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Post by BurlyBeaR on Mar 7, 2017 19:35:55 GMT
Anyway I'm seeing Evita again next week which prompted me to look up Linda Lewis' clip below. It made me wonder how long ago MT stopped spawning chart records? I assume it has stopped, not sure because I don't really "do" charts these days. I think I would have remembered Defying Gravity making the top ten though.
So, what were the best (or worst) MT songs that made it as chart hits?
And here's Linda, while you think about it.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2017 19:48:45 GMT
One of the best is 'Take that look off your face' Marti Webb's no. 3 hit from 1980.
I have great memories of singing along to that on the radio, belting out the final line.
The worst is Madonna's version of Don't Cry For Me Argentina. If I never hear that song again I'll be happy.
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2,242 posts
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Post by richey on Mar 7, 2017 19:50:57 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2017 19:55:36 GMT
Anyway I'm seeing Evita again next week which prompted me to look up Linda Lewis' clip below. It made me wonder how long ago MT stopped spawning chart records? I assume it has stopped, not sure because I don't really "do" charts these days. I think I would have remembered Defying Gravity making the top ten though. So, what were the best (or worst) MT songs that made it as chart hits? And here's Linda, while you think about it. Loving this song with a belt and a bit of oomph. Personally I quite like the single version of Love Changes Everything. And indeed Sarah Brighman's Anything But Lonely. Dislike Bab's singles from Sunset. They should have let LuPone do them. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2017 20:04:16 GMT
No Matter What by Boyzone got to number 1 in 1998.
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19,659 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Mar 7, 2017 20:07:38 GMT
Tina Arena -Whistle Down The Wind!
I LOVE that!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2017 20:10:32 GMT
LOL! I knew what song that was going be just from your description alone. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2017 20:12:48 GMT
The first thing that sprung to my mind was the line in the Buffy Musical "Would you say it was a breakaway pop hit, or more of a book number?"
Because that's my level of nerd.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2017 20:16:59 GMT
Another 80's classic has to be 'One Night In Bankok' again from chess
Wasn't Heaven Help My Heart also a single?
Does Chess hold the record for most single releases from a musical?
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4,171 posts
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Post by anthony40 on Mar 7, 2017 20:21:44 GMT
Another 80's classic has to be 'One Night In Bankok' again from chess Wasn't Heaven Help My Heart also a single? Does Chess hold the record for most single releases from a musical? Don't forget I Know Him So Well |
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Post by viserys on Mar 7, 2017 20:43:11 GMT
Well, I'd say Hamilton has by far transcended the "musical theatre" niche, too, even though it hasn't spawned a single proper "chart hit". Though Hamilton is also a good example for the fact that modern chart music and the typical musical theatre sound have very little in common anymore - unlike the 70s and 80s. Even successful stuff like "No matter what" had to be changed to the typical boyband sound of the 90s to become a chart success. Would a song like "Don't cry for Argentina" succeed today, if it was released as a single?
Perhaps that's also a problem for many of the new shows. Would Evita or Cats have become such huge hits, if their big tunes "Don't cry for me Argentina" and "Memory" hadn't been huge chart hits, thus alerting far more people to the existance of the shows and making them want to see them? I was only a kid at the time, but Angelika Milster had a huge hit with the German version of "Memory" when the show opened in Vienna in 1983 and appeared on TV shows in full Grizabella getup. So people definitely sat up and took notice of the "weird costume" and wondered what was going on there.
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Post by westendcub on Mar 7, 2017 20:46:40 GMT
Duncan James did 'I Believe my Heart' from 'The Woman in White'.
I remember Jason Donovan on the top 40 with 'Ant Dream will Do'
'Night Fever' Adam Garcia from 'Saturday Night Fever.
'Hard Knock Life' Jay Z (sampling original Broadway cast).
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2017 20:48:08 GMT
Let's not forget SuBo, ey?
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Post by anthony40 on Mar 7, 2017 20:52:19 GMT
So, I'm about 7 years old in Sydney and this song Don't Cry For me Argentina comes on the radio and everyones singing it.
However my father has a cousin with the unfortunate name (in this circumstances) call Chincina and we used to walk around, arms up singing Don't Cry For Me Aunty Chincina and response was to roll her eyes, high and scream "Shut up! I wish they never wrote that song!"
Lol!
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19,659 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Mar 7, 2017 20:58:40 GMT
Whatever happened to Dina Caroll?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2017 21:08:45 GMT
I LOVED Dina Carrol! I had her album and knew every word. What DID happen to her?
I wonder if she gets a nice royalty cheque every January, seeing as it's only ever played in December
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2017 0:06:47 GMT
Does no.1 on the HI-NRG charts count?? This takes me back.... so many showtunes got a hi-nrg remake, not all of them successful, but i love this one.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2017 0:33:15 GMT
Whatever happened to Dina Caroll? She was gonna be on that David Guest 'IM NOT DEAD' soul tour but then he died. I remember she said she had been offered Speed 2 on some music progrmme and Andi Peters was all like 'say ur gonna do it please' and she was like ok. But she didn't. And Andi is quite high up now so I imagine he got her killed |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2017 0:34:02 GMT
Does no.1 on the HI-NRG charts count?? This takes me back.... so many showtunes got a hi-nrg remake, not all of them successful, but i love this one. For a moment then, I thought this was a cover by Norm Lewis (Javert from the Les Mis 25th Concert). |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2017 0:41:32 GMT
I think the difference is that nowadays musicals have far more specific lyrics. If we think about the Great American Songbook, a good number of those songs came from musicals, but the lyrics weren't specific to the characters or their situations so they were able to transcend the genre. A good example is I Could Write a Book from Pal Joey. It's now a well-known love song but in the context of the show, he's making it all up as a way to get her into bed.
The Hamilton cast recording is a huge chart hit in America. It's STILL in the top 20, nearly two years after it was first released. It was the 5th best selling album of 2016, despite being released in September 2015. In fact, they've just announced tonight that it's gone triple platinum, meaning it's sold over 3 million copies and is the 5th best selling cast album of all time, only below My Fair Lady, Les Mis and two variations of Phantom. But Hamilton hasn't been able to spawn a single song as a chart hit, despite having very current sounding music and even having popular artists cover the songs on The Hamilton Mixtape, which went to #1 in America (although I have heard Chance the Rapper's Dear Theodosia on Radio 1 before). The reason is it's awkward to hear Usher sing about Theodosia writing him a letter every day or Ja Rule rapping about Angelica trying to take a bite out of him. It's nonsensical to the average listener.
So I think it's far more to do with the way that musicals have changed than to do with the songs themselves or even how receptive the general public may be to them.
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Post by firefingers on Mar 8, 2017 1:20:10 GMT
Never Fall In Love again was written for Promises, Promises but it was Dionne Warwick's cover that is best remembered.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2017 7:15:01 GMT
I Don't Know How To Love Him was recorded by lots of artists but I can clearly remember listening to a Petula Clark version which was released as a single. Cilla also recorded it and released it I think. The original version was recorded by Yvonne Elliman although Helen Reddy's version was more successful I believe.
Murray Head recorded Superstar ahead of the LP so it could be released as a single. (John 19:41 was the B side!)
Steve Harley and Sarah Brightman did Phantom of the Opera (a more rock based version that we are now used to) with a promo video by Ken Russell.
Sarah Brightman and Cliff Richard had All I Ask Of You in the charts for a while.
I can clearly remember listening to Julie Covington's Argentina over and over again on the radio before the show was created.
After Evita opened David Essex released a more uptempo version of Oh What A Circus!
Tom Jones released A Boy From Nowhere, I think, from Matador.
One from my childhood- I Will Wait For You, from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, sung by Andy Williams. I used to think this song was for old people. I began to fall in love with it when I was about 20. It's still one of my favourite songs ever.
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Post by anthony40 on Mar 8, 2017 7:30:29 GMT
I Don't Know How To Love Him was recorded by lots of artists but I can clearly remember listening to a Petula Clark version which was released as a single. Cilla also recorded it and released it I think. The original version was recorded by Yvonne Elliman although Helen Reddy's version was more successful I believe. A Boy From Nowhere, I think, from Matador. I Don't Know How To Love Him was a hit for Yvonne Elliman. A Boy From Nowhere was definitely from Matador |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2017 7:34:45 GMT
The "I think" referred to the releasing of the single, not to the musical in question! (I'm pretty sure it used to be played on the radio.)
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Post by floorshow on Mar 8, 2017 8:32:23 GMT
The peak of 80s musicals.. I'm sure Cliff Richard had a hit from this too.
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