(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)
Average White Band - "Pick Up the Pieces"
Hit Number 1: February 22, 1975
Stay at Number 1: 1 Week
Whenever one is about to hear "Pick Up the Pieces" for the first time, they might not be expecting much. After all, it's by a band called Average White Band, and honestly, that's not a band name a lot of people recognize. They were an interesting case: they truly were all a bunch of white guys and they came from Scotland, but there was one thing all of these white guys from Scotland had in common that seems pretty strange to think about. All of them were big into R&B and funk music, and I'm just speculating here but it seems as though they were exposed to some of the stuff people like Stevie Wonder were doing, and they were inspired. Wonder was an international superstar, so it doesn't seem that far fetched that a bunch of white guys from Scotland could hear his music. Whatever it was that drew these guys to funk music, there's no denying that they were very passionate about the genre.
It didn't take long for Average White Band to officially form and release their own album. They formed in 1972 and released their debut album Show Your Hand, but that album did nothing for them anywhere around the world. It crashed and burned. But they weren't calling it quits just yet, and they released their next album, which was a self-titled album, in 1974, and this one had "Pick Up the Pieces" on it. "Pick Up the Pieces" is mainly an instrumental track, with the only spoken or sung parts of the song being some of the band members shouting "Pick up the pieces!" The meaning of the phrase "pick up the pieces," according to members of AWB, is that in even the worst of times, the best thing someone can do for themselves is pick themselves up. I think they figured their song could work as some sort of remedy for those feeling down, but no one in AWB seriously thought that this song, or any song on AWB for that matter, would become a breakthrough hit. "Pick Up the Pieces" has been described before as a surprise #1 hit.
"Pick Up the Pieces" was released as a single in the summer of 1974, and it sounds a lot like other funk records from that time except for the fact that it is mostly an instrumental. But what's surprising to me is that the song's success is considered to be a surprise. "Pick Up the Pieces" sounds nothing like an obscure piece of R&B funk. Instead, it sounds like something that could set your house on fire with how much those funk riffs burn. Beat drops are one of the coolest things a song can offer up, and "Pick Up the Pieces" has one of the earliest kickass beat drops ever. It starts with a gentle guitar strum before the beat drops and takes you to another dimension. There's two saxophone leads, a heart-pumping bass line, a signature steady funky guitar strum in the background, and of course, an other-worldly sax solo with what sounds like handclaps behind it. The drum work is also top-notch. I'm not sure where these guys came up with the name Average White Band, but they don't live up to their own name. These guys were way above average. These guys can freaking play.
I guess the only knock you can give "Pick Up the Pieces" is that it's kind of repetitive, but these hooks and rhythms are so downright catchy that I don't tire of them. It's a great party song, or a celebration song. Just got married? Play "Pick Up the Pieces." Just finished your last final before break? Play "Pick Up the Pieces." Just got promoted? Play "Pick Up the Pieces." Finally broke up with that toxic boyfriend or girlfriend? You guessed it, play the hell out of "Pick Up the Pieces." It's got everything anyone would ever need to get themselves moving, and I'm guessing there was never an empty dance floor in the '70s when this song was on. Who said there ever had to be words in a song?
As awesome as "Pick Up the Pieces" was, it didn't turn AWB into a big force in the music world, but they did stick around for a few years. Their drummer, Robbie McIntosh, who is the one we hear playing the hell out of the drums on "Pick Up the Pieces," died at a Hollywood party not long after recording the song, but AWB was able to replace him with another guy, and to this guy's credit, he fit right in. AWB returned to the top ten with their song "Cut the Cake," which made it to #7 later in 1975. (It's an 8) After that though, they slowly declined, and when funk wasn't a mainstream genre anymore, they broke up. However, some variations of the band still perform live shows today, and I'll tell you this, "Pick Up the Pieces" sounds incredible live.
GRADE: 9/10
IN POP CULTURE:
Phil Collins and his "big band" covered "Pick Up the Pieces" on more than one occasion. Here's one such instance of Collins and his band performing the song live, and doing a pretty good job at it too!
(Phil Collins will, of course, eventually appear in this blog)
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