FORGOTTEN HITS celebrated its 20th anniversary in November of 2019 ...
We have since passed 25 years ... and we're still going
(Our 60 YEARS AGO TODAY feature is scheduled to run thru the end of 2026)
Here is a brief history of the site ...
And some comments from our many readers regarding those first twenty years
Forgotten Hits is for EVERYBODY ... oldies music fans, deejays, artists, promoters, booking agents, venues ... you name it!
Make us part of your daily routine ...
www.forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com
With new postings damn-near daily!
========================
Forgotten Hits began as an emailed newsletter on November 26th, 1999, the Friday after Thanksgiving. That very first issue went out via email to a select list of 35 friends I had made in the old AOL Oldies Music Trivia Chat Room.
The premise was simple ... with over 10,000 charted hit
songs to choose from, released between the dawn of the rock and roll era in
1955 and the end of the so-called Top 40 Era some 30-35 years later, oldies
radio seemed hell-bent on only giving us the same 200-300 titles, played over
and over and over again on a daily basis. It was getting to the point
where we were beginning to hate and resent the very music that we fell in love
with all those years ago, simply because of the complete saturation of the same
tracks and artists being repeatedly driven into our heads.
I suggested that there had to be at least another 3,000 -
5,000 songs that listeners would respond to in a positive way ... tracks they'd
remember ... tracks that were a big part of their lives ... records they'd
bought ... songs they laughed to, danced to ... cried to ... songs that truly
did make up the much now cliche'd "soundtrack of their lives" ... if
they were only given the chance to hear them again. Radio just simply
chose to ignore them ... but WE hadn't forgotten!
So I proposed to my audience of 35: "If I wrote
a newsletter featuring some of this music ... and gave you the back story on
some of these hits and artists ... would you read it?", to which I
received a resounding "Yes" ... and Forgotten Hits was
born.
The very first issue was emailed on the Friday after
Thanksgiving, November 26th, 1999. (Due to dozens of computer crashes
since then, it no longer exists or we'd include it here today. However,
thanks to the incredible loyalty ... and pack-rat nature ... of our readers, we
have been able to rebuild a pretty extensive archive of material dating back to
2001!)
Forgotten Hits has grown by leaps and bounds ever
since. I wasn't really sure how often I'd send out a copy ... or how long
I'd keep the franchise going ... but this was something I was very passionate
about and through great word of mouth throughout the AOL Oldies Music Room, I
was suddenly connecting with others who shared that passion and love for this
music, much of which was about to disappear from our lives and consciousness
forever if somebody didn't do something to help drudge it all up again and
re-present it to the world at large. Thanks to the tremendous support of
those early readers, I became the duly-elected leader of this campaign.
(Our initial catch phrase was: "We're saving the oldies ... one hit at a
time." Soon others were calling us "Oldies Radio that you can
read.")
It was an immediate hit ... every week more and more oldies
music fans were contacting me, wanting to know how they could get on the
list. Soon we had hundreds, all thanks to good word of mouth and rave
reviews.
Then oldies radio discovered us. Some embraced us and
were soon quoting from our pages on the air, inviting us on their programs to
discuss what we do, and even expanding their own playlists to include some of
our suggestions ... while others fought us tooth and nail. We heard from
high-paid "experts" INSISTING that they were not only giving
listeners exactly what they wanted but also all they could handle ... according
to those far more "in the know" than me, most listeners couldn't
handle more than the same 200-300 songs a day because they weren't really
listening anyway ... the radio had simply become "background noise,"
playing while they were doing FAR more important things thru multi-tasking ...
emphatically maintaining that they must be right ... or why else would
EVERYBODY be doing it??? (They were right about that ... at that time,
you could literally travel to virtually ANY city in the United States and hear
the exact same 200-300 songs playing there as well!) If programming
continued in this fashion, it would surely spell the end of this music ... as
well as radio as we know it ... so, if you can believe it, my response to all
of this was to propose an absolutely PREPOSTEROUS idea: "Then why
not give them something worth listening to???")
In 2008, DeeJay extraordinaire Scott Shannon, a HUGE,
long-time supporter of Forgotten Hits, suggested it was time to start a website
... readership had just grown too large to feed by email. (He was right ... I
wanna say that at our peak we were attempting to email between 4000 and 8000
people per day ... it was virtually impossible to keep up with.)
So on February 9th, 2008, the other Forgotten Hits website
was born ... http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/
(We recently celebrated the tenth anniversary of that
posting earlier this year ... and you can still find it here ...
http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2008/02/is-music-of-beatles-still-relevant.html)
It was a piece tied into the upcoming 2008 Grammy Awards Ceremony ... and was
timed to post on the 44th Anniversary of The Beatles' first appearance on The
Ed Sullivan Show.
Over the years, our focus greatly expanded ... it wasn't just about the music that radio had forgotten anymore ... we were now doing far more in-depth features, series and exposes, taking on The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame for their ridiculous choices (actually, I guess we still do that!) and researching topics like "Who Played The First Beatles Record In America" and running FH Readers Polls determining everything from your Favorite, Forgotten B-Sides to your Favorite Songs of Summer to your Favorite Instrumentals to your Favorite Psychedelic Songs, TV Themes and Garage Bands. Our "First 45's" feature ran on The True Oldies Channel for years ... and we STILL get an occasional addition to the list! (Many of those most popular features are now permanently posted here in this site.)
Not only were more oldies deejays jumping on board with our
campaign, but suddently more and more artists were joining the list ... and
soon we were running interviews (some of which got picked up by national
publications) ... as well as promoting upcoming shows and new releases.
Forgotten Hits had found its niche and became a vital part of Oldies Nation and
continues to draw new readers all the time. (What we have found is that
if you like oldies music from the '50's, the '60's, the '70's and the '80's, odds
are you'll like Forgotten Hits!)
As this is first posted this morning we see that we have
gone from our original 35 readers to closing in on FIVE MILLION website
visitors over the past ten years!!! A pretty incredible journey indeed!
Oh yeah ... for those of you who may be wondering, our very
first Forgotten Hit, from November 26th, 1999, was "Shape Of Things To
Come" by Max Frost and the Troopers, a fictitious band put together to
record the soundtrack to the "Wild In The Streets" film. We've
featured this track on numerous anniversaries since ... and have even come
close to tracking down original lead singer Paul Wibier (who apparently didn't
want to be found ... and refuses to discuss his days as a session
singer.) Still, it's a GREAT track that went to #16 nationally (#22 in
Billboard) and all the way to #3 here in Chicago nearly fifty years ago this
week.
Throughout our 20th Year, we will continue to post some of
your congratulatory comments here ... but we want to do more. We want to
make this our biggest year yet ... but we need your help.
We need to keep spreading the word. There are
thousands of you out there reading Forgotten Hits every single day, most of
whom we have never even heard from. PLEASE be more vocal as we make our
way through our 20th year. Each and every one of you must know at least
another twenty people who love oldies music as much as you do ... spread
the word ... let them know about what we do here in Forgotten Hits.
DeeJays ... please keep your listening audience
informed. (I can always tell when some DJ somewhere in the world mentions
us on the air because I'll get requests for twenty new subscriptions the very
next day!) You'll find all kinds of great programming ideas for special
countdowns on the site ... and we cover such a wide variety of material that
you can ALWAYS find something to tie into your own programs as well.
And that goes for all of you "vintage" dj's too
... if you were on the air during the prime Top 40 era, share your memories
with our readers ... this is what makes Forgotten Hits so unique and unlike any
other oldies music publication.
And artists ... YOU know who your contemporaries are ...
you've been friends for years ... often, you're still sharing the same stages
together. Turn them on to Forgotten Hits and let them know all that we
have done to help keep this great music alive and how large our viewing
audience is. Tell them to "use us" to help promote their
upcoming shows. I would love nothing more than to add another fifty new
artists to the list this year, all actively participating and telling us about
the glory days of rock and roll.
Let's make our 20th Year our biggest one yet. Get on
board and spread the word! And thank you all for an incredible 19-year
run ... it has been nothing short of amazing!
kk
Kent Kotal
Forgotten Hits
Kent,
On Behalf of The Buckinghams, Happy 19th Anniversary! We hope Forgotten Hits has as much success in the next 20 years!
All the best,
Carl Giammarese
The Buckinghams
Hey Kent …
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!
Your blog is a must read for music fans, and old guys like me who are still rock’n and love the music.
Keep up the good work, and who knows, maybe I will be around to celebrate with you on your 40th.
Rock On, Pal,
Tommy Roe
Hi, Kent –
You have no idea how much it means to me to have a friend like you whose views on non-current hits is an exact match with mine. The music of any era is mostly comprised of disposable tunes -- especially today in an era when "hit music" is far more formula than creative. On top of those tracks is a layer of records which spark comments like, "Wow! I remember that! How come radio stopped playing that song?" Above music in both of those strata is a thin layer of tracks which are also good but for one reason or another (or none) have become completely burned out as the result of mindless overplay as oldies by programmers too young to remember when those hits were new. Forgotten Hits remembers the music in the middle -- which still eloquently speaks to and for our hearts and souls decades after it was produced.
Gary Theroux
"The History of Rock 'n' Roll"
Congratulations on your latest anniversary. We are all truly blessed because you get to share your passion on the internet with all your MILLIONS of fans. I know it is hard but hope you keep it going for at least a few more years.You are a real OLDIES pleasure!
Art Walicki
Congratulations, Kent, and thanks for your great contribution in sustaining the legacy of an awesome era of radio and rock. Ron Riley
WLS - “the 60’s”
Congrats on a well done rock and roll job!
Talk about a labor of love!
Clark Weber
Good morning, Kent:
CONGRATULATIONS on 19 years of Forgotten Hits. May your 20th year see you scaling new heights. Just like the music that is your passion, your newsletter is aging like fine wine.
Rick O’Dell
Program Director – Me-TV-FM
Wow!
Twenty Years!
Congratulations, Kent ...
Amazing!
Kris Erik Stevens
Congratulations on your anniversary. I know I was one of those 30+ people who was on your list back in the beginning and it is always a joy to go to the site to see things about friends and people we all admire. Thank you, Kent!
Clay Pasternack
Congrats, Kent.
I wonder if anyone has a Forgotten Hits newsletter from the '90s floating around in their inbox. The oldest one I can find is from 2007.
Carl Wiser / Songfacts.com
The readers did a better job of hanging on to this material than I did … thanks to numerous computer crashes over the years, I’ve lost it all more than a few times now … but there were readers early on who were saving EVERYTHING … some even printed out each issue and kept it in a binder (which I imagine by now may be taller than the Sears Tower!!!) Many have helped me rebuild the archives over the years … but even so I don’t think I have anything earlier than 2001 at this point … which is still pretty amazing when you consider that the website didn’t begin until 2008.
Thanks for hangin’ in there with us, Carl … I truly do appreciate it! (kk)
Kent –
Is there ever going to be a regular emailed newsletter with the current posts? I looked forward to it in my inbox, and it was my first read when it was. Now I hardly ever visit the site, since I have nothing to prompt me anymore.
Donald Rehrer, Jr.
Hi Don -
Great to hear from you again.
No, we won't be going back to an email format ... although we do send out occasional reminders for special features and such ... I’ll be sure to add your name to that list.
It just became impossible to manage … too many names … too many bouncebacks … I was having to break the list into a dozen separate “sends” because even with a bulk mail account and being able to send out to a couple of hundred at a time, there was still threats of “spam,” even though every list member REQUESTED they be added to the mailing list. Just WAY too much hassle.
What we've found is that if you simply start your day with Forgotten Hits each morning, it'll become habit-forming all over again! (Think about how much you've already missed!!! You've got YEARS of catching up to do.) Just make us part of your daily routine … maybe we’re the ones you have coffee with each morning! My guess is that if you start now, it'll become a conditioned way to start your day within a week. And, in the event that a day or two go by where we haven't posted anything new, you can use that time for catching up!
(Last year we recreated 1967 day-by-day ... EVERY major event, fifty years later ... and we've got something similar planned for next year for 1969. Right now we're running Saturday Surveys from Top 40 radio stations in every state ... by year's end, we will have featured all 50 states. All this plus our regular features and comments. God, you’ve missed SO much!!!)
Give it a shot for a week or two and see what you think. Would love to have you back onboard. (kk)
Kent –
Thank for keeping all this great music alive. You have done something very special.
Thank you!
Billy J. Kramer
Happy Anniversary. Keep up the great work. You make my mornings brighter.
Ira
kk:
Happy Anniversary.
How many "20 SONGS" can you think of ?
How many concerts were you invited to that first year ?
Frank B.
Thanks, Frank … I think you’ve been a regular here longer than I have!!!
To answer your questions …
Not Many …
And Not Any!! (lol)
kk
You think it would be possible to contact the original subscribers and see what they're doing now?
Frank
Believe it or not, I tried to do exactly that … nearly all the email addresses are no longer valid … a few are still on the list for nineteen years and counting … and a few have sadly passed on. I sent a website notice to anybody else that I could from those early days and got a ton of responses … but let’s face it, there are VERY few who can claim to be one of the original 35 … it’s not like “Oh yeah, I went to Woodstock” is gonna work in this case! (lol) kk
Congrats to one helluva man ...
Chet Coppock
Hi Kent -
Congratulations on this milestone.
This morning I was remembering how I first became a member of the Forgotten Hits family.
While interviewing Ray Graffia about a New Colony Six cd compilation called 'Sides' in 2007, he mentioned you. I contacted you and started getting the email version. While the emails are long gone, I still have some of the songs that you included. There were some rare gems that I still spin on my Those Were The Days radio show.
The first time we teamed up for a radio program was for the instrumental favorites countdown. I believe that was 2009 (?) I read from your script on the air from time to time and get ideas for show themes. What would us 'poor old radio guys' do without you?
Good luck on your next 20 years!
Thanks for all that you do!
Phil Nee – WRCO
Congrats, and of course, "Do Be Colony!"
Walt Kemp
New Colony Six
Happy, Happy, Happy 19th Anniversary to Forgotten Hits!
The only reliable source for the most accurate truth about the music and the artists we still love.
I know FH has caused 19 nervous breakdowns, too, Kent - but you keep plugging away and bringing us the best, week after week after week.
Kudos, and thank you sir!
David Lewis
Outstanding, Kent ... so proud for you, my friend.
May the next 20 be even better.
Take care and be blessed -
Barry Winslow
The Royal Guardsmen
Hey Kent ...
Happy 19th / 20 Year Anniversary!
Has it really been 19 years that I've been reading your great newsletter????
Thanks for all of the great info … and thanks for your support thru the years! The Rip Chords have been on a two year break from the road, but hope to be out there on the road in 2019. I'll keep you informed. Congratulations once again!
Mitch Schecter / The Rip Chords
Happy Anniversary Kent!
I think I might be one of the first 35???
Mark Zimmerman
Not the first 35 … but a long-time reader for sure!
Thanks for your continued support after all these years! (kk)
Happy Anniversary! Hardly seems that 19 years have gone by.
Here's to 19 more!
Sharon
Thanks, Sharon … although you weren’t part of the original 35, I’ll bet you guys were part of the first 60! (kk)
Congratulations Kent for hanging in there for so many years.
Stacee
Congratulations!
Great Respect for your tireless devotion to promote the most played, most bought, most danced to, most listened to, and the greatest music of ANY generation.
Rock and Roll is Here to Stay ... and you're a primary reason why that's so.
Guitar Jim Nowoc
Well done, Kent!
We celebrate with you on this milestone.
Surf's up at Forgotten Hits,
Phil
Hey Kent,
Congratulations on 20 years of Blood, Sweat and Tears.
Well, you know what I mean.
Well done,
Paul Evans
Kent,
Congrats and thank you for mentioning all my releases when they are released.
Davie Allan
Dear Kent and family,
HAPPY TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY and a whole lot more!
Ron and Belle Kolman
I still don’t know how you do it …
The time, the love and the energy that goes into each issue of Forgotten Hits continues to show the passion that existed on day one.
How you have been able to keep up the quality and consistency is what amazes me … it never wavers.
Thanks for the first twenty years …
and here’s to another twenty as well!
Phil
Hi Kent -
Happy Anniversary with Forgotten Hits! Reaching 20 years is quite a Milestone.
All your readers and fans are very fortunate for your hard work in "KEEPING ROCK AND ROLL ALIVE"!!
I look forward to the next 20 years, my friend.
Carolyn
Kent:
Many congrats on your "Forgotten Hits" anniversary!
I have tremendous respect for all of the work you've put into it through the years. I had enough trouble coming up with my 1,000-word blog once a week and couldn't keep pace … (once or twice a month is more my speed now) … but you've been amazingly consistent, informative, and entertaining, year after year. But I still think you're destined to commit your knowledge and passion for the genre into book form! Just my two cents.
In any case, keep up the good work!
Garry Berman
Wow, Kent … 20 years!
However for some of us those "Hits" will never be forgotten.
Drew Paul
Which was EXACTLY the premise for starting Forgotten Hits all those years ago. Radio has GREATLY underestimated, underappreciated and insulted us for SO many years … but now thanks to formats like Me-TV-FM and Rewound Radio, we have been proven right all along. (kk)
Kent -
Congrats, and many more years!
We are going into our 18th year on the air with our Tiki Lounge TV show on California Central Coast and Hawaii.
Best,
Merrell Fankhauser
Kent:
You are absolutely the man.
Thank you for 19 years of dedication to a noble and worthwhile idea and for being the repository for so much information we wish we had 50 years ago.
All the best,
Bill Carroll
Congratulations on nineteen years of doing Forgotten Hits. While I wasn’t there from the beginning, I’ll bet I’ve spent at least the last 12-15 years on the list … and it never ceases to amaze me how you keep coming up with interesting topics for discussion.
Best of luck to you on your next nineteen years!
John K.
20 years ago today!
Thank you for your continued support Kent.
Micky Dolenz
Happy Anniversary.
I saw the acorn and the oak!
Keep at it.
Hil
Yes, you did. Ladies and Gentlemen, one of the Original First 35! (kk)
Kent,
I am a little bit late to the party in getting my response to you on your FH 20th, but many congrats to you AND thanks! You have given ME access to many of my fave artists over the years and emailing with some of the WLS greats is too unbelieveable. At the same time, you give me a soapbox to air my thoughts and share my collection with many who would never hear or see MOST of the stuff I send in ever. It makes my day to read items from the artists and fans like me who appreciate YOUR work and old hits and NON-hits and especially the Chicago area stuff that I grew up with and collect to this day.
WLSClark Besch
Kent –
Congratulations and thank you for Forgotten Hits - a very necessary voice.
David Salidor
Hi Kent,
I’m Doris Bennett, wife of Joe Bennett, of Joe Bennett and the Sparkletones. As I’m sure you already know, Joe passed away on June 27, 2015.
I really enjoy your “Forgotten Hits”!
Joe’s last few years of performing certainly proved there was a need for your forgottenhits.com site.
It was hard to get bookings for his band because his 1957 Hits were being forgotten.
He was never forgotten by the Las Vegas Show, Viva Las Vegas, however … every year at Easter they were invited to perform there.
England, Germany and Spain never forgot his band or their songs either! He did get bookings in those wonderful countries!
Joe’s very last performance before he died was as a guest on the Mickey Hart show in Charlotte, NC. This was the show of the famous Drummer, Mickey Hart, of the Grateful Dead!
Joe and Mickey Hart met in the Air Force in Spain in 1960. Joe had already toured with his Sparkletones Band and left it to join the Air Force. His commanding officer encouraged him to form a band there since he had been a famous major label artist in America.
Mickey Hart was a drummer for the Air Force. He had not been famous yet. He came to Joe’s audition and Joe hired him as his drummer for the new band he was putting together in Spain, Joe and the Jaguars.
Joe and the Jaguars were signed by the famous Spanish major label, Hispavox!
The US Air Force was so proud of this accomplishment that they allowed Joe and his band to be signed with Hispavox while all the band members were enlisted in the USA Air Force!
Thank You so much for forgottenhits.com!
Sincerely,
Doris Bennett
Congratulations, Kent!
Good advice about making FH a daily habit. I've been doing just that since I rediscovered your site a few weeks ago.
About the lack of "20 songs"...
Kenny Rogers put out a beautiful single in the late 80s called "Twenty Years Ago" … appropriately enough about the passage of time. Worth a listen.
And I will use this space to lodge one helpful suggestion ... sometimes the font colors don't always show up on the chosen background ... I find myself skimming through stuff that's not easy to read. Other than that, keep up the great work! I plan not to forget Forgotten (Hits, that is).
Sam
Kenny’s “non-hit” “Twenty Years Ago” is a personal favorite and I have featured this one a few times now in Forgotten Hits … a GROSSLY under-appreciated track that pulls at the heart-strings every time I hear it. (The video is pretty good, too.)
I think the display thing may be more on your end. (Are you reading it on a cell phone device?) We paste directly to a 100% white background, which is how it appears on the physical website … but I have seen some cell phone views that add a fairly dark gray background … as far as I know, that’s a display setting that you can fix on your end. Anybody else able to weigh in on this one? Let us know … obviously our goal is to make access to FH as easy and seamless as possible! Thanks, Sam! (kk)
Congratulations on nineteen years of doing Forgotten Hits, Kent!
I wish I had seen it earlier than I did, but fortunately I did find it … albeit I don’t remember when.
I am reading today that Gerry of the Pacemakers is retiring to spend more time with his family. Another end of an era.
Take care,
Rockin’ Lord Geoff (In England)
That’s one of the cool things about the website … you can click back and see EVERY posting from the past 10+ years on the site. (So if you’re ever really bored ….)
Thanks, Geoff! (kk)
Congrats on 19 years of producing this wonderful site - I'm sad to admit that I only learned of it a short while back, but I'm enjoying the heck out of it, and I'm always happy to be able to add a few cents' worth of [possibly unknown] info.
Thanks again,
Mike Wolstein
Unfortunately, the slogan’s already been used … but the thing about Forgotten Hits is this …
Try it … you’ll like it! Thanks, Mike! (kk)
Very nice!
I hope you have 20 more!
Jimy Sohns
The Shadows Of Knight
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