American Top 40: The 70s - April 5, 2014
This week's presentation - March 31, 1979
Droppers:
GOT TO BE REAL - CHERYL LYNN (39) - Good song. Sounds very similar to "Best Of My Love" by The Emotions.
LOTTA LOVE - NICHOLETTE LARSON (37) - Great song! R.I.P. Nicholette
EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE - EDDIE RABBITT (30) - Good song, but I preferred most of his 80s songs.
DANCIN' SHOES - NIGEL OLSSON (27) - Great song! Shame that it fell off!
LE FREAK - CHIC (24) - Meh, no big loss.
Y.M.C.A. - VILLAGE PEOPLE (22) - YEH!! GOOD RIDDANCE TO THIS ANNOYING SONG! Definitely one of the worst songs of all time (Note: That is strictly my opinion!)
FOREVER IN BLUE JEANS - NEIL DIAMOND (20) - This song was OK, but definitely not his best. Sort of odd that this dropped off, as it was moving up the week before. I guess people got tired of this one quite fast.
LW#3: WHAT A FOOL BELIEVES – THE DOOBIE BROTHERS
LW#2: I WILL SURVIVE – GLORIA GAYNOR
LW#1: TRAGEDY – THE BEE GEES
40: WATCH OUT FOR LUCY – ERIC CLAPTON (40) - Good song - much better than the flipside, "Promises", which hit the Top Ten earlier in the year. Too bad this one didn't fare nearly as well (#40 is where it peaked).
39: RUBBER BISCUIT – THE BLUES BROTHERS (debut) - Funny song. I preferred their version of "Gimme Some Lovin" though.
38: GOODNIGHT TONIGHT - WINGS (debut) - Great song! One of their better songs, IMO.
37: EVERY TIME I THINK OF YOU – THE BABYS (13) - Great song! My favorite of their hits (though "Isn't It Time" would be a close second). Oddly enough, despite the song's big drop, the song would actually move back up a spot the following week. Very strange!
LDD: IF YOU LOVE ME LET ME KNOW – OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN - Good song, but I preferred her song on the countdown this week.
36: BUSTIN’ LOOSE – CHUCK BROWN & THE SOUL SEARCHERS (36) - Not a fan of this one. Can you guess why?
35: SHAKE YOUR BODY – THE JACKSONS (debut) - Not bad, but I preferred their songs when they were billed as The Jackson 5.
34: DOG & BUTTERFLY – HEART (35) - Great song! One of their best - too bad it didn't get any higher than #34.
ARCHIVES: MY LOVE - PAUL McCARTNEY & WINGS - No. Just no.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: JUST WHEN I NEEDED YOU MOST - RANDY VANWARMER - Great song, as depressing as it is.
33: THE CHASE – GEORGIO MORODER (34) - Good song - I like the haunting melody.
32: BLOW AWAY – GEORGE HARRISON (debut) - Great song! This one apparently had poor singles sales, as it peaked at #16 on the Hot 100, but sailed into the Top Five on the R&R chart (keep in mind, it was not 1982 yet).
31: SUPERMAN – HERBIE MANN (33) - This was OK, but nothing exceptional.
30: I GOT MY MIND MADE UP – INSTANT FUNK (debut) - I thought this one was annoying, especially all the "SAY WHAT??" schtick.
29: LOVE BALLAD – GEORGE BENSON (38) - Good song. This was the biggest mover on the countdown.
28: IN THE NAVY – THE VILLAGE PEOPLE (debut) - Even though the biggest jump up was somewhat weak, what was impressive is that there were three debuts in the Top 30. Since I hate YMCA with a passion, one might think I don't like this song either, but in fact, I do (probably since it didn't have a goofy dance that was seen at each and every wedding reception dance party).
27: PRECIOUS LOVE – BOB WELCH (31) - Good song, but I preferred his two other Top 20 hits.
26: REUNITED – PEACHES & HERB (debut) - Great song! Their best hit ever and definitely worthy of spending an entire month at #1.
25: TAKE ME HOME - CHER (32) - Great song! Wasn't this the Cher song that woke a girl from a coma?
24: I DON’T KNOW IF IT’S RIGHT – EVELYN “CHAMPAGNE” KING (26) - Note that this is the first song in the Top 30 that wasn't moving up fro, below #30. Anyway, I like this song, but prefer "Love Come Down", which charted in the fall of 1982.
23: MAYBE I’M A FOOL – EDDIE MONEY (25) - Great song! One of his best songs ever!
ARCHIVES: GIVE ME LOVE (GIVE ME PEACE ON EARTH) – GEORGE HARRISON - Great song! This song was played as the second Optional Extra and IMO is one of his best. The songs "Friend In You" by Jon Gibson and "Praying For Time" by George Michael, used melodies very similar to that in the instrumental refrains.
22: HE’S THE GREATEST DANCER – SISTER SLEDGE (29) - Let's get jiggy wit' it!
21: LIVIN’ IT UP (FRIDAY NIGHT) – BELL & JAMES (28) - This song was not bad - a good song for the weekend, anyway!
20: A LITTLE MORE LOVE – OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN (10) - Great song! Casey mentioned how Olivia had spent 48 out of the past 52 weeks on the chart. I'm assuming that the four weeks she was absent from the chart occurred during the late fall of 1978 between the week "Summer Nights" fell out and the week this one debuted.
19: FIRE – THE POINTER SISTERS (8) - Great song! One of my favorites from them - written by none other than Bruce Springsteen.
18: MUSIC BOX DANCER – FRANK MILLS (19) - Great song! My favorite of the two instrumentals on this week's chart (though "The Chase" isn't too far behind).
17: CRAZY LOVE - POCO (18) - Great song, but I preferred their 1989-90 songs.
16: I WANT YOUR LOVE - CHIC (23) - Though I'm not generally a big fan of them, I actually liked this one.
15: HEART OF GLASS - BLONDIE (21) - Good song, but I preferred others by them, such as "Call Me". This one is, IMO, worlds better than that annoying "One Way Or Another".
14: BIG SHOT – BILLY JOEL (14) - This song was pretty good. They edited out the last line in the first verse, due to the questionable word.
LDD: THANK YOU FOR BEING A FREIND – ANDREW GOLD - Great song! This one's chart performance may have been less than stellar, but it sure became popular in the LDD department.
13: I JUST FALL IN LOVE AGAIN - ANNE MURRAY (16) - Great song! One of her best (actually, I liked all three of her 1979 songs about the same).
12: STUMBLIN’ IN – SUZY QUATRO & CHRIS NORMAN (17) - Good song.
ARCHIVES: WILL IT GO ROUND IN CIRCLES – BILLY PRESTON - It's okies, but nothing special.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: ROCK AND ROLL FANTASY - BAD COMPANY - Great song! One of many songs that I associate with the summer of 1979 (as I remember hearing it at the beachhouse that summer).
11: LADY – THE LITTLE RIVER BAND (12) - Great song! Very possibly my favorite LRB song of all time! I was hoping that they'd work the album version in, but they kept it as it were in the original show, which featured the single version.
10: DON’T CRY OUT LOUD – MELISSA MANCHESTER (11) - Great song! One of her best, and one I remember quite well.
9: WHAT YOU WON’T DO FOR LOVE – BOBBY CALDWELL (9) - Great song! Go West did a version of this in 1993 that sounded very much like this one. I still prefer the original, however.
8: KNOCK ON WOOD – AMII STEWART (15) - This was OK, but definitely not one of my favorite songs on the countdown
7: DO YOU THINK I’M SEXY – ROD STEWART (6) - Not bad, but definitely not one of his best.
6: SULTANS OF SWING – DIRE STRAITS (7) - Great song! I remember listening to the Dire Straits album all the time back in the summer of 1979 - surprised I didn't wear it out, though there are definitely ice cream bar fingerprints on the lyric sheet.
5: SHAKE YOUR GROOVE THING – PEACHES & HERB (5) - This wasn't bad, but I definitely prefer their other song in the countdown; no questions about it!
4: HEAVEN KNOWS – DONNA SUMMER & BROOKLYN DREAMS (4) - Great song! One of her best!
OPTIONAL EXTRA: THE LOGICAL SONG - SUPERTRAMP - Great song! This was my favorite song in the world back in the summer of 1979!
3: WHAT A FOOL BELIEVES – THE DOOBIE BROTHERS (3) - Great song! My favorite song from them, and their biggest hit ever! Almost won the gold for 1979 on the R&R chart, but that d**n Rod Stewart song back at #7 beat it out
2: I WILL SURVIVE – GLORIA GAYNOR (2) - Great song! One of my favorite disco songs of all time!
1: TRAGEDY – THE BEE GEES (1) - Great song! One of their all-time best! Oddly enough, on the original show, this one had its own segment (as usually, the last segment consisted of songs #1 and #2).