Author: chimesfreedom

Editor-in-chief, New York.

Who Had a Hit with “He’s a Rebel”?

The Crystals On November 3, 1962, the song “He’s a Rebel” hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The single listed the song’s singers as The Crystals, and that is the name you will still see next to the song today.

But the famous recording was actually made by another group.

Recording of “He’s a Rebel”

Back in the early 1960s, producer Phil Spector rushed to have one of his groups record “He’s a Rebel.” He was in a hurry because a competing artist planned to record the song too.

But at the time, Spector was in Los Angeles and The Crystals were in New York. So, Spector’s other option was to produce the song with another group.  He arranged for recording the song with the unknown group The Blossoms, headed by Darlene Love.

The record, though, was credited to the better-known Crystals. The song became a hit for The Crystals, which led to them having to lip synch to Darlene Love’s voice on national TV.

The Real Crystals

The Crystals continued to record using their own voices, scoring big hits with songs like “Da Doo Ron Ron (When He Walked Me Home)” and “Then He Kissed Me” in 1963.

Darlene Love

Darlene Love did okay on her own too. Spector produced her singing one of the greatest Christmas songs of all time, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).” Until the show ended, Love annually sang the song on David Letterman’s show.

Love eventually became a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame too.   Here Love sings “He’s a Rebel” in 2010 with the cast of the play Million Dollar Quartet, showing she still has the voice.

What is your favorite girl group song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    What if Wes Anderson Made a Horror Movie?

    Wes Anderson Horror Movie Happy Halloween! You probably have a favorite horror movie, but this week my favorite horror movie that was never made is The Midnight Coterie of Sinister Intruders. Saturday Night Live ran the trailer that imagined how a horror film might look if it were made by writer-director Wes Anderson. The clip incorporates references to Anderson’s films, including The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Rushmore (1998), and Moonrise Kingdom (2012). Edward Norton, who guest-hosted one of the better recent SNL episodes, also does an excellent turn as Owen Wilson. Check it out.

    FYI, Merriam-Webster defines “coterie” as “a small group of people who are interested in the same thing and who usually do not allow other people to join the group.”

    What is your favorite part of The Midnight Coterie of Sinister Intruders? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Orson Welles And the Pre-Internet “War of the Worlds”

    War of the Worlds Orson Welles On October 30 in 1938, the 23-year-old Orson Welles and his Mercury Theater Company broadcast a radio version of H.G. Wells’s War of the Worlds on CBS. Famously, the radio broadcast would cause some people to panic, believing that the world actually was being invaded by Martians.

    Orson Welles did not intend the broadcast as a hoax, even though it was broadcast like a news story. At the start of the show at 8:00 p.m., an announcement introduced the program as a reworking of the H.G. Wells story. But many viewers turned in late, including those who changed the station after listening to Edgar Bergen and his ventriloquist dummy Charlie McCarthy on an NBC show that ended at 8:12 p.m.

    Reportedly, up to a million people around the country believed the radio broadcast covered a real invasion, and people panicked, doing such things as trying to get gas masks. During the broadcast, Welles went on the air again to remind viewers it was fiction. Slate, however, recently wrote about how the legend about mass panic really grew out of a very small number of instances.

    After the broadcast, Welles worried that the reactions would ruin his career. But, like today, most media attention is good attention. And Welles of course went on to bigger and better things.

    Today, sit back, close your eyes and imagine you are hearing the broadcast for the first time on the radio, with no cable news, Internet, or cell phone to let you immediately check everything.

    What is your favorite hoax? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Paul McCartney (and Famous Folks) in “Queenie Eye” Video

    Paul McCartney recently released his video for the song “Queenie Eye,” which appears on his new album New (2013). The title of the song comes from a childhood game, and the video features a number of famous folks, including Maryl Streep and Johnny Depp. Check it out.


    Is “Queenie Eye” another McCartney classic or just so-so? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Lou Reed RIP: “Dirty Boulevard”

    Lou Reed Dirty Boulevard The legendary Lou Reed passed away today at the age of 71. His catalog of music with Velvet Underground and by himself and others like Metallica includes a number of classics, such as “Sweet Jane” and “Walk on the Wild Side.” One of my favorite Lou Reed songs is “Dirty Boulevard,” which appeared on his 1989 album New York.

    In the following clip, he performs “Dirty Boulevard” on saxophonist David Sanborn’s short-lived NBC TV series, Night Music, in 1989.


    For more on Reed’s career, check out today’s Rolling Stone article. RIP.

    What is your favorite Lou Reed song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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