1970: The Guess Who hit the top spot on Billboard's Hot 100 with "American Woman". The song was born by accident when guitarist Randy Bachman was playing a heavy riff on stage after he had broken a string and the band had taken a break. The other members joined in on the jam and Burton Cummings started singing the first thing that came into his head. A fan in the audience had it all on tape and presented it to the group after the show. It was quickly developed into a full song in the studio and ended up spending 3 weeks at the top of the US singles chart. It made #19 in the UK.
Courtesy of classicbands.com, YouTube, and Spirit of Resistance Radio!
1976: John Sebastian, who had left The Lovin' Spoonful for a solo career in 1968, hit the top of Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 chart with the theme to the TV show, Welcome Back Kotter. John would later say that he wrote the song in 15 minutes. Oddly enough, it even reached #93 on the Billboard Country Chart.
Courtesy of classicbands.com, YouTube, and Spirit of Resistance Radio!
1983: After cracking the Top 20 a year earlier with "The Break-up Song", San Francisco's Greg Kihn Band reaches #2 on the Hot 100 with a song called "Jeopardy". A year later, Weird Al Yankovic will parody the song as "I Lost On Jeopardy", which has since been referenced several times on the game show itself.
Courtesy of classicbands.com, YouTube, and Spirit of Resistance Radio!
1965: James Brown reworks a song called "I Found You" by Yvonne Fair and comes up with "I Got You" (I Feel Good). It will become the biggest hit of his career, reaching #3 in the US and #29 in the UK.
Courtesy of classicbands.com, YouTube, and Spirit of Resistance Radio!
1969: Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising" is released. It will reach #2 in the US and top the chart in the UK.
Courtesy of classicbands.com, YouTube, and Spirit of Resistance Radio!
