So 1982 gets skipped again? Man, what is this, a conspiracy? Oh well, 1980 was a good year in music too. And here’s my commentary
Well, we have four debuts this week and that means we have to say goodbye to four droppers. Falling out of the survey are:
WE WERE MEANT TO BE LOVERS - PHOTOGLO (37) - wtf did this sound like again?
RIDE LIKE THE WIND - CHRISTOPHER CROSS (36) - Great song! And what a ride on the chart this song had, as it logged 17 weeks on the chart! Christopher was gearing up to debut on the chart the following week with “Sailing”.
TWILIGHT ZONE/TWILIGHT TONE - MANHATTAN TRANSFER (30) - wtf did this sound like again?
WE LIVE FOR LOVE - PAT BENATAR (27) - Hmm, JessieLou isn’t gonna like this - her favorite artist drops out of the countdown. But I must say - wtf did this sound like again?
LW#3; BIGGEST PART OF ME – AMBROSIA
LW#2: COMING UP – PAUL McCARTNEY
LW#1: FUNKY TOWN – LIPPS, INC.
I’ll comment on all of those later, since, to my best of knowledge, they were still in the countdown this week (haha)
40: ATOMIC - BLONDIE (40) - Wow, a #40 peak? Quite a far cry from their last hit, which would turn out to be the top song of 1980. I’m sure recurrentitis played a part in its low peak. Anyway, this song was pretty good, but I preferred “Call Me”.
39: ASHES BY NOW – RODNEY CROWELL (debut) - This song was OK, but nothing special.
38: ANGEL SAY NO – TOMMY TUTONE (38) - Many people think that 867-5309 was their only hit, but it was not. This song was pretty good, but I prefer the song that inspired all the nuisance phone calls.
37: STAND BY ME – MICKEY GILLEY (debut) - Good remake of the Ben E. King classic.
36: TAKE YOUR TIME – S.O.S. BAND (debut) - Good song - Casey mentioned that it was the #1 Soul song this week.
35: MISUNDERSTANDING - GENESIS (39) - Great song - one of their best. I’m surprised this didn’t hit the Top Ten - this is one of the songs I most associate with the summer of 1980, since I heard it all the time back then (it did peak at #3 on the R&R chart though)
34: LOVE THE WORLD AWAY – KENNY ROGERS (38) - And one great song deserves another! This was one of my favorite songs from Kenny Rogers.
33: THEME FROM NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FRANK SINATRA (32) - Ah, old blue eyes! This one sounded a little out of place for 1980 (sounded more like it was from the Big Band era). But it was still a nice song.
32: ANSWERING MACHINE – RUPERT HOLMES (33) - LOL, dog food for the cat? Is that really good for him? Anyway, this song was pretty interesting - a story song like his other two. And btw, the week before, they did a Rupert Holmes double-shot, as they were up to “Escape” by this point in the archives.
ARCHIVES: WHY – FRANKIE AVALON - They nixed this one, but, seeing as it’s nearly a half a century old, that’s understandable.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: LET MY LOVE OPEN THE DOOR – PETE TOWNSHEND - Good song. The Who’s song from a year later, “You Better You Bet” reminded me of this song.
31: ALL NIGHT LONG – JOE WALSH (34) - One of a handful of songs from the movie “Urban Cowboy” on the chart this week. This song’s OK, but I was never really a big Joe Walsh fan. He was much better in the Eagles.
30: TWO PLACES AT THE SAME TIME – RAY PARKER & RAYDIO (31) - This song was pretty good, like most of their other songs, but I liked their bigger hits better.
8 movie songs.
29: GIMME SOME LOVIN’ – THE BLUES BROTHERS (35) - Great song! I like this better than the original by the Spencer Davis group, because it sounds more energetic. Casey mentioned that the record for the most movie songs on the chart at the same time was broken this week. This was the fourth one so far, from the movie “The Blues Brothers”.
28: LOST IN LOVE – AIR SUPPLY (26) - Ah, their breakthrough hit in the States. This was one of my favorites from them - one of very few that I like with Graham Russell singing lead (although Russell Hitchcock does sing on the chorus intros, as well as the last chorus).
27: WONDERING WHERE THE LIONS ARE – BRUCE COCKBURN (25) - I hate to disappoint the pervs reading this, but his name is pronounced Coburn. Anyway, this was a pretty good song, but nothing special.
26: HURT SO BAD – LINDA RONSTADT (19) - Good song, but not my favorite song by her.
LDD: IT KEEPS YOU RUNNIN’ – THE DOOBIE BROTHERS - Not one of their more successful hits, but still a good one, and appropriate for the dedication.
25: IN AMERICA – THE CHARLIE DANIELS BAND (debut) - OK song, but not something I would listen to on a regular basis.
24: STOMP – THE BROTHERS JOHNSON (23) - No. Just no,
23: MORE LOVE – KIM CARNES (29) - Good song, but I prefer her other song on this week’s show
22: BRASS IN POCKET – THE PRETENDERS (17) - Good song, one of my favorites by them.
ARCHIVES: EL PASO – MARTY ROBBINS - The only song they allowed on this show, because everyone’s so familiar with it (wasn’t it on a recent commercial? Probably El Paso salsa). It’s actually a pretty good song.
OPTIONAL EXTRA - SAILING - CHRISTOPHER CROSS - This song was a week away from hitting the Top 40 on the Billboard chart (it would have to wait until July 12 to debut on AT40, as they did the AT40 Book Of Records on July 4 weekend). I liked this song, like most of his eight Top 40 hits.
21: I’M ALIVE – THE ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA (28) - Good song, but not their best
20: DON’T FALL IN LOVE WITH A DREAMER – KENNY ROGERS W/ KIM CARNES (14) - Great song, one of my favorite songs by both artists, and one of my favorites on this week’s chart.
19: SHOULD’VE NEVER LET YOU GO – NEIL SEDAKA & DARA SEDAKA (21) - Beautiful song. One of my favorite songs by Neil.
18: TIRED OF TOEIN’ THE LINE – ROCKY BURNETTE (20) - Good song. This song sounds like it might have inspired Balance’s hit from the following year called “Breaking Away”.
17: ONE FINE DAY – CAROLE KING (22) - Good song, a good remake of the original (although she did co-write it)
16: MAGIC – OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN (24) - Biggest mover on the countdown this week. A good song, but not my favorite by her.
15: CALL ME - BLONDIE (12) - Great song, and very deserving of being the top song of the entire year.
14: CARS – GARY NUMAN (9) - An error on my computer occurred at this point, so I had to restart it. But that’s OK, as I’ve heard this song many a time. It’s a good one.
13: SHINING STAR – THE MANHATTANS (16) - Good song, although I know Bry’s opinion is very different.
12: LET ME LOVE YOU TONIGHT – PURE PRAIRIE LEAGUE (15) - Great song, definitely my favorite from them.
ARCHIVES: RUNNING BEAR – JOHNNY PRESTON - OK song, but the “oonga oonga” chants can get annoying. I can see why Premiere opted to nix this song.
OPTIONAL EXTRA - ALL OUT OF LOVE - AIR SUPPLY - One of my least favorite songs by them, since the subject matter is so depressing (and the tune itself amplifies that).
11: LET’S GET SERIOUS – JERMAINE JACKSON (13) - Good song, but I prefer his mid-80s songs.
10: SHE’S OUT OF MY LIFE – MICHAEL JACKSON (10) -
This was very hard for me to listen to. The song’s very sad in the first place, and that, coupled with the recent death of Michael, I came very close to crying when this song was played.
9: CUPID / I’VE LOVED YOU FOR A LONG TIME – THE SPINNERS (11) - Great song! This was their second of two medleys that they charted with in 1980. Not sure which one I like better. It’s pretty much a toss-up.
8: BIGGEST PART OF ME - AMBROSIA (3) - Great song, my favorite by them (although “How Much I Feel”, their other Top Five hit, would be a close second). This was their overall biggest hit on R&R, as it spent a month at #1. As usual, they cut out the bridge.
7: STEAL AWAY – ROBBIE DUPREE (8) - aka “What A Fool Believes Part 2". It’s a great song, definitely my favorite of his two Top 40 hits.
LDD: THANK YOU FOR BEING A FRIEND – ANDREW GOLD - This song became a very popular LDD request song.
6: LITTLE JEANNIE – ELTON JOHN (7) - Great song, one of his best!
5: AGAINST THE WIND – BOB SEGER & THE SILVER BULLET BAND (5) - Great song. I liked all three of his Top 20 hits from that album.
4: IT’S STILL ROCK AND ROLL TO ME – BILLY JOEL (6) - This song is OK, but quite overplayed.
3: THE ROSE – BETTE MIDLER (4) - Good song. I liked the story that led into the song.
2: FUNKY TOWN – LIPPS, INC. (1) - Meh, I prefer Pseudo-Echo’s remake from seven years later.
1: COMING UP – PAUL McCARTNEY (2) - Awesome song! Glad this song made it to #1.