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Post by bottlerocket on Dec 4, 2012 5:12:40 GMT -5
The "Medley" by Stars on 45 raked in an impressive 66% of the vote as 1981's most forgotten number one single.
Despite being the fewest songs to choose among during these 20 years, this is actually difficult for me. The "Chariots Of Fire" theme I feel gets some play outside of radio, plus it's a theme song to a Best Picture Oscar winner. It's hard for me to come to grips with the fact that "Ebony & Ivory", a song so popular at the time and hardly a favorite of mine, could be forgotten now despite its star-power singers. In the end, I have to go with "Truly", the most forgettable of Lionel Richie's multitude of number one songs.
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Post by woolebull on Dec 4, 2012 8:27:11 GMT -5
I know people are quick to dismiss "Chariots of Fire" but is still seems like to this day whenever there is some running scene spoofing something in tv or film, the still use "Fire"...I think more people know than it is getting credit for.
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Post by seminolefan on Dec 4, 2012 10:11:57 GMT -5
I agree on "Truly" being the most forgotten of '82.
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Post by JMW on Dec 4, 2012 16:01:40 GMT -5
I'm also going to go with Truly. (Funnily enough, I'm hearing Ebony and Ivory on this station right as I type this.)
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Post by bottlerocket on Dec 5, 2012 5:10:52 GMT -5
Almost a three-way tie, Lionel Richie's "Truly" pulls out the dubious distinction of most forgotten song of 1982 with 40% of the vote.
Another tough year for me as all the songs seem quite familiar. Growing up on Long Island, I can't pick "Tell Her About It" as all songs from Billy Joel are classics, even the less played ones. I'm tempted to say "Maniac" because it seems kind of cheesy today but it's mockery alone makes it come up in pop culture. Though the song I chose I hear from time to time, I feel forced to go with it because it's anomalous with regards to other 1983 songs, a ballad that sounds like it should have hit number one five or six earlier - "Baby Come To Me" by Patti Austin & James Ingram.
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Post by seminolefan on Dec 5, 2012 10:22:01 GMT -5
As much as I like "Baby, Come To Me", it does feel out of place in late '82/early '83. Then again, it was on Patti Austin's album Every Home Should Have One, which came out in 1981.
Anyway, "Baby, Come To Me" gets my vote too.
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Post by JMW on Dec 5, 2012 12:21:24 GMT -5
Add another vote for Baby Come To Me; where I live it doesn't get any airplay unlike the rest of the 1983 #1's.
(Islands in the Stream doesn't get any airplay either, but no way is that song forgotten.)
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Post by bottlerocket on Dec 6, 2012 4:29:48 GMT -5
Blowing away the competition with 70% of the vote, the forgotten number one classic from 1983 is "Baby, Come To Me" by Patti Austin with James Ingram.
I'm torn between two songs for 1984. I don't really hear "Missing You" often probably because it's a ballad and the only top ten solo hit for John Waite. The funny thing is I'm going with a song by a group who in many ways is synonymous with the 80s British invasion and are still fondly remembered on 80s radio. However, as much as I hear their lower charting hits like "Rio" and "Save A Prayer", I hardly ever hear Duran Duran's "The Reflex".
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Post by JMW on Dec 6, 2012 13:25:29 GMT -5
I hardly ever hear Duran Duran's "The Reflex". On my local station (WMXY), The Reflex is one of the most overplayed Duran Duran songs (next to Rio and Hungry Like the Wolf). Despite it being a Grammy-winning and Oscar-nominated song, my vote is for Against All Odds. 1984 is a very popular year on WMXY's Time Warp weekend and that song doesn't get nearly as much airplay as the rest of the #1's from that year (except for I Just Called to Say... but I don't consider that forgotten.
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Post by woolebull on Dec 6, 2012 13:31:19 GMT -5
This was the toughest year for me to pick...none of these songs are forgotten in my opinion. I had to go with Yes, but it was tough.
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Post by bottlerocket on Dec 7, 2012 7:51:22 GMT -5
With the vote split between 7 different songs, "Owner Of A Lonely Heart" by Yes won out with 30% of the vote.
Interesting bunch of songs for 1985. "We Are The World" obviously doesn't get much play now but it was remade a couple of years back so I think of it as being refreshed in the consciousness of America. "Oh Sheila" always sounded like a Prince sound-alike group to me and I don't hear it played that much anymore but it's upbeat and fits the sounds of the 80s. It came down to two songs for me that really seem foreign now. The last instrumental number one, "MIami Vice Theme", would be a good call but Miami Vice lives on with the recent movie which could inspire people to look back at the show. So I'm going with the very slow ballad from "White Nights", "Separate Lives" by Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin. I don't think it fits any format today.
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Post by seminolefan on Dec 7, 2012 9:47:29 GMT -5
"Separate Lives" is a song that I don't hear anywhere except these AT40 shows. Duran Duran's "A View To a Kill" is another. But since that song has 007 on its side, I'll go with "Separate Lives".
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Post by JMW on Dec 7, 2012 13:11:02 GMT -5
I'll go with Separate Lives as well.
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Post by bottlerocket on Dec 8, 2012 7:48:57 GMT -5
Coming together with 50% of the vote, "Separate Lives" Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin.
Ugh. There are so many ways to look at this. I can easily understand how someone could choose "Holding Back The Years" or "Amanda". They hardly receive any play. I'm torn though between one song that was was, in my opinion, probably the least popular song at the time to reach number one and another song which was wildly popular back then but feels the most out of place musically from the rest and, therefore, is relatively forgotten. I just can't go with then popular "Rock Me Amadeus". Maybe it's because it was parodied on "The Simpsons" and helps stave off obscurity. I have to go with the unremarkable "Sara".
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Post by mkarns on Dec 8, 2012 8:17:17 GMT -5
Was "Rock Me Amadeus" the "least popular song at the time to reach number one"? That's kind of a contradiction in terms, as if it were #1 it by nature must have been popular. Maybe it was polarizing as well as popular, with as many disliking it as liking it; from my recollection that may well have been true.
"Sara" is less remembered than Starship's two other #1 hits (speaking of polarizing, I don't get the hate so many have for "We Built This City", but that's another discussion). "Amanda" is a good song that feels somewhat anachronistic for 1986, but maybe that added to its appeal in a sense. But it does get relatively little play today, while Boston's 1970s hits are in endless recurrent rotation.
Of other 1986 #1's, I don't hear much of "There'll Be Sad Songs" or "The Next Time I Fall", outside of AT40 and other special shows, and don't much miss them. I still do sometimes hear "Holding Back the Years".
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