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1979
Feb 15, 2012 13:13:44 GMT -5
Post by torcan on Feb 15, 2012 13:13:44 GMT -5
"The disco backlash of the early '80s resulted in the worst period of Top 40 history until the rap backlash of the early '90s". That may explain why Premiere plays 1981 so infrequently too. I totally disagree with that statement. I think 1980 was one of the BEST years for top 40 ever, probalby only topped by 1983. Music was pleasant and you could relate to it; and you had your disco songs like "Funkytown" and rockers like "Hit Me With Your Best Shot". Re. '91, yes, I'd say music started to decline greatly around that date, but I don't remember any rap backlash. Rap, unfortunately, has still dominated the charts ever since then, it never really went away. Personally, I like the "early rap" from '86-90 time period, but it got too agressive and depressing after that. I wouldn't mind seeing it be wiped off top 40 radio for good. In terms to today's music, yes, it's very "disco-y", but I think this is what we're stuck with. Maybe the "rock era" really is over.
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1979
Feb 15, 2012 14:10:02 GMT -5
Post by OldSchoolAT40Fan on Feb 15, 2012 14:10:02 GMT -5
Re. '91, yes, I'd say music started to decline greatly around that date, but I don't remember any rap backlash. Rap, unfortunately, has still dominated the charts ever since then, it never really went away. Personally, I like the "early rap" from '86-90 time period, but it got too agressive and depressing after that. I wouldn't mind seeing it be wiped off top 40 radio for good. Yeah, rap started to become c-rap around 1988, to be quite honest. In 1988, Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock and Public Enemy were probably one of the rap acts who started to turn rap into c-rap. Public Enemy was the worst, and thankfully they didn't have a top 40 hit (and rightfully so). "It Takes Two" had the line "I like the whopper, **** the Big Mac" in the song, but it's strongly possible it was censored for Top 40 radio. Then came 2 Live Crew in 1989, followed by a few awful rap songs in 1990 ("The Humpty Dance" being one of them). Of those rap acts I named in this paragraph, 2 Live Crew - surprisingly - had appeared on AT40. Shadoe very rarely mentioned the name of the song for some reason, until "Banned In The U.S.A." hit the top 40 in 1990. And Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock had a top 40 hit in 1988 during Shadoe's third month on the mic. I agree with your remark about wanting to see rap disappear from top 40 radio for good. But as long as it attracts viewers, and people are downloading such crap, it ain't going anywhere soon. I guess I just have to grin and bear it for a while yet. Where are Run DMC and Whodini when you need them the most?
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1979
Feb 15, 2012 18:31:52 GMT -5
Post by dukelightning on Feb 15, 2012 18:31:52 GMT -5
The major difference between disco and rap IMO is that whereas there were a lot of people in the same generation that disliked disco, the younger generation of the last 20 years is more or less on the same page musically. So that is why there has been no backlash against rap. I wish it were the other way around myself; that the generation I was in was on the same page and liked disco and this generation had musical divisions which would cause rap to be thrown aside as disco was back in the day. But when I work a rap show, I see mainly young people attending and there is equal representation among genders, races, etc. Was quite surprised at that the first couple shows actually. Just goes to show how things have changed from the Baby Boom generation to the Millenials when it comes to musical tastes among other things I might add.
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1979
Feb 16, 2012 6:15:10 GMT -5
Post by at40petebattistini on Feb 16, 2012 6:15:10 GMT -5
From one who spent a great deal of time in discos, my top two favorite songs from the entire year were Amii Stewart's "Knock On Wood" and Patrick Hernandez's "Born To Be Alive". Regardless, I still couldn't resist the opportunity to go to the Disco Demolition, enjoy countless chants of "disco sucks" and eventually witness the detonation of thousands of records. After all, like every musical genre, not every disco song was great. What a time.
And I have to agree with those commenting on how 1979 was a transitional year. In my opinion, two songs in particular squeezed through disco-dominated radio playlists and offered a sign of what was to come: *The Devil Went Down To Georgia (Charlie Daniels) *Cruel To Be Kind (Nick Lowe)
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1979
Feb 16, 2012 10:22:15 GMT -5
Post by OldSchoolAT40Fan on Feb 16, 2012 10:22:15 GMT -5
And "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes started to chart after the disco backlash. Let us not forget "Heartache Tonight" by The Eagles was #1 during the disco phase-out period.
I agree that 1981 was a yawner year for music, IMO. Nothing but contemporary crap (Smokey Robinson's "Being With You", Air Supply's "The One That You Love" and "Here I Am", Christopher Cross's stuff, REO Speedwagon's "Can't Stop Loving You", etc.) and country-pop artists (Oak Ridge Boys' "Elvira", Juice Newton's "Queen of Hearts", etc.) plus some crappy pop songs (Sheena Easton's "Modern Girl", Manhattan Transfer's "The Boy From New York City", to name two) dominating the radio airwaves during that period. The only song I enjoyed from 1981 were "Bette Davis' Eyes", "Just The Two Of Us" (yes, a contemporary song from 1981 I do enjoy, oddly enough), and there were still some good stuff in 1981, but not a lot. I can compare my taste for today's variety of music to that of 1981 - without the contemporary crap.
The music started to get better around 1983, though still a lot of contemporary acts were still charting (I have a November 1983 broadcast where Barry Manilow was on the charts, and Air Supply was still charting then). But for the most part, 1983 was way better than 1981, IMO.
1980 was slightly better than 1981, IMO. At least we had "Funkytown", "Upside Down" (great roller-skating music), "Celebration" and even "Another Brick In The Wall" by Pink Floyd was a great song (perhaps my most favorite Pink Floyd song ever in existence!). But words cannot express how much I hated "The Rose".
I hate to admit it, but my father (soon to be a grandfather) does love Air Supply. But I hate them. To each his own.
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1979
Feb 16, 2012 12:30:18 GMT -5
Post by lasvegaskid on Feb 16, 2012 12:30:18 GMT -5
The major difference between disco and rap IMO is that whereas there were a lot of people in the same generation that disliked disco, the younger generation of the last 20 years is more or less on the same page musically. So that is why there has been no backlash against rap. I wish it were the other way around myself; that the generation I was in was on the same page and liked disco and this generation had musical divisions which would cause rap to be thrown aside as disco was back in the day. But when I work a rap show, I see mainly young people attending and there is equal representation among genders, races, etc. Was quite surprised at that the first couple shows actually. Just goes to show how things have changed from the Baby Boom generation to the Millenials when it comes to musical tastes among other things I might add. Great point. I had hard rocker friends that HATED disco. With the current generation, there are those that like rap and the others seem to be agnostic about it.
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1979
Feb 19, 2012 9:38:23 GMT -5
Post by cpokilroy on Feb 19, 2012 9:38:23 GMT -5
Wow, I've really enjoyed reading this discussion. Even though I wasn't around to experience that era, here are a few random thoughts I had reading this thread:
-For me, the one '79 song that seemed to signal the dawn of the '80s more than anything is "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles. That song is so often lumped in with '80s music because it was the first video on MTV, a lot of people tend to forget that it was technically a '79 song that scraped the Top 40 in December of that year.
-Another reason for the AC-heavy radio coma of '81 might also be because it was during that period when demographics and focus groups began to have more influence over what was played on the radio, resulting in increased airplay for artists like Air Supply and allowing country artists to experience significant crossover success.
-I don't have quite as negative an opinion of the music of '81 as most other people do. Maybe it's because I wasn't around back then to hear the music when it first came out, but there are a lot of songs from that era that I actually enjoy more than today's pop music. I can only speak objectively, of course, but I guess what I'm trying to say is much of the music of '81 has definite "guilty pleasure" appeal, or something like that. I do agree that the overall quality of pop music vastly improved in the few years after, most likely a result of MTV's growing influence.
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1979
Feb 19, 2012 19:20:22 GMT -5
Post by saltrek on Feb 19, 2012 19:20:22 GMT -5
Every year has its share of excellent music, even the "bad" ones. It's just that the "bad" years have a higher percentage of mediocre to poor songs creeping onto the charts.
After disco demolition night, there was a definite fear among PD's to add new disco songs to their playlists. Many retreated into "play it safe" mode, thus bumping up the AC content.
The other thing happening in the early 80's, was the decline of powerhouse top-40 AM radio stations. As they kept tweaking their sound, many became practically full fledged AC stations - but, they continued to be reported by Billboard as top-40 stations. Boston's WRKO & NYC's WABC are two that come to mind off the top of my head that were reporting as top-40 stations right up until the day the music died.
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k1465
Junior Member
Posts: 51
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1979
Feb 20, 2012 19:06:21 GMT -5
Post by k1465 on Feb 20, 2012 19:06:21 GMT -5
I will say that for me, 79 is one of my favorite years in music. Starting in August, it started to be not as good to me. Some of my favorites that year were Afer the Love is Gone, Mama Can't Buy you Love Get Used To It, You Can't Change That, Does Your Mother Know,You Take My Breath Away and She Believes in Me, to name a few. I love the years 78-81. One day soon I will do a chart critique so you all can get an idea of my taste in music.
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1979
May 1, 2012 19:22:33 GMT -5
Post by OldSchoolAT40Fan on May 1, 2012 19:22:33 GMT -5
I remember hearing tell of a Disco special of AT40 on July 7, 1979. I got myself that particular episode a while back. Kind of hard to believe that it would be 5 more days until the beginning of the end of disco when Disco Demolition Night happened on July 12, 1979. After that, the music didn't sound that great until around 1983, IMO.
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1979
May 1, 2012 20:22:26 GMT -5
Post by quatermass on May 1, 2012 20:22:26 GMT -5
I love Disco and always will. The best years for 80's music IMO were 1980-84, and absolutely nothing in the 70's do I dislike. 1979 is remembered by me because it was when I was hired by a motion picture company, was making movies and loved all the music of that year. What a time it was, and this is a darn interesting thread!!
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1979
Mar 17, 2013 22:36:39 GMT -5
Post by jmack19 on Mar 17, 2013 22:36:39 GMT -5
In 1979,the Bee Gees had three #1 singles from the same album("Spirits Having Flown"). Each single was replaced at the top by the song that the Bee Gees replaced at #1.
"Le Freak" replaced by "Too Much Heaven" replaced by "Le Freak". "I Will Survive" replaced by "Tragedy" replaced by "I Will Survive". "Hot Stuff" replaced by "Love You Inside Out" replaced by "Hot Stuff".
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