On this date in music history, October 20, 1979 Herb Alpert had the #1 song in the country with Rise. It was his second #1 hit. Eleven years before in 1968 he had his first #1 with This Guy’s in Love With You. He really owes this #1 hit to his nephew Randy Badazz. He suggested to his Uncle to record his older hits with a disco beat since disco was huge at that time. Herb and Randy booked musicians and a studio to record the music. Ten minutes into recording of the disco version of The Lonely Bull, Herb put a stop to it. Albert told Dick Clark “It sounded just awful to me. I didn’t want any part of it.” Since they already had the musicians there he asked his nephew if there was anything else they could record. Randy said he had some songs that he wrote with his friend Andy Armer. Herb looked at them and liked Rise. It was a fast dance song but when Herb recorded it he slowed it down from 128 beats per minute to 100 beats per minute. When they were done Herb said he looked at his nephew and predicted “I think we have a #1 record.” He was right. It was #1 for 2 weeks.
Another form of help came from a soap opera. It was included as part of the soundtrack of the Luke and Laura storyline in General Hospital. General Hospital was very popular among teenage and twentysomething women. That kind of exposure every day for weeks helped Rise…rise. On this day Herb Alpert bumped Michael Jackson’s song Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough out of the #1 position.
In America 12 inch singles are recorded at 33 rpm. In England they are recorded at 45 rpm. So DJ’s in England played the song even faster then Randy Badazz and Andy Armer had written it. The song has no vocals so they didn’t know that it was playing too fast. It became a hit in England in the speeded-up version.
On a personal note, I loved this song back then and I still do. It was a hit during my freshman year in college. My cousin Randy (Blankenship not Badazz) and I would go to lunch together at the local pizza place not far from Northern Kentucky University. My two favorite songs on their juke box were September Morn by Neil Diamond and Rise by Herb Alpert. I didn’t know it at the time but I must have been driving Randy crazy because I played those two songs every time we went there. One day someone else, I don’t remember who right now, joined us for lunch. After we ordered I got up and started to approach the juke box. Randy didn’t know that I heard him tell our guest that he knew what I was going to play. Now he was right I was going to play them. However, I thought I am starting to get tired of them and I don’t want anyone to think I am that predictable. So I played some songs I didn’t hear that often. I got back to our table and the juke box started up but didn’t play either of the Diamond or Alpert songs. Randy didn’t say anything but he had a look of surprise on his face that I obviously didn’t play my two favorites.
I don’t think I ever told him this before. I know that Randy visits this site every once in awhile so he may know it now.
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