I was thinking, during a vacation just ended, that another MBH forum competiton would be a fun thing--a summer diversion. These thoughts were prompted by yesterday's time on Pensacola Beach with my wife & kid, listening to the Top 40 hits of the past 40 years blare through a big stereo on one of the public beaches.
I have two ideas for a competition:
1) We agree on a "summer song"--some hit associated with the summer, with beach life, with holidays (Love Shack, School's Out For the Summer, Surfing USA, etc.) and we have a sort of karaoke competition for the best solo. Pros allowed, obviously: we want Buddha's take on all this. LET'S GET COMMERCIAL. The key thing is, the solo should NOT consist of three minutes' of jamming over the length of the song. It should be a highly commercial, limited-duration solo in some predetermined part of the song--where the guitar solo or the sax solo would ordinarily go.
2) We have a competition for the most commercially viable original song driven by a harmonica hook.
It might be worth inaugurating the competition by listing, in this thread, the twenty-five top all time most COMMERCIAL pop hits that prominently feature bluesy (funky/rocky) harmonica. In other words, no Bob Dylan. But yes to....well, you decide.
I'll start. And I'm sure I'll get a few of the titles wrong.
"The Heart of Rock n Roll," Huey Lewis and the News "Isn't She Lovely," Stevie Wonder "Love Me Do," the Beatles "Midnight Rambler," The Rolling Stones something by Junior Parker theme song to "Sanford and Son"
....one of the problems is that the 80s saw a lot of synth harmonica. Didn't several of Tina Tuner's big hits back then have synth harmonica?
Thread is rolling........
Last Edited by on May 31, 2010 7:55 PM
I know a little bit of Sandford and Son, but I've actually been trying to figure out the melody for 'All in the Family' but I can't get the harmonica to sound as cranky Jean Stapleton's voice.
As for song's with a good harmonica hook, the Rosanne theme song, and like it or not, tons of people know the harp part for Billy Joel's 'Piano Man' and Blues Traveler stuff. War's 'Low Rider'. How about songs with a strong instrumental hook that can be ripped off on harmonica? It's not hard to rip off 80's synth parts.
As for a good summer song, how about the classic by Bananarama'Cruel Summer'? or not.
I was just sailing out of the King George V Docks in London bound for Australia when I heard this for the first time. I was only 16-17, left home and ran away to sea to see the world as a deck hand on the MV Port Launceston.