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Post by chrislc on Jul 8, 2023 18:00:35 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. What a mess, with the exception IMO of Quincy Jones. 1981 and 1982 felt like all the hitmakers had gone on strike and we were listening to Replacement Artists. |
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Post by Mike on Jul 8, 2023 20:14:56 GMT -5
What a mess, with the exception IMO of Quincy Jones. 1981 and 1982 felt like all the hitmakers had gone on strike and we were listening to Replacement Artists. Well, out of the 1982 batch quoted there, John Denver, Dan Fogelberg, Barry Manilow, and Roberta Flack built their hitmaking resumes chock full of slow music. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ For that matter, "Shanghai Breezes" would of course be it for Denver. |
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Post by jmack19 on Jul 20, 2023 22:54:09 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 September 1, 1979: #40 Youngblood - Rickie Lee Jones #39 Hold On - Triumph #38 Saturday Night - Herman Brood #37 Girl Of My Dreams - Bram Tchaikovsky #36 What Cha Gonna Do - Stephanie Mills |
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Post by LC on Jul 21, 2023 13:29:11 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 September 1, 1979: #40 Youngblood - Rickie Lee Jones #39 Hold On - Triumph #38 Saturday Night - Herman Brood #37 Girl Of My Dreams - Bram Tchaikovsky #36 What Cha Gonna Do - Stephanie Mills Triumph--another underappreciated Canadian band. They always got unfavorably compared to Rush. |
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Post by djjoe1960 on Jul 22, 2023 14:51:32 GMT -5
July 24, 1982 show--
Hour 1
40-Think I'm In Love--Eddie Money
39-Your Imagination--Hall & Oates
38-Love Plus One--Haircut 100
37-Nice Girls--Eye To Eye
36-Paperlate--Genesis
35-I Found Somebody--Glenn Frey
34-Kids In America--Kim Wilde
33-American Music--Pointer Sisters
32--If The Love Fits Wear It-Leslie Pearl
Hour 2 opens with these two gems--
31-Hooked On Swing--Larry Elgart & His Manhattan Swing Orchestra
30-Out Of Work--Gary U.S. Bonds
Only 2 of those songs made the Top 20 and both of them (Eddie Money & Pointer Sisters) reached #16. It is doubtful most of us remember any of these 'hits' and they probably don't even get played on most any 1980's stations.
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Post by mga707 on Jul 22, 2023 15:37:55 GMT -5
Only 2 of those songs made the Top 20 and both of them (Eddie Money & Pointer Sisters) reached #16. It is doubtful most of us remember any of these 'hits' and they probably don't even get played on most any 1980's stations. Which is EXACTLY why I and I'm sure others on here prefer listening to this type of show! Who wants to hear 'fried' songs? |
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Post by mkarns on Jul 22, 2023 15:59:10 GMT -5
Only 2 of those songs made the Top 20 and both of them (Eddie Money & Pointer Sisters) reached #16. It is doubtful most of us remember any of these 'hits' and they probably don't even get played on most any 1980's stations. Which is EXACTLY why myself and I'm sure many other on here prefer listening to this type of show! Who wants to hear 'fried' songs? Kids in America gets replayed. So might Love Plus One, as Haircut 100 are pretty well remembered as representative of New Wave ephemera. Most others in this hour (except the opening top 3 recap), no, except perhaps Think I’m In Love. There are several lesser charting hits by otherwise well known or remembered acts (Eddie Money, Pointer Sisters, Genesis, Glenn Frey, Hall & Oates). |
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Post by djjoe1960 on Jul 22, 2023 16:51:32 GMT -5
Which is EXACTLY why myself and I'm sure many other on here prefer listening to this type of show! Who wants to hear 'fried' songs? Kids in America gets replayed. So might Love Plus One, as Haircut 100 are pretty well remembered as representative of New Wave ephemera. Most others in this hour (except the opening top 3 recap), no, except perhaps Think I’m In Love. There are several lesser charting hits by otherwise well known or remembered acts (Eddie Money, Pointer Sisters, Genesis, Glenn Frey, Hall & Oates). I am actually working on a Cash Box countdown that contain most of these songs (July 24, 1982) and I couldn't remember some of them--which as mga707 hints is the reason to listen to such a show with less 'fried' songs. Actually, some of them aren't too bad but I guess as Top 40 was in a transition year, moving away from A/C and country cross over hits getting less play--and MTV starting to break some new acts--perhaps radio was slower to embrace these songs which is why they didn't chart higher (and don't get much airplay any longer). |
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Post by chrislc on Jul 22, 2023 17:26:31 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 September 1, 1979: #40 Youngblood - Rickie Lee Jones #39 Hold On - Triumph #38 Saturday Night - Herman Brood #37 Girl Of My Dreams - Bram Tchaikovsky #36 What Cha Gonna Do - Stephanie Mills I was listening just last night to 11/03/1979 (the weekend the hostages were taken and Ted Kennedy talked to Roger Mudd), and it really was amazing how much slower and sadder the Top 40 was, compared to the Top 40 from just a few months before that. Not necessarily worse, but a lot slower. Autumn Top 40s probably have been slower than Spring and Summer through the years, but 1979 might have been the most dramatic change, due to disco fatigue. |
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Post by 80sat40fan on Jul 22, 2023 19:56:07 GMT -5
Most '85 countdowns had songs in the first half-hour that would go on to be Top 5 or Top 10 songs. That wasn't the case with the first 8 songs counted down on the 8/31/85 show: #40: Michael McDonald's "No Lookin' Back" (debut, would peak at #34) #39: John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band's "C-I-T-Y" (debut, would peak at #18 but receives little airplay today) #38: Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam's "I Wonder If I Take You Home" (dropping 1 from the previous weak, peaked earlier at #34) #37: John Waite's "Every Step Of The Way" (debut, would peak at #25) #36: REO Speedwagon's "Live Every Moment" (dropping 2 from its peak of #34 the previous week) #35: Cock Robin's "When Your Hear Is Weak" (peaking at #35) #34: Rick Springfield's "State Of The Heart (peaked 2 weeks before at #22) #33: Freddie Jackson's "Rock Me Tonight" (peaked 2 weeks before at #18) So this show started with two songs that barely made the Top 20, two that made the Top 30, and four that didn't get out of the 30's. Some people love hearing rarely heard hits so if that's you, this is your countdown! But from a chart achievement standpoint... there have been stronger first hours. No one has suggested a weak start to an '83 show so I nominate 2/26/83 where 7 of the first 8 tunes didn't make it out of the 30s: #40: "Night Ranger's "Don't Tell Me You Love Me" (debut... yes, this gets airplay today... but it spent 3 weeks at #40 back in the day) #39: ABC's "Poison Arrow" (debut, would peak at #25) #38: Olivia Newton John's "Tied Up" (it was tied up at #38 again this week   ) #37: Supertramp's "My Kind Of Lady" (debut, would peak at #31) #36: Pia Zadora's "The Clapping Song (holding at #36) #35: Neil Diamond's "I'm Alive (four weeks at #35 for this tune) #34: Steel Breeze's "Dreamin' Is Easy (Up 5 notches but it would only get to #30) #33: Donna Summer's "The Woman In Me" (up 4 to its peak position) You could take Night Ranger off the list given airplay today but that's still seven songs in a row that receive little if any airplay in 2023. My take... I enjoy hearing two or three songs in the first hour that might spend two weeks at #38 or spend 5 weeks on AT40 and peak at #32... but a lot of mid-charting tunes to start a show may not create that much listening excitement for the casual music fan. |
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Post by LC on Jul 22, 2023 21:09:45 GMT -5
July 24, 1982 show-- Hour 1 40-Think I'm In Love--Eddie Money 39-Your Imagination--Hall & Oates 36-Paperlate--Genesis 35-I Found Somebody--Glenn Frey Hour 2 opens with these two gems-- 31-Hooked On Swing--Larry Elgart & His Manhattan Swing Orchestra 30-Out Of Work--Gary U.S. Bonds I liked all of those and even have 2 of 'em on my iPod. Paperlate is my favorite Genesis song. |
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Post by mkarns on Jul 23, 2023 1:24:44 GMT -5
Most '85 countdowns had songs in the first half-hour that would go on to be Top 5 or Top 10 songs. That wasn't the case with the first 8 songs counted down on the 8/31/85 show: #40: Michael McDonald's "No Lookin' Back" (debut, would peak at #34) #39: John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band's "C-I-T-Y" (debut, would peak at #18 but receives little airplay today) #38: Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam's "I Wonder If I Take You Home" (dropping 1 from the previous weak, peaked earlier at #34) #37: John Waite's "Every Step Of The Way" (debut, would peak at #25) #36: REO Speedwagon's "Live Every Moment" (dropping 2 from its peak of #34 the previous week) #35: Cock Robin's "When Your Hear Is Weak" (peaking at #35) #34: Rick Springfield's "State Of The Heart (peaked 2 weeks before at #22) #33: Freddie Jackson's "Rock Me Tonight" (peaked 2 weeks before at #18) So this show started with two songs that barely made the Top 20, two that made the Top 30, and four that didn't get out of the 30's. Some people love hearing rarely heard hits so if that's you, this is your countdown! But from a chart achievement standpoint... there have been stronger first hours. No one has suggested a weak start to an '83 show so I nominate 2/26/83 where 7 of the first 8 tunes didn't make it out of the 30s: #40: "Night Ranger's "Don't Tell Me You Love Me" (debut... yes, this gets airplay today... but it spent 3 weeks at #40 back in the day) #39: ABC's "Poison Arrow" (debut, would peak at #25) #38: Olivia Newton John's "Tied Up" (it was tied up at #38 again this week ) #37: Supertramp's "My Kind Of Lady" (debut, would peak at #31) #36: Pia Zadora's "The Clapping Song (holding at #36) #35: Neil Diamond's "I'm Alive (four weeks at #35 for this tune) #34: Steel Breeze's "Dreamin' Is Easy (Up 5 notches but it would only get to #30) #33: Donna Summer's "The Woman In Me" (up 4 to its peak position) You could take Night Ranger off the list given airplay today but that's still seven songs in a row that receive little if any airplay in 2023. My take... I enjoy hearing two or three songs in the first hour that might spend two weeks at #38 or spend 5 weeks on AT40 and peak at #32... but a lot of mid-charting tunes to start a show may not create that much listening excitement for the casual music fan. From the 8/31/85 show, "Rock Me Tonight" was #1 on the Black Singles chart for 6 weeks, so it probably gets a good amount of R&B/soul recurrent airplay, and "I Wonder If I Take You Home" became a lasting dance club favourite (20 years later the Black Eyed Peas interpolated it into their hit "Don't Phunk With My Heart".) Other than Night Ranger, the only song that probably gets replayed out of the 2/26/83 batch is "Poison Arrow", and its predecessor "The Look of Love" gets played a lot more (it peaked at #18 but feels much bigger in retrospect, and might have charted higher were it not for Billboard's dubious rules that would soon be changed.) Several others listed are also lower charting followups to better known songs ("Heartlight", "Heart Attack", "You Don't Want Me Anymore", "It's Raining Again", "Love Is In Control".) |
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Post by trekkielo on Jul 23, 2023 10:28:23 GMT -5
July 24, 1982 show-- Hour 1 40-Think I'm In Love--Eddie Money 39-Your Imagination--Hall & Oates 36-Paperlate--Genesis 35-I Found Somebody--Glenn Frey Hour 2 opens with these two gems-- 31-Hooked On Swing--Larry Elgart & His Manhattan Swing Orchestra 30-Out Of Work--Gary U.S. Bonds I liked all of those and even have 2 of 'em on my iPod. Paperlate is my favorite Genesis song. Paperlate is among my favorite Genesis songs, it got recurrent airplay on MTV along with a live version of "Turn It On Again", both from their Three Sides Live album! "Paperlate" is a song from the second of two EPs by the British rock group Genesis. The EP, titled 3×3 (for it featured three tracks and the band comprised three musicians), peaked at #10 on the UK Singles Chart in mid-1982. The success of the EP led to an appearance on Top of the Pops. In the US, "Paperlate" was released as a standard single, backed by "You Might Recall". It was also featured on the US version of the band's Three Sides Live album, of which all three tracks from the 3×3 EP are included on side four. The title came from a line in the 1973 Genesis song "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight" ("Paper late, cried a voice in the crowd"), which Genesis rehearsed at a soundcheck, leading to the conception of the song. "Paperlate" is one of two Genesis songs that features the Earth, Wind & Fire horn section, the other being "No Reply at All", also from the Abacab sessions. Collins has often hired the group for other projects, including his debut solo album, Face Value. A music video was also created, utilising the band's May 27, 1982 appearance on Top of the Pops. Dave Thompson of AllMusic said that "Paperlate" was 3×3's selling point, and describes the song as "a horn-honking romp with just the ghosts of '60s soul playing around its chorus and a buoyancy that fed readily into the mood of the UK charts of the day." Dw. Dunphy of Popdose commented that while catchy and enjoyable, "Paperlate" is "a definite cousin to 'No Reply At All', both songs employing the same tempo, attitude, and the Earth, Wind, and Fire horn section." Upon release, Billboard praised Phil Collins' vocals and the horn section. Cash Box noted a resemblance to Collins' solo single "I Missed Again". 3×3's lead song was "Paperlate", and the EP debuted at #30 on the UK charts, peaking at #10 later on. "Paperlate" became a Top 40 hit in the US and Germany, peaking at #36 in the German Charts, #32 on the US Billboard charts, and #2 on the US Mainstream Rock Charts.  |
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Post by johnnywest on Jan 8, 2024 13:12:59 GMT -5
How about the first hour of June 13, 1981:
#40 - Stronger Than Before - Carol Bayer Sager
#39 - I Can Take Care of Myself - Billy Vera & The Beaters
#38 - Sweet Baby - Stanley Clark & George Duke
#37 - Gemini Dream - The Moody Blues
#36 - Seven Year Ache - Roseanne Cash
#35 - Time - The Alan Parsons Project
#34 - Boy From New York City - Manhattan Transfer
#33 - I Don't Need You - Kenny Rogers
#32 - Say What - Jesse Winchester
#31 - Fool In Love With You - Jim Photoglo
It's unlikely that any of these songs are getting airplay at classic hits stations. I'd have to say the strongest of the weakest would either be "Time" or "Boy From New York City."
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Post by LC on Jan 8, 2024 14:03:50 GMT -5
How about the first hour of June 13, 1981: #40 - Stronger Than Before - Carol Bayer Sager #39 - I Can Take Care of Myself - Billy Vera & The Beaters #38 - Sweet Baby - Stanley Clark & George Duke #37 - Gemini Dream - The Moody Blues #36 - Seven Year Ache - Roseanne Cash #35 - Time - The Alan Parsons Project #34 - Boy From New York City - Manhattan Transfer #33 - I Don't Need You - Kenny Rogers #32 - Say What - Jesse Winchester #31 - Fool In Love With You - Jim Photoglo It's unlikely that any of these songs are getting airplay at classic hits stations. I'd have to say the strongest of the weakest would either be "Time" or "Boy From New York City." I remember thinking at the time that "Gemini Dream" was the best song ELO never did. |
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