Friday Flashback: Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons Performing ‘Opus 17′ Back in ’92!
June 15th, 2012In June of 1966, “Opus 17″ by The Four Seasons peaked at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
IMHO, I think “Opus 17,” written by Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell, was one of the Seasons’ most powerful hits of the mid-60s and I was surprised that it didn’t peak at a higher position on the charts. Wonder why such an electrifying song didn’t make it to the Top 5?
There are five key changes in “Opus 17″, the most of any Pop Hit, tying “Mack The Knife”, according to several sources on the internet.
I don’t know why a lot of FV4S songs weren’t much bigger hits. Maybe some people liked garage band arrangements better than the complex orchestral arrangments of Calello, Schroeck, et. al. That seems to be the case with “Can’t Get Enough Of You Baby”, the first charting track (from the WMWBTY LP) of the song being the most complex arrangement. But the garage band arrangement of ? seems to be the most copied, including by Smash Mouth, who also did a remake of Neil Diamond’s/The Monkees’ “I’m A Believer” from the same era.
Comment by Ted Hammond — June 17, 2012 @ 9:32 pm