Classic Hits

There’s no doubt music can make you happy, but a new study suggests some songs do a better job at brightening someone’s day than others. StudyFinds reports that a university professor claims to have found a scientific formula to discover what song makes people the happiest, with The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” topping the list.

Dr. Michael Bonshor, who has a Ph.D. in music psychology, claims the happiest songs are in a major key with 7th chords and 137 beats per minute. They also have four beats in every bar and are structured with a verse-chorus-verse-chorus.

The Beach Boys actually have two happy songs in the top 10, with “I Get Around” landing at seven.

Other tunes making the happiest songs list include James Brown‘s “I Got You (I Feel Good)” at two, Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl” at five, Bob Marley’s “Sun Is Shining” at six, The Village People’s “YMCA” at eight, ABBA’s “Waterloo” at nine and the Earth, Wind & Fire classic “September” at 10.

Survey questions, methodology and results have not been verified or endorsed by ABC News or The Walt Disney Company.

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Madonna‘s swanky old home in Hollywood Hills is back on the market, so now’s your chance if you’ve ever wished to own a piece of property that once belonged to her.

The Wall Street Journal reports the Spanish-style property, known as Castillo del Lago, has hit the market for $21 million. Madonna had purchased the 1926 estate for about $5 million back in 1993. Her brother Christopher Ciccon claimed in his memoir that she parted ways with it about three years later.

The Zillow listing finds the property offers nine bedrooms and six bathrooms over 10,513 square feet of living space. The home offers panoramic views of the Hollywood sign, Lake Hollywood and the famous Los Angeles backdrop, as well as ocean views.

As for its more luxurious perks, the property boasts a refrigerated wine room, media room, lap pool, oasis, a rose garden, viewing tower, a private gym and two separate staff rooms with a kitchen.

According to the listing, “This home stands as one of the most significant Spanish estates ever built in southern California.” It also claims, “This is a rare opportunity to acquire one of the most spectacular trophy Hollywood Hills Estates.”

WSJ reports the estate’s most recent owner seems to be fashion mogul Leon Max.

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On This Day, February 16, 1974…

Bob Dylan’s fourteenth studio album, Planet Waves, became his first album to hit number one on the Billboard Album chart.

Recorded with his longtime collaborators The Band, Planet Waves includes the future classic “Forever Young,” which appeared on the record in two different versions. The record was originally supposed to be titled Ceremonies of the Horsemen, and the release was delayed two weeks because of the title change. 

Dylan and The Band supported Planet Waves with a tour, which was Dylan’s first since 1966.

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Back in early 1972, John Lennon and Yoko Ono co-hosted the very popular daytime talk show The Mike Douglas Show. Now we’re about to get an in-depth look at what happened behind-the scenes.

Variety reports that a new documentary, Daytime Revolution, has just completed production, taking a look at that important week of television. The doc has the blessing of Yoko and Sean Ono, who also consulted on the project but do not appear. The doc will feature archival footage of the five Lennon/Ono hosted episodes, along with interviews from the surviving guests, which include political activist Ralph Nader.

“It’s become a cliche that Woodstock was the defining moment of the counterculture,” says the film’s director, Erik Nelson, but “when I watched these broadcasts in their entirety, I realized that, in reality, this week in 1972, when John Lennon and Yoko Ono essentially hijacked the airwaves and presented the best minds and dreams of their generation to the widest possible mass audience of what was then called ‘Middle America,’ was as far as the counterculture would ever get.”

Nelson notes Lennon and Ono’s appearance presented “Not just music but a prescient blueprint for the future we now live in.” 

The Lennon/Ono hosted episodes of The Mike Douglas Show featured a variety of guests, all personally invited by the couple. In addition to Nader, comedian George Carlin appeared on the program, as well as Chuck Berry and Black Panther chairman Bobby Seale and others, with the show touching on a variety of controversial topics.

So far, Daytime Revolution is still looking for a distributor and doesn’t have a release date.

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Rolling Stone magazine is out with another list that’s bound to get people talking. Following their controversial 200 Best Singers of All Time list, the mag has now called out 50 Genuinely Horrible Albums by Brilliant Artists.

While Kanye West’s 2018 release, Ye, tops the list, several rockers are recognized for their horrible records, including the The Velvet Underground, Yes, Bob Dylan, and John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

The Velvet Underground lands at two with their 1973 release, Squeeze, which didn’t really feature any of the original members. It had Doug Yule, who replaced founding member John Cale in 1968, writing and singing the majority of the songs. It did, however, have an impact on Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford, who were inspired to call their band Squeeze because of the album. 

Albums making the top 10 include: Yes’ Union at three, Bob Dylan’s Down in the Groove at five, Black Sabbath’s Forbidden at six, Lennon and Ono’s Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins at seven, Elvis Presley’s Fun in Acapulco original soundtrack at eight, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s American Dream at nine and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Mardi Gras at 10.

The list also includes Van Morrison’s Latest Record Project, Volume 1, Billy Joel’s The Bridge, Metallica’s St. Anger, Elton John’s Leather Jackets, David Bowie’s Never Let Me Down, George Harrison’s Gone Troppo and Paul McCartney’s Give My Regards to Broad Street.

The complete list can be found at rollingstone.com.

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Survivor keyboardist Frankie Sullivan, who co-wrote the band’s hit single “Eye of the Tiger,” is not happy that former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley used the band’s hit track this week as she walked out to announce her run for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination.

Sullivan tells Billboard that his initial reaction when he discovered she used the tune was, “Stop using my f***ing song!”

“That song belongs with the Rocky franchise and they don’t ask because they’d get a no. Absolutely,” he said. 

“Eye of the Tiger” was the theme song to Rocky III, starring Sylvester Stallone, and went to number one for the band in 1982. In 2016 Sullivan sued Republican Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign for using the song at a rally without permission; Huckabee had to pay $25,000.

“I don’t care who it is, I don’t think it’s appropriate, especially with ‘Tiger,’ since it’s such a special song,” he said. “I have no idea why any politician would play that as a walk on. I would say you have to have balls … but in this situation that doesn’t apply.”

Finally, he notes, “I wish they would just stop this nonsense!”

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In a career full of awards and accolades, Sting has received one that really stands out.

Sting has been made a Fellow of The Ivors Academy, the body that presents The Ivor Novello Awards. These awards, which have been handed out since 1956, are the most prestigious music honor in the United Kingdom. They celebrate excellence in British and Irish songwriting, and are peer awards, voted on by other British and Irish songwriters and composers.

Sting has won seven Ivor Novello Awards, including a 2002 Lifetime Achievement Trophy, but being made an Academy Fellow is a bigger deal than that. In its 79-year history, the academy has only inducted 22 Fellows, including Paul McCartney, Kate Bush, Elton John, Peter Gabriel, the members of the Bee Gees and Annie Lennox.

“Of all the awards in the world of music, The Ivors are for me, the most prestigious. Songwriting is a skilled craft and The Ivors Academy are its guild,” Sting says in a statement. “So, I am delighted and honored to be offered this Fellowship of the Academy, joining and acknowledging this extraordinary group of fellow songwriters, and all of those who went before us.”

In honor of the, well, honor, Amazon Music — the award ceremony’s new title sponsor — has released an exclusive demo version of “If It’s Love,” a song from Sting’s most recent album, The Bridge. 

The winners of this year’s Ivor Novello Awards will be announced May 18 in London. Nominations come out in April.

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This year marks the 50th anniversary of Queen’s self-titled debut album, and in a new interview, guitarist Brian May says things didn’t necessarily go the way the band wanted them to during the recording process.

“Our major frustration was the sound of that first album, which we were never happy with,” he tells Guitar World. He says the sound at Trident Studios, where they recorded it, “was very dead.”

“It was the opposite of what we were aiming for,” May adds. 

He says the album’s producer, Roy Thomas Baker, said the issues could be fixed during the mixing process, with May noting, “And I think we all knew: it ain’t going to happen!”

But even with the issues, May is still incredibly proud of the album.

“Oh, I love it! It encapsulates what we were at the time, and it’s a declaration of where we were going,” he says. “It’s very emotionally based and quite raw. But it’s got a lot of melody and sh**loads of harmonies.” 

He adds, “We were starting to flex our muscles. We were painting those colors with vocals and with guitars. It’s got all sorts of experimentation, which defines how free we wanted to be.”

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Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band brought their tour to Houston, Texas Tuesday and treated the crowd to a very rare performance. Rolling Stone reports the set included “If I Was the Priest,” reportedly a fan request, marking the first time The Boss performed the song live since 1972.

“I wrote this song. I was 22. Fifty years ago,” Springsteen told the crowd. “I still don’t have a clue what the f*** it’s about.” 

The last known performance of “If I Was the Priest” reportedly took place in May, 1972 at Gaslight Au Go Go in New York. The song was one Springsteen performed to audition for managers Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos back in February, 1972, as well as during his audition for CBS Records in May of that year. While “If I Was the Priest” has appeared on bootlegs, its first official inclusion on an album came 2020 when Bruce and the E Street Band re-recorded it for Letters to You.

The Houston concert also saw the return of Steven Van Zandt and Soozie Tyrell, who missed shows due to COVID. Unfortunately, guitarist Nils Lofgren was still out due to COVID, the first time since 1981 Lofgren missed a full Springsteen and the E Street Band concert.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s tour hits Austin, Texas on Thursday.

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Since the nominees were announced two weeks ago, fans have been voting online for their favorite Rock & Roll Hall of Fame contenders — and two artists in particular are blowing away the competition: Cyndi Lauper and George Michael.

In the fan vote, Cyndi has more than any of the other 13 nominees — more than 187,000 — while George is close behind with more than 185,000 votes. Of course, neither Cyndi nor George ever lacked fans. What they and other ’80s pop acts haven’t had is Rock Hall recognition — until recently, with the inductions of Pat Benatar, Lionel Richie, Eurythmics, Duran Duran and The Go-Gos.

“I think, particularly, we have seen … this reassessment of the ’80s,” says Jason Hanley, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s VP of education and visitor engagement. “And it’s not just a nostalgia for it. It’s really looking back and sort of doing a little bit of a creative overhaul of how we assess that music and say, ‘There was some great art made in that time period.'”

Hanley tells ABC Audio that even if you don’t like how slick the music of the ’80s was, Cyndi and George are two great examples of artists whose “lasting legacy is their songwriting.” He adds that songs like “True Colors” “have just stuck with people. [They] really reached out and said a lot of important things.” 

He suggests a lot of the issues Cyndi and George referenced in their music, like LGBTQ rights and, in George’s case, coming out, “are things that are still relevant and important in our society now, and speak to large audiences around the world.”

Fan voting is open through April 28 at rockhall.com, with the top five vote-getters comprising a “fans’ ballot,” which will help determine this year’s inductees.  

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