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Post by mrjukebox on Jun 30, 2012 19:17:13 GMT -5
Hi,Blackbowl 68-I wanted to make a slight correction regarding "New York New York"-It was written by John Kander & Fred Ebb for the 1977 movie of the same name that starred Liza Minnelli & Robert De Niro-Great movie by the way-FYI:Casey Kasem had a small part as a disc jockey.
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Post by Hervard on Jun 30, 2012 21:25:08 GMT -5
American Top 40: The 80s - June 30, 2012
This week’s presentation - June 28, 1980
Well, at least my back-up prediction was correct. As I said last week, hearing a 1980 repeat show was pretty much inevitable, unless they wanted to wait until August to run a show from that year. All three possible July, 1980 shows have already been played - two of them within the past two years. And, of course, chances of them playing the Book Of Records show, which was broadcast in lieu of a regular weekly show on Independence Day Weekend in 1980, are very slim, since each song on there was from before the 1980s - some of them way before. So they went with this show, broadcast just three years ago, so I already heard it on this series (and moreover, I have a copy of this show somewhere). But 1980 was a great year in music, so I’ll post a brand-new commentary. Here it is:
Droppers: WE WERE MEANT TO BE LOVERS - PHOTOGLO (37) - This song has yet to be featured on American Top 40: The 1980s, since the three possible shows for it to be on haven’t been run yet, so I have to say it - wtf did this sound like again? RIDE LIKE THE WIND - CHRISTOPHER CROSS (36) - Great song! This song just completed a 17-week ride on the chart, and he would come “Sailing” onto the chart the following week. TWILIGHT ZONE/TWILIGHT TONE - MANHATTAN TRANSFER (30) - This was another song that hasn’t yet been played on AT40: The 1980s, so again - wtf did this sound like again? WE LIVE FOR LOVE - PAT BENATAR (27) - Uh-oh, JessieLou’s favorite artist drops out of the countdown. She ain’t gonna be happy about that, I’m afraid. Anyway, this was a pretty good song, but far from being her best.
LW#3: BIGGEST PART OF ME – AMBROSIA LW#2: COMING UP – PAUL McCARTNEY & WINGS LW#1: FUNKY TOWN – LIPPS, INC. Well my opinion on these very. The Ambrosia song...wait, what am I doing? These songs are all coming up later.
40: ATOMIC - BLONDIE (40) - Good song, though I preferred “Call Me”. 39: ASHES BY NOW – RODNEY CROWELL (debut) - Good song. Crowell didn’t have much chart success as a singer, but as a songwriter, he had many big hits, mainly on the country charts, but he did have a few songs that hit the AT40 chart, including “An American Dream”, which the Dirt Band charted with earlier in 1980, and his biggest pop hit, “Shame On The Moon”, which Bob Seger took to #2 in early 1983. 38: ANGEL SAY NO – TOMMY TUTONE (38) - Yes, Virginia, Tommy Tutone DID have more than one Top 40 hit. This one was pretty good, but, of course, I prefer the nuisance phone call song. 37: STAND BY ME – MICKEY GILLEY (debut) - Great song! Not sure if I prefer this or Ben E. King’s original - it depends on my mood at the time. 36: TAKE YOUR TIME – S.O.S. BAND (debut) - This was the #1 Soul song this week (the week of 6/28/80, that is). It was a pretty good song. 35: MISUNDERSTANDING - GENESIS (39) - Great song! One of their best, and quite underrated, as it only got as high as #14 (but it did peak at #3 on the R&R chart, so, rather than to buy the single, people were buying the album Duke - after all, it did go platinum. 34: LOVE THE WORLD AWAY – KENNY ROGERS (38) - Two songs from Urban Cowboy, so far. This was my favorite song from that soundtrack. One of Kenny’s best hits ever! 33: THEME FROM NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FRANK SINATRA (32) - This song indeed sounded out of place for 1980, but it was a great song nevertheless. 32: ANSWERING MACHINE – RUPERT HOLMES (33) - Good song, although that line about dog food for the cat kind of sounded a little odd. I still prefer the two songs that preceded this one. ARCHIVES: WHY – FRANKIE AVALON - This song was excluded from the broadcast. I guess Avalon was considered too “geezerly”. I seem to recall this was a decent song. OPTIONAL EXTRA: EMPIRE STRIKES BACK MEDLEY - MECO - I guess this would be considered a guilty pleasure, because a lot of people I know don’t like this, since Darth Vader’s entrance music is discofied, which I guess does kinda defeat the purpose, but I still like it nevertheless. 31: ALL NIGHT LONG – JOE WALSH (34) - And here’s the third Urban Cowboy song. Wow, that was a popular soundtrack. Anyway, this was a pretty good song. 30: TWO PLACES AT THE SAME TIME – RAY PARKER & RAYDIO (31) - Great song, like most of their songs. 29: GIMME SOME LOVIN’ – THE BLUES BROTHERS (35) - Great song! Definitely my favorite version of this song! 28: LOST IN LOVE – AIR SUPPLY (26) - Great song! This is my favorite song by them with Graham Russell singing lead. 27: WONDERING WHERE THE LIONS ARE – BRUCE COCKBURN (25) - Good song. BTW, I hate to burst the bubble of all you with your mind in the gutter, but his name is pronounced differently than it appears. 26: HURT SO BAD – LINDA RONSTADT (19) - Great song - my favorite of her two Top Ten hits from 1980. LDD: IT KEEPS YOU RUNNIN’ – THE DOOBIE BROTHERS - Good song and quite fitting for the dedication. 25: IN AMERICA – THE CHARLIE DANIELS BAND (debut) - Great song! My second favorite from them, behind “Still In Saigon”. 24: STOMP – THE BROTHERS JOHNSON (23) - This was OK, but I wasn’t a big fan of them in general. 23: MORE LOVE – KIM CARNES (29) - Great song, though I preferred her duet with Kenny Rogers, coming up a little later on. 22: BRASS IN POCKET – THE PRETENDERS (17) - Great song! Not sure whether I prefer this or “Back On The Chain Gang” ARCHIVES: EL PASO – MARTY ROBBINS - Great song! This was the only Archive song that they didn’t nix, because more people are familiar with it than they are with the other two songs. Wasn’t it on a commercial a few years ago? OPTIONAL EXTRA: TIME FOR ME TO FLY - REO SPEEDWAGON - Good song, though one of my least favorite of their ballads. Interesting that they chose this one, as it never hit the Top 40 (but it sure gets enough recurrent airplay that it may as well have). 21: I’M ALIVE – THE ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA (28) - Good song, but I prefer several others by them. 20: DON’T FALL IN LOVE WITH A DREAMER – KENNY ROGERS W/ KIM CARNES (14) - Great song! One of my favorite songs from both artists! 19: SHOULD’VE NEVER LET YOU GO – NEIL SEDAKA & DARA SEDAKA (21) - Great song! One of my favorite songs from Neil Sedaka! 18: TIRED OF TOEIN’ THE LINE – ROCKY BURNETTE (20) - Great song! Too bad it was his only Top 40 hit. 17: ONE FINE DAY – CAROLE KING (22) - Great song! Possibly my favorite version of the song. 16: MAGIC – OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN (24) - Ah, the biggest mover of the week! I liked this one, but prefer several others by her. 15: CALL ME - BLONDIE (12) - Great song! Having spent six weeks on top and still being way up in the Top 20 in its seventeenth week, it was no surprise that this was on its way to becoming the top song for all of 1980! EXTRA: ON BROADWAY - GEORGE BENSON - Good song, but I prefer the original version. 14: CARS – GARY NUMAN (9) - Great song though, as I’ve said many times before, it could use a few more lyrics - although it seems that they played a longer version than usual this week. 13: SHINING STAR – THE MANHATTANS (16) - Great song! Much better than their day-darkening song that they charted with four years prior. 12: LET ME LOVE YOU TONIGHT – PURE PRAIRIE LEAGUE (15) - Great song! Possibly my favorite song from them! They played a longer version of the song than usual - it seems that they repeated a verse. They must have needed to fill up time this hour. OPTIONAL EXTRA: INTO THE NIGHT - BENNY MARDONES - I don’t remember this song at all from its 1980 chart run, but I sure remember it from 1989! I recorded the song off the radio and played it so much that, to this day, I’m somewhat burned out on it, but it’s good to hear every now and then. ARCHIVES: RUNNING BEAR – JOHNNY PRESTON - This song, of course, was nixed from the broadcast, but that’s OK - the “oonga oonga” chants are somewhat annoying. 11: LET’S GET SERIOUS – JERMAINE JACKSON (13) - This was OK, but I preferred others by him, like “Dynamite” and “Do What You Do” (this was still much better than “Let Me Tickle Your Fancy”. 10: SHE’S OUT OF MY LIFE – MICHAEL JACKSON (10) - Great song! I remember when Premiere ran this show three years ago, it was the day after Michael had died and, since this is a sad song in the first place, I came very close to breaking down and crying when I heard this song that day. Anyway, this is my favorite song from Off The Wall. 9: CUPID / I’VE KNOWN YOU FOR A LONG TIME – THE SPINNERS (11) - Great song! 8: BIGGEST PART OF ME - AMBROSIA (3) - Great song! One of my all-time favorites by them!7: STEAL AWAY – ROBBIE DUPREE (8) - Great song! This was my favorite of his two Top 40 hits. LDD: THANK YOU FOR BEING A FRIEND – ANDREW GOLD - Wow, I heard both of Gold’s hits today - “Lonely Boy” on the 1977 show and now his lesser known hit, although this one became a very popular LDD request (before songs like “That’s What Friends Are For” stole its thunder). I prefer “Lonely Boy” over this, but just slightly. 6: LITTLE JEANNIE – ELTON JOHN (7) - Great song! One of my favorite of his 1980s hits. 5: AGAINST THE WIND – BOB SEGER & THE SILVER BULLET BAND (5) - Great song! They played a slightly different version than the single version - after the line that ended “how much I owed”, they went into the verse that came after the instrumental break in the album version of the song (the one that begins with “well those drifter’s days are past me now...”). 4: IT’S STILL ROCK AND ROLL TO ME – BILLY JOEL (6) - This song was good, but not one of my favorites by him by any means. 3: THE ROSE – BETTE MIDLER (4) - Great song! And interesting story about Midler almost electrocuting herself. OPTIONAL EXTRA: DRIVING MY LIFE AWAY - EDDIE RABBITT - Great song! One of my all-time favorites by him! 2: FUNKY TOWN – LIPPS, INC. (1) - Meh, as you know, I prefer the Pseudo-Echo cover over this one. 1: COMING UP – PAUL McCARTNEY & WINGS (2) - Great song! One of my favorites by them. This version was superior to the version by Paul solo, which, of course, was the one that originally charted, but was quickly discarded as soon as radio stations began playing this one!
Predictions for next week: Well, it’s kind of hard to say. Not sure if we’ll get a special show, a regular weekly show, or both (like we did on Memorial Day weekend). If we get a weekly show, my prediction is July 3, 1982, with my back-up prediction being the regular show for the week of July 2, 1988. If we get a special show, my prediction is the Triathalon of Rock & Roll special, which was the Independence Day special of 1988. My back-up prediction would be the Giants of Rock & Roll special from 1986, but frankly, I’m surprised that they chose that one back in 2007, because there were so many pre-1980 songs on there. So honestly, if they do a special, I don’t see them doing any others besides the Triathalon special.
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Post by mkarns on Jul 1, 2012 1:37:57 GMT -5
If we get a weekly show, my prediction is July 3, 1982, with my back-up prediction being the regular show for the week of July 2, 1988. It can't be 7/2/88, because Scott Evans filled in for Casey that week.
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Post by atruefan on Jul 1, 2012 10:24:38 GMT -5
Here’s my critique of the 6/25/77 American Top 40:
40. People In Love – 10cc – I can remember hearing this song during its one and only week on AT40. I thought it basically sounded like a slowed down version of “The Things We Do For Love.” I always liked the group’s eclectic songs more than their standard fare. Songs like “I’m Not In Love” and “I’m Mandy Fly Me,” had an ethereal quality that I much preferred. Years later, two former members of the group (Godley & Creme) had a hit with “Cry,” which also had that same ethereal quality.
39. Easy – The Commodores – For me, this was the beginning of the end of the Commodores having a funk sound. Yes, they kept it up with future upbeat songs like “Brick House” and “Too Hot Ta Trot,” but the cool funky sound era of ballads like “Sweet Love” and “Just To Be Close To You” was drawing to a close. By the time “Still” came out, there was absolutely no sense of funk whatsoever in their ballads.
38. Peace Of Mind – Boston – Despite loving a lot of mid to late 70s hard rock, I was not a Boston fan. The hits from their first two albums all sort of sounded the same to me. With both of those albums there was a smash hit, a mid charting number, and a song you could barely call a hit.
37. Couldn’t Get It Right – Climax Blues Band – I was always surprised how well this song did. At the time I didn’t particularly care for it, but time has been kind to my perception of this song. They did have one other top 40 hit, “I Love You” which I still don’t care for. My favorite song from the group was a fantastic tune called “Gotta Have More Love,” which inexplicably peaked at 47 in early 1981.
36. All You Get From Love Is A Love Song – Carpenters – Unfortunately this pretty much marked the end of Karen and Richard’s reign on the charts. The “Passages” album was Richard’s attempt to somewhat broaden the Carpenter’s musical scope. This was especially apparent on “Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft.” This particular song was, however, still in the familiar vein of their previous hits, and I was sorry that it peaked so low. Regardless of what she sang, no one could hold a candle to Karen Carpenter’s voice.
35. It’s Sad To Belong – England Dan & John Ford Coley – After back to back hits written by Parker McGee, the duo recorded this pleasant but rather slight hit, which was one of the first hits for songwriter Randy Goodrum. Goodrum would go on to write hits for Anne Murray like “You Needed Me” and “Broken Hearted Me.” He also wrote Michael Johnson’s first hit “Bluer Than Blue.” My favorite Goodrum hit would come in ‘78 with Gene Cotton’s “Before My Heart Finds Out,” which actually has a sound very reminiscent of the hits of Dan and John.
34. You Made Me Believe In Magic – Bay City Rollers – My absolute favorite song from the group. This is just a perfect piece of pop. The driving production and beautiful string arrangement add up to a sound that truly deserved to go to #1. If was funny hearing Casey say that they hadn’t had a hit in 7 months. Of course in teen idol group time, that’s practically a decade!
33. When I Need You – Leo Sayer – Out of the three hits from “Endless Flight,” this was my least favorite song. Although it was nice to hear Sayer sing sans the falsetto he used in the other two songs. This hit was written by former top 40 artist Albert Hammond, and future top 40 artist Carole Bayer Sager. Since I don’t do reviews of the 80s charts, I’ll take this time to say that the vocal performance of Miss Sager on “Stronger Than Before” has to rank as one of the worst I’ve ever heard.
32. Luckenbach, Texas (Back To The Basics Of Love) – Waylon Jennings – In another thread we were talking about subtitles that Casey never mentioned. I don’t know if he ever said this one, but it was most certainly an unnecessary addition to an otherwise memorable title. This pleasant song spent 6 weeks on top of the country chart and did relatively well on AT40, peaking at 25. 31. You’re My World – Helen Reddy – Ms. Reddy’s top 40 career ended with this song, but she definitely went out with a bang. The production on this song is first rate, and for me, this is one of Reddy’s very best vocal performances.
30. Ain’t Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman) – Joe Tex – Can you imagine the uproar if a song with this title was released today? Casey told how Tex always got his voice raspy before recording. Although I’ve previously said I greatly dislike raspy voices, Tex’s voice actually wasn’t that bad. That being said, I was never a huge fan of this song despite its disco background. It definitely seemed like a callous attempt at bringing Tex back to the charts. It worked, but that doesn’t make it good.
29. You And Me – Alice Cooper – After a series of hard rock hits, Cooper went soft in ’75, and spent the rest of the decade in that mode. Interestingly 3 out of the 4 ballads peaked at 12. Cooper turned to punk in 1980 and hit the top 40. Unfortunately it was only on the 40 for one and that was a week AT40 did a special, so Clones (We’re All) (yet another example of unnecessary use of parentheses – wait, is this an example of unnecessary parentheses?) was never heard by AT40 listeners. Cooper would then have to wait until 1989 to have another hit. I always thought the end of this song was kind of interesting. Often songs would end with the chorus being repeated over and over as the record faded out. This one actually went back to the first verse and faded out from there.
28. Gonna Fly Now (Theme From “Rocky”) – Maynard Ferguson – An actual song with an appropriate use of parentheses. I often wondered if most of the sales of this song were by people who wanted the Bill Conti version and grabbed this instead. Not that this version is bad. I enjoyed the danceable production, and Ferguson obviously was a master of the trumpet.
27. Knowing Me, Knowing You – Abba – 14 top 40 hits and not a dud in the bunch (well, “Honey, Honey” wasn’t that good). The great thing about Abba was that no song ever sounded like another one (well, “Chiquitita” did sound like “Fernando.”) Bottom line – a great song that still sounds great today.
AT40 Extra – Handy Man – James Taylor – A nicely performed remake by Taylor. The way I most associate this song with AT40 had to do with station WYSL in Buffalo. Back in 1977, I would listen to AT40 on Sunday mornings on WBBF in Rochester, and then listen to it again on WYSL on Sunday night. Well, one night I tuned in, and instead of the intro to the show, I heard Casey starting to intro “Handy Man,” which at the time was well on its way up the 40. After about 10 seconds of the intro, one of the station djs broke in and said “Hey Casey, didn’t you get the note, you’ve been fired!” and that was the end of AT40 on WYSL.
26. Ariel – Dean Friedman – This song spent 22 weeks on the Hot 100. That was pretty good for a song that peaked at 26. Of course the up and down, and then up and down again trajectory it took helped. We heard the “non-Jewish” version this week. I don’t know if they ever did play the “she was a Jewish girl” version. It’s funny that a song could call a woman “big” and “fat,” but not “Jewish.”
25. Sir Duke – Stevie Wonder – This was the one song during the spring and early summer that spent more than one week at number one. The six songs that hit the top before it, and the seven after it, all spent only one week at the top of the chart. It was definitely a case of feast or famine with the singles from “Songs In The Key Of Life.” “I Wish” and “Sir Duke” both hit the top, while “Another Star” and “As” only hit numbers 32 and 36 respectively. Of course, who knows how big a hit “Isn’t She Lovely” would have been, if it had been released as a single. I think I hear the non-hit more than I hear the number ones.
24. Whatcha Gonna Do? – Pablo Cruise – A great song (despite its being a grammatical mess.) Like Boston, I always thought all of Pablo Cruise’s songs sounded pretty much the same. Unlike Boston, however, I liked that sound. Interestingly, despite this being the biggest moving record on the countdown, Casey never mentioned that accomplishment.
23. (Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher And Higher – Instead, he mentions that this song was one of the week’s biggest movers, though it only went up ten notches as opposed to Pablo Cruise’s eleven notch jump. This was another case of an unnecessary subtitle. Jackie Wilson’s original had the subtitle “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me),” but at least he sang those words in the song. Coolidge (to my untrained ears) never even sings her subtitle, instead always singing “your love is lifting me.” Both the Coolidge and Pablo Cruise songs were on the A&M label, and we were very close to pulling off a coup of having consecutive label numbers being back to back. Pablo Cruise was number 1920 and Coolidge was 1922. For those interested, A&M 1921 was a song by Burt Bacharach called “I Took My Strength From You.” That was definitely a “no, just no” record. Anyway, I actually found an instance where a label did have consecutive label numbers back to back. On the 3/11/78 chart “Lay Down Sally” and “Stayin’ Alive” were back to back with consecutive label numbers.
22. Love’s Grown Deep – Kenny Nolan – AKA “I Like Dreamin’” part two, this was actually not a bad song, although it was Nolan’s last hit as a singer. While I may have liked songs he co-wrote for others more (“Lady Marmalade” and “My Eyes Adored You” among them), this song is always nice to hear occasionally. I give Nolan credit for knowing that he didn’t have a very strong voice, and writing himself songs that acknowledged that deficit. I even liked the end with the “aah aah aahs.” Normally, I feel that songwriters are being lazy when they substitute sounds for words, but in this case it really worked well. I remember Nolan being on “American Bandstand” and after lip-syncing “I Like Dreamin’,” Dick Clark brought him glass of water. Talk about nervous!
21. High School Dance – Sylvers – Another swan song. This did not have the “poppy” confection sound of their previous two hits. That’s because unlike the first two songs that were co-written by their producer Freddie Perren, this was written by some of the Sylvers. That includes Leon Sylvers III, who would go on to co-write and/or produce such songs as “The Second Time Around” for Shalimar, and “And The Beat Goes On” for the Whispers. I always liked the old time school bell at the beginning of the song. Unfortunately it was cut off from this week’s show.
20. Slow Dancin’ Turn Me On – Addrisi Brothers – And the swan songs continue. Dick and Don wrote “Never My Love,” but my favorite composition of theirs will always be the theme to “Nanny And The Professor,” which they sang. This mid-tempo disco number had a nice feel to it, and they did write it, but like the Joe Tex song, it seemed like another case of a non-disco group trying to resurrect their career with a disco song. I will say that I loved their last Hot 100 single “Ghost Dancer.” Yes, it was another disco song, but in the capable hands of Freddie Perren, it sounded great.
19. I’m Your Boogie Man – KC And The Sunshine Band – Another great song by Casey and Finch. I think I mentioned in a previous post the irony of KC and company being partially responsible for the success of disco, and yet you would never guess it from their representation on the disco chart. “Get Down Tonight” and “That’s The Way (I Like It) – uuggh! get rid of those parentheses – didn’t even hit the top 10 on the disco chart. And their album, “Part 3,” which contained “(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty” – another innocuous subtitle – “I’m Your Boogie Man” and “Keep It Comin’ Love” only peaked at 9. Part of the problem may have been that other than “Get Down Tonight,” I don’t think many (any?) of their hits were ever commercially available as extended versions. Maybe disco djs were only playing songs that ran over 3 and a half minutes.
18. I’m In You – Peter Frampton – This was my favorite of Frampton’s singles. The same named album cover, presented a bit of a problem for the rock star. It presented him in a teeny-bopper pose that would have been more appropriate for Shaun Cassidy. I seem to recall a lot of backlash from it. This was nothing however, compared to what happened to Billy Squier after his “Rock Me Tonite” video presented him in a way that virtually destroyed his career.
17. Heard It In A Love Song – Marshall Tucker Band – I remember when I first heard this, I thought Firefall had gone country. I think it was because both this song and “You Are The Woman” featured prominent flute parts. Yet another swan song by a group that didn’t even have anyone named Marshall Tucker in the band. The band was named after the owner of their rehearsal hall.
16. Do You Wanna Make Love – Peter McCann – Talk about a blaze a glory. In a matter of a few months McCann had a top 10 hit with a song he wrote for Jennifer Warnes called “Right Time Of The Night,” and his own top 10 hit with this song. Then, absolutely nothing. I much preferred the Warnes song to this one. Partially because Warnes is a far better sing, but also because I thought the lyrics to this song were lame.
15. I Just Want To Be Your Everything – Andy Gibb – A very impressive debut record for the youngest of the Gibb brothers. I was disappointed that the song prevented “I’m In You” from being number one, but not nearly as much as when “Shadow Dancing” prevented “Baker Street” from being number one. It’s hard to believe that next year it will be 25 years since Andy Gibb died.
14. My Heart Belongs To Me – Barbra Streisand – The absolute best hit La Streisand ever had. The production on this is impeccable. I equate it with the production on Engelbert Humperdinck’s “After The Lovin’.” In both cases, the sound was so lush, and that combined with the vocals made those records near perfect. I may not be a big fan of Streisand’s, but there is no doubt the woman can sing.
AT40 Extra – I Feel Love – Donna Summer – While I certainly understand why this song was played, it really “broke the rules” since it didn’t even hit the Hot 100 for another 6 weeks. That being said, this was really the hit that showed Summer was more than a one hit wonder. Despite having great albums that charted fairly well, she could not get another top 40 hit after “Love To Love You Baby.” This song showed she was here to stay. I remember on the disco special when they played this song they quoted co-writer/co-producer Giorgio Moroder as saying how important electronic instruments were to disco. If you didn’t have them, he said “it would be like soup without salt.” Casey then leads into the song by saying you could taste the salt in “I Feel Love.” Truly a groundbreaking single.
13. Looks Like We Made It – Barry Manilow – I was never a big fan of Ray Stevens comedy songs, but I always had a soft spot for “I Need Your Help Barry Manilow.” Probably because I thought Manilow’s songs always sounded the same, that they were rife for parody. Manilow certainly had a lot of popular songs, but like Linda Rondstadt with her remakes, I just thought he went to the same well way too many times.
12. Margaritaville – Jimmy Buffett – As “Moonlight Feels Right” was the perfect summer song for 1976, I thought this one fit the bill for 1977. Despite never having another song remotely as popular chart-wise as this one, Buffett certainly managed to turn a few hits into an extremely lucrative career.
11. Life In The Fast Lane – Eagles – The closest I come to a “no, just no” song on this week’s countdown. Every single from “Hotel California” got more and more intense. “New Kid In Town” was very mellow, the title cut had more of a rock tone to it, and then this thing. I suspect part of the reason I didn’t like it was because profanity was forbidden in our household and I always had to be careful not to let my parents hear this song. While I will confess my use of profanity has definitely increased, my admiration for this song has not.
10. Jet Airliner – Steve Miller Band – And the profanity continues. Thankfully, AM radio had the ridiculous “funky kicks” version so I didn’t have to worry about this song being played in the house. Unlike Barry Manilow, Miller always seemed to have different sounds to his hit records, but I liked them all (well, I didn’t care for “Heart Like A Wheel”).
9. Angel In Your Arms – Hot – This was one of those songs I loved despite not knowing why. It was also a song that I, and apparently a lot of other people, never got sick of. It spent 19 weeks in the top 40 and 27 weeks on the Hot 100. Despite only peaking at number 5, Billboard had it as the 5th most popular song of ’77. Since AT40 did their own list that year, listeners heard it at number 8 instead. This song featured the phenomenal voice of Gwen Owens, and despite the fact that the group never had another hit, this song still gets well-deserved airplay.
8. Da Doo Ron Ron – Shaun Cassidy – My sister was in love with Shaun Cassidy. I remember once one of her friends said she thought Cassidy was not good looking because he had a pronounced adam’s apple. My sister responded with profanity – good thing she wasn’t in the house! I actually liked this song. Producer Michael Lloyd became well known for doing remakes of prior hits for teen-centric acts. He produced hits not only for Cassidy, but for Leif Garrett and Donny and Marie. I never watched the show, but apparently Cassidy introduced this song on the show he was starring in at the time “The Hardy Boys Mysteries.” Cassidy was actually nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy, which speaks more, I think, about the state of the Grammys at the time, rather than to Cassidy’s vocal prowess.
7. Lonely Boy – Andrew Gold – A song I always liked despite my youthful ears being confused by the lyrics. “And with the slap of a hand he had landed as an only son?” Just what exactly was slapped that prevented his parents from having any more boys? I also disliked the line “when they said he was an only son, he thought he was an only one.” Talk about self-centered – well I guess most kids think only how things will impact them. This song still gets airplay and I still enjoy hearing it. While many people equate “Thank You For Being A Friend” with Gold, thanks to the “Golden Girls,” my favorite song from him will always be “Never Let Her Slip Away.” This song, which apparently features Freddie Mercury doing background vocals, hit number 5 in the U.K., but only got to a disgraceful 67 in the U.S. This is a perfect pop song that deserves to be heard.
6. Dreams – Fleetwood Mac – This was one of those cases where I bought the album and said I loved the singles despite not even liking the group. In hindsight, it was a case of where everyone else was doing it, so I thought I had to. I think I was way too young to appreciate anything as complex as “Rumours.” I did like “You Make Loving Fun,” and later realized that all my favorite Fleetwood Mac songs were written by Christine McVie. I’ve read several online articles recently about the 35th anniversary of “Rumours,” and they all state how well the album holds up even today.
5. Lucille – Kenny Rogers – I remember wondering why this song was so popular. Then, one day coming back from a track meet, that song came on the bus radio. We had lost the meet and no one was in a particularly good mood. And yet as soon as one kid started singing out loud with the song, we all joined in. I can still recall a bus full of kids singing, with their best country twang, “You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille.” I then realized some songs were just fun to sing along with.
4. Feels Like The First Time – Foreigner – As lead singer Lou Gramm was from my neck of the woods, you were almost expected to like Foreigner. Thankfully, unlike Fleetwood Mac at the time, I truly did like the group. By the time the 80s rolled around, I was less enamored with them, but it’s still great to hear tunes like this and “Cold As Ice.”
3. Undercover Angel – Alan O’Day – O’Day was responsible for two of my favorite songs, “Train Of Thought” by Cher, and “Angie Baby” by Helen Reddy. Unfortunately as a writer of songs for himself, he only came up with one hit. Well, I guess if you’re going to be a one hit wonder you could do far worse than this song. Well produced by veteran producer Steve Barri, this song is a staple on many 70s formatted stations and shows. O’Day’s only other Hot 100 single “Started Out Dancing, Ended Up Making Love” is not a bad song, but it’s clearly missing something that “Undercover Angel” had – maybe a good title?
AT40 Extra – Swayin’ To The Music (Slow Dancin’) – Johnny Rivers – Another puzzling subtitle. Why isn’t “Slow Dancin’” before “Swayin’ To The Music” as it is in the song? This was an all right song, but I recall often feeling drowsy after listening to it. Good thing I couldn’t drive then.
2. Gonna Fly Now (Theme From “Rocky”) – Bill Conti – I always found it odd that this song required two people to write the lyrics. Clearly we weren’t talking “American Pie” here. Conti never saw the top 40 again, but went on to record the themes to such television shows as “Dynasty” and “Falcon Crest,” and he also won an Academy Award for writing the score to “The Right Stuff.”
1. Got To Give It Up Pt. I – Marvin Gaye – I’d like to say I saved the best for last, but I can’t. Despite my love of disco, this song just never interested me very much. Gaye sang it so high it was difficult to even understand the lyrics. Maybe that’s why for the first few weeks AT40 played the more instrumental “part 2.” I also didn’t like the intrusive party voices in the background throughout the entire song. I was definitely in the minority, as this was a huge hit for Gaye.
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Post by mrjukebox on Jul 1, 2012 15:35:15 GMT -5
It was interesting to note that in his intro to "Got To Give It Up",Casey said the song was recorded live in London-Obviously,that's incorrect.
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Post by bestmusicexpert on Jul 1, 2012 19:35:15 GMT -5
It was on an album with that title, maybe thats why he said it.
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Post by bigal on Jul 1, 2012 20:22:21 GMT -5
Here’s my critique of the 6/25/77 American Top 40: 29. You And Me – Alice Cooper – I always thought the end of this song was kind of interesting. Often songs would end with the chorus being repeated over and over as the record faded out. This one actually went back to the first verse and faded out from there. Thats the 45 version, the LP version actually has a full third verse (repeat of the first),. The LP one has a full second chorus (cut in half for 45, not sure why) then the thirs verse, which doesnt fade, then the chorus, then fades on a instrumental part.
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jcs72
Full Member
Posts: 141
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Post by jcs72 on Jul 1, 2012 21:14:02 GMT -5
I noticed they edited out the Jeremiah Wright words from "Life In The Fast Lane"!
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Post by mrjukebox on Jul 3, 2012 21:57:39 GMT -5
Here's my critique of the countdown from 7/3/82-That weekend I was listening to "AT40" on the now defunct WNBC in New York-Those were the days! Anyway,here goes: #40-"Angel In Blue"-J.Geils Band-The third & final release from the album "Freeze Frame"-Great song that should've been a bigger hit. #39-"Hooked On Swing"-Larry Elgart & The Manhattan Swing Orchestra-The only top forty hit for this native of New London,CT-Great montage of Big Band era classics. #38-"Dancing In The Street"-Van Halen-From the album "Diver Down"-Decent rendition of a song that Martha & The Vandellas took to #2 in 1964. #37-"Island Of Lost Souls"-Blondie-Their final top forty hit-Decent song. #36-"Hope You Love Me Like You Say You Do"-Huey Lewis & The News-Great song that should've charted higher. #35-"Be Mine Tonight"-Neil Diamond-One of his lesser known hits-Great song. #34-"Hard To Say I'm Sorry"-Chicago-This song was on the soundtrack of the movie "Summer Lovers" which starred Daryl Hannah-A timeless classic that still receives recurrent airplay. #33-"This Man Is Mine"-Heart-One of their lesser known hits-Great song. #32-"After The Glitter Fades"-Stevie Nicks-The fourth & final release from the album "Bella Donna"-I'm rather surprised that this song didn't do as well as the previous releases. #31-"Early In The Morning"-The Gap Band-The first of two top forty hits for this R&B group from Tulsa,OK-Great song that was also a hit for Robert Palmer in 1988. #30-"Going To A Go-Go"-Rolling Stones-From the album "Still Life"-Great rendition of a song that was originally a hit for Smokey Robinson & The Miracles in 1966. #29-"Wasted On The Way"-Crosby,Stills & Nash-The initial release from the album "Daylight Again"-A timeless classic. #28-"Body Language"-Queen-Great song-FYI:The opening of this song is similar to "Make A Move On Me" by Olivia Newton-John which was also a hit in 1982. #27-"Even The Nights Are Better"-Air Supply-This one has timeless classic written all over it. #26-"Break It Up"-Foreigner-From the album "4"-Can't understand why this wasn't a bigger hit. #25-"Personally"-Karla Bonoff-The only top forty hit for this native of Santa Monica,CA-Great song that radio has chosen to ignore. #24-"Still They Ride"-Journey-The fourth & final release from the album "Escape"-Great song. #23-"Forget Me Nots"-Patrice Rushen-The only top forty hit for this Los Angeles native-Great song that was sampled on George Michael's 1996 hit "Fastlove". #22-"Hold Me"-Fleetwood Mac-The initial release from the album "Mirage"-Great song that still recieves recurrent airplay. #21-"What Kind Of Fool Am I"-Rick Springfield-Frankly,I'd rather hear this song than the overplayed "Jessie's Girl". #20-"Keep The Fire Burnin"-REO Speedwagon-The initial release from the album "Good Trouble"-Great song. #19-"Abracadabra"-Steve Miller Band-Their final top forty hit & a bonafide classic. #18-"Take Me Down"-Alabama-Great song that topped the country chart. #17-"Play The Game Tonight"-Kansas-One of their lesser known hits-Great song. #16-"Do I Do"-Stevie Wonder-Another great song that radio has chosen to ignore. #15-"Any Day Now"-Ronnie Milsap-Great rendition of a song that was originally a hit for Chuck Jackson twenty years earlier. #14-"The Other Woman"-Ray Parker Jr-Great song. #13-"Only The Lonely"-The Motels-Not to be confused with Roy Orbison's 1960 hit of the same name,this was the breakthrough release for this Los Angeles based group that featured Martha Davis on lead vocals-A timeless classic. #12-"Crimson & Clover"-Joan Jett & The Blackhearts-In 1969,this song was a #1 hit for Tommy James & The Shondells-Fantastic rendition. #11-"Tainted Love"-Soft Cell-The only top forty hit for the English synth-pop duo of Marc Almond & David Ball-Another bonafide classic. #10-"Caught Up In You"-.38 Special-Their biggest hit overall-Great song. #9-"Eye Of The Tiger"-Survivor-Their biggest hit overall-Great song that was featured in the movie "Rocky III". #8-"Love's Been A Little Bit Hard On Me"-Juice Newton-Great song. #7-"Let It Whip"-The Dazz Band-The only top forty hit for this group that was based in Cleveland,OH-Great song. #6-"Always On My Mind"-Willie Nelson-Another timeless classic. #5-"Hurts So Good"-John Cougar-The initial release from his album "American Fool"-Great song that still receives recurrent airplay. #4-"Heat Of The Moment"-Asia-The first & biggest hit for this British group-Great song. #3-"Ebony & Ivory"-Paul Mc Cartney & Stevie Wonder-A one-off duet for these musical giants-Another bonafide classic. #2-"Rosanna"-Toto-Rumor has it this song was written about actress Rosanna Arquette who was dating group member Steve Porcaro at the time-Great song. #1-"Don't You Want Me"-Human League-The breakthrough release for this New Wave group from Sheffield,England that featured Philip Oakey on lead vocals-Great song.
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Post by dukelightning on Jul 4, 2012 7:40:38 GMT -5
mrj....."Caught up in You" is second to "Second Chance" for .38 Special's biggest hit. But it is my fave tune of theirs.
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Post by jdelachjr2002 on Jul 4, 2012 17:53:00 GMT -5
Here's my critique of the countdown from 7/3/82-That weekend I was listening to "AT40" on the now defunct WNBC in New York-Those were the days! And this week marked the 25th Anniversary of its' replacement WFAN (although it didn't replace WNBC 25 years ago; it initially replaced WHN - 1250 AM - and then more than a year later swapped frequencies to 660 WNBC).
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Post by Hervard on Jul 6, 2012 11:34:23 GMT -5
mrj....."Caught up in You" is second to "Second Chance" for .38 Special's biggest hit. But it is my fave tune of theirs. Well, "Caught Up In You" was the biggest hit by them before Max Carl took over as lead singer. Frankly, they just weren't 38 Special anymore at that point. They sounded like second rate Sting, especially on "Second Chance". "Sound Of Your Voice" did sound a little more like their 80s music, but still, my favorite songs by them were in the 80s when Don Barnes and Donnie Van Zant were the lead singers. (I know I'm going to be raked over the coals about this post, but it's not going to change my opinion, lol!)
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Post by Big Red Machine on Jul 6, 2012 12:54:49 GMT -5
36: ALL YOU GET FROM LOVE IS A LOVE SONG - THE CARPENTERS (40) - 35: IT'S SAD TO BELONG - ENGLAND DAN & JOHN FORD COLEY (39) - Great song! Too bad this one missed the Top Ten. Hey Hervard, what happened to #36? I suggest that you do this more often.
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Post by at40petebattistini on Jul 6, 2012 13:13:45 GMT -5
>>39. Hooked On Swing - Larry Elgart, etc.<<<
One of the melodies this song features is "In The Mood". And I understand that another member of this site, after hearing this tune, started clucking like a "henhouse" chicken.
;D
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Post by atruefan on Jul 7, 2012 8:27:22 GMT -5
I wasn't sure where to put this so I chose the "critique" section. Instead of critiquing all the songs on the disco countdown, I decided to give information on where these songs landed on the actual disco chart.
The Billboard disco chart began in 1974 but ended in March of 1975. For some reason, Billboard stopped listing a single chart and instead listed several different rankings from different discos. This went on until August of 1976. When Joel Whitburn compiled the chart info for his "Hot Dance/Disco 1974-2003" compendium, he used Record World's disco chart for the period when Billboard didn't generate a single disco chart.
I've included all disco songs from the original 1979 countdown (don't know and don't care what Premiere did with the countdown now). I obviously will not include the slow dance songs.
Extra – Rock The Boat – The Hues Corporation – Not listed because the first disco chart wasn’t published until 10/26/74.
40. Love To Love You Baby – Donna Summer - #1 for 4 weeks
39. Shake Your Groove Thing – Peaches & Herb - #2 for 4 weeks
38. (Every Time I Turn Around) Back In Love Again – L.T.D. - #19
37. Last Dance – Donna Summer - #1 for 6 weeks – The song was part of a group of songs from the “Thank God It’s Friday” soundtrack that were listed together. The other songs were “After Dark” by Pattie Brooks, “Thank God It’s Friday” by Love And Kisses, and “Take It To The Zoo” by Sunshine (This was a group that was comprised of Donna Summer’s sisters. The song was co-written by Summer and two members of Brooklyn Dreams – Joe “Bean”[an awful nickname if I ever heard one] Esposito, and Summer’s future husband Bruce Sudano.)
36. Turn The Beat Around – Vicki Sue Robinson - #1 for 4 weeks
35. Keep It Comin’ Love – KC & The Sunshine Band - #9 – The song itself was never listed on the disco chart, instead it was included in the album “Part 3” which was how it showed up.
34. Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground) – The Jacksons - #20 This song along with another song from the “Destiny” album (“Blame It On The Boogie – which hit #54 by The Jacksons, and #61 by the song's composer Mick Jackson) were both listed together on the chart.
33. Dance With Me – Peter Brown - #4
32. That’s The Way (I Like It) – KC & The Sunshine Band - #18
31. I Feel Love – Donna Summer - #1 for 3 weeks The song was never listed on the disco chart, instead it was included on the album “I Remember Yesterday” which was how it showed up.
30. Dazz – Brick - #7
29. Disco Inferno – The Trammps - #1 for 6 weeks in 1977. The song was listed with two other songs “Starvin’” and “Body Contact Contract.” Interestingly, despite its popularity coming from its inclusion on the “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack, it was never listed on the chart as part of the soundtrack.
28. Knock On Wood – Amii Stewart - #5
27. You Should Be Dancing – Bee Gees - #1 for 7 weeks
26. Get Up And Boogie (That’s Right) – Silver Convention - #5
25. In The Navy – Village People - #14 This song, along with two other songs from the “Go West” album (“Manhattan Woman” and the title cut), were all listed together.
24. You Sexy Thing – Hot Chocolate – Never hit the disco chart; in fact the group was never listed on the chart.
23. Got To Give It Up – Marvin Gaye #1 for 1 week
22. Fly, Robin, Fly – Silver Convention #1 for 3 weeks
21. Hot Stuff – Donna Summer - #1 for 7 weeks. Another example of an odd listing by Billboard. Summer’s previous three studio albums were all listed on the chart as just a single album, suggesting that all cuts were being played. That did not happen with the “Bad Girls” album, instead, just “Hot Stuff” and “Bad Girls” were listed together.
20. Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band – Meco - #6
19. More, More, More – Andrea True Connection - #2 for 2 weeks As far as I know, this was the last time Casey ever mentioned Andrea True. It was also the first time he ever mentioned her foray into X-rated movies – he called them “blue movies.”
18. Miss You – The Rolling Stones - #6
Extra – Disco Duck – Rick Dees & His Cast Of Idiots – Never hit the disco chart.
17. Car Wash – Rose Royce - #3
16. If I Can’t Have You – Yvonne Elliman – Never hit the disco chart. The biggest surprise for me was this song’s exclusion from the chart. While one would have expected Billboard to include all the songs from the “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack as a single entity on the chart, they did not do that. Instead, they just listed the three new up tempo Bee Gees songs. Then, for inexplicable reasons, they never even listed “If I Can’t Have You” as a separate entity by Yvonne Elliman.
15. (Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty – KC & The Sunshine Band - #9 This song was also not listed separately, but as part of the “Part 3” album.
14. I’m Your Boogie Man – KC & The Sunshine Band - #9 Again, not listed separately, but as part of the “Part 3” album.
13. Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah) – Chic #1 for 8 weeks. This song was listed along with two other songs from the “Chic” album (“Everybody Dance” and “You Can Get By”).
12. MacArthur Park – Donna Summer - #1 for 5 weeks Listed on the chart as “MacArthur Park Suite” (which was the studio side of the “Live And More” album. The songs in the suite were “MacArthur Park,” “Heaven Knows,” “One Of A Kind,” and then a reprise of “MacArthur Park.”
11. Don’t Leave Me This Way – Thelma Houston - #1 for 6 weeks Listed along with another song (“Any Way You Like It”) from Houston’s album also called “Any Way You Like It.”
10. Y.M.C.A – Village People #2 for 2 weeks Listed along with “Hot Cop.” Both songs were from the “Cruisin’” album.
9. Boogie Oogie Oogie – A Taste Of Honey - #1 for 3 weeks
8. I Love The Night Life (Disco ‘Round) – Alicia Bridges - #2 for 2 weeks
Extra – The Hustle – Van McCoy - #3
7. Da Ya Think I’m Sexy? – Rod Stewart - #1 for 3 weeks
6. I Will Survive – Gloria Gaynor - #1 for 3 weeks. This song was listed with three other songs from the “Love Tracks” album – “Substitute” (the original a-side of “I Will Survive”), “Anybody Wanna Party?”, and “I Said Yes.”
5. A Fifth Of Beethoven – Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band – Never hit the disco chart. I was always surprised at how well this song did on this countdown.
Extra – San Francisco – Village People - #1 for 7 weeks. Never listed separately, but only as part of their debut album, cleverly called “Village People.”
4. Best Of My Love – The Emotions - #11
3. Stayin’ Alive – Bee Gees - #3 Hard to believe the album that was instrumental in introducing a huge audience to disco only got to #3. As previously mentioned, this song was listed along with “Night Fever” and “More Than A Woman,” all by the Bee Gees.
2. Night Fever – Bee Gees – #3 See above.
1. Le Freak – Chic #1 for 7 weeks Listed along with “I Want Your Love” and “Chic Cheer,” all of which were from the groups “C’est Chic” album.
The biggest disco hit from the timeframe AT40 used actually wasn't even on the disco countdown. The song "Bad Luck" by Harold Melvin And The Blue Notes only peaked at #15 on the Hot 100, but spent 11 weeks on top of the disco chart (the first three on the Billboard chart and the last 8 on the Record World disco chart.)
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