Post by John Quincy on Aug 27, 2009 17:19:09 GMT -5
Thanks to Randy Davidson for the info below:
This year is the 40th anniversary of The Rugbys national hit, "You, I".
With all the coverage of the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, I thought it may be of interest to mention a local band's climb up the national music charts in the late summer of 1969.
The song reached #24 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #21 on Cashbox. It remains, to this day, the highest charting ORIGINAL song by any Louisville recording artist on the Billboard Hot 100 Pop/Rock singles chart.
The record was released on the local Tara label. "You, I" was originally the "B" side of the record. "Stay With Me" was the intended "A" side, but a WKLO radio disc jockey accidentally flipped the record over and played "You, I", and the station's switchboard went crazy. Within days, "You, I" became the A side, and went to number 1 on WKLO. The record was picked up for national distribution by Shelby Singleton's Amazon record label based in Nashville.
This Jimi Hendrix-inspired song quickly went into medium to heavy rotation on Top 40 AM stations across the nation, and was played right along side The Beatles' "Come Together/Get Back", The Stones' "Honky Tonk Women", Tommy James' "Crimson and Clover", and the 5th Dimension's "Aquarius". I was 17 at the time and traveling on a family vacation throughout the southeast. We heard the song being played on every Top 40 station in every city we drove in to: Atlanta, Birmingham, Jacksonville, Tampa, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and many others.
The single was included on The Rugbys album "Hot Cargo", which is a highly sought-after collector's item on eBay.
The fact that a local "B" side on a small label went soaring up the national music charts is remarkable, considering the competition at the time, plus the fact that there was no FM rock radio of any significance. Those people at Woodstock who happened to have transistor radios with them at the concert, would have heard Louisville's Rugbys blasting out of their radios that summer.
This year is the 40th anniversary of The Rugbys national hit, "You, I".
With all the coverage of the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, I thought it may be of interest to mention a local band's climb up the national music charts in the late summer of 1969.
The song reached #24 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #21 on Cashbox. It remains, to this day, the highest charting ORIGINAL song by any Louisville recording artist on the Billboard Hot 100 Pop/Rock singles chart.
The record was released on the local Tara label. "You, I" was originally the "B" side of the record. "Stay With Me" was the intended "A" side, but a WKLO radio disc jockey accidentally flipped the record over and played "You, I", and the station's switchboard went crazy. Within days, "You, I" became the A side, and went to number 1 on WKLO. The record was picked up for national distribution by Shelby Singleton's Amazon record label based in Nashville.
This Jimi Hendrix-inspired song quickly went into medium to heavy rotation on Top 40 AM stations across the nation, and was played right along side The Beatles' "Come Together/Get Back", The Stones' "Honky Tonk Women", Tommy James' "Crimson and Clover", and the 5th Dimension's "Aquarius". I was 17 at the time and traveling on a family vacation throughout the southeast. We heard the song being played on every Top 40 station in every city we drove in to: Atlanta, Birmingham, Jacksonville, Tampa, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and many others.
The single was included on The Rugbys album "Hot Cargo", which is a highly sought-after collector's item on eBay.
The fact that a local "B" side on a small label went soaring up the national music charts is remarkable, considering the competition at the time, plus the fact that there was no FM rock radio of any significance. Those people at Woodstock who happened to have transistor radios with them at the concert, would have heard Louisville's Rugbys blasting out of their radios that summer.
