Promo posters as seen on "WKRP in Cincinnati" #73

Albums: Madness - 7 (Stiff, 1981).
Episode: Season 4, Episode 12, "Pills"
Original air date: Wednesday, January 20, 1982

Music ads for 1980 releases

Two Hit Wonders 1976-85 [14 of 16]

*to qualify as a MFD two hit wonder, the artist or group can have placed only two singles in the Billboard Top 40 and those two singles must have entered the Top 40 during the years 1976-85.  Many of these artists are occasionally mistaken for a one hit wonder or have hit other charts in Billboard, but each hit the Top 40 only twice. In no particular order, here's four of the 64 that I found:

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BURTON CUMMINGS
Born on 12/31/47 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Lead singer of The Guess Who.

Title	Top 40 Debut	Chart Peak
Stand Tall	11/6/76	10
You Saved My Soul	10/24/81	37

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MADNESS
Ska-rock group formed in London: Graham McPherson (vocals), Chris Foreman (guitar), Mike Barson (keyboards), Carl Smyth (trumpet), Lee Thompson (sax), Mark Bedford (bass) and Don Woodgate (drums).

Title	Top 40 Debut	Chart Peak
Our House	5/28/83	7
It Must Be Love	9/17/83	33

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QUIET RIOT
Heavy-metal group formed in Los Angeles: Kevin DuBrow (vocals), Carlos Cavazo (guitar), Rudy Sarzo (bass) and Frankie Banali (drums). Sarzo later joined Whitesnake.

Title	Top 40 Debut	Chart Peak
Cum On Feel the Noize	10/15/83	5
Bang Your Head (Metal Health)	1/28/84	31

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STEEL BREEZE
Pop group from Sacramento, California: Ric Jacobs (vocals), Ken Goorabian and Waylin Carpenter (guitars), Rod Toner (keyboards), Vinnie Pantleoni (bass) and Barry Lowenthal (drums).

Title	Top 40 Debut	Chart Peak
You Don't Want Me Anymore	9/18/82	16
Dreamin' is Easy	2/19/83	30

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Data and artist descriptions taken from The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 7th edition (2000).

Random Album Ad #63 (not-so-random holiday edition)

Soundtrack - Party Party (1982)

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1. Elvis Costello & The Attractions: "Party Party" 
2. Dave Edmunds: "Run Rudolph Run" 
3. Altered Images: "Little Town Flirt" 
4. Bad Manners: "Yakety Yak" 
5. Sting: "Tutti Frutti" 
6. Bananarama: "No Feelings" 
7. Madness: "Driving In My Car"

1. Modern Romance: "Band Of Gold"
2. Bad Manners: "Elizabethan Reggae"
3. Pauline Black: "No Woman, No Cry"
4. Sting: "Need Your Love So Bad"
5. Midge Ure: "The Man Who Sold The World"
6. Chas And Dave: "Auld Lang Syne"

MFD Not-So-Random Five #10

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 include a celebrity name in the title.

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1. "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes (1981, EMI America)
   This was the #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 for 9 weeks and was like nothing else on the radio at the time; me and my friends sang along with Kim every time we heard the thing.  But lemme tell ya: this tune still sounds as good today as it did when originally released.


2. "John Wayne is Big Leggy" by Haysi Fantayzee. (1982, Regard)
   A horribly written song, both musically and lyrically. The music is a weak derivation of Bow Wow Wow and the lyrics describe John Wayne sodomizing a Native American woman. Let's move on to something more deserving of our time:


3. "Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)" by Scritti Politti (1984, Warner Bros.)
   A few years back, I named Cupid & Psyche 85 as my top album of 1985 and picked this song as the second best track. Released in February 1984, I didn't hear until almost two years later, in December 1985. The song's parenthetical subtitle alludes to the Aretha Franklin song "I Say a Little Prayer" which producer Arif Mardin had also worked on. Lots of hooks and synths, which was right up my alley when I finally heard this tune. And while the original is just fine as is, I prefer the remixed version.


4. "Michael Caine" by Madness (1984, Stiff)
   A different sound for Madness, no ska influence and sung by the songwriter Carl Smyth instead of Suggs; Michael Caine contributed a vocal sample. According to wikipedia, "The song is about an informer during the troubles in Northern Ireland, and the lyrics suggest a state of paranoia and mental disintegration." Maybe that's why it never charted in the US. It's pleasant enough, the verse reminds me a bit of Squeeze, but it's nothing that will get stuck in my head.


5. "Robert De Niro's Waiting..." by Bananarama (1984 London)
   I have no idea what this song is about, but according to The Guardian, the songwriters claim it's about date rape (the 80's were apparently much darker than I care to remember). Anyhoo, I like this group's music; maybe I shied away from them because I'm a musical snob and couldn't imagine liking a pop group with a ridiculous name (and yet I liked Kajagoogoo so there goes that argument). In any case, this is a bouncy, fun song that was much bigger in the UK than in the US, where it peaked at #95.

Top Singles of July '83

Let's take a look at what was topping the various singles charts July 8 & 9, 1983.

	Billboard	CashBox	Radio & Records
1	"Every Breath You Take" The Police	"Electric Avenue" Eddy Grant	"Every Breath You Take" The Police
2	"Electric Avenue" Eddy Grant	"Every Breath You Take" The Police	"Electric Avenue" Eddy Grant
3	"Flashdance...What a Feeling" Irene Cara	"Flashdance...What a Feeling" Irene Cara	"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" Michael Jackson
4	"Never Gonna Let You Go" Sergio Mendes	"Time (Clock of the Heart)" Culture Club	"Flashdance...What a Feeling" Irene Cara
5	"Too Shy" Kajagoogoo	"Let's Dance" David Bowie	"Our House" Madness
6	"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" Michael Jackson	"Never Gonna Let You Go" Sergio Mendes	"Come Dancing" The Kinks
7	"Time (Clock of the Heart)" Culture Club	"Too Shy" Kajagoogoo	"Stand Back" Stevie Nicks
8	"Come Dancing" The Kinks	"Always Something There to Remind Me" Naked Eyes	"I'm Still Standing" Elton John
9	"Don't Let It End" Styx	"She's a Beauty" The Tubes	"Never Gonna Let You Go" Sergio Mendes
10	"Our House" Madness	"Beat It" Michael Jackson	"Is There Something I Should Know?" Duran Duran

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Exclusive MFD meta-analysis of the above charts:

1. "Every Breath You Take" (29 pts)
2. "Electric Avenue" (28 pts)
3. "Flashdance...What a Feeling" (23 pts)
4. "Never Gonna Let You Go" (14 pts)
5. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" (13 pts)
6. "Time (Clock of the Heart)" (11 pts)
7. "Too Shy" (10 pts)
8. "Come Dancing" (8 pts)
9. "Our House" (7 pts)
10. "Let's Dance" (6 pts)
11. "Stand Back" (4 pts)
12. "Always Something There to Remind Me" (3 pts)
13. "I'm Still Standing" (3 pts)
14. "Don't Let It End" (2 pts)
15. "She's a Beauty" (2 pts)
16. "Beat It" (1 pt)
17. "Is There Something I Should Know?" (1 pt)

Vintage Music Pinbacks #5

Fifth 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.  1.25" Frankie Goes To Hollywood (pinback dated 1984)
2.  1.25" Kate Bush, ca. 1978
3.  1.25" Heaven 17 (pinback dated 1983)
4.  1" The Alarm, ca. 1983
5.  1" Pretenders (pinback dated 1980)
6.  2" Deborah Harry, ca. 1979
7.  1.25" Haircut 100, Pelican West, 1982
8.  1.25" Madness, One Step Beyond..., 1979
9.  1.25" Adam and the Ants, Ants Invasion Tour, 1981