Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 2, 1993 TAG: 9312010088
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
There are worse things to be called, but not in the music business. Which brings us to Billy Ray Cyrus. You know the song:
Don't tell my heart
My Achy Breaky Heart
I just don't think he'd understand.
And if you tell my heart
My Achy Breaky Heart
He might blow up and kill this man.
By far, it has been the most ridiculed song in recent memory - and also one of the most successful. Maybe that's why it has been so ridiculed?
But the question is: was it a fluke? And will the equally ridiculed Cyrus go down in the history books as just another one-hit wonder?
Apparently not.
Maybe the average person can't as easily recite the refrain to any of his other songs, but that doesn't mean Cyrus - who will play the Salem Civic Center tonight - should be quickly dismissed.
"He definitely has proven not to be a one-hit act," said Lynn Shults, director of operations for Billboard magazine in Nashville.
Shults cited the success of Cyrus' current album, "It Won't Be The Last," the follow-up to his debut "Some Gave All" album that spawned "Achy Breaky Heart."
"It Won't Be The Last" has sold more than 1 million copies, according to Mercury Records in Nashville, Cyrus's record company.
Its first single, "In The Heart of a Woman" peaked at No. 1 on the country charts, according to Radio & Record magazine. The second single, "Somebody New," is at No. 12 and climbing.
In terms of sales and chart success, Cyrus certainly remains a heavy-hitter.
"The second record hasn't flopped by any means," said Adam Caperton, a music buyer for Books Strings & Things in Roanoke and Blacksburg who confirmed that sales for "It Won't Be The Last" have been strong.
However, it hasn't matched the phenomenon of "Some Gave All" and "Achy Breaky Heart." That album has sold more than 9 million copies. It spent 34 weeks at the top of the Billboard country album charts and 17 weeks atop the pop charts.
"That's a once in a lifetime," conceded Shults at Billboard.
Other hits off "Some Gave All" included "Could've Been Me," also a No. 1 single, "Wher'm I Gonna Live?" and "She's Not Crying Anymore."
Shults was puzzled by the ridicule Cyrus has received. "Why is that? I don't know." He said Cyrus deserves more credit, and he blamed unfair critics. "He's accomplished something very, very, very few people have ever accomplished."
"I think he'll be around for awhile," said George Gillock, program director at WSLC-AM in Roanoke. "I kind of wondered after `Achy Breaky Heart,' but he came back pretty strong. . . . He kind of surprised me."
Gillock said the jeering Cyrus received wasn't that puzzling to him. "Achy Breaky Heart" is catchy, but it's "bubble gum." "It is the kind of song that just gets old pretty quick," he said.
"I think anytime you deal with a novelty, you get put up for ridicule," added Chris Taylor, program director at K-92 in Roanoke, where "Achy Breaky Heart" got Top-40 radio play.
But Taylor said some of the ridicule has seemed to die down now that Cyrus' second album is doing well. He said although K-92 hasn't played any of Cyrus' other country offerings, he wouldn't call him a one-hit wonder.
"I think it's too early to make that call yet with him."
Rich Leighton at J-93 in Roanoke agreed.
He said he sees signs of Cyrus' popularity waning. But then, he said that was inevitable following something as big as "Achy Breaky Heart."
"I don't think it would be fair right now," Leighton said of the one-hit wonder label. "But five or six years from now, we will have to see."
Either way, he said "Achy Breaky Heart" forever will be his signature song. He pointed to a concert ticket give-away his station has been sponsoring for tonight's show.
Sing a line from a Billy Ray Cyrus song and win a ticket.
"At least nine out of 10 responses have been a line from `Achy Breaky Heart'," Leighton said.
Don't tell my heart . . .
Billy Ray Cyrus in concert tonight at 8 at the Salem Civic Center. With Toby Keith. 375-3004.
by CNB