/* Written 6:26 PM Dec 30, 1994 by tgill in igc:alt.music.misc */
/* ———- "CHART: Year end HUMCHART for 94" ———- */
Here is the HUMCHART for 1994: Note: Three of the top four songs
are remakes of music that the nation was already familiar with,
given new life. This certainly helped us come to terms with them
and sing’em out loud.
1 "I Can See Clearly Now" Jimmy Cliff
This ‘lite reggae’ remake made a ‘cool running’ to the top
of the Humchart this year. Reports from across the
country have had people whistling, humming, and singing
out loud.
2 "(Meet the) Flintstones" BC-52′s A short-lived but massive
phenomenon got the nation humming along with "Steven Spielrock’s"
screen extravaganza.
3 "All I Want To Do" Sheryl Crow All I want to do… is sing this
song… till the sun comes up on Santa Monica Boulevard…
4 "Wimoweh," Traditional (The Turtles)
5 "Hakuna Matata" Lion King Soundtrack These songs (and #17
below) all benefitted from the massive and
historically-unprecedented success of the Lion King (even though
"Wimoweh" was not on the soundtrack, even Burger King knew it
would be a tune to sell! Reports from Humchart correspondents
included people often singing out these songs while leaving the
theater. "No worries" indeed!
6 "Loser" Beck I guess I must not be enough of a slacker to
understand the appeal of this song. Oh well.
7 "Whatta Man" Salt ‘n’ Pepa/ EnVogue Whatta tune, whatta tune,
what a mighty mighty catchy tune!
8 "Found Out About You" Gin Blossoms An undeniably memorable
melody from these alternative rockers got people singing out loud
this year.
9 "Streets of Philadelphia" Bruce Springsteen The Boss knows how
to make some unlikely Humchart successes (see, for example, "57
Channels and Nothin’ On" a few years ago).
10 "Gangsta Lean" DRS Uh… I can’t explain this one, but it was
consistently reported by several correspondents. What’s the
appeal of singing out loud about homeboys in prison?
11 "The Sign" Ace of Base
12 "Linger" Cranberries
13 "Mr. Jones" Counting Crows
14 "Selling the Drama" Live
15 "Get Over It," Eagles
16 "Leaving Las Vegas" Sheryl Crow
17 "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" Elton John
18 "Indian Outlaw" TimMcGraw
19 "Shoop" Salt-n-Pepa
20 "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" Crash Test Dummies
21 "Heart Shaped Box" Nirvana
22 "Hero" Mariah Carey
23 "What’s The Frequency Kenneth" R.E.M.
24 "Night In My Veins" Pretenders
25 "Gin and Juice" Snoop Doggy Dogg
26 "Big Time Sensuality" Bjork
27 "Bump ‘n’ Grind" R.Kelly
28 "Live Until I Die" Clay Walker
29 "Bizarre Love Triangle" Frente
30 "Doop" Doop
HELP COMPILE THE HUMCHART, THE ANNUAL RANKING OF SONGS THAT PEOPLE
HUM, SING, WHISTLE, AND CHANT ALOUD DURING EVERY CALENDAR YEAR.
How often have you ever known a situation like this to happen?
* Your boss comes back from the water cooler humming the music to
The Eagles’ "Get Over It."
* Your office-mate takes off his dirty eyeglasses, wipes them off,
looks at you, smiles, points to the glasses and sings "I can see
clearly now…"
*In the dorm cafeteria, your roommate takes one look at the Chef’s
Surprise and parodies Meat Loaf’s "I would do anything for love,
but I won’t do that" by singing out, "I would eat anything for
lunch, but I won’t eat that!"
*While you are sitting on a park bench, a woman with a Walkman on
jogs by, whistling out loud the melody to Ace of Base’s "The Sign"
* The 5:35 is running late at the subway station. You wonder out
loud if it will ever arrive. A minute later, the train comes
around the corner and a guy in the crowd chants out, "Whoomp,
there it is!"
* Your teenage daughter comes into the kitchen from her room to
get a snack, playing air guitar and screaming out Metallica’s
latest anthem.
* Your buddies, sitting in the back seat of the Jeep on the
fishing trip, tell the driver that it’s a mile to the turnoff. He
responds by derisively parroting Ace of Base, singing out "I saw
the sign…"
* One evening, your pet parrot, which must have been listening to
the radio, starts whistling the melody to Sheryl Crow’s "All I
Wanna Do."
Incidents like these are recorded and ranked on TGP
International’s HUMCHART, the annual ranking of the songs that
individuals are singing, humming, rapping, chanting, and whistling
out loud.
With the advent of the electronic superhighway, we will now be
able to expand our now-unfortunately meager stable of
correspondents around North America who note every occurrence of
this sort.
HOW TO HELP COMPILE FOR THE HUMCHART
You are invited to help compile the Humchart by being a Humchart
correspondent. Simply be aware of what people (or pet parrots)
around you are singing, humming, whistling, chanting, etc. out
loud. When you hear that happening, make a note of it and jot it
down, and send it to me. All of the detections are then compiled
in late December for the year-end Humchart.
To record for the Humchart, please note that each individual
person humming/singing/whistling/chanting a particular song counts
as one point. But no song may receive more than 4 points in any
one day. Therefore, a stadium full of fans chanting "Whoomp,
there it is" after a touchdown, or a group of kids singing the
Barney song, will only count for four points in one day.
RULES FOR THE HUMCHART:
Any song counts that is included on a recording released in that
calendar year. Once a song makes the chart for a given year, it
cannot chart in a subsequent year as an "oldie." Thus, since the
"Barney’s Favorites" album came out in 1993, the Barney songs that
preschoolers sing at playtime [unfortunately!] must count. But
"whoomp, there it is" cannot count in 1994, and since Dolly
Parton’s original version of "I will always love you" did not
previously make the Humchart, Whitney Houston’s remake was
eligible in 1993.
Commercial jingles that are not on record are not eligible. Thus,
until Ray Charles releases "You got the right one baby, uh-huh" on
disk it will not be eligible for the Humchart.
No chart manipulation: This is meant to be for SPONTANEOUS
activity. You must not ask or suggest to people to sing something
out loud. And you cannot count the songs that you yourself are
humming along to, though you are welcome to note them for a
separate listing. (And, you can have someone else monitor you-
your roommate, spouse, coworker, etc.) However, if you’re at a
ball game and the stadium PA system starts playing "Whoomp, there
it is" and the crowd sings along, that counts.
North America only: this chart at present is configured for the
United States and Canada only.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE HUMCHART
It appears that the Humchart records the relative "catchiness" of
tunes, not their musical virtuosity or lyrical smartness, nor
their sales or airplay. A monster #1 hit on the pop charts might
be musically and/or lyrically complicated, thus difficult to
emulate by the average person’s whistling/humming capability, and
thus not make the Humchart [i.e. in 1993, Snow's "Informer" was a
monster hit, but a very fast rhythm and difficult lyrics to
understand, so it is not likely to make the Humchart]. But other
songs make it into the popular psyche much more easily, even
though they do not sell well as single records [Bruce
Springsteen's "57 Channels and Nothin' On," for example] or are
not released as singles [examples such as "Stairway to Heaven", or
Madonna's "Into the Groove"] and thus are on or would have made
the Humchart at some point.
I make no pretense that this chart is at all scientific in any
way. The sample size is still to small. Perhaps gaining more
correspondents will make it more accurate.
The HUMCHART began in the early 1980s. It has not been posted on
the Internet before.
TO SIGN UP FOR THE HUMCHART
If you would like to be a Humchart correspondent, all you need to
do is make a record of what people are singing/whistling/humming,
etc. aloud as described above, and send it to me from time to
time. Please begin your observations after New Year’s Day 1995
for the 1995 Humchart. Email your lists to me on a periodic
basis, and I will compile them. I appreciate your assistance with
this project.
For questions about the Humchart, or to let me know that you will
be participating, or to send your lists of hummed/chanted/whistled
songs, etc. to me, please email to:
teg…@ucdavis.edu
Thank you!
Tom Gill Originator of the HUMCHART
