THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

625-Raspberries-Overnight Sensation (Hit Record.)

1974-Has never charted in the UK.

Best Bit-At 4.18. It’s ironic that the main reason the song never became a hit was because radio stations didn’t like to play records which were more than three minutes long.

The Raspberries were formed in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, in 1970, from two local bands,’The Choir,’ and ‘Cyrus Erie.’ The classic lineup was Eric Carmen (vocal, guitar, bass, and piano,) Jim Bonfanti (drums,) Dave Smalley (bass,) and Wally Bryson (guitar.) They were active between 1970-1975, in 1999 Bryson reformed the band without Carmen, but with Smalley, and Michael McBride, they remained together until 2009.

The Raspberries recorded four studio Albums between 1972-1974, with most of the songwriting by Eric Carmen, it was resentment to the amount of input Carmen had, which led to the band splitting initially. Carmen went onto have a very successful solo career, achieving 11 top 40 hit singles on Billboard, including ‘Hungry Eyes,’ which was chosen for the soundtrack Album for the film ‘Dirty Dancing.’

The Raspberries were particularly influenced by the British Rock group The Who, with Carmen saying,’Pete Townshend (see also best songs 926-306 and 265) coined the phrase ‘Power Pop’ to define what The Who did. For some reason it didn’t stick to The Who, but it did stick to these groups that came out in the 70’s, that played that kind of melodic songs with crunchy guitars, and some wild drumming.”Overnight Sensation (Hit Record) was taken from the bands fourth studio Album ‘Starting Over’ from 1974. John Lennon (1940-1980) was a fan of the band, and was present at the recording of the Album, and although not credited is rumoured to have been involved in the mixing of ‘Overnight Sensation (Hit Record.’) Interestingly Lennon called a track on his final Album ‘Double Fantasy’ from 1980, (‘Just Like) Starting Over.’

‘I just want a hit record, yeah, wanna hear it on the radio.Want a big hit record,yeah, one that everybody’s got to know.’