#The Free Library of Philadelphia

[istandonsnowpiles]

Grip, Charles Dicken's pet raven

[bywayofphilly]

Philly: the original #queer city

[pennsylvaniacore]

Here he is!

genuinely wheezing laughing at this description of dicken's awful pet with lead poisoning

[ornamentodeux]

Unleash Your Creativity! Make a Collage

I’ve been a little brain dead this week. Maybe it’s the end of summer going into fall although I enjoy the change of seasons. I’m in the process of firing a couple of loads of porcelain beads and components in my trusty little Paragon Max 119 kiln which I am so glad I bought before the pandemic when it was about half the price it is now. Did you know the Philadelphia Free Library has an Art…

[sustainablyangry]

date with a book this Valentine’s Day at the Free Library of Philadelphia

[queerromancerecs]

Non Amazon book resources

Look, I know Amazon is a sensitive topic. It has been allowed to dominate the market, and for indie writers, it is a huge (if not their main) source of income. Personally, as an indie writer, I have tried to always keep my work available elsewhere (because you can't trust Amazon not to screw you over, I mean just look at Audible. For those who don't know, Audible royally fucks over authors, and the narrators don't do that great either). But even for me, the loss of Amazon sales would highly affect my ability to keep going without getting another job or three. So I get it. Nonetheless, they cannot be trusted not to drop queer writers and readers, so it's best to have alternatives now.

If you are a reader or an indie author looking for different platforms to buy and/or sell books, even if only to start branching out a little, here is a list.

I doubt it's comprehensive. Feel free to reblog with more.

Kobo and Kobo Plus -Kobo is the biggest online 'Zon alternative. Kobo Plus is sort of like KU. On either one, you get points for buying books and can use the points to get more books. Works for ebook and audiobooks. (And, if you have a non-Kindle ereader, it works for Kobo but it also works for like, fanfiction. I'm just saying. I got a refurbished Kobo a while ago and it's lovely.)

Bookshop.org -print as well as ebooks (authors, make sure you click "expanded distribution" on your bookselling platform of choice if you want your stuff for sale with Bookshop--which also benefits local bookstores!)

Smashwords/Draft2Digital - mostly ebooks but D2D does have a print option

Itch.io - ebook only (but gives a larger chunk of profits to authors than 'Zon does. Authors take note.)

Rainbow Crate -special edition print queer books. (I know there was some controversy with them but I am out of touch and don't know what it was, and most people who use them seem happy with them??? but if you know other queer/romance book crate services, lemme know)

The Ripped Bodice -brick and mortar stores but you can also shop online

Check out your local bookstores---many will order print copies for you if you request them

The authors' websites if they do direct sales

Barnes & Noble- yeah, it's a corporation and they are not great either, but it's not Amazon and sometimes a well-meaning relative gets you a gift card. And, for the moment, they do in fact sell queer romance and queer fiction. I know because I just used a gift card to get a paperback of The Prince and the Assassin. lol

Powell's Books- Portland's famous book store sells new and used books (and you can browse the stock online) --print only. They sell queer romance as well. I got a copy of Drag Me Up by RM Virtues there. That's not super relevant, but I was pleased :)

New link: Queer Books Weekly-- free and affordable books with queer protagonists

Tubby & Coos Bookshop: curates pocket bookstores featuring underrepresented voices

And from user @bobthebenevolentpirate (thank you!)

Giovanni's Room in Philadelphia was founded in 1973 and is “The Oldest & Very Best LGBTQ & Feminist Bookstore in the Country.” They ship to US addresses, but you can also email them about international shipping. The people who run it are lovely humans and have started providing harm reduction supplies/info to people to respond to the needs of the community! They deserve all the support

Also consider library books!

And for those in America--you can use library apps to read books. Yes, the authors still get paid! Libby is a big one. You can get audiobooks too, AND it can connect you with the Queer Liberation Library.

Also there is Hoopla - digital content

In Europe, I know there is Vivlio, which is French and I believe sells ereaders and also ebooks.

[upennmanuscripts]

Welcome to 2025! We're celebrating the new year with calendar pages from several books of hours for January. Look carefully and you'll see Aquarius, the water-bearer, the Zodiac sign that begins in January, and images of feasting, which is the labor of the month for January. The manuscripts are from the collections of Penn, the Free Library of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and were digitized through the Bibliotheca Philadelphiensis Project, aka BiblioPhilly (2016-2019). Follow the link to see more books of hours from BiblioPhilly.

🔗:

[fatehbaz]

This April [2021], the Iowa Department of Corrections issued a ban on charities, family members, and other outside parties donating books to prisoners. Under the state’s new guidelines, incarcerated people can get books only from a handful of “approved vendors.” Used books are prohibited altogether [...].

In 2018, the Michigan prison system introduced an almost identical set of rules, and Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Washington have all made attempts to block book donations, which were only rolled back after public outcry. Across the United States, the agencies responsible for mass imprisonment are trying to severely limit incarcerated people’s access to the written word [...].

---

The official narrative is that donated books could contain “contraband [...]" -- the language used in Michigan [...]. This is a flimsy justification that begins to fall apart under even the lightest scrutiny. [...] [Contraband] [...] [is] not originating from nonprofit groups like the Appalachian Prison Book Project or Philadelphia’s Books Through Bars. [....] The old cartoon scenario of a hollow book with a saw or a gun inside just isn’t realistic, and its invocation is a sign that something else is going on.

That “something else,” predictably enough, is profit. With free books banned, prisoners are forced to rely on the small list of “approved vendors” chosen for them by the prison administration. These retailers directly benefit when states introduce restrictions. In Iowa, the approved sources include [B&N] and [B-a-M], some of America’s largest retail chains -- and, notably, ones which charge the full MSRP value for each book, quickly draining prisoners’ accounts. An incarcerated person with, say, $20 to spend can now only get one book, as opposed to three or four used ones; in states where prisoners make as little as 25 cents an hour for their labor, many can’t afford even that.

---

With e-books, the situation is even worse, as companies like [GTL] supply supposedly “free” tablets which actually charge their users by the minute to read.

Even public-domain classics, available on Project Gutenberg, are only available at a price under these systems -- and prisons, in turn, receive a 5% commission on every charge. All of this amounts to rampant price-gouging and profiteering on an industrial scale.

---

The rise of these private vendors has also been mirrored by the systematic dismantling of the prison library system. In the last ten years, budgets for literacy and educational resources have seen dramatic cuts, reducing funding to almost nothing [...]. In Illinois, for instance, the Department of Corrections spent just $276 on books across the entire state in 2017, down from an already meager $605 the previous year. (This means, incidentally, that each of the state’s roughly 39,000 prisoners was allotted seven-tenths of a cent.)

Oklahoma, meanwhile, has no dedicated budget for books at all, requiring prison librarians to purchase them out-of-pocket. [...]

---

These practices become all the more abhorrent when you consider the impact books can have behind bars. By now, the social science on their benefits is well-established [...]. [O]ther inmates have reported that reading meant “the difference between just giving up mentally and emotionally and making it through another day, week, or year,” countering the dehumanizing effects of their imprisonment. A book can offer a brief, irreplaceable moment of calm in hellish circumstances. [...]

[There is] a shameful pattern in American society, where many people simply don’t think about the incarcerated on a day-to-day basis, let alone sympathize with their worsening conditions. [...] One of the most common arguments for the American carceral system, and its continued existence, is that of rehabilitation. According to its defenders, a prison is not simply a place of suffering, where unwanted populations are sent to disappear. Nor is it a callous money-making machine, intended to squeeze free labor from them in a regime of functional slavery. Instead, prison rehabilitates -- so the story goes. [...] In these terms, the basic legitimacy of mass imprisonment, and its allegedly positive social role, is taken for granted. [...] But the practice of book banning exposes the lie. Not only do American prisons have little interest in education, healing, and growth, but they will actively prevent them the moment there is a dollar to be made or an ounce of power to be secured.

---

Text by: Alex Skopic. "The American Prison System's War on Reading". Protean (Protean magazine online). 29 November 2021. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

[hotvintagepoll]

which streaming service has the most vintage movies? If you don't know, maybe your followers could answer? 🙏

Ooh hoo hoo you asked and I'll answer!!

I actually made a post like this for the hot men tournament, but I can't find it now so I'll do it again from scratch. The short answer is that I don't know of any one streaming service that has all the old vintage movies—but most streaming services have a "classics" genre category that can get you started. Here's a small selection of what you can find on different streaming services:

TUBI (free):

The Adventures of Robin Hood (Olivia de Havilland)

A Streetcar Named Desire (Vivien Leigh)

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Jane Powell, Julie Newmar)

North by Northwest (Eva Marie Saint)

The Music Man (Shirley Jones)

The Women (Norma Shearer, Rosalind Russell, Joan Crawford, Joan Fontaine, Paulette Goddard, several other hotties in small parts)

The Philadelphia Story (Katharine Hepburn, Ruth Hussey)

Notorious (Ingrid Bergman)

Bell, Book, and Candle (Kim Novak, Elsa Lanchester)

The Talk of the Town (Jean Arthur)

Dark Victory (Bette Davis)

Stray Dog (Keiko Awaji)

Some Like It Hot (Marilyn Monroe)

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (Sophia Loren)

Dirty Girtie From Harlem USA (Francine Everett)

Passport (Madhubala)

Dark Passage (Lauren Bacall)

Sepia Cinderella (Sheila Guyse)

On The Town (Ann Miller, Vera-Ellen, Betty Garrett)

The Bandwagon (Cyd Charisse)

Devar (Sharmila Tagore)

Reet-Petite and Gone (June Richmond)

The Postman Always Rings Twice (Lana Turner)

KANOPY (free through some libraries):

Dial M for Murder (Grace Kelly)

His Girl Friday (Rosalind Russell)

Ball of Fire (Barbara Stanwyck)

Black Orpheus (Marpessa Dawn)

Flower Drum Song (Reiko Sato, Nancy Kwan, Miyoshi Umeki)

Marriage Italian Style (Sophia Loren)

The Rose Tattoo (Anna Magnani)

Tokyo Story (Setsuko Hara)

War and Peace (Audrey Hepburn, Anita Ekberg)

Salt of the Earth (Rosaura Revueltas)

Metropolis (Brigitte Helm)

The Red Shoes (Moira Shearer)

HOOPLA (free through some libraries):

The Court Jester (Angela Lansbury, Glynis Johns)

Sunset Boulevard (Gloria Swanson)

A Place in the Sun (Elizabeth Taylor)

Barefoot in the Park (Jane Fonda)

The Barefoot Contessa (Ava Gardner)

Wings (Clara Bow)

YOUTUBE (has a lot of older movies that have slipped through copyright/are still up for some reason):

Charade (Audrey Hepburn)

Story Weather (Lena Horne)

Gilda (Rita Hayworth)

Rebecca (Joan Fontaine)

This entire playlist of Indian cinema that I just found (Madhubala, Waheeda Rehman, Nargis, Meena Kumari, etc.)

And that's just a small sample. There is also always your local library for physical DVDs, the Internet Archive, and....other methods.....if you know exactly what you're looking for.

I haven't seen all of these movies, so don't consider them personal recommendations—these are just famous movies with our hotties in them, so please be careful if you have content warnings. Good luck and have fun!

EDIT 5/16: Added a few more movies to the different sections, but this is still just a small selection of what the different streaming services have. Good luck!

[thevoidscreams]

So I've been thinking of adopting a apace marine of my own lately, and my local shelter's been really helpful in giving me advice and stuff on general care. But they've got this grumpy ol' chaplain who's been there for as long as I can remember, he always gets overlooked in favour of the younger, more friendly space marines. I wanna adopt him and give him a proper home, even though he seems kinda mean and grumpy. Is there any sort of special care I should know about because he's a chaplain specifically?

My long time best friend has a Chaplin and I grew up around him so the best I can say is, they do well in groups, they have an innate desire to help and guide others. Like to the point that most of my school counselors had one who worked along side them in their office. So I would say if it's just the two of you, maybe consider housing more astartes than just him or if you have the space, a roommate. (I would personally prefer the astartes myself)

But really they're like any other astartes in regards to housing needs and food intake. Also make sure they have access to books to read. The closer you are to like a bookstore or library the better.

I used to go into Philadelphia on the train with my off and her Chaplin to visit the free public library there and he could just sit and read for HOURS.

He may also enjoy some calligraphy materials to write when he isn't doing other things.

I'm sorry if this isn't super detailed I could ask my friend later but she grew up with him as well so she knows a lot about them.

I have three Salamanders, and one of them is an apothecary if you ever have questions about them. 💕🐉

Hope this helps.

[humanoidhistory]

Chrysler concept model for a proposed lunar rover design, 1963.

(Philadelphia Free Library)

[samueldelany]

A fresh, new, summer conversation with Chip Delany.

at the Free Library of Philadelphia, June 2024.

video is just shy of an hour long

[mariacallous]

It was supposed to be a major moment for New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and the Jewish community.

The Senate minority leader, who’s also the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in American history, was set to appear at the Upper East Side’s Temple Emanu-El Tuesday evening to launch his new book, “Antisemitism in America: A Warning.”

But the event has been canceled as, instead of fanfare, Schumer and his book have ignited the ire of many of New York’s Jews — from both the right and the left.

On the liberal end of the political spectrum, Jews are among the voices criticizing the senator for voting with Republicans last week on a stopgap spending bill — which House Democrats have characterized as a “blank check” for Trump — that includes some $7 million in federal agency cuts to avert a government shutdown. They see him as inadequately standing up against the Trump administration.

On the right, some Jewish critics say it’s hypocritical that the senator is promoting his book on antisemitism while the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which would adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, and would enshrine antisemitism as a type of discrimination that could trigger corrective action under Title VI, is stalled in the Senate.

Ahead of a week of planned promotional events for “Antisemitism in America,” disgruntled Jews from both camps made plans for their voices to be heard. A protest organized by a local chapter of anti-Zionist organization Jewish Voice for Peace was planned outside Schumer’s Monday evening event at Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Free Library. Meanwhile, a protest organized by a group of pro-Israel Jews, colorfully promoted as “F—ck Chuck and His Book!,” was planned for Tuesday evening in Manhattan.

But on Monday —  following protests from frustrated Democrats outside his Park Slope, Brooklyn home and outside his Midtown office, where one protester held a sign that said “This Jewish mom is very disappointed, Chuck” — Schumer postponed all promotional events for his book due to “security concerns,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

Schumer had been scheduled to hold book events in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., later this week.

Schumer’s Emanu-El talk was going to bring him in conversation with Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Bronx Democrat who is a staunch supporter of Israel. Outside, “a broad coalition of Jewish New Yorkers,” planned to gather to demand that Schumer facilitate the passing of the Antisemitism Awareness Act, according to co-organizer Aliza Licht, a branding expert and pro-Israel activist.

Temple Emanu-El did not respond to a request for comment about the event’s cancelation — though registrants were issued refunds for their tickets and were told that it might be rescheduled.

David Klion, a Jewish, Brooklyn-based writer for, as he says, “many lefty mags,” was planning to attend the Emanu-El event on Tuesday ahead of writing a review of the book for a culture magazine. He declined to comment on the content of the book itself but did have thoughts about Schumer’s decision to back the Republican spending bill.

“It might actually be the least bad scenario in that we didn’t get a shutdown, and the focus stays on Trump,” Klion said. “But, also, everyone hates Chuck Schumer now.”

Schumer was one of 10 Democrats who voted in favor of the continuing resolution, which staves off a government shutdown for at least six months. In the aftermath, Schumer has received a “torrent of criticism” from his party.

Phylisa Wisdom, executive director of the New York Jewish Agenda, a progressive Jewish advocacy organization, declined to speak about the continuing resolution. But she said that, for the most part, she agreed with another controversial stance Schumer has taken recently, about the Trump administration’s effort to deport the Palestinian Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil.

Referring to Schumer’s statement on March 11, in which he condemned the content of Khalil’s activism but also asked for the Department of Homeland Security to provide evidence as to any criminal violation, Wisdom would have liked Schumer to use “stronger language,” she said.

“This administration are not people that we can trust to keep us safe and to be taking actions in our best interests,” Wisdom said. “So I’m grateful that SEn. Schumer drew a line between his concern around antisemitism that shows up at Columbia and protest spaces, and this extremely dangerous precedent that the Trump administration is aiming to set.”

The New York Post, meanwhile, reported that Licht and the organizers of Tuesday’s demonstration “say they also are angry with his response to the Trump administration’s efforts to deport anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil.” They support the deportation effort: As co-organizer Lizzy Savetsky, a pro-Israel influencer who recently drew condemnation for praising Meir Kahane, recently posted on Instagram: “If you’re more outraged about deporting a terror supporter than the terror they support, you’re not an ally to the Jewish community. You just hate Trump more than you care about Jewish students.”

Licht indicated that while Tuesday’s protest was canceled because Schumer’s event at Emanu-El was canceled, her group’s aims remain the same. “Our focus has always been working to get the Antisemitism Awareness Act passed and that is what we will continue to do,” she said.

“I personally was looking forward to it..,” Licht posted on X about the protest, adding, “We will find a new date.”

Schumer’s office did not respond to a request for comment. Schumer described his book as a “warning” in a statement in August.

“If America fails to understand the context and history of antisemitism, if America’s darker impulses ultimately overwhelm its better angels, an age-old truth will prove true once again: that antisemitism inevitably leads to violence against Jews and a rise in bigotry in our society at large,” he said.

Ben Akselrod, an organizational consultant who also serves as a district leader for Part A of New York’s 76th Assembly District on the Upper East Side, says his constituents are frustrated that the Democrats in the House and Senate are not on the same page.

“And the reelection of Donald Trump does not help that,” Akselrod said. “And he’s referring to Chuck Schumer using ‘Palestinian’ as a slur.”

“Antisemitism flourishes in a low-trust society,” he added. “We need our elected officials to be engaging with people on the ground, having that sort of back and forth, because democracy is a two-way street.”

[copperbadge]

Radio Free Monday

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Radio Free Monday!

Ways to Give:

nivchara-yahel and her sibling Hem are disabled and currently applying for SSDI and other benefits; they need ongoing support and are currently fundraising for August rent. Hem is also an artist and offering work for donations of $10 or more to those interested. You can read more, reblog, and find giving information here.

Char is raising funds for a friend's cat, Phil, who is currently at the animal hospital indefinitely until he receives treatment; they're still working out what he's dealing with, but are treating him currently for an infection in his liver and are checking for lymphoma. You can read more and support the fundraiser here.

Anon linked to a fundraiser for a classroom in Texas that is trying to get some missing chapter books in the classroom library, and read-aloud books that focus on marginalized peoples, environmental concerns, and non-Western upbringings. The project page states it will impact ten students, but all students and teachers in the school will have access to these books. You can read more and support the fundraiser here.

Buy Stuff, Help Out:

sarahmackattack is with Skype A Scientist, a nonprofit science education organization that connects scientists with classrooms, libraries, and scout troops for free; they also run a "Squid Facts" hotline that people can text to receive squid facts, and support a science mural program in Philadelphia. They're currently selling Frog Facts and Crab Facts advent calendars; you scratch off the sticker each day to reveal fun facts about frogs or crabs. You can purchase them and other fun stickers and merch to support Skype A Scientist at their website here.

Recurring Needs:

we_are_spc's AC in their house has gone out, and they are trying to stay cool with only one fan; they are unemployed, and the heat is bad for both their asthma and their cats, as well as several musical instruments in the home including indigenous flutes. They've had a great update which is that the unit itself is working so only the copper lines need to be replaced; they need to raise less than previously thought, but are still trying to get as much funding as possible for the line replacement. You can read more and support the fundraiser here or give via paypal at celticphoenyx@gmail.com, via venmo at rowansong, or via cashApp at rowansong.

loversdoom has recently been diagnosed with PCOS and needs help to afford the prescribed birth control pills on top of living expenses; you can read more, reblog, and find giving information here or give via paypal here.

thegeeksqueaks's school district has shorted her on her summer teacher's budget; she can't afford currently to stock her classroom for back-to-school. She's raising funds to get food and hygiene tools for underserved kids as well as various aids for neurodivergent kids. You can read more and reblog here, give via DonorsChoose here or via paypal here, or purchase from an Amazon wishlist here.

And this has been Radio Free Monday! Thank you for your time. You can post items for my attention at the Radio Free Monday submissions form. If you're new to fundraising, you may want to check out my guide to fundraising here.

[zinepavilion]

Table at the 2025 Zine Pavilion in Philadelphia! #ALAAC25

💫

The #ZinePavilion is a space on the exhibit floor at the American Library Association’s annual conference to display zines, meet zine library workers, and talk about how zines and libraries are a great pair. It’s like a mini zine fair at the largest gathering of librarians in the world, with over 14,000 attendees, including librarians, archivists, writers, publishers and guest speakers. This year's conference will be held June 27 to June 30 in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

We’re looking for zine makers, distros, and zine libraries who would like to table at the Zine Pavilion. The exhibit hall is open Friday, June 27th (5:30 pm – 7:00 pm), Saturday, June 28th (9:00 am – 5:00 pm), Sunday, June 29th (9:00 am – 5:00 pm), and Monday, June 30th (9:00 am – 2:00 pm). Tablers can table for one day or up to all four. Tables are free, but space is limited. Priority will be given to local zinesters. We hope to let everyone know if they’ve been accepted to table the first week of May. Contact zinepavilion@gmail.com with any questions.

If you’re interested in tabling, please fill out the form below. (You can also access the link through QR code in the post.) We will take applications through the end of April and will start responding to applicants the first week of May.

Sign up at link below:

https://forms.gle/XKDdU1nJrNYrL3za6

For more information check out zinepavilion.tumblr.com or instagram.com/zinepavilion. Contact zinepavilion@gmail.com with any questions.

[randomvarious]

Today's compilation:

Billboard Top Hits: 1975 1991 Soft Rock / Disco / Southern Rock

Alright, folks, here we go. I did a series of Billboard cassettes a few years ago, taking on the top 10 hits of each year between 1955 and 1974, and now I'm hopping back aboard that train again. And I don't know where exactly this thing's gonna be taking me, as I might dive into a genre-specific series or two along the way as well, but know that I'm planning on being on this 'Basic Record Library'-building, Billboard-maxxing journey for a long while. And when I eventually finish it, I'll have so much of Rhino Records' Billboard catalogue finally in my rearview for good, and I probably won't ever undertake anything like this ever again 😎. And if you hate that I've decided to do this, well, I'm posting a lot of other different stuff everyday now too, including videos and underheard songs, so feel free to check some of that out instead ���.

Now, some of you may think that a scan of a year's top ten singles is a nearly pointless exercise, but I think comps like this are actually indicative of something that a lot of people fail to grasp, and it's that even singles that make it all the way to the tippy-top of the Billboard chart aren't guaranteed longevity into the annals of 'forever-rotation.' You might think the top 10 songs of a certain year are all destined to be well known for decades afterwards, but it's not necessarily true. It might increase the likelihood that that happens significantly, like with pioneering disco hit, "Get Down Tonight" by KC & The Sunshine Band, for example, but it's never a given. For whatever reason, some songs really just don't make it out of the decade that they were made in, despite their own high level of contemporaneous achievement.

But before I point any of those songs out for 1975, here's a caveat: this series was compiled by America's foremost music chart researcher, Joel Whitburn, and while he tries his hardest to provide as accurate a cross-section of each year as possible, he sometimes isn't able to. And it's through no fault of his own; it's just that when Rhino can't get a license to obtain one of a year's top songs on its comp, Whitburn is forced to choose something else. And this was especially glaring in prior issues of Billboard's Top Rock & Roll Hits series, when both The Beatles and The Stones made their music unavailable, but that then also afforded Joel an opportunity to choose a song that was a tad more obscure too. And while that may have led to a bunch of years not being portrayed as fully and accurately as possible, it still may have enhanced those little compilations overall anyway, with some of those songs that didn't extend past their respective initial big-hit moments getting included.

SO, when you think about some of the top commercial hits of 1975 in the US, songs like the aforementioned "Get Down Tonight," Elton John's "Philadelphia Freedom," America's "Sister Golden Hair," and Captain & Tennille's "Love Will Keep Us Together" all might come to mind. But if you're playing this game Family Feud-style, how many people do you think would answer something like Jigsaw's catchy pop-rock/disco hybrid of "Sky High"—which spent 21 total weeks on the Hot 100, including 14 of them in the top 40, 10 of them in the top 20, and 5 of them in the top 10—in their survey? Like, there's a very distinct chance you might actually earn yourself a strike if you guessed that one, even if you'd be technically correct. And I'd be willing to hazard the same guess with a song like Neil Sedaka's "Bad Blood" and the Ozark Mountain Daredevils' "Jackie Blue" too. Despite them being major hits in 1975, most people really probably don't think about these songs too much anymore, and then successive generations don't end up becoming familiar with them at all either.

And fading into relative obscurity is something that is obviously customary with music in general, but you might not think that it occurs very much with even the biggest hits of certain years, and I'm here to tell you that it absolutely does, because these Billboard comps that are still surface-scratchers in and of themselves incontrovertibly prove it.

Can you tell how bright-eyed and bushy-tailed I am about diving into all of this? Let's go!

Highlights:

America - "Sister Golden Hair" Elton John - "Island Girl" Captain & Tennille - "Love Will Keep Us Together" Neil Sedaka - "Bad Blood" Elton John - "Philadelphia Freedom" Jigsaw - "Sky High" Ozark Mountain Daredevils - "Jackie Blue" KC & The Sunshine Band - "Get Down Tonight"