Scott Larson Yes, you couldn’t avoid it when it came out, it was constantly on the radio. I think most of the Grunge movement was made up of kids that had to listen to this as kids.
Yep. I was 12 in 1977 and hadn't discovered rock radio yet. I was still figuring out what I liked. So I tried to like this, since I heard it constantly on pop radio. But I just couldn't manage it. Thank God. I remember being happy when I began hearing it less.
I know it’s fun to simplify things into sound bites and talk like a Rolling Stone journalist but the Ramones and the Sex Pistols didn’t form in 1975 because of this 1977 song.
@@michaelmcdonald8452 But there is truth in the statement nonetheless. The charts in the mid 70s were full of awful schlock. Rock'n'roll had run its course, the 1960s had degenerated into ageing longhairs wearing silk scarves, and elderly shit like this was topping the charts way too often. Something needed to happen, and Punk was that thing.
@@michaelmcdonald8452 He's not talking about this song specifically, ya dunce. He's speaking generally. Punk Rock music largely came to be as a DIRECT refutation of garbage songs LIKE this one.
@Michael Persico And they were playing tired, worn out arena rock to those sold out audiences wherein people were falling asleep in the front friggin row. Their brand of rock became incredibly bloated and self-aggrandizing and Punk was DESPERATELY NEEDED to make Rock ROCK again.
Homer: I bet the guy she was singing that about was real happy. Marge: Actually, she was singing about God. Homer: Oh. Well, he's always happy. No, wait, he's always mad...
I can't hear this song without hearing that conversation. Actually, I can't hear this song, because I always take a shotgun to my speakers when it comes on. I'm glad it doesn't get much airtime anymore.
Pat Boon didn't just bring black music to white audiences badly, he did so without permission of the artists and kept the money from them. He also brought black music to white audiences to the part of the country where black music couldn't be played on the radio due to racism.
And this is where my people got the roots of now going overboard with cultural appropriation. I do understand the argument because having your race dictate everything about you and being powerless for a long time to even get compensation when someone stole from you is a quick way to make someone eternally resentful. And yet...I try imagining other cultural things around the world I wish I'd done when younger or would like to try and the idea that because I'm a black woman from the States means I can't...I just don't really like that. I think my peers have gone from genuine reasons to be mad, which there still are cases today, indeed, to instead hoarding anything done by blacks as blacks only, back off, you can't sit with us. It's like we've created our own segregation and that depresses me. But it began because of cases like what you pointed out.
While a dubious practice, stealing songs was common industry action. It was also not race specific. Willie Dixon successfully sued Led Zeppelin for royalties on songs by Charlie Patton, Son House and other artists he got copywrite on without authorization from said musicians.
@@TheGenXInfluencer54 The problem is that during Pat Boone's time, the 50s, there were charts for black music and charts for white music. Music was segregated in such a way that it's virtually impossible for modern audiences to understand. So, what Pat Boone did was take the current number one hit from the black music chart, then record a 'white' version of it so that he could have the number one hit on the white music charts. Elvis, Johnny Cash, and Carl Perkins did the same thing. Hell, The Beatles also did it in their early years and so did The Beach Boys and The Rolling Stones. However, those artists tend to get away with it because they recorded hits that weren't stolen from black artists which got so big they overshadowed those 'stolen' hits. Pat Boone never really had a hit that wasn't just a cover of a black song, and he was by far the most prolific of the singers who were doing that kind of thing.
@@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley I'm glad that you can admit that a lot of the racial backlash these days is quite petty. Although yes, there are still real racial issues in america, especially within the government and police forces, but getting genuinely offended because Ariana Grande decides to rap (well, for racial reasons and not just because she sucks at it) or Nicki Minaj wears an asian dress is a great example of why "picking your battles" is a good thing.
Alice Cooper is a born again, and he never changed his musical act. Granted he got the blessing of the reverend from his church, but he didn’t water down his own genre.
@@elihyland4781 if you haven’t already, google it. Actually the closest he ever came to Christian Rock was playing King Herod in the live telecast of Jesus Christ Superstar a few years ago.
This is strange but I can confirm she is freaking nice. Dating myself here, but as a kid I called her my "2nd mom" or something because she used to babysit me in the mid 70s. I ran into her in the late 90s or early 00s and she wasn't only still really nice but she remembered me on site. I can only say that when I now see the soft rock videos of her, it's not the playful person I fondly remember from my childhood. Interesting to see her on here.
I find that hard to believe.... that your dad chose this song over Disco Duck (sure, both are bad, but Disco Duck is just painful) . I DJ'd in the 90's, and my worse song choice would be Mambo #5
@@defhoez449 To be fair, he probably hasn't heard Disco Duck since 1979, when disco was locked away, while You Light Up My Life pops up every now and then on TV and stuff.
@@defhoez449 there’s a much better and more hilarious German cover of Disco Duck and you can find it on TH-cam. It’s about Tarzan instead of a duck, thus it’s called Tarzan Ist Wieder Da, and was first sung by a well known Hamburg native called Willem (Wilken is his real first name) F Dincklage.
Tutti Frutti is a nothing song that gets everything from Little Richard's energy and attitude. A Pat Boone cover requires missing the whole point. Naturally it outsold the original.
@@blaisedw I was about to say, Little Richard toned down the recorded version so it sounds like nonsense, but the original lyric is very explicitly about gay sex. Which, uhhhh, makes the Pat Boone cover accidentally hilarious.
I was in elementary school when this came out and was inescapable. Every choir had to do it, and everyone that went to a recital was required to listen to it. Each time you got into the car it was on regardless what station it was tuned to, regardless of what 8 track tape you had in it still played, and even if the radio was off or if it didn't even have a stereo.
It didn’t matter what 8-track tapes you played or what station you had your radio on, this song was on when you changed tapes. And made you happy to listen to The Bee Gees.
My wife and I were in separate elementary school choirs, one grade and 2,272 miles apart, and we both distinctly remember our choirs singing it (in my case, at the mall, probably during the holidays).
Say what you want about the cheese of 70s easy listening. Karen Carpenter had the purest, most beautiful voice ever. She's a huge influence of mine. I do agree that there is a lot of hokey music in the genre, mostly by Captain and Tennille and ONJ, and Debby. Barbra Streisand and the Carpenters are among the gems of the 70s.
Absolutely couldn't agree more. Karen Carpenter was absolutely amazing. To lump her in with Helen Reddy and Debby Boone always pissed me off. They had far more melancholy songs than cheese, although, to be fair, they did quite a bit of cheese, too. It's always been easy for music snobs to mock the Carpenters, but at their best they were really great.
Also, unlike Debby, the Carpenters’ wholesome image was just that, an image. Karen and Richard were pretty normal people. They weren’t chaste, cookie-cutter performers like their music led you to believe. And yes, there was a dark side. Most people know about Karen’s struggle with anorexia and her tragic death, but not many people know that Richard was at one point addicted to prescription drugs and quaaludes. This was swept under the rug because he went to rehab for a few months and got clean pretty quickly while Karen recorded her solo album. (1979/80) The peak of their popularity had ended, which is another reason why people might not be aware of that part of their lives.
Yes thank you! Karen Carpenter had the voice of an angel, and there was a lot more to her and The Carpenters than just easy listening. You can hear it in the soulful melancholia of their version of Superstar, which in my opinion is one of the best songs of the 70s. Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth is a fan, she knows what's up.
I was 16 in 1977. You couldn't avoid the tripe unless you lived in a cave. Revisiting this is trauma. I feel violated. I'm going to listen to Masters of Reality and cleanse my soul.
Kind of wish Todd would have gone more into Joseph Brooks' background. He was one of those extremely talented yet horribly evil men. Juxtaposes really interestingly with Debby's life actually.
TIMOTHY YOUNG I think Debbie's problem is that her abilities as a performer was pretty limiting, much worse to a sound/genre that has been the butt of many a joke. She certainly has a nice voice and is able to hit the notes, but it's a voice that can only fit a niche market.
One fact not mentioned here is that this was probably the first, and maybe only, case in history where the success of the theme song actually turned the movie it came from into a huge hit. "You Light Up My Life" was a bad, obscure, critically-panned movie with no stars, written and directed by a guy nobody'd ever heard of. When the song became this enormous hit (and I was there...oh my God, it was unbelievably big, just constantly on the radio for months and months), the movie benefited enormously and turned into a big moneymaker.
"Pat Boone, eh? Name rings a bell... I'll look him up." *a few seconds' research later* "Bloody hell, this guy sounds like one of the worst people I've ever heard of."
Appreciate the fact that I lived through 1977 and the utter hellish pervasiveness of this song that mercilessly did not let you hide from it. If you went to the farthest mountain or desert or island this obnoxious thing followed you there to taunt you.
The funny thing is, until I heard it on the Simpsons I'd never heard this song before - it made it all the way to the heady heights of #48 where I live!
When this won Best Original Song, it beat "Nobody Does it Better" from The Spy Who Loved Me, "Someone's Waiting for You" from The Rescuers, "Candle on the Water" from Pete's Dragon, and "He/She Danced with Me" from The Slipper and the Rose.
FYI...that was not Debby Boones voice coming out of Didi Conn's mouth in the movie. It was the late Kacey Cisik. Her version was used for the film and in my opinion is superior to Boones version. Same thing happened more recently with "Let It Go" where the Idina Menzel version was used in Frozen instead of the inferior Demi Lovato version.
3:41 Little Richard’s Tutti frutti: an upbeat Blues song about uses the description of sweets to describe how fine a woman is. 3:46 Pat Boone’s Tutti Frutti: a mellow cover that, based on the set, literally is about sweets.
Not gonna lie I had the biggest crush on her when I was a lot younger, a LOT younger. I frakking loathed her singing, but she’s just insanely visually beautiful to me...then I discovered goth girls and got a whole lot happier.
I've hard quite a few One Hit Wonderland subjects played at work. Maybe not this one but I have heard at half a dozen songs there that Todd has discussed.
@@Demiglitch Here are the songs from One Hit Wonderland I heard at work, from what I remember: - Take On Me - Baby Got Back - Kung Fu Fighting - Come On Eileen - Safety Dance - Play That Funky Music - Tubthumping - Unbelievable - I Ran - Who Let The Dogs Out - You Spin Me Round - Walking In Memphis - Groove Is In the Heart - Word Up - Blue (Da Ba Dee) - St. Elmo's Fire - I Love You Always Forever - Beds Are Burning - Rock Me Amadeus - Video Killed The Radio Star - Lovefool - Whenever You Will Go - Jump Around - You Get What You Give
Look up the distinction between Duchenne smiles and non-Duchenne smiles. If you don't engage the corners of your eyes, it looks creepy because it's clearly fake. Humans pick up on this across cultures.
Kimi FW Yeah. My church focuses its hymns on "I'm a sinner, saved by grace" and "God is awesome (but we don't use slang)," which leaves out a lot of ground that I appreciate in songs we'd never sing in church. I think the "keep it tidy" style of churches (including my own) avoids any focus on realities like how damaged people feel in the world today (Demons by Imagine Dragons, a song my parents can't stand), how messed up a life can get (Monster by Skillet / Animal I Have Become by Three Days Grace), or any real exploration of the imperfect human experience they often mention but don't go into so many of the details on. But it's all part and parcel of the church at large wanting to avoid uncomfortable things. I kinda understand why some do that, but... if you're always smiling, you're gonna have a hard time reaching out to people who are hurting so badly that smiles are offensive. If you come across like your life is perfect, how are you gonna relate to people whose life is anything but?
Exactly. I actually feel closer to God when listening to rock because it addresses the cruelty of life and the beauty of love. Most gospel I hear ignores the cruelty and focuses solely on God. It feels so hollow.
Lol I remember when Pat Boone came out with 'In A Metal Mood'. Weird ass album. Basically the intro of every cover was the intro of the song being covered, and then it would bust into this totally unrelated happy jazz number where only the lyrics are kept the same. Like some unironic Richard Cheese shit.
@@NEEDbacon it was a massive hit and is really well liked by outsider artists and similar. Don't think it qualifies for trainwreckords. It's like the precursor to William Shatner's Has-Been which is also weirdly beloved.
@@medes5597 Has Been (and yeah, it helps to have the best producers available and guest slots from Ben Folds, Henry Rollins, and Joe Jackson) actually sorta bops. Check it out, you'll be surprised.
@@paleotectonics2670 I love has-been, it's a damn good album. I was just using it as an example of a record that most people wouldn't realise is as loved as it is. Im a tmbg fan with an extensive collection of weird records. Has been is a definite favourite of mine. Common People + Shatner is an amazing combination.
Todd, brilliant synopsis of the time. I didn't know the songwriter was a "rapist" (now I'm thinking about your "Pepper" review). This song was such a cultural phenomenon, and quite the alternative to the disco invasion at the time. I'd take Conway Twitty over Pat Boone, if I had to choose - at least for the 50's & 60's covers.
David Cassidy was the Justin Beiber of the '70s, but actually bigger than what Beiber could ever imagine. Meanwhile acts, such as Led Zeppelin, got popular after the '70s, but were alternative during the '70s. The '70s were so bad that funk singer Bettie Davis wrote a song saying how pop music sucked then.
I think You Light Up My Life being the biggest hit of the 70's, and Physical by Olivia Newton John being the biggest hit in the 80's ( Although I'd pefer Physical over this BS ), should in fact prove that music from the past wasn't much better than most of the crap that's being released today. I do like the 70's and 80's, but god those 2 decades were filled with so much easy listening junk that makes me wanna bash my head open ( Not to mention just how overplayed those 2 decade's are ). Personally, I think every decade has their shining classics, and embarrassing moments they'd love to forget. The only difference is that there wasn't any internet back then to shove it in your face.
Don't forget that the nation grew an instant hate boner for disco music by the late 70s. Funk unfairly got roped in to the same camp so a lot of good music was unfairly shit on. Truth be told, a lot of the 70s was probably really bad: The Beatles broke up, CCR released one final, really shitty album and broke up, Kiss didn't catch on until the Alive! album in '75, Black Sabbath debuted in 1970, but were too dark to be mainstream at the time and got almost zero radio play. Paranoid was an underground success at best despite selling 4 million copies. Deep Purple had a good 3 year run, but then imploded and started to suck after Ian Gillan left. And that's just from 1970-1975.
Craptastic13 Not only that, Jimi Hendrix,Janis Joplin,Jim Morrison,Jim Croce,Phil Ocs,Elvis,Marc Bolan,Ronnie Van Sant,Steve And Cassie Gaines,Terry Kath, and Keith Moon all died that decade.😔 As a matter of fact, Elvis died around the same week the movie that begated the formentioned song was released,Marc Bolan died in a car crash about a month later, and on top of that Ronnie,Steve,and Cassie died on that terrible plane crash the same week this song hit No.1.😖😰 If that won't knock the windout of your sails, then I don't know what will!
Genuinely interested in hearing Debby Boone sing "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" with all the suppressed venom she seems to have had for her own press portrayal channeled into it.
When I was a kid, my brother and I gave my mom a little music box for Mother's Day. It was relatively cheap, but we were kids and it cost a lot to us. My mom kept the music box in a special place on a special shelf, and every once in a while someone would turn the key and play that tinkling melody. I never knew what song that was until today: "You Light Up My Life" by Debbie Boone.
This is gonna sound weird, but I'm...actually related to this woman. I mean we're ALL related, of course, but in a way I know about. We're both descendants of Daniel Boone, only with her branch of the family the name stayed. Distantly related, so more of a funny trivia-bit than a case of "Hey, cousin Debby! Did ya get my Christmas card!" but still... Even weirder, the song "You Light Up My Life" first started it's ten-week (!) reign at the top of the American Billboard charts...on EXACTLY MY BIRTHDAY. I don't mean the day I was _born_, but my birthday. October 15, 1977. Yep. wut. I used to have this old book of Billboard #1s, with pictures and factoids/history about each artist, etc. and when I turned the page to that one and saw the date at the bottom, I cracked up. XD
That was 5 days and seven years before the days I was born, to the day. I share my birthday with Mitch Lucker, who was the lead singer of Suicide Silence, (same year even!), Tom Petty, and Bela Lugosi! I'm very proud my birthday.
Side note: 1977s Best New Artist was Starland Vocal band over Boston 1978s was Debby Boone over the artists Todd mentioned, sure, but more importantly Foreigner. What a double whammy.
Say what you will about Stephen Bishop and Andy Gibb, I at least know not EVERY SINGLE SONG of theirs isn’t the equivalent of downing a bottle of Valium. Also Karen Carpenter’s songs could be pretty damn evocative, not just being “oh you make everything better always” and often being like “yeah I still feel sad even though society tells me you should make me happy”
Thanks for giving her honest props for being a nice lady. As a kid I quickly grew tired of the song and remember it far too well as a ubiquitous moniker of the times. But it is clear her father (Pat Boone) reared her right and she's just a decent person who is using her talents well. Never knew she was Rosemary Clooney's DIL. Tip of the hat to her for giving her great MIL a tribute album, as she was incredible. Debbie Boone is surrounded by so much great talent its no great mystery she had the big hit. Wish more of them were like her.
10:26-10:40 To be fair Foreigner was also nominated that year. The deserving bands that weren't nominated were The Clash and Talking Heads. It could also be argued that Meat Loaf was elgible although he had an album in 1971 with Shaun Murphy called Stoney and Meat Loaf. I don't know if that counts as his first album. 12:33-12:40 Actually, I think that Physical is right above You Light Up My Life on that list of the biggest Billboard Hits of all time.
After watching this I actually tried to track down any footage I could find of her as Rizzo. I did find one clip. I am so glad I did. I think it was in 1996, so she would've been nearly 40. I know Stockard Channing was in her 30's when she played Rizzo but dang...
This is one of my favorite songs of all time. It just depends on how you view these songs. Yes, it is more inspirational, but it does have meaning for a kid like me back then. I was bullied for my speech and hearing problem at the time. I was sad and down until someone came into your life to be a friend and defend you from the bullies. That friend came into my life filling up light and hope. A lot of people at the time went through one of those gas prices ordeals and all that with a lost of hope, and this song came out at the right time.
Same here, I enjoy punk and metal from time to time but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy this song too. Todd seems to have hypocritically forgotten his own words he once said in the past many years ago. “It’s the MP3 generation, everyone listens to everything.” He may have forgotten that he once said that but I have not. It’s a shame that Todd never truly did understand that It’s OK to enjoy some innocence from time to time. Not everything has to be dark edginess 24 seven. You would think that someone who enjoys analyzing music so much, he would put the two and two together to understand that but ultimately if there’s anything the post channel awesome scandal has made me realize that so many of us before that, in our naïve youth back then, we put these reviewers on a pedestal and now that we’re older and wiser and know better, we have long realized that we don’t have to hang on every word they say or convince ourselves that they’re “experts” because now in hindsight after the dust has long settled and Channel Awesome is in smoking ruins, a victim of its own hubris, we know now to take a lot of their so called “wisdom” with a grain of salt. After all, as the old saying goes “hindsight is 20/20”
@113214082147586356376 This is the one they stated to be their song back in I Married Marge, but the series has indicated The Carpenters' "(They Long To Be) Close To You" to be the more synonymous song. Meanwhile, this song has never come up again.
I briefly met her once back in 1977 when she came to the record store I frequented to promote her album. Now 40-some years later her dad is a friend of a friend but I've yet to run into her again. While I liked the song when it first came out like 95% of America I got burned out on it because it was played all the time for months as it was number one for a stunning 13 weeks and by the time it was off the chart it had been way over exposed. Sadly I think it would be better remembered if it hadn't been such a big hit.
I strongly don’t like Pat! I read one of the Auckland library books which has a chapter dedicated to Pat’s notoriety and connections with an infamous Congau Liberian politician called Charles Taylor. Also, he founded both the current CBN and its currently more secular rival Freeform, which is now both an ABC division and a Disney subsidiary.
BTW, this is a Dorian mode song. I've been working on a bass, drums, and vocals arrangement of this song and I find myself playing it in the key of A with an F#. Amin groove followed by a Dmaj groove is always Dorian. Also, there's a Patti Smith version on YT. It's much better.
This kind of music reminds me of convenience store coffee and having to accompany my step dad on his truck route because that counted as babysitting in the 90s.
Todd didn't mention this in the review, but the last artist nominated alongside Boone that year for Best New Artist was Foreigner. The fact they picked Boone (whose one song is mostly seen as a joke) over Foreigner (who had several hits in the 70s and 80s and whose songs are still played on the radio) shows just how much the Grammys are a joke.
Gabriel Ferrer is also the son of Mel Ferrer, the guy who infamously directed a rather bland jungle girl film called Rima, a guilty pleasure which tried too hard to cash in on Sheena’s tv and multimedia success in its time, even though it’s based on a British novel that got released in 1904.
I was in my early teens when "You Light Up My Life" hit. It wasn't a particularly bad song for AM radio, but any song that was No. 1 of the decade is going to be the No. 1 target of critics. It's really amazing it was ever that popular since no one under age 50 would admit to liking it. When's the last time you heard it in a karaoke bar even? I rest my case.
You mentioned at 6:30 that "you light up my life" was the template for songs like "I will always love you". However "I will always love you" was written by Dolly Parton way before this song was performed by Debbie Boone The amazing story of "I will always love you" can be heard in the Podcast "Dolly Parton's America"
I don’t think Todd meant in in that way - more like, “You Light Up My Life” was the most massively successful ballad associated with a movie, which is what producers were trying to replicate with putting “I Will Always Love You” and “My Heart Will Go On” on the soundtracks of their own movies.
How about a medley of "Informer" and "You Light Up My Life"? Or, what if Snow followed "Informer" with a cover version of "You Light Up My Life"? Licky Boom Boom Down, indeed!
i'm surprised you didn't make "nepotism" as a running gag just like "nirvana killed my career" because most of the one hit wonders in one hit wonderland or in your pop song reviews come from nepotism (rockwell, that dude from the calling, hot chelle rae, elle king, LMFAO, debby boone)
She was actually pretty hot....and STILL is. I'm 48, and I remember when Light Up when came out....that song was HUGE. The 70's were a time of a lot of cocaine and Quaaludes and housewives LOVED this song. Well, not only housewives, but everyone else too. I remember my folks would have friends over and this song would be spun on the turntable at least twice...it was 1977's version of My Heart Will Go On.
Debbie didn't even sing this song on the soundtrack and she performed it at the Oscars lol. Brooks originally got an singer named Kacey Cisyk to sing it. that's who's voice Frenchie sings with in the movie. she also sang like every single vintage jingle you've ever heard and is also hugely popular in the Ukrainian community for singing like folk music and stuff. i just think it's funny that in the 70s/80s there was just like a low key army of these interchangeable ballad belters.
Louie Didcote We have to learn about his "contribution" to music and his "cultural influence". It really is dumb what completely random and inane shit we have to learn in Texas. I had to memorize the name of the inventor of the fucking water plane!
Now try it from my perspective: 1969 #GenX kid in Christian church school with teachers who played acoustic guitar. I hear later even other kids in schools were subjected to YLUML sing-alongs. Hearing this song again was like picking at an old scab, thanks!
11:41 That’s the Eagles’ “Desperado” she and Kenny Rogers are covering! Also, random Fun Fact: her husband (not pictured here) is George Clooney’s cousin. Rosemary Clooney was his mom.
It is kind of ironic that her song was knocked out of #1 by the Bee Gees, the ultimate many hit wonders. Barry Gibb would go on to have the #1 song for 27 of the next 54 weeks. Literally HALF of all songs for the next year were written by Barry Gibb.
I can't help but point out that people's singing voices can actually sound really different from their singing voices. The example I always think of is this cheesy children's anime called Full Moon wo sagashite which is like Hannah Montana with magic and cancer. The protagonist has this awful, breathy, squaky voice... except when she sings. Her singing voice is amazing and deep and just... omg. I was SO ready to call bullshit on that but turns out it really is the same person doing both. Go figure. Also I suspect I might belong to that category too, because people are always absolutely shocked when they hear me sing? Like they just stare at me and go like "wow, you can really sing!" in that kind of tone that screams "I would never have guessed".
+Tuuliska A much better real life example: listen to Dave Mustaine from Megadeth speak, then listen to him "sing". It's almost like two different people.
1977. If you liked hard rock, you did not watch TV (Except for Don Kirchner’s Rock Concert, Friday Night at midnight) or listen to the radio. Bland music ruled except in bedrooms on teen record players.
I was just thinking about this song the other day. It was inescapable at the time. I loathed it but it is good as a Christian ✝️ song. It's very innocent.
The purity of the song is exactly half the reason for its success. It stood out. It was refreshing in its wholesomeness. America hadn't heard anything even close to that for a long time by then. That plus her excellent singing skills- she's really good. I do take your point on Christian music though. It inherently lacks the edge that makes just about every other kind work.
In this fifteen minute video we hear "You Light Up My Life" five times. *That* is what it was like listening to the radio in the fall of 1977.
Scott Larson Yes, you couldn’t avoid it when it came out, it was constantly on the radio. I think most of the Grunge movement was made up of kids that had to listen to this as kids.
All there years later and this video brought back the trauma. In 1977 8-tracks were the only escape from this song.
The thought of that makes me shutter. Thank God I was born in 95 so I got to avoid this song
Yep. I was 12 in 1977 and hadn't discovered rock radio yet. I was still figuring out what I liked. So I tried to like this, since I heard it constantly on pop radio. But I just couldn't manage it. Thank God. I remember being happy when I began hearing it less.
@@colonelweird I was a baby back in 1977 so I didn't know anything about heavy rotation.
This is exactly why punk rock happened.
iskandertime747 NOFX actually used a line from this song in their tune Total Bummer
I know it’s fun to simplify things into sound bites and talk like a Rolling Stone journalist but the Ramones and the Sex Pistols didn’t form in 1975 because of this 1977 song.
@@michaelmcdonald8452 But there is truth in the statement nonetheless. The charts in the mid 70s were full of awful schlock. Rock'n'roll had run its course, the 1960s had degenerated into ageing longhairs wearing silk scarves, and elderly shit like this was topping the charts way too often. Something needed to happen, and Punk was that thing.
@@michaelmcdonald8452 He's not talking about this song specifically, ya dunce. He's speaking generally. Punk Rock music largely came to be as a DIRECT refutation of garbage songs LIKE this one.
@Michael Persico And they were playing tired, worn out arena rock to those sold out audiences wherein people were falling asleep in the front friggin row. Their brand of rock became incredibly bloated and self-aggrandizing and Punk was DESPERATELY NEEDED to make Rock ROCK again.
Homer: I bet the guy she was singing that about was real happy.
Marge: Actually, she was singing about God.
Homer: Oh. Well, he's always happy. No, wait, he's always mad...
I can't hear this song without hearing that conversation. Actually, I can't hear this song, because I always take a shotgun to my speakers when it comes on. I'm glad it doesn't get much airtime anymore.
It can't be wrong, when it feels so good....right
When it comes to Christian Rock I'm gonna quote Hank Hill: "You're not making Christianity any better. You're just making Rock and Roll worse."
When even conservative, right wing, church-going Hank Hill says that christian rock sucks.......you know it fucking sucks.
@@UBvtuber Conservative, (decreasingly) right wing, church-going guy here. Christian rock entirely sucks.
@@NewhamMatt There is some good stuff. Usually its impossible to tell that its christian rock unless someone tells you but still
Its not a surprise that the best christian rock songs are the ones that have little to nothing to do with christianity.
Christian rock is at its best when it's over the top cheesy, like Stryper
"... and Netflix outright refused to send me a copy" dates this video to the day
Pat Boon didn't just bring black music to white audiences badly, he did so without permission of the artists and kept the money from them. He also brought black music to white audiences to the part of the country where black music couldn't be played on the radio due to racism.
And this is where my people got the roots of now going overboard with cultural appropriation. I do understand the argument because having your race dictate everything about you and being powerless for a long time to even get compensation when someone stole from you is a quick way to make someone eternally resentful. And yet...I try imagining other cultural things around the world I wish I'd done when younger or would like to try and the idea that because I'm a black woman from the States means I can't...I just don't really like that. I think my peers have gone from genuine reasons to be mad, which there still are cases today, indeed, to instead hoarding anything done by blacks as blacks only, back off, you can't sit with us. It's like we've created our own segregation and that depresses me. But it began because of cases like what you pointed out.
While a dubious practice, stealing songs was common industry action. It was also not race specific. Willie Dixon successfully sued Led Zeppelin for royalties on songs by Charlie Patton, Son House and other artists he got copywrite on without authorization from said musicians.
@@TheGenXInfluencer54 this is also just kind of what musicians did at the time, you just cover whats popular, period.
@@TheGenXInfluencer54 The problem is that during Pat Boone's time, the 50s, there were charts for black music and charts for white music. Music was segregated in such a way that it's virtually impossible for modern audiences to understand. So, what Pat Boone did was take the current number one hit from the black music chart, then record a 'white' version of it so that he could have the number one hit on the white music charts.
Elvis, Johnny Cash, and Carl Perkins did the same thing. Hell, The Beatles also did it in their early years and so did The Beach Boys and The Rolling Stones. However, those artists tend to get away with it because they recorded hits that weren't stolen from black artists which got so big they overshadowed those 'stolen' hits. Pat Boone never really had a hit that wasn't just a cover of a black song, and he was by far the most prolific of the singers who were doing that kind of thing.
@@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley I'm glad that you can admit that a lot of the racial backlash these days is quite petty. Although yes, there are still real racial issues in america, especially within the government and police forces, but getting genuinely offended because Ariana Grande decides to rap (well, for racial reasons and not just because she sucks at it) or Nicki Minaj wears an asian dress is a great example of why "picking your battles" is a good thing.
I have to admit, as someone who listened to the original "Tutti Fruiti" a lot as a kid, Pat Boone's version made my skin crawl.
I don't blame you.
Eric T. I've never heard about that before. I love that fact so much!
+Robogabriel The original lyrics were:
"Tutti Frutti, good booty If it don't fit, don't force it You can grease it, make it easy"
How old our you?
It actually didn't sound that bad to me. Different, not anything like the original - but not "bad" as a stand alone piece.
Alice Cooper is a born again, and he never changed his musical act. Granted he got the blessing of the reverend from his church, but he didn’t water down his own genre.
As a lifelong Alice Cooper fan I did not know this. Wowza.
@@elihyland4781 if you haven’t already, google it. Actually the closest he ever came to Christian Rock was playing King Herod in the live telecast of Jesus Christ Superstar a few years ago.
@@heidifedor That. Was. Amazing. I love Alice, he's way smarter than a lot of people give him credit for.
@heidifedor and that's all in good fun! I can't see anyone faulting him for that role
As of 2022, this is now the 12th-biggest hit of all time, displaced by Blinding Lights (#1), Uptown Funk (#5), and Shape of You (#10).
Well now… talk about lighting up the charts…. In a blinding manner
Well Blinding Lights and Uptown Funk are amazing songs!
Shape of you. Ew
Thank goodness!
Two out of three being really good is better than you'd expect tbh
This is strange but I can confirm she is freaking nice. Dating myself here, but as a kid I called her my "2nd mom" or something because she used to babysit me in the mid 70s. I ran into her in the late 90s or early 00s and she wasn't only still really nice but she remembered me on site. I can only say that when I now see the soft rock videos of her, it's not the playful person I fondly remember from my childhood. Interesting to see her on here.
My dad was a DJ when this was big. It's quite possibly his least favorite song of all time. There's a correlation between the two.
I find that hard to believe.... that your dad chose this song over Disco Duck (sure, both are bad, but Disco Duck is just painful) . I DJ'd in the 90's, and my worse song choice would be Mambo #5
@@defhoez449 To be fair, he probably hasn't heard Disco Duck since 1979, when disco was locked away, while You Light Up My Life pops up every now and then on TV and stuff.
@@defhoez449 As a listener of DJs in the 90s, I'd guess you guys also have a lot of PTSD from My Heart Will Goon.
@@theinternet1424 yea....THAT one would be a VERY close second
@@defhoez449 there’s a much better and more hilarious German cover of Disco Duck and you can find it on TH-cam. It’s about Tarzan instead of a duck, thus it’s called Tarzan Ist Wieder Da, and was first sung by a well known Hamburg native called Willem (Wilken is his real first name) F Dincklage.
Tutti Frutti is a nothing song that gets everything from Little Richard's energy and attitude. A Pat Boone cover requires missing the whole point. Naturally it outsold the original.
I laughed at that and then got really sad
Hey, that was the censored version. The real song was sung in gay bars and went "tutti fruity, Loose booty"
@@blaisedw I was about to say, Little Richard toned down the recorded version so it sounds like nonsense, but the original lyric is very explicitly about gay sex. Which, uhhhh, makes the Pat Boone cover accidentally hilarious.
Pat Boone is a perfect demonstration of how conservatives suck at making art.
@@rashotcake6945 yup. Ted nugent, pat boone, kid rock, Florida Georgia line, sam hunt, Eric Clapton (his solo music at the very least)
I was in elementary school when this came out and was inescapable. Every choir had to do it, and everyone that went to a recital was required to listen to it. Each time you got into the car it was on regardless what station it was tuned to, regardless of what 8 track tape you had in it still played, and even if the radio was off or if it didn't even have a stereo.
It didn’t matter what 8-track tapes you played or what station you had your radio on, this song was on when you changed tapes. And made you happy to listen to The Bee Gees.
My wife and I were in separate elementary school choirs, one grade and 2,272 miles apart, and we both distinctly remember our choirs singing it (in my case, at the mall, probably during the holidays).
Say what you want about the cheese of 70s easy listening. Karen Carpenter had the purest, most beautiful voice ever. She's a huge influence of mine. I do agree that there is a lot of hokey music in the genre, mostly by Captain and Tennille and ONJ, and Debby. Barbra Streisand and the Carpenters are among the gems of the 70s.
Karen Carpenter's low notes make my heart sing. Also she was a kickass drummer. She's sorely missed.
Absolutely couldn't agree more. Karen Carpenter was absolutely amazing. To lump her in with Helen Reddy and Debby Boone always pissed me off. They had far more melancholy songs than cheese, although, to be fair, they did quite a bit of cheese, too. It's always been easy for music snobs to mock the Carpenters, but at their best they were really great.
Also, unlike Debby, the Carpenters’ wholesome image was just that, an image. Karen and Richard were pretty normal people. They weren’t chaste, cookie-cutter performers like their music led you to believe. And yes, there was a dark side. Most people know about Karen’s struggle with anorexia and her tragic death, but not many people know that Richard was at one point addicted to prescription drugs and quaaludes. This was swept under the rug because he went to rehab for a few months and got clean pretty quickly while Karen recorded her solo album. (1979/80) The peak of their popularity had ended, which is another reason why people might not be aware of that part of their lives.
Monique Creber (who is Michelle Creber's mom) has been described as having a voice as "eerily similar to the late, great Karen Carpenter".
Yes thank you! Karen Carpenter had the voice of an angel, and there was a lot more to her and The Carpenters than just easy listening. You can hear it in the soulful melancholia of their version of Superstar, which in my opinion is one of the best songs of the 70s. Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth is a fan, she knows what's up.
I was 16 in 1977. You couldn't avoid the tripe unless you lived in a cave. Revisiting this is trauma. I feel violated. I'm going to listen to Masters of Reality and cleanse my soul.
Kind of wish Todd would have gone more into Joseph Brooks' background. He was one of those extremely talented yet horribly evil men. Juxtaposes really interestingly with Debby's life actually.
TIMOTHY YOUNG I think Debbie's problem is that her abilities as a performer was pretty limiting, much worse to a sound/genre that has been the butt of many a joke. She certainly has a nice voice and is able to hit the notes, but it's a voice that can only fit a niche market.
u wot m8 he sexually assaulted 11 women on his casting couch. No dog whistle imo, this isn’t like Trump or Alex Jones decrying the “Secret Bankers.”
I won't even give him talent man's background was jingle writing. Yeah so was Manilow but he had a soul
the son is definitely bland. Boone made it blander
Like Phil Spector
This song is the evil twin of Afternoon Delight
And only better than that song only by a little bit
Don’t get me wrong it’s hard to top You Light Up My Life on sucking but somehow Afternoon Delight sucks even more than that
I would choose “Afternoon Delight” any day over this one!!!! 😂😂😂😂😂
Yeah and Afternoon Delight is also the evil twin of You Light Up My Life.
I happen to really like a little ...Afternoon delight .... It really ...lights up my life !
One fact not mentioned here is that this was probably the first, and maybe only, case in history where the success of the theme song actually turned the movie it came from into a huge hit. "You Light Up My Life" was a bad, obscure, critically-panned movie with no stars, written and directed by a guy nobody'd ever heard of. When the song became this enormous hit (and I was there...oh my God, it was unbelievably big, just constantly on the radio for months and months), the movie benefited enormously and turned into a big moneymaker.
"Pat Boone, eh? Name rings a bell... I'll look him up."
*a few seconds' research later*
"Bloody hell, this guy sounds like one of the worst people I've ever heard of."
"You white up my-light, you light up my life" I screamed out loud
Back then AM radio was a big thing. It enabled stuff like this for people who were psycho-socially still living in the 50’s.
Appreciate the fact that I lived through 1977 and the utter hellish pervasiveness of this song that mercilessly did not let you hide from it. If you went to the farthest mountain or desert or island this obnoxious thing followed you there to taunt you.
I was in grade school and my stepmom loved it. Those were dark times.
The funny thing is, until I heard it on the Simpsons I'd never heard this song before - it made it all the way to the heady heights of #48 where I live!
When this won Best Original Song, it beat "Nobody Does it Better" from The Spy Who Loved Me, "Someone's Waiting for You" from The Rescuers, "Candle on the Water" from Pete's Dragon, and "He/She Danced with Me" from The Slipper and the Rose.
Nobody Does It Better totally deserved to win.
I always liked Candle on the Water. Best part of that whole movie.
skystarless I still absolutely love that song
@Tom Ffrench best worst original song from the razzies is also a joke, U2's song for Batman Forever was nominated for it some hoe
Karen Carpenter was lighter then how I weighed when I was 8 when she died. Just tragic.
"You white up my life" hahaha!
😂🤣
Well, with the reputation the Boones had, it’s a misquote that is still a pretty accurate description of the artist & the song.
@@cdagyekybcrpaa I was just quoting Todd from the video.
Gabriel Schleifer yes, I know
FYI...that was not Debby Boones voice coming out of Didi Conn's mouth in the movie. It was the late Kacey Cisik. Her version was used for the film and in my opinion is superior to Boones version. Same thing happened more recently with "Let It Go" where the Idina Menzel version was used in Frozen instead of the inferior Demi Lovato version.
Does anyone actually listen to the Demi Lovato version, though?
@@danieldaniels7571 Demi Lovato mega-fans?
Thank you for reminding who that actor is. Didi Conn. I'll try to not forget again.
Kasey Cisik’s voice was fucking beautiful and I didn’t even know it until now.
I hate Demi lovato. Their voice sounds like nails on a chalkboard.
"Is there anything WRONG with that?"
"No, my Lord."
3:41 Little Richard’s Tutti frutti: an upbeat Blues song about uses the description of sweets to describe how fine a woman is.
3:46 Pat Boone’s Tutti Frutti: a mellow cover that, based on the set, literally is about sweets.
Apparently, the original Tutti Frutti wasn't about a woman.
Not gonna lie I had the biggest crush on her when I was a lot younger, a LOT younger. I frakking loathed her singing, but she’s just insanely visually beautiful to me...then I discovered goth girls and got a whole lot happier.
aka Big Tiddy Goth Gfs
Wise man
You’d listen to better music that way, too.
I wanna beat off to this comment...
was that Whitney Houston covering the song at the end? so much better than the original
That's certainly the version I remember growing up with, didn't even know it was a cover until this review,
Well yeah, it's fucking Whitney Houston.
Fun Fact:
Tony Tenielle sings in the same key as a smoke detector.
Ah, a fellow Red Green fan I see.
Is it insane that I'm 38, grew up in the US, and have never heard this song in my life until I watched this video in 2024?
Debbie Boone in the 70s.
She can make a mesh top unsexy.
That’s real power
Oh dear god they played this six times at work yesterday
Ciara.Chaya that is the very definition of workplace harassment.
How's working at Hallmark?
I've hard quite a few One Hit Wonderland subjects played at work. Maybe not this one but I have heard at half a dozen songs there that Todd has discussed.
@@EpicB I've only heard the fun ones played. Nothing like Kung Fu Fighting to get you hyped up and kicking shit.
@@Demiglitch Here are the songs from One Hit Wonderland I heard at work, from what I remember:
- Take On Me
- Baby Got Back
- Kung Fu Fighting
- Come On Eileen
- Safety Dance
- Play That Funky Music
- Tubthumping
- Unbelievable
- I Ran
- Who Let The Dogs Out
- You Spin Me Round
- Walking In Memphis
- Groove Is In the Heart
- Word Up
- Blue (Da Ba Dee)
- St. Elmo's Fire
- I Love You Always Forever
- Beds Are Burning
- Rock Me Amadeus
- Video Killed The Radio Star
- Lovefool
- Whenever You Will Go
- Jump Around
- You Get What You Give
in christian music they FORCE smiling to make you look happy it ends up always being creepy
true!
Look up the distinction between Duchenne smiles and non-Duchenne smiles. If you don't engage the corners of your eyes, it looks creepy because it's clearly fake. Humans pick up on this across cultures.
Which reflects Christian music's tradition of pretending that Christianity is all smiles. The bands Brandon listed do a better job of appearing human.
Kimi FW Yeah. My church focuses its hymns on "I'm a sinner, saved by grace" and "God is awesome (but we don't use slang)," which leaves out a lot of ground that I appreciate in songs we'd never sing in church.
I think the "keep it tidy" style of churches (including my own) avoids any focus on realities like how damaged people feel in the world today (Demons by Imagine Dragons, a song my parents can't stand), how messed up a life can get (Monster by Skillet / Animal I Have Become by Three Days Grace), or any real exploration of the imperfect human experience they often mention but don't go into so many of the details on.
But it's all part and parcel of the church at large wanting to avoid uncomfortable things. I kinda understand why some do that, but... if you're always smiling, you're gonna have a hard time reaching out to people who are hurting so badly that smiles are offensive. If you come across like your life is perfect, how are you gonna relate to people whose life is anything but?
Exactly. I actually feel closer to God when listening to rock because it addresses the cruelty of life and the beauty of love. Most gospel I hear ignores the cruelty and focuses solely on God. It feels so hollow.
Always good to remind myself why I love late 70s punk so much
Lol I remember when Pat Boone came out with 'In A Metal Mood'. Weird ass album. Basically the intro of every cover was the intro of the song being covered, and then it would bust into this totally unrelated happy jazz number where only the lyrics are kept the same. Like some unironic Richard Cheese shit.
Think we could get todd to look at it for Trainrecords?
@@NEEDbacon it was a massive hit and is really well liked by outsider artists and similar. Don't think it qualifies for trainwreckords. It's like the precursor to William Shatner's Has-Been which is also weirdly beloved.
@@medes5597 Has Been (and yeah, it helps to have the best producers available and guest slots from Ben Folds, Henry Rollins, and Joe Jackson) actually sorta bops. Check it out, you'll be surprised.
@@paleotectonics2670 I love has-been, it's a damn good album. I was just using it as an example of a record that most people wouldn't realise is as loved as it is.
Im a tmbg fan with an extensive collection of weird records. Has been is a definite favourite of mine. Common People + Shatner is an amazing combination.
@@medes5597 Coolsville!
I can confirm how big this song was in the 70s because my school made us sing this.
Mine too. Thanks, fifth grade chorus.
I was a kid, when this song came out. It was played on the radio so much, you could hardly get away from it. But, I tried.
Everyone under 20 did
That’s an insult to Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly, AND The Everly Brothers!!!!
Todd, brilliant synopsis of the time. I didn't know the songwriter was a "rapist" (now I'm thinking about your "Pepper" review). This song was such a cultural phenomenon, and quite the alternative to the disco invasion at the time. I'd take Conway Twitty over Pat Boone, if I had to choose - at least for the 50's & 60's covers.
Pat and Deb boone are the perfect example that just because you sold well, doesn't mean you will have a strong legacy
My dad had/has a crush on Olivia Newton John because she actually had personality. Whereas Ms. Boon here... About as interesting as a piece of toast
A very white toast at that.
Mrs Boone was a Glurge fest of a boring milquetoast.
Toast is very interesting in comparison to boone
Imagine the beat down of having to sing this song every week at St. Raphael's Catholic Church in Naperville, Il during the late 70's
All the great music that came out of the 70's, and this bullshit was the greatest hit of the decade? The hell? Proof that hindsight really is 20/20.
David Cassidy was the Justin Beiber of the '70s, but actually bigger than what Beiber could ever imagine. Meanwhile acts, such as Led Zeppelin, got popular after the '70s, but were alternative during the '70s. The '70s were so bad that funk singer Bettie Davis wrote a song saying how pop music sucked then.
In retrospect, the good of an era always tends to overshadow the bad.
I think You Light Up My Life being the biggest hit of the 70's, and Physical by Olivia Newton John being the biggest hit in the 80's ( Although I'd pefer Physical over this BS ), should in fact prove that music from the past wasn't much better than most of the crap that's being released today. I do like the 70's and 80's, but god those 2 decades were filled with so much easy listening junk that makes me wanna bash my head open ( Not to mention just how overplayed those 2 decade's are ).
Personally, I think every decade has their shining classics, and embarrassing moments they'd love to forget. The only difference is that there wasn't any internet back then to shove it in your face.
Don't forget that the nation grew an instant hate boner for disco music by the late 70s. Funk unfairly got roped in to the same camp so a lot of good music was unfairly shit on. Truth be told, a lot of the 70s was probably really bad: The Beatles broke up, CCR released one final, really shitty album and broke up, Kiss didn't catch on until the Alive! album in '75, Black Sabbath debuted in 1970, but were too dark to be mainstream at the time and got almost zero radio play. Paranoid was an underground success at best despite selling 4 million copies. Deep Purple had a good 3 year run, but then imploded and started to suck after Ian Gillan left. And that's just from 1970-1975.
Craptastic13 Not only that, Jimi Hendrix,Janis Joplin,Jim Morrison,Jim Croce,Phil Ocs,Elvis,Marc Bolan,Ronnie Van Sant,Steve And Cassie Gaines,Terry Kath, and Keith Moon all died that decade.😔 As a matter of fact, Elvis died around the same week the movie that begated the formentioned song was released,Marc Bolan died in a car crash about a month later, and on top of that Ronnie,Steve,and Cassie died on that terrible plane crash the same week this song hit No.1.😖😰
If that won't knock the windout of your sails, then I don't know what will!
Genuinely interested in hearing Debby Boone sing "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" with all the suppressed venom she seems to have had for her own press portrayal channeled into it.
When I was a kid, my brother and I gave my mom a little music box for Mother's Day. It was relatively cheap, but we were kids and it cost a lot to us. My mom kept the music box in a special place on a special shelf, and every once in a while someone would turn the key and play that tinkling melody. I never knew what song that was until today: "You Light Up My Life" by Debbie Boone.
This is gonna sound weird, but I'm...actually related to this woman. I mean we're ALL related, of course, but in a way I know about. We're both descendants of Daniel Boone, only with her branch of the family the name stayed. Distantly related, so more of a funny trivia-bit than a case of "Hey, cousin Debby! Did ya get my Christmas card!" but still...
Even weirder, the song "You Light Up My Life" first started it's ten-week (!) reign at the top of the American Billboard charts...on EXACTLY MY BIRTHDAY. I don't mean the day I was _born_, but my birthday. October 15, 1977. Yep. wut. I used to have this old book of Billboard #1s, with pictures and factoids/history about each artist, etc. and when I turned the page to that one and saw the date at the bottom, I cracked up. XD
my late stepdad was related to daniel so im assuming also to pat and debby.he wasnt a fan..
does the fucked up face run in the family
That was 5 days and seven years before the days I was born, to the day. I share my birthday with Mitch Lucker, who was the lead singer of Suicide Silence, (same year even!), Tom Petty, and Bela Lugosi! I'm very proud my birthday.
I mean, once of my neighbors is an Anoa'i, it's not that weird.
Funnily enough I share a birthday with Debby lol
Songs like this are the reason why I changed the 70s Channel on our Muzak system at work hahaha, make me wanna gouge my eyes out.
Karen Carpenter, a Stepford wife? Come on, man.
Yeah I was thinking that too
Side note: 1977s Best New Artist was Starland Vocal band over Boston
1978s was Debby Boone over the artists Todd mentioned, sure, but more importantly Foreigner.
What a double whammy.
Say what you will about Stephen Bishop and Andy Gibb, I at least know not EVERY SINGLE SONG of theirs isn’t the equivalent of downing a bottle of Valium. Also Karen Carpenter’s songs could be pretty damn evocative, not just being “oh you make everything better always” and often being like “yeah I still feel sad even though society tells me you should make me happy”
"Netflix outright refused to send me a copy"
God does that statement make me feel old
Thanks for giving her honest props for being a nice lady. As a kid I quickly grew tired of the song and remember it far too well as a ubiquitous moniker of the times. But it is clear her father (Pat Boone) reared her right and she's just a decent person who is using her talents well. Never knew she was Rosemary Clooney's DIL. Tip of the hat to her for giving her great MIL a tribute album, as she was incredible. Debbie Boone is surrounded by so much great talent its no great mystery she had the big hit. Wish more of them were like her.
So, wait, is she one of George’s cousins?
10:26-10:40 To be fair Foreigner was also nominated that year. The deserving bands that weren't nominated were The Clash and Talking Heads. It could also be argued that Meat Loaf was elgible although he had an album in 1971 with Shaun Murphy called Stoney and Meat Loaf. I don't know if that counts as his first album.
12:33-12:40 Actually, I think that Physical is right above You Light Up My Life on that list of the biggest Billboard Hits of all time.
After watching this I actually tried to track down any footage I could find of her as Rizzo. I did find one clip. I am so glad I did. I think it was in 1996, so she would've been nearly 40. I know Stockard Channing was in her 30's when she played Rizzo but dang...
This was my mom’s song for me when I was a baby.
This is one of my favorite songs of all time. It just depends on how you view these songs. Yes, it is more inspirational, but it does have meaning for a kid like me back then. I was bullied for my speech and hearing problem at the time. I was sad and down until someone came into your life to be a friend and defend you from the bullies. That friend came into my life filling up light and hope. A lot of people at the time went through one of those gas prices ordeals and all that with a lost of hope, and this song came out at the right time.
I'm a metal head and punk guy, but I like this song. It's very pure and relaxing after getting home from work
Same here, I enjoy punk and metal from time to time but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy this song too. Todd seems to have hypocritically forgotten his own words he once said in the past many years ago. “It’s the MP3 generation, everyone listens to everything.” He may have forgotten that he once said that but I have not. It’s a shame that Todd never truly did understand that It’s OK to enjoy some innocence from time to time. Not everything has to be dark edginess 24 seven. You would think that someone who enjoys analyzing music so much, he would put the two and two together to understand that but ultimately if there’s anything the post channel awesome scandal has made me realize that so many of us before that, in our naïve youth back then, we put these reviewers on a pedestal and now that we’re older and wiser and know better, we have long realized that we don’t have to hang on every word they say or convince ourselves that they’re “experts” because now in hindsight after the dust has long settled and Channel Awesome is in smoking ruins, a victim of its own hubris, we know now to take a lot of their so called “wisdom” with a grain of salt. After all, as the old saying goes “hindsight is 20/20”
I'm so glad The Simpsons didn't commit to this being Homer & Marge's song.
Refresh my memory, what is their song?
@113214082147586356376 This is the one they stated to be their song back in I Married Marge, but the series has indicated The Carpenters' "(They Long To Be) Close To You" to be the more synonymous song. Meanwhile, this song has never come up again.
Thank you, I don't mind "Close To You".
Spirit in the sky has got to be the best song about how everything is fine
I briefly met her once back in 1977 when she came to the record store I frequented to promote her album. Now 40-some years later her dad is a friend of a friend but I've yet to run into her again. While I liked the song when it first came out like 95% of America I got burned out on it because it was played all the time for months as it was number one for a stunning 13 weeks and by the time it was off the chart it had been way over exposed. Sadly I think it would be better remembered if it hadn't been such a big hit.
"The most loatheable man in America" now that title belongs to probable good friend, Pat Robertson.
I strongly don’t like Pat! I read one of the Auckland library books which has a chapter dedicated to Pat’s notoriety and connections with an infamous Congau Liberian politician called Charles Taylor. Also, he founded both the current CBN and its currently more secular rival Freeform, which is now both an ABC division and a Disney subsidiary.
BTW, this is a Dorian mode song. I've been working on a bass, drums, and vocals arrangement of this song and I find myself playing it in the key of A with an F#. Amin groove followed by a Dmaj groove is always Dorian.
Also, there's a Patti Smith version on YT. It's much better.
This kind of music reminds me of convenience store coffee and having to accompany my step dad on his truck route because that counted as babysitting in the 90s.
No Karen Carpenter slander will be tolerated!
Cyndi Lauper talks with a Brooklyn accent.
I knew Whitney Houston's career was next to over when she covered this song on one of her last albums.
I…l wanna unlearn that.
Todd didn't mention this in the review, but the last artist nominated alongside Boone that year for Best New Artist was Foreigner. The fact they picked Boone (whose one song is mostly seen as a joke) over Foreigner (who had several hits in the 70s and 80s and whose songs are still played on the radio) shows just how much the Grammys are a joke.
Debby Boone's husband, Gabriel Ferrer, is the cousin of George Clooney.
Hey, Foreigner was nominated for Best New Artist that year, too, so ... yeah.
Gabriel Ferrer is also the son of Mel Ferrer, the guy who infamously directed a rather bland jungle girl film called Rima, a guilty pleasure which tried too hard to cash in on Sheena’s tv and multimedia success in its time, even though it’s based on a British novel that got released in 1904.
I was in my early teens when "You Light Up My Life" hit. It wasn't a particularly bad song for AM radio, but any song that was No. 1 of the decade is going to be the No. 1 target of critics. It's really amazing it was ever that popular since no one under age 50 would admit to liking it. When's the last time you heard it in a karaoke bar even? I rest my case.
You mentioned at 6:30 that "you light up my life" was the template for songs like "I will always love you". However "I will always love you" was written by Dolly Parton way before this song was performed by Debbie Boone
The amazing story of "I will always love you" can be heard in the Podcast "Dolly Parton's America"
I love the scene where she sings it in The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas. Dolly is a national treasure.
Dolly's version is that old?
@@JebusMatoi First released in 1974.
I don’t think Todd meant in in that way - more like, “You Light Up My Life” was the most massively successful ballad associated with a movie, which is what producers were trying to replicate with putting “I Will Always Love You” and “My Heart Will Go On” on the soundtracks of their own movies.
How about a medley of "Informer" and "You Light Up My Life"? Or, what if Snow followed "Informer" with a cover version of "You Light Up My Life"? Licky Boom Boom Down, indeed!
Carlton Dean 😂😂😂😂😂
@@kylehegedus5498 Thank you.
i'm surprised you didn't make "nepotism" as a running gag just like "nirvana killed my career" because most of the one hit wonders in one hit wonderland or in your pop song reviews come from nepotism (rockwell, that dude from the calling, hot chelle rae, elle king, LMFAO, debby boone)
She was actually pretty hot....and STILL is. I'm 48, and I remember when Light Up when came out....that song was HUGE. The 70's were a time of a lot of cocaine and Quaaludes and housewives LOVED this song. Well, not only housewives, but everyone else too. I remember my folks would have friends over and this song would be spun on the turntable at least twice...it was 1977's version of My Heart Will Go On.
This song was actually a room clearer whenever it came on the radio back in the day .It was considered so uncool to anyone under 21
was I the only one who clicked on this thinking of I've Had the Time of My Life?
Debbie didn't even sing this song on the soundtrack and she performed it at the Oscars lol. Brooks originally got an singer named Kacey Cisyk to sing it. that's who's voice Frenchie sings with in the movie. she also sang like every single vintage jingle you've ever heard and is also hugely popular in the Ukrainian community for singing like folk music and stuff. i just think it's funny that in the 70s/80s there was just like a low key army of these interchangeable ballad belters.
Todd, Pat Boone is literally taught in textbooks in the Texas public school system in my U.S. History class
+Kuroki Tomoko How does that work?
Louie Didcote We have to learn about his "contribution" to music and his "cultural influence". It really is dumb what completely random and inane shit we have to learn in Texas. I had to memorize the name of the inventor of the fucking water plane!
What the fuck is a waterplane?
Louie Didcote EXACTLY!
+Kuroki Tomoko This is an amazing conversation, I just wanted to put that in. You couldn't have scripted it better.
Now try it from my perspective: 1969 #GenX kid in Christian church school with teachers who played acoustic guitar. I hear later even other kids in schools were subjected to YLUML sing-alongs. Hearing this song again was like picking at an old scab, thanks!
11:41 That’s the Eagles’ “Desperado” she and Kenny Rogers are covering! Also, random Fun Fact: her husband (not pictured here) is George Clooney’s cousin. Rosemary Clooney was his mom.
Rosemary Clooney was the sister of George Clooney’s dad.
@@SlapstickGenius23 Right and thus Gabriel Ferrer and George Clooney are cousins.
It is kind of ironic that her song was knocked out of #1 by the Bee Gees, the ultimate many hit wonders. Barry Gibb would go on to have the #1 song for 27 of the next 54 weeks. Literally HALF of all songs for the next year were written by Barry Gibb.
13:41 - Sadly, the same can not be said about her Dad.
I actuly love this song
Lol, this guy’s commentary is hysterical. I love it! 😂🤣😂🤣
I can't help but point out that people's singing voices can actually sound really different from their singing voices. The example I always think of is this cheesy children's anime called Full Moon wo sagashite which is like Hannah Montana with magic and cancer. The protagonist has this awful, breathy, squaky voice... except when she sings. Her singing voice is amazing and deep and just... omg. I was SO ready to call bullshit on that but turns out it really is the same person doing both. Go figure.
Also I suspect I might belong to that category too, because people are always absolutely shocked when they hear me sing? Like they just stare at me and go like "wow, you can really sing!" in that kind of tone that screams "I would never have guessed".
+Tuuliska A much better real life example: listen to Dave Mustaine from Megadeth speak, then listen to him "sing". It's almost like two different people.
Michael Jackson
Jim Nabors, Mel Tillis.
You can tell the video is hold because Todd says Netflix wouldn't "send" him something
This song always makes me think of that mad tv sketch where they just keep singing "You are the love of my life" over and over and over again.
Todd's playing makes this tune sound exciting (or something).
1977. If you liked hard rock, you did not watch TV (Except for Don Kirchner’s Rock Concert, Friday Night at midnight) or listen to the radio. Bland music ruled except in bedrooms on teen record players.
I remember the Osborns talking about Pat Boone being the greatest neighbors ever.
Heidi Fedor Interesting
By all accounts Pat Boone is a genuinely nice and liked guy.
That difference in voice is like 2D singing vs speaking.
I don't know why everyone is hating on this song. It's a great song that's sung well.
You weren't there dude.
Debby Boone is great!
Todd Solondz' masterpiece, "Happiness". It's always the first thing that pops in my head when I hear this song.
I kind of like this song :D
Considering that whole spear of Longinus thing, I'd say Jesus has some punctured abs.
Lina Lamont? Excellent allusion that few people may know. Great job, as usual, Todd.
What am I, stupid or something?!
@@KrisRN23935 "'People?' I ain't 'people!' I'm a shimmering star in the Hollywood firmament."
"This is the worst Picture Ever Made"
"Well I LIKED It!"
I was just thinking about this song the other day. It was inescapable at the time. I loathed it but it is good as a Christian ✝️ song. It's very innocent.
The purity of the song is exactly half the reason for its success. It stood out. It was refreshing in its wholesomeness. America hadn't heard anything even close to that for a long time by then. That plus her excellent singing skills- she's really good. I do take your point on Christian music though. It inherently lacks the edge that makes just about every other kind work.