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Post by jlthorpe on Jul 28, 2021 10:37:08 GMT -5
At its peak position of #50 on the Hot 100 this week in 1984, here's the band Genesis with "Taking It All Too Hard".
NOTE: Over the next two weeks, I'll be doing a couple of special theme weeks in this thread, so keep an eye out for those.
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Post by jlthorpe on Aug 1, 2021 12:38:32 GMT -5
Today is the 40th anniversary of the launch of MTV in 1981, and throughout this week I'll be posting songs played during the channel's first hour on the air. The first video played, of course, was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles, which reached #40 on the Hot 100 in 1979. The second video, "You Better Run" by Pat Benatar, reached #42 in 1980 and was previously posted in this thread, so today I'll start with the third video played. From the 1980 album "Foolish Behaviour" comes Rod Stewart and "She Won't Dance with Me".
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Post by jlthorpe on Aug 2, 2021 17:31:59 GMT -5
The fourth video played on MTV's first day was The Who's #18 hit from 1981, "You Better You Bet". The fifth video, also from 1981, was "Little Suzi's on the Up" by a British act called Ph.D. It did not chart in the U.S., although a cover by the band Tesla titled "Little Suzi" did reach #91 on the Hot 100 in 1987.
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Post by jlthorpe on Aug 3, 2021 17:40:26 GMT -5
The sixth and seventh videos played on MTV's first day in 1981 were both Top 40 hits - Cliff Richard's "We Don't Talk Anymore" and The Pretenders' "Brass in Pocket (I'm Special)". The eighth video was not so lucky, peaking at #107 on the Bubbling Under chart in March 1981. Here's "Time Heals" by Todd Rundgren.
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Post by jlthorpe on Aug 4, 2021 18:01:24 GMT -5
The ninth video played on MTV, a live version of REO Speedwagon's #5 hit "Take It on the Run", aired for only a few seconds because of technical difficulties. The tenth video came from Styx and their 1981 album "Paradise Theatre" - a medley of the album's two opening songs "A.D. 1928" and "Rockin' the Paradise".
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Post by jlthorpe on Aug 5, 2021 17:44:35 GMT -5
The eleventh video aired on MTV came from a Boston-based rock act called Robin Lane and the Chartbusters. Ironically, they didn't do much chart-busting, as their only chart hit, "When Things Go Wrong", peaked at #87 in July 1980.
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Post by jlthorpe on Aug 6, 2021 17:51:33 GMT -5
The last song I'm profiling for MTV's anniversary was the twelfth video aired on its first day, by the group Split Enz, which featured future Crowded House members Neil and Tim Finn. Their song "History Never Repeats" was released as a single in March 1981 but did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100 or Bubbling Under chart; however, it did reach #33 on the Top Tracks chart (later known as the Mainstream Rock chart).
Beginning Sunday, I'll be doing one more theme week in honor of one of my favorite movies of all time.
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Post by jlthorpe on Aug 7, 2021 15:12:27 GMT -5
Because of this week's MTV tribute and next week's special theme week, I hadn't acknowledged the passing of Dusty Hill of ZZ Top. Peaking at #89 on the Hot 100 in July 1980, here's ZZ Top with "Cheap Sunglasses".
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Post by jlthorpe on Aug 8, 2021 11:28:08 GMT -5
Today is the 35th anniversary of the release of one of my favorite films of all time, "The Transformers: The Movie", which was based on the animated 80s "Transformers" cartoon (and which featured Casey Kasem as the voice of the character Cliffjumper). All week, I'll be posting the songs from its original 1986 soundtrack album. Today I'll start with the film's theme song "The Transformers (Theme)" performed by the hard rock/heavy metal band Lion.
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Post by jlthorpe on Aug 9, 2021 17:25:34 GMT -5
Two of the songs from the 1986 "Transformers" soundtrack came from rock singer Stan Bush - "Dare" and "The Touch". The latter song will be familiar to those who've seen the film "Boogie Nights", as Mark Wahlberg's character sings the song at one point in the film.
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Post by mga707 on Aug 9, 2021 17:33:24 GMT -5
Two of the songs from the 1986 "Transformers" soundtrack came from rock singer Stan Bush - "Dare" and "The Touch". The latter song will be familiar to those who've seen the film "Boogie Nights", as Mark Wahlberg's character sings the song at one point in the film. Hmmm...love the film "Boogie Nights" but don't recall the scene with 'Dirk Diggler' singing the song. Now if 'Rollergirl' had sung it I'm sure I'd remember it...
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Post by jlthorpe on Aug 9, 2021 18:31:41 GMT -5
Two of the songs from the 1986 "Transformers" soundtrack came from rock singer Stan Bush - "Dare" and "The Touch". The latter song will be familiar to those who've seen the film "Boogie Nights", as Mark Wahlberg's character sings the song at one point in the film. Hmmm...love the film "Boogie Nights" but don't recall the scene with 'Dirk Diggler' singing the song. Now if 'Rollergirl' had sung it I'm sure I'd remember it...
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Post by jlthorpe on Aug 10, 2021 17:54:19 GMT -5
The score for "The Transformers: The Movie" was by composer Vince DiCola, who also co-produced the Stan Bush song "Dare" which was posted yesterday. Three songs from the score made it onto the film's soundtrack album - "Autobot/Decepticon Battle", "Death of Optimus Prime", and "Escape". In addition, one noteworthy piece from the score, "Unicron's Theme", did not appear on the original album, but was released years later along with other unreleased songs from the film's score exclusively for Transformers fans.
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Post by OldSchoolAT40Fan on Aug 11, 2021 10:35:52 GMT -5
My first contribution to this thread in at least a couple of years, and this song by R.E.M. was a great song, despite peaking very low on the Billboard Hot 100 chart around August or September 1986 (it peaked at #94). This is "Fall on Me".
The band's next hit on the Hot 100 would do a lot better, as one year later "The One I Love" went all the way to #9.
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Post by jlthorpe on Aug 11, 2021 18:25:46 GMT -5
Good choice for a song, OldSchoolAT40Fan!
Now, back to honoring "The Transformers: The Movie"...
The most famous artist that appeared on the "Transformers" film soundtrack was "Weird Al" Yankovic (who was on the same label - Scotti Bros. - that released the soundtrack album). His song "Dare to Be Stupid" (probably one of his better known non-parodies) was originally released on the album of the same name in 1985, and is a style parody of the band Devo. The song plays during the scene in the film featuring the Junkions, whose mimicking of TV catchphrases fits in with the lyrics of the "Weird Al" song.
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