On The Records

The time between the Rock & Roll of the 1950’s and the British Invasion of 1964 seems to be mostly forgotten.  The music on the radio in America in the early 1960s was mainly focused on male vocalists, who ended up being called Teen Idols.

I’d been planning on writing an article on this era, but it was the recent death of 86-year-old singer/songwriter Neil Sedaka (February 27, 2026) that pushed me to actually complete it.

Neil Sedaka is seen here with the two biggest teen idols, Ricky Nelson and Elvis Presley, plus fellow singer-songwriter Roy Orbison.  Ricky and Elvis both started during the 1950s Rock & Roll era, and continued their success into the early 60s.  Most of their hit songs were written by professional songwriters, which was the norm for the time.  You’ll see some of their 60s hits in a songlist below.

Neil Sedaka was a piano prodigy, and a songwriter who started having success in the late 50s, but his biggest hits were from 1960 to 1962.  His songs  included “Calendar Girl” (#4), “Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen” (#6), “Next Door To An Angel” (#5), and his biggest hit “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do” (#1).

Roy Orbison had his first Top 40 chart success in 1960, with the #2 hit “Only The Lonely”.  Then came #1 “Running Scared”, #2 “Crying”, #4 “Dream Baby”, and #7 “In Dreams”.  His biggest #1 hit came during Beatlemania in 1964, “Oh, Pretty Woman” (one of the best singles of all time).  That was really unusual, because the teen idols virtually disappeared from the charts when The Beatles dominated at the beginning of 1964.

Some of the other successful singers during the early 60s included Gene Pitney, and three Bobby’s…Bobby Vinton, Bobby Rydell, and Bobby Vee.  It seems Bobby was a popular name, and in 1962 one-hit-wonder Marcie Blaine had the #3 song “Bobby’s Girl”.  She wanted to be Bobby’s girl, we just don’t know which Bobby.

The other popular boy’s name in the songs of the era was “Johnny”.

To help you remember, or maybe even discover some of the songs and artists from the Teen Idol years, here’s a list of hits from my collection that I put together many years ago.  You can see I started with “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do”, because it was perhaps the most representative song, plus it’s really good!

Teen Idols 1960-1963:

1. Breaking Up Is Hard To Do…Neil Sedaka
2. Sealed With A Kiss…Brian Hyland
3. Poetry In Motion…Johnny Tillotson
4. Take Good Care Of My Baby…Bobby Vee
5. Forget Him…Bobby Rydell
6. Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream)…Roy Orbison
7. Sheila…Tommy Roe
8. Calendar Girl…Neil Sedaka
9. Venus In Blue Jeans…Jimmy Clanton
10. It’s Now Or Never…Elvis Presley
11. Crying…Roy Orbison
12. Only Love Can Break A Heart…Gene Pitney
13. Runaway…Del Shannon
14. Travelin’ Man…Ricky Nelson
15. Blue Velvet…Bobby Vinton
16. Next Door To An Angel…Neil Sedaka
17. It Hurts To Be In Love…Gene Pitney
18. Hello Mary Lou…Ricky Nelson (Gene Pitney wrote “Mary Lou”)
19. Can’t Help Falling In Love…Elvis Presley
20. Mr. Lonely…Bobby Vinton
21. Only The Lonely…Roy Orbison
22. Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen…Neil Sedaka
23. Teenage Idol…Ricky Nelson
24. Runaround Sue…Dion
25. Roses Are Red (My Love)…Bobby Vinton
26. Stand By Me…Ben E. King
27. Return To Sender…Elvis Presley
28. It’s Up To You…Ricky Nelson

The Teen Idol era was partly a return to the Tin Pan Alley days when artists recorded tunes by professional songwriters.  There were some remnants of 50s Rock & Roll, but until the British artists landed with their revitalized version of Rock & Roll with a big beat, we didn’t know what we’d been missing.  That excitement showed us that our music had been a bit too mellow…even though it was fun to sing along with some great melodies.

Extra:  Personal memories from the era include:   My two older sisters played records by these artists, and also sang the songs in harmony in the back seat of our car on family trips.  I enjoyed singing Ricky Nelson songs with a grade school classmate who played guitar.  And, the chosen song for the first dance of our Homecoming King & Queen was “Blue Velvet”, because they wore blue velvet capes.

The Comebacks:  Both Neil Sedaka and Roy Orbison had major career revivals.  For Sedaka, he had a #1 hit “Laughter In The Rain” in 1975, and co-wrote the hits “Love Will Keep Us Together” (#1)  for The Captain and Tennille, and “Solitare” (#1 Adult Contemporary hit) for The Carpenters.

Roy Orbison joined his friends George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne in The Traveling Wilburys in 1988.  He also recorded a successful solo album, and a very impressive live concert, A Black And White Night.  Sadly, in December of 1988, Roy Orbison died of a heart attack at the age of 52.  The music of such talented artists lives on.

For an article on the Girl Groups of the 60s, click this link:

https://ontherecords.net/2018/06/girl-groups/

The Man On The  Run documentary about Paul McCartney is now streaming on Amazon Prime.

If you’ve closely followed Paul McCartney’s career, there probably won’t be many revelations for you, but you will find a lot of photos and videos that haven’t been available to the public.

It’s hard to believe how run down the Scottish farm is that Paul and his wife, Linda, retreated to after the (unannounced) breakup of The Beatles in September of 1969.  They lived on the farm with Linda’s young daughter, Heather, new baby Mary, and eventually daughter Stella.  The family loved the farm as a peaceful escape from the craziness of fame.

After a bout of depression over the breakup of The Beatles, Paul began recording in a makeshift studio at the farm.  McCartney said, “Songwriting is the ultimate therapy.”  Besides writing the songs, Paul played all of the instruments.  The result was a #1 album, McCartney.

That leads us to an unusual aspect of the Man On The Run film.  It spends a lot of time dwelling on the negative side of his career, such as critics not liking his early albums, or that Paul was not in touch with serious issues of the day.  Although they eventually got to the immense popularity of his concerts, you wouldn’t know that he was the most popular artist of the 1970s (which is according to his Billboard chart performance).

What does come across is how important Linda was to pulling Paul out of his depression.  She  lovingly supported him, even when she had to bear the brunt of criticism for being in McCartney’s band, Wings.  The film does a good job of showing how the McCartney family thrived through a very unusual lifestyle.

The McCartney’s were almost certainly the first Rock & Roll family to tour together.  Those tours eventually became similar to the frenzy that surrounded The Beatles.  Paul said “Performing live is the payoff” (for his recording career), so that explains why he’s toured into his 80s.

Since John Lennon very publicly criticized Paul with the song “How Do You Sleep”, we also get to see him say on a television show…“If I can’t have a fight with my best friend, I don’t know who I can fight with.”  Paul mentions how important it was for him to have made up with John before his tragic murder in 1980.

Man On The Run is very worthwhile viewing for his fans.

As a companion to the documentary, here are some of Paul McCartney’s accomplishments in his recording career, starting with his six best-selling albums.

You may be surprised to see that McCartney’s first two albums have each sold over 4-million copies, even though they were originally considered weak by crtics.  Here’s a complete list of his studio recordings.

McCartney’s songs often found their way into the Billboard Top 10 during the 1970s.

No other artist had the amazing success Paul McCartney experienced as both a member of The Beatles and as a solo artist  (+ Wings).  As a songwriter and performer, he holds the record for the most #1 songs in history (32).

The film, Man On The Run, covers the decade after the breakup of The Beatles, and Paul McCartney’s career has spanned another five decades after that!

In order for The Beatles to become the phenomenon they were, a lot of things had to go right.  One of the very most important was that it was George Martin who signed them to a recording contract, and became their producer.

In 2026,  George Martin would have been 100 years old (he died at 90).  Martin was only 15 years older than Ringo Starr and 17 years older than Paul McCartney.  The age gap between The Beatles and George Martin was the perfect amount to give him the experience and knowledge the group respected, but not so much that he was too old to identify with their youthful talent and musical growth.

George Martin was not only an experienced producer, he was a musician (piano & oboe), an arranger, and an orchestral conductor.  All of his musical skills were needed as the young Beatles started their professional songwriting and recording careers.

Early on, Martin would help them determine which songs had the greatest potential, how they could arrange the verses and choruses, and he helped fine tune their harmonies.  If you heard a piano or organ on an early Beatles song, it was played by George Martin.  In fact, except for a drum part on one version of “Love Me Do”, Martin was the only musician besides The Beatles on any of their recordings until the Help album in 1965.

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison normally presented their newly written songs to George Martin as he sat on a stool in the studio while they played acoustic guitars and sang.  Then arranging and rehearsals began until the songs were ready for the start of the recording process.

As The Beatles’ songs became more sophisticated, George Martin’s skill as an orchestral arranger became very important.  The first time was on the Help album when John wanted a flute on “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away”, and then later on the same album when George suggested a string quartet for “Yesterday”.  After that, various sizes of orchestral sections or even full orchestras appeared on Beatles recordings.  Those included such diverse songs as “Eleanor Rigby”, “Sgt. Pepper”, “A Day In The Life”, “Martha My Dear”, “I Am The Walrus”, “Something”, “Carry That Weight”, and so many more.

There are a couple reasons for the timing of this article.  I just finished reading my fourth book about George Martin…

…and in celebration of Martin’s work, a special collection of his orchestral scores is being released.

Obviously such a collection is aimed mostly at musicians and composers who can appreciate the details of George Martin’s skills.

If you want the deluxe version with a sheet George signed when the project was first proposed, the price goes up to $1,000.  I love how they used a Mid-Century Modern display for the presentation.

The collection of scores will be released in April.

The best way to enjoy and honor George Martin’s legacy is to pay attention to all those orchestral touches in Beatles songs.  You can even hear some of his arrangements isolated in the Anthology series, or as extra tracks in the 50th Anniversary box sets.

Extra:  So what was George Martin’s biggest regret about a Beatles album?  He said his favorite single by The Beatles is “Penny Lane” with “Strawberry Fields Forever”, but there was one problem.  During The Beatles Anthology video, he said… “The only reason ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ and ‘Penny Lane’ didn’t go onto the new album (Sgt. Pepper) was a feeling that if we issued a single, it shouldn’t go onto an album.  That was a crazy idea, and I’m afraid I was partly responsible.  It was a smashing single, but it was also a dreadful mistake.”

George Martin would probably be happy that we can now drop the two songs into the middle of our Sgt. Pepper playlists.  “Penny Lane” sounds perfect after “Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite”, which was the last song on side one.  “Strawberry Fields Forever” can then lead into “Within You, Without You” at the start of side two.  That way the original two sides of the album remain intact.  Even a great album like Sgt. Pepper would be elevated with those two amazing recordings.

In 1967 we just had vinyl records.  They only held 22:30 minutes of time per side for best audio quality.  Here’s the track list for Sgt. Pepper.

”Penny Lane” 3:03 could have been squeezed onto side one, with just a slight bit of early fading of song endings.  “Strawberry Fields Forever” 4:07 probably would have had to replace “Within You Without You”, which is the track that least fits the overall sound of the album.  Although it would have meant George Harrison wouldn’t have had a song on Sgt. Pepper, “Within You Without You” would actually have sounded more at home on Magical Mystery Tour or The White Album.

Time is the enemy of old music.  Most music consumption these days is by streaming, and recent statistics show that (overall) the older the songs are, the less they’re streamed.  Almost 90% of streaming is of songs from 2000 through today.  Songs from all of the 20th century make up only about 10%.

You can see that the number of streams consistently goes down with each older decade.  Songs from the 1960s make up less than 1.4%, and that includes songs from the 50s, 40s, and before!

Although it’s not really measurable, it’s highly likely that older music lovers own a lot of their music and use streaming less.  Using myself as an example, the above percentages are probably reversed, with 90% of my collection from before 2000, and 10% after.  Also, the vast majority of my listening is to the songs I own.

Back to streaming…what are the songs from the 60s that are streamed the most?

The above list represents the 1960s songs that have been streamed the most since streaming became popular.  It should be noted that The Beatles’ songs were withheld during the early years, so they automatically have fewer streams than would be expected.  Here’s a list of some of the top 60s songs as they were streamed over the past year or so.

Here’s a similar list for songs from the 1970s.

Songs from the 60s and 70s do break through to larger audiences from time to time, but as the teenagers of each decade pass away (along with their favorite artists) those songs tend to fade into the sunset too.

In recent years, our local “Oldies” radio station completely stopped playing 60s & 70s songs.  It was very much like when I became the General Manager of some radio stations in 1986.  One of our formats was an automated station of Big Band music.  I changed it to a live format with Adult Contemporary music.  It had to be done to make the station more successful, and it worked.

Now, the era of 60s and Classic Rock music I love has moved to a much less prominent place in the world.  Time eventually changes everything.

Extra Experiment:  Just to see what I’d get, I asked Alexa (Amazon Prime Music) to play some 60s songs.  She said “Here’s a mix of 60s hits”.  The first twenty songs that played:

1. Hey Jude…The Beatles #1
2. The Sounds Of Silence…Simon & Garfunkel #1
3. Respect…Aretha Franklin #1
4. Satisfaction…The Rolling Stones #1
5. Good Vibrations…The Beach Boys #1
6. You Can’t Hurry Love…The Supremes #1
7. Mr. Tamborine Man…The Byrds #1
8. Son Of A Preacher Man…Dusty Springfield #10
9. My Girl…The Temptations #1
10. Like A Rolling Stone…Bob Dylan #2
11. You Really Got Me…The Kinks #7
12. Light My Fire…The Doors #1
13. Ring Of Fire…Johnny Cash #17
14. I’m A Believer…The Monkees #1
15. I Heard It Through The Grapevine…Marvin Gaye #1
16. Dock Of The Bay…Otis Redding #1
17. California Dreaming..The Mamas & Papas #4
18. Be My Baby…The Ronettes #2
19. A Change Is Gonna Come…Sam Cooke #31
20. In The Midnight Hour…Wilson Pickett #21

You can see 12 of the songs were #1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 during the 1960s.  The three songs that followed the top twenty were also #1 hits (“I Can’t Help Myself”, “Downtown”, and “Windy”), so songs with a #1 ranking obviously were given extra weight when the mix was developed.  The songs they chose were so popular they’re also all in my collection.

Some Classic Rock artists who started half-a-century ago are still selling albums and getting a lot of streams.  Billboard released their end-of-the-year charts for 2025, and the album that topped the Catalog Chart (for albums older than 18 months) was Rumours by Fleetwood Mac.  Considering many current artists (like Taylor Swift) have albums that fall into that category, it’s an impressive feat for Fleetwood Mac.

On the overall Top 200 album chart Rumours was at #25 for the year.  The album has consistently been among the top albums in recent years, often breaking into the yearly Top 10 for vinyl sales.  It was the #6 selling vinyl album in 2025.

Other Classic Rock albums in the Top 100 include Elton John’s Diamonds collection at #35, the always-selling Creedence Clearwater Revival hits album Chronicle is #58, Queen’s Greatest Hits is #64, Journey’s Greatest Hits is #75, and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ Greatest Hits is #97.

The Classic Rock albums that made the second half of the Top 200 include Lynyrd Skynyrd’s All Time Greatest Hits at #129, Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Hits #136, Aerosmith’s Greatest Hits #141,  Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band’s Greatest Hits #145, and Eagles Greatest Hits #147.

You may have noticed that Rumours is the only one of these albums that’s not a greatest hits collection.  It’s just a really strong album with quality tracks that have timeless arrangements and production.  The songs are well known, but since most of them weren’t singles they weren’t as overplayed as some hits.  The album’s #1 hit, “Dreams” has been a TikTok favorite, and was actually the #62 single globally for 2025, even though it’s nearly 50 years old…amazing!

One of the big classic releases of 2025 was The Beatles Anthology Collection.  It came out too late in the year to be counted for 2025, but the new Anthology 4 was the #6 seller in its first week.

It’s nice to know classic artists are still selling and being streamed.  It’s understandable (but a little sad) that greatest hits collections are streamed the most, instead of the many iconic individual studio albums.

The Beatles Anthologies consist of 191 songs over four volumes.  It’s a lot to go through and get to know.  Here’s a guide to the 50 best studio recordings (live tracks not included).  Then we’ll take a close look at 16 must-have tracks for an album-length playlist to enjoy often.

Here are two CD-length lists of the 50 selected studio recordings in chronological order.  The tracks from Anthology 4 are placed into their proper historical context.

The first four songs are from before The Beatles started recording for EMI in England.  They include two amateur recordings when John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison were part of The Quarrymen.  The next two are high-quality recordings The Beatles did in Germany.  “Ain’t She Sweet” is the first time the group and John Lennon’s famous voice were properly recorded.  Famed producer Bert Kaempfert recorded the band while they were backing Tony Sheridan.  The Beatles (billed as The Beat Brothers) got two songs on the album…the second is an original instrumental, with songwriting credited to Lennon & Harrison.  Some of the other songs will be detailed later.

There are a couple ringers on the second list.  Two instrumental tracks from The White Album box set are included…“Back In The U.S.S.R.” & “Revolution”.  Besides some of the songs to be highlighted later, there are some good raw recordings and jams from the Get Back sessions, 12-18 above.  Plus, there’s an early take of “Here Comes The Sun” and the impressive orchestrations of “Something” and “Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight”.

For some reason they left off the first “Oh Darling” from that rehearsal song’s beginning, so here’s the correction:

Here’s the list pared down to the tracks that make a great playlist for repeated listenings.

“I’m Looking Through You” is the 1st take, and it’s amazing how good it is.  When the Anthologies were first released, some fans preferred this rhythmic take to the final recording, even though the “Why, tell me why” bridge was not included.

Hearing the strings-only instrumental of Eleanor Rigby shows the arranging genius of producer George Martin.  It’s fantastic!

”I’m Only Sleeping” is The Beatles unplugged, and is so different from the finished electric album track.

The demo and 1st take of “Strawberry Fields Forever” show the song developing.  At first Lennon sings “Let me take you back” (instead of “down”).  These versions really accent the lyrics without the psychedelic extras.  Here are the demo & take 1 together:

The earlier mix of “Penny Lane” is nearly as good as the final one.  Here we get oboes in the middle section, and a great piccolo trumpet flourish during the long final note of the song.  Then there’s a bit of psychedelia added and John Lennon says (in a heightened British accent) “A suitable ending, I think”.  That all would have fit perfectly with the spirit of the Sgt. Pepper album if the song had been placed after “Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite”.

The orchestration for “She’s Leaving Home” is absolutely beautiful, and deserves to be heard this way.  The track was arranged by Mike Leander, and George Martin conducted the string section.

When Anthology 2 was released, we heard an early take of “Good Morning Good Morning” from before those title words were included.  It gave the song a more serious feel.  I had to add back in the horns and guitar parts to give it a finished sound.  This version accents Ringo’s drumming.  Here’s the audio to the song that would probably have been called “Nothing To Say”.

The first time someone hears the alternate version of “Hello Goodbye”, the extra guitar accents seem a little out of place.  However, over the decades, I found that I missed the guitar parts when listening to the hit single.  Now the alternate version is my favorite.

Listening to the clever orchestration George Martin did for “I Am The Walrus” reveals how it greatly elevates the song.  How did he even come up with it?!

This earlier version of “Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da” is almost as good as the final product.  Although it’s missing the piano, it has some clever touches of its own, including a cool “sliding saxophone” part.

”While My Guitar Gently Weeps” is a must-have version that matches the song’s title.  The great recording on The White Album could never be replaced, but the acoustic version stands on its own with this impressive George Harrison solo performance.  It would have been cool to have both versions on the original double album.

”Good Night” was written by John Lennon, and given to Ringo Starr who uses just the right vocal touch.  This combination of a rehearsal with the orchestra added is better than the album version, and more appropriately gentle for the song than the multiple harmony version on Anthology 4.

There are several released versions of “Across The Universe” but this simpler second take represents John Lennon’s song the best.

And we end with the final three songs the four Beatles (kind of) recorded together.  The 2025 remixes of “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love” are a giant leap forward in making us believe John recorded his vocals in a studio.  It’s also great that the new technology made it possible for “Now And Then” to be completed.

Thirty years ago, fans felt lucky to get the Anthology Collection to give us a look into the recording process of The Beatles, and to get historic recordings.  The expanded 2025 collection provides even more for us to enjoy.

Before streaming came along, if you wanted to know how an album sounded, you had to buy it.  In the 60s & 70s the hints we got about whether we would like albums were the singles that were released to radio stations.  Usually one single was released before the album came out, and then other singles were chosen from an album once the previous single peaked on the charts.  Typically, three singles were released per album over several months.

(Some of the picture sleeves from my 1960s singles.)

Vinyl singles were normally priced from 69-cents to 99-cents back then.  Albums were priced around 3-dollars each.  So, you could justify buying an album if you knew it had at least three good songs.

As we moved into the late 60s and early 70s, some FM stations would play album tracks mixed-in with the hits.  Some even had an “album of the week” that they would play in its entirety.  I heard The Beatles White Album before it hit the stores.  Of course Beatles albums were always purchased right away without having to hear them.  That was based on the band’s track record, and other top artists were like that too.

(The picture sleeves from some of my CCR singles.)

When Creedence Clearwater Revival started becoming popular, I just bought their singles like “Proud Mary”, “Bad Moon Rising” & “Green River”, but that led me to buying their albums too.  That’s how it worked when you found artists you liked.

It was fairly common for artists to release three albums, followed by a Greatest Hits or Best Of collection (choosing 10 to 12 songs from their three albums).  Part of the reasoning for that quick pace was that no one knew how long artists would be popular.  They had to cash-in while they were hot.  Those hits albums allowed us to replace our old singles with the stereo versions.  Singles in stereo started being released in 1968.

Although some larger cities had music stores with listening stations, most record stores and department stores didn’t have them.  Other ways of learning about albums included…recommendations from friends, by reading reviews in magazines like Rolling Stone, and by simply taking a chance.

Around 1968, mono albums were being phased out, so it was possible to find good albums on sale in the “dollar bin”.  My first Moody Blues Days Of Future Passed was purchased that way.  I loved it, bought the stereo version, and then bought all their albums (in stereo) as they were released.

High quality albums like that, and by artists like The Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel were not the norm.  Honestly, if the album you bought had three to five good songs, you were lucky.  Even some of our favorite artists could burn us.  I bought albums by Neil Young (in the 80s) that only had one or two good songs (at least to me).  I kept buying his albums though, because he was always capable of coming up with songs I love.  If albums had been streaming back then, I could have skipped some albums, or even just bought the digital tracks I liked.

Music consumers have it better today.  We have so much music we can access, and the monthly streaming fees are way less than buying the albums and singles.

The negative of streaming for artists is that it makes it much harder for them to sell their music, since fans can simply stream all their albums.  In addition, if the albums have any weak songs or lyrics that offend someone, the artists can be savaged online.

The negative aspect of streaming for fans is that with physical sales down, artists have to make most of their money through concerts, and that’s why ticket prices have soared in recent years.

It was great growing up with all the artists and music that eventually were grouped together as Classic Rock, and being able to see concerts at very reasonable prices, even though the music was much more expensive to buy.  It sure would have blown our minds to have had instant access to all that music, the way it is today.

Taylor Swift released her 12th original studio album, (or 16th if you count her expanded Taylor’s Versions).  The result was huge sales, high praise, and harsh criticism of The Life Of A Showgirl.

There was also a major announcement for a new six-part documentary series, The End Of An Era, about what it took to pull off the Eras Tour.  Plus, there’s a film of the final concert.  The series and final concert film both started streaming on Disney+ on December 12th, 2025, and are excellent.

Let’s first tackle the controversy over the sales record Swift set, and then move on to the quality of the album itself.  Taylor Swift’s The Life Of A Showgirl sold over 4-million copies in the first week (and another 1.5-million outside the U.S.).  That’s a new record that passed Adele’s 25 album, which was released ten years earlier, November of 2015.

One reaction was that Swift had cheated by offering so many versions of her album so fans would buy multiple copies, and by having discounts on some digital versions later in the first week.  That’s true, but other artists have used similar methods, and didn’t break any records.  Specifically, those who felt bad for Adele apparently forgot that she withheld the streaming of her album so fans would have to buy it if they wanted to hear it, and that she bundled CD’s with ticket sales…a method that was later rejected by Billboard.

You can see Taylor Swift is a phenomenon with six of the biggest first weeks in this century.  All methods she used for sales are readily available for all artists.  They should feel free to see if they can achieve similar results.  For Swift, it was her 15th straight album to debut at #1.  Now her total #1’s only trails The Beatles, who had 19 #1 albums.

Showgirl was #1 for 12 weeks.  That’s her fourth album to have at least 10 weeks, and matches the record set by The Beatles and Elvis Presley.  On the singles chart, “The Fate Of Ophelia” spent eight weeks at #1 before the annual Christmas songs took over, then popped back to #1 for her personal best single, 10 weeks at #1.

The Life Of A Showgirl earned the #1 spot on the 2025 top albums chart.  That’s the fifth time Taylor Swift has received the Billboard Album Of The Year award.  No other artist has earned more than three.

The initial reaction by big music publications to The Life Of A Showgirl was very positive, then eventually criticisms arose that the album had too many expletives, was too “adult” for Swift’s younger fans, and there was some criticism of her usually highly-praised lyrics.  With the world we live in today, there were even crazy & ignorant misinterpretations about white supremacy and racism that are the opposite of Swift’s entire history.

The criticism about expletives is basically true.  Two-thirds of the songs (8) contain them.  Four of the very best songs do not… “The Fate Of Ophelia”, “Elizabeth Taylor”, “Opalite”, and “Ruin The Friendship”.  If the word “bitch” doesn’t bother you, three more songs are acceptable… “Eldest Daughter”, “Honey”, and “Life of A Showgirl”.  That leaves five songs… “Father Figure”, “Actually Romantic”, “Wish List”, “Wood”, and “Cancelled” that are best described as rated PG-13.  Critics cite the use of sexual explicitness and strong language.  That’s fine for the 35-year-old Swift and her adult fans, but not so great for 10-year-olds who adore her.

But there’s a solution for younger fans and people who’d rather skip the expletives.  In digital form, you can purchase a “Clean” version of the album.  It’s actually well done, and uses alternative lyrics that make sense.  It could be argued that it’s the better album, because it loses the crudeness and cringe of some of the tracks.  It’s a shame the clean version isn’t available on CD’s and vinyl, so fans could enjoy those physical souvenirs.

For the first 14 years of her career, until she was 30, Taylor Swift very rarely used expletives in her songs.  It would be interesting if she returned to no expletives as her main version for her next album.  Then for people who miss the explicit language, she could release an alternate “Curses” version digitally.  That’s meant to sound funny and it won’t happen, but I have both versions of Showgirl, and if I could only keep one, it would be the clean version.

Now…how good is the album?

(Above are behind-the-scenes shots of Taylor Swift, Max Martin, and Shellback.  The three of them co-wrote and produced all 12 of the songs.  In the above group photo, Max is on the left.)

Anyone with an ear for Pop music knows Showgirl is impressive.  If it only contained “The Fate Of Ophelia, “Opalite” and “The Life Of A Showgirl”, it would be worth it.  When you add in “Elizabeth Taylor”, “Eldest Daughter”, “Ruin The Friendship”, and “Honey”, you’ve made a really good purchase.  If any of the other tracks appeal to you, that’s a bonus.  The most obvious hit on the album is the infectious “Opalite”, Pop gold.  Any criticism about the lyrics not being as deep or serious as Folklore or Tortured Poets is misplaced.  It’s one of Swift’s “glitter pen” less serious albums.

Taylor Swift knows bad reviews will always be mixed with the good.  She says… “I have a lot of respect for people’s subjective opinions on art.  Everybody is allowed to feel exactly like they want.”

Taylor Swift’s talent, popularity, and business acumen are so strong that she had the #1 album, the top 12 singles, and the #1 film in theaters…all at the same time!  No one else has done that.  Her success has been so huge for so long that of course some people are looking for faults, and even hoping she’ll finally fail, but The Life Of A Showgirl is another success.

By the way, now that Swift has the qualifying 20-years as a professional, she has been nominated for the Songwriters Hall Of Fame.  She submitted five songs as examples of her songwriting… “Love Story” from 2008, “All Too Well” 2012, “Blank Space” 2014, “The Last Great American Dynasty” 2020, and “Anti-Hero” 2022.  That’s quite a variety of musical styles and topics.  If she gets into the hall on her first try, she’ll be the second-youngest songwriter to make it (the artist who started as “Little Stevie Wonder” was the youngest).  Update:  It was announced on January 21st, 2026 that Taylor Swift was chosen to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame.  Others in her class include Kenny Loggins, Alanis Morissette, and Gene Simmons & Paul Stanley of KISS.  The induction ceremony is in New York June 11th, 2026, and is not open to the public.

Here’s a photo of the dark-haired woman who directed the impressive video for “The Fate Of Ophelia”:

Globally, The Life Of A Showgirl was streamed more than a billion times in its first week.  Its per-track average of over 115-million streams doubled the previous record.  That was by Taylor Swift’s Midnights album, and in third place is her The Tortured Poets Department.  The U.S. provided 49% of her streams, and 51% were from the rest of the world.

Bonus:  The acoustic versions of four of the best songs from the album are not just stripped down from the original recordings, but are fresh.  For instance, “Eldest Daughter” uses acoustic guitar instead of piano.  The songs play right on this site.

The Fate Of Ophelia (Alone In My Tower acoustic):

Eldest Daughter (Now You’re Home Acoustic):

Opalite (Life Of A Song Acoustic):

Ruin The Friendship (My Advice Version):

The second official single from the album is “Opalite”.

Swift released multiple versions of the Opalite single.  The song became Swift’s second #1 hit (in the U.S. & U.K.) from her Showgirl album.  In February, 2026 it was announced that Taylor Swift continues her international dominance:

Seeing this laid out shows no other artist has come close to Taylor Swift’s accomplishments this century.  It’s not easy to earn this honor.  Taylor’s won six times.   No other artist has won more than twice, and you’ll notice there’s no Bad Bunny or Beyonce on the list.  Swift’s first album came out 20 years ago.  Quick, name another artist who was at the peak of their recording popularity 20 years into their career.

Update:  Taylor Swift has long supported record stores by providing exclusive product for “Record Store Day”, and the next one is April 18th, 2026.

Graham Nash says a new documentary about Crosby Stills & Nash will be released in about a year.  He also says photographer/musician Joel Bernstein has found 33 unreleased recordings that will be put out in conjunction with the film.  Nash revealed the information in a September 25th, 2025 interview by Rob Hughes for Uncut.

Nash says the documentary is by famed director Robert Zemeckis (Back To The Future).  This project was first mentioned by David Crosby back in 2021 as a CSN&Y documentary, but was never confirmed.  According to Nash, the film is currently about three hours long.  No other details about the project were mentioned in the interview, but at some point we should get an official press release that will provide more information.  A list of those 33 songs would be great to see!

Graham Nash was doing publicity for his fall tour of the UK.  The 83-year-old says he’s touring with three musicians who are about half his age, and they force him to bring his “A-game” every night.

In the article, Nash talks about 10 of his songs…”Marrakesh Express”, “Teach Your Children”, “Our House”, “I Used To Be A King”. “Better Days”, “Military Madness”, “Immigration Man”, “Just A Song Before I Go”, “Cathedral”, and “Wasted On The Way”.  His comments on each song are interesting, so look for the Uncut article online.  I spotted it in Apple News.

Above are Graham Nash’s first two and last two solo albums.  He says he loves being a solo performer… “I don’t have to ask anybody what to play next.”

After the official breakup of The Beatles in 1970, Paul McCartney pulled himself together and released two solo albums….McCartney & Ram.

Both albums were successful commercially, #1 and #2 respectively, and both platinum.  Crtics were a little harsh, although many opinions were revised years later.  McCartney was truly a solo album, with Paul playing all the instruments.  The main song was “Maybe I’m Amazed”.   Ram was much more heavily produced, with a lot of musicians, and a #1 single, “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey”.  McCartney’s wife, Linda, provided background vocals, and also received co-songwriting credit.

McCartney had a problem…he wanted to perform live, but he didn’t have a band.  He also didn’t want to perform Beatles songs, because expectations would be too high.  Instead, McCartney decided to start a band, and he eventually settled on the name Wings.  It’ll be apparent soon as to whether Wings was really a band, but first here’s how it all unfolded.

Besides his wife Linda on keyboards, Paul McCartney added former Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine, and session drummer Denny Seiwell..  Wings rushed out the album Wild Life (above left) in late 1971, and the band started playing small venues, often unannounced.  Guitarist Henry McCullough was added, and the group toured.

In 1973, the album Red Rose Speedway was released, and although it hit #1 and contained a #1 song, “My Love”, the album was also considered a critical failure.  The band then had a worldwide hit in 1973 with the James Bond movie theme “Live And Let Die” (with the help of producer/arranger George Martin).  Things started looking up as Wings was about to record their third album, but guitarist Henry McCullough and drummer Denny Seiwell quit.

And that brings us the answer to the “real band or not” question.  No, Wings was not a real band.  Not in the normal sense of a group of players coming together and being relative equals.  McCullough and Seiwell quit mostly because they felt they were low-paid sidemen.  That’s what Wings really was…Paul McCartney with musicians he hired.  The next album would prove McCartney didn’t really need any other musicians in the recording studio.

Band On The Run was a huge success, and is the bestselling Beatles solo album.  Like on his first album, Paul McCartney played most of the instruments.  He did have some help from his wife and Denny Laine, plus overdubbed horns.  Here’s the list of all the albums released under the name Wings (or Paul McCartney & Wings) from 1971 to 1979.  McCartney returned to solo albums in 1980.

Besides the three constant members, Paul, Linda, & Denny, here’s the breakdown of the additional three lead guitarists & four drummers.

Now, the history of Wings is being commemorated with a new collection of songs, and a new book.  The WINGS CD’s & Vinyl Records were released November 7th, 2025.

The book was released November 4th, 2025.  It’s over 500 pages.

(The new book, and the solid touring band of Wings Over America.  Drummer Joe English, guitarist Jimmy McCulloch, guitarist Denny Laine, Paul & Linda.)

The one place Wngs became a real band was in concert.  Following Band On The Run and the next album, Venus And Mars, the Wings Over America Tour provided a great concert experience for McCartney fans, and it even included some Beatles songs.

But wait, there’s more.  A new Paul McCartney documentary called Man On The Run was released on Amazon Prime Video February 27th, 2026.  The film covers from the end of The Beatles through the 1970’s Wings era. 

There’s even more.  The BBC is developing a documentary about the search for Paul McCartney’s famous Hofner bass that was stolen during his early Wings days in 1972.  The film is titled The Beatle And The Bass.  No details are available as to when the documentary will air, or how it will be distributed worldwide.  The bass was finally returned to McCartney in 2024 after it was discovered in the attic of a house on the south coast of England.

Tip:  The 2001 Wingspan: Hits & History collection is actually better than the new one.  As you can see from the back of my CD…15 of the 40 songs are solo McCartney tracks that are missing from the new set, and you still get the best songs released under the Wings name.

It pretty well covers McCartney’s entire 70s career, when he was the decade’s #1 Top-40 artist (according to Billboard).  He had 25 Top-40 hits in the 70s.