That Was a Hit?!?: Ray Stevens, 'The Streak'
Back in 1974, a new fad called "streaking" was all the rage. From the televised Oscars ceremony to major sporting events, people running nude through public spaces became a fairly regular occurrence. It became so popular, in fact, that country singer/novelty songwriter Ray Stevens just had to capture the trend in song.
"The Streak," Stevens' 7 minute-long ode to public nudity, included various streaking vignettes interspersed with "news breaks." It was released in 1974, and spent 17 weeks on the charts -- including three weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
As the A.V. Club's music editor, Marah Eakin, tells us, "Now it would be one of those meme-type hits." But, she said, "It sold five million copies. That's an insane amount of copies of a song about running nude and a guy singing in a funny voice."Â
Yes... that was a hit. Got a song you think we should profile in our series? Send us an email at soundcheck@wnyc.org.Â
