THE HIT HAMMER: David Rose's "The Stripper"

(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 refer to the "Poor Little Fool" post.)

David Rose - "The Stripper"

Hit Number 1: July 7, 1962

Stay at Number 1: 1 Week

Wow, this one baffles me a lot. For one week in the middle of 1962, the most desired song, the best-selling, and the highest purchased and radio-played song in America was a strip tease. David Rose, who was another one of those musical composers like Percy Faith and Bert Kaempfert before him, had composed a song that consisted of trombone slides and gives off the sort of vibe you would feel if you were actually watching a strip artist. The fact that this hit #1 in the first place is especially surprising, because I think if a record is going to hit #1, it needs lots of people to be buying it and playing it on the radio. This means in all likelihood, even girls and women were buying this! It's just the strangest situation.

Also, the only reason "The Stripper" was ever released to the public, was because of some guy who worked in the office at MGM. Rose recorded a song called "Ebb Tide" as the A-Side for a record of his. There was one little problem, in that they wanted to get "Ebb Tide" released as soon as possible, but there was no B-Side for it. Rose was away at the time they needed to get this figured out, so it was up to the aforementioned office boy to pick one out. His task was to go through Rose's tapes and recordings of unreleased songs, and apparently, the dude liked "The Stripper" the most. Cause of course he did.

After "The Stripper" hit #1, it continued to have a sort of lasting legacy. It was used in a shaving cream commercial for Noxzema, and was used for "those scenes" in a couple movies. British comedians Morecambe and Wise used the song for their "breakfast sketch" routine, where they would dance using kitchen utensils and food. Even a pro wrestler, Rick Rude, used a version of the song for his entrance music and disrobing routine. I guess the song itself isn't bad, but it's definitely strange. The sliding trombones get pretty annoying pretty quick, and the whole feel of the song is awkward to listen to. At least it is for me.

GRADE: 2/10