Friday, May 30, 2014

40 Year Itch: Don't Look Ethel!





When 33 year old advertising executive Robert Opel interrupted the Oscars by streaking across the stage, he started a fad that swept the nation..at least for a while.





On an airplane Ray Stevens read an article about streaking and knew he had to record something quickly.

 "There were 15 other streaking records already on the market by the time I got mine out. " he tells Billboard Magazine. "There ended up being 35-40 streaking records altogether. Stores were setting up sections for 'Streak of the Week'. I got the jump on everybody..."

Listening to the song 40 years later, you realize how gad-awful it is. But it's not like a song has to be good to hit #1.



"The Streak" took just five weeks to land atop the Hot 100 where it stayed for three weeks before "Band on the Run" finally moved ahead. Among the other streaking records released that year is this one by Rick Springfield.



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