
6. Johnnie Ray - Cry
7. Lefty Frizzell - Always Late (with Your Kisses)
8. Bud Powell - Un Poco Loco
9. Billy Ward & The Dominos - Sixty Minute Man
10. Earl Bostic - Flamingo

Now, let's say that someone who is 100% correlated with AM makes the next vote. With the top 10 songs from 1952 as the new contenders we get:
1 (1) (2 years) Jackie Brenston - Rocket 88
2 (-) (NEW) Lloyd Price - Lawdy Miss Clawdy
3 (-) (NEW) Hank Williams - I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive
4 (2) (2 years) Elmore James - Dust My Broom
5 (3) (2 years) Les Paul & Mary Ford - How High the Moon
6 (4) (2 years) Hank Williams - Hey Good Lookin'
7 (-) (NEW) Kitty Wells - It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels
8 (5) (2 years) Hank Williams - Cold, Cold Heart
9 (-) (NEW) Jimmy Forrest - Night Train
10 (6) (2 years) Johnnie Ray - Cry

Now my plan is this: The eligible songs for the next round are the 10 songs above plus the AM top 10 songs from 1953. Next person to present a new top 10 is the first person who (in this thread) says he/she wants to make the next vote. Then he/she makes the vote on the following day, so that there's time for some debate about the upcoming results.

I hope someone knows these years (1951-1953) reasonably well and wants to make the first real step of this game. Otherwise we may jump ahead a few years.

Please continue with the template above, i.e.
Position (Last position) (Number of years on list) Artist - Song
A comment to the vote is also appreciated.

One little rule: You are not allowed to vote 2 years in a row.
This rule may be adjusted (for example only one vote per decade) during the game depending on the number of people who are interested in voting.

Nice idea. How far ahead can one book years? Do I have to wait for tomorrow to sign up for 1954, following Nicolas' request for '53? If I can, I'd like to sign up now.

Rune, good idea to book years in advance! But I think it should only be possible to book the first available year. Also, a person can only book one year at a time.

Note that even if you have booked a year a long time ago, there should be one day between your presentation and the previous list.

So Rune has taken 1954. Who's up for 1955?

I'm dying to start. Why aren't anyone else showing this any attention?

I'm definitely in, although I don't know too much about the songs of 1956. But I'll find them! Unless someone else would really like to do 1956 of course.

Silly me, I just had an actual look at the songs and it shouldn't be a problem. Quite a good year in fact. I'll take 1956.

Jeez, I can't read at all today. 55 is fine too.

Maybe someone should have been starting at 1951. What Henrik wrote was just an example, wasn't it?

I'd like to stick with my booking. I've been partying like it's 1954 all day.

What year should I take? Is there one missing to start it off or should I take something else?

I'm not understanding the rules totally either...can we choose any song from that year or do we have to stick to the AM top 10?

John, 1956 is free if you like.

I was thinking only top 10. I guess it's not too late to change the rules, but free choices among all songs from each year is probably not a good option in this case, as everyone would then always pick their favorites from the new year.

56 it is. That makes sense. Is there a reason we have to wait a day to start the next year?

I did not think of the possibility to book years in advance, and I wanted to make sure that it would not be a total mess with several people posting at the same time.

Also, I wanted to build up a radio show feeling, with scheduled airplay and a limited list of eligible songs to vote for.

To sum it up a little.

1953 nicolas
1954 Rune
1955 Stephan
1956 John
1957 ?
1958 ?
1959 ?
...and so on

This is a great idea Henrik, you can count me in. I think the format is great but if you wanted to include other song choices you could have the person who is up choose one wild card pick from the remaining acclaimed songs (including bubbling unders?)of their year. This song in effect would be #11 and wouldn't count for points (if you are assigning a point system) and the next person up could choose to move this song up or drop it. This would keep people from top loading a favorite song. But like I said the original format sounds fine.

Also I would prefer 1958 but you can pencil me in for '57 if noone else wants it.

What we should do is have the order at the beginning be the order for the rest if someone wants in you can just slide them into the next spot. That way it's completely random especially if other people join in the next week or so and everybody gets to participate. Just an idea.

I'll come back when I see it in action - see how it works

Hi, this is DJ Nicolas on WWAM.

Let's start with the first chart with 1951, 1952 and 1953 songs.

number 10 today is a new entry :

10. (-)(NEW) Webb Pierce - There stands the glass

a very Hank Williams-influenced honky-tonk piece with very countyish lyrics and great melody. Excellent cover by Californian folk singer Ted Hawkins in the 1990s.

Well chosen sir!

The last e-mail was from me, not nicolas, I accidentally typed his name thinking I was replying to him. Not enough sleep.

Anyway, great pick!

Number 9 is also a new entry from 1953.

This vocal group from Baltimore was one of the first to sing for black audiences, and was one of the doo-wop style pioneers. This gospel tune arranged with harmonies was both their swan song and their biggest hit; They indeed had their peak at the end of the '40s but a tragic car accident killed one of the funding members and crippled another.
The Elvis Presley cover is very famous.

9. (-) (NEW) Orioles – Crying In The Chapel

Wow nicolas, you've immediately taken this game to heights I never imagined!!!!!!!

I doubt that the first ten years will cause any fights! But later on there the DJ might get a lot of "How could you"s...

Let's go back to country with this next number by the king of the era, the singer that just set the genre standards for the years to come, I named Hank Williams, the father of contemporary country, a superstar at 25, dead at 29, and with a happy song going back to 1951.
I love his happy songs (this one but also MOve it On Over or Jambalaya, my two favorites)

8 (6) (3 years) Hank Williams - Hey Good Lookin'

the video is not of high quality, but you can see him singing

What's very noticeable is that you can really see that the most of Acclaimed Music sources come from rock critics : the pre-1954 period is seen with a rock point of view : in 1953, the 3 first songs are originals that were covered by Elvis.

Now, let's go back to our chart, with spot #7 and the first representant of the crescent City with a NO R&B classic.

(7) (2) (2 years) Lloyd price - Lawdy Miss Clawdy

Unfortunately, no Youtube but it's on Songza (I dunno how to post a Songza link, sorry)

Welcome back to 1953, just before the Big Bang, back when the world of music was predictable and styles and audiences well separated (like today ?)

All these musics were the modelling clay with which rock and roll was built.

The next song has an interesting story. Sung by a lady who became the first queen of country music ever.
She made a name for herself with this subtle JD Miller song that borrowed a very popular tune in country music that was known since the Carter Family and was first made popular with the Roy Acuff version of "The Great Speckled Bird".

But most of all "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" was an answer to Hank Thompson's "Wild Side of Life", a song published a few monthe before in 1952 in which the singer blamed his wife for leaving him for another man.

The Kitty Wells song protests against the image of women pictured in the cheating songs. This song (which was the first nb 1 country hit sung by a woman) gave wells this women's lib reputation while her other tracks were much more conventional in the best tradition of the faithful and domestic wife.

Johnny Cash on the Folsom Prison album borrows the tune for a funny song called "Flushed From The Bathroom of Your Heart"

So,

6 (7) (2 years) Kitty Wells - It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels

"But later on there the DJ might get a lot of "How could you"s..."

Just like a real radio station! I'm a music director at a radio station and I know the calls I received when I slightly changed the format of the station. So that's perfect!

Time for the end of the chart, but I don't know if there are many listeners...

No more than Elvis, Ike Turner didn’t invent rock’n roll. This song is not the first rnr song, as Sam Philips allegedly claimed. Because there never was any first rock’n roll song. The beat was old as the world, or rather old as cotton-picking, as the sound of the first trains, as the boogie.

So what’s different with “Rocket 88” ? It’s a boogie in the Louis Jordan way, but with a saturated electric guitar doubling the riff made by Ike Turner’s left hand on his piano.



here is a cool wikipedia article about the song with all you need to know about it

So, we have

5 (1) (3 years) Jackie Brenston - Rocket 88

I'm still listening DJ Nic! Excellent presentation.

Who cares about 1951-53 ? I do.

Next song is a song recorded on Atlantic by a NO monument : the great pianist professor longhair. Along with "Mardi Gras In New Orleans", "Tipitina" is his best song.
The 1953 version is far less good than a 1974 one I have, a little bit slower, so it is only number 4.



4 (-)(NEW) Professor Longhair -Tipitina

you're lucky : on Youtube they only have this fabulous live veideo very close to the 1974 interpretation
is there anything more joyful than this song ?

I'm following this show quite closely too, as I'm up for the role as a DJ tomorrow. Nice work, brother Nicolas.

Number 3 is a singer I've already introduced : the great Hank Williams Sr with this song that was later covered by ray Charles

3 (-) (NEW) Hank Williams - Your Cheatin' Heart

Great song