Thursday, 12/22

Who would you rather have been--Chubby Checker, or Bobby Helms?

No, I haven’t gone off my rocker, and no, this isn’t just some bizarrely random question. It may be bizarre, but it’s not random. It’s probably not a question you would think of any other time of the year, but it’s certainly not random. And, if it’s okay with you, I’ll explain why.

Both Chubby Checker and Bobby Helms were singers as the 1960s rolled into existence. Now, they were both popular before I was born, but I do have an understanding of what they did and the impact they had in the world of music. For about a year and a half, Chubby Checker was the biggest thing in pop music. He had three number one songs, including one that topped the charts twice (“The Twist”), and was mobbed everywhere he went. If I had to make an analogy, he was kind of like the Lady Gaga of his day, minus the outrageous costumes. For that year and a half, he was a S-U-P-E-R-S-T-A-R under any definition of the word. Bobby Helms, on the other hand, was never really that famous. He had a few semi-popular country songs, made it onto the pop charts once, was never mobbed, and just kind of disappeared quietly. His stardom certainly wasn’t anywhere near the magnitude of Chubby Checker, but you know what?

If I had to choose between having been Chubby Checker or Bobby Helms, I would’ve chosen Bobby Helms.

While Chubby Checker was the biggest thing in music for a year and a half, we don’t think about him much any more. People don’t listen to his music on a regular basis, and people (like me) born after his reign on the top of the charts probably couldn’t tell any of his songs from any other recorded during that span of time. While Chubby Checker was the biggest star in pop music for a year and a half, nowadays he’s, basically, forgotten.

Not so Bobby Helms. While he was never a superstar in the musical world, and while he never had a number one song, the one song of his that DID make the pop charts was a little Christmas ditty called “Jingle Bell Rock”. The song actually charted three years in a row in the sixties, has been featured in everything from TV commercials to the movie “Lethal Weapon”, and is instantly recognizable to anyone born after it was released. Bobby Helms may not have been a huge star in his time, and people may not even know who he is today, but unlike any song by Chubby Checker, we sure do know one of his songs.

And THAT’S why, if I had to choose an answer to that bizarrely random question I asked at the beginning of this blog, I’d choose Bobby Helms. How about you?

(jim@wmqt.com)