(written by Tim Dubois and Jim Hurt)
Alabama (#1 country, #15 pop, 1981)
In
an interview with Billboard Magazine’s Robyn Wells, Alabama’s bass
player Teddy Gentry affirmed, “We’re country first and crossover second.
If crossovers come, that’s great, but we would rather have a #1 country
song than get lost in the middle of the country and pop charts.”
Despite
their country leanings, Alabama reached the Billboard Hot 100 on four
different occasions, with “Love In The First Degree” (at #15) being
their biggest pop tally. The others were “Take Me Down” (#18), “Feels So
Right” (#20) and “The Closer You Get” (#38), all respectable numbers.
Although
the pop market was just getting familiar with the band, Alabama had
become such a country staple that “Love In The First Degree” represented
their fifth number one record, coming just seventeen months after the
first, “Tennessee River.” “Love In The First Degree” was the third
single from the “Feels So Right” album, but it had already established
itself in many cities when stations began playing it as an album cut. In
those days before radio consultants and tight playlists, program
directors could pull such wild shenanigans as this! I’m being sarcastic,
of course. I think giving the deejays freedom to select what they
wanted to play on their shows back then is what set stations apart from
the others and gave them their own identity. Very much unlike now, with
all stations sounding alike (programmed by a handful of national
consultants) and radio listenership dwindling on a daily basis because
of it.
“Love In The First Degree” came to Alabama’s attention via
song plugger Ben Hall, who sent it to their producer Harold Shedd on
behalf of House of Gold Publishing Company and songwriters Tim Dubois
and Jim Hurt. Tim recalls his inspiration for composing the song. He was
driving into work for a writing session at House of Gold while
listening to WSM’s Jerry Minshall delivering a news story about someone
being found guilty of murder in the first degree. Nothing uncommon about
that, but on this particular morning, the phrase struck a creative
nerve with Dubois, and right then he began fashioning the basis for
“Love In The First Degree.”
Tim arrived at the office and Jim
Hurt had this piece of music he was playing with. Dubois had the lyrical
idea started, so they spent the next hour and a half working on the
song, coming up with the first verse and the chorus during that time
frame. Tim wrote the rest of it at home that night. After “Love In The
First Degree” was completed, the two writers were feeling a bit guilty
because since the song had come together so fast, they reasoned that it
was almost unfair for it to be that easy!
“Love In The First
Degree” reached the summit on December 26, 1981 and helped the “Feels So
Right” album establish a short-lived Billboard record when it spent a
total of 27 weeks at #1 on the Billboard country album chart. Alabama
broke its own mark within a year.
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