Back in 1982, CBS Records in the UK released The Clash’s single “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” Since it charted at 17, which is a moderately good position, Epic Records in the US put out “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” not once, not twice, and not even thrice. The US single was released four times in 1982 and 1983.
The first release was a one-sided single that was hoping to capture some sales as the price was less than a conventional two sided 45 rpm. This special release was numbered as ENR-03571 and the tactic of issuing a low priced single flopped. There was another problem – while The Clash did well in the UK, they did not have that large of a following in the US. 1983’s “Rock the Casbah” and its memorable video would change that.
In June 1982, a conventional single of “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” with “Inoculated City” as the “B” side was released as Epic 14-03006. Within six weeks, a third configuration with “First Night Back in London” was issued as Epic 34-03061. Finally in January 1983, Epic re-released the final version with “Cool Confusion” as the flip as 34-03547.
I remember CBS and numerous independent promoters beating me up about this song. Although I could see this song charting on an album rock station, I didn’t think it would fit Top 40 radio – and apparently I was not alone as the song only peaked at #45.
I even had one promoter to promise to send me one of every album in the CBS catalog that included Columbia, Epic, Portrait, and a handful of other labels. As tempting that offer was, I opted not to take the promoter up on his offer. I don’t really think he was really serious about this – but you can never be too sure.
In 1991, the single was re-released in the UK where it charted the second time at the #1 spot.
From the album “Combat Rock,” Mick Jones sings the lead on the song while Joe Strummer and Tex-Mex/rockabilly artist Joe Ely are singing the Spanish backup lyrics. The Spanish is not the typical Castilian version, but rather an Ecuadorian dialect.
While I didn’t add the record thirty-years ago, I still like the song, and its message is fitting for today.
Should The Blog Stay or Should It Go?
After much deliberation on this subject and the support of a number of people, I have decided to keep it going. Here are some of the comments that influenced my decision:
I really enjoy the music you provide on your blog, most of which I have not heard for years, some of it not at all. While I don't log-in every day - and even less often over the past few months- I do truly love listening and reading.
I only just came across this blog last week...please keep going!
Hard to pick a favorite feature. I dig Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays AND Saturdays!
I can't get enough historical information about music.
Porque se nota que sabes de que hablas,como lo escribes, aunque tenga que traducirlo y sabes porqué, pues porque si uno ama la música esto se nota. Translated by Babelfish as “Because it shows that you know of what you speak, how you write, even if you have to translate it and you know why, well because if one loves the music this is noted.”
I always learn something new, and just plain like listening to music.
Only discovered this a few weeks ago through the BLUES IN F story. I know a number of DC based folks with chops and historical knowledge (Big Joe Maher, Bill Kirchen) that can channel this sort of musical cultural stream-of-consciousness and tell stories like this but they’re not writing like you are. Selfishly, I say DONT STOP! Cut back if that'll keep you in the game.
I found your blog through family history connections but music comes higher up priority list than family history. Hope you keep going - but if not thanks for your brilliant efforts thus far.
I always enjoy reading your posts on the groups and the music that I grew up with. It helps me start discussions about the music with my college age children. Always good to learn new things!
I ended up on your blog in a roundabout way... from one of your community posts 23andMe, actually. Seems we have similar interests. I'm an author and teach journalism and mass communication at a state university, I play the guitar. I love music and pop culture. I'm 53 and have fond memories of Heart, the Allman Bros., the Doors, you name it. Great stuff, thanks.
I enjoy the insight into various music.
I have more than one favorite... u r a walking AMERICAN musical treasure trove ... if you cease this blog it will have an effect on those who don't even yet know it exists...but will read it later on in their lives... speaking of, you have your own to live and do as you must... if I were you, I would try to sell the service to a magazine or some other media... u get paid, we get the goods...win/win...unless the mag charged for the blog...
I enjoy the wide variety of music you post. You've certainly added to my musical knowledge.
I learn a lot about music I didn't know before.
I love music, and you seem to have good taste in music.
It's just a great ideas with great execution
Perceptive comments, all-encompassing tangential thoughts, clarity of vision.
You can never get enough wild stuff that slipped through the cracks
I love finding out the interesting tidbits you include about the various songs and bands (from my 'youth')
I love reading all the blogs, even if they're not music that I'm usually interested in. I love learning new things about music and these blogs really branch out into some areas I'm not always familiar with.
I'm gonna miss these blog [posts] if they disappear.
Okay, I'm in a little more than a bit of a panic with only 35 posts to go. What will I do for music information? It's part of my daily routine.
I enjoy your posts....reminds me of days gone by.
I note that you are planning only a few more posts? I would urge you to carry on. Good criticism is all too rare on the internet.
I asked what features people liked the most, and of our current choices, the top three favorite features are One-Hit Wonder Wednesday at 30.43%, Tasty Licks Tuesday with 21.74%, and Saturday’s Bubbling Under Feature with 17.39%. It looks pretty good for those features to continue. I will probably scale back some when I need to – as I did last year.
In October, I will be moving and expanding TV Thursdays to Media Mondays and incorporate music from motion pictures as well as from TV shows, commercials, and live performances. Thursday’s feature will be Thursday’s Repeats and Threepeats – songs that were released more than once. I have a great one scheduled for next week. Over time, I will switch out some of the other categories when I feel that their life is abating.
In addition to the two daily changes, I plan to do a special focus outside of the daily parameters every second week of the month called the Second Week Special. My plan for October is to feature six rock songs that utilize the mandolin. Other features will be related to instrumentation, musical genre, record label, songwriter, or some other theme.
Thanks for participating in the survey and encouraging me to continue. If you want to know how this blog has done from the beginning, see the section below. Thanks again.
RBTG’s 1,000th Post/3rd Anniversary Retrospect
Like I had reported with every other 100th post anniversary, I took a look backward on how we are doing visitor wise. I began this blog on September 26, 2009, but did not start monitoring the visits until October 16, 2009. Currently, we have 57 declared followers of the blog – up from 51 in June 2012. There are many others who have visited frequently without declaring themselves as followers. The statistics are listed below:| Variable | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Unique Visitors | 81,821 |
| Times Visited | 90,610 |
| Number of Pages Viewed | 134,212 |
| People Visiting 200+ Times | 1,376 |
| People Visiting 101-200 Times | 486 |
| People Visiting 51-100 Times | 311 |
| People Visiting 26-50 Times | 331 |
| Number of Visitor Countries Represented | 164 |
| Percentage of Visitors Referred from Search Engines | 64.96% |
| Percentage of Visitors Referred from Other Sites | 26.16% |
| Percentage of Visitors via Direct Access | 8.88% |
The Top Ten Charts
As one would find in music trade magazines, I have prepared some Top Ten Charts for "Reading between the Grooves."The Top Ten Visitor Countries
The rankings remain static when compared to the previous 900th Anniversary. Nine new countries and territories were added and include the following: Andorra, Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar (Burma), Papua New Guinea, Suriname, and Tanzania.Outside of large portion of Africa and some countries in Asia, the unreached nations include smaller countries and islands. Most of the island nations that are not represented were located in The Caribbean and Oceania.
| Rank | Country | Visits |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 44,529 |
| 2 | United Kingdom | 7,568 |
| 3 | Canada | 5,136 |
| 4 | Germany | 3,654 |
| 5 | France | 2,468 |
| 6 | Italy | 2,210 |
| 7 | Australia | 2,026 |
| 8 | Brazil | 1,966 |
| 9 | Netherlands | 1,467 |
| 10 | Spain | 1,415 |
 |
| Locations where RBTGs has been accessed. Click on the map for full sized image. |
The Top Ten Pages via Direct Access
While most people (5,149) have visited the home page for “Reading Between the Grooves,” others enter distinct pages through page specific links and via search engine returns. Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks’ “How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away” rejoined the Top 10 this time.The most significant move was Fairport Convention’s “Matty Groves,” which moved from six to four on the chart. This particular chart is slow moving as it is cumulative – newer features on this site will have to be really popular to catch up to the total direct access of these ten songs.
The Top Days by Total Visits
This chart represents the days that encountered the most visits and the content that was featured on those particular days. One day did not have associated content for that particular day.All but one of the selections, the number one slot, came from the last 100 days. The #1 day is an anomaly as it represents a day that had intensive viewing of the entire blog by two new visitors. These two individuals spent a great deal of time on the blog and looked at hundreds of pages during one single weekend.
| Rank | Day | Date | Associated Content | Visits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SAT | 16 JUL 2011 | Nektar – Let it Grow | 625 |
| 2 | WED | 13 JUN 2012 | The Stories – Brother Louie | 362 |
| 3 | SAT | 15 SEP 2012 | Genesis – Watcher of the Skies | 323 |
| 4 | MON | 16 JUL 2012 | Sandy Denny –Easy to Slip | 316 |
| 5 | FRI | 27 JUL 2012 | Linda Ronstadt – White Rhythm & Blues | 302 |
| 6 | TUE | 24 JUL 2012 | Stevie Wonder –Spain | 300 |
| 7 | SUN | 14 JUL 2012 | No Post Made | 298 |
| 8 | MON | 9 JUL 2012 | Silvertones – One Chance With You | 281 |
| 9 | MON | 11 JUN 2012 | Episode 900: In Memory of Bob Welch | 277 |
| 10 | WED | 04 JUL 2012 | Andy Griffith – What It Was, Was Football | 259 |
The Top Days by New Visitors
This chart represents the days that encountered the most visits by first time visitors and the content that was featured on those particular days. All but two of these days are new to this chart and eight are not older than 100 posts.| Rank | Day | Date | Associated Content | New Visitors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MON | 16 JUL 2012 | Sandy Denny –Easy to Slip | 213 |
| 2 | SAT | 11 FEB 2011 | Johnny Guitar Watson – Real Mother for Ya | 198 |
| 3 | MON | 30 APR 2012 | No Post Made | 197 |
| 4 | TUE | 24 JUL 2012 | Stevie Wonder –Spain | 195 |
| 5 | WED | 04 JUL 2012 | Andy Griffith – What It Was, Was Football | 194 |
| 6 | MON | 9 JUL 2012 | Silvertones – One Chance With You | 192 |
| 7 | SUN | 29 JUL 2012 | Chuck Owston – Jesus Won’t You Come By Here | 192 |
| 8 | SUN | 22 JUL 2012 | Patty Griffin –Up To The Mountain | 190 |
| 9 | FRI | 27 JUL 2012 | Linda Ronstadt – White Rhythm & Blues | 187 |
| 10 | SUN | 26 AUG 2012 | The Mind Garage – The Lord’s Prayer | 184 |
As always, I want to take this time to thank all of you for your support of this site and the encouragement to keep going forward. Thanks again for Reading between the Grooves.
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