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Post by marv101 on Jan 2, 2012 22:00:40 GMT -5
Yes that Chicago song was indeed BBs #1 single of 1989; definitely not one of Diane Warren's better efforts IMHO.
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Post by matt on Jan 3, 2012 12:51:24 GMT -5
Yes that Chicago song was indeed BBs #1 single of 1989; definitely not one of Diane Warren's better efforts IMHO. Totally agree with that--I remember listening to the '89 year-end at the time and thinking, really? That song is #1 for the year?? A completely banal post-Peter Cetera Chicago song (Chicago was barely listenable after Cetera left I thought), and a song that seemed to be much more of an '88 song than '89. Perhaps it was fitting for 1989--IMHO the weakest year musically of the '80s. That being said, it wasn't like there weren't some really good pop songs throughout '89.
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Post by michaelcasselman on Jan 3, 2012 19:23:39 GMT -5
Just about any other song in the top 10 of '89 stands out as a more 'typical' or memorable song of that year. "Look Away' now serves as a lame afterthought.
'Every Rose has It's Thorn' (3), 'Miss You Much' (5), 'Straight Up' (4), 'Wind Beneath My Wings' (7)... hell, even 'Girl you Know It's True' (8) speak to me as being more of that year than 'Look Away'.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2012 19:31:08 GMT -5
Fine then, if you see me walking by and the tears are in my eyes. Just look away!
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Post by adam31 on Jan 4, 2012 0:21:57 GMT -5
Yes that Chicago song was indeed BBs #1 single of 1989; definitely not one of Diane Warren's better efforts IMHO. Totally agree with that--I remember listening to the '89 year-end at the time and thinking, really? That song is #1 for the year?? A completely banal post-Peter Cetera Chicago song (Chicago was barely listenable after Cetera left I thought), and a song that seemed to be much more of an '88 song than '89. Perhaps it was fitting for 1989--IMHO the weakest year musically of the '80s. That being said, it wasn't like there weren't some really good pop songs throughout '89. I know what you mean, this is one of my clearest memories of AT40, so much so, that I remember where I was when I heard it. I waited 8 hours to hear the #1 song and had no idea what it could be. Then the let down and WTF moment... Walk Like An Egyptian from 1987 was a pretty close 2nd though.
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Post by kchkwong on Jan 4, 2012 1:00:53 GMT -5
During the late 80s songs that reached No. 1 in Jan or in Dec the previous year clearly have an advantage on the year-end ranking. It didn't surprise me that Look Away was ranked by Billboard as the No.1 song of 1989. I remember my friend, who already had the year-end ranking, asked me to guess the No. 1 song of 1989 and I correctly guessed Look Away at the second attempt (my first guess was Every Rose Has Its Thorn).
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Post by vince on Jan 4, 2012 1:18:38 GMT -5
During the late 80s songs that reached No. 1 in Jan or in Dec the previous year clearly have an advantage on the year-end ranking. It didn't surprise me that Look Away was ranked by Billboard as the No.1 song of 1989. I remember my friend, who already had the year-end ranking, asked me to guess the No. 1 song of 1989 and I correctly guessed Look Away at the second attempt (my first guess was Every Rose Has Its Thorn). “Look Away” as BB’s #1 song of 1989 did not surprise me either, considering the methodology used at that time. While the methodology got more complicated in 1987, I was able to approximate BB’s results and got “Look Away” at #1.
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Post by OldSchoolAT40Fan on Jan 4, 2012 11:14:27 GMT -5
When I heard that "Look Away" by Chicago was the #1 song of 1989, I was like, WTF?! I was really shocked to hear that "Look Away" was #1 of 1989, seeing there were songs that spent 3 or more weeks at #1 (one of them being "Straight Up" by Paula Abdul, which I predicted would be the #1 song of 1989), and "Look Away" spent only 2 weeks at #1. But then again, it may have spent a significant number of weeks in the top 40, and a lot of weeks in the top 10 for it to qualify for the biggest hit of 1989. And I agree that 1989 was the year that the music started to lose appeal. Popular upbeat dance music making way for Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and other awful grunge acts. Plus the techno dance music in a few years' time was not that great either. And I must not forget how awful some R&B acts were in the coming decade at that time. Toni Braxton, Brandy, Monica, SWV, Boyz II Men, to name a few. Even Janet Jackson and Michael Jackson had started to lose appeal by the 1990s, and same for Whitney Houston (thanks to her massively overrated but awful-sounding "I Will Always Love You"). I'm glad my interest in music started to rise again by 2002, thanks to more upbeat stuff that sounded like it recovered from the horrendous 1990s. To me, 2002 had the best upbeat music since 1987, it seems. But I'd still take 1987 slightly more than 2002! Yes that Chicago song was indeed BBs #1 single of 1989; definitely not one of Diane Warren's better efforts IMHO. I think Diane Warren had written much worse songs - a prime example being Expose's "Your Baby Never Looked Good In Blue" (the last top 40 hit with Gioia Bruneau as a group member, and their first song to not enter the top 10 on AT40). Besides, my taste for Expose went downhill after 1987's "Let Me Be The One".
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Post by Mike on Jan 4, 2012 14:20:21 GMT -5
Well, Shadoe was right when he said "...and this one...may surprise you." to start his intro for #1.
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Post by matt on Jan 4, 2012 15:39:15 GMT -5
Then the let down and WTF moment... Walk Like An Egyptian from 1987 was a pretty close 2nd though. Yes - I remember listening to that one and having a WTF moment too! Same kind of thing, except I actually liked (somewhat) "Walk Like an Egyptian"...maybe the video more than the song? Still though, just like "Look Away", "Walk Like an Egyptian" felt out of place as the '87 #1--it was really more of an '86 song.
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Post by jdelachjr2002 on Jan 5, 2012 18:51:03 GMT -5
When I heard that "Look Away" by Chicago was the #1 song of 1989, I was like, WTF?! I was really shocked to hear that "Look Away" was #1 of 1989, seeing there were songs that spent 3 or more weeks at #1 (one of them being "Straight Up" by Paula Abdul, which I predicted would be the #1 song of 1989), and "Look Away" spent only 2 weeks at #1. But then again, it may have spent a significant number of weeks in the top 40, and a lot of weeks in the top 10 for it to qualify for the biggest hit of 1989. For comparisons' sake, here are the number of weeks in the Hot 100 and Top 40 for "Look Away" and all 1989 #1's with three or more weeks at #1 Hot 100 Look Away: 24 weeks Straight Up: 25 weeks Lost In Your Eyes: 19 weeks Like A Prayer: 16 weeks Right Here Waiting: 21 weeks Miss You Much: 20 weeks Top 40 Look Away: 16 weeks Straight Up: 16 weeks Lost In Your Eyes: 12 weeks Like A Prayer: 12 weeks Right Here Waiting: 13 weeks Miss You Much: 13 weeks Both "Look Away" and "Straight Up" had 7 weeks in the Top 10. Of course, the exact totals got a bit complicated. I wonder if that led AT40 to do their own rankings until the end of its' first run.
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Post by Scott Lakefield on Jan 6, 2012 7:24:38 GMT -5
Well, Shadoe was right when he said "...and this one...may surprise you." to start his intro for #1. If I remember correctly, Rob writes in his book about the tracking session for this edition of AT40, when Shadoe made a number of off-air comments about the lunacy of "LA" being BB's #1 song of 1989. (And yes, this Chicago mega-fan agrees that this should NOT have been the #1 song of 1989.)
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Post by shadster on Jan 6, 2012 10:56:41 GMT -5
Look away was peaking at the end of the year '88 correct? So that means it got the benefit of the "frozen week"? And this frozen week was counted towards its totals I presume.
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Post by mkarns on Jan 6, 2012 11:41:29 GMT -5
Look away was peaking at the end of the year '88 correct? So that means it got the benefit of the "frozen week"? And this frozen week was counted towards its totals I presume. I think you're right. The three top songs on the last chart of 1988, including the "frozen" week, were also the top three of the year for 1989 (though not all in the same positions); the two others in the top 5 that week were "Giving You the Best That I Got" and "Waiting For a Star to Fall", which ranked #10 and #12 for 1989 even though they only peaked at #3 and #5, respectively. You can see evidence in the 1987 and 1988 year end charts of the "frozen" week probably being counted with the top of those charts being heavy on hits from the previous December/January. (Note that the #1 songs of 1987, 88, and 89 all topped the chart in December of the previous year.) I find it difficult to escape the conclusion that their methodology of that time gave an (arguably unfair) advantage to songs that were hits at that time of year, though past yearend shows had some even odder or more inexplicable results.
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Post by Mike on Jan 6, 2012 14:03:38 GMT -5
For comparisons' sake, here are the number of weeks in the Hot 100 and Top 40 for "Look Away" and all 1989 #1's with three or more weeks at #1 Missed one: Every Rose Has Its Thorn. Yeah, one of its weeks was frozen, but Billboard still counted the frozen week, didn't they?
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