In terms of a Jefferson Airplane off-shoot, I loved Jefferson Starship. Paul Kantner did a great job with putting together that band, with him as the anchor from Jefferson Airplane, while three other Jefferson Airplane members (Grace Slick, Jack Cassady, Joey Covington) drifted in and out, not to mention other notable people in the band. Grace Slick was with them for most of the time.
Jefferson Starship was my generation. I remember in September 1976, the Jefferson Starship song “With Your Love”, which was on the charts at the time, came on the radio and I thought it was the greatest song. That memory sticks with me at that represented a totally cool time in my life, and that Jefferson Starship song is a major part of it. I also loved their songs “Miracles”, “Count on Me”, “Jane”, and “Runaway”.
Of course, we all like to forget the next incarnation of the group, which was simply known as “Starship”. Paul Kantner fought some members of Jefferson Starship and some new people from putting out wimpy material under the moniker “Jefferson Starship”. Grace Slick and the others finally were able to only use the name “Starship”. Ironically, Grace Slick by far found her most commercial success in her career with Starship, as three of their songs hit number one, and other songs scored high in the top ten.
Starship’s most famous (infamous) song is “We Built This City”, which more than one major music magazine on both sides of the pond have declared as being the “worst # 1 song in history”. The song ironically was penned by Bernie Taupin, Elton John’s songwriting partner during his glory years and sometimes after. “We Built This City” hit number one for the last weeks of November 1985. The song prevented Glenn Frey’s “You Belong to the City” from hitting number one, which would have been a coup because no solo Eagle has ever had a number one hit. Glenn Frey actually hit # 2 on the charts twice in 1985 – first with “The Heat Is On” and then with “You Belong to the City”, which looked like it would make the jump to # 1 from # 2 until “We Built This City” shot up quickly. The Eagles had five number one hits between 1974 and 1979 (“Best of My Love”, “One of These Nights”, “New Kid in Town”, “Hotel California” and “Heartache Tonight”). Since their 1980 break-up, a member of the band never has had a solo # 1 hit, though Joe Walsh (who joined the Eagles late in the game) played lead guitar on the 1978 Andy Gibb # 1 hit “(Love Is) Thicker Than Water”.
Starship also hit number one in March 1986 with the soft rock classic “Sara”. Their song “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”, penned by serial hit songwriter Diane Warren, hit # 1 in April 1987.
I guess it does not reflect well of the Billboard Hot 100 that neither Jefferson Airplane nor Jefferson Starship ever had a number hit while Starship had three number one hits. Go figure!
It is most ironic that famed lyricist Bernie Taupin, co-writer of countless classic hits with Elton John, wrote such a terrible song like “We Built This City”. Taupin penned another song that would hit number one a few months later, “These Dreams” by Heart, which topped the charts in March 1986.
While his famed and prolific writing partnership with Elton John is something of legend, their most successful song, in terms of both sales and chart toppings, is “Candle in the Wind 1997”, which was a re-working of the famous 1973 Elton John song “Candle in the Wind” off of the double album GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD. When Elton made the decision to sing a version of the song at Princess Diana’s funeral, he called Bernie and asked him to write new lyrics. Forty-five minutes later, Bernie faxed Elton the new lyrics. (can’t you tell?). The studio version of the single was produced by George Martin; oddly enough, it was more successful than any single Martin did in the eight years of producing The Beatles.
The single “Candle in the Wind: 1997” was a charity single in that all the proceeds went to the Diana, Princess of Wales, Memorial Fund. It broke the 13 year record of the 1984 charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by Band Aid, which was done for African famine relief, as the top selling single in UK history. It was the most successful single in UK history in terms of sales and chart positions. In the U.S., it topped the charts for an unprecedented 14 weeks on the way to being the only diamond-certified single ever. “Candle in the Wind: 1997” topped the charts in countless nations throughout the world en route to becoming the second-biggest selling single of all-time (for some reason “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby is the top selling single of all-time).
Until “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” and “Candle in the Wind 1997”, the top-selling single in the history of the UK was “Mull of Kintyre” by Wings, a 1977 smash hit that only hit # 37 on the U.S. charts and then slipped off the Top 40 after a week. It is largely unknown in the U.S. However, this Wings song still retains the distinction of being the top-selling non-charity single of all time in the UK. It eclipsed The Beatles’ “She Loves You” in 1977, which held the title of the top UK seller of all-time for 14 years. McCartney never plays this song in concerts in the U.S. because no one here knows it, but he does play it in all his concerts in Canada. He could not play it one night in Boston, and then play it the next night in Toronto or Montreal. “Mull of Kintyre” was penned by McCartney and Wings guitarist Denny Laine, who was the only constant member of Wings from its inception in 1971 until disbanding in 1981. Laine was the original lead vocalist for The Moody Blues before jumping ship early, providing lead vocals on their very early hit “Go Now”, which he would also perform at Wings concerts.
For the record, Grace Slick was forced out of Jefferson Starship in 1978 when she came on stage drunk at a big concert in West Germany and taunted the audience with “Hey, who won the war?” The band feared for their safety getting out of West Germany. She was able to re-join about two years later.
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