Country has a long history of songs that bring listeners together from many formats that are just fun to listen to. These "guilty pleasures" songs that you may love privately, but not really want to admit in front of a bunch of people with varying musical tastes at the bonfire. I say go for it, it's a huge part of our history. Over a few articles in the coming weeks, I'm going to feature some Guilty Pleasure Songs from the last 43 years I've been in Country Radio. This is week two.
All of these songs were big hits during their time and run, so let's look back at a few this week. These will be fun revisit and hear again. Week 2 - Guilty Pleasure Songs Part One
No Order....
Brand New Girlfriend - Steve Holy - 2006
Steve Holy had some success before this song, that was very different than this song. He had songs like, The Hunger that I loved, but had marginal success. Good Morning Beautiful in 2001 was a big hit going number one. There was then a long distance between that and this. This song went number one in 2006 and was instantly loved by everyone who heard it. It's fun, and its generally silly message resonated with about everybody. There is always room for a song like this on the charts, where bonfire-goers can throw back a few and sing to their hearts content as loud as they want to. Fun song!
Achy Breaky Heart - Billy Ray Cyrus - 1992
Yeah I know, you didn't like this song, no one did. That's why we all know every word and every lick. This album, Some Gave All, sold 20 million copies world wide. It also is the ONLY country debut album to debut at number one, and it stayed on the top ten album chart for 43 weeks. This song clearly went number one. I was the PD and Morning Personality at KLIK In Jefferson City when this song came out, and we were one of the first stations to play this. I heard it, and I knew it was different enough and had a chance to be a hit. This was passed on by the the Oak Ridge Boys, but ended up where it probably belonged.
Elvira - Oak Ridge Boys - 1981
So, the Oaks passed on Achy Breaky Heart and in years to follow, they openly admitted is was a major error. They didn't like the words "Achy Breaky" and had been recording lighter, fun songs for some time, and wanted different. Speaking of the former, this gigantic hit from 1981 went number one Country, and scored very high on the pop charts. This song had been around since 1966 and was a minor hit for writer, Dallas Frazier then, and Rodney Crowell did a version in 1978. But it took the Oaks and Richard Sterban's booming bass voice to make it known in every house on earth. This was on the charts when I was at WLRO in Lorain, Ohio where I played it before I got into country, and it was still on the charts when I was went to WOBL in Oberlin, Ohio IN Country.
