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Post by woolebull on Jul 9, 2021 14:38:43 GMT -5
I want to say thank you to each of you who makes this board special. Everybody here brings their love for American Top 40 specifically, and Top 40 music and shows in general. Thank you to each of you for allowing me to be a part of your love and knowledge of our favorite countdown!
I want to try something. I have said on multiple occasions that I started listening to the show on 7/3/82. For me, I have no history of any moments on American Top 40 before that date. Not the first one. All that I have learned has happened by studying the charts or listening to old shows through the years. While my knowledge of songs before that date is solid, I still have questions about many of the songs and charts before then. I am sure there are many people on here that started listening way past 1982 that feel the same.
I would like to use this thread to ask those of us who might have been around and listening to American Top 40 during a specific time questions about specific songs. I think it would be neat to get your perspective on times some of us do not know.
I'll ask the first question: 1981, June 20. I started listening to AT 40 and top 40 music just a year later but I have absolutely no recollection at all of Medley or Stars on 45. For those of you listening then: was it a surprise that it went to #1? What made it so special that it could take a week at #1? Was it Lennon's death? Was it played on the radio in heavy rotation? For me not knowing about that time, it seems strange a song with that disco sound could chart that high in1981. I know it went to #3 on R and R...but I am pretty sure it spent multiple weeks at #1 on Cashbox. I'm not saying it wasn't a big hit by any means. I just would like to know your perspective on what made this unique hit such a smash.
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Post by slf on Jul 9, 2021 15:19:57 GMT -5
I want to say thank you to each of you who makes this board special. Everybody here brings their love for American Top 40 specifically, and Top 40 music and shows in general. Thank you to each of you for allowing me to be a part of your love and knowledge of our favorite countdown! I want to try something. I have said on multiple occasions that I started listening to the show on 7/3/82. For me, I have no history of any moments on American Top 40 before that date. Not the first one. All that I have learned has happened by studying the charts or listening to old shows through the years. While my knowledge of songs before that date is solid, I still have questions about many of the songs and charts before then. I am sure there are many people on here that started listening way past 1982 that feel the same. I would like to use this thread to ask those of us who might have been around and listening to American Top 40 during a specific time questions about specific songs. I think it would be neat to get your perspective on times some of us do not know. I'll ask the first question: 1981, June 20. I started listening to AT 40 and top 40 music just a year later but I have absolutely no recollection at all of Medley or Stars on 45. For those of you listening then: was it a surprise that it went to #1? What made it so special that it could take a week at #1? Was it Lennon's death? Was it played on the radio in heavy rotation? For me not knowing about that time, it seems strange a song with that disco sound could chart that high in1981. I know it went to #3 on R and R...but I am pretty sure it spent multiple weeks at #1 on Cashbox. I'm not saying it wasn't a big hit by any means. I just would like to know your perspective on what made this unique hit such a smash. I'm sure beyond a reasonably doubt that the Stars on 45 medley from the summer of '81 got as much airplay as any other charttopping song. I know I heard it all the time on WOWO out of Ft. Wayne, IN, although by 1981 it was mostly an adult contemporary station. And, BTW, the song spent two weeks at #1 on the Cashbox survey. (Curiously, I don't remember WOWO ever playing the Stars on 45 hit from a year later, the tribute to Stevie Wonder.)
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Post by djjoe1960 on Jul 9, 2021 16:04:36 GMT -5
I want to say thank you to each of you who makes this board special. Everybody here brings their love for American Top 40 specifically, and Top 40 music and shows in general. Thank you to each of you for allowing me to be a part of your love and knowledge of our favorite countdown! I want to try something. I have said on multiple occasions that I started listening to the show on 7/3/82. For me, I have no history of any moments on American Top 40 before that date. Not the first one. All that I have learned has happened by studying the charts or listening to old shows through the years. While my knowledge of songs before that date is solid, I still have questions about many of the songs and charts before then. I am sure there are many people on here that started listening way past 1982 that feel the same. I would like to use this thread to ask those of us who might have been around and listening to American Top 40 during a specific time questions about specific songs. I think it would be neat to get your perspective on times some of us do not know. I'll ask the first question: 1981, June 20. I started listening to AT 40 and top 40 music just a year later but I have absolutely no recollection at all of Medley or Stars on 45. For those of you listening then: was it a surprise that it went to #1? What made it so special that it could take a week at #1? Was it Lennon's death? Was it played on the radio in heavy rotation? For me not knowing about that time, it seems strange a song with that disco sound could chart that high in1981. I know it went to #3 on R and R...but I am pretty sure it spent multiple weeks at #1 on Cashbox. I'm not saying it wasn't a big hit by any means. I just would like to know your perspective on what made this unique hit such a smash. I'm sure beyond a reasonably doubt that the Stars on 45 medley from the summer of '81 got as much airplay as any other charttopping song. I know I heard it all the time on WOWO out of Ft. Wayne, IN, although by 1981 it was mostly an adult contemporary station. And, BTW, the song spent two weeks at #1 on the Cashbox survey. (Curiously, I don't remember WOWO ever playing the Stars on 45 hit from a year later, the tribute to Stevie Wonder.) I was a big Beatles fan and knew all of the songs in the Stars on 45 medley--and they were put together in a catchy way, which caused me to go out and buy the single before it made it to #1. It did receive enough radio airplay to certainly be a Top 10 song and I suppose it sold over a million copies, which I am sure made it a #1 hit. One interesting story, I recall being in line to ride a roller coaster at 6 Flags over Georgia (near Atlanta) with some friends and we started singing the Stars on 45 medley to pass the time and several other people in line joined in--although this happened a few years later in the mid 1980's, to me that is proof that the medley was still popular. Bring on some of those other questions. And , by the way, I agree with you it is great to have some folks that connect their love of AT40 and The Top 40 on this board. Kudos to those that help keep it going.
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Post by pb on Jul 10, 2021 9:10:45 GMT -5
The nostalgia medley craze of the early 80's. Seems to have been quickly forgotten but it was ubiquitous for a few minutes. I was in elementary school then but I remember hearing the Beatles tribute a few times. There was a grocery store magazine called Song Hits that printed the words of the new hits (or the songs the labels hoped would be hits) and I remember they printed the Stevie Wonder medley lyrics, but I never heard it.
Some other 60's bands went around Stars On 45 to do their own medlies, either editing it themselves (the Hollies) or possibly leaving it to their record label (Beach Boys).
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Post by woolebull on Jul 10, 2021 16:51:38 GMT -5
Great answers all! I love the Six Flags story! To me, I don't remember many songs from 1981 during 1981. BDE, theme from Greatest American Hero, and Arthur's Theme stick out for whatever reasons they stick out. My parents did not listen to much CHR at all back then, hence why my memories truly start of top 40 music with listening to American Top 40 and Dick Clark's National Music Survey. Medley will always be a favorite of mine, but it still is an enigma looking from an outside view of the charts back then. I for sure never heard any of the other Medleys that hit the top 40, with the exception of "Hooked On Classics", on the radio at all. If anyone else has some stories to tell about Medley or that time in music, I would love to hear them! I will ask another question in a while.
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Post by retrodaddy on Jul 10, 2021 23:37:39 GMT -5
I don't have a great recollection of hearing it on the radio a lot in '81. I wasn't a Beatles fan or into 60s music much (i was 10 years old at the time). However, I did like this medley.
I wanna echo the sentiment woolebull expressed regarding the contributions from everyone here. There's a tremendous amount of knowledge and passion here. I appreciate the perspectives and insight you all offer.
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Post by mrjukebox on Jul 11, 2021 7:52:27 GMT -5
In 1981,I was listening to "AT40" on WNBC in New York City-That summer had some memorable hits such as "Boy From New York City" by Manhattan Transfer,"Sweet Baby" by Stanley Clarke & George Duke,"Is It You" by Lee Ritenour featuring Eric Tagg & Bill Champlain,"Gemini Dream" by The Moody Blues & "Seven Year Ache" by Rosanne Cash.
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Post by woolebull on Jul 12, 2021 12:19:56 GMT -5
In 1981,I was listening to "AT40" on WNBC in New York City-That summer had some memorable hits such as "Boy From New York City" by Manhattan Transfer,"Sweet Baby" by Stanley Clarke & George Duke,"Is It You" by Lee Ritenour featuring Eric Tagg & Bill Champlain,"Gemini Dream" by The Moody Blues & "Seven Year Ache" by Rosanne Cash. These are the stories that amaze me and help me understand top 40 pre 1982. Knowing "Seven Year Ache" was played on WNBC gives me better understanding that the song didn't just bag points on less urban stations, it was also in rotation on some of the biggest stations. I have pretty much listened to AT 40 in a country exclusive time. Obviously there are exceptions: for me I couldn't turn on a radio and NOT hear Sylvia's "Nobody" in the summer of 1982.
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Post by chrislc on Jul 12, 2021 14:35:45 GMT -5
I thought Medley was great. They really sounded like the Beatles. I was especially happy when it knocked Kim Carnes from #1 even if it turned out to be only for a week.
I never understood that Kim Carnes song being such a huge hit. And being on the air it wasn't like I could ignore it (like we could 15-20 years later thanks to "Scott"). Her 1980 hits were both better, but that's just IMO.
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Post by Michael1973 on Jul 17, 2021 10:59:47 GMT -5
In 1981,I was listening to "AT40" on WNBC in New York City-That summer had some memorable hits such as "Boy From New York City" by Manhattan Transfer,"Sweet Baby" by Stanley Clarke & George Duke,"Is It You" by Lee Ritenour featuring Eric Tagg & Bill Champlain,"Gemini Dream" by The Moody Blues & "Seven Year Ache" by Rosanne Cash. WNBC was my first AT40 station as well, although not until 1983 -- which turned out to be the last year they carried it. But that was indeed the first radio station I regularly listened to as a kid.
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Post by mrjukebox on Jul 17, 2021 11:17:04 GMT -5
The reason WNBC stopped airing "AT40" was that ABC Watermark which owned the series,said it could only be heard on affiliates that were ABC owned & operated-That's why "AT40" was heard on crosstown rival WPLJ.
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Post by mga707 on Jul 17, 2021 11:54:26 GMT -5
I never understood that Kim Carnes song being such a huge hit. Agree. Both of 1981's 9 week number one songs held on way longer than they should have, IMO. I'll include "Physical" in that category also. All three were way past their peak in terms of local airplay in my area by the time they finally fell out of #1 on Billboard. And I liked "Bette Davis Eyes" (bought the 45), ditto for ONJ, while the Lionel/Diana dirge was an instant tune-out almost from day 1 for me. I chalk it up to the 'Wardlow effect'. Stars On 45 got a decent amount of airplay in my area on both top 40 and A/C stations.
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Post by OnWithTheCountdown on Jul 17, 2021 12:26:54 GMT -5
While I wasn't listening to AT40 in 1981, I remember "Medley" very well. I listened to pop radio a lot as a toddler, and through my childhood, as my mom had the radio on quite a bit. I remember what songs were popular and roughly when because of that, even before I found AT40. Some of you know I started listening in June 1984 (though I remember hearing bits and pieces of AT40 before that, though I don't recall exactly when). And almost 33 years later, I have all the shows. It's been super fun to hear how AT40 sounded from the beginning and through the years. I almost always have some countdown show playing (AT40/CT40, ACC, etc.)
Before 1984, I could tell you what was popular and when going back to the late 1970s, though I couldn't back it up with chart stats like I can now.
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Post by friarboy on Jul 18, 2021 8:15:31 GMT -5
That Stars On medley was on constantly in Central Pennsylvania, where I listened to AT40 on WQWK- State College. You couldn't avoid it. There was an album out, I had it but no clue what happened to it- if you need it, it's available on Discogs for much less than the cost of shipping it.
I think it was just a fun piece of pop culture. A couple things that were odd about it were starting with Sugar Sugar then the rest being all Beatles- not sure what was up with that. Also, the disco "Stars on 45" breaks were a little questionable as far as fitting in, but a product of their time.
Not having lived through Beatlemania, and my parents only having a couple Beatles albums, this was my primary exposure to many of these songs until I got to college and had access to the radio station's music library. Some of these songs I still hear as the Stars On version and not the "real" ones.
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Post by woolebull on Jul 23, 2021 11:08:31 GMT -5
All great responses! Thank you all for taking the time to give me some insight of that time and "Medley".
Of the 12 years of AT that I knew nothing about until much later, my favorite span is without a doubt the shows from the last part of 1979, particularly October 20, 1979 on. You had so much going on: Herb at the top as an instrumentalist, last number one for Eagles and M (lol), first chart appearances for Prince and Mellencamp, Kermit, The Buggles, volatile chart action ("Still" I think is the only top 10 hit to spend only two weeks of its top 40 run between 11 and 40...that blows my mind), Summer and Streisand making history...I could go on but all of that to say is I love the eclectic nature of those charts. But one thing that is missing is a ton of disco hits.
My question for you all is when did you all see disco take a dramatic dive off the radio? Was it as instantaneous as the charts seem to make it to be? I don't want to give Disco Demolition Night all of the credit, but the number of dance records that you would consider disco records certainly seem to be less by November of 1979 versus July of 1979. It might seem weird but when I hear Pop Musik I genuinely don't think it would have been as big of a hit if it had been released even a few months earlier. I also don't think "Ring My Bell" would have been as big if it was released a few months later. It seemed that CHR stations were ready for anything dance that wouldn't be considered disco. I would love to know when you saw the decline in disco, and did the charts accurately reflect it?
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