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Post by lasvegaskid on Jan 7, 2023 12:22:47 GMT -5
In part one of the 1980 year-ender, Casey talks about how the Doobie Brothers had a huge year in 1979 and barely made it into the 1980 chart, with their album coming out so late in the year. The band would vanish for many years after 1981 and never hit a year-end pop chart again. What about "The Doctor", which reached #9 in mid-'89 by the re-formed Tom Johnston-led iteration of the band? Surprising, but it didn't make the 1989 year ender. Neither did BeeGees #7 One. I'm guessing 1989 returning to the quick turnover of the early 70s was probably a factor with lots more songs charting.
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Post by slf on Jan 7, 2023 16:22:21 GMT -5
This week's countdown on SiriusXM 70's on 7, from January 4, 1975, is a classic example of Casey making a not-so-great attempt at promoting an album. Before playing "Promised Land" by Elvis Presley, Casey made mention of Elvis' newest album. He pointed out that it was unique in that it had no music on it; it consisted exclusively of Elvis' between-song patter and jokes from some of his recent concerts. It was entitled "Having Fun With Elvis On Stage". Unfortunately, the album was a colossal bomb, both critically and commercially. In fact, I used to own a book entitled "The Worst Rock And Roll Songs of All Time" by Owen O'Donnell and Jimmy Guterman. It gave detailed synopses of the fifty worst singles and the fifty worst albums of the rock era. Their choice of the worst single was "My Ding-A-Ling" by Chuck Berry. Their choice of worst album was---you guessed it---"Having Fun With Elvis On Stage".
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Post by mga707 on Jan 7, 2023 16:33:39 GMT -5
This week's countdown on SiriusXM 70's on 7, from January 4, 1975, is a classic example of Casey making a not-so-great attempt at promoting an album. Before playing "Promised Land" by Elvis Presley, Casey made mention of Elvis' newest album. He pointed out that it was unique in that it had no music on it; it consisted exclusively of Elvis' between-song patter and jokes from some of his recent concerts. It was entitled "Having Fun With Elvis On Stage". Unfortunately, the album was a colossal bomb, both critically and commercially. In fact, I used to own a book entitled "The Worst Rock And Roll Songs of All Time" by Owen O'Donnell and Jimmy Guterman. It gave detailed synopses of the fifty worst singles and the fifty worst albums of the rock era. Their choice of the worst single was "My Ding-A-Ling" by Chuck Berry. Their choice of worst album was---you guessed it---"Having Fun With Elvis On Stage". On Billboard, the album spent 7 weeks on the Top 200 Albums chart, charting on 11/02/74 and peaking at #130. So it was already gone from that chart by the time this show aired in early January. Reminds me of the "Tonight Show" 2-LP set that charted around the same time (12/21/74) and nearly sank the young Casablanca Records before Kiss and Donna Summer saved the label. But at least that album did make it uo to #30 in early '75.
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Post by mkarns on Jan 8, 2023 18:54:48 GMT -5
In the first hour of the same show, Casey said that Billy Joel’s “second big hit record looks like it’s a winner”. That was “The Entertainer”, which only peaked at #34, not really a big hit especially in retrospect. (For a while it looked as if Billy had jinxed himself by saying “I won’t be here in another year if I don’t stay on the charts”, as he didn’t make the top 40 again for three more years.)
Then Casey said Billy “Crash” Craddock “is gonna have some big success with this song”, that being “Ruby Baby”. It didn’t go any higher than that week’s #33, and “Crash” never made the top 40 again.
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Post by lasvegaskid on Jan 9, 2023 13:46:26 GMT -5
On the Supersized 1977 year ender, Casey reversed jinxed said Barry Manimellow, saying he had never missed the top 40. It would be several years before snapping that streak.
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Post by dth1971 on Jan 14, 2023 10:16:07 GMT -5
AT40: The 70's 1/10/1976 had a question letter to Casey if there has been a week where there were no debuts in the top 40, and Casey said it never happened - But it did happen on AT40 3 times in the Shadoe Stevens Top 40 Mainstream chart source era 1993-1994, and it even happened a few times in the second Casey era.
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Post by mkarns on Jan 14, 2023 10:47:15 GMT -5
Just checked Whitburn--Andy scored way more to 40 singles than I would've guessed between 1956 and '72 (yes, 'Godfather' was his last). 27! 8 made the top 10, including 1957's #1 "Butterfly" and '63's #2 "Can't Get Used To Losing You". For comparison, James Brown in the same time period (through 1972) had scored 39 top 40 singles, but only six had made the top 10 on the 'Hot 100'. The highest-charting reached #3. Andy even outcharted an undeniable 'superstar' in their shared 'easy listening' genre, Sinatra, during this time period: Ol' Blue Eyes scored 23 top 40s from '56 through '72. But two of Frank's, of course, went to #1 in '66 and '67. Yes, I'm kind of bored tonight. Between 1966 and 1972 Andy had Happy Heart and Love Story and Godfather (which AT40 forgot). So to label him a superstar at the end of 1972 I smell Curb. Update on Andy Williams; on 1/5/74 Casey noted that he had matched Elvis in charting every year from 1956-72, but did not do so in 1973. So mentioning him as a superstar in 1972, whatever the reason why, feels even more like a jinx.
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Post by dth1971 on Jan 14, 2023 20:08:37 GMT -5
Also for AT40: The 70's 1/5/1974, Casey pondered on the most asked by AT40 listeners question - "Will the Beatles ever reunite?" Casey said there are no plans, and no all 4 Beatle reunion would ever take place - 6 years later John Lennon tragically died.
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Post by lasvegaskid on Jan 15, 2023 21:32:07 GMT -5
On this week's 1982 show Casey said if buddy Bob Eubanks restarted Newlywed Game, he could be a contestant.
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Post by dth1971 on Jan 15, 2023 21:34:30 GMT -5
On this week's 1982 show Casey said if buddy Bob Eubanks restarted Newlywed Game, he could be a contestant. Bob Eubanks would guest host for Casey on AT40 one more time in April 1983.
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Post by Hervard on Jan 16, 2023 7:45:11 GMT -5
On the Supersized 1977 year ender, Casey reversed jinxed said Barry Manimellow, saying he had never missed the top 40. It would be several years before snapping that streak. Did Casey (or Al Mitchell, in the case of the 1/17/1981) say anything about the streak anytime during the chart run of "I Made It Through The Rain"?
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Post by mga707 on Jan 16, 2023 11:05:14 GMT -5
On the Supersized 1977 year ender, Casey reversed jinxed said Barry Manimellow, saying he had never missed the top 40. It would be several years before snapping that streak. Did Casey (or Al Mitchell, in the case of the 1/17/1981) say anything about the streak anytime during the chart run of "I Made It Through The Rain"? ...or during the chart run of "The Old Songs" later in '81? "Lonely Together", Barry's single that came between "...Through the Rain" and "The Old Songs", was the one that broke his top 40 streak, petering out at #45 in the spring of 1981. "The Old Songs" would be the fist of seven more consecutive top 40 singles before Barry would disappear from the 40 forever after '83/'84's "Read 'em and Weep". On a side note, kind of odd that a 1981 release would break Barry's streak, as '81 is considered by many to be such a 'soft' year for top 40 radio.
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Post by Hervard on Jan 16, 2023 11:53:13 GMT -5
Did Casey (or Al Mitchell, in the case of the 1/17/1981) say anything about the streak anytime during the chart run of "I Made It Through The Rain"? ...or during the chart run of "The Old Songs" later in '81? "Lonely Together", Barry's single that came between "...Through the Rain" and "The Old Songs", was the one that broke his top 40 streak, petering out at #45 in the spring of 1981. "The Old Songs" would be the fist of seven more consecutive top 40 singles before Barry would disappear from the 40 forever after '83/'84's "Read 'em and Weep". On a side note, kind of odd that a 1981 release would break Barry's streak, as '81 is considered by many to be such a 'soft' year for top 40 radio. If he had mentioned it during the run of "I Made It Through The Rain", that would have been a true Casey Kasem jinx.
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Post by chrislc on Jan 18, 2023 7:22:22 GMT -5
This week's countdown on SiriusXM 70's on 7, from January 4, 1975, is a classic example of Casey making a not-so-great attempt at promoting an album. Before playing "Promised Land" by Elvis Presley, Casey made mention of Elvis' newest album. He pointed out that it was unique in that it had no music on it; it consisted exclusively of Elvis' between-song patter and jokes from some of his recent concerts. It was entitled "Having Fun With Elvis On Stage". Unfortunately, the album was a colossal bomb, both critically and commercially. In fact, I used to own a book entitled "The Worst Rock And Roll Songs of All Time" by Owen O'Donnell and Jimmy Guterman. It gave detailed synopses of the fifty worst singles and the fifty worst albums of the rock era. Their choice of the worst single was "My Ding-A-Ling" by Chuck Berry. Their choice of worst album was---you guessed it---"Having Fun With Elvis On Stage". On Billboard, the album spent 7 weeks on the Top 200 Albums chart, charting on 11/02/74 and peaking at #130. So it was already gone from that chart by the time this show aired in early January. Reminds me of the "Tonight Show" 2-LP set that charted around the same time (12/21/74) and nearly sank the young Casablanca Records before Kiss and Donna Summer saved the label. But at least that album did make it uo to #30 in early '75. That Johnny Carson album was something I wasn’t aware of until seeing your post. I found it on YouTube and began listening to it expecting a train wreck. But it’s actually really funny, or at least the first part is. I guess the issue was more about shipping too many copies than it was about the album being bad. I remember in 1971 for some strange reason I bought a Flip Wilson Show album, it was nothing more than the audio of one episode. This Carson album, at least the part I heard, is way better. Ed McMahon was on both the flip and Johnny albums. I wonder if there was a star search album. Maybe it turns out that Ed was an even bigger superstar than Andy Williams. I think that book you mentioned, or one like it, was where Peter Paul and Mary were just crucified for I dig rock and roll music. The author was clearly not a PPM fan.
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Post by mga707 on Jan 18, 2023 12:03:37 GMT -5
]That Johnny Carson album was something I wasn’t aware of until seeing your post. I found it on YouTube and began listening to it expecting a train wreck. But it’s actually really funny, or at least the first part is. I guess the issue was more about shipping too many copies than it was about the album being bad. I remember in 1971 for some strange reason I bought a Flip Wilson Show album, it was nothing more than the audio of one episode. This Carson album, at least the part I heard, is way better. Ed McMahon was on both the flip and Johnny albums. I wonder if there was a star search album. Maybe it turns out that Ed was an even bigger superstar than Andy Williams. Yes, overproduction of the LP is what got then-small Casablanca into financial trouble. As I said, luckily for them Kiss and Donna Summer both started selling lots of records not too long afterwards, which helped the label immensely. You'd think the label would have learned a lesson, but four years later they would find themselves again in the same situation by overshipping the four Kiss 'solo' albums. As the joke at the time went, those four albums both shipped and returned 'platinum'. Just like RSO with the 'Sgt. Pepper' soundtrack. As for TV audio albums, in the early '70s I owned both of the 'All In the Family' albums. The first one, released in late '71, did quite well, went 'gold' and reached #8. The second one a year later, with clips from the show's second (and first full) season, did not, only reaching #129. Obviously this type of album went extinct less than a decade later once VCRs became cheap and popular. Oh yeah, just remembered, I also once owned the 1976 'Saturday Night Live' album. Another audio TV LP, it reached #35 in early '77. Looking at the 'Television' section in my Whitburn Top LPs book, I see three other TV audio clip albums that charted: Batman ('66-both audio clips and music), and two Laugh-In albums from '68 and '69. The Batman LP peaked at 112, the two Laugh-Ins at 105 and 88. Your Flip Wilson LP did not chart.
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