7. Jackie Wilson - Reet Petite
http://youtu.be/xJ3-NnNx6Zs Year: 1986 Weeks at No.1: Four Reet Petite was Jackie Wilson's first solo release after leaving his R&B group The Dominoes. It was originally released in November 1957, reaching number six in the UK charts. But it wasn't until a 1986 BBC arts documentary series showed a claymation video (as seen above) by London animation studio Giblets that the song was re-issued - some three years after Wilson's death. The goofy, colourful yet downright scary at times video was thought by some to be a mockery of the song, when in fact it is a tribute and celebration of intricacies of the mouth and vocal work portrayed in the song. Giant and disturbing caricature lips dominate the backdrop, even swallowing poor clay Jackie before he pops out for more of his eye-popping leg-splitting routine. It's hard not to join in when listening to this brilliantly uplifting tune, with the trumpets and trills hugely infectious. Besides the video, the re-issue was a result of the little invention in the mid-80s called the Compact Disc, with record labels seeing a grand opportunity to release back catalogues on this new format. Even if people owned it on vinyl or cassette tape, they wanted the albums on CD. Singles, however, were generally bought as a result of awareness - seeing it on TV or hearing it on a major radio station exclusive to playing new records. Eventually the medium of advertisement was elected as the only way to help promote old classics, with Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" used to commercialise Levi jeans, leading to a re-issue of the song getting to #8 in the U.S. Old soul music was being subtly re-introduced and this opened the door for Reet Petites exposure, albeit in this unconventional manner. Considered a legendary song for many reasons, the original release was also a spark in the creation of motown - as royalties from the song enabled one writer of the song, Berry Gordy (the other was Tyran Carlo), to start up Motown Records.