When an actor opens their mouth to sing in a movie, chances are high that the voice you hear will be their own. Even in music biopics, movie stars without much singing experience regularly go to great lengths to impersonate the most beloved vocalists of our time. Why not simply play Johnny Cash or Bruce Springsteen’s actual recordings, the reasons why we care about them in the first place? When the world is full of beautiful singing voices, why force Pierce Brosnan to bray his way through Mamma Mia?

What you hear when an actor unhinges their jaw is a matter that Hollywood has been negotiating since the dawn of sound. So in this episode, we’ll learn about the “ghost singers” of classic Hollywood musicals, find out why they went extinct, and why today’s music biopics so often fudge the music. Then we leave Hollywood for Bollywood, where the rise of the celebrity “playback singer” shows what can happen when good singing is the highest priority.

In this episode, you’ll hear from Slate’s pop music critic Jack Hamilton; musicologist Dominic Broomfield-McHugh, editor of The Oxford Handbook of the Hollywood Musical; Stephen Cole, co-author of a memoir by the ghost singer Marni Nixon; Isaac Butler, longtime Slate contributor and scholar of American acting; and Nasreen Munni Kabir, who has written several books on Hindi cinema and curates Indian films for the UK’s Channel 4.

This episode was written and produced by Max Freedman. It was edited by Willa Paskin and Evan Chung, our supervising producer. Decoder Ring is also produced by Katie Shepherd. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.

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In the 1960s, the Beatles were defined by the success of the Lennon-McCartney songwriting partnership. But in the digital era, we discovered that the Fab Four’s most popular song wasn’t written by John or Paul. In fact, it had never been a chart hit—it wasn’t even released as a single.

Today on Hit Parade: Chris Molanphy shines a light on “Here Comes the Sun,” the George Harrison deep cut from Abbey Road that, in the streaming era, has emerged as the most enduring—and most popular—Beatles song of all time.

For more about “stealth hits,” listen to Hit Parade’s episode on B-sides that improbably become classics and read Chris’s Slate column about the surprising dominance of this holiday song.

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Podcast production by Joel Meyer. 

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Céline Dion is set to emerge from her career dormancy into a sold-out Paris residency—a triumph over a rare neurological illness that, until recently, prevented her from singing. Her silence seemed unimaginable. Only a few decades ago, a precocious Dion evolved from a big-lunged teen Francophone chanteuse to the chest-beating frontwoman of a string of smash English-language hits—including several titanic movie themes. The sheer physicality of her athletic voice captivated audiences in the ’90s, and filled your mom’s car.

Join Chris Molanphy as he unlocks the heart of Céline Dion's chart history—how she built pop’s most soaring career from working-class Quebec to the stage at Eurovision…from the power of love to the prow of a very large ship.

Podcast production by Kevin Bendis.

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Jay-Z recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of his debut Reasonable Doubt with a three-night residency at Yankee Stadium featuring superstar guests like Pharrell, Nas, Alicia Keys and, of course, Beyoncé. The marathon event was a tribute to one of rap’s most influential and successful icons—but it was also a reminder that many of Jay-Z's biggest hits were collaborations that showcased the talents of other—often women—artists.

Join Chris Molanphy as he traces the decades-long history of Hova’s hitmaking, and how he deftly sought the assistance of female collaborators to push his biggest songs to No. 1.

Podcast production by Kevin Bendis.

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Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon is one of the most played, purchased and praised albums of all time. Yet its enduring legacy might be its supernatural chart longevity. Officially, the 1973 long-player has spent nearly a thousand weeks on the Billboard album chart. But that number probably understates its past performance, not to mention its future potential, with new generations of teenagers discovering Dark Side every year

Join Chris Molanphy as he explores Pink Floyd's deathless totem and traces the band’s evolution from ’60s psychedelic curios to dorm-room poster icons. Will Dark Side be able to hold onto the all-time Billboard record into the 2030s?

Podcast production by Kevin Bendis.

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We’re all familiar with the concept of a one-hit wonder, but what about artists who hit it big a second time—and never again? This week on Hit Parade, Chris Molanphy lays out the ground rules for one of pop's most misunderstood chart distinctions and sorts through the roster of this ultra-exclusive club, which counts Gloria Gaynor, Hozier, the Clash, and Dead or Alive among its members. Then, Chris counts down his favorite fluky examples of two-hit wonders.

Podcast production by Kevin Bendis.

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If you were watching cable TV around midday at the turn of the millennium, there’s a good chance you saw a commercial for a compilation CD called Monster Ballads. It promised you more than two hours of musical cheese—some of the most over-the-top, cornball, leather-clad romantic jams ever to grace the charts, from “Heaven” to “High Enough,” “Carrie” to “Amanda.”

There’s another, more common term for these rockin’ romancers: power ballads. And while this TV ad suggested the power ballad was perfected in the ’80s—preferably sung by a dude in spandex, with long, flowing locks—its roots go back decades earlier. Acts as seemingly mild as Roy Orbison, Harry Nilsson and even the Carpenters were pivotal to the way these mega-devotionals evolved. R&B divas would turn power vocals into an athletic sport, alongside hair-metal howlers. Eventually, power ballads colonized the charts in the ’80s, the ’90s and beyond.

Maybe they’re cheesy, cringeworthy and melodramatic—but power ballads have proven remarkably enduring, with even 21st-century Zoomer stars like Olivia Rodrigo offering their own variations. So, join Chris Molanphy as he brings on the heartbreak, finds thorns on every rose, explores feelings we can’t fight anymore and celebrates pop fans’ greatest love of all: the power ballad.

Podcast production by Kevin Bendis

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In 1979, Sister Sledge changed the sound of wedding receptions forever with “We Are Family.” Believe it or not, the Chic-penned banger never made it to No. 1. Steely Dan helped invent Yacht Rock with 1977’s jazzy bop “Peg.” (They would have loved it better if it had cracked the Top 10.) And in 1972, Elton John told a timeless tale of a blue-jean baby, “Tiny Dancer.” Casey Kasem never counted it down.

Today on Hit Parade: Chris Molanphy celebrates “near misses”—now-ubiquitous hits that missed the mark on the pop charts, stalling out at No. 2, No. 11, or No. 41. In this episode, Chris zooms in on near-misses from the 1970s, including songs from Paul McCartney, the Spinners, Jackson Browne, Cat Stevens, Diana Ross, and Michael Jackson.

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The opening riff of “White Wedding” is instantly recognizable—a skittering, syncopated guitar line quickly swallowed by pummeling drums. But the song itself is a bit of an enigma. Is it rock? Pop? New wave? Rockabilly punk? Like much of Billy Idol’s career, the song exists somewhere in between. Idol was a shape-shifter, blurring genre lines in pursuit of bigger hooks, bigger audiences and, eventually, pop stardom.

Raised near London and running with the Sex Pistols’ inner circle, Idol arrived with genuine punk bona fides. But with the rise of MTV and the explosion of new wave, he refashioned himself as the bleach-blond, leather-clad rock crooner who sneered his way to the top of the charts.

Join Chris Molanphy as he traces the rise, reinvention and Rock Hall canonization of an original MTV icon.

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Hit Parade is on a brief break, but if you need a daily dose of fascinating stories, check out History Daily. Host Lindsay Graham (the history guy! not the senator!) explores what happened "on this day in history," with a broad mix of politics, sports, technology, medicine, and much more. Chris recommends this episode about the genesis of MTV—including the forgotten role played by a former member of the Monkees.

Find History Daily's huge archive of quick-hit history at: https://www.historydaily.com/ 

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