The only 1960s band in history to have a number one before, during, and after The Beatles’ reign
Living in the shadow of The Beatles wasn’t a singular experience; so many great songs and artists were kept from achieving the full official recognition they deserved due to the reign of the four beloved Liverpudlians.
Take The Beach Boys’ classic pop anthem, ‘God Only Knows’, released in 1966, which was forced to look miserably on from the second spot due to the never-ending reign of the double A-side Beatles track blocking it, namely ‘Yellow Submarine’ and ‘Eleanor Rigby’.
Or how about two years earlier, in 1964, when The Isley Brothers’ hit ‘Twist and Shout’ was blocked from the top spot by The Beatles’ hit ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’. It peaked at number two, but only for a moment, as The Beatles held the entire top five during April of 1964.
This tale is told up and down the chart history of The Beatles’ reign of terror, as Beatlemania swept the globe and Paul McCartney’s handsome, rough, Scouse drawl converted every last sceptic. From their soaring entry into the charts with hits like ‘Please Please Me’ in 1963, they were an unstoppable force throughout the entirety of the decade, except for one band who were able to withstand and conquer the storm before, after, and during its worst typhoons.
Before Beatlemania had dug its fangs into even the most unsuspecting victims, Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons became the first group in Hot 100 history to score three consecutive number-one singles, in the form of ‘Sherry’ and ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’ in 1962 and ‘Walk Like a Man’ in 1963. They occupied the number one position for an extraordinary 13 consecutive weeks.
The group’s fourth top single came in 1964, just as The Beatles’ performance on The Ed Sullivan Show took the rockers to new heights. Still, The Four Seasons went for gold with ‘Rag Doll’, which stayed in the top spot in the US for two weeks, born on a street in Manhattan when a young girl washed songwriter Bob Gaudio’s car in Hell’s Kitchen. Not bad at all for a personal anecdote.
All that was left now was for the band to prove that they could land at the top of the podium after John Lennon departed from The Beatles and their earth-shattering reign came crashing to an unceremonious end. It took some time (more than a decade since their last number one), but the band of friends managed to land another miracle with ‘December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)’, which soared to the top of the charts in 1976.
It was a different recipe that cooked up the winning take, as Valli’s signature falsetto was pushed to the side for drummer Gerry Polci’s pleasant drawl soaking up the limelight in the verses. A true collaborative affair, bass player Don Ciccone delivered the recognisable falsetto line: “And I felt a rush like a rolling ball of thunder / Spinning my head around and taking my body under”.
Despite the evident competition between the two groups, there was never any bad blood. The Four Seasons went so far as to cover The Beatles’ classics, such as ‘Fool on the Hill’ and ‘We Can Work It Out’, though these singles were never in with a chance of chart success. Let the Fab Four do what the Fab Four did best.
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