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Post by johnnywest on Jul 4, 2023 12:59:46 GMT -5
I was looking through the cue sheets on the Charis website and came across this. I barely recognized the first 5 songs played, and I'm sure your average listener wouldn't know more than 1 of them. Any other weak starts like this:
November 14, 1981:
#40 I Want You, I Need You - Chris Christian #39 Steal The Night - Stevie Woods #38 Share Your Love With Me - Kenny Rogers #37 Never Too Much - Luther Vandross #36 Heart Like A Wheel - Steve Miller Band
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Post by 80sat40fan on Jul 4, 2023 18:57:53 GMT -5
Some early 1973 shows may fit here. Here's one example from 3/24/73:
#40: "Daisy A Day" by Jud Strunk (#14 peak) #39: "A Letter To Myself" by The Chi-Lites (#33 peak) #38: "One Less Set Of Footsteps" by Jim Croce (#37 peak) #37: "Good Morning Heartache" by Diana Ross (#34 peak) #36: "Cook With Honey" by Judy Collins (#32 peak) #35: "Hello Hurray" by Alice Cooper (at its #35 peak) #34: "Master Of Eyes" by Aretha Franklin (#33 peak) #33: "Give Me Your Love" by Barbara Mason (#31 peak)
Here's an '80s show that has an underwhelming start... from 7/10/82... not much chart action to kick off the show:
#40: "Angel In Blue" by The J. Geils Band (holding at #40) #39: "Out Of Work" by Gary U.S. Bonds (debut, would peak at #21) #38: "Dancing In The Street" by Van Halen (holding at #38) #37: "Island Of Lost Souls" by Blondie (holding at #37) #36: "If The Love Fits Wear It" by Leslie Pearl (debut, would peak at #28) #35: "Be Mine Tonight" by Neil Diamond (holding at #35) #34: "Hooked On Swing (Medley)" by Larry Elgart & His Manhattan Swing Orchestra (up 5 from last week but would peak just 3 notches higher at #31) #33: "This Man Is Mine" by Heart (holding at #33)
Some AT40 fans love hearing songs that spend just a few weeks on AT40... but hearing so many of these songs early in the countdown could turn off some casual music fans.
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Post by LC on Jul 4, 2023 21:12:31 GMT -5
I loved Angel In Blue and Out of Work.
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Post by Mike on Jul 5, 2023 1:43:50 GMT -5
I would submit 9/19/81 for its first hour countdown songs. Three future Top 20s, though I'm not sure if any one of them are well-remembered:
#40 "I'm in Love" by Evelyn "Champagne" King (holding and peaking) #39 "Straight From the Heart" by The Allman Brothers Band (debuting and peaking) #38 "Just Once" by Quincy Jones featuring James Ingram (debuting; would hit #17) #37 "When She Was My Girl" by The Four Tops (debuting; would hit #11) #36 "Some Days Are Diamonds (Some Days Are Stone)" by John Denver (peaking) #35 "General Hospi-tale" by The Afternoon Delights (goes two notches higher) #34 "Chloe" by Elton John (peaking) #33 "We're in This Love Together" by Al Jarreau (would hit #15)
Quincy/James and Al Jarreau are probably the two closest to being remembered.
The "Dancing in the Street" cover might take the 1982 show off the list, though I'm not sure how often classic rock plays that one.
Maybe the latest one of these for a "classic run" show would be 11/17/84, whose first hour is unusually low on hit power:
#40 "Centipede" by Rebbie Jackson (debuting; would hit #24) #39 "I Need You Tonight" by Peter Wolf (debuting; goes three notches higher) #38 "Tears" by John Waite (goes one notch higher) #37 "I Do'Wanna Know" by REO Speedwagon (debuting; would hit #29) #36 "Sugar Don't Bite" by Sam Harris (peaking) #35 "Who Wears These Shoes" by Elton John (the week's biggest dropper within the countdown [down 14], after hitting #16) #34 "We Are the Young" by Dan Hartman (would hit #25) #33 "Girls With Guns" by Tommy Shaw (peaking)
After that you finally get some close-to-remembered songs (#32 "Do What You Do", the week's highest debut on its way to #13, #31 "Hello Again" on its way to #20) before finally a non-Top 10 sweep is prevented by them sneaking #30 in there to close the hour ("Lucky Star").
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Post by friarboy on Jul 5, 2023 13:13:40 GMT -5
I was looking through the cue sheets on the Charis website and came across this. I barely recognized the first 5 songs played, and I'm sure your average listener wouldn't know more than 1 of them. Any other weak starts like this: November 14, 1981: #40 I Want You, I Need You - Chris Christian #39 Steal The Night - Stevie Woods #38 Share Your Love With Me - Kenny Rogers #37 Never Too Much - Luther Vandross #36 Heart Like A Wheel - Steve Miller Band One person’s weak is another person’s great. I love hearing more obscure stuff like this.
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Post by retrodaddy on Jul 5, 2023 23:20:10 GMT -5
I loved Angel In Blue and Out of Work. I dig those songs as well as If The Love Fits Wear It.
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Post by retrodaddy on Jul 5, 2023 23:31:54 GMT -5
The 9/19/81 first hour isn't that bad. The Jarreau, Jones/Ingram, and Four Tops songs are very good.
The 11/17/84 first hour is bad by 1984 standards. I remember listening to that show sometime in the past few years and thinking the show started off with a whole lot of meh. Of those first eight, I like Centipede and We Are The Young.
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Post by Mike on Jul 6, 2023 1:44:39 GMT -5
The 9/19/81 first hour isn't that bad. The Jarreau, Jones/Ingram, and Four Tops songs are very good. The 11/17/84 first hour is bad by 1984 standards. I remember listening to that show sometime in the past few years and thinking the show started off with a whole lot of meh. Of those first eight, I like Centipede and We Are The Young. I based mine on the original premise of the songs in question not being well-remembered/being completely forgotten, though the 1981 instance was quite a slough to sit through the first time I heard that show. And I'm not usually the type to complain in general about that era. As for the 1984 one, on the whole it's not nearly as rough to sit through, though I wouldn't say I quite "love" most of the listed songs either (neither hate nor love - most of them are more middling). But basing it solely on quality, I'd probably stop that list at #35, as I second #34 "We Are the Young" being a great listen.
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Post by retrodaddy on Jul 6, 2023 13:00:25 GMT -5
The 9/19/81 first hour isn't that bad. The Jarreau, Jones/Ingram, and Four Tops songs are very good. The 11/17/84 first hour is bad by 1984 standards. I remember listening to that show sometime in the past few years and thinking the show started off with a whole lot of meh. Of those first eight, I like Centipede and We Are The Young. I based mine on the original premise of the songs in question not being well-remembered/being completely forgotten, though the 1981 instance was quite a slough to sit through the first time I heard that show. And I'm not usually the type to complain in general about that era. As for the 1984 one, on the whole it's not nearly as rough to sit through, though I wouldn't say I quite "love" most of the listed songs either (neither hate nor love - most of them are more middling). But basing it solely on quality, I'd probably stop that list at #35, as I second #34 "We Are the Young" being a great listen. Gotcha. I think the three songs I mentioned from '81 still get decent airplay on classic hits / R & B / AC stations. Just Once prolly being more remembered than the other two. The songs from '84 are pretty much forgotten.
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Post by Hervard on Jul 6, 2023 15:58:51 GMT -5
I think the three songs I mentioned from '81 still get decent airplay on classic hits / R & B / AC stations. Just Once prolly being more remembered than the other two. I'm assuming that the songs you refer to are the James Ingram, Four Tops and Al Jarreau songs, correct?
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Post by mkarns on Jul 6, 2023 16:20:29 GMT -5
I think the three songs I mentioned from '81 still get decent airplay on classic hits / R & B / AC stations. Just Once prolly being more remembered than the other two. I'm assuming that the songs you refer to are the James Ingram, Four Tops and Al Jarreau songs, correct? Probably, though I’ll say that “General Hospit-ale” is an amusing novelty from when GH was at its peak as a pop culture icon (it’s still going 42 years later, of course), and “Chloe” is a fine song that would probably a highlight for many other artists, but looks minor in Elt’s catalog. “Straight From the Heart”, on the other hand, was criticized by Gregg Allman in his autobiography (it sounds like a typical attempt to shoehorn classic rock artists into a commercial early 80s mold.)
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Post by Hervard on Jul 6, 2023 16:27:42 GMT -5
I'm assuming that the songs you refer to are the James Ingram, Four Tops and Al Jarreau songs, correct? Probably, though I’ll say that “General Hospit-ale” is an amusing novelty from when GH was at its peak as a pop culture icon (it’s still going 42 years later, of course), and “Chloe” is a fine song that would probably a highlight for many other artists, but looks minor in Elt’s catalog. “Straight From the Heart”, on the other hand, was criticized by Gregg Allman in his autobiography (it sounds like a typical attempt to shoehorn classic rock artists into a commercial early 80s mold.) I actually really liked "Straight From The Heart". One of my #1 songs during 1981. But yeah, it was quite different from their usual music style.
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Post by retrodaddy on Jul 6, 2023 18:32:40 GMT -5
I think the three songs I mentioned from '81 still get decent airplay on classic hits / R & B / AC stations. Just Once prolly being more remembered than the other two. I'm assuming that the songs you refer to are the James Ingram, Four Tops and Al Jarreau songs, correct? Correct.
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Post by skuncle on Jul 6, 2023 20:03:17 GMT -5
I’ve always wished they would have done a countdown of the songs that got no higher than #30. Say hit somewhere between 50-30.
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Post by matt on Jul 7, 2023 13:41:06 GMT -5
I always thought 4/24/82 had a slooow first hour considering it's otherwise a great show:
40: IF I HAD MY WISH TONIGHT – DAVID LASLEY 39: SHANGHAI BREEZES – JOHN DENVER 38: RUN FOR THE ROSES – DAN FOGELBERG 37: LET’S HANG ON – BARRY MANILOW 36: MAKING LOVE – ROBERTA FLACK 35: PAC-MAN FEVER – BUCKNER AND GARCIA 34: ONE HUNDRED WAYS – QUINCY JONES FEATURING JAMES INGRAM EXTRA: WE ARE FAMILY – SISTER SLEDGE 33: STILL IN SAIGON – THE CHARLIE DANIELS BAND
You almost wonder if the AT40 staff threw in the Sister Sledge extra because they knew it was a pretty slow set of songs to start the countdown. Not all of the songs are slow, but hard to offset an absolutely awful John Denver cut like "Shanghai Breezes". Plus four other ballads never heard anymore, a bubble-gum song from a guy that did mostly ballads, a novelty song (though not a bad one), and a heavy subject song from the CDB.
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