Pop Quiz: American Top 40, July 5, 1980 - "The Book of Records" (Pt. 4 of 4)

We're looking at the AT40 episode from July 5, 1980 which was titled "Book of Records." I'll let Casey introduce this episode:

On AT40 this week, the name of the game is superlatives. From "The Book of Records," we've got the biggest, the smallest, the longest, the shortest, and some categories in-between.

So revert back to a 1980 mindset and see if you can guess which artist or song held the following records in July 1980. I've included the years of the recordings as hints. Answers below.

Hour Four:
a) Biggest selling album in history (1977)
b) Highest debuting single in the rock era (1970)
c) Biggest hit by a foreign act/biggest instrumental single of the rock era (1955)
d) Most consecutive #1 hits on any chart (1967-72)
e) The longest held musical note sung in a Top 40 hit in the rock era (1979)
f) #1 hit that "cannot possibly be performed live" (1958)
g) Artist with the most Top 40 hits without ever reaching #1 on the pop charts
h) Biggest hit in country chart history (1950)
i) Most successful American group in chart history
j) Biggest hit in soul chart history (1951)
k) Act with the most consecutive weeks with at least one song in the Top 40
l) Only record to hit #1 simultaneously on the pop, country, and soul chart (1956)
m) The biggest chart single in history (1943)

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Hour Four:
a) Saturday Night Fever soundtrack (Casey plays "Stayin' Alive")
b) "Let It Be" by The Beatles (debuted on the Hot 100 at #6)
c) "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White" by Perez Prado
d) Sonny James (16 straight #1 country hits, Casey plays "Young Love")
e) "Dim All the Lights" by Donna Summer (note held 16 seconds)
f) "The Chipmunk Song" by The Chipmunks
g) James Brown (43 Top 40 hits without a #1. Casey plays "I Got You")
h) "I'm Movin' On" by Hank Snow (#1 for 21 weeks)
i) The Supremes (Twelve #1 songs. Casey plays "Baby Love")
j) "Sixty Minute Man" by The Dominoes
k) Pat Boone (23 songs over 169 consecutive weeks. Casey plays "Love Letters in the Sand")
l) "Don't Be Cruel" b/w "Hound Dog" by Elvis Presley (Casey plays both)
m) "Paper Doll" by The Mills Brothers (30 weeks in the Top 10, 12 at #1. During the backsell, Casey qualifies this record with by saying "Not counting Bing Crosby's 'White Christmas' with its multiple chart appearances every holiday season..." so either answer could be considered correct.)

Pop Quiz: American Top 40, July 5, 1980 - "The Book of Records" (Pt. 3 of 4)

We're looking at the AT40 episode from July 5, 1980 which was titled "Book of Records." I'll let Casey introduce this episode:

A simmering stew of superlatives fit to satisfy the appetites of the most jaded trivia buff. And those who just plain love pop music.

So revert back to a 1980 mindset and see if you can guess which artist or song held the following records in July 1980. I've included the years of the recordings as hints. Answers below.

Hour Three:
a) Excluding movie soundtracks, the biggest album of the rock era (1977)
b) Biggest spoken word hit in chart history (1961)
c) Most expensive #1 single ever produced (1966)
d) Song that has won the most Grammy awards (1970)
e) Most charted versions of one song
f) Longest continuous chart run of a single (1977-8)
g) Most weeks in the Top 10 without ever hitting #1 (1956)
h) Biggest movie hit of the rock era/Biggest hit in a single chart run by any solo singer the rock era (1977)
i)  Biggest hit in a single chart run by a male solo singer the rock era (1956)
j) Duo with the most #1 hits
k) Female solo singer with the most #1 hits
l) Male solo singer with the most #1 hits
m) Most #1 hits

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Hour Three:
a) Rumours by Fleetwood Mac (Casey plays "Don't Stop")
b) "Big Bad John" by Jimmy Dean
c) "Good Vibrations" by The Beach Boys (reportedly $50,000 to produce)
d) "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon & Garfunkel (Casey claims that the song won 6 Grammy awards, but it only won 4: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Arrangement, and Best Contemporary Song. However, the album of the same name won two more, Album of the Year & Best Engineering, so Casey rolls those in with the other four.)
e) "Mack the Knife" (eight versions hit the Top 40 1956-1960; Casey plays Bobby Darin's #1 version from 1959)
f) "I Go Crazy" by Paul Davis (40 consecutive weeks)
g) "So Rare" by Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra (17 weeks in the Top 10)
h) "You Light Up My Life" by Debby Boone (not on the movie soundtrack, but Casey don't nitpick)
i) "Singing the Blues" by Guy Mitchell
j) The Everly Brothers (Four #1 hits. Casey plays "Wake Up Little Susie")
k) Diana Ross (Four #1 hits. Casey plays "Ain't No Mountain High Enough")
l) Elvis Presley (Eighteen #1 hits. Casey plays "Heartbreak Hotel")
m) The Beatles (Twenty #1 hits. Casey plays "I Feel Fine")



Coming soon: Pop quiz from the fourth and final hour of this episode.

Pop Quiz: American Top 40, July 5, 1980 - "The Book of Records" (Pt. 2 of 4)

We're looking at the AT40 episode from July 5, 1980 which was titled "Book of Records." I'll let Casey introduce this episode:

What we're doing is hearing the leading songs in practically all of the main categories in chart achievement, all together in one huge bouquet of super hits.

So revert back to a 1980 mindset and see if you can guess which artist or song held the following records in July 1980. I've included the years of the recordings as hints. Answers below.

Hour Two:
a) The biggest medley in chart history (1969)
b) The #1 song with the fewest lyrics (1958)
c) Biggest remake ever of a prior #1 song (1971)
d) Fastest jump to #1 (tie) (1958 & 1964)
e) Longest playing #1 record (1972)
f) Biggest pop religious/spiritual hit of all time (1970)
g) Recording that waited the longest to hit the chart (1975)
h) The slowest rising #1 in chart history (tie) (1978 & 1979)
i) Biggest posthumous hit for a male singer (1968)
j) Biggest hit in a foreign language (1958)
k) Biggest posthumous hit for a female singer (1971)
l) Artist that waited the longest time after his chart debut to hit #1 (1978) Bonus: name the song that hit #1 (hint: it's a duet)

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Hour Two:
a) "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" by The 5th Dimension
b) "Tequila" by The Champs (One word lyric)
c) "Go Away Little Girl" by Donny Osmond (#1 in 1963 by Steve Lawrence)
d) "Purple People Eater" by Sheb Wooley and "Can't Buy Me Love" by The Beatles (both hit #1 in their second week on the chart)
e) "American Pie" by Don McLean (Casey claims it is 8:22 long, the album label claims 8:27)
f) "My Sweet Lord" by George Harrison
g) "Shaving Cream" by Paul Wynn/Benny Bell (originally recorded 1946)
h) "Hot Child in the City" by Nick Gilder and "Sad Eyes" by Robert John (each took 29 weeks to reach #1)
i) "(Sittin' On) the Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding
j) "Nel blu dipinto di blu" (popularly known as "Volare") by Domenico Modugno
k) "Me and Bobby McGee" by Janis Joplin
l) "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" by Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams (Mathis finally hit #1 21 years after his chart debut)


Coming soon: Pop quiz from the third hour of this episode.

Pop Quiz: American Top 40, July 5, 1980 - "The Book of Records" (Pt. 1 of 4)

I saw a few weeks back that Justin Bieber had surpassed The Beatles in some category on the Billboard charts. I wasn't much interested because comparing Billboard today to Billboard 50 years ago is an archaic exercise in futility. Anyway, I was reminded of the AT40 episode from July 5, 1980 which dealt with such records. I'll let Casey introduce this episode:

This week, we're doing the most unusual, special show we've ever done. To begin with, it's not a countdown - it doesn't make sense to rank the biggest, the highest, the first, and so on, from different chart categories. And this is the first time we've ever spotlighted the top artist or record from the various categories of chart achievement and brought them all together in one super special show.

The songs that have set the marks: hits from the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies, and even one from the Forties. They're all here in the American Top 40 "Book of Records"!

So revert back to a 1980 mindset and see if you can guess which artist or song held the following records in July 1980. I've included the years of the recordings as hints. Answers below.

Hour One:
a) The biggest chart hit of the rock era (1960, 1962)
b) Biggest "disappearing act" a.k.a. "one-hit wonder" of all-time (1969)
c) Oldest melody ever to hit #1 (1976)
d) Oldest melody to ever hit the Top 40 (1972)
e) The oldest male solo singer to ever hit #1 (1964)
f) The oldest lyric ever to hit #1 (1965)
g) Youngest female solo singer to ever hit the Top 40 (1959)
h) Youngest female solo singer to ever hit #1 (1963)
i) Youngest male singer to ever hit the Top 40 (1955)
j) Youngest male singer to ever hit #1 in the "Rock Era" (which started in 1955) (1963)
k) Biggest protest song (1965)
l) Shortest playing single to hit #1 (1969)
m) Top 40 hit with the most singers on it (1959)
n) Only act to occupy the top 5 spots on the singles chart simultaneously (1964) Bonus: name the five singles
o) Song containing the most often repeated word or phrase in a Top 10 hit (1971)
p) Most successful family act in chart history

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Hour One:
a) "The Twist" by Chubby Checker (also the only record in chart history to have hit #1 twice)
b) "In the Year 2525" by Zager & Evans
c) "A Fifth of Beethoven" by Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band
d) "Amazing Grace" by Judy Collins
e) "Hello Dolly" by Louis Armstrong (age 64)
f) "Turn, Turn, Turn" by The Byrds (I call shenanigans on this one as the lyrics were adapted from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 making the lyrics an interpretation of a transliteration of the original Hebrew writings. It's a nice tune, though.)
g) "Pink Shoelaces" by Dodie Stevens (age 12)
h) "I Will Follow Him" by Peggy March (age 15)
i) "Nuttin' for Christmas" by Barry Gordon (age 6)
j) "Fingertips Pt. 2" by Stevie Wonder (age 13)
k) "Eve of Destruction" by Barry McGuire
l) "Stay" by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs (Casey claims it's 89 seconds, other sources indicate 96 seconds, the label indicates 1:50.)
m) "Battle Hymn of the Republic" by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir (375 voices)
n)

(Casey plays "I Want to Hold Your Hand")
o) "Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers ("I know" repeated 26 times)
p) The Bee Gees (Casey plays "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" from 1971)

Coming soon: Pop quiz from hour two of this episode

Vintage Music Pinbacks #9

Ninth in a series.

Buttons, badges, pinbacks - whatever you call 'em, I've got a shoebox full. Here's a few of my vintage music pinbacks from the '70s and '80s:

1.  1.125" Men at Work, Cargo, 1983
2.  1.25" Duran Duran, ca. 1982
3.  1" Buzzcocks ca. 1979
4.  1.25" Foreigner, ca. 1982
5.  1" Bauhaus, "Spirit" 1982
6.  1.75" Nick Heyward, North of a Miracle, (Dr. Pepper Music Festival?), 1983-4
7.  1" David Bowie, "Ashes to Ashes" 1980