June 25, 2021 —– Chart #97
Hello Musical Friends,
Welcome to Friday and the 97th edition of Chart of the Day. 1972 again, one of my favorite music years. Today’s selection should bring a smile to your face. “The Cover of ‘Rolling Stone’” is a song written by Shel Silverstein and first recorded by American rock group Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show. Produced by Ron Haffkine and released in 1972, it was the band’s third single and peaked at No. 6 on the U.S. pop chart for two weeks on March 17–24, 1973. The song satirically laments that the band had not appeared on the cover of the Rolling Stone, a magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. The song’s success led to the band appearing on the cover of Rolling Stone in 1973, albeit in caricature.
The song satirizes success in the music business; the narrator laments that his band, despite having the superficial attributes of successful rock stars (including drug usage, “teenage groupies, who’ll do anything we say”, and a frenetic guitar solo) has been unable to “get our picture/on the cover of the Rolling Stone”. As the song was riding high on the charts, the magazine finally acquiesced to Dr. Hook’s request — after a fashion: the March 29, 1973, cover of Rolling Stone did indeed feature the band, but in caricature form rather than a photograph (and with only three of the band’s seven members). Also, the group’s name was not used; instead the caption read simply, “What’s-Their-Names Make the Cover.”
BBC Radio refused to play the song, as it contained the name of a commercial publication (Rolling Stone) and could therefore be considered advertising. An urban legend states that the song was re-recorded by the band as “The Cover of the Radio Times”, the weekly television and radio guide published by the BBC; however, this is disputed by Dennis Locorriere, Dr. Hook’s co-lead singer. “Legend has it that we went into a studio and re-recorded the song. What actually happened was that a bunch of BBC disc jockeys went into a studio and shouted ‘RADIO TIMES’ over our original chorus,” Locorriere said. “It’s the same recording that we released but with the addition of their voices layered on top of ours. You can, however, still hear us singing ‘Rolling Stone,’ but way in the background, under their voices.” The new version was rush-released in the UK, but did not find its way onto the charts there. However the band’s UK publicists took advantage of the BBC’s uptight attitude by advertising the single in the UK music press as “the first banned single of 1973”.
Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show (shortened to Dr. Hook in 1975) was an American rock band, formed in Union City, New Jersey. They enjoyed considerable commercial success in the 1970s with hit singles including “Sylvia’s Mother”, “The Cover of ‘Rolling Stone'” (both 1972), “Only Sixteen” (1975), “A Little Bit More” (1976), “Sharing the Night Together” (1978), “When You’re in Love with a Beautiful Woman” (1979), “Better Love Next Time” (1979), and “Sexy Eyes” (1980). In addition to their own material, Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show performed songs written by the poet Shel Silverstein.
The band had eight years of regular chart hits in the United States, where their music was played on top-40, easy listening, and country music outlets, and throughout the English-speaking world including the UK, Canada and South Africa. Their music spanned several genres, mostly novelty songs and acoustic ballads in their early years, though their greatest success came with their later material, mostly consisting of disco-influenced soft rock, which the band recorded under the shortened name Dr. Hook.
Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show Live in 1974: https://youtu.be/KuvfIePDbgY
Keep rockin’ my friends,
Stan