Post by Hervard on Sept 1, 2012 12:36:17 GMT -5
American Top 40: The 80s - September 1, 2012
This week’s presentation - September 5, 1981
I cheered when I found that this show was being played, since it’s been quite awhile since the last 1981 show. They pretty much skipped the summer of 1981 (although technically, this is still summer, but you know what I mean). That’s OK, though, since they’ve already done many of the playable shows from 1981 and I’d rather have a “new” show than a repeat.
Droppers:
THE STROKE - BILLY SQUIER (38) - Meh, no big loss. I always found this song quite annoying.
IN THE AIR TONIGHT - PHIL COLLINS (37) - Good song, but definitely not my favorite from him.
EVERLASTING LOVE - REX SMITH & RACHEL SWEET (32) - Great song. I seem to remember that this one was one of my favorite versions of this song.
YOU’RE MY GIRL - FRANKE & THE KNOCKOUTS (27) - Great song! I still prefer their two other Top 40 hits, though.
LW#1: ENDLESS LOVE – DIANA ROSS & LIONEL RICHIE - Wow, I had forgotten that, at this point, they only played the #1 song of the previous week (heck, a few weeks later, they didn’t even do that - just mentioned the top three songs and that was it. I think that may have been because “Hey Jude” by the Beatles (all seven minutes of it) was one of the archive songs that week.
40: THE NIGHT OWLS – THE LITTLE RIVER BAND (debut) - Great song, though I preferred their 1979 hits.
39: NICOLE – POINT BLANK (40) - Great song! I remember this one quite well, as WLS played this one constantly back in the fall of 1981. I’m kind of surprised that this song didn’t do any better than it did (it dropped off the chart the following week).
38: SOME DAYS ARE DIAMONDS – JOHN DENVER (debut) - Good song, but I prefer many other songs by him.
37: YOU COULD TAKE MY HEART AWAY – SILVER CONDOR (39) - Great song! Too bad it didn’t get past #32. Very underrated.
36: CHLOE – ELTON JOHN (debut) - Good song. Interesting that Elton was the first act to debut at #1 on the album charts. And, back when that was an extremely rare feat to commit, not only did he do it twice, but twice within a matter of months! (Now, of course, debuting at the top of the album chart is pretty much the rule).
35: DON’T GIVE IT UP – ROBBIE PATTON (26) - Great song! This is another one that was somewhat underrated.
34: IT’S NOW OR NEVER – JOHN SCHNEIDER (20) - Great remake of the Elvis Presley classic!
33: SUPER FREAK – RICK JAMES (debut) - Of course, whenever I hear the bass line of this song, I always think of “U Can’t Touch This” by MC Hammer. This song is OK, but nothing I’d go out of my way to listen to.
32: DRAW OF THE CARDS – KIM CARNES (36) - It’s okies, but it doesn’t hold a candle to “Bette Davis Eyes”.
ARCHIVES: ODE TO BILLY JOE – BOBBY GENTRY - This song wasn’t bad, but it’s nothing I’d want to hear all the time.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: BURNIN’ FOR YOU - BLUE OYSTER CULT - Great song! Like “Nicole”, this song peaked very low on the AT40 chart, but was played all the time on WLS, so I remember this one quite well.
31: ELVIRA – THE OAK RIDGE BOYS (14) - Well, the good news is that this song took such a hard fall and would be out of there next week. The bad news, is that we’ll never hear the show where I get to say good riddance to this song, as that one was guest-hosted - which, of course, would be the good news to those of you who like this song.
30: BREAKING AWAY - BALANCE (33) - Great song - this one sounds like it was inspired by “Tired Of Toein’ The Line” by Rocky Burnette.
29: START ME UP – THE ROLLING STONES (35) - Meh, I’m kinda burned out on this one due to overplay.
LDD: YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND – CAROLE KING - Good song and it fit the dedication like a glove.
28: IN YOUR LETTER – REO SPEEDWAGON (34) - Great song! I love the 60s feel to this song.
27: HEARTS – MARTY BALIN (13) - Great song! Very hypnotic.
26: LOVE ON A TWO WAY STREET – STACY LATTISAW (28) - This song is pretty good - I do like it better than her snoozefest “Let Me Be Your Angel”.
25: I COULD NEVER MISS YOU - LULU (30) - Great song. The second song on the countdown to sound like it was inspired by a previous Top 40 hit (in this case, “The Immigrant” by Neil Sedaka).
24: ARTHUR’S THEME – CHRISTOPHER CROSS (31) - Great song! Definitely my favorite song by him!
23: FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – SHEENA EASTON (29) - Great song! Although, I was confused when Casey was going over parts of the body mentioned in the titles Top 40 hits. He said that the heart was the leader, mentioned in 26 Top 40 hits, but the eyes were in second place, with 42 songs. That would put it in first place. Was there something that I missed?
22: THE VOICE – THE MOODY BLUES (25) - Great song! Definitely one of my favorite songs by them!
ARCHIVES: THE LETTER – THE BOXTOPS - Great song! I like this, as well as the parody of this by comedian Dr. Dave called “Vanna Pick Me A Letter”.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: I’VE DONE EVERYTHING FOR YOU - RICK SPRINGFIELD - Good song, but I preferred his other song on this week’s show.
21: THAT OLD SONG – RAY PARKER JR. & RAYDIO (23) - Good song, but one of my least favorite songs by him/them.
20: FEELS SO RIGHT - ALABAMA (22) - This was OK, but I preferred several others by them (i.e. “Love In The First Degree” and “Shaggin’ On The Boulevard”).
19: THE BEACH BOYS MEDLEY – THE BEACH BOYS (24) - Great song! Or should I say songs?
18: HOLD ON TIGHT - ELO (21) - Meh, I was never a huge fan of this song. One of my least favorites by them
17: FIRE AND ICE – PAT BENATAR (19) - Great song! I still prefer a few others by her, however.
16: REALLY WANNA KNOW YOU – GARY WRIGHT (18) - Great song! Kind of a toss-up between this and “Love Is Alive” for my favorite song by him.
15: THE BREAKUP SONG (THEY DON’T WRITE ‘EM) – THE GREG KIHN BAND (17) - Good song, but I preferred “Jeopardy”.
14: BOY FROM NEW YORK CITY – THE MANHATTAN TRANSFER (12) - Good song, but I preferred “Mystery”, a Top Ten AC hit from the spring of 1984.
13: COOL LOVE – PABLO CRUISE (15) - Great song! One of my favorites from him, along with “Whatcha Gonna Do”.
12: STEP BY STEP – EDDIE RABBITT (16) - Good song. I love the way that, once it enters the Top Ten, it lives up to its title, literally taking it step by step to its peak position of #5.
11: I DON’T NEED YOU – KENNY ROGERS (11) - Great song! Sort of a guilty pleasure, as several people I know hate this song.
ARCHIVES: TO SIR WITH LOVE – LULU - This song wasn’t bad, but kind of lame. Kind of a coincidence that they got to this song the week that they told the first artist story about her since her comeback.
OPTIONAL: OUR LIPS ARE SEALED - THE GO-GOS - Great song! Much better than their next hit after this one.
10: THE THEME FROM “THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO” – JOEY SCARBURY (10) - Great song! One of my favorite TV show themes! I could tell that this was Premiere-edited - if you listen closely at the beginning, when he starts singing, it’s a slightly different key. Fortunately it wasn’t an edit that affected the length of the song.
9: JESSIE’S GIRL – RICK SPRINGFIELD (5) - Great song! One of my favorites by him!
8: LADY YOU BRING ME UP – THE COMMODORES (9) - Great song! I like the synthesized piano at the beginning.
7: WHO’S CRYING NOW - JOURNEY (7) - This song is good, but I prefer many others by them.
6: QUEEN OF HEARTS – JUICE NEWTON (6) - Great song! Casey mentioned that this song “may have peaked” at #6 the previous week. Not quite; the song got a second wind two weeks later and hit #2. It was locked out of #1 by “Endless Love”.
LDD: THE BEST OF TIMES - STYX - Great song! One of my favorites by them, and it did indeed fit the dedication.
5: (THERE’S) NO GETTIN’ OVER ME – RONNIE MILSAP (7) - Good song, but I prefer a few others by him.
4: URGENT - FOREIGNER (8) - Decent song, but nothing exceptional. I did like the thing about 4's, though.
3: STOP DRAGGIN’ MY HEART AROUND – STEVIE NICKS WITH TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS (4) - Good song. This is the first of six weeks that this song would spend at #3. That would remain the record for about twelve years (“Knockin’ Da Boots” by H-Town broke the record in 1993).
2: SLOW HAND – THE POINTER SISTERS (2) - Great song! Too bad this one fell short of the number one spot.
1: ENDLESS LOVE – DIANA ROSS & LIONEL RICHIE (1) - Good song, but I prefer other songs by both artists.
Predictions for next week: Several people have said that they’ll probably do 1986 next, and I tend to agree. However, I doubt it’s going to be the 9/13 show, since they did that one just last year. So my prediction for next week is September 6, 1986, with September 13, 1980 as my back-up prediction.
This week’s presentation - September 5, 1981
I cheered when I found that this show was being played, since it’s been quite awhile since the last 1981 show. They pretty much skipped the summer of 1981 (although technically, this is still summer, but you know what I mean). That’s OK, though, since they’ve already done many of the playable shows from 1981 and I’d rather have a “new” show than a repeat.
Droppers:
THE STROKE - BILLY SQUIER (38) - Meh, no big loss. I always found this song quite annoying.
IN THE AIR TONIGHT - PHIL COLLINS (37) - Good song, but definitely not my favorite from him.
EVERLASTING LOVE - REX SMITH & RACHEL SWEET (32) - Great song. I seem to remember that this one was one of my favorite versions of this song.
YOU’RE MY GIRL - FRANKE & THE KNOCKOUTS (27) - Great song! I still prefer their two other Top 40 hits, though.
LW#1: ENDLESS LOVE – DIANA ROSS & LIONEL RICHIE - Wow, I had forgotten that, at this point, they only played the #1 song of the previous week (heck, a few weeks later, they didn’t even do that - just mentioned the top three songs and that was it. I think that may have been because “Hey Jude” by the Beatles (all seven minutes of it) was one of the archive songs that week.
40: THE NIGHT OWLS – THE LITTLE RIVER BAND (debut) - Great song, though I preferred their 1979 hits.
39: NICOLE – POINT BLANK (40) - Great song! I remember this one quite well, as WLS played this one constantly back in the fall of 1981. I’m kind of surprised that this song didn’t do any better than it did (it dropped off the chart the following week).
38: SOME DAYS ARE DIAMONDS – JOHN DENVER (debut) - Good song, but I prefer many other songs by him.
37: YOU COULD TAKE MY HEART AWAY – SILVER CONDOR (39) - Great song! Too bad it didn’t get past #32. Very underrated.
36: CHLOE – ELTON JOHN (debut) - Good song. Interesting that Elton was the first act to debut at #1 on the album charts. And, back when that was an extremely rare feat to commit, not only did he do it twice, but twice within a matter of months! (Now, of course, debuting at the top of the album chart is pretty much the rule).
35: DON’T GIVE IT UP – ROBBIE PATTON (26) - Great song! This is another one that was somewhat underrated.
34: IT’S NOW OR NEVER – JOHN SCHNEIDER (20) - Great remake of the Elvis Presley classic!
33: SUPER FREAK – RICK JAMES (debut) - Of course, whenever I hear the bass line of this song, I always think of “U Can’t Touch This” by MC Hammer. This song is OK, but nothing I’d go out of my way to listen to.
32: DRAW OF THE CARDS – KIM CARNES (36) - It’s okies, but it doesn’t hold a candle to “Bette Davis Eyes”.
ARCHIVES: ODE TO BILLY JOE – BOBBY GENTRY - This song wasn’t bad, but it’s nothing I’d want to hear all the time.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: BURNIN’ FOR YOU - BLUE OYSTER CULT - Great song! Like “Nicole”, this song peaked very low on the AT40 chart, but was played all the time on WLS, so I remember this one quite well.
31: ELVIRA – THE OAK RIDGE BOYS (14) - Well, the good news is that this song took such a hard fall and would be out of there next week. The bad news, is that we’ll never hear the show where I get to say good riddance to this song, as that one was guest-hosted - which, of course, would be the good news to those of you who like this song.
30: BREAKING AWAY - BALANCE (33) - Great song - this one sounds like it was inspired by “Tired Of Toein’ The Line” by Rocky Burnette.
29: START ME UP – THE ROLLING STONES (35) - Meh, I’m kinda burned out on this one due to overplay.
LDD: YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND – CAROLE KING - Good song and it fit the dedication like a glove.
28: IN YOUR LETTER – REO SPEEDWAGON (34) - Great song! I love the 60s feel to this song.
27: HEARTS – MARTY BALIN (13) - Great song! Very hypnotic.
26: LOVE ON A TWO WAY STREET – STACY LATTISAW (28) - This song is pretty good - I do like it better than her snoozefest “Let Me Be Your Angel”.
25: I COULD NEVER MISS YOU - LULU (30) - Great song. The second song on the countdown to sound like it was inspired by a previous Top 40 hit (in this case, “The Immigrant” by Neil Sedaka).
24: ARTHUR’S THEME – CHRISTOPHER CROSS (31) - Great song! Definitely my favorite song by him!
23: FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – SHEENA EASTON (29) - Great song! Although, I was confused when Casey was going over parts of the body mentioned in the titles Top 40 hits. He said that the heart was the leader, mentioned in 26 Top 40 hits, but the eyes were in second place, with 42 songs. That would put it in first place. Was there something that I missed?
22: THE VOICE – THE MOODY BLUES (25) - Great song! Definitely one of my favorite songs by them!
ARCHIVES: THE LETTER – THE BOXTOPS - Great song! I like this, as well as the parody of this by comedian Dr. Dave called “Vanna Pick Me A Letter”.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: I’VE DONE EVERYTHING FOR YOU - RICK SPRINGFIELD - Good song, but I preferred his other song on this week’s show.
21: THAT OLD SONG – RAY PARKER JR. & RAYDIO (23) - Good song, but one of my least favorite songs by him/them.
20: FEELS SO RIGHT - ALABAMA (22) - This was OK, but I preferred several others by them (i.e. “Love In The First Degree” and “Shaggin’ On The Boulevard”).
19: THE BEACH BOYS MEDLEY – THE BEACH BOYS (24) - Great song! Or should I say songs?
18: HOLD ON TIGHT - ELO (21) - Meh, I was never a huge fan of this song. One of my least favorites by them
17: FIRE AND ICE – PAT BENATAR (19) - Great song! I still prefer a few others by her, however.
16: REALLY WANNA KNOW YOU – GARY WRIGHT (18) - Great song! Kind of a toss-up between this and “Love Is Alive” for my favorite song by him.
15: THE BREAKUP SONG (THEY DON’T WRITE ‘EM) – THE GREG KIHN BAND (17) - Good song, but I preferred “Jeopardy”.
14: BOY FROM NEW YORK CITY – THE MANHATTAN TRANSFER (12) - Good song, but I preferred “Mystery”, a Top Ten AC hit from the spring of 1984.
13: COOL LOVE – PABLO CRUISE (15) - Great song! One of my favorites from him, along with “Whatcha Gonna Do”.
12: STEP BY STEP – EDDIE RABBITT (16) - Good song. I love the way that, once it enters the Top Ten, it lives up to its title, literally taking it step by step to its peak position of #5.
11: I DON’T NEED YOU – KENNY ROGERS (11) - Great song! Sort of a guilty pleasure, as several people I know hate this song.
ARCHIVES: TO SIR WITH LOVE – LULU - This song wasn’t bad, but kind of lame. Kind of a coincidence that they got to this song the week that they told the first artist story about her since her comeback.
OPTIONAL: OUR LIPS ARE SEALED - THE GO-GOS - Great song! Much better than their next hit after this one.
10: THE THEME FROM “THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO” – JOEY SCARBURY (10) - Great song! One of my favorite TV show themes! I could tell that this was Premiere-edited - if you listen closely at the beginning, when he starts singing, it’s a slightly different key. Fortunately it wasn’t an edit that affected the length of the song.
9: JESSIE’S GIRL – RICK SPRINGFIELD (5) - Great song! One of my favorites by him!
8: LADY YOU BRING ME UP – THE COMMODORES (9) - Great song! I like the synthesized piano at the beginning.
7: WHO’S CRYING NOW - JOURNEY (7) - This song is good, but I prefer many others by them.
6: QUEEN OF HEARTS – JUICE NEWTON (6) - Great song! Casey mentioned that this song “may have peaked” at #6 the previous week. Not quite; the song got a second wind two weeks later and hit #2. It was locked out of #1 by “Endless Love”.
LDD: THE BEST OF TIMES - STYX - Great song! One of my favorites by them, and it did indeed fit the dedication.
5: (THERE’S) NO GETTIN’ OVER ME – RONNIE MILSAP (7) - Good song, but I prefer a few others by him.
4: URGENT - FOREIGNER (8) - Decent song, but nothing exceptional. I did like the thing about 4's, though.
3: STOP DRAGGIN’ MY HEART AROUND – STEVIE NICKS WITH TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS (4) - Good song. This is the first of six weeks that this song would spend at #3. That would remain the record for about twelve years (“Knockin’ Da Boots” by H-Town broke the record in 1993).
2: SLOW HAND – THE POINTER SISTERS (2) - Great song! Too bad this one fell short of the number one spot.
1: ENDLESS LOVE – DIANA ROSS & LIONEL RICHIE (1) - Good song, but I prefer other songs by both artists.
Predictions for next week: Several people have said that they’ll probably do 1986 next, and I tend to agree. However, I doubt it’s going to be the 9/13 show, since they did that one just last year. So my prediction for next week is September 6, 1986, with September 13, 1980 as my back-up prediction.