Fwd: Re: top-40 in 1957

[Mark Connelly]

I seem to remember that there was quite a fuss in late 1969 when WMEX 
cut loose with European super-hit "Je T'Aime" by Jane Birkin & Serge 
Gainsbourg.  This featured simulated orgasmic panting by Ms. Birkin.

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlpDf6XX_j0

Earlier in '69, WMEX also got tossed on the grill thanks to John 
Lennon's "Ballad of John and Yoko" with the line "Christ, you know it 
ain't easy."

Meanwhile WBCN and college FM's were sliding by playing songs with far 
more suggestive lyrics and cursing (Zappa stuff, Country Joe "Give me 
an F" etc.) but those guys somehow flew under the radar.  Top 40, on 
the other hand, still had to be held up to a squeaky-clean '50s-like 
standard.  When John H. Garabedian got on WMEX (late '69 or early '70), 
he tried sneaking in anything he thought he could get away with.  I 
think he figured that would be the only way to keep the college-age 
male part of the radio audience who were deserting AM in record numbers 
for WBCN - this at the same time that younger teens, especially 
females, were latching onto WRKO in preference to WMEX.

Mark Connelly
South Yarmouth, MA

<<
Let's not forget WBZ-FM with Paul Simon's "Kodachrome".  The line was 
"when I
think back of all the crap I learned in high school".  It was abridged 
to "when
I think back of all...I learned in high school".  Ah, the power of the 
razor
blade.

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