Top 40 NOW for 03/20/1982

[chrislc]

Okay gang this is imperfect. It's ranked by the number of YouTube hits for the video with the most hits, so all of them will have other videos with fewer hits, thus larger total hits, but for fun maybe we can assume the proportions match this list to some extent.

I've been harder on this Top 40 than Ward was on the Beaver. So I thought I would look up the facts:

00056000 JUST CAN'T WIN 'EM ALL And he just can't get away from #40, apparently. Hey, three Stevies in the countdown.
00073000 GOIN' DOWN
00073000 ON THE WAY TO THE SKY
00087000 MY GUY
00129000 NOBODY SAID IT WAS EASY
00131000 MIRROR, MIRROR I smell payola. Why would RCA sign an artist who just had THREE hits in the Top 40 at the same time, and have no clue regarding the material they would have for her to record, which is pretty obvious if you ask me. What a disaster of mismanagement. Or as Mary Wilson might have called it, karma.
00253000 DON'T LET HIM KNOW
00289000 SHOULD I DO IT
00580000 TELL ME TOMORROW
00996000 DADDYS HOME
01000000 TAKE OFF God bless SCTV but this was about as enduring as a Dickie Goodman record.
01100000 BOBBIE SUE I'm sooo disappointed
01200000 FIND ANOTHER FOOL
01200000 MAKE A MOVE ON ME
01500000 '65 LOVE AFFAIR
02500000 TAKE IT EASY ON ME
02800000 SWEET DREAMS
03600000 TONIGHT I'M YOURS
03700000 LOVE IN THE FIRST DEGREE
03900000 WE GOT THE BEAT
04900000 DONT TALK TO STRANGERS
05600000 PRETTY WOMAN
05600000 SHAKE IT UP
06000000 FREEZE-FRAME
06000000 THAT GIRL
06600000 ONE HUNDRED WAYS
11000000 DO YOU BELIEVE IN LOVE
11000000 SPIRITS IN THE MATERIAL WORLD
14000000 PAC-MAN FEVER Surprised it has this many hits. Maybe it's mostly people grabbing the sound effect from the beginning.
16000000 KEY LARGO I remember this song being a sensation at the time in our thrilling world of Adult Contemporary radio. Now I ask - why???
18000000 867-5309/JENNY
21000000 WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE The power of ABBA - more than Tommy Tutone - Wow. And this is probably about #20 for them. EDIT just checked - closer to #30
22000000 CHARIOTS OF FIRE - TITLES
23000000 LEADER OF THE BAND
24000000 THROUGH THE YEARS
25000000 JUKE BOX HERO A little surprised with this one. More than Through the Years.
33000000 CENTERFOLD
51000000 OPEN ARMS
72000000 EDGE OF SEVENTEEN Wow this one has had staying power for 41 years. It didn't even make the Top Ten.
97000000 I LOVE ROCK N' ROLL

[doofus67]

Gee, Larry. Well, I love that rock 'n roll stuff too, but I can't listen to it, on account-a my Mom and Dad will get sore at me. Oh, and there's a girl named Bobbie Sue who sits behind me in Miss Landers' class. I like her, kinda sorta.

[chrislc]

Mar 15, 2023 20:23:39 GMT -5 doofus67 said:

Gee, Larry. Well, I love that rock 'n roll stuff too, but I can't listen to it, on account-a my Mom and Dad will get sore at me. Oh, and there's a girl named Bobbie Sue who sits behind me in Miss Landers' class. I like her, kinda sorta.

LOL you reminded me that I wasn't allowed to watch Batman for months after Episode #1, thanks to Jill St. John and her outfit.

And, yes, THANK YOU Jill for that outfit!

[mga707]

Mar 15, 2023 20:23:39 GMT -5 doofus67 said:

Gee, Larry. Well, I love that rock 'n roll stuff too, but I can't listen to it, on account-a my Mom and Dad will get sore at me. Oh, and there's a girl named Bobbie Sue who sits behind me in Miss Landers' class. I like her, kinda sorta.

Aw, knock it off, squirt. I'm gonna tell your big brother that you're givin' us all the business again. Heh-heh. Oh, good evening Mrs. Cleaver. My, you're looking lovely tonight. I was just instructing Theodore that he shouldn't go around telling fibs.

[chrislc]

BTW I'm doing 1977 now and you all can probably name the video that is like a hydrogen bomb compared to any on this list.

[mga707]

Mar 15, 2023 20:48:02 GMT -5 chrislc said:

BTW I'm doing 1977 now and you all can probably name the video that is like a hydrogen bomb compared to any on this list.

Has to be 'Hotel California'.

[chrislc]

Mar 15, 2023 21:10:42 GMT -5 mga707 said:

Mar 15, 2023 20:48:02 GMT -5 chrislc said:

BTW I'm doing 1977 now and you all can probably name the video that is like a hydrogen bomb compared to any on this list.

Has to be 'Hotel California'.

Nope. Here we go. Posting now.

[djjoe1960]

Nostalgia perhaps makes people do strange things--or maybe it's kids today checking out the music that they heard about from their parents.

Having worked in radio during the early 1980's, it seemed that radio was trying to keep the Boomers happy with music they could 'tolerate'--or maybe it was to keep advertising on their station. Even though MTV launched in August 1981, their real impact wouldn't be felt until a few months later--when Top 40 became more youth oriented during 1982/83.

[mga707]

Mar 16, 2023 6:39:25 GMT -5 djjoe1960 said:

Nostalgia perhaps makes people do strange things--or maybe it's kids today checking out the music that they heard about from their parents.

Having worked in radio during the early 1980's, it seemed that radio was trying to keep the Boomers happy with music they could 'tolerate'--or maybe it was to keep advertising on their station. Even though MTV launched in August 1981, their real impact wouldn't be felt until a few months later--when Top 40 became more youth oriented during 1982/83.

I'd say that MTV's impact wasn't felt until over a year later or more. In my case, my local TV market didn't get cable TV (and MTV) until the spring of 1983. That was typical for many areas of the country.

And the majority of my peers at the time (I turned 25 in April 1983, right around the time of my first exposure to MTV) generally hated the majority of the music videos that MTV was airing back in those early days. It was definitely geared mainly to people younger than us, with some exceptions (Van Halen, Billy Joel, Pat Benatar, etc.).