Hit Singles That Are Just Someone's Name

[Ominous Dave]

But did it exist as a name before the 1743 folk ballad 'Cherish' by the traditional Scottish folk singer Hamish McCallum, who I definitely haven't just made up? I'd like to see you disprove that.

[machotrouts]

UK #1 singles with titles easily recognisable as names, that haven't already been mentioned in the thread:

Stereophonics - Dakota (2005)
The Four Pennies - Juliet (1964)
The Bachelors - Diane (1964)
Paul Anka - Diana (1957)
The Highwaymen - Michael (1961)
The Beatles Overlanders - Michelle (1966)
Brotherhood of Man - Angelo (1977)
Brotherhood of Man - Figaro (1978)
Slim Whitman - Rose Marie (1955) (a double-barrelled forename, I think, rather than a forename and a surname?)
Eminem - Godzilla (2020) (?? I guess?)

[bgmnts]

Godzilla - Blue Oyster Cult
Nosferatu - Blue Oyster Cult
Angel - Judas Priest

[DrGreggles]

Fair play, aside from the 'hit' part that everyone is ignoring anyway.

And that I've already made the round and posted a link to it earlier.

[Dr Rock]

Ok, if both Kylie and Madonna don't pass the test is there any artist with a long career (say more then ten albums) with no names in their song titles song titles that are just names?

[Dr Rock]

Bjork for example. But turns out she did a song called Hope once, so she's out on her arse before she started.

[Ominous Dave]

'Flash' by Queen

(Though there is a residual ambiguity about whether 'Flash' is actually his name, or whether his name is Gordon and 'Flash' is just an adjectival description. But I'll leave that discussion to the philosophers.)

[nb]Cue quick googling to see if it's technically called 'Theme from Flash' or something like that, but apparently not.[/nb]

[rue the polywhirl]

(Not thread-related but more ideas for music quiz)

Cheery fact, pop fans.

What links the following songs? :-

You Will Never Walk Alone by Gerry and The Pacemakers, Young Girl by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, Lady Madonna by The Beatles -  Super Trouper by ABBA.

A: They all happen to be great songs and number one at some point in time.

[Dr Rock]

That is a cheery fact.

So, how about Cannibal Corpse, in answer to my own challenge? Unless someone knows someone called 'Blunt Force Castration' etc.

[bgmnts]

Ok, if both Kylie and Madonna don't pass the test is there any artist with a long career (say more then ten albums) with no names in their song titles song titles that are just names?

Rush

[Dr Rock]

The same Rush that have a song called Tom Sawyer?

[Better Midlands]

But did it exist as a name before the 1743 folk ballad 'Cherish' by the traditional Scottish folk singer Hamish McCallum, who I definitely haven't just made up? I'd like to see you disprove that.

Damn Dr Greggles and his ambiguous thread titles, to take this to it's logical conclusion.

[bgmnts]

The same Rush that have a song called Tom Sawyer?

Oh I thought we were just doing forenames.

Carry on.

[machotrouts]

And that I've already made the round and posted a link to it earlier.

I love to click on an unlabelled Google Drive link to an mp3 of what appears to be a song called 'MAJOR' by a band called 'ELSWORTH BEAST'

[Better Midlands]

But did it exist before The Association's 1966 song 'Cherish', which the Madonna song is partially inspired by? That's the question that everyone cares about.[nb]NB: nobody but me actually cares about this.[/nb]

I got this wrong, 1951 is the rank and not the year, this graph shows the names popularity starting in 1966, it can't be a coincidence.

[Ominous Dave]

But Cher's career started around the same time, so maybe they just wanted their baby to be similar but not identical to her?

[Dr Rock]

A name is not illegitimate if it came from a pop song though is it?

Madonna's got a song called Rain too, that's definitely a name.

[Better Midlands]

A name is not illegitimate if it came from a pop song though is it?

Madonna's got a song called Rain too, that's definitely a name.

Enters the chart in 1956.

[Dr Rock]

So the left axis is from high to low? That's counter-intuitive to me.

edit - no I get it now. So the Madonna song in 1992 is certainly responsible for its resurgent popularity.

[Better Midlands]

So the Madonna song in 1992 is certainly responsible for its resurgent popularity.

Possibly it contributed to the popularity, thinking back to those days I remember Rain Phoenix being mentioned often in the press, the whole family were quite a thing in the media for a few years after River Phoenix was in Stand By Me (1986). She had a few highish profile TV/film roles circa 1987, so this could have caused a bump too.

[DrGreggles]

I love to click on an unlabelled Google Drive link to an mp3 of what appears to be a song called 'MAJOR' by a band called 'ELSWORTH BEAST'

ELSWORTH BEAST-MAJOR
It's hyphenated.

[DrGreggles]

Damn Dr Greggles and his ambiguous thread titles, to take this to it's logical conclusion.

Not sure it was ambiguous - most people seem to have understood.

Maybe I should have put an example in the first post for clarification...

[thecuriousorange]

Dizzy - Vic Reeves and The Wonder Stuff

[Clatty McCutcheon]

Victoria - The Kinks, or The Fall
Mona - Craig McLachlan (aka Henry from Neighbours)

I think the last-mentioned classic was a hit the same year that Timmy Mallet gave us 'Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini'.  Sound of the summer.

[DrGreggles]

Victoria - The Fall

Nearly made the cut, but I shoehorned them in last time.

[Ominous Dave]

Blondie - Maria
Bernstein/Sondheim - Maria
Rage Against the Machine - Maria
Michael Jackson - Maria (You Were the Only One)

(Basically there are loads of tragic love songs called 'Maria'. Which is probably a weird Christian thing, though it amuses me to think there was just one woman going around shagging and then dumping pop songwriters for decades.)

[Ferris]

Louie, Louie by the Kingsmen.

YES. Delighted to tap in another.

[Mr Banlon]

Supersonic by Oasis

[samadriel]

Pretty sure that Rigby is a surname.

Is a surname not part of "someone's name"?

[DrGreggles]

"There must be LOADS of hit songs that are just someone's first name."