(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)
Walter Murphy & the Big Apple Band - "A Fifth of Beethoven"
Hit Number 1: October 9, 1976
Stay at Number 1: 1 Week
This story right here is why I'm so fascinated by the #1 songs. Each #1 song has its own story on the road to the summit, along with its fair share of luck. In 1976, Walter Murphy gave us one of the more unlikelier #1 hits in chart history, mostly from a lack of true creativity. Ludwig van Beethoven is a name that I know, you know, and everyone you know, knows. He doesn't need much of an introduction, but to keep it short, he's possibly the greatest classical music composer ever. I don't think most people could name anything he did, but we've all definitely heard one of his works before. I'm talking about the first movement of Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5." This is the one Murphy essentially copied and turned into a disco song. When I say that there wasn't much creativity put into his song, I don't mean that to sound like I hate the song. I just can't look at a piece of music in the public domain that someone took and turned into a disco song and think, "Wow, a lot of time and effort was put into this," you know?
That's not to say that Murphy didn't have any musical background. In fact, Murphy loved music and all different kinds of it. While in college at the Manhattan School of Music, he found himself listening to a bunch of rock music derived from old classical music, examples including Apollo 100's "Joy" and the Toys' "A Lover's Concerto." ("Joy" was a #6 hit in 1972. It's a 5. "A Lover's Concerto" made it to #2 in 1965. That one's a 7) Murphy became somewhat of a respected commercial jingle writer in the '70s, and was writing a disco jingle for a commercial in 1976 when someone mentioned the idea of "updating classical music" cause nobody had done that lately. This had to have peaked Murphy's interest big time. He already loved music inspired by classical music, and this idea was something someone like Murphy would eat up. So that's what happened. He made 5 new demo tapes of songs, with one of them being a disco rendition of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. He gave it the name "A Fifth of Beethoven" as a sort of joke. A "fifth" is in reference to a liquid measurement, like a fifth of a gallon, which is apparently a popular size for liquor bottles. I guess I can now add that to the giant list of useless information I know. (Oh yeah, and I'm not sure if Beethoven's Fifth Symphony had anything to do with the naming of Murphy's song. It might have, but it also might have been a coincidence)
Murphy sent "A Fifth of Beethoven" to several record labels in New York City, but wasn't met with much success. That was until Larry Uttal, the owner of Private Stock Records, heard it and immediately wanted to sign Murphy to a deal. After Murphy signed on to Private Stock, he got to work on his A Fifth of Beethoven album, but instead of being credited to just Murphy, it's credited to Murphy and the Big Apple Band. This was because Private Stock believed the single would do better if it was credited as being by a band rather than a solo artist. So basically, the Big Apple Band never really existed. But, Private Stock's plan still worked, and Murphy ended up with a #1 hit. (There apparently was a real Big Apple Band, but they changed their name to Chic. Chic will eventually appear in this series) None of this should've seemed likely. Classical music hadn't been "cool" for over a hundred years, and some guy no one had heard of at the time releases his disco rendition of a classical music song, and it becomes a massive hit. Don't underestimate the power of disco I guess.
With that being said, is it really that crazy that "A Fifth of Beethoven" became such a huge hit? Like, the song idea is pretty stupid, but it goes pretty damn hard too. I like the signature disco-sounding guitar riff, and the strings remain suspenseful, just like in Beethoven's piece, but still sound amazing with a disco beat underneath. There's a lot of moving parts to the song, and it never gets boring. Which, unironically, is the exact way it's supposed to be. I can easily see a bunch of people dancing to this, and it even made it to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. A soundtrack only good songs make it to. (We'll hear a few more of these songs as we go on) But I have to admit, "A Fifth of Beethoven," while it is a silly song, and I still don't think the idea behind it was that creative, man, this thing is a straight up banger. No words/lyrics, just a bunch of instruments that force you to get up and dance whether you want to or not.
Murphy never came close to #1 again, but he's still living his best life it seems. He's gone back to writing jingles, this time for TV shows, and his work has appeared on the show Family Guy more than once. I seem to recall seeing that he was good friends with Seth McFarlane as well, which would explain that I guess. Either way, even though Walter Murphy is not a name most people know, even after the success of "A Fifth of Beethoven," he's accomplished more than you'd think. At some time in your life you've heard his work, you just didn't know it was him. "A Fifth of Beethoven" will forever be a banger though.
GRADE: 8/10
IN POP CULTURE:
Speaking of Walter Murphy's connections to Family Guy, here's a brief video of Peter, Quagmire, Cleveland and Joe skating and dancing to "A Fifth of Beethoven" at a ski rink:
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