Music ads from 1977

 

SXM's "40 Cassettes Turning 40" - Part One

So the Classic Rewind (Ch 25) channel on SiriusXM recently ran a listener's poll to determine the best rock album releases of 1981. Poll results were played in a countdown around Labor Day weekend. Here are the results and yes I have beef. Included below is the album's peak position on the Billboard Rock Albums Chart.

Rank	Artist	Album	Chart	Song Played	Notes
40	The Kinks	Give the People What They Want	5	"Destroyer"
39	Triumph	Allied Forces	5	"Fight the Good Fight"
38	The Who	Face Dances	1	"You Better You Bet"
37	Santana	Zebop!	3	"Winning"
36	Eric Clapton	Another Ticket	1	"I Can't Stand It"
35	Pretenders	Pretenders II	11	"Talk of the Town"
34	Sammy Hagar	Standing Hampton	1	"There's Only One Way to Rock"
33	The Moody Blues	Long Distance Voyager	1	"The Voice"
32	Joe Walsh	There Goes the Neighborhood	2	"A Life of Illusion"
31	Rush	Exit...Stage Left	13	"Closer to the Heart"	live album, band also placed at #3

Rank	Artist	Album	Chart	Song Played	Notes
30	Blondie	Best of Blondie	-	"Dreaming"	greatest hits
29	Blue Oyster Cult	Fire of Unknown Origin	6	"Burnin' for You"
28	ZZ Top	El Loco	6	"Pearl Necklace"
27	U2	October	28	"Gloria"
26	Billy Squier	Don't Say No	3	"My Kinda Lover"
25	Journey	Captured	5	"Just the Same Way"	live album, band also placed at #1
24	Billy Joel	Songs in the Attic	15	"Ballad of Billy the Kid"	live album
23	Pat Benatar	Precious Time	2	"Promises in the Dark"
22	Bob Seger	Nine Tonight	4	"Hollywood Nights"	live album
21	Men at Work	Business as Usual	2	"Down Under"	released in US in 1982

Rank	Artist	Album	Chart	Song Played	Notes
20	Tom Petty	Hard Promises	1	"Woman in Love (It's Not Me)"
19	38 Special	Wild-Eyed Southern Boys	8	"Hold On Loosely"
18	Def Leppard	High 'n' Dry	18	"Bringin' on the Heartache"
17	Stevie Nicks	Bella Donna	3	"Stop Draggin' My Heart Around"
16	Ozzy Osborne	Diary of a Madman	8	"Over the Mountain"
15	Phil Collins	Face Value	2	"I Missed Again"	Genesis at #9
14	Van Halen	Fair Warning	2	"Mean Street"
13	J. Geils Band	Freeze-Frame	1	"Centerfold"
12	Loverboy	Get Lucky	3	"When It's Over"
11	The Police	Ghost in the Machine	2	"Every Little Thing She Does is Magic"

Rank	Artist	Album	Chart	Song Played	Notes
10	Joan Jett	I Love Rock 'n Roll	2	"Crimson and Clover"
9	Genesis	Abacab	1	"No Reply at All"	Phil Collins at #15
8	The Rolling Stones	Tattoo You	1	"Hang Fire"
7	Styx	Paradise Theatre	1	"Rockin' the Paradise"
6	Queen	Greatest Hits	11	"Don't Stop Me Now"	greatest hits, track not on US release
5	AC/DC	For Those About to Rock...	3	"Let's Get It Up"
4	The Cars	Shake It Up	2	"Shake It Up" & "Since You're Gone"
3	Rush	Moving Pictures	4	"Limelight" & "YYZ"	band also placed at #31
2	Foreigner	4	1	"Juke Box Hero" & "Waiting for a Girl Like You"
1	Journey	Escape	1	"Don't Stop Believin'" & "Who's Cryin' Now"	band also placed at #25

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So what would the countdown look like if I was in charge? Well, as much as I like Songs in the Attic, I don't think live albums should be on such a chart. And even though I absolutely adore Queen's Greatest Hits album, I don't believe 'best of' compilations have any place here, either. Tune in later this week for my version of the list. 

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Top Albums of August 22, 1981

Let's take a look at what was topping the various album charts on August 22, 1981.

	Billboard	CashBox	Rolling Stone	Record World
1	4 Foreigner	Precious Time Pat Benatar	Long Distance Voyager The Moody Blues	4 Foreigner
2	Precious Time Pat Benatar	4 Foreigner	Mistaken Identity Kim Carnes	Escape Journey
3	Bella Donna Stevie Nicks	Escape Journey	Hard Promises Tom Petty	Precious Time Pat Benatar
4	Escape Journey	Hi Infidelity REO Speedwagon	Hi Infidelity REO Speedwagon	Hi Infidelity REO Speedwagon
5	Long Distance Voyager The Moody Blues	Long Distance Voyager The Moody Blues	Face Value Phil Collins	Long Distance Voyager The Moody Blues
6	Share Your Love Kenny Rogers	Share Your Love Kenny Rogers	Zebop Santana	Endless Love Soundtrack
7	Don't Say No Billy Squier	Street Songs Rick James	Paradise Theater Styx	Bella Donna Stevie Nicks
8	Street Songs Rick James	Don't Say No Billy Squier	Don't Say No Billy Squier	Don't Say No Billy Squier
9	Working Class Dog Rick Springfield	Endless Love Soundtrack	Share Your Love Kenny Rogers	Street Songs Rick James
10	The One That You Love Air Supply	Bella Donna Stevie Nicks	Moving Pictures Rush	Share Your Love Kenny Rogers

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Exclusive MFD meta-analysis of the above charts:

1. 4 (29 points)
2. Long Distance Voyager (28 pts)
3. Precious Time (27 pts)
4. Escape (24 pts)
5. Hi Infidelity (21 pts)
6. (tie) Bella Donna, Don't Say No, and Share Your Love (13 pts)
9. (tie) Street Songs and Mistaken Identity (9 pts)
11. Hard Promises (8 pts)
12. Endless Love (7 pts)
13. Face Value (6 pts)
14. Zebop (5 pts)
15. Paradise Theater (4 pts)
16. Working Class Dog (2 pts)
17. (tie) The One That You Love and Moving Pictures (1 pt)

Promo posters as seen on "WKRP in Cincinnati" #59

Album: Journey - Departure (Columbia, 1980).
Episode:  Season 3, Episode 9, "The Painting"
Original air date: Saturday, January 10, 1981

Music ads for 1980 releases

Speaker Death! Heavy Metal Head-Bangers (1981)

1981 promotional sampler from Columbia Records

Recently came across this LP and while it isn't exactly my thing, I bought it anyway. The use of the term "heavy metal" is certainly questionable in some cases, but the whole thing reminds me of music I heard blaring out of cars and pickup trucks when I first went cruising in high school. In my little town, the cruising strip ran from the Dairy Queen to the movie theater. So open up your t-top, blast some pop-metal, and drive your sports car 20 mph. Good times.

Judas Priest - "Hot Rockin'" from Point of Entry
Frank Marino - "The Power of Rock and Roll" from The Power of Rock and Roll
Blue Öyster Cult - "Heavy Metal: The Black and Silver" from Fire of Unknown Origin
The Joe Perry Project - "No Substitute for Arrogance" from I've Got The Rock 'N' Rolls Again
Ted Nugent - "The Flying Lip Lock" from Intensities in Ten Cities

Journey - "Dead or Alive" from Escape
Ozzy Osborne - "Crazy Train" from Blizzard of Ozz
Brad Whitford & Derek St. Holmes - "Whiskey Woman" from Brad Whitford/Derek St. Holmes
Loverboy - "Teenage Overdose" (Live Version)

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Counting down my Top 79 of '79: Singles #26 - 11

A breakdown of my top singles from 1979

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	Title	Artist	Pop	AC	R&B	Disco
26	"Is She Really Going Out with Him"	Joe Jackson	21
25	"I Do Love You"	GQ	20		5
24	"Blow Away"	George Harrison	16	2
23	"Born to Be Alive"	Patrick Hernandez	16			1
22	"Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'"	Journey	16
21	"Shine a Little Love"	Electric Light Orchestra	8	40
20	"A Little More Love"	Olivia Newton-John	3	4
19	"Bicycle Race/Fat Bottomed Girls"	Queen	24

	Title	Artist	Pop	AC	R&B	Disco
18	"My Life"	Billy Joel	3	2
17	"Arrow Through Me"	Wings	29	29
16	"Heartache Tonight"	Eagles	1	38
15	"Boogie Wonderland"	Earth, Wind & Fire	6		2	14
14	"Cruel to be Kind"	Nick Lowe	12	36
13	"What You Won't Do for Love"	Bobby Caldwell	9	10	6
12	"After the Love has Gone"	Earth, Wind & Fire	2	3	2
11	"Morning Dance"	Spyro Gyra	24	1	60

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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.

MFD Random Five #26

In which I click the shuffle icon on the iTunes app and listen to the first five songs that pop up from the years 1976-85.

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1. "Wham Bam Shang-A-Lang" by Silver (1976, Arista)
   Starting off this random five with a one-hit wonder from a California country-rock band. Not bad for an obvious Eagles knock-off. I could do without the aggressive string hits in the chorus, but it's fairly catchy otherwise. I'm reminded of summer trips to the pool in the summer of '76 with the AM radio blaring.


2. "Tumble and Twirl (Extended Dance Mix)" by David Bowie (1984, EMI America)
   I like the Tonight album better than most and this song is in the top half of the tunes on it. The extended mix doesn't do much to the album version (except inexcusably removing some sweet background vocals and move the drums up front in the mix), but that's okay as the driving original version is good on its own. The bridge is shite but the tasty horn parts in the chorus more than make up for it.


3. "Words" by Missing Persons (1982, Capitol)
   Great new wave tune that somehow missed the Top 40, but I was watching more MTV than listening to the radio by this time. Probably the first tune I heard from the group, back when Dale Bozzio's quirky vocal tics were entertaining. A friend had given me his copy of Spring Session M and I quickly learned why he gave it away - other than the singles, the filler was wretched. But I still appreciate Warren Cuccurullo's guitar work here and love the way Dale says "But it's less than nowhere now..."


4. "One Lonely Night" by REO Speedwagon (1984, Epic)
   I'm not the biggest REO Speedwagon fan, usually calling them REO Journeywagon or OREO Chuckwagon or some such mockery. As such, I don't remember this tune too well. I dig the chorus and bridge, but there's not much to the verse, the guitar solo is rather generic, and the ending totally exposes Kevin Cronin's vocal limitations.


5. "Send Her My Love" by Journey (1983, Columbia)
   Speaking of the Journeywagon. By '83, I considered myself too cool to listen to Journey, so I didn't give this one much of a chance when I probably should have. It's a good tune, not great, but Steve Perry and Neil Schon bring the goods despite mediocre material.

AC hits of Journey 1976-1985

During the years 1976-1985, pop-rockers Journey placed 5 hits on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart.  Here's a breakdown table, including year, peak chart position, and number of weeks on the AC charts. 

While the songs are all familiar to me, I was surprised that these power ballads didn't peak higher on the chart (e.g., "Faithfully" peaking at only 24 on the AC chart, while peaking at #12 on the pop charts).  In fact, all of the hits below placed higher on the pop chart than the AC chart.

Year	Peak	Weeks	Title
1981	14	17	Who's Crying Now
1982	7	19	Open Arms
1982	37	4	Still They Ride
1983	24	13	Faithfully
1983	27	12	Send Her My Love

Top Selling Albums of 1982

My personal Top Ten Albums of 1982:

• Asia - Asia
• The Golden Age of Wireless - Thomas Dolby
• Rio - Duran Duran
• Special Beat Service - The English Beat
• The Nightfly - Donald Fagen
• Pelican West - Haircut 100
• Night and Day - Joe Jackson
• The Nylon Curtain - Billy Joel
• Incognito - Spyro Gyra
• IV - Toto

I thought it would be an interesting exercise to compare my personal list to the top ten selling albums of that year.  Not so, it turns out.  Why?  Of the best selling albums of 1982, only two were released during that calendar year.  Seven others were released in July and October of the previous year.  I shoulda seen that coming. But since I did the research, I thought I'd post the results anyway.  Turns out the only record the two lists have in common is the Asia album.  In order, here's how Billboard magazine ranked the top ten sellers of 1982.

		Title: Asia Artist: Asia Released: March 1982 (Geffen) Number of weeks in the Billboard 200: 64 Peak position: #1 Number of weeks at #1: 9
		Title: Beauty and the Beat Artist: The Go-Go's Released: July 1981 (I.R.S.) Number of weeks in the Billboard 200: 72 Peak position: #1 Number of weeks at #1: 6
		Title: 4 Artist: Foreigner Released: July 1981 (Atlantic) Number of weeks in the Billboard 200: 81 Peak position: #1 Number of weeks at #1: 10
		Title: American Fool Artist: John Cougar Released: July 1982 (Riva) Number of weeks in the Billboard 200: 106 Peak position: #1 Number of weeks at #1: 9
		Title: Freeze-Frame Artist: The J. Geils Band Released: October 1981 (EMI) Number of weeks in the Billboard 200: 70 Peak position: #1 Number of weeks at #1: 4
		Title: Escape Artist: Journey Released: July 1981 (Columbia) Number of weeks in the Billboard 200: 146 Peak position: #1 Number of weeks at #1: 1
		Title: Get Lucky Artist: Loverboy Released: October 1981 (Columbia) Number of weeks in the Billboard 200: 122 Peak position: #7 Number of weeks at #1: n/a
		Title: Bella Donna Artist: Stevie Nicks Released: July 1981 (Atco) Number of weeks in the Billboard 200: 143 Peak position: #1 Number of weeks at #1: 1
		Title: Chariots of Fire Artist: Vangelis Released: April 1981 (Polydor) Number of weeks in the Billboard 200: 57 Peak position: #1 Number of weeks at #1: 4
		Title: Ghost in the Machine Artist: The Police Released: October 1981 (A&M) Number of weeks in the Billboard 200: 109 Peak position: #2 Number of weeks at #1: n/a

I bought the Asia and Vangelis albums on vinyl and the albums by The Go-Go's, Foreigner, The J. Geils Band, Journey, and The Police on cassette. I've since bought CD copies of the albums on this list by Asia, The Go-Go's, The J. Geils Band, Vangelis, and The Police.  No current plans to buy the others, but I'm a fickle guy when it comes to things like that.

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