I SWEAR I DID NOT COME CLOSE to the Publish button while working on this piece! Still, somehow managed to “publish” this incomplete article and have to deal with the fallout. And I wasn’t even planning on publishing this article on this blog—I was going to move it on over to my Rather Rare Records blog.
I certainly know enough at this stage not to post an article to the internet with an ungainly URL like this: https://www.elvis-atouchofgold.com/a‑nutshell-guide-to-the-billboard-record-charts-of-the-50s! Nonetheless, that URL is now out there and a few readers—such as you—might stumble over it.
So, instead of an article about the over-hallowed Billboard charts, you are reading this, an apology/explanation. I will finish the article as quickly as possible. It should clarify some issues about the misinformation about those charts that permeates the internet, magazines, and books.
PS: The photo of the turntable at the top of this page is the featured image on the home page of Rather Rare Records.
Mystically liberal Virgo enjoys long walks alone in the city at night in the rain with an umbrella and a flask of 10-year-old Laphroaig who strives to live by the maxim, “It ain’t what you know that gets you into trouble; it’s what you know that just ain’t so.
I’ve been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn, and a college dropout (twice!). Occupationally, I have been a bartender, jewelry engraver, bouncer, landscape artist, and FEMA crew chief following the Great Flood of ’72 (and that was a job that I should never, ever have left).
I am also the final author of the original O’Sullivan Woodside price guides for record collectors and the original author of the Goldmine price guides for record collectors. As such, I was often referred to as the Price Guide Guru, and—as everyone should know—it behooves one to heed the words of a guru. (Unless, of course, you’re the Beatles.)
I am the first to comment, looking forward to the complete article 😀
LEIGH
And I thank you for that comment!
I pulled the text for the “Nutshell” article from a larger piece that I am writing in response to an earlier comment from Colin Bratkovich (the one that opens with “I appreciate you getting back to me” which can be found below. The “Nutshell” piece works as a standalone piece addressing some of the confusion about the various Billboard charts that existed prior to the “Hot 100” chart that began in the last third of 1958.
I hope to have the “Nutshell” article finished and published in a few days.
Until then, doncha think it’s time you grab the first one in your reach and do the clam?
NEAL
Hi, Neal
How’s the article coming?
Thanks,
Anthony
ANTHONY
While it’s usual to say that an original article has “blossomed” into something larger, in this case, the original article has exploded into a series of five related articles.
The largest of these articles is currently 7,000 words long!
Needless to say, it’s taking a wee bit longer to finish this project than I expected.
Hang in there ...
NEAL