The original Mama Rose in Gypsy. Ethel Merman -1959.

Broadway is fertile ground for songs about mothers and their lives as wives, caregivers, protectors, and doing the best they can.

So who comes to mind when you think about the character of "mother" on the musical stage? Mama Rose? Golde? Kim in Saigon? The resigned mother who lives in Fun Home? Maybe Mama Morton who runs the jail in Chicago? Or might be Anna with the King?
Sometimes happy, sometimes not. Mothers and their children develop many kinds of relationships on stage. This all about them.

"Looks like we made it," to quote Barry Manilow, through perhaps the worst year many of us have ever experienced. With the successful rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines, Americans can begin to think about resuming normal lives. Fully vaccinated people can visit freely in outdoor settings. Grandparents can see thier children and grandchilcren for the first time in over a year. Simple things like going to dinner at a restaurant is once again possible.

We celebrate all this song. Kool & the Gang's "Celebration." The Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun." "Oh, Happy Day" has new meaning. 30 upbeat reminders that we have survived and are no longer "petrified" (thank you Gloria Gaynor).

For me, this is the first live broadcast I've made in 14 months. Because of COVID all of the past year's shows have been produced in my home studio. It's good to alive and "live" again.

The Grammy Awards were established in 1958 to recognize "good" music, elevate the taste in American popular music, and systematically ignore and neglect the tide of rock-n-roll, R&B, and young pop that threatened the fortunes and dominance of the music establishment.

The music establishment of the 1950's, made up of orchestra leaders, record producers, musicians and arrangers were worried about the enthusiasm with which American teenagers were greeting the new music they called rock-n-roll, Rhythm & Blues ("black" music), and young pop singers. They worried as they saw their fortunes start to be impacted and sales decline. In 1957 a group of those leaders in the music business created the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences*. Its first job was to establish an award, not unlike the motion picture industry, that would recognize and promote "good" music and ignore the new tidal wave of rockers through their new "Gramophone Award."

And so began the Grammy Awards. The first ten years of the awards clearly show how the Recording Academy tried to manipulate public taste. In many of the early cases the awards are laughable, even in the context of the late '50s and early '60s. By 1973 the Recording Academy established the Grammy Hall of Fame where they inducted many records annually, many of them overlooked when they were first released, others that pre-date the Grammys, as symbols of significant recordings.

On this edition of American Jukebox we look at the first 15 years of the Grammys and watch the evolution of American music, and include several Hall of Fame inductees. Surprises and a few loud gasps are sure to part of the audience reaction.

Spoilers: The Mormon Tabernacle Choir got the 1959 Grammy for Best Performance by a Group for their "Battle Hymn of the Republic." The Statler Brothers got the 1965 Grammy for the Best Rock and Roll Recording by a Group for their "Flowers On the Wall."

* Today called the Recording Academy.

American Jukebox® 218

And the Oscar for the Best Song written for a film goes to...

Since the category of "Best Song Written For A Motion Picture" was first established in 1934, some of our most beloved songs have come from the movies. The Continental was the first song to receive the Oscar. For the next 80+ years hundreds of songs have been nominated for the award. The Academy voters pick the winner. But the many of the nominated songs are considered even better than the "winners." In this edition of American Jukebox we look at 29 songs from the movies, both the winners and the nominees. We start with Never On Sunday, "Best Song Oscar" winner in 1960 and work our way through the '60's , '70s, '80s and '90s.

According to Dann Isbell's book, RANKING THE '60s, these are the 35 most successful vocal groups of the 1960’s.

A fascinating book called Ranking the '60s, by Dann Isbell, looks at nearly 7,000 records to come onto the national record charts during and limited to the the 1960's: 1960-1969. He applied a complex mathematical formula to each of the chart entries. The records were weighted based on their position on the charts. A #1 hit earned more points than say a #20 hit, let alone a #75 hit. The data was input across the board without bias and based on the results rankings were generated. For the purpose of this program we looked at the ranking of the top 35 groups on the list, including duets like Simon and Garfunkle.

Listeners will be surprised and sometimes miffed by who was on the Top-35 and who was not. It's important to remember that this list is based only on the 1960's. So, for example, if a group like Credence Clearwater Revival only appeared on the charts for the first time in the final year of the '60s, 1969, they did not amass enough records in that one year to receive a higher rank on the list. Groups that were around that had many minor hits and a few big ones were higher on the list. Peter, Paul & Mary, The Marvelettes, and Paul Revere & the Raiders all surpassed Credence because of the years they spent on the charts.

That said, it's a countdown show: #35 - Jay & the Americans; #1 - The Beatles. More favorites in between.

A few musicals, a dozen or so, have been life-changing, mind-blowing shows. Their impact is profound. This is my list. What's yours?

When you're in the theater and suddenly you say to yourself, "where am I?" you have just been transported to that magic place by the confluence of many theatrical elements that make the living stage sometimes breathtaking. I say sometimes, and perhaps even most of the time you may enjoy a show, but it's not life-changing.

On this Broadway Bound I offer my list of 12 musicals that have had a profound effect on me. The oldest is from 1969. The newest is from 2017.

This is my list and is incomplete due to to time constraints. But rest assured, these shows only rarely come along. Spoiler alert. Here they are:

1776
Cabaret
Les Miserables
La Cage aux Folles
Sunset Boulevard
A Chorus Line
Evita
Sweeney Todd
Chaplin
Come From Away
Billy Elliot
Hamilton

Love is life's most precious gift. These songs look at love from many angles.

This is not a show about songs with love in the title, although some do. These songs are about loving. Loving friends, family, lovers. Love is love. And here we span three decades to look into the heart of love.
Mothers and fathers, children, romantic partners, friends. These songs love them all. What the world needs now is love - (thanks Burt Bacharach and Hal David!).

Records are set on Broadway: Biggest, most, best, longest, shortest. They're "tops" in their class.

A look at the "record setters," that is, Broadway musicals through the years that set records in one way or another. Some records are for highest grossing musicals, or longest time to sit on your seats to watch the show, or the biggest financial losers, or the longest running shows ever. My two favs are for "highest ticket price" sold at the box office ($998), and the highest average ticket price ($506) for a Broadway show – this is a real surprise.

You'll probably know some of the records they've set but I guarantee you'll be surprised and stunned by others.

Enjoy the show!
Garrett Stack

Mad man, genius, irrational, wildly creative, cruel, respected, loved, despised: The art of Phil Spector is beyond legend.

The first “teen tycoon” died of the COVID-19 virus on January 16, 2021. His mark and influence in rock, pop and soul is immeasurable. His years as a record producer at his own label, Philles Records, is almost mythical. But it’s not a myth. For much of the 1960’s he created dozens of the best singles of all time. Using young artists, mostly black, his sound was unmistakable.

The artists are legends because of him. The Crystals, Darlene Love, The Ronettes, and The Righteous Brothers head his list of accomplishments that include several more. His work with Tina and Ike Turner, The Beatles, and singularly with John Lennon and George Harrison is known to record-nerds but not to most of the record buying public.

On this edition of American Jukebox® we separate Phil Spector the person, from Phil Spector the artist. We span more than a decade to get a full taste of his artistic mastery and how his genius makes us smile and move to this day.

Back to mono!

Our democracy was invaded by domestic terrorists on January 6, 2021. We witnessed in unbelievable, vivid detail just what they were up to and what they hoped to achieve. Like most Americans I was shaken to my core. This program is dedicated to Our American Story, imperfect though it is, we strive to form a more perfect union.

The music here tells our story in joyful and sometimes harsh ways.

At the beginning of the rock era independent record labels emerged as powerhouses of pop, rock, and R&B. Cameo-Parkway was among the biggest.

American Jukebox® 195: The Cameo-Parkway Story - In the history of recorded music there are many record labels that have had their time in the sun as leaders in the industry. This goes back for a hundred years to labels such as Edison and Victor and then Decca and Columbia. In the 1950’s, at the dawn of the rock era, a few new record labels took root and defined the times. They were small and independent but grew mighty and influential. The artists they signed provide the soundtrack of a generation - the Baby Boom generation.

One such label that shone brightly in the early years was Cameo Records, and then with its subsidiary, Parkway, as Cameo-Parkway. From 1957-1967 Cameo-Parkway’s product output was tremendous. With many many big hits and their fair share of mistakes, like not signing Barbra Streisand, Cameo-Parkway remains the sound of '60s teenagers learning all the new dances and defining their likes on the radio and jukeboxes. This is the story of Cameo-Parkway.

To celebrate 14 years of American Jukebox, host Garrett Stack selects his favorite 14 songs from the '60s, and 14 more from the the '70s.

I thought I'd look at the number 14 and and see what came to me. And there it was, 14 of my favorite songs from each of the two decades, 1960s and 1970s. From girl groups to folk singers, and disco hits to driving soul, here are my choices. Thanks for being with me on this wonderful journey through the American jukebox.

Garrett Stack