One of the reasons the
Sex Pistols' Johnny Rotten
returned to using his real name,
Johnny Lydon, was because of a
legal dispute. Malcolm McLaren,
the manager of the Pistols,
had the rights to the name
"Johnny Rotton." When the band
broke up acrimoniously in January 1978,
he kept those rights. Johnny had
no choice but to revert to his real
name when he launched his first
post-Pistols band, Public Image, Ltd.

A Beat Goes On Exclusive Feature!

Q: What is the longest single in the history of
Top 40 Charts? And when I mean "long",
I mean in terms of running time?

Alan Sez: It depends on which chart you mean.
If you're talking about the Billboard charts - the
chart people follow most carefully - the answer
is probably Richard Harris and "MacArthur Park"
in1968 with a time of 7:25, about 15 seconds
longer than the 'Beatles' "Hey Jude". Other notes:

•"American Pie" by Don McLean (8:38) is a candidate,
but the 45rpm single divided the song into Part 1
(the A-side) and Part 2 (the B-side). If a DJ wanted to
play the whole thing, then he/she had to play the
album version, not the single. (I know that's splitting
hairs, but hey, we strive to be accurate).

•"Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin (8:03) was never released as a single, therefore it doesn't count.

• Green Day's "Jesus of Suburbia" (9:08) was a big Modern Rock hit in 2005.

If you're talking about the British charts, Grand Funk Railroad's "Inside looking Out" (9:31) was released on a 7-inch single in February 1971 and just scraped into the Top 40. As far as I know, this is the longest A-Side ever pressed onto a 7-inch sing.

The all-time champion is "Blue Room" by The Orb from 1992. Clocking in at 39.58 (no, that's not a typo), it's actually two seconds shorter than the maximum allowable length under British chart rules.

Visit the Ask Alan Cross website

Congratulations go to
Ann & Dave Rocchi
winners of the Weekend
Getaway Package to
Ottawa's 2006
Tulip Music Festival!

Package included hotel accommodation
for 3 nights and two passes to enjoy daily and evening performances on Main Stage, Major's Hill Park on Friday, May 19-Monday, May 22.