Icon Was SO SICK of Song…He Sang it with a FAKE ACCENT as a Joke…Made it a Classic-Professor of Rock

Coming up, a grand year in music where once again a bunch of legendary Top 10 hits that missed the #1 spot on the charts were actually better than the songs that did. Today we’re rewriting history by putting them where they belong… at #1. We’ll spotlight a classic from an Elton John who got so upset about the cadence a song was written in that he recorded it with an EXAGGERATED AMERICAN ACCENT, and it made the song a classic. Plus the song Longfellow Serenade that stole its idea from a 19th century poem to seduce an older woman, and it ended up becoming a classic. Plus, the cocky college student from Steely Dan who hit on his professor’s pregnant wife and actually got her number, but instead of having an affair, he turned it into his biggest hit on the charts. And the Lynyrd Skynyrd rock icon who ominously predicted his demise, proclaiming that he wouldn’t make it to age 30. His prediction came true when he tragically passed away less than 3 months before his 30th birthday. Then there’s the mysterious man Tony Burrows, who recorded vocals for 5 different bands and strangely enough, each of those songs became a one hit wonder. But we start with the bold teenager Chaka Khan who told the biggest music Icon of his time that the song he gave to her rookie band to record was Trash and he needed to give them something BETTER… ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Executive Producer Brandon Fugal Honorary Producers Holly Hammet, Remnarc, Kevin riley, Paul Moore II, CharleyAnne ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe to the Professor of Rock Podcast Apple: https://apple.co/445fVov Spotify: https://spoti.fi/42JpfvU Amazon: https://amzn.to/44b5D6m iHeartRadio: https://bit.ly/444h8MO ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Patreon: http://bit.ly/ProfessorofRockVIPFan Merch Store: https://professor-of-rock-lsn-shop.fo... Instagram: https://bit.ly/Instagram_Professor_of... #classicrock #70smusic #vinylstory #onehitwonder Hey Music Junkies, Professor of rock always here to celebrate the greatest artists and the greatest songs of all time. Make to subscribe. It’s time to fire up the time machine and go back to the year 1974. Where we will right the wrongs on the charts and give the songs from that year that missed #1 their due. They were more riveting than the song that did hit the top. At #10 we have a song that a 19-year rookie coaxed out of Stevie Wonder after telling him the first song he gave for her to record SUCKED. It took guts, but it was the right call. It introduced the world to the incredible voice of Chaka Khan. It’s Tell Me Something Good” by Rufus: Stevie Wonder wrote “Tell Me Something Good” for Rufus after something pretty crazy happened in the studio. Picture this… a 19-year-old Chaka Khan, pregnant and clearly not in the mood to be impressed, told Stevie straight to his face that she didn’t like one of the first tracks he played for the group. In fact, she was quite blunt. I mean… imagine telling Stevie Wonder that one of his songs was “crap.” And honestly, he didn’t seem phased at all. He even asked Chaka for her astrological sign—and when she said she was an Aries, he told her he had just the right track for her. Then he sat down at the clavinet… and played “Tell Me Something Good.” Chaka jumped into the song the way she naturally works through music, but Stevie stopped her and gave her very specific vocal direction—coaching the exact vibrato and attitude he wanted. Later, Chaka said she actually helped shape the melodies and arrangements, but she was intimidated in the moment and didn’t ask for formal co-writing credit. In the end… Stevie remained the only credited writer. One reason the song became such a hit is that signature guitar sound—created by guitarist Tony Maiden using an early guitar talk box. That effect was pretty rare at the time, so the track was one of the first big hits to really feature it. “Tell Me Something Good” peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974, but it’s a #1 in our hearts. It became Rufus’s breakthrough and won them a Grammy. The success was so massive it led the group to change their name to Rufus featuring Chaka Khan: We’re rolling out the Top 10 songs of ’74 that should’ve been #1 hits. It’s a song that A British Icon got so frustrated by that he actually recorded his vocals in an exaggerated, mocking American accent, and it made it a classic. It’s Elton John with “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” at #9. “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” is one of Elton John’s most lasting masterpieces, but its studio recording in Colorado was surprisingly tense and frustrating. Although the track later became a