Promo posters as seen on "WKRP in Cincinnati" #93

Albums: Commodores - Heroes (Motown, 1980), Neil Young - Hawks and Doves (Reprise, 1980), Ry Cooder - Borderline (Warner Bros., 1980), The Blues Brothers - Made in America (Atlantic, 1980), The Jim Carroll Band - Catholic Boy (Atco, 1980)
Episode: Season 3, Episode 17, "Secrets of Dayton Heights"
Original air date: Sunday, February 28, 1981


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Promo posters as seen on "WKRP in Cincinnati" #87

Albums: The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Capitol, 1967), Blondie - Autoamerican (Chrysalis, 1980), Commodores - Heroes (Motown, 1980), Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (Capitol, 1973), Eric Clapton - Another Ticket (1981, RSO)
Episode:  Season 3, Episode 21, "Till Debt Do Us Part"
Original air date: Sunday, April 5, 1981


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Promo posters as seen on "WKRP in Cincinnati" #53

Albums: Daryl Hall & John Oates - Private Eyes (RCA, 1981), Little Feat - Hoy-Hoy! (Warner Bros., 1981), [see note below], Commodores - Heroes (Motown, 1980), Rickie Lee Jones - Pirates (Warner Bros., 1981)
Episode:  Season 4, Episode 6, "Who's on First"
Original air date: Wednesday, November 11, 1981

It takes a village: eagle-eyed reader Herc suggests that the photo next to Bailey's lovely head is a promo shot of Bruce Springsteen used for the cover of the February 5, 1981 issue of Rolling Stone magazine. I agree.

Counting down my Top 79 of '79: Singles #79 - 62

A breakdown of my top singles from 1979

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	Title	Artist	Pop	AC	R&B	Disco
79	"Lady"	Little River Band	10	7
78	"Highway to Hell"	AC/DC	47
77	"Dance the Night Away"	Van Halen	15
76	"Hot Stuff"	Donna Summer	1		3	1
75	"Escape (The Pina Colada Song)"	Rupert Holmes	1	8
74	"Let's Go"	The Cars	14
73	"Heaven Knows"	Donna Summer with Brooklyn Dreams	4	17	10
72	"Suspicions"	Eddie Rabbitt	13	9
71	"In the Stone"	Earth, Wind & Fire	58		23

	Title	Artist	Pop	AC	R&B	Disco
70	"I Will Survive"	Gloria Gaynor	1	9	4	1
69	"(not just) Knee Deep"	Funkadelic	77		1	43
68	"Driver's Seat"	Sniff 'n' The Tears	15
67	"Sad Eyes"	Robert John	1	10
66	"Still"	The Commodores	1	6	1
65	"You Can't Change That"	Raydio	9	25	3
64	"Ships"	Barry Manilow	9	4
63	"The Gambler"	Kenny Rogers	16	3
62	"One Way or Another"	Blondie	24

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All chart positions are peak positions from Billboard charts. These are my personal top 79 singles of those that peaked on the Billboard charts in 1979. The list is solely my opinion. Using Joel Whitburn's book, Pop Annual 1955-1999, I started with the 475 singles that peaked on Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 chart in 1979. An initial pass through that list narrowed it down to 105 tunes, then listening, ranking, and editing began. The top 79 are presented here, in order.

Top Albums of September '78

Let's take a look at what was topping the various album charts on September 16, 1978.

	Billboard	CashBox	Record World
1	Don't Look Back Boston	Grease Soundtrack	Grease Soundtrack
2	Some Girls Rolling Stones	Don't Look Back Boston	Don't Look Back Boston
3	Double Vision Foreigner	Some Girls Rolling Stones	Double Vision Foreigner
4	Grease Soundtrack	Double Vision Foreigner	Some Girls Rolling Stones
5	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Soundtrack	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Soundtrack	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Soundtrack
6	Natural High Commodores	Natural High Commodores	Natural High Commodores
7	Blam! Brothers Johnson	Worlds Away Pablo Cruise	Worlds Away Pablo Cruise
8	Who Are You The Who	Who Are You The Who	Who Are You The Who
9	A Taste of Honey A Taste of Honey	Blam! Brothers Johnson	Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack
10	The Stranger Billy Joel	Shadow Dancing Andy Gibb	Stranger in Town Bob Seger

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Exclusive MFD meta-analysis of the above charts:

1. Don't Look Back (28 pts)
2. Grease (27 pts)
3. Some Girls (24 pts)
4. Double Vision (23 pts)
5. Sgt. Pepper (18 pts)
6. Natural High (15 pts)
7. Who Are You (9 pts)
8. Worlds Away (8 pts)
9. Blam! (6 pts)
10. A Taste of Honey (2 pts)
11. Saturday Night Fever (2 pts)
12. (Tie) The Stranger, Shadow Dancing, Stranger in Town (1 pt)

Promo posters as seen on "WKRP in Cincinnati" #37

Album: Jim Photoglo - Fool In Love With You (20th Century Fox, 1981), Ebonee Webb - Ebonee Webb (Capitol, 1981), Prism logo (most likely for the release of Small Change (Capitol, 1981), Commodores - Heroes (Motown, 1980), Kasim Sulton - Kasim (EMI, 1982), Elvis Costello - Trust (Columbia, 1981), Our Daughter's Wedding - Digital Cowboy (EMI, 1981), Quincy Jones - The Dude (A&M, 1981), Jay Ferguson - White Noise (Capitol, 1982).
Episode:  Season 4, Episode 22, "Up and Down the Dial"
Original air date: Wednesday, April 21, 1982

AT40, February 16, 1980 [Part 2 of 4]

 

I'm breaking down the AT40 show of February 16, 1980 track by track.  For a look at #40-31, click here.

#30:  "Don't Let Go" by Isaac Hayes. In the dying days of disco (before it was rebranded as "dance music"), this fun single was unleashed. I loved it then as much as I like it now even though back in 1980, I was clueless to Hayes' extraordinary history in the music business. Written by Jesse Stone, this tune was originally a hit for Roy Hamilton in 1958. None of that mattered to me, I just dug the low vocals and would try to imitate them even though my voice hadn't changed yet.

#29:  "Déjà Vu" by Dionne Warwick.  An Isaac Hayes two-fer! Hayes wrote this tune, Barry Manilow produced it, and it won a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. Strange bedfellows, but they recorded a smooth, soulful ballad nonetheless.

AT40 Extra: Out of left field, Casey interrupts the countdown with this non sequitur. "The biggest chart hit The Rolling Stones ever had." "Honky Tonk Women" 1969. It's a classic, to be sure, but why play it here?

#28:  "Him" by Rupert Holmes. In the first of two songs by Holmes in the Top 40 this week. This one had debuted the previous week and was on its way to a peak of #6. Here's what I previously wrote about this tune over on The CD Project: "There's nothing special about it, just a solid 3½ minutes of soft rock if you ignore the strange vocal solo.  As an 8th grader, my gym classmates and I would mockingly sing this song (with slightly altered lyrics) to our first year teacher/coach, weakly trying to imply that he was gay.  I'll chalk that up to 13 year old ignorance, but its embarrassing now to think I ever acted that way.  Belated apologies to that coach as well as Mr. Holmes."

Before a commercial break, Casey teases a story about Tom Petty's contract troubles with Shelter Records and MCA.

Casey returns from the break by telling us that American Top 40 is heard in the 50 states and around the world every week on great radio stations like:

• WIZM - La Crosse, Wisconsin
• WJET - Erie , Pennsylvania
• WDRC - Hartford, Connecticut

#27:  "Wonderland" by The Commordores. This is an odd tune that can't decide if it wants to be a ballad or funk tune. Lionel Richie sings it but didn't write it. I like the synth solo, though. It peaked at #25, unusually low for the group at the time.

Casey shares the troubles of Tom Petty, his contract, and his lawsuit against MCA. Long story short, Petty was treated like a piece of meat, with the label giving few concessions. In Casey's revisionist, more wholesome version, however, "everybody won!" Hooray for capitalism!

#26:  "Refugee" by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. I like it now, but I didn't much care for this one back in 1980. It was a minor-key rocker and I was more into major key soft-rock and disco. Now I dig the thing.

#25:  "When I Wanted You" by Barry Manilow. I'm a Fanilow (heck, I saw him in concert not 2 months ago), but this overwrought ballad doesn't do much for me. It peaked a #20 but held the top spot on the Adult Contemporary chart for a week. I'm thinking it's the material, because the Addrisi Bros. and songwriter Gino Cunico couldn't do much with it, either.

#24:  "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes. Here's Holmes again, this time with his former #1. I liked it at the time, not so much now although the hipster generation has embraced it for whatever reasons.  It reminds me of playing basketball after lunch in 8th grade.  At that age, just singing a song that included lyrics about an alcoholic drink made us feel more grown up.

AT40 Archives: "I'm Your Boogie Man" by KC & The Sunshine Band.  Casey's counting down the #1 songs of the 1970's' this is the second of three in this show. This tune was #1 for one week in June 1977.

--end of hour two--

#23:  "How Do I Make You" by Linda Ronstadt. Admittedly, I'm in a small minority, but Ronstadt's Mad Love album is my favorite release from her. This was the first single released from that album. This was Ronstadt's 14th Top 40 hit; it peaked at #10. But seriously, check out that album.

Casey teases a story about a group that had nine different albums enter theBillboard Lp chart within a seven week period. Details, and their latest hit, are coming up.

#22:  "Too Hot" by Kool & The Gang. Always liked this bit of smooth goodness; it fits perfectly within my vocal range which meant that unsuspecting ladies were often subjected to this song as a part of my failed, feeble attempts at flirting. Bonus points for the muted guitar throughout and a decent soft-rock sax solo. It would peak at #5 and deservedly so.

The group mentioned above with nine different albums on the chart is Led Zeppelin and their current hit...

#21: "Fool in the Rain" by Led Zeppelin.  One of those bands I'm told I should like, but I just don't. These days when I hear a LZ song, my first thought is usually "who did they steal that from?" In this case, it's Sly Stone. Don't worry, boys, Genesis also lifted that bassline later the same year for "Misunderstanding."

Billboard, February 16, 1980, p. 94

More to come...

Bracketology: 1978 Adult Contemporary singles, Quarterfinals

I've created this bracket of the top eight Adult Contemporary/Easy Listening singles from 1978 and we'll match them against each other, round by round, until a winner emerges. I hope you'll play along as I'm sure your bracket will turn out differently from mine. Singles and seedings taken directly from the December 23, 1978 issue of Billboard magazine:

• Quarterfinal #1: "We'll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again" by England Dan & John ford Coley (#1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary charts for 6 weeks) vs. "If Ever I See You Again" by Roberta Flack (#1 for 3 weeks)
• Quarterfinal #2: "(What a) Wonderful World" by Art Garfunkel (#1 for 5 weeks) vs. "Bluer Than Blue" by Michael Johnson  (#1 for 3 weeks)
• Quarterfinal #3: "Just the Way You Are" by Billy Joel (#1 for 4 weeks) vs. "Three Times a Lady" by Commodores (#1 for 3 weeks)
• Quarterfinal #4: "How Deep is Your Love" by The Bee Gees (#1 for 6 weeks) vs. "Fool (If You Think It's Over)" by Chris Rea  (#1 for 3 weeks)

Fill out your bracket with your personal favorites and check back for the semifinal round.

MFD Not-So-Random Five #3

In which I select five songs from 1976-1985 based on an arbitrary theme. (Not to be confused with this blog's Random Five feature, a different exercise in arbitrariness). Today's theme: Songs that begin with the chorus instead of a verse.

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1. "If You Want My Love" by Cheap Trick (1982, Epic)
   I have to believe that, deep down, every band wants to be The Beatles. Bands like Cheap Trick never hid that fact and this may be their most Beatlesque tune apart from their "Magical Mystery Tour" cover. (Heck, the middle eight cribs "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" almost verbatim). The melody doesn't do vocalist Robin Zander any favors, showing his limited range, but that chorus is so filled with hooks, I'll still be humming this one a week from now.


2. "Good Times" by Chic (1979, Atlantic)
   One of the top songs of 1979, it's immediately recognizable and features Nile Rodgers' guitar scratching over what may be the most famous/duplicated bass lick of all-time from Bernard Edwards. I've heard it hundreds of times (if not thousands) and it's still as fresh to these old ears as it was when I was a thirteen year-old knucklehead.


3. "We Built This City" by Starship (1985, Grunt/RCA)
   It's been increasingly hip to mock this song as one of the worst songs ever, but I can think of much worse. And that's all revisionist history BS anyway. Hell, yeah, we liked this rock anthem in 1985 - it was #1 for two weeks ferchrissakes. It was nominated for Grammy's Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group (losing to the homophobic "Money for Nothing"). I don't love it, but I can still tolerate it in the right playlist/mix (or in GTA V). I still hear it on the radio occasionally, so someone still likes it (or thinks we still like it, or a combination of the two).


4. "Brick House" by Commodores (1977, Motown)
   I'm not sure if it would still work today, but this was a sure-fire dance floor filler during my favorite decade. Even over 40 years later, it's got me moving. Are the lyrics complimentary or misogynistic or both? It didn't matter to me back in '77 when I was eleven. Back then, I thought the lyrics were "she's my tomato" instead of "she's mighty, mighty" so what do I know about lyrics, anyway? But man-oh-man that opening bass line is the stuff.


5. "Dancing Queen" by ABBA (1976, Atlantic)
   I've already written about this one in this post. Here's what I wrote then:

   I can say with absolute certainty this song was my favorite tune for several months in 1977 (probably the four months it was in the Top 40, if not longer). To this day, I still get up and dance at the sound of the initial piano glissando. When I saw Mamma Mia! on Broadway, the cast came out and sung this song as an encore and I was up grinning and dancing with a few hundred of my new closest friends. I'm told there are people that don't care for this disco classic, but I wouldn't want to know them.

   Last year. I ranked this single the #2 song of the year for 1977.