Zero to 180 – Three Minute Magic

Discoveries of a Pop Music Archaeologist

Category: Musical fights

"Wildwood Flower on the Autoharp"
Zeroto180

“Wildwood Flower on the Autoharp”: Fine Arts vs. Popular Arts

In 1967, Sheb Wooley released a great single, where the A-side – “Love In” – hilariously mocked the “free love” sentiment then in vogue, while the B-side proudly proclaimed the simple music of the “folk” to be the kind that touches his soul the deepest: Wildwood Flower on the Autoharp

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"Mandolina"
Zeroto180

“Mandolinia” vs. The Remarkable Riderless Runaway Tricycle

Media Alert! A battle has suddenly erupted between two formidable foes who share a common sound — the analog synthesizer.  Not just any analog synthesizer sound, mind you, but a deep burbling one:  pulsating and insistent. In this corner, wearing a strangely intricate electronic eyepiece, we have Ronnie Montrose with

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"Musical Fight"
Zeroto180

“Musical Fight”: Most Literal Song Title

“Musical Fight” by The Crashers is, literally, a fight set to music — “Musical Fight“ The Crashers (1970) Produced in 1969 by Sonia Pottinger and released as a split single with Stranger & Patsy (“True Love“), this B-side — renamed “Target” — would be released in the UK the following

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"B-A Bay"
Zeroto180

“B-A Bay” vs. “The Name Game”: Tongue Twister Showdown

I remember being a bit intimidated when I first heard “The Name Game,” Shirley Ellis‘s big tongue twister of a hit — half fearing I would never be able to break the code behind the rhyming game (fortunately, with persistence, I one day did).  “The Name Game,” it is worth

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"Spaceship Races"
Zeroto180

Battle of the “Spaceship Races”

How interesting that Carole King, the musical part of the Goffin-King songwriting partnership, had been writing hits since the very beginning of the 1960s and yet had not released her first solo album until 1970.  The ad campaign that accompanied King’s debut album – an impressive and endless roll call

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