American Top 40: The 80s - January 16, 2016
This week's presentation - January 23, 1982
While it's true that this is a repeat, it's brand new to me, since Premiere ran it in early 2009, which was in that time period between when Sunny 101.5 (WNSN) dropped the show in the late summer of 2008 and I got wireless Internet in late January, 2009 (and I could listen to the show without tying up the phone lines for hours). So, in essence, I got to listen to two "new" shows this week.
Droppers:
EVERY LITTLE THING SHE DOES IS MAGIC - THE POLICE (34) - One of three of their huge 1981 hits - and my second favorite, behind "Don't Stand So Close To Me".
OH NO - THE COMMODORES (33) - As we all know, this was the final song for them with Lionel Richie on lead - and then, they seemed to just disappear from pop radio - their only post-Lionel song to make the Top 40 was "Night Shift". The fact that that was a tribute song to two great R&B superstars who had just recently left us may have been instrumental in how well the song did. Though it wasn't quite their best, I did like this song a lot.
STEAL THE NIGHT - STEVIE WOODS (32) - I've heard this song before, but I don't remember how it goes. I do remember that I liked it, though.
ALEX THE SEAL OUR LIPS ARE SEALED - THE GO-GO'S (31) - This song only got as high as #20, but what a chart run it had - 15 weeks in the Top 40, an unusually long run for a song that came nowhere near the Top Ten. This was my favorite song from them.
LW#2: WAITING FOR A GIRL LIKE YOU - FOREIGNER
LW#1: PHYSICAL – OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN
40: ABACAB - GENESIS (debut) - For some reason, they couldn't seem to hit the Top Ten with any of their first six hits, and only one of those hit the Top 20. They did finally break wide open two years later. This song hit #26, which kind of surprised me, since WLS played it all the time. I liked it, but it definitely wasn't their best song by any means.
39: SOMEWHERE DOWN THE ROAD – BARRY MANILOW (debut) - He pulled double duty this week, as both "A" shows featured a song from him - and both songs have somewhat similar titles to boot. I like both of them, but I preferred this one.
38: SEA OF LOVE – DEL SHANNON (debut) - I've heard this song many times on my Barry Scott's Lost 45s CD (which I really need to break out and listen to sometime, since it's been awhile since I've heard it). It's a great song - my favorite version of the song that I've heard.
37: ALL OUR TOMORROWS – EDDIE SCHWARTZ (40) - The only Top 40 hit for this Canada native. It was a good song - your typical early 80's MOR music.
36: WORKING FOR THE WEEKEND - LOVERBOY (38) - Two Canadian acts in a row! This is possibly the song by them that gets the most recurrent airplay, yet the song barely touched the Top 30.
35: KEY LARGO – BERTIE HIGGINS (39) - Another one-hit wonder, like Eddie Schwartz, but this song got a lot of mileage - spent 17 weeks in the Top 40, peaking at #8. This one must have gotten a lot of airplay on U93 during 1982, as the song was their second most popular song of the year. I wasn't listening to the station yet, so I don't really remember hearing it a lot. It was a great song.
34: MORE THAN JUST THE TWO OF US - SNEAKER (36) - This is a nice, pleasant song, but sometimes, it can get stuck in my head, like it did in late 2010, when it was played as an LDD. Hopefully, the same will not happen today.
33: LOVE IN THE FIRST DEGREE - ALABAMA (37) - We all know that they were a huge country act, but they did have several pop crossovers. This one was the most successful, peaking at #15 (and registering on the year-ender, which I listened to on New Year's Day). It is also my favorite of their crossover hits - a great song indeed!
32: UNDER PRESSURE – QUEEN & DAVID BOWIE (29) - Rapper Vanilla Ice must have liked this song, since he used the bass line in his signature hit "Ice Ice Baby". I'm not a huge fan of this song, or really, any of Queen's 80s hits. I do like "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", but that song started its chart run in 1979, so that may have had something to do with it (that and it's throwback sound, reminiscent of Elvis Presley). R.I.P. David Bowie
OPTIONAL EXTRA: PAC MAN FEVER - BUCKNER & GARCIA - Oh yeah, I remember running this album into the ground in 1982! I was video game fanatic back then. The album, based entirely on video games, contains songs about arcade classics like Pac Man, Frogger, Centipede, Donkey Kong, Asteroids, Defender, Mousetrap, and Berzerk, in that order (yes, I played the album enough times to ingrain the order of the songs into my mind for life, LOL!)
31: TAKE MY HEART – KOOL & THE GANG (28) - Gwen Stefani's big #1 from 2007 "The Sweet Escape" sounds somewhat reminiscent of this one. A great song indeed!
30: THROUGH THE YEARS – KENNY ROGERS (35) - This may not have been one of his biggest chart hits, but it sure became popular in the LDD department! Between now and the last show of 1987, it was requested as a dedication 17 times! I can see why, as it is a great song!
29: OPEN ARMS – JOURNEY (debut) - This song was on its way to becoming one of R&R's biggest hits of the 80s (in fact, with seven weeks at #1, it was THE biggest, until the summer of 1983). The song couldn't seem to top the Billboard chart, but it did spent six weeks in the runner-up position. It used to be one of my favorites from Journey (I even bought the 45), but overplay has significantly dimmed my fascination for it, though it's still a good song.
LDD: NEVER KNEW LOVE LIKE THIS BEFORE – STEPHANIE MILLS - This song definitely fit the dedication. They seemed to play a longer version than usual, as there was an instrumental part after the first chorus, the ending was a little longer than I remember, and wasn't there an additional verse as well? Either way, it was a great song!
28: DON’T STOP BELIEVIN’ - JOURNEY (27) - Sort of an unusually small drop for a song on its way down, but, just like on the 1979 show, this chart was based on data from around the new year, so that could account for a few of the small chart drops.
27: WHY DO FOOLS FALL IN LOVE - DIANA ROSS (25) - Another small dropper here. This is a cover of a song that charted three times in the fifties, so I'm not sure who originally did it. Anyway, it's pretty good, but far from being her best. Much better than her hokey nursery rhyme hit that charted a month later.
26: LOVE IS ALRIGHT TONIGHT – RICK SPRINGFIELD (30) - This song seemed to be "I've Done Everything For You Part 2", but I actually liked this one better than Part 1.
25: YOUNG TURKS – ROD STEWART (15) - Another song with a soundalike (only it was his next hit, "Tonight I'm Yours" instead of his previous one, as was the case with the Rick Springfield song). I preferred this song.
24: YESTERDAY’S SONGS – NEIL DIAMOND (11) - Wow, the easy listening superstars seemed to be nostalgic about oldies in late 1981 (as Barry Manilow had also had a Top 40 hit about the same subject matter). Anyway, I loved this song - one of Diamond's best hits ever. Too bad it just barely missed the Top Ten.
23: SHE’S GOT A WAY – BILLY JOEL (24) - One of two Top 40 hits from his live album Songs In The Attic. It was a pretty good song, but definitely not his best.
22: SWEET DREAMS – AIR SUPPLY (26) - See my second sentence of my comment for song #23 (only change "his" to "their").
OPTIONAL EXTRA: WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE - Another song that would fit the "pretty good, but not his/her/their best" category.
21: YOU COULD HAVE BEEN WITH ME – SHEENA EASTON (23) - Her success in 1982 didn't quite match up to that of 1981, but she did have two Top 40 hits, and this was by far the biggest of the two - as well as my favorite, and one of my favorites by her overall.
20: I WOULDN’T HAVE MISSED IT FOR THE WORLD – RONNIE MILSAP (20) - Another country artist, like Alabama that had several pop crossover hits in the early 1980s. A great song - I wonder how close it came to making the Top 100 of the year?
19: COME GO WITH ME – THE BEACH BOYS (21) - A song originally done by the Dell Vikings. I preferred this remake over that one. Off-topic, the bell at the church across the street from my house is endlessly tolling, due to the frigid weather.
18: TAKE IT EASY ON ME – THE LITTLE RIVER BAND (22) - Their fifth and final Top Ten hit (though they still had two more Top 20s ahead of them). This was one of my favorites from LRB, right up there with "Lady".
17: LEADER OF THE BAND – DAN FOGELBERG (19) - One of Fogelberg's story songs that he's famous for. I never used to like this song very much during its chart run, but it has since grown on me - a great song indeed!
16: WAITING ON A FRIEND – THE ROLLING STONES (17) - Their second of four Top 40 hits from their album Tattoo You, and my favorite of the four.
15: SOMEONE COULD LOSE A HEART TONIGHT – EDDIE RABBITT (16) - Wow, 1982 was definitely a great year for country crossovers! Eddie, however, had been charting for several years. This song was good, but one of my least favorite of his hits.
EXTRA: FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH – BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD - A rock classic that still gets quite a lot of airplay on oldies stations. The story about the traffic jam that formed them (and consequently, a few other bands) was quite interesting.
14: SHAKE IT UP – THE CARS (18) - All points totaled, this was possibly the Cars' biggest hit ever. However, for some reason, I never really got into this one.
13: COOL NIGHT – PAUL DAVIS (14) - Surprised that this song missed the Top Ten, as it was played all the time on the stations I listened to back in the day. One of my favorite songs from the late Paul Davis!
12: COMIN’ IN AND OUT OF YOUR LIFE – BARBRA STREISAND (12) - This is far better than the other song by Babs on this week's 70s show (a definite "No. Just no"). This one, on the other hand, is one of my favorites from her.
11: HOOKED ON CLASSICS – THE ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA (13) - This was the first of at least two times that Casey named each piece heard in the medley as they were played (the other time I can remember was on the year-ender). I liked this song - an interesting medley of classic songs set to disco!
OPTIONAL EXTRA: TONIGHT I'M YOURS (DON'T HURT ME) - ROD STEWART - Wow, here's the aforementioned "Young Turks Part 2". As I mentioned earlier, I preferred Part 1, but this was good as well.
10: THE SWEETEST THING – "JUICE, GO TO YOUR ROOM" NEWTON (10) - 1981-1982 was definitely her heyday, with four Top Ten hits (and another that just barely missed). This is my second favorite of those hits, behind "Break It To Me Gently", which was said near-miss (peaked at #11 - what a shame).
9: TROUBLE – LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM (9) - "Ah-two, ah-three, a fowah!" Definitely my favorite solo hit from him - not an annoying earworm like "Holiday Road"!
8: LET’S GROOVE – EARTH, WIND & FIRE (3) - This is another song that recently grew on me after several years of not really liking it.
LDD: YOU AND ME AGAINST THE WORLD – HELEN REDDY - Very moving LDD, but the song, as fitting as it was for the dedication, still gets a "No. Just no", I'm afraid.
7: TURN YOUR LOVE AROUND – GEORGE BENSON (8) - A great jazz star George was! This wasn't one of my favorites from him, but it's still a good song nonetheless. Casey mentioned how this song was topping the R&B chart this week, unseating Earth, Wind & Fire's "Let's Groove" after an impressive eight-week run!
6: LEATHER AND LACE – STEVIE NICKS WITH DON HENLEY (6) - Her second duet from Bella Donna to hit the charts, following her one with Tom Petty the previous summer. This is my favorite of the two, by a fairly large margin.
5: HARDEN MY HEART - QUARTERFLASH (5) - When naming off the former schoolteachers turned singers, Casey forgot one - Dolly Parton. I forget what class/grade she taught, but I do know that she was forced to quit, since every time she turned around, she'd erase the blackboard. But seriously, this was my second favorite song from them, behind "Take It To Heart", from the summer of 1983.
4: I CAN’T GO FOR THAT – DARYL HALL & JOHN OATES (4) - With the extremely tight Top Five, it looked like this song had reached its peak, since it was spending its fifth consecutive week at #4, but it surprised everyone the following week by leapfrogging over what would become the next #1 after this, as well as the song that had the misfortune of being stuck at #2 for ten weeks, which, at the time, was a record. In my eyes, it still remains a record, since I stopped believing in the Hot 100 very soon after 11/30/91.
3: CENTERFOLD – THE J. GEILS BAND (5) - On the following week's countdown, many would think that this song was the next #1 song after learning that "Physical" had dropped back to #4, but it had to wait another week (but it was well worth the wait, as it spent six weeks on top). Anyway, this was by far my favorite song by the J. Geils Band.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: SHOULD I DO IT - THE POINTER SISTERS - 1982 was a throwback year for the Pointer Sisters, as their two Top 20 hits had a sixties flavor to them. This is my favorite of the two songs.
2: WAITING FOR A GIRL LIKE YOU - FOREIGNER (2) - Here is the song that was in its ninth of ten weeks at #2. There was a fleeting moment of hope the following week, as "Physical" and "Centerfold" were already played. But, as mentioned before, the Hall & Oates song jumped over this for a single week at #1. This song, however, did manage to hit #1 on the R&R chart for six weeks (they had the lyrical content of "Physical" to thank for that, as there were radio stations that deemed the song unplayable).
1: PHYSICAL – OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN (1) - This song tied with "Cherry Pink & Apple Blossom White" by Perez Prado and "You Light Up My Life" by Debby Boone as the rock era record for most weeks at #1, with ten weeks each. This song ended up being the top song of 1982, due to the oddball time frame that they used back then. It was a pretty good song, but not quite my favorite song from her.
Coming up next week: Another twofer. The "A" show will be January 24, 1987, with January 26, 1980 as the "B" show. I've heard the latter several times on the iHeartRadio website, so I'll probably listen to just the 1987 show. I definitely won't be going out of my way to hear the 1980 show, anyway.