What show are you listening to right now?

[OnWithTheCountdown]

Up to 10/28/1995 in my CT40 marathon. I heard again this morning, in the intro to "Back For Good", Casey says Robbie Williams is singing lead. But it wasn't Robbie; it was Gary Barlow. There's still many more weeks of chart life for this hit, so I wonder how many more times he'll mention this (or a correction). But I've heard it a few times already.

[dukelightning]

That's a good catch. Good because I am not sure I would have caught it myself. Wonder if he made as many mistakes with Take That as he did with identifying the members Dawn in 1970 which was 5 or 6 IIRC. This also reminds me of a mistake Casey made in the 1999 show I heard the other day. He said in conjunction with Robbie Williams' "Millenium" that Take That had hit #1. Must have been a Hot AC or AC countdown statement that was put into the AT40 show by mistake(again).
Heard a likely mistake already in the 5/2/92 CT40. Casey said that Metallica would be playing "Nothing Else Matters" in their upcoming shows that he mentioned. I say likely because I saw them back in March of that year and all they did was play the opening chords of that song. Kind of a tease. Never played it. I think they did not want to play a softer song when everything else they played was their typical heavy stuff.
When Casey mentioned that Mitch Malloy was from North Dakota, I immediately knew that "Anything at All" did not reach AT40 and thought there's an artist Shadoe would have liked to talk about as he is a North Dakotan. In fact it peaked at 68 on the chart AT40 used compared to 25 on CT40. Wonder what the lowest peaking song on the Hot 100 Airplay chart that AT40 used was for a CT40 hit.
"Just Another Day" is a 5 minute song but not on this show. Exactly half that and then "I'll Be There" was a R&D. That's one of the two titles dedicated a few times in the early 90s that are the same or similar to other titles that were dedicated a lot more going forward. Mariah's song of that title was about a month away from hitting the countdown. And hitting it this week was "I Will Remember You". In the 1991 show I heard the other day, "I Remember You" was the R&D that was never played from this point on because of I Will and that I definitely prefer.

[OnWithTheCountdown]

Take That hit #1 on CH20 (Hot AC) on 12/16, I think. That would have been the final regular show of 1995.

Haven't had many opportunities this week to continue the 1995-1996 marathon (seem to really only have time at work during non-business hours), but I'm in the last hour of 10/28/1995, which is the final October show, as I'm going in calendar date order.

[dukelightning]

Yeah I should have figured it was Hot AC that they hit #1 at. That 1992 show had a doubly great ending. "Make It Happen" was the #1 song and then the last Casey's Biggest Hits track was "I Don't Wanna Cry". Those are my fave 2 songs by Mariah.

[dukelightning]

Mar 19, 2024 9:12:14 GMT -5 dukelightning said:

Last ever week on CT/AT40 for the Eagles (or Eagles if you prefer) on the 4/29/95 CT40. Last week on those countdowns for Chicago was in 1991 with a hit from Chicago 21. Casey talked about their next album which was just their second if you don't count their second and third greatest hits packages not to be a number title(first was 1978's Hot Streets). They delved into big band for Night and Day and Jade who were next in the countdown were one of the groups providing vocals for that.
Yet another 70s band on their last top 40 hit is Foreigner and "Until the End of Time" is a definite sleepfest for me.

I am answering the question posed by dth1971 on the other thread with this post.

[OnWithTheCountdown]

Took a quick listen to Casey's intro to "Back For Good" at #1 on the Casey's Hot 20 show dated 12/16/1995. He told the story of "lead singer" Robbie Williams leaving the group for a solo career, which Casey had already told in a Casey's Top 40 show I had heard along the way. The story later included a suicide hotline being set up in Germany for despondent fans. Looking through their hit catalog in their early years, Gary Barlow sings most of the lead vocals, though Williams does sing lead on one (and there's a very noticeable difference between Robbie's and Gary's vocals). I love their early stuff; good, danceable pop hits.

Take That also just released a new single on Thursday, "You And Me". (It's pretty good.) They are now down to a trio.

[dukelightning]

Robbie Williams is in a select group of artists who never had a hit singing lead with the group he was associated with. Major Harris who had a hit with "Love Won't Let Me Wait" is in that club as I remember Casey saying that he left a few groups before they had hits. Bob Welch with Fleetwood Mac is a good example too. There are many others.
A couple stories showing just how tough either at times or getting into it the entertainment industry is. Casey told how Gloria Estafan had a recurring nightmare where she was riding in the tour bus and a vehicle was bearing down on them at high speeds. Sometimes it was a car, other times a truck or a bus. This went on for 6 months before a day in March of that year, the nightmare came true when their tour bus was hit on a snowy highway in Pennsylvania. Casey said that she was already well on her to recovery. But that is the major drawback of being a recording artist having to endure so many nights and days on the road with all the perils of that.
Then later Casey told how Adam Ant after a few years of success in the music industry tried to make it in Hollywood. He got a few bit pieces in commercials, but mostly he came up empty. One time he auditioned for a part that 60,000 people were auditioning for. Is that a tough gig or what?! Competing with 60,000 people! He did get a part in the movie Slam Dance which was a modest success according to Casey.
Forgot to say this is the 5/5/90 CT40. Strange that R&R never had a dance chart even though they had about 10 charts eventually. Leading into "Vogue", Casey mentioned the #1s on the other charts which is all of 2 charts. Having a dance chart would have probably meant that Casey would have said 'and at #1 on the dance chart is the next song in the countdown, at #3, "Vogue". Mentioning only 2 other charts seems so odd.

[dukelightning]

The 5/6/89 CT40 has Casey saying that John Mellencamp who debuts with "Pop Singer" first hit the top 40 in 1981. That had me looking at the R&R chart book. He's right with "Aint Even Done With the Night" being his first top 40 hit. Means that "Hurts so Good" and "This Time" did not make the R&R chart. But their chart was only 30 positions then. So would those have hit the chart if it was 40 positions? We'll never know. For most of the first 10 years in R&R existence, their chart was less than 40 positions.
Casey tells a story about "Born to Run" that I had never heard before. He said Bruce took 5 months to record it because he was trying to write like Bob Dylan, sing like Roy Orbison and have a Phil Spector-like production. Getting that wall of sound that was Spector's signature was a challenge. Said it peaked at 26 which it did in R&R. That was almost a victim of the smaller chart as those Mellencamp hits were!
That was an extra as was "Don't Worry Be Happy" because it was the first #1 hit with no musical instruments. Add in the 3 R&Ds(one of which was "Wind Beneath My Wings" that was in the countdown), last week's #1 hit and that is 45 songs in this show. One of those R&Ds was a song I had never heard before even though it's by Elvis. "Memories" that reached #35 in 1969.

[freakyflybry]

In memory of Firehouse lead singer C.J. Snare, who just died this weekend, I've fired up two CT40 shows spanning their top 40 career. First up is CT40 from April 20, 1991, where "Don't Treat Me Bad" is up 36-32 and I will follow it up with April 8, 1995 with "I Live My Life For You" which rises 12-11.

On the 1991 show, he joins Whitney Houston, Gerald Levert (guest on the Rude Boys song), several singers from Voices That Care (Jani Lane, Luther Vandross, Anita & June Pointer, Little Richard and Warren Wiebe), Tony Thompson and Roderick Clark of Hi-Five, Chrissy Amphlett of The Divinyls, Robert Palmer, David Cole of C&C Music Factory and Marie Fredriksson of Roxette in music heaven, and on the 1995 show, he joins Eddie Van Halen, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes of TLC, Glenn Frey of the Eagles, Dolores O'Riordan of the Cranberries and Alec John Such of Bon Jovi in the afterlife.

Side note: These two shows also cover the span of Londonbeat's top 40 hit career as well. In addition to Firehouse and Londonbeat, both shows also include songs by Gloria Estefan. Alas, R.E.M. was a near miss as while they had "Losing My Religion" on the 1991 show, they were in between singles in 1995. Similarly, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Nelson, Rod Stewart, Stevie B and Michael Bolton would also return to the top 40 later in 1995.

[dukelightning]

C. J. Snare certainly had his life cut short. My tribute show comes from one of those years like 1972(long songs), 1979(disco and the end of disco), 1989(recharting hits) that is known for something. 1995 for me anyway is known for last hits and a last show, the last AT40 in the first run. Firehouse' last hit is in the 6/3/95 CT40. 'Dropping from #11 to #18, that's C. J. Snare singing lead for Firehouse on "I Live My Life For You"'. There were 3 straight 'last' hits in the 30s...by Stevie B., All-For-One and Human League. Corona, Adam Ant and Annie Lennox also have their last hits in this show. Paula Abdul will have her last hit later in 1995 but in this show is her next to last one "My Love is For Real", like that one with its soulful, sensual feel.
That 3 song streak in the 30s was snapped by a first hit, "Another Night". Casey said it was in the countdown for 9 months which has to be the first time he ever said that. Not because he hardly ever mentioned months instead of weeks in his previous 25 years on AT/CT40 but due to no hit being on the chart that long. This was its 40th week and it would be on for 43 weeks before finally falling off. That must have held up for the longest run of the 90s.
This show covers 2 bases..a tribute to an artist and a recognition of an astronomical event. At #6 is "Total Eclipse of the Heart". A lot of people spent some money for nothing traveling to see it seeing as how it is cloudy in many places.

[dukelightning]

Finishing up all the May shows that Casey did with the last one he did outside of the Hot AC and AC shows, the AT40 from 5/31/03. Ashanti tried to pull a prank on Stevie Wonder by calling him claiming to be a postal worker that wanted to become a singer. Didn't work! Stevie recognized the voice of a professional musician! The phone pranks on the Jubal show every morning are great btw. Show is almost bookended by Justin Timberlake as he debuts along with the Black Eyes Peas on "Where is the Love?". That will reach #1 which is where he is on this show with "Rock Your Body". Both "Angel" hits of the 2000s are in this show. Shaggy's is a LDD and Amanda Perez is in the countdown with hers. A lot of one word titles and "Breathe", "Intuition", "Stuck", "Fighter" and "Unwell" are a few of my faves.

[freakyflybry]

AT40 from April 18, 1998.

Amazingly enough, 26 years later, THREE artists in this countdown also have current hits - Usher, Justin Timberlake and Beyoncé, all of whom had their first top 40 hits in this show and were in their teens then and in their 40's now. I never would've guessed back then that Beyoncé would have a country song on the chart now - but indeed, "Texas Hold 'Em" is just that!

Five Canadian artists in this show, all female: Alanis Morissette, Celine Dion, Shania Twain, Sarah McLachlan and Loreena McKennitt. I had "The Mummer's Dance" in my head yesterday which inspired this choice of show.

Chumbawamba is one act who had both of their top 40 hits in the same show - "Tubthumping", which has remained a classic, and the appropriately forgotten "Amnesia".

Given how much it still gets played to this day, it's surprising that "Bittersweet Symphony" didn't even make the top 20 on AT40! It did go top 5 on alternative and Triple A and top 10 on Hot AC though.

And Savage Garden did a rarity on the chart - returning to #1 with "Truly Madly Deeply". Casey mentioned that this was the first time since Ace Of Base in 1994 that it happened.

I enjoyed hearing the stories about how Paula Cole was inspired to be a singer-songwriter by Kate Bush, and how Robyn wrote her songs in English because she felt it was easier to find words that rhymed and that the songs flowed better than in her native Swedish.

[dukelightning]

That return to #1 for Savage Garden is something in and of itself. It was #2 for 9 weeks behind "My Heart Will Go On" in between its 2 weeks at #1. Last time a hit was #2 for 9 weeks behind the same #1 hit was late 1981/early 1982 when "Waiting For a Girl Like You" was paired up with "Physical". And I remember that Celine dropped to #5 making that one of the bigger drops out of the #1 spot in the monitored era...had a drop to #6 last week.
'Artfully filtering his rage through a barrage of intricate rhythms' and 'the heir to 2pac and the Notorious BIG' are 2 quotes from Newsweek that Casey said in a story about Eminem on the 6/17/00 AT40. And he mentions Dr. Dre in the lyrics of "The Real Slim Shady".
Another top 10 hit produced by Rodney Jerkins this time for Toni Braxton on "He Wasn't Man Enough", though it was holding at 36 this week. Jerkins has produced a ton of hits for female artists but what I think is his first hit as a producer is by Joe in 1997..."Don't Wanna be a Player", another great song that did not reach the top 40 in R&R but did reach #21 on the Hot 100. Joe has the biggest mover with a totally different type of song in this show but also a great one, "I Wanna Know" which is not produced by Mr. Jerkins.
Splendor originally called their hit "I Think I Can Explain". But their manager thought it was 'I think God can explain'. When the group got wind of that, they realized it sounded better that way and changed the title and some lyrics. 2 hits with God in their title with Kid Rock's "Only God Knows Why" the other one.

[dukelightning]

It's a Shadoe show, the AT40 from 6/25/94. Started off by playing last week's #1 hit. This is something that rarely happened during the Shadoe era. Outside of 1991 when 7 of the last 9 regular shows featured last week's #1 song being played, I think you can count on one hand the number of times that happened.
Question was answered about #1 remakes of top 40 hits in the 80s and 90s. Interesting that there were 10 in the 80s but all of them were in the latter part of the decade starting with "Greatest Love of All". Of course remakes can be covers of songs that did not hit the top 40 and that last week's #1 hit is such a song.."I Swear". So is one of the songs Shadoe says was trying to displace it..."Don't Turn Around", originally done by Tina Turner.* 5 so far in the 90s that were originally top 40 hits with the 5th at #8, "Baby I Love Your Way". That's also one of those 10 in the 80s of course.
Most of my faves are in the third hour. The rocker "Shine", a dance hit by a balladeer "Misled", a ballad by an artist with a lot of dance hits "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" who Shadoe said had changed his name to that unpronounceable symbol exactly a year earlier and a slow jam "Anytime Anyplace". Another slow jam was a fave in the second hour "Back and Forth".

*When I typed that, it was earlier in the show. When it got to that point of the countdown, Shadoe played a clip of a reggae version that hit #1 in the UK in 1988 and then a clip of Neil Diamond's version of it from 1992. Never mentioned Tina recording the song but did say that Diane Warren and Albert Hammond wrote it(in 1986).

[OnWithTheCountdown]

I feel like I heard a bit more R&B/urban music in 1994; partly because I spent part of that spring and summer in SC & GA. One song I really like that didn't hit the pop top 40 (I say that to cover Shadoe, Casey, and Rick) was "Treat U Rite" by Angela Winbush. Looking at the R&R issue dated 30 years ago today, it was holding steady at #5 on the urban chart. #1 was "I'm Ready" by Tevin Campbell, which did go top 10 pop.

The R&R issue that would correspond with the AT40 show dukelightning listened to (dated 6/17/1994), on the front page is the article about AT40 being canceled in the States, and Dees crosses over to ABC Radio. (Well, this issue would match up with the Casey's Top 40 show dated 6/25/1994.)

Finally got through Donna Lewis' marathon 12-week run at #1. Maybe behind the scenes, Casey and staff were relieved that they didn't need to come up with any more stories leading into the song. 😂 The charts were really slow at this time, with songs not moving up or down too fast, that is, if they weren't holding position. Wintertime tunes beginning to surface in the shows, like "I Believe I Can Fly", "No Diggity", and "You Were Meant For Me", among many others.