THE HIT HAMMER: Honey Cone's "Want Ads"

(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)

Honey Cone - "Want Ads"

Hit Number 1: June 12, 1971

Stay at Number 1: 1 Week

What would be the first thing you do if you found out your boyfriend/girlfriend cheated on you? Well if you were like most people, you might break off the relationship and find someone new. That old familiar story is what we hear on "Want Ads", except our narrator here decides that the best way to meet someone is to find them through the classifieds in the newspaper. I get it, this was 1971. There were no dating websites or apps on iPhones like Tinder that would hook you up with someone else. So this is the kind of crap people would do sometimes. (Another example of this is Rupert Holmes' "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)", which will eventually make an appearance in this blog) Today, anyone else my age who's so familiar with dating websites/apps might find a song like "Want Ads" ridiculous. But in 1971, it was probably a relatable song for some.

"Want Ads" is one of the most obscure #1 hits in my opinion, and even the songwriters of it aren't very well known. The team behind it were staff producer Greg Perry, Barney Perkins and General Norman Johnson. Johnson was the most notable one of the three, as he was a front man for Chairmen of the Board, a relatively unknown group that still somehow made it to #3 with "Give Me Just a Little More Time". (It's a 5) "Want Ads" was first created when Perry and Johnson wrote a song called "Stick-Up", but the two weren't all that satisfied with it. They changed the chord progression and wrote some new lyrics, coming up with the catchy "Wanted. Young man, single and free." That line would become the main line in "Want Ads", and became the song's most identifiable feature.

Perkins' contribution to it came from him looking through the classified section of the newspaper. For some reason, he was hell bent on someone writing a song about want ads. Perry was convinced that the idea could work, and that's when him and Perkins brought in Johnson and the three began to work on the song. (With Perry and Johnson doing most of the work) Glass House, a group fronted by Freda Payne's younger sister Scherrie Payne, were the first ones to record the song, but the group, Payne in particular, didn't like it. Perry wasn't even satisfied with their version either, so Payne decided to try recording the song with her older sister. She still felt that it wasn't working for her, and suggested to Perry that Honey Cone lead singer Edna Wright give it a shot, since she passed through the studio that same day. That's who Perry ended up needing, and that's who "Want Ads" ended up needing.

Wright is the heart, soul and mind of the song. She does what she can on the track, bringing a pleasant sensation of soul to the song. It's pretty obvious to me that she's having fun with the song, and fun is all there is to be had here since the song is pretty dumb. What stands out to me the most about the song though is the early traces of disco that it has. Remember, this is 1971. Disco was not something anyone would really know anything about for a couple more years, and this kind of stuff was probably the cool stuff to dance to back in the day.

Back then, "Want Ads" must have seemed like a fun little song to dance to, and today it still is I guess. But honestly, "Want Ads" doesn't do much for me. It's a pretty forgettable song. Disco would continue to grow legs throughout the 1970s, but it needed more than just a moderately catchy song about want ads to revolutionize the genre. It was a step in the right direction though. The song's a nice, danceable 2 and a half minute long song, but nothing compels me to listen to it again. It's just a nice attempt at a fun, glittery dance song that falls short in my eyes.

As for Honey Cone, they're about as obscure as their own song today. Funny enough, they made their own rendition of "Stick-Up", the song that would eventually become "Want Ads", and they took it to #11. (It's a 5) One little nugget I found interesting though is that Wright is the younger sister of Darlene Love, who was the lead singer of the Blossoms. (In a way the Blossoms already appeared in this blog with "He's a Rebel", but that was credited as being by the Crystals instead. I still don't understand that) So with those ties, it's what helped Wright get into the music industry. Unfortunately, her and her group just weren't meant to last, and even more unfortunate is the fact that she died in September 2020 of a sudden heart attack. Even though I don't care for her lone #1 hit that much, she at least had one. I can't say that I've ever had a #1 hit.

GRADE: 5/10