Hit Parade: Insert Lyrics Here Edition Part 1

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Tv & Film, Arts, Music

4.2 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 16 September 2023

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If an instrumental tops the charts, it’s probably an earworm: “Tequila.” “Wipeout.” “Dueling Banjos.” “The Hustle.” “Feels So Good.” “Chariots of Fire.” “Axel F.” You can probably whistle or hum several of those from memory. But do you remember the artists? All were one-hit wonders. By and large, instrumental hits throughout chart history were flukes. But there were exceptions: a trumpet player from Los Angeles who pretended to be Latin, made up a fake mariachi band, put sexy models on his album covers and topped the charts almost as much as the Beatles. Or, a try-hard, perm-headed soprano saxophone player from Seattle, who turned holding his breath while playing dizzying runs of notes into an athletic feat. How do songs without words become hits? Why were Herb Alpert and Kenny G so good at it? Why did instrumentals fall off the charts after the ’80s—and who is bringing them back? (Hint: think oontz-oontz-oontz.) Join Chris Molanphy as he throws away the lyric sheet and explains how a catchy melody can be worth a thousand words. Podcast production by Kevin Bendis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, Hit Parade listeners. What you're about to hear is part one of this episode.
0:06.2	Part two will arrive in your podcast feed at the end of the month.
0:10.2	Would you like to hear this episode all at once? The day it drops? Sign up for Slate Plus.
0:16.2	It supports not only this show, but all of Slate to claim journalism and podcasts.
0:22.1	Just go to Slate.com slash Hit Parade Plus.
0:26.1	You'll get to hear every Hit Parade episode in full the day it arrives.
0:30.9	Plus, Hit Parade, The Bridge, our bonus episodes with guest interviews,
0:36.2	deeper dives on our episode topics and pop chart trivia.
0:40.5	Once again, to join that Slate.com slash Hit Parade Plus.
0:45.6	Thanks. And now, please enjoy part one of this Hit Parade episode.
0:56.8	Welcome to Hit Parade, a podcast of pop chart history from Slate magazine.
1:06.9	About the hits from Coast to Coast. I'm Chris Malanfi,
1:10.5	chart analyst, pop critic, and writer of Slate's Why is the Song No. 1 series.
1:15.9	On today's show, 38 years ago in the summer and fall of 1985,
1:22.8	songs without words were doing very well on the charts.
1:27.3	In less than five months, three instrumentals cracked the top 20 on the hot 100,
1:34.2	including German keyboardist Harold Faltermeier's theme
1:38.6	from the film Beverly Hills Cup, Axel F.
1:42.0	And super producer David Foster's love theme from St. Elmo's Fire.
2:04.8	Thanks to movies and TV shows,
2:07.7	Instrumentals had had a pretty good first half of the 80s.
2:23.6	But after Jan Hummer's number one hit, Miami Vice Theme,
	...

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