(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)
Edgar Winter Group - "Frankenstein"
Hit Number 1: May 26, 1973
Stay at Number 1: 1 Week
Out of all the songs I've reviewed to this point, "Frankenstein" has one of the unlikeliest treks to #1. The '70s was a time before the artists made any appearances in music videos. (That's honestly a little crazy to me, how music lovers barely knew what their favorite artists looked like sometimes) They would only see them on album covers or on shows such as The Ed Sullivan Show, or shows that were at least similar to that. Edgar Winter was hardly ever a "star" in the music world, but his unlikely musical journey came from the fact he had albinism. He grew up about 60 years ago, and at that time Winter would have had a hard time breaking into any real job with that condition, so he got into music. In fact, he became somewhat of a musical genius. When he was only 16 years old, he left his home to embark on a musical path, and at that point, he was already a well-accomplished musician.
In the early '70s, Winter started his own group called the Edgar Winter Group. The group had a lineup consisting of guitarist and producer Rick Derringer, who sang lead with the McCoys on "Hang on Sloopy". The group also had Dan Hartman, a well-accomplished singer-songwriter, who would often sing lead on the Edgar Winter Group's songs. (Dan Hartman's own highest-charting single "I Can Dream About You" peaked at #6 in 1984. It's a 7) Winter and company were wrapping up their 1972 album They Only Come Out at Night, but decided to add on one more song. This final song was written entirely by Winter, and produced by Derringer, and was somewhat of a jam fest for Winter to show off his musical talent. The song was different stitched together jams to compose one big song. The song was eventually coined as "Frankenstein" by the group's drummer, Chuck Ruff, as the song was just a stitched together piece of work. Winter loved the name, and the song was then released as having that title.
One of the reasons I say "Frankenstein" has an unlikely journey to #1 is not only because of Winter's sudden start of his music interest blossoming, but it's one of the first cases of progressive rock, a genre that was barely getting started by the time "Frankenstein" hit #1. That's also one of the genres that requires a special "acquired" taste. Progressive rock is known to be severely complex, and things are jumping and moving around all over the place, often resulting in songs with that are really three other songs, if that makes any sense. "Frankenstein" is exactly that. It's complex, and a wild ride of a listen. Winter had actually played various versions of "Frankenstein" at his live shows and became pretty familiar with it. But this was the first time he tried to turn his jam fest into a song for single release. When "Frankenstein" first received radio airplay, it was a B-side to another song called "Hangin' Around", though "Hangin' Around" didn't get a whole lot of airplay. However, some did play "Frankenstein", and the radio stations would get many calls from listeners wanting to know who "created that crazy noise." There are many ways to describe "Frankenstein", but "crazy noise" is one of my favorite new ways of describing it. It truly is crazy noise.
Taking a deeper look at the making of "Frankenstein", what's amazing to me is that Winter plays nearly all the instruments on the track. He plays synthesizer, the most prominent instrument on the track, as well as piano, the saxophone, and plays a drum duel with Ruff. It's a song that's constantly moving, taking you on some kind of magical progressive rock journey. The synthesizer solo that Winter plays steadily builds up, and it sounds like some galactic space music stuff. If you play the song at one point, and go a minute back or forward, it's a whole new song. It's weird, but it's also cool as hell. Also, after watching videos of Winter playing the song live, I highly suggest you check that out too. This man was the real deal. He didn't do much singing, but he seemed to enjoy playing every instrument known to man, and enjoyed playing them well. It seems like he was just fine not being in the spotlight, and just wanted to play his music without lots of attention. It's hard to not give him any attention though when it comes to "Frankenstein".
It seems striking to me that Winter only went out on this musical journey, and "Frankenstein" may only exist because he is an albino. Maybe that's part of why he preferred to stay in the background in his performances, granted that's pretty tough when you're rocking the absolute crap out of everything you're playing. Hartman usually sang lead on the group's songs, including the familiar fun sing-along "Free Ride", which made it to #14 on the Hot 100 in 1973, and was also a single released from They Only Come Out at Night. ("Free Ride" is a 9) "Frankenstein" was Winter's song. It was his time to shine. The man is 74 years old, and still performs "Frankenstein" live, which means he's still running around on stage mastering several different instruments.
What an absolute freaking legend.
GRADE: 9/10
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