Because it's nothing to turn on the classic Rock stations these days and hear it played. But, back in '72, was Stevie "appropriate" back then?

Adisa said:

Superstition, according to allmusic, peaked at #1 on both the Pop Singles and Black Singles charts, so I'd say, yeah, it probably got a lot of airplay on many kinds of stations.

I heard it did back then. I think they honestly played it because Jeff Beck had begrudgingly told radio stations Stevie had given him the song but he turned it down, then he did his version that same year and they played his and Stevie's back and forth, least that's what I'm hearing. If that's the case, it predated "Beat It".

Timmy84 said:

I never heard that Jeff Beck story. Not saying whether it's true or false, but rock radio played a lot of Stevie in '71 - 74. The TALKIN BOOK/INNERVISIONS/FULLFILLINGNESS trio was very well received by rock radio; especially the "deep album" cuts. SITKOL came after the big segregation in radio (aka disco), so rock radio's love for Stevie fell off then.

I don't understand your point about "Beat It". There's a good 12 13 years between it and I never heard it on rock radio (note I'm not talking about CHR/top 40 formats).

PFunkjazz said:

I had heard "Beat It" was played on some rock stations. So if I am wrong, thanks for correcting me then.

Timmy84 said:

That makes sense. Thanks.

PFunkjazz said:

COOL! That's what I suspected. Stevie was/is the man!

Timmy84 said:

The story I've always heard is that Stevie wrote it for Jeff, but the record label thought he was crazy to give it away, so they convinced him to record it himself. Of course, Jeff played on "Looking for Another Pure Love" and later recorded "Thelonius" and covered "Cause We've Ended As Lovers" on Blow By Blow.

You might have a point with that Beck version of "Superstition". It was out at the same time as TALKING BOOK. Before putting TB down he had jetted to London and recorded some things and fooled around with Beck and other Brits. Here's Stevie doing "Satisfaction" at Mick Jagger's b'day party in '72.



This is funny. Stevie funks so hard his glasses almost fly off his face, but he manages to straighten them up.

Yes - Superstition got played a lot. And I grew up in the whitest white bread town you can imagine, so...

AlexdeParis said:

i know you're not implying Stevie wrote "Thelonius", but it reads that way.

Here we go, Beck Bogert Appice on "Superstition" '73



Album '72 or '73 Live

*Most* (not all) of the stations back then weren't so fragmented/formatted where they played only one kind of music, or what amounts to 40 songs that all sound the same, like they are today.


Yeah, it was starting to get fragmented, but *most* stations played pretty much everything that was popular across the board.

Adisa said:

You heard it on those stations back then. The reason, radio was not as formatted then, as it is now. In the 70's when I grew up, it was not a surprise to hear a radio station play both Stevie and the Doobie Brothers on the same station. This is what I believe is wrong with radio now. It has become more and more formatted to a certain sound. Thereby making it more about big corporations rather than artist, their music and the people that listen to their music.

PFunkjazz said:

I was always under the impression that Stevie did write it. I know I read that somewhere. Here it is: http://www.carlmagnuspalm...ngs70.html

Are you saying that it's actually a cover of "Thelonius" by Monk himself?

AlexdeParis said:

Yeah you're correct, I shoulda kept my big mouth shut.
FWIW, I was thinking of a jam by Gov't Mule called "Thelonius Beck".