Here are the new entries ranked from best to worst:
When I looked at 1961 I said everyone seemed to be jumping on the rock n roll bandwagon which would lead to the inevitable backlash. Well in January 1962 at least it looks like rock n roll is dead. I wouldn't consider any of these records to be rock n roll.
On that point we'll start down the bottom as some may be saying what about Joe Brown. Well if anything I'd say it was a novelty record. It's interesting to note that had the charts stayed a Top 30 then Joe Brown would be yet to made his chart debut at this point. He'd had 3 hits that all charted in the 30s.
I could feasibly class half of these records as novelty ones and this is arguably why the world was crying out for The Beatles.
The new phase that was happening around this time was the twist, a style of dance being sung about. The most notable of these artists was Chubby Checker and that familiarity earns him a high placing with "The Twist".
We also have "Peppermint Twist" by Danny Peppermint And The Jumping Jacks but this is one that I'd class as being a novelty record.
It was also the era for the trad jazz revival, though just one of these records fits that category which is "Come Along Please" by Bob Wallis And His Storyville Jazzmen which I think is alright even if it sounds like its going back in time.
The number 1 record is a straight up pop record, "Forget Me Not" by Eden Kane. He was one of the artists whose popularity declined once The Beatles came about which is a shame because he was making good music based on this record.
Another eventual victim of The Beatles popularity who was trying to do something different was Joe Meek. He featured in the 1957 and 1958 batches as producer on the Gary Miller records, but this was the era that Joe Meek was at his most successful. The record in this batch that he produced was "Can't You Hear The Beat Of A Broken Heart" by Iain Gregory, only a number 39 but near the top of my chart.
We've reached the end of the Pre-Beatles era. The scores haven't been bad generally speaking but I do predict they will be beaten in future years.
Score: 32
Now we've reached this point it's a good time to look at the league table:
1960 is a marginal improvement over the 50s whereas 1961 and 1962 are mid-table.
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