CoronaVinyl Day 240 (D): Greatest Hits by John Denver

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "D," and were going mellow with John Denver's first Greatest Hits album, released in 1973.

Henry John Deutschendorf decided at some point that was a mouthful, so he changed his professional name to John Denver.  After getting his start writing songs for others -- including "Leaving on a Jet Plane," which became a big hit for Peter, Paul & Mary -- he began to put out his own music in 1969.  With his soft voice, folksy easy listening songs, and warm smile, Denver ended up becoming one of America's most beloved performers in the early '70s, despite his super weird medieval squire boy haircut.

Though he had only been releasing music for a couple years by 1973, he had enough ammo for a greatest hits album.  Among the songs on the album are his first three Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 -- "Take Me Home, Country Roads" (#2), "Rocky Mountain High" (#9), and "Sunshine on My Shoulders" (#1).  The latter was actually released on Denver's 1971 album Poems, Prayers & Promises, but it wasn't released as a single until the Greatest Hits album was released, and it became his first #1 hit.

The Greatest Hits album was a massive success, hitting #1 on the Billboard album chart -- oddly enough, his first #1 album in the U.S. -- #1 on the Canadian album chart, and the top ten on the album charts in several other countries.  It has gone 9x platinum in the U.S. and 5x platinum in Canada.  It also became one of the first albums to sell over 10 million copies worldwide.

This album really propelled Denver from a relatively big star into a huge star.  All told, Denver had 15 Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including 8 Top 10s and 4 #1s.  On the Billboard Country singles chart, he had 7 Top 10 songs, including 3 #1s, and on the Billboard Adult Contemporary/Easy Listening chart, he had 18 Top 10 songs, including 9 #1s.  On the Billboard album charts, he had 7 Top 10 albums on the main chart and 11 Top 10 albums on the Billboard country albums chart.

In the mid '80s, he was a key figure in the infamous PMRC music censorship/labeling Senate hearings.  Most people -- including the Senators conducting the hearings -- assumed he was going to be testifying in favor of censoring or labeling allegedly crude or explicit music, but to the contrary, he was stanchly against the PRMC's mission, noting that many people misconstrued "Rocky Mountain High" as being a song about drugs.

Sadly, he was a better songwriter and political activist than a pilot, and he died in 1997 when the plane he was piloting crashed into Monterey Bay in California. 

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "Take Me Home, Country Roads"
Probably Denver's best-known song, "Take Me Home Country Roads" was his first Top 5 song (and first Top 40 song, for that matter) on the Billboard Hot 100.  It's a musical advertisement for West Virginia, but it holds a special place in my heart because, for unknown reasons, it's a huge favorite at the Oktoberfest tents in Munich.  

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "Rocky Mountain High"
It's not about drugs.  It's about mountains.  For those Dumb and Dumber fans, this is what Lloyd was referring to when he said "That John Denver's full of shit."