You likely know what Billboard is but maybe not the ‘Bubbling Under The Hot 100’ listing – it was for groups that had not broken though yet and was published from 1959-1985. Given the prominence of Billboard, how can a song be on the Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart and simply disappear?
This is America. This can’t happen. Well, it did. In 1979. The June 16, 1979 issue of Billboard listed “Ready ‘n’ Steady” by D.A. at number 106 and it had moved up to 103 on June 23 and then up to 102 before disappearing.
The problem? No one seems to have heard it. Even the most comprehensive music historians have all heard of it, they have just never heard it. Or seen it. Music historian Joel Whitburn has changed his tune over the decades. In 1995, he thought it had been a girl’s punk rock group based out of Chicago. But he didn’t own it, and he owns everything else.
In a scenario worthy of “Eddie & The Cruisers 3”, the search was on for two decades. Whitburn said he once found a small ad for the Rascal label, which was the label behind D.A. in its Billboard listing, and had someone visit but the building was vacant.
In his last Top Pop Singles book from 2009, Whitburn does not list the record at all. He doesn’t think it exists or ever did.
But isn’t it great if some intern at Billboard pulled a prank on the entire music world that is now 30 years old?