Tom Breihan

For several years now, Breihan has been writing his "The Number Ones" column at Stereogum. He's making his way through the history of the Billboard Hot 100, writing short essays on the historical and cultural background and impact of each song that reached the top of the chart. He's made his way to mid-2011; this week's entry is on Adele's "Rolling in the Deep."

In this book, he chooses twenty #1 hits, some more recent than he's yet gotten to at Stereogum, to examine in more detail; these are show more 15-20 page essays, rather than 15-20 paragraphs. He describes his choices as "BC/AD moments. They're points where pop history pivoted -- where new genres or technologies or cultural moments sent the pop charts off in a new direction."

We get songs that represent major musical movements; Motown is represented by The Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go" and rap by Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby." (It was, after all, the first rap song to top the chart.) Britney Spears' "Baby One More Time" acknowledges the pop assembly line of producer Max Martin and his many proteges, and T-Pain's "Buy U a Drank" allows Auto-Tune to stand in for the many new technologies that have changed pop over the decades.

It can be difficult to write about music; our vocabulary feels too limited and imprecise. Breihan writes about music very well. If you know the song he's writing about, you'll hear it in a new way; if you don't know the song, you'll want to run to Spotify and listen to it. Here he is talking about Mariah Carey's "Vision of Love":

"At the beginning of "Vision of Love," Carey sings without too many embellishments. As the song unfurls, though, she shows off more and more of what her voice can do. She never loses the melody or the emotional focus of the song. Instead, she builds it toward a climax, pushing toward gospel-style transcendence. As she gets closer and closer to her grand-showoff moments, Carey gets wilder and fiercer in the way she uses that voice. She holds grand, loud notes for long stretches, like a Broadway singer. She lets her voice fly all over the scale in the space of a single syllable, giving displays of melisma that not even Whitney Houston had attempted. In the song's grand finale, Carey flies up into the whistle register, the highest-pitched sound that a human voice can make.

"...But Carey deploys that note as just one weapon in her arsenal, one flourish in a song that's practically nothing but flourishes. Even today, "Vision of Love" remains a wild highlight reel of a song. It's not just Carey's technique. It's the way she unveils that technique, one piece at a time. Carey knew that her vocal feats would astound people, so she built them up, adding one new piece at a time. That's showmanship."

Breihan is careful to put each song in context within its historical moment. How does it fit in with, or stand out from, the musical landscape of that year? How did the writer, the singer, the producer get to this point in this career? What made this song click with the public in a way that similar songs didn't?

This book takes seriously the cultural importance of music that doesn't very often get taken seriously. That's not to say that it feels ponderous or academic; Breihan's writing is entertaining, and it goes down easy without ever being condescending. If he wanted to write more books like this, choosing a new set of twenty songs for each volume, I'd be eager to read them. show less

The Billboard Hot 100 is a strange beast and the history of the Number One songs is a weird and fascinating story. Artists like Bob Dylan, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Bruce Springsteen never had a Number One song and some of the most beloved songs of all time have been held out of the top spot by songs that have aged poorly. Also, some very strange songs by the likes of The Chipmunks, The Singing Nun, Rick Dees, and Los Del Rio hit Number One. You could say that these are bad songs, show more but at one point in history the music buying public of the United States found these songs to be their favorite in a particular moment of time.

Two of my favorite podcasts focus on pop music history - Chris Molanphy's Hit Parade which focuses on the charts and Andrew Hickey's A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs which goes deeper into the weeds of rock music history. In the past few years I've also become a fan of Tom Breihan's The Number Ones column on Stereogum. Breihan is reviewing every single Number One song on the Billboard Hot 100 starting from 1958 and as of this writing has made it as far as 2005. Breihan does an excellent job of researching the histories of the artists, songwriters, producers, et al behind a song and the circumstances that lead it be the most popular song in the USA in a particular moment of time. Some of my least favorite songs have the most interesting stories. Be warned though, Breihan can be pretty abrasive about trashing the songs that he doesn't like (the column on Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy" was particularly cruel).

This book is a spinoff of the Stereogum column focusing on "twenty chart-topping hits that reveal the history of pop music." The book is more professional than the column (no f-bombs castigating songs that Breihan hates). The songs chosen are ones that changed the face of pop music in the U.S. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "Dynamite" introduced the pop music of another country into the American mainstream. New musical technologies powered "Mr. Tambourine Man," "Good Vibrations," and "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" to the top. While "Rock Your Baby," "Don't You Want Me," and "Black Beatles" introduced new genres to chart success.

The Number Ones probably doesn't offer anything new to anyone knowledgeable of pop music history. But it does frame it in interesting ways and shows how many different ways there are to make a number one hit. I also like Breihans historical approach to the background of a song. This is a good book that fans of music will love. show less

The Number Ones: Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal the History of Pop Music, by Tom Breihan, is a fun read that for many readers will bring back memories, perhaps fond ones, perhaps not.

In point of fact what is revealed is A history of pop, not THE history of pop. But hyperbole is the name of the game for writers like this, so whatever. A different group of songs could have been chosen, with maybe one or two exceptions, but the ones here do tell a very interesting thread of the overall show more history.

While there might not be much in the way of new information here, that isn't the point. These songs represent (mostly) significant moments where the direction of pop music changed or at least shifted a bit. While his authorial voice is just about as annoying as imaginable, the stories of the songs are interesting enough to overcome his inflated sense of his own opinion. I guess you may have noticed I find his style something less than good. But many others seem to really like it, so it is probably just what I like rather than something objectively good or bad. The style, that is, the ego is evident to all.

Don't let my negativity about the author dissuade you. The songs and the stories are well-chosen and quite interesting. In the hands of an actual writer this would have been a phenomenal book. As it is it is still a very good book. If you either like pop music or just appreciate pop music as the background to whatever genre you prefer, this book is well worth your time. The bulk, though not all, of my complaints are a matter of personal taste and the dynamic between a writer and a reader.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. show less

Well-written and researched backgrounds on 20 different number songs through the years. Breihan details why these songs are important--how they changed the charts or expectations. These songs didn't happen in a vacuum.