January 20, 2014

Ray Stevens: The 40 Year Streak...

Usually in my first blog post(s) of a new year I spotlight specific songs/albums from Ray Stevens that are going to reach some sort of milestone. 2014 is no exception! This is the year that "The Streak" hits 40...debuting in the spring of 1974 comes a song that ultimately became the biggest selling single of his career and has taken on a life of it's own. "The Streak" might seem outrageous to the ears of politically correct consumers, baffling to others, and annoying to some...but the idea of the song ties directly to a real life trend taking place at college campuses and eventually at sporting events where people ran nude through a crowd and although history loves to state that the trend/fad had no real impact on society, the truth is it did...millions upon millions of people talked about streakers, perhaps even thought about streaking themselves, or became aware of streaking by way of the Academy Awards (a streaker ran behind David Nivens). I've never read too much about the ordeal in any in depth sort of way (which might sound surprising considering how streaking impacted Ray's career at the time).

There has long been a feeling that the streaker had been planted for shock value by the producers; but whether or not the streaker was planned or if it was spontaneous, the reaction and attention it gained impacted "The Streak" in a profound way. The humor is decidedly low-brow, which, believe it or not, is one of the chief criticisms leveled against it from music critics both professional and amateur. I feel that the humor and it's delivery is perfect for the subject matter.

Ray's single hit on March 27, 1974 and the Oscar streaker ordeal aired on April 2, 1974...talk about incredible timing, luck, and good fortune on Ray's part!! The single entered the pop chart on April 7, 1974 and reached #1 for the first of three weeks on May 18th.

The song became an international hit. Here in the United States, as mentioned, it reached #1 on the Pop chart and stayed at the top for 3 weeks. It also reached the Top-5 on the Country Music chart and the Top-20 on the Adult-Contemporary chart. Internationally it hit #1 in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and on Canada's three music charts ranking the Pop, Country, and Adult-Contemporary singles. It reached the runner up position in Australia and Ireland.

An official music video emerged in 1992 when it became one of the eight music videos contained in a home video from Ray titled Comedy Video Classics. Technically there are 7 comedy videos and then there's the final one of the collection, "Everything is Beautiful", the only serious song of the group.


2 comments:

  1. If memory serves, and I'm only going by memory, a little ditty by Elton John either replaced The Streak or kept it from the top initially...Bennie & the Jets.

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    1. Elton's song is in the same neighborhood, as far as charts go. His single hit #1 in April 1974 right around the time "The Streak" had entered the Hot 100. "The Loco-Motion" by a group called Grand Funk had been at #1 prior to "The Streak". After Ray's 3 week run at #1, it was replaced by "Band On the Run" by Paul McCartney/Wings.

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