Disco Charts: Were They Fixed? (Billboard, Record Mirror...)

[markydefad]

did a Google on Tom Noonan..

Tom Noonan Dead At 78

By Kevin Carter
Publication: Radio Monitor
Date: Tuesday, October 31 2006

R&R is saddened to report the passing of industry vet Tom Noonan after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 78.

Noonan is best known for his many years at Billboard, where, in late 1955, he created three Top 100 charts to track sales, sheet music and jukeboxes.

In July 1957 they were combined into the Hot 100 we know today.

During his storied career, Noonan also enjoyed two tours of duty at Columbia Records, including senior VP of promotion under Goddard Lieberson and, later, Clive Davis. He was later VP of marketing at Motown, and president of Metromedia Records. Tom came home to Billboard in the mid-'70s as head of sales and later reclaimed his old job as head of charts until his departure in 1990. Shortly thereafter, Noonan and his pal Johnny Barbis formed New Marketing; he later started The Charts with R&R's own Steve Resnik, a close friend of Tom for many years.

Noonan is survived by two daughters, Kerry and Kristie.

[disco-disc]

Good thread, and interesting ...
and by the way I CAN'T OPEN THE DISCO VAULT EITHER..if your listening Bernie

[JOL]

Bernie,
I'm having the same problem also since you updated the look of the site. I'd pm you but that dosen't seem to work either for me. The only pages I can access is the forums. If I click on anything on the front page ie interview, sign in, contact etc. when the page opens there is nothing there except for hot buttons to the links. I'm using window xp home and I'm still using the old version of IE 6 because I hate the changes they did to 7. Help please.

[quote=Bernie;142638]Don't understand why you can't see these pages. Please send me a detailed PM giving me your operating system+version, browser+version and what you mean by "can't open" them. Thanks.

[kdavid13]

Originally Posted by STEPHEN L FREEMAN

I honestly know very little about this story. (I was one of Dean Furgeson's Hi-NRG Reporters, for Dance Music Report aka Dance Music Authority. So I didn't really pay attention to other Hi-NRG charts.) And I was fairly good professional-amigos with Ian.

Bring me up-to-speed?

As a longtime fan [as in fanatic rather than casual... ] ; I've always been fascinated by Hi-NRG music. The synths,the flashy beats,the divas,the gay overtones...name it...That music spoke to me.

So I've also been collecting magazines DMR,DMA,Canada's STREETSOUND,the UK's RECORD MIRROR etc...and pretty much collected the Hi-NRG pages and glued them all in regular note books.So I'm left with tons of articles from those magazines.

BTW just went through one of those set of clippings and the first thing see is..."The panelists,including producer Steve Schani,DJs Stephen Freeman and Chuck Davis..." or "Chris Cox is along with Stephen L. Freeman,one of the resident geniuses at the Award-winning HOT TRACKS remix service..." [You legend,you !!! ]

So I'm certain I will be able to find the originating article...sometime soon.

What I remember is that one week ; RECORD MIRROR's NRG chart was yanked off and they pretty much accused "a certain DJ" of tooting his own horn and praising only his own records...and since they pointed out that he was responsible for 14 titles off the top 20 ; it wasn't hard to figure out who they were talking about !!

As a longtime fan of Ian's work [ever since I've heard and bought JAMES WELLS' "My Claim To Fame" in 1978 - All I can say is : True Love Is My Destiny - WOW !!!] , I didn't mind his domineering presence !! Heck his name on a record was a sure sign that I would enjoy the hook-filled ditties...

I will try and find the article [as well as the fascinating one regarding the aborted RUMOR HAS IT cover done by Ernest Kohl].

Wonderful summer reading...

[emadex]

Originally Posted by Adrian Scott

I remmember that back at the height of the jazz funk boom James Hamilton reviewed a non existant record in Record Mirror and sure enough it appeared on a load of chart returns the following week! Charts should be taken with a pinch of salt.

I remember this one so well!
James Hamilton reviewed a non-existant Japanese jazz-funk import and the whole review and artist name were full of hidden phallic references.
It was by 'Kanu Sukalagwun' which of course is simply 'Can You Suck A Large One'. The best track was supposed to be a remake of the Isaac Hayes track "Shaft" - which James described as a "...slippery spurting track..."
DJ Chris Dinnis from Boxes in Exeter was one of the first to be claiming to play it and when asked where he got it he claimed to have bought it from an obscure jazz-funk store off the Champs-Élysées (yeah right!)

James exposed the hoax when it was reported that white labelled albums were being sold as the non-existant Kanu Sukalagwun album for megabucks in London. James told me that he did the hoax to show that many DJs did indeed just list the "hip tracks" on their playlists/returns to increase their cool factor.
James also reckoned that a lot of DJs were pressured to list certain new releases on their returns due to pressure by record companies - DJs feared getting taken off the record companies mailing lists. WEA were allegedly notorious for this (anyone remember Fred Dove?)

[drlove]

what a HILARIOUS expose hoax Mr. Hamilton gets 3 snaps in "Z" formation for coming up with that one (and thanks for the details, emadex)