In the Year 2525 explained

In the Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)
Type:single
Artist:Zager and Evans
Album:2525 (Exordium & Terminus)
B-Side:Little Kids
Released:1969 (Truth label)
April 1969 (RCA label)[1]
Recorded:1969, Odessa, Texas
Genre:
Length:3:10 (Truth label)
3:15 (RCA label)
Label:Truth; RCA Victor
Producer:Zager and Evans
Next Title:Mr. Turnkey
Next Year:1969

"In the Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)" is a 1969 hit song by the American pop-rock duo of Zager and Evans. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks commencing July 12, 1969.[4] It peaked at No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart for three weeks in August and September that year.[5] The song was written and composed by Rick Evans in 1964 and released on Truth Records in 1968.[6] It was picked up by RCA Records. Zager and Evans disbanded in 1971.

Their follow-up single on RCA Victor, "Mr. Turnkey", reached No. 48 in the Canadian pop charts and number 41 in the Canadian AC chart.[7] [8] Another single, "Listen to the People", charted at No. 100 and No. 96 in Canada.[9]

Summary

"In the Year 2525" is a song about the journey of mankind over an 10,000-year span. It predicts that man's thoughts, relationships and body will be negatively impacted by technological advances and ends with man's extinction.[10]

Recording

The song was recorded in one take in 1968, at a studio in a cow pasture in Odessa, Texas.[11]

Personnel

The record had regional success so RCA Records picked it up for a national release. RCA producer Ethel Gabriel was tasked with enhancing the sound and arrangement. The track went to number 1 on the U.S. charts within three weeks of release.[13]

Legacy

The song has been covered at least 60 times in seven languages, including a Jewish parody recorded by Country Yossi, and an Italian version recorded by Zager and Evans called "Nell'Anno 2033".[14] [15]

It was included in a Clear Channel memorandum, distributed by Clear Channel Communications to every radio station owned by the company, which contained 165 songs considered to be "lyrically questionable" following the September 11, 2001, attacks.[16]

Two lines of the song are sung by the inmate Murphy in the 1992 film Alien 3 immediately prior to his death. Brief snippets are played in "The Time Is Now", the second-season finale of the TV show Millennium, which depicts an apocalyptic event. The song was rewritten and used as the introductory theme for the 2000 TV series Cleopatra 2525. In 2010, it was parodied as "In the Year 252525" in the seventh episode of Futuramas sixth season, "The Late Philip J. Fry", as Fry, Professor Farnsworth and Bender travel forwards through time to find a period in which the backwards time machine has been invented.[17] The song acts as an aesthetic theme to the film Gentlemen Broncos.[18] The BBC Radio series 2525, a sketch show set in the year 2525, featured a cover of the song with its first lyric as its introductory theme.

The first few verses of the song are used as the opening theme while the credits roll in the 2006 film Tunnel Rats.

Zager said a Time magazine cover from 1969 featuring Zager and Evans with the caption "Even The Beatles would be jealous" was published. No cover of the duo is included in Time's magazine history for 1969.[19] [20]

Chart history

Weekly charts

Charts (1969–1970)Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[21] 2
Canada (RPM) Top Singles[22] 1
Canada (RPM) Adult Contemporary[23] 1
Italy (FIMI)[24] 47
New Zealand (Listener)[25] 1
UK[26] 1
US Billboard Hot 100[27] 1
US Billboard Adult Contemporary[28] 1
US Cash Box Top 100[29] 1

Year-end charts

Chart (1969)Rank
Australia[30] 32
Canada[31] 15
UK[32] 12
US Billboard Hot 100[33] 26
US Billboard Easy Listening37
US Cash Box[34] 11

All-time charts

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Zager And Evans - In The Year 2525 (Exordium And Terminus). March 23, 2020. www.45cat.com.
  2. Web site: Zager & Evans - In The Year 2525. Discogs. 1969 . March 23, 2020.
  3. Web site: Tom . Breihan . The Number Ones: Zager & Evans' "In The Year 2525". . November 28, 2018 . ...the #1 song in America was a massively goofy folk-rock sci-fi novelty song about the dangers of technology.. June 15, 2023.
  4. http://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/1969-07-12 The Hot 100, Week of July 12, 1969  - Billboard.
  5. Book: Roberts , David . 2006. British Hit Singles & Albums. 19th. Guinness World Records Limited . London. 1-904994-10-5. 236.
  6. Web site: Miller . Nathaniel . Hit song of 1969 recorded in Odessa . 19 August 2011 . News OK . 2016-10-02.
  7. Web site: RPM Top 50 Adult - November 8, 1969.
  8. Web site: RPM Top 100 Singles - November 8, 1969.
  9. Web site: RPM Top 100 Singles - January 10, 1970.
  10. Book: Reynolds, Tom. I Hate Myself and Want to Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You've Ever Heard. 2005. Random House. Milsons Point, N.S.W.. 1-74166-020-3. 85.
  11. Web site: 2015-11-19 . Drummer on only No. 1 hit to come out of Lincoln dies at 72 | Local . subscription . 2016-10-02 . Journalstar.com.
  12. Web site: Dan. Forte. Tommy Allsup 1931-2017: From Buddy Holly to Bob Wills. VintageGuitar.com. 14 March 2019 .
  13. Web site: Zager and Evans Way Back Attack. www.waybackattack.com. 2019-11-21.
  14. Web site: All versions of Some musics . 30 September 2010 . Alltheversions.blogspot.com . 2010-10-05.
  15. Web site: Zager & Evans Nell'anno 2033. YouTube.
  16. Web site: Bad Transmission: Clear Channel's Hit List . . Reviews . October 24, 2001 . January 18, 2011 . Wishnia . Steven . https://archive.today/20080416014917/http://www.lipmagazine.org/articles/featwishnia_142.shtml . April 16, 2008 . dead .
  17. Web site: Futurama in the year 105105 time machine song. Vimeo. March 23, 2020.
  18. "Hear me out: why Gentlemen Broncos isn’t a bad movie" by Ryan Gilbey. The Guardian April 12, 2021. Accessed June 3, 2021.
  19. Web site: Clash . Jim . In The Year 2525, If Man Is Still Alive . 2024-04-01 . Forbes . en.
  20. Web site: The TIME Vault: 1969 . 2024-04-01 . TIME.com.
  21. Book: Kent, David . . David Kent (historian) . Australian Chart Book . . 1993 . 0-646-11917-6.
  22. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.3260&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=20uvi46ocgj0tdrbokpuv5t7g6 Canadian peak
  23. Web site: Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada . Collectionscanada.gc.ca . 1969-09-06 . 2019-03-17.
  24. Web site: Singoli – I numeri uno (1959–2006) (parte 3: 1980–1990) . It-charts.150m.com . dead . 3 March 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160303174850/http://it-charts.150m.com/numeriuno-1980.htm. it.
  25. Web site: flavour of new zealand - search listener. www.flavourofnz.co.nz. March 23, 2020. October 9, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201009002946/http://www.flavourofnz.co.nz/index.php?qpageID=search%20listener#n_view_location. dead.
  26. Web site: Official Charts Company . Officialcharts.com . 1969-08-09 . 2019-03-08.
  27. Web site: Zager & Evans – Awards . . 4 November 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131104024050/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/paul-hardcastle-mn0000018513/awards.
  28. Book: Whitburn, Joel . Joel Whitburn . 1993 . Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993 . Record Research . 264.
  29. Web site: Cash Box Top 100 8/09/69. tropicalglen.com. March 23, 2020.
  30. Web site: Go-Set Magazine Charts . . January 2007 . www.poparchives.com.au . Barry McKay . 9 August 2017 . 4 July 2007 . http://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20070704050337/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/43557/20070704-1254/www.poparchives.com.au/gosetcharts/1969/top1969.html . dead .
  31. Web site: RPM Top Singles of 1969. 24 December 2017. RPM. Library and Archives Canada. 17 July 2013.
  32. Web site: Sixties City - Pop Music Charts - Every Week Of The Sixties. www.sixtiescity.net. March 23, 2020.
  33. Web site: Top 100 Hits of 1969/Top 100 Songs of 1969. www.musicoutfitters.com. March 23, 2020.
  34. Web site: Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 27, 1969 . March 17, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190125055422/http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/60s_files/1969YESP.html . January 25, 2019 . dead .
  35. Billboard Hot 100 60th Anniversary Interactive Chart. Billboard. 10 December 2018.

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