ABOUT THIS DATABASE

This database contains over 2500 song titles of which 99.9% were top 40
hits on pop radio stations from 1950 to the present.  The remaining .01% 
are titles from soundtracks.  Only 2 entries that I can think of offhand
are from obscure artists which few, if any, people will recognize.  The
database is pretty self-explanatory insofar as the field entries are
concerned.  

WHY USE A MUSIC DATABASE?

I assume that most people who will download this database will be serious
music lovers.  Granting the validity of that assumption, you probably
have a fairly large collection of music in various forms.  That makes 
keeping track of what you have in your collection a difficult chore.  It
also makes it difficult to analyze your investment in your collection for 
things as mundane as insurance claims (God forbid!).  However, putting 
your collection into a database can render much more pleasant results
than you might imagine.  For example, I like to create genre-specific
tapes to listen to that reflect my mood at any given time.  With a 
personal music database, creating such tapes can be made a whole lot 
easier.  In my own version of this database, I have a field titled 
"CATEGORY" where I label each song as being either soft-rock, rock, love,
soul, soundtrack or just plain oldie.  Because of this field, I can 
simply create a database "query" and my database program will 
automatically generate a list of all the songs in my database that match
the genre I select.  It then becomes easy to create tapes of love songs,
soul or any other genre I wish to create.

You can also use the database to generate music shopping lists to help
you concentrate your music buying efforts toward getting your favorite
songs without having to try and remember if you already have that song
in your collection.  I created a field I labeled "MEDIA" where I listed
the form of media I had each song on.  I used "C" for CDs, "D" for DAT
tape and "A" for albums/vinyl.  I then generated lists of all the songs
I did not yet have on CD to use as my shopping lists.

Depending on how much additional time and effort you want to devote to
it, a music database can become even more powerful and capable of
generating ever more selective lists of your music.  My version of this
database contains information on each song such as the week it debuted
on the charts, the highest position it reached on the charts and the 
position it held in comparison to all the other songs of the same year 
it charted.  This gives me the capability of generating lists as 
specific as all love songs that charted in the top 40, 30, 20 or 10 for
any particular time period I choose!  Imagine being able to easily 
create a music menu for a class reunion or a special anniversary with a 
few keystrokes!

WHY IS THIS DATABASE MISSING SOME OF THE INFORMATION FROM MY OWN VERSION?

Chart information is copyrighted material.  I got much of the chart 
information in my version of this database from Joel Whitburn's "Hot 
100" books and others he has written.  He, in turn, gleaned much of his 
information from Billboard's charts.  While owners of these books are 
free to use the information in them for their *personal* use, we cannot
duplicate and distribute that copyrighted information.  I *strongly* 
recommend Mr. Whitburn's books to the serious music collector.  The
address of Record Research Inc., where you can order these books, is 
included later in this text file.  I'd love to save you the effort of 
plugging all those numbers in yourself, but I can't.  I know of a few 
people who are presently working on massive music databases which may 
soon become available on CD-ROM, but from what I've heard, they will
likely be very limited in how you'll be able to customize and use the
information in them.  If you're really serious about your collection I'd 
recommend using this database as a starting point and dedicating some 
serious keyboard time to filling in the blanks you want to add.  It 
isn't nearly as hard as you might imagine if you have the right 
reference materials to work with.

The first time I released this database, I did include the CATEGORY and
MEDIA fields but I realized that they would be of little use to most
people in that the CATEGORY field is purely subjective based on the
individual's assessment of a song and the MEDIA field pertained to the
format I personally own the tune on.  Thus, I omitted those fields in
this updated version.

ABOUT MY DISC COLLECTION

All but a few (less than 10) of the titles were/are available on CDs.  My 
CD collection presently totals out at about 750 discs which consist of 
roughly 1/3 various artist compilations and 2/3 single-artist albums 
(most of which are greatest hits/anthologies).  A couple of the titles 
are on bootleg CDs but that is because that's the *only* way I could get 
them on CD as there are a few artists and labels who are sitting on music 
and refusing to release it.  You can probably find 90% of the songs in 
this database on CD at your local music retailer.  You might not find 
them on the same disc that I have them on, but most of this music is 
readily available either on the same discs or on newer compilations and 
reissues with different titles.  The 10% you can't find in the racks of 
retail shops are likely available through mail-order outfits.  All of the 
mail-order dealers I recommend later in this text are people I've done 
business with.  While they may differ slightly in their efficiency 
insofar as processing orders go, they all deliver the goods as promised.

THE RERECORDED HIT SCAM

I've become something of a reluctant student of the machinations of the
music industry where their CD product is concerned.  I call myself a 
reluctant student because the lessons I've learned have been at the cost
of yet another piece of innocence on my part as well as at a personal
cost of dollars and cents.  Perhaps it was naive of me to grow up under
the impression that music was one of the few things in life that one
could turn to for pure enjoyment.  Throughout my pre-CD music consumption
years, obtaining the tunes I had come to know and love was pretty much as
effortless and straightforward as heading to my local music retailer and
picking out the album I was seeking or dialing a number that appeared on
my television screen.  Some people say I was lucky because I don't 
recall a single instance in those days of getting something I didn't pay
for.  Unfortunately, with the advent of CD technology, my former carefree
music shopping forays became fraught with pitfalls I never dreamed I 
would encounter.  For that reason, I include the following in the hope
that I might help the novice music shopper avoid some of those pitfalls.

The music industry has to be populated by some of the most arrogant,
narcissistic and unscrupulous people to stride upon this planet.  Not
only do they bask in the cult-like devotion of millions of music lovers, 
but they also have have the arrogance to fleece those unwitting lambs
for the sake of a couple of bucks beyond the billions they've already
been happily given by music consumers.  As a baby-boomer who grew up in 
rock & roll's golden era, music became an important part of my life.  As 
a result, the money I, and millions of others of my generation have 
passed along to the recording industry through our purchases of 45's, 
albums, 8-track tapes, cassettes and now, CDs, has enriched the industry 
by untold billions of dollars.  We baby-boomers literally transformed 
garage bands and basement recording studios into the mega-stars and 
giant recording houses of today.  To borrow and paraphrase a passage 
from a well-known tune, "We built [that] city on rock and roll!"  Given 
the aforementioned, you would think that the industry would feel some 
obligation towards us baby-boomers and strive to deal with us honestly 
and ethically.  Yet, anyone with more than 50 CDs in their music 
collection has likely been victimized by the music industry's sleight-
of-hand. 

The music industry gets away with unscrupulous practices which would land
people in other businesses squarely behind bars.  I have no idea why this
is, I only know that it is absolutely true.  Some years back, I worked in 
the employment agency business where you could lose your license and face
heavy fines for a tactic known as "bait-and-switch."  That's the practice 
of advertising a great job that's extremely difficult to get and then 
steering applicants to other less attractive but more easily filled 
positions.  The recording industry gets away with an identical scam all
the time.  Labels and artists regularly sell rerecorded versions of 
well-known hits without any hint on the packaging that they are doing so.
In some cases, the artists are out for a quick buck so they create a
completely new version of one of their hits so they can sell it to a
label other than the one they originally recorded the hit for.  In other
instances, a label will sell what amount to what the motion picture
industry calls out-takes in that they sell the studio session tapes of
hits which were not selected as the final single version they released, 
to smaller independent labels.  In still other cases, an artist will 
rerecord hits he or she had on another label and combine them with hits 
from their present label to create the illusion that they are selling all 
their major hits in one package.  Anyone who has ever bought a 
substantial number of compact discs featuring hits from the '50s, '60s or
'70s has very likely been burned by one permutation or another of this 
scam.

In some cases, it's absolutely impossible to keep from falling prey to
such scams.  For example, if you purchase Neil Diamond's "The Greatest 
Hits 1966 - 1992," don't count on seeing the word "live" anywhere on the 
outside packaging.  Yet, once you get the CD home and anxiously insert 
the discs while looking forward to hearing those old musical memories, 
instead of the old standards you grew up with and loved, you'll find 
yourself listening to a reggae version of "Red Red Wine" and an audience 
participation version of "Sweet Caroline."  You'll wince as Diamond down-
tempoes and psuedo-raps "Morningside" as you strain to hear the 
instruments through the audience noise.  You won't understand why you got 
this "bait-and-switch" deal unless you open up the booklet that 
accompanies the CD set and are treated to Diamond's explanation that he 
replaced the original versions of half the songs in the set with the live 
versions because, in *his* opinion, some songs lend themselves better to 
live performances than others.  Never mind that if his fans wanted reggae 
they would be Bob Marley fans.... *not* Neil Diamond fans.  Never mind 
that Mr. Diamond *couldn't* have included the hit versions of the live 
songs he substitutes because he recorded them on another label that 
retains the rights to them.  Since Columbia released this ripoff, even
placing your trust in a major label is no guarantee that you won't get
burned.


A few other examples of the music industry's scams are;

"26 ORIGINAL TRACKS BY THE ORIGINAL ARTISTS" is the come-on utilized
on the cover of "70 Ounces Of GOLD" released by Compose CDs & Cassettes.
In this case, the folks at Compose are telling the absolute truth.  What
they *don't* tell you is that many of the cuts on the CD are studio
versions of the songs that are nothing like the hit versions that we
listened to as they climbed the charts!  This CD probably sold like
hotcakes because it featured hits like "Soul Man," "When A Man Loves A
Woman," "Lightnin' Strikes" and "Wipe Out." Yet each of these top ten
hits on the CD were anemic renditions of the chartbusters we remember
with the single exception an outstanding stereo version "Then He Kissed
Me" by the Crystals.  Unfortunately, most people who buy this CD are
not looking to add a single song to their collection.

A double whammy! "Rock 'n' Roll Fever of the 60's" and "Rock 'n' Roll
Fever of the 70's" released by LOMI.  Not a single hit version to be
found in these previously unrealeased studio rejects.  If you want to
hear Christie screw up "Yellow River" or a muted version of "Little
Children" by Billy J. Kramer, these lemons are for you!

What happens when you put a generation-Xer who cares nothing about the
music of the baby-boomer era behind the mixing console?  Answer.  "The
Rare Breed - The Super K Collection" on the Collectables label.  The
remix of the one and only hit song the Rare Breed ever had, namely "Beg,
Borrow and Steal" so badly muted the instruments that the group might as
well have done the song acappella.

For 9 years, I have been waiting and regularly checking with my CD
vendors for Paul Davis to release a CD of his greatest hits.  Finally,
just recently, I discovered he had done so and I promptly ordered one for
my collection.  What I got was what should have been titled "Half of Paul
Davis' Greatest Hits."  Neither "Cool Night" nor "65 Love Affair" are on
this new disc.  This is another case where an artist switched labels in 
the midst of his popularity and could only include his early hits on the 
CD he released.  So why not call the CD something like "His Early Hits" 
or "The Bang Years" as other artists have done when they've had hits on 
different labels?  At least that would alert novice buyers that they were 
getting a less than complete collection of the artist's hits.  Apparently, 
the industry and artists so reknowned for their self-aggrandizing charity 
love-fests feel no guilt whatsoever about ripping off music lovers with 
scams like this.  

Remember the Sir Douglas Quintet?  Their two claims to fame were "She's 
About A Mover" and "Mendicino."  This time, Rhino is the culprit to 
blame for putting a heretofore unheard version of "She's About A Mover" 
on their "Texas Music Vol. 3."  I don't know about other music
enthusiasts, but speaking for myself, I firmly believe that if a record
label can't come up with the hit version of an old song, it should not
try to pass off a studio reject or live version on to consumers unless
they clearly state on the outside of the CD package that this is what
they are doing.  In the case of "Texas Music Vol.3" I didn't recognize
any other song listed except "She's About A Mover" and "Ju Ju Hand" by
Sam the Sham and The Pharohs.  I doubt if anything else on that CD
charted nationally, so it is likely that those two songs are the major
selling draws for the disc.  This makes it all the more incredible that
the original version that charted wasn't what was actually on the disc.

Why have I droned on for so long about this particular subject?  It is
simply because I'm by no means a wealthy man.  I schlep packages for a 
living, live in a  blue-collar neighborhood and drive a 12 year old car.  
However, where music is concerned, I have a collection and equipment to 
play it on that most people with incomes twice or three times mine don't 
have.  It is one of the few grand passions of my life.  I have been 
a voracious conusmer of music since my prepubescent years.  It would be
impossible to calculate the amount of money I've poured into the coffers
of the music industry throughout my 44 years on this speck of dust.  In 
return for my lifetime of investment, I foolishly expect some sort of
loyalty from the industry toward those of us they owe so much to.  When 
I instead get the back of the industry's hand, I become enraged.  Thus
this venting of my spleen.  

My parting advice to novice music collectors is to beware of the labels
on the CDs they buy.  Even though you can't always rely on the major 
labels to deal with you honestly, buying a CD made by a label you've 
never heard of is definitely a crap shoot with the odds stacked against 
you.  Many mail-order houses such as those I list at the end of this 
file have knowledgeable phone salespeople who can tell you whether or
not a particular CD is what you're looking for.  Some, like DisCollector,
don't even carry rerecorded material so they're very safe bets.

IF YOU NEED HELP.....

I'm always happy to lend a hand to fellow music lovers in their quest
to find their favorite musical memories on disc.  I've been very lucky
to encounter many very helpful people who selflessly gave of their own
time and effort to assist me in getting some of my most treasured music.
That's why I am distributing this database, which represents so many 
hours of my time and effort, with no strings attached.  It's my way of
repaying the online community for all the help they've given to me.  If
you would like help in setting up this database for your own use, finding
a tune on CD or even help in finding out the name of a song that you can 
only remember a few lines of lyrics from, you can find me in the American 
Oldies Diner forum on CompuServe or you can call my BBS, The Monsoon 
Hotel, at 312-927-9534.  My handle on my BBS is Vinh Long (from my 
Vietnam days). 
                                                Happy listening!
                                                Kevin J. Osiowy        
                                                CIS ID 70313,2466

TRIED & TRUE MUSIC SOURCES

CDMO - 516-385-2366 

DisCollector - imports
303-841-3000

Midnight Records - imports - boots
212-675-2768

Metro Music - 301-622-2473

Thoughtscape Sounds - imports - soundtracks
800-435-6185

Footlight Records - soundtracks
212-533-1572

Remember When - 708-963-1957

Chicago Digital - 708-383-1870

To order the Joel Whitburn books;
Record Research Inc.
414-251-5408
