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Post by woolebull on Mar 16, 2013 13:42:35 GMT -5
I was just looking through the 1995 R and R charts and saw something amazing: A song that had what almost looked like a normal run. "Tell Me When" by Human League spent 11 weeks in the Top 40, peaking at 8. A couple of things struck me as odd. 1) In its second week it jumped from 35 to 19 which had to be one of the biggest jumps in 1995 yet it only went to 8. 2) How come this particular song went up and down so fast? In an era where one song spent almost a half a year in the top 10, another song spent over twice the time in the Top 40 than Human League did and didn't even get out of the bottom part of the Top 40, and another song was one of the Top 100 songs of the year without hitting the Top 40, why did this song's trajectory look like it was from 1993 or before? Example of what seemed to be the norm in 1995 compared to Human League: the song that "Tell Me When" replaced at number 8, Martin Page's "In The House of Stone and Light" peaked at 8 the weeks of 4/7 and 4/14/95. However, it spent over a half a year in the Top 40. Just an interesting observation. If anyone has a clue,please let me know  |
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Post by Shadoe Fan on Mar 16, 2013 15:11:34 GMT -5
IMHO, it burned fast because it was more of nostalgia pushing them to the top. It was like radio stations said "look, the Human League are back on the charts!. Let's play it". However, the song must've burned quickly with audiences, so they dropped it just as quickly as they added it. I enjoyed it though.  |
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Post by woolebull on Mar 16, 2013 16:03:02 GMT -5
I know that there are many people who hate this portion of the AT/CT 40 era, but 1995 saw a run of nostalgia and the last hits for many artists that had big hits in years past. Simple Minds, Human League, Foreigner, Van Halen, the Eagles were all artists that had number one hits at the earliest 10 years before that who hit the Top 40 in 1995. Throw in acts like Firehouse, Nelson, Adam Ant, Bonnie Raitt, Paula Abdul, Michael Bolton and Londonbeat as well and 1995 was the last "pop" climb for artists that gave us huge pop hits stretching from 1974 to the early 90's.
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Post by OldSchoolAT40Fan on Mar 17, 2013 7:16:03 GMT -5
The fact that 1995 was viewed as the year the musical acts that were big during the 70s and 80s were doing their final encore on any top 40 chart, I think that may be one of the reasons why the original run of American Top 40 went off the air in January 1995.
Of course, 1995 was a year of transition with regards to top 40 music. The 1995 generation enjoyed listening to The Eagles, Van Halen, Madonna, among others. Now look at where we are today. Today's generation listens to Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and (c)rap music, as well as a lot of 1990s music. There is still a lot of demand for 1980s music, as there are quite a number of radio stations that devote to playing 1980s music.
As the decades progress, there are fewer people listening to The Beatles, Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, etc., as that generation is getting older and their tastes for music tend to change over time. I'd say, come 2040 or so, there will be a lot less demand for 80s music than there is now.
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Post by woolebull on Mar 17, 2013 11:48:12 GMT -5
Of all the artists that were mentioned, do you know which acts surprised me the most having hits in 1991? Human League, Foreigner, and Simple Minds because it had been so long for both groups having hits (minus a small hit for HL and SM in 1990 and 1991, respectively. But also Londonbeat and Firehouse. I don't know if it is fair or not but I see November 30, 1991 as a line of demarcation for pop music so when they had strong hits in 1995 it really caught me off guard, particularly Firehouse. They are one of the few exceptions to the hair band group being successful in the time of grunge/alternative music. Their first hit didn't really happen until "hair" metal was over.
And I agree with you about the 80's. I'm afraid we're starting to get that way anyway. I love the 80's and the AT 40 from that time. I love almost every song from "Please Don't Go" to "Another Day In Paradise", yet I find myself wanting to hear music from the 90's now. We had a nostalgic 80's show on my college's radio station. That was in 1991. So the demand is there now, but if I'm already shying away from it, I am sure others will be as well.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2013 14:59:50 GMT -5
I'll sum it up all up in 5 words, 3 characters, and 2 numbers: "Runaround" by Blues Traveler #2 for 1995.
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Post by woolebull on Mar 17, 2013 15:10:22 GMT -5
BAHAHAAA! That song was overplayed the first time they played it!
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Post by mkarns on Mar 20, 2013 22:33:54 GMT -5
I know that there are many people who hate this portion of the AT/CT 40 era, but 1995 saw a run of nostalgia and the last hits for many artists that had big hits in years past. Simple Minds, Human League, Foreigner, Van Halen, the Eagles were all artists that had number one hits at the earliest 10 years before that who hit the Top 40 in 1995. Throw in acts like Firehouse, Nelson, Adam Ant, Bonnie Raitt, Paula Abdul, Michael Bolton and Londonbeat as well and 1995 was the last "pop" climb for artists that gave us huge pop hits stretching from 1974 to the early 90's. I actually like this portion of the CT40 era (there of course was no AT40 at that particular point, though AT40 today basically treats CT40 as such). I'd rather hear a countdown from 1995, with a lot of hot AC and alternative-leaning hits, than one from say, 1999, which is remembered as a better time for top 40 radio but for me is marred by sappy boy-band ballads and too much bubblegum (still, it has a lot of good stuff.) But I guess that's just me. |
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Post by woolebull on Mar 20, 2013 23:01:01 GMT -5
Absolutely. Some of the groups that hit the top 40 in 1995 (I'm thinking in particular groups like Letters To Cleo, Seven Mary Three, Better Than Ezra, Silverchair) made 1995 a fun year. Also some great R and B songs that I still love to hear (Monica, Groove Theory), even silly quirky things like two song titles with almost the same meaning going back to back number one ("I Know" and "I Believe") made 1995 a fun year for me. 1999, while definitely a renaissance for top 40, didn't do it for me like 1995. Give me Letters To Cleo over Sixpence None The Richer any day of the week |
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Post by woolebull on Mar 20, 2013 23:01:56 GMT -5
Absolutely. Some of the groups that hit the top 40 in 1995 (I'm thinking in particular groups like Letters To Cleo, Seven Mary Three, Better Than Ezra, and Silverchair made 1995 a fun year top 40 wise. Also some great R and B songs that I still love to hear (Monica, Groove Theory), even silly quirky things like two song titles with almost the same meaning going back to back number one ("I Know" and "I Believe") made 1995 a fun year for me. 1999, while definitely a renaissance for top 40, didn't do it for me like 1995. Give me Letters To Cleo over Sixpence None The Richer any day of the week |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2013 8:23:03 GMT -5
I liked a lot of stuff from 1995...far more than I would any year for the rest of the decade coming except maybe 1998. However, that doesn't change this: "Runaround" by Blues Traveler #2 for 1995.
No, I will never, ever, ever let this go as it trumps anything for the year and makes it appear worse than it probably was.
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Post by Michael1973 on Mar 22, 2013 16:21:48 GMT -5
Also in the same category as Tell Me When would be the Mariah/Luther version of Endless Love from 6 months earlier. That too blasted into the top 10, then was gone from the Top 40 within 3 months (and this too was during the era where chart runs were generally much longer).
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Post by Hervard on Mar 22, 2013 16:31:04 GMT -5
I liked a lot of stuff from 1995...far more than I would any year for the rest of the decade coming except maybe 1998. However, that doesn't change this: "Runaround" by Blues Traveler #2 for 1995. No, I will never, ever, ever let this go as it trumps anything for the year and makes it appear worse than it probably was. LOL, you're beginning to sound like me on another message board regarding "Black Horse & The Cherry Tree" back in early summer, 2006! |
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Post by woolebull on Mar 22, 2013 18:59:49 GMT -5
Also in the same category as Tell Me When would be the Mariah/Luther version of Endless Love from 6 months earlier. That too blasted into the top 10, then was gone from the Top 40 within 3 months (and this too was during the era where chart runs were generally much longer). That's a great call! The song debuted high, hit 6, and barely was on the charts for two months...People always get on Nicki French for her remake of "Total Eclipse of the Heart", but to me this remake made less sense. It sounded quite a bit like the original, music wise. |
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Post by freakyflybry on Mar 27, 2013 23:47:45 GMT -5
Another song from the CT40 era with an 80's-esque chart run was Madonna's version of "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" from the Evita movie.
Its run went like this:
32-23-13-9-8-8-7-7-10-18-23-36-off
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