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Post by mstgator on Oct 9, 2012 21:38:59 GMT -5
A couple of songs I've seen mentioned actually get pretty decent play on two of the bigger stations here in Tampa Bay. Q105 plays Stars On 45 more than one would expect (I hear it at least a couple times a month), and "The Next Time I Fall" is a staple on the local "easy favorites" station (what used to be known as "adult standards")... they play a lot of the softer stuff also mentioned in this thread.
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Post by OldSchoolAT40Fan on Oct 11, 2012 10:00:20 GMT -5
thanks to both of you. how did you know I'm a PYL fan oldschoolat40? Because you probably know me as JonSea31 on other boards. And I am looking forward to the 1983 episodes of PYL this coming Monday. My DVD recorder will be ready!
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Post by at40freak on Oct 11, 2012 17:26:56 GMT -5
I've lived in the Lansing, Michigan market for 23 years and the playlists around here have always been extremely small. Even the local "jack" station (called "Mike" here) sticks to their safe hits. Although I think the list of obscure #1's is sort of subjective depending on where you live, for me, the list would be also very long. Can't tell you how many #1's I've never heard even once on the radio. A few random musings... I agree with the poster that said Peter Cetera and Amy Grant's "Next Time I Fall" was a bit of an oddity. Heck, it would be another 5 years before Grant would fully make the transition from Christian to pop star. Speaking of which, did she go back to Christian because she hasn't had a pop hit in at least a decade and a half despite having quite a bit of success on the hot 100 in the early-mid 90's. Tommy Page - "I'll Be Your Everything" I can hazard a guess why this went #1, although I don't believe it should have because Jane Child's "Don't Wanna Fall In Love" was a million times better and deserved the top spot. Anyways, I read that New Kids on the Block had something to do with this single, though I can't remember exactly what. I think a few of them might have been the back-up vocalists, but I'm sure they had a hand on this and they were d**n huge back in the day, having a #1 hit in their own right that year. I also know that Tommy Page was on an episode of Full House around this time, playing Stephanie's crush and idol, so that could have boosted it up a bit. I also read that radio stations stopped playing this song immediately after it fell off the charts, deservedly so. Expose - "Seasons Change". Expose had quite the string of hits in the late 80's and early 90's. They haven't been played on the radio here in years and years. Boston - "Amanda". Kept my all time favorite out of #1. (I Didn't Mean To Turn You On. Robert Palmer.) For that, it deserves to go to hell. Boys II Men - Their #1's spent a combined bazillion weeks at the top spot in the 90's, and I only hear them once in a great while. Deservedly so because their ballads are painful to listen to. One of their few decent songs is "Motownphilly", which is the last song of theirs I heard on the radio, and that didn't go to #1. From one Lansing-ite and PYL fan to another, welcome aboard!!! Can't wait to see PYL from the beginning (this time in decent quality). I agree with you for the most part, though I have heard Amanda played around here quite often in recent years. As for Expose, the only song by them I've heard any station around here play in recent years is Come Go With Me. Seasons Change probably hasn't been played around here in a good 20 years at least.
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Post by SFGuy on Oct 12, 2012 4:32:40 GMT -5
thanks to both of you. how did you know I'm a PYL fan oldschoolat40? Because you probably know me as JonSea31 on other boards. And I am looking forward to the 1983 episodes of PYL this coming Monday. My DVD recorder will be ready! I remember your name on the old gsn boards. I posted there (but I don't remember my name there anymore. It's been years since I posted there).
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Post by chrisinmi on Oct 14, 2012 16:11:32 GMT -5
I'd disagree about "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" being the most obscure of the five #1 hits from "Bad." For my money, "Dirty Diana" is FAR more obscure. "I Just Can't Stop..." is still played on a small handful of softer ACs and urban ACs; Delilah has it on her playlist as well. "Dirty Diana," I've never heard anywhere on the radio except on syndicated shows (Back Trax USA before they cut the playlist down to the "safe 250" '80s songs, and of course AT40 '80s). Don't get me started. This has always been a sore spot. I always thought DD was crap, but since Michael was hot at the time, radio played the heck out of it. A decade later I thought MJ put out far superior material than this (Earth Song, etc) however since his career had cooled, radio wouldn't touch it. I could say the same thing about Batdance, some of the earlier Madonna, Whitney, etc that wasn't that great but we got beat over the head with. I loved "Earth Song." Was it even a single in the U.S.? In any case, it was a huge worldwide hit but did nothing here. I am pleased to see the extent to which "You Are Not Alone" (which made history at the time as the first single ever to debut #1 on the Hot 100, and peaked at #4 on Casey's Top 40 as well) has had a radio resurgence since MJ's death - I think it's one of his best performances. That, I think, was an example of a relatively "obscure" #1 record suddenly becoming playable again. ABBA's "Dancing Queen" is another one. Seems like until the early '00s and until the musical and movie "Mamma Mia!" became major sensations, radio stations couldn't get arrested playing ANYTHING by ABBA, let alone "Dancing Queen," aside from the occasional airplay of "Fernando" on stations like WDUV (mentioned by the above poster from the Tampa area).
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Post by chrisinmi on Oct 14, 2012 17:40:38 GMT -5
Indeed, welcome aboard wiseguy. "Next Time I Fall" has gotten a lot of comments on here (I don't think it has reached Timmy T and Stars On status, but still). I agree with the obscurity of the song, and as painful as Amy Grant's pop music is to me personally (exception "Find A Way"), I don't think she ever left Christian music all together. In fact, she had three Christian number one singles in the mid 1990's. Now you could say that they were crossovers, but an amazing thing about Amy Grant is for all of her pop hits, and her many many Christian hits, only ONE single of hers ever crossed over on both charts: her first Top 40 hit, "Find A Way". Some hit the AC chart and Christian chart, but only one was a hit on the Pop and Christian. To be able to have two groups of listeners and put out music that both would listen to shows an impressive knowledge of both of her audiences. I'm not familiar with whatever Christian singles charts may have been around in 1991, but it appears "That's What Love Is For" (#1 AC, #7 pop in Billboard, #4 on CT40) was a big Christian as well as secular hit as well. I know it gets airplay on some Christian AC stations to this day, including 104.7 The Fish in Atlanta. According to the below website, it was the 29th most played song on Christian AC radio in 1991: www.topchristianhits.org/top_christian_ac_songs_1991.html
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Post by woolebull on Oct 14, 2012 20:59:04 GMT -5
Indeed, welcome aboard wiseguy. "Next Time I Fall" has gotten a lot of comments on here (I don't think it has reached Timmy T and Stars On status, but still). I agree with the obscurity of the song, and as painful as Amy Grant's pop music is to me personally (exception "Find A Way"), I don't think she ever left Christian music all together. In fact, she had three Christian number one singles in the mid 1990's. Now you could say that they were crossovers, but an amazing thing about Amy Grant is for all of her pop hits, and her many many Christian hits, only ONE single of hers ever crossed over on both charts: her first Top 40 hit, "Find A Way". Some hit the AC chart and Christian chart, but only one was a hit on the Pop and Christian. To be able to have two groups of listeners and put out music that both would listen to shows an impressive knowledge of both of her audiences. I'm not familiar with whatever Christian singles charts may have been around in 1991, but it appears "That's What Love Is For" (#1 AC, #7 pop in Billboard, #4 on CT40) was a big Christian as well as secular hit as well. I know it gets airplay on some Christian AC stations to this day, including 104.7 The Fish in Atlanta. According to the below website, it was the 29th most played song on Christian AC radio in 1991: www.topchristianhits.org/top_christian_ac_songs_1991.htmlAccording to the Billboard Christian chart, the song did not chart at all: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_grant_discography
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Post by johnnywest on May 18, 2022 15:03:27 GMT -5
I was a little surprised to see that "Gold" by John Stewart hit #1 in R&R in 1979.
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Post by Hervard on May 19, 2022 13:04:14 GMT -5
Regarding "I'll Be Your Everything" - I read somewhere that the race between it and "Don't Want To Fall In Love" was very, very close. It looked like Jane Child would take the gold, but when all reports were in, Tommy Page won by the skin of his teeth. So it looked like Jane Child would hit #1 the following week, but Sinead O'Connor leapfrogged over her.
"Don't Want To Fall In Love" did, however, manage two weeks on top of the R&R chart, shutting out Tommy Page and keeping Sinead O'Connor at bay for a week.
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Post by Hervard on May 19, 2022 14:01:16 GMT -5
I was a little surprised to see that "Gold" by John Stewart hit #1 in R&R in 1979. Not me. I heard that song all the time that summer. Wasn't too fond of it then, but it has definitely gotten better with age, IMO
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Post by woolebull on May 21, 2022 8:27:00 GMT -5
Regarding "I'll Be Your Everything" - I read somewhere that the race between it and "Don't Want To Fall In Love" was very, very close. It looked like Jane Child would take the gold, but when all reports were in, Tommy Page won by the skin of his teeth. So it looked like Jane Child would hit #1 the following week, but Sinead O'Connor leapfrogged over her. "Don't Want To Fall In Love" did, however, manage two weeks on top of the R&R chart, shutting out Tommy Page and keeping Sinead O'Connor at bay for a week. I was surprised reading that as well. I think the story came from Page and his camp. What really is bizarre is the chart from April 7. 1990: Page jumped from 4-2, Lisa Stansfield jumped from 5-3, and Jane Child...stalled at 6. I know the charts are "based" on weekly sales and airplay, however I have never believed that Child lost momentum for just that one week (it still had a bullet, but if it was that hot, no way it couldn't have moved up). I thought that Child had a good chance to overtake Page and Stansfield that week. When she didn't, I was pretty sure "Love" would never hit number one. The 4/14/90 gave me a last gasp of hope for "Love" but I was pretty sure Sinead was going to overtake it by 4/21/90, which it did. Though the week of 4/14/90 gave me something I don't think I have seen in my 40 years of following the charts: I can't think of another time where two white artists in the top 3 would see their respective songs hit the top 10 on the R & B Chart, Stansfield went to one on the R & B Chart right around that time, and Child would make it up to number six.
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Post by jmack19 on May 23, 2022 12:46:23 GMT -5
According to radioinsight.com/lost-factor/ these are some of the most obscure #1 songs: 1970s Chuck Berry - My Ding-a-Ling Paul Anka - (You're) Having My Baby Shaun Cassidy - Da Doo Ron Ron Donny Osmond - Go Away Little Girl Michael Jackson - Ben Cher - Dark Lady Sammy Davis Jr - The Candy Man Osmonds - One Bad Apple Ray Stevens - The Streak Mary MacGregor - Torn Between Two Lovers 1980s New Kids On The Block - I'll Be Loving You (Forever) Tiffany - Could've Been Vangelis - Chariots Of Fire Prince - Batdance Milli Vanilli - Girl I'm Gonna Miss You Stars On 45 - Stars On 45 Medley Debbie Gibson - Foolish Beat Jan Hammer - Miami Vice Theme Madonna - Who's That Girl George Michael - Monkey
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Post by SFGuy on May 23, 2022 15:07:13 GMT -5
According to radioinsight.com/lost-factor/ these are some of the most obscure #1 songs: 1970s Chuck Berry - My Ding-a-Ling Paul Anka - (You're) Having My Baby Shaun Cassidy - Da Doo Ron Ron Donny Osmond - Go Away Little Girl Michael Jackson - Ben Cher - Dark Lady Sammy Davis Jr - The Candy Man Osmonds - One Bad Apple Ray Stevens - The Streak Mary MacGregor - Torn Between Two Lovers 1980s New Kids On The Block - I'll Be Loving You (Forever) Tiffany - Could've Been Vangelis - Chariots Of Fire Prince - Batdance Milli Vanilli - Girl I'm Gonna Miss You Stars On 45 - Stars On 45 Medley Debbie Gibson - Foolish Beat Jan Hammer - Miami Vice Theme Madonna - Who's That Girl George Michael - Monkey
Several of these songs would fit under the cringe worthy category: Chuck Barry, Paul Anka, Donny Osmond, Mary MacGregor, New Kids on the Block.
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Post by retrodaddy on May 24, 2022 2:05:27 GMT -5
Cool thread. Wasn't here in 2012 when it started. Wonder if a lot of the opinions stated in '12 are still held today.
There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry) feels like an obscure #1 to me. It's also listed as the #9 song of '86 in the Lost Factor rankings. Billy's other two #1s get airplay, but I haven't heard There'll Be Sad Songs in many years.
A song mentioned by a few others which I don't feel to be obscure is The Next Time I Fall. It gets airplay on AC / easy listening stations. It's a terrific song, so I dig hearing it. I don't much like Amy Grant's hit songs, but she's great with Peter Cetera on this one. I remember seeing the video for the first time on VH-1 before school one morning, wondering who the really cute woman with the nice voice was.
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Post by mga707 on May 24, 2022 9:46:34 GMT -5
According to radioinsight.com/lost-factor/ these are some of the most obscure #1 songs: 1980s New Kids On The Block - I'll Be Loving You (Forever) Tiffany - Could've Been Vangelis - Chariots Of Fire Prince - Batdance Milli Vanilli - Girl I'm Gonna Miss You Stars On 45 - Stars On 45 Medley Debbie Gibson - Foolish Beat Jan Hammer - Miami Vice Theme Madonna - Who's That Girl George Michael - Monkey I'd add "Jacob's Ladder" to this '80s list, for sure.
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