Hit Parade: The Silver Medalists Edition

Summary

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Hit Parade: The Silver Medalists Edition

Podcast: Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
Host: Chris Molanphy
Date: December 28, 2017

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Episode Overview

In this "holiday potpourri" edition of Hit Parade, host and chart analyst Chris Molanphy revisits the heartbreak and significance of peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100—what he calls “the most heartbreaking position” in pop music. Molanphy discusses how some of music’s most enduring and influential songs never hit No. 1, unpacks the stories behind three legendary No. 2 singles across different decades, and explores how these "silver medalists" helped define entire eras of pop and rock music. Through storytelling and deep chart trivia, the episode demonstrates why these second-place songs often hold an outsized place in music history and our memories.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Pain and Power of Peaking at No. 2

• Chart heartbreak: Much of the episode revolves around the frustration, irony, and sometimes greater cultural impact of songs that just missed the top spot.
• Notable mention of other "frustrating" chart positions: No. 41 (missing the Top 40) and No. 11 (missing the Top 10).
• “Pop charts in particular, are all about the gold. … some of the most enduring songs in rock history peaked in the chart’s runner-up slot.” (Chris Molanphy, 01:51)

2. The Miracles – “Shop Around” (1961)

Segment Starts: 06:05

The Story:

• The Miracles' “Shop Around” was Motown’s first million-selling single and the earliest smash from Smokey Robinson, co-written by label founder Berry Gordy.
• The song’s arrangement was heavily reworked by Gordy overnight into a “peppier” signature: “He ordered Robinson and the Miracles into a studio at three in the morning and they completely rearranged the track overnight into a future smash.” (Chris Molanphy, 10:53)
• Despite its huge success, “Shop Around” was held at No. 2 for multiple weeks by Lawrence Welk’s “Calcutta”—a record much less remembered today.
• If “Shop Around” had hit No. 1, it would have predated any other Motown single topping the pop charts.
• The Miracles didn’t reach No. 1 until 1970 with “The Tears of a Clown”—nearly a decade later.

Notable Quotes:

• “If it had gone all the way, Shop Around would have been the first pop number one both for Robinson and the Miracles and for Motown.” (Chris Molanphy, 13:06)
• “Most critics agree Shop Around was fine, but not even as amazing as the songs they would record for the rest of the 60s—including ‘You Really Got a Hold on Me’ and ‘The Tracks of My Tears.’” (Chris Molanphy, 15:58)

Memorable Moments:

• The quirky history of “Shop Around” evolving from a sluggish, bluesy draft to a chart juggernaut thanks to Gordy’s late-night inspiration.
• Connections made between “Shop Around” and later Motown classics.

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3. The Go-Go’s – “We Got the Beat” (1982)

Segment Starts: 18:38

The Story:

• The Go-Go’s formed out of the late ‘70s LA punk scene, becoming an all-female rock group signed to IRS Records after major labels passed.
• “We Got the Beat” was inspired by The Miracles’ “Going to a Go-Go,” showing the interconnectedness of pop history: “Caffey…was inspired after spending the day listening to the Miracles’ 1966 hit ‘Going to a Go-Go’—a song that had inspired the Go-Go’s name.” (Chris Molanphy, 22:34)
• Their album Beauty and the Beat had a slow rise before “We Got the Beat” reached No. 2, blocked by Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ‘n Roll.”
• Uniqueness of the chart moment: For three weeks, the Hot 100 was commanded by two female-led, punk-adjacent acts from LA.

Notable Quotes:

• “One theme that runs through all our hits this episode is artists re-recording their future hits until they get it right.” (Chris Molanphy, 25:43)
• “What made the Go-Go’s peak in 1982 remarkable—side by side with Joan Jett—is that it happened entirely organically, defying the prejudices of the major label system and making rock that happens to be female both dominant and unremarkable.” (Chris Molanphy, 30:48)

Memorable Moments:

• The Go-Go’s early ambitions and “punk cred” skepticism from the LA scene.
• Their trailblazing as an all-female band in the mainstream, paving the way for acts like The Bangles and Cyndi Lauper.

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4. Kelly Clarkson – “Since U Been Gone” (2005)

Segment Starts: 31:21

The Story:

• Unlike other acts discussed, Clarkson’s first chart success was a No. 1 – immediately after winning the inaugural season of American Idol.
• “Since U Been Gone” was crafted by Max Martin and Dr. Luke, inspired by indie rock (notably the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Maps”), and initially shopped to Pink and Hilary Duff.
• The song’s production fused indie rock guitars with Max Martin’s pop sensibilities, helping to set a new sonic tone for ‘00s pop and restoring Martin’s hitmaking relevance.
• The single peaked at No. 2, blocked by 50 Cent’s “Candy Shop”—a track now less culturally resonant—while Clarkson’s song endured and signaled a return of bold, female-fronted pop/rock.

Notable Quotes:

• “Since U Been Gone was pop’s Trojan horse, smuggling indie rock production elements into a big pop hit.” (Chris Molanphy, 44:22)
• “Ted Leo…told MTV News, ‘It’s just one great hook after another! … Written in a way that’s so transparent in terms of drawing from a lot of what’s vaguely edgy and popular right now, but put together in such a perfect little package, it’s undeniable.’” (Chris Molanphy quoting Ted Leo, 45:53)
• “The song that continues to appear on Kelly’s live set lists most consistently is her signature smash, a number two hit that helped redefine what eclectic pop could sound like in the 21st century…” (Chris Molanphy, 49:16)

Memorable Moments:

• The “aha!” moment of Max Martin wishing indie hits had big pop choruses—and then writing one.
• The song’s impact on pop and the subsequent Max Martin-fueled careers of artists like Katy Perry, Pink, and the resurgence of Britney Spears.

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “Pop charts in particular, are all about the gold. Turn on any oldies radio station, and…you may notice stations going several songs deep playing straight number one hits before they play a number two.” - Chris Molanphy (01:56)
• “He ordered Robinson and the Miracles into a studio at three in the morning and they completely rearranged the track overnight into a future smash.” - Chris Molanphy (10:53)
• “What made the go go's peak in 1982 remarkable… is that it happened entirely organically, defying the prejudices of the major label system…” - Chris Molanphy (30:48)
• “Since U Been Gone was pop's Trojan horse, smuggling indie rock production elements into a big pop hit.” - Chris Molanphy (44:22)
• “‘It’s just one great hook after another. ... Put together in such a perfect little package, it’s undeniable.’” - Ted Leo (45:53, quoting from MTV News interview)

Important Segments & Timestamps

• Intro & episode thesis: 00:00–03:31
• Miracles/Motown/Shop Around: 06:05–18:38
• Go-Go’s/New Wave/We Got the Beat: 18:38–31:19
• Kelly Clarkson/Since U Been Gone/Max Martin: 31:21–49:16
• Wrap-up and influence on future pop: 49:16–End

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Conclusion

Chris Molanphy’s exploration of “silver medalist” songs reveals that chart position does not always correlate with cultural impact or musical greatness. From Motown’s first million-seller and the pioneering all-female Go-Go’s to a pop anthem that redefined 21st-century radio, these No. 2 hits might have missed the literal top spot, but they continue to inspire, influence, and “dominate the airwaves” for generations. As Molanphy notes, sometimes the runners-up are the ones for the record books.

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Transcript

[Chris Melancon]

You're listening ad free on Amazon Music. Welcome to Hit Parade, a podcast of pop chart history from Slate and panoply about the hits from coast to coast. I'm Chris Melanfy, chart analyst, pop critic and writer of Slate's why Is this Song Number One? Series the holidays are upon us, and here at Hit Parade hq, we're gearing up for our first ever live show coming up in January at the Bell House in Brooklyn, New York. Tickets are still available. If you'd like to join us on Thursday, January 18th. For a link, check our show page or slate.com live. In the meantime, in the spirit of the season, think of this month's episode as a holiday potpourri. If our previous episodes were novellas, today's is an anthology of short stories. We hope you enjoy our humble fruitcake on today's show. The three most heartbreaking positions on Billboard's iconic Hot 100 chart are number 41, number 11, and number 2. Coming one spot shy of the top 40, which back in the day meant missing the chance to be counted down on the radio by Casey Kasem, is hugely frustrating. Singles that met this sad fate by peaking at 41 include Elton John's Tiny Dancer and David Bowie's Changes and the psychedelic Pretty in Pink. Or how about number 11? The phrase scored a top 10 hit is the kind of honorific that will make a musician's obituary someday. But hitting number 11 is like being told you deserved an Oscar but not even getting nominated. Steely Dan's reeling in the years, 10,000 maniacs because of the Night and Stevie nicks edge of 17 all ran out of gas, one spot shy of the winner's circle. But let's consider the fate of the number two hit. As Jerry Seinfeld has long joked, the worst medal in the Olympics is the silver. The bronze indicates successful participation. But as Seinfeld notes, the silver means you almost won. Pop charts in particular, are all about the gold. Turn on any oldies radio station, and if you are a chart historian like me, you may notice stations going several songs deep playing straight number one hits before they play a number two. This despite the fact that some of the most enduring songs in rock history peaked in the charts runner up slot. These are truly enormous records. I'm thinking of such classics as the single Rolling Stone ranks as the greatest song of the entire rock era. Bob Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone, which topped out at number two in the summer of 65. Or how about Bruce Springsteen's biggest hit? Like Dylan, the Boss has never actually hit number one as an artist on the Hot 100. But he came so tantalizingly close in the summer of 84 with the lead single from his Born in the USA album, Dancing in the Dark.

[Various Artists (Singers)]

You can't start a fight, you can't start a fight without a spark. This gun's for higher even if we're.

[Chris Melancon]

Just dancing in the dark or jumping to the 2000s. How about the song ranked by Rolling Stone and other critics as the best single of the new millennium's first decade, Gnarls Barkley, the duo of Danger Mouse and CeeLo Green with their multi genre masterpiece Crazy, a number two in the summer of 2006.

[Various Artists (Singers)]

Does that make me crazy? Does that make me crazy? Does that make me Craz?

[Chris Melancon]

Not all no. 2 songs are as storied as these three. Some are one hit wonders, many are flukes. As the writer of why Is this Song Number one? For Slate, I often find myself rooting for or against number two songs, wondering if I will be writing about them. More than a year later, I'm still relieved I didn't have to write a whole column on seven years, Lucas Graham's treacly no. 2 hit. But today on Hit Parade, I want to consider a small collection of number two hits that are legendary in their own quiet ways. These are runners up by artists who later made it to number one in various configurations, but not always with their best hit. Or they made it to number one well past their peak, but it's their number two hit that has historic resonance, the one for the vaults or or the record books. And as is often the case, a couple of these number two hits outclass the number ones that held them out of the top slot. Today your hit parade will march to three different weeks across the rock era, separated by about two decades each. All of these songs predate the existence of my column about number one hits. But if it had existed as far back as 1960 or 61, I'd have been heartbroken not to get to write about these awesome number two songs. Speaking of 1961, let's first march our hit parade to the week ending February 20, 1961, when this song peaked in the runner up slot.

[Various Artists (Singers)]

As long as you can, My Mama don't me, you better shop around.

[Chris Melancon]

That's Shop around, the breakthrough hit not only for Detroit quintet the Miracles, but also for Motown Records. Released on the Tamla label, Berry Gordy's first Detroit imprint before he expanded it into his Motown recording empire, Shop around was Motown's first million selling single and the first smash written by the Miracle's lead singer and songwriter, Lyric William Smokey Robinson Jr. Berry Gordy Co wrote the song with Smokey and was instrumental in turning it into a hit. Indeed, the story of Shop around and the emergence of Robinson is bound up in the origin story of Motown itself. The Miracles, originally known as the Matadors, were the first act signed to Gordy's Tamla label. Actually, Berry was working with the Miracles even before he had a label, when he was still a song salesman and publisher releasing singles through other companies like Gordy, the group had to start somewhere. And even with a songwriter as gifted as Smokey Robinson leading them, they weren't above a gimmick. That's Got a job, the Miracle's first single, released in 1958. And if it sounds vaguely familiar to you but maybe a little off, that's because it came in the wake of this smash. That's Philadelphia quartet the Silhouettes with their immortal early 58 chart topper get A Job. A smash on both the pop and R and B charts. Get A Job was so massive that teenage Smokey Robinson and his group produced Got A Job as a Quickie answer record, an interpolation of the Silhouette's hit looking to ride its coattails. Released on New York label End Records, the Miracle's first single scored some airplay in Detroit, but was otherwise a national flop. And it earned so little money that Robinson encouraged Gordy to start his own label. And Tamla, the first label of Motown, was born. Soon, Robinson was writing more original songs.

[Various Artists (Singers)]

She's Not a Bad Girl because she Made Me Seem Alive Bad Girl, produced.

[Chris Melancon]

By Berry Gordy and co. Released by Motown and Chess Records, was the first Miracle single to make the Billboard charts. It only reached number 93 on the Hot 100 in October of 1959, but it indicated that the Miracles and Motown were gaining traction. It also helped set up the group for their breakthrough. Once Gordy saw that Robinson's band was poised for a hit, he began tinkering with their singles to get them onto the charts. Way Over There can be read with 2020 hindsight as a dry run for Shop Around. Gordy released the single twice. First in an early arrangement without strings and then in the final single version that scored some regional airplay. By now, Gordy's acts were beginning to break through nationally. In early 1960, Barrett Strong's Money, that's what I Want reached number two on the R&B chart and 23 on the Hot 100. The first Gordy production to crack the.

[Various Artists (Singers)]

Top 40 the best things in life are free but you can.

[Chris Melancon]

That same year, Robinson and the Miracles brought Berry Gordy the song that would prove their breakthrough. And as with Way Over There, Gordy kept working the song to try and make it a hit. The original single sounded like this.

[Various Artists (Singers)]

Before you ask some girl for a hand down Keep your freedom for as long as you can now my mama told me you better shop around.

[Chris Melancon]

This skeletal draft of Shop around, later referred to as the Detroit version, was bluesy, a bit sluggish and dominated by a thumping tambourine. Robinson's vocal is eager but slightly hoarse. The song itself, about a mother's improbable advice to her son not to settle down too soon or was catchy enough that Shop around began to sell and score early airplay. But Berry Gordy wasn't satisfied. It had only been out a couple of weeks in the fall of 1960 when he had a brainstorm about the arrangement. It should be peppier, with big sonics, a heavier bassline and brushed drums. He ordered Robinson and the Miracles into a studio at three in the morning and they completely rearranged the track overnight into a future smash.

[Various Artists (Singers)]

When I became of age my mother called me to her side she said son, you're growing up now Pretty soon you'll take a breath and then she said just because you become a young man now it's still some things that you don't understand before you ask some girl for a hand now keep your freedom for as long as you can now you better shop around.

[Chris Melancon]

Debuting on the Hot 100 just before Christmas 1960, the final version of Shop around scaled the Billboard charts rapidly. By January 1961, it had topped the R and B chart and a month later it got all the way to number two on the Hot 100. As is so often the case with songs that peak in the runner up slot, the song that held back Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and is less well remembered today, although to be fair, its recording artist was a national treasure. That's bandleader Lawrence Welk. With his first and only number one hit, Calcutta, a German pop song. Welk re recorded as an instrumental while at the peak of his fame as the host of a beloved televised variety show. The bubbly, kitschy Calcutta was in the second of its two weeks at number one when it held off the Miracles. Shop Around. If it had gone all the way, Shop around would have been the first pop number one both for Robinson and the Miracles and and for Motown. As it happens, the single that finally rang the bell for Berry Gordy's label came just 10 months later and it is more than respectable. That's the marvelettes with Please Mr. Postman, a single so classic it was turned taken back to number one in the mid-70s by the Carpenters. The Marvelettes were a legendary girl group and great ambassadors for Motown at the top of the charts. But as the man who helped put Motown on the map, Smokey Robinson would be forgiven for thinking he'd get there first. He spent the next several years at Motown writing and producing hits for others, including the first number one on the Motown label property not Tamla Mary Wells 1964 classic my guy. And less than a year later Robinson followed My Guy with My Girl, another classic he co wrote and produced that the Temptations took to number one. As for the Miracles, they had no shortage of great Smokey Robinson material. And what's slightly sad about just missing the number one spot in 1961 was it took them all decade to finally top the charts. Most critics agree Shop around was fine, but not even as amazing as the songs they would record for the rest of the 60s. Including the number eight hit you've really Got A Hold On Me, the number four hit I Second that Emotion, and perhaps their all time Greatest the number 16 hit the tracks Of My Tears.

[Various Artists (Singers)]

Smile.

[Chris Melancon]

Robinson and the Miracles would not finally top the Hot 100 until late 1970. And then with a song that they first recorded in 1967 and hadn't originally issued as a single. The song, co written by a teenage Stevie Wonder and finished by Robinson, was plucked from obscurity by a British Motown executive and went on to top the charts in both the UK and the us. The Miracles now classic the Tears of a Clown. Tears of a Clown would be Smokey Robinson's only number one pop hit either with the Miracles or solo. But it wouldn't be the last number one for the Miracles. After Robinson left in 1971, the group continued as a quartet and five years later they scored a disco driven number one hit called Love Machine. Robinson didn't do badly for himself. As you might have guessed, his solo career generated scores of R B hits and a sizable list of top 40 pop hits, including such top tens as Cruisin' Just to See Her. And in 1981, a single that topped the R and B chart and hit number two on the Hot 100. The smooth yacht Seoul classic Being with youh. What kept Smokey at night number two for three weeks in the summer of 81. It was Kim Karnes with her number one song of the Year Bette Davis Oz hey, at least it wasn't Lawrence. Welcome. As long as we're already into the early 80s, lets march our hit parade to the week ending April 10, 1982 when this song, which believe it or not, is a little bit connected to Smokey and the Miracles, hit its peak.

[Various Artists (Singers)]

They got the peak they got the peak they got the peak yeah they got the beats.

[Chris Melancon]

That's the Go Go's the five woman rock group from Los Angeles, California with their smash We Got the Beat. Their biggest hit spent three weeks at no. 2 in April of 1982. And while it's a pity that the fivesome of Charlotte Caffey, Belinda Carlisle, Gina Schock, Cathy Valentine and Jane Wheedlein couldn't top the Hot 100 as a group, the moment when they peaked in the runner up slot was a good one for post punk and new wave music. The Go Go's grew out of a late 70s LA punk scene that spawned a wide range of bands, from hardcore acts like Black Flag and the Germs. To more mainstream adjacent groups like X.

[Various Artists (Singers)]

Trying to hit the rock poly trying to hit the rock poly trying to hit rock.

[Chris Melancon]

Belinda Carlisle even briefly associated with the Germs under the nom de punk Dottie Danger before the Go Go's began to take off. But the Go Go's were not in the LA scene for long. Their punk bona fides were questioned from the start. Depending on whom you talked to, the ladies material either seemed too sloppy or too. All agree that the Go Go's were ambitious at a time when careerism in punk was decidedly uncool. The band longed to sign to a major label and were reportedly disappointed when, due to major labels not knowing how to promote an all female rock band, they wound up on IRS Records, the soon to be legendary independent label that would later sign R.E.M. whatever your opinions of LA Punk cred, listening to the Go Go's early recordings, nearly four decades later, it's impossible to miss their connection to that scene and to the sound that was morphing into New WA. That's a demo version of Lust to Love, a song co written by lead guitarist Charlotte Caffey and rhythm guitarist Jane Weadland that would wind up on the Go Go's 1981 debut album, Beauty and the Beat. Caffey and Weedlin were the group's two major songwriters and they would go on to write the album's two classic singles, one song apiece. Wheatland wrote the lead single, taking a letter sent to her by her paramour Terry hall of UK band the Specials. Weedlin added music and turned his lyric into Our Lips Are Sealed, Now widely regarded as a pop classic, Our Lips Are Sealed only reached number 20 on the Hot 100 in December 1981, but it was a sleeper hit, spending a remarkable 30 weeks on the chart and propelling Beauty and the Beat into the top 20 on the album chart. But it was the follow up single penned by Charlotte Caffey that ultimately propelled the album to the top. I promised you a Miracles connection, and here it is. Recounting the moment she came up with We Got the Beat, Caffey said she was inspired after spending the day listening to the Miracle's 1966 hit going to a Go Go, a song that had inspired the Go Go's name and that they were considering re recording as a cover. Instead, Kaffy wound up writing her own song inspired by the opening beat of the Miracles hit. And while We Got the Beat sounded more like punk than Smokey Robinson, one thing it had in common from the very start was it was made for dancing.

[Various Artists (Singers)]

They got the beat, we got the beats yeah, we got the beat.

[Chris Melancon]

That's the original 1980 version of We Got the Beat, issued as a single by UK Pub & Punk rock label Stiff Records. That early single not only brought the Go Go's underground credibility in the United Kingdom, it actually became a dance hit in America as an import, reaching number 35 on Billboard's Club Play chart in the summer of 1980. That early break helped establish the Go Gos, and a year later, so did the launch of mtv. IRS Records made sure to service the music video channel with clips of the telegenic group. Our Lips Are Sealed was an early MTV hit, and when IRS served up a rousing clip of the band performing We Got the Beat live, the Go Go's received even more frequent rotation. Already a hit in clubs and on mtv, We Got the Beat became a chart inevitability. By early March, the song had risen into the top 10. The week prior, the Beauty and the Beat album had risen to the top in its 32nd week, one of the slowest climbs to no. 1 in album chart history. One month later, We Got the Beat settled in for its three week run at no.2 behind a song that could also trace its roots back to the LA rock scene. If anyone was going to hold the Go Gos at number two, it was poetic for it to be fellow Angeleno Joan Jett. By the time she topped the charts with I Love Rock and Roll, Jett had already been playing hard rock for the better part of a decade. Born in Pennsylvania before relocating to the West Coast, Jet was a founding member of the Runaways, another all female Louisiana proto punk band founded in 1975 that was even more seminal than the Go.

[Various Artists (Singers)]

Go's. Hello Daddy. Hello Mommy. Jerry Bob.

[Chris Melancon]

Hello. When the Runaways broke up in 1979, Jet was barely in her 20s and she quickly attached herself to the punk scene. Jet produced the only album by the Germs, Remember Them? And she moved to England to pursue a solo career. The single that wound up breaking her was a cover of a song by the transatlantic rock band the Arrows. Jett recorded her cover of the arrows single in 1979 with two former members of the Sex Pistols, Steve Jones and Paul Cook. Like the Go Go's, Jet was turned down by countless major labels and she wound up settling for startup label Boardwalk Records. Her debut album as Joan Jett and the Black Hearts, also titled I Love Rock N Roll, featured a re recording of her Arrows cover. In case you haven't noticed, one theme that runs through all our hits, this episode is artists RE recording their future hits on until they get it right. Like We Got the Beat. Jet's I Love Rock and Roll was a huge MTV hit and it topped the Hot 100 for seven weeks. For three of those weeks in the spring of nineteen 1982, the Hot 100 was blockaded by Joan Jett and the Go Go's two punk adjacent acts who were veterans of the LA rock scene and they were commanding both the single and album charts. Ironically, over on the album chart it was the Go Go's who were in command with Jet's album peaking at number two. In the 35 years since this moment, the Hot 100 has been commanded by women numerous times. Sometimes as many as the top five or six positions, but never a pair of female led rock bands like this. The Go Go's career was a firework. It burned bright for a very short period. After Beauty and the Beat went double platinum, the Go Gos followed We Got the beat with just one more top ten hit, their immediate 1982 follow up. By 1984, after several more Top 40 hits, the band was broken up. Jane Wiedland and lead singer Belinda Carlisle both went on to solo careers. The former managed one top 10 hit in 1988. And it was Carlisle who eventually topped the Hot.

[Various Artists (Singers)]

100. Ooh baby, do you know that's why oh heaven is a place on earth they say in heaven love comes first we'll make heaven a place on.

[Chris Melancon]

Earth. But the band's influence as female punk refugees could be felt for the rest of the decade. They made the radio safe in the 1980s for female rock acts emerging from the punk and new wave scenes, from LA's the Bangles. To new yorker cyndi lauper. As for Joan Jett, she and her band the Black Hearts managed to keep pace with the charts shift from new wave to hair metal. She returned to the top 10 in 1988 with her thrashing pop smash I Hate Myself For Loving you. It has been said countless times, times that the last thing female rock musicians want to be asked is what it feels like to be a woman in rock. What made the go go's peak in 1982 remarkable side by side with Joan Jett, is that it happened entirely organically, defying the prejudices of the major label system and making rock that happens to be female both dominant and unremarkable. Before riot Grrrl in the 90s, the the Go Go's and Jet were opening a space in the mainstream for.

[Various Artists (Singers)]

Women who wanted to.

[Chris Melancon]

Rock. Now let's bring our hit parade into the 2000s, the week ending April 9, 2005, when this song ascended to the runner up slot. What more can be said about since youe Been Gone, one of the most beloved and acclaimed hit singles of the 21st century? A great pop song not only captures the public's imagination at its best, it synthesizes a range of influences and points the direction popular music is heading. Perhaps that sounds a bit grand, especially for a product generated by a song factory and not even originally intended for the person who wound up singing it. But the Brill Building, which we talked about in Hit Parade episode one, was a song. Motown, which launched Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, was a song factory. And make no mistake, since youe Been Gone was similarly possessed of inspired pop science. It was conceived by its creators to synthesize to be no one specific thing and therefore to be everything. But it was going to take a big voice to pull it off. That voice belonged to a fledgling pop star from Fort Worth, Texas, Kelly Brianne Clarkson. Unlike the other acts we've discussed in this episode, who led off their careers with number two hits before before hitting number one later, Kelly Clarkson's career actually began with a chart topper. The power ballad A Moment like this was Clarkson's very first single, and it topped the Hot 100 in October 2002. That's because Clarkson was the first winner of a televised reality show singing competition that improbably became the highest rated US TV show of the Decade American Idol the winner of American Idol 2002 is. Kelly Clarkson. Within seconds of winning season one of American Idol in the summer of 2002, Clarkson sang a Moment like this this as her coronation song live on television, cementing her victory. If her co finalist Justin Guarini had won the competition, he would have released the song. But within weeks of Clarkson's victory, her recording of A Moment like this was in music stores. The song shot to no. 1, proving mostly that American Idol was a pop culture phenomenon, but not necessarily that the winsome Clarkson was was destined for stardom. A Moment like this was co written by a Swedish pop songwriter named Jorgen Elefson. You probably haven't heard of Ellefson, but if you've been following pop music of the last two decades, you may have heard of his boss and you've almost certainly heard his.

[Various Artists (Singers)]

Handiwork. Tell me why Ain't nothing but.

[Chris Melancon]

A mistake Tell me why that 1999 Backstreet Boys smash I Want it that Way was written and produced by Martin Carl Sandberg, known to hit music fans the world over as Max Martin. Since the late 1990s, Martin has led a Swedish collective of producers and songwriters, people like Jorgen Ellefsson or Carl Johann Schuster, aka Shellback. In the 90s, the epicenter of Martin's assembly line was a Stockholm studio known as Cha Ron. The Chaeron sound was responsible for many of the biggest hits of late 90s pop, the peak for boy bands, teen pop and MTV's Total Request Live. From 1997 to 2000, Martin and his stable of Scandinavian pop scientists wrote more than a dozen US top 40 hits for the likes of Celine Dion, Robin and boy bands the Backstreet Boys and NSync. Martin even wrote The Swedish collective's first US best number one hit all by himself, Britney Spears iconic 1999 smash Baby 1 More Time. TRL Teen pop had a good run at the end of the 20th century, and strange, so did Max Martin. But by 2001, as America fell into recession and teen pop receded on the charts, the US Hit parade moved in a more diffuse direction as pop split into factions. The hot 100 of the early 2000s was largely dominated by R and B and especially hip hop by the likes of Nelly, ja rule and 50, While hit rock music moved in a post grunge direction led by such bands as 3 Doors Down, Puddle of Mud and the huge selling and widely scorned Nickelback. Even as Max Martin and his stable of Swedes were out of favor At American radio, young music stars began gravitating toward pop that was hybridized with other genres. For example, young Canadian singer songwriter Avril Lavigne grafted light rock production to slick studio pop and scored a breakthrough in 2002, presenting herself as a mascaraed, mall friendly teen punk. Or consider the case of Alicia Moore, better known as Prince Pink, Introduced in the waning years of teen pop as an R B style singer on hits like There you Go, Pink cleverly evolved her sound towards something closer to rock, continuing to work with R and B producers like Dallas Austin, but piling on the guitars. While all this was going on. Hip hop moving in one direction, mainstream rock in another, and pop acts working to keep up, New York City was fostering a new generation of post punk.

[Various Artists (Singers)]

Acts. Last night, she said, oh.

[Chris Melancon]

Man. The Strokes were the leading avatars of what became known as the new rock or garage rock revival. Though they generally didn't score top 40 hits, bands like New York's Interpol, Detroit's White Stripes and Akron, Ohio's Black Keys became critical favorites and steady album sellers. And in some cases, the sound of these nouveau garage bands bled into pop. New York band the yeah yeah Yeahs, a trio led by striking frontwoman Karen O, were normally a loud, fast, raging art punk band. But their 2003 debut album contained one song that stood apart from the rest of the yeah yeah yeah's work, an art damaged ballad called Maps. With its romantic lyrics sung gently by Karen O combined with jagged guitars and thundering drums, Maps was the ultimate hybrid song of early aughts indie rock. It was even a minor hit, scraping the top 10 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart and reaching number 87 on the Hot 100. Among those who heard Maps in 2004 was Max Martin, and the song frustrated him because to his exacting pop trained ears, it sounded like a near miss smash. Martin was listening to the radio with one of his proteges, the American pop producer Lucas Gottwald, aka Dr. Luke. As Gottwald would later recount in John Seabrook's book the Song Machine, we were listening to alternative and indie music and talking about this song. I said, ah, I love this song. And Max was like, if they would just write a damn pop chorus on it. It was driving him nuts because that indie song was sort of on six, going to seven, going to eight, the chorus comes and it goes back down to to five. That rewrite of Maps became Since youe've Been Gone. Martin and Gottwald actually mimicked some major elements of the yeah yeah yeah's track, including its chugging guitar and its G major chord. Indeed, for its first few seconds, since youe Been Gone doesn't really sound like a pop record. Not even a hybrid pop track a la Pink or Avril Lavigne. It sounds like straight up indie rock. Pink, in fact, was the artist Max Martin first had in mind when he and Dr. Luke wrote the song. But because Martin and Luke's track built to a big chorus, a triumphant refrain where Maps had been moody and restrained, he needed a singer with range. Pink passed thinking the song not right for her, and actress turned singer Hilary Duff tried it out but had to demur when she realized she couldn't hit the high notes. That was when the song found its way to Kelly Clarkson. It was a marriage of song producer and singer, all of whom needed each other at that moment. Since youe Been Gone used every nuance of Kelly Clarkson's voice, from her rock rasp to her soulful trills to her rage filled power vocals. It proved that Clarkson was going to be more than a singing competition novelty, and for Max Martin, it would prove something of a comeback. Inaugurating the next phase of his pop Svengali success, Since youe Been Gone was pop's Trojan horse, smuggling indie rock production elements into a big pop hit. Released in December 2004 as the lead single from Clarkson's album Breakaway, since youe Been Gone was deemed too pop for rock radio stations. But even as it scaled the hot 100, the track won instant acclaim from tastemakers impressed by the song's eclecticism. At first, critics were unable to identify the song's bones. That is, until a punk rocker with a good ear for a hook laid it bare. That's indie rock luminary Ted Leo, frontman for the Washington D.C. group Ted Leo and the Pharmacists with his 2005 medley of both since youe Been Gone and Maps, Leo came out of a punk and indie scene that produced bands like the yeah yeah Yeahs. But he was an unabashed admirer of Kelly Clarkson's hit, telling MTV News, it's just one great hook after another. I also really appreciate the more advanced pop pastiche aspects of it. It's written in a way that is so transparent in terms of drawing from a lot of what's vaguely edgy and popular right now, but put together in such a perfect little package, it's undeniable. By April of 2005, since youe Been Gone had reached its peak on the hot 100 of no. 2. It was perhaps appropriate that the song that kept Clarkson out of number one was a hip hop joint that after her hit would come to sound a bit old.

[Various Artists (Singers)]

Hat. I take you to the candy shop I look to lick the lollage.

[Chris Melancon]

Top Go ahead girl, don't you stop Keep going till you hit the spot Candy Shop was the last number one hit for rapper 50 Cent, and while it spent a staggering nine weeks on top, it was out of the top 10 fairly quickly and off the Hot 100 in 23 weeks, literally half the time since youe Been Gone spent on the chart. Clarkson's hit was the pivot point for for a pendulum swing back toward pure pop on the Hot 100. While hip hop would continue to generate hits in the second half of the aughts, pop records with rock elements, many of them fronted by women, would begin to take over the top of the charts. This sea change benefited everyone from new artist Katy Perry. To Pink, the now veteran singer who turned down since youe've Been Gone but went on to stage a comeback of her own. Both of these artists scaled the charts with hits from Max Martin and his stable of Stockholm studio craftsmen who had retooled their sound for a new age of millennial pop. They even managed to bring stars from the late 90s Cha Ron era like Britney Spears back to the top of the hot one. As for Clarkson, she remained a persistent hitmaker over the next decade. She even managed to return to the number one spot both in 2009. And again in.

[Various Artists (Singers)]

2012. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger Stand a little taller doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm.

[Chris Melancon]

Alone. But the song that continues to appear on Kelly's live set lists most consistently is her signature Smack, a number two hit that helped redefine what eclectic pop could sound like in the 21st century, much the way the Miracles help define Motown and the Go Go's help popularize new wave. When singing her classic hit live, Clarkson still power belts it, but given the song's defiant and cathartic lyrics, she often gets plenty of very enthusiastic. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Hit Parade. My producer is Chris Barubin. The executive producer of Slate Podcasts is Steve Lichti. Panoply's chief content officer is Andy Bowers. Check out their entire roster of podcasts at Panoply fm. You can subscribe to Hit Parade wherever you get your podcasts, in addition to finding it in the Slate Culture Gabfest feed. If you're subscribing on Apple Podcasts, please rate and review us while you're there. It helps other listeners find the show. And please tell your friends next month, I look forward to leading the hit parade to the Bell House in Brooklyn, where we'll record our January episode live on stage, deploy a fusillade of pop trivia, and I'll even interview Ted Leo. There are a few tickets [e-mail] live. Thanks for listening, and until then, keep on marching on the one. I'm Chris.

[Various Artists (Singers)]

Melancholy. Thank you so.