Music ads from 1985

 

1981 Year-End Album Charts

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Exclusive MFD meta-analysis of the above charts:

1. Hi Infidelity
2. Paradise Theater
3. Double Fantasy
4. Crimes of Passion
5. Kenny Rogers Greatest Hits
6. Moving Pictures
7. The Jazz Singer
8. 4
9. Long Distance Voyager
10. Arc of a Diver

Rolling Stone magazine's 1981 Reader's & Critic's Polls

Taken from issue #364, March 4, 1982. Click images to enlarge.

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" #60

Album: Ahmad Jamal - Intervals (20th Century Fox, 1980)*, Pat Benatar - Crimes of Passion (Chrysalis, 1980).
Episode: Season 3, Episode 9, "The Painting"
Original air date: Saturday, January 10, 1981

*identified by Mike Hernandez.

Music ads for 1980 releases

Smash Hits Album Ratings - 1981 [part 2 of 2]

Smash Hits was a British teen music magazine that was issued fortnightly. On a scale of 1-10, here's how the magazine's reviewers rated albums released in the second half of 1981. Hope you find something new that you missed back in '81.

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July 9 issue
The Models	Alphabravocharliedeltaechofoxtrotgolf	6
Pointer Sisters	Black & White	7
Joe Jackson	Jumpin' Jive	6
Wah!	Nah = Poo - The Art of Bluff	8
Kiki Dee	Perfect Timing	6
Polecats	Polecats Are Go	7½
Henry Badowski	Life is a Grand...	8

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July 23 issue
Jon and Vangelis	The Friends of Mr. Cairo	8
The Equators	Hot	6
Odyssey	I Got the Melody	5
Angelic Upstarts	2,000,000 Voices	5
The Brothers Johnson	Winners	7
Was (Not Was)	Was (Not Was)	7
The Ramones	Pleasant Dreams	5
Kim Wilde	Kim Wilde	6½

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August 6 issue
Icehouse	Icehouse	8
Pat Benatar	Precious Time	4
Evelyn King	I'm in Love	7
Delta 5	See the Whirl	8
Stevie Nicks	Bella Donna	6
Foreigner	4	8
Kirsty MacColl	Desperate Character	4
The Pretenders	II	7

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August 20 issue
ELO	Time	5
The Go-Go's	Beauty and the Beat	5
Philip Rambow	Jungle Law	5½
Dennis Bovell	Brain Damage	9
Rickie Lee Jones	Pirates	6½
Any Trouble	Wheels in Motion	8
Ian Hunter	Short Back N' Sides	5
David Johansen	Here Comes the Night	3

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September 3 issue
The Korgis	Sticky George	3
Blank Slate	Sirens in the City	5
Hazel O'Connor	Cover Plus	3
Simple Minds	Sons and Fascination/Sister Feelings Call	8
Desmond Dekker	Compass Point	8
Cabaret Voltaire	Red Mecca	7½
Funkadelic	The Electric Spanking of War Babies	7½
Devo	New Traditionalists	7

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September 17 issue
Heaven 17	Penthouse and Pavement	8
Ian Dury	Lord Upminster	8
Gary Numan	Dance	9
Shakin' Stevens	Shaky	8
Ultravox	Rage in Eden	5
Crusaders	Standing Tall	8
Altered Images	Happy Birthday	6
The Comsat Angels	Sleep No More	8
Meat Loaf	Dead Ringer	9

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October 1 issue
The Police	Ghost in the Machine	6
Cliff Richard	Wired for Sound	7
Bette Bright	Rhythm Breaks the Ice	6½
Tom Tom Club	Tom Tom Club	6½
Saxon	Denim & Leather	4
Pete Shelley	Homosapien	7
Genesis	Abacab	6½
Godley & Creme	Ismism	4
Sheena Easton	You Could Have Been With Me	5
Madness	7	8
The Passions	Thirty Thousand Feet Over China	8½
John Foxx	The Garden	5

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October 15 issue
The Human League	Dare	8
U2	October	9
The Slits	Return of the Giant Slits	6½
Bow Wow Wow	See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang Yeah, City All Over! Go Ape Crazy!	8½
Eurythmics	In the Garden	7½
Rose Royce	Jump Street	7
The Cuban Heels	Work Our Way to Heaven	6
Bob Marley	Chances Are	5
Fingerprintz	Beat Noir	7½
Blondie	The Best of Blondie	9½
Carlene Carter	Blue Nun	5
UB40	Present Arms in Dub	8

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October 29 issue
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	Architecture and Morality	9
Linx	Go Ahead	6
Gillan	Double Trouble	7½
Elvis Costello	Almost Blue	9
Martha and The Muffins	This is the Ice Age	7½
Vice Squad	No Cause for Concern	0
Bauhaus	Mask	4
Rex Smith	Everlasting Love	2
Rachel Sweet	And Then He Kissed Me	5
Imagination	Body Talk	8
Joy Division	Still	9
The Meteors	In Heaven	7
Bad Manners	Gosh Its's...	8

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November 12 issue
Adam and The Ants	Prince Charming	5
The Bee Gees	Living Eyes	5
Japan	Tin Drum	8
Prince	Controversy	4
Depeche Mode	Speak and Spell	7
Rush	Exit...Stage Left	2
Diana Ross	Why Do Fools Fall in Love	8½
TV21	A Thin Red Line	5
Earth, Wind & Fire	Raise!	7
Fad Gadget	Incontinent	9
The Sound	From the Lion's Mouth	5
Stray Cats	Gonna Ball	7

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November 26 issue
Soft Cell	Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret	8½
Ian Dury & The Blockheads	Jukebox Dury	9
The Teardrop Explodes	Wilder	8½
The Four Seasons	Tonight!	8
Rainbow	The Best of Rainbow	5
Skids	Joy	5
David Bowie	Changestwobowie	10
The Stranglers	La Folie	8
Kool & The Gang	Something Special	6
New Order	Movement	8
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft	Gold und Liebe	5½
Jacksons	Live	8

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December 10 issue
AC/DC	For Those About to Rock	3
Modern Romance	Adventures in Clubland	6
Durutti Column	LC	8
Boney M	Boonoonoonoos	4
10cc	10 Out Of 10	4
Chas Jankel	Chasanova	7
Various Artists	A Christmas Record	8
Jools Holland	Jools Holland And His Millionaires	3
David Byrne	Catherine Wheel	6½
Tenpole Tudor	Let the Four Winds Blow	6
Jerry Harrison	The Red and the Black	7½
Poison Girls	Total Exposure	4

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December 24 issue
No Album Reviews

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h/t to Brian McCloskey over at Like Punk Never Happened

AT40, February 16, 1980 [Part 1 of 4]

Let's take a look at the American Top 40 episode for February 16, 1980 track by track:

As was the custom back then, Casey starts the show by playing the top three songs from the preceding week: "Coward of the County" by Kenny Rogers, "Do That to Me One More Time" by Captain & Tennille, and "Rock with You" by Michael Jackson. So we haven't even begun the countdown and we've been treated to three different genres - what a great reminder of what the Top 40 format was at the time.  Then it's on with the countdown:

#40: "I Can't Help Myself" by Bonnie Pointer. The first of four debut songs on this week's AT40, this is a cover of a Four Tops tune with a distracting disco backbeat.

#39: "Let Me Go, Love" by Nicolette Larson. This is some fantastic soft-rock that deserved more airplay than it got. And even though Casey never mentions his name, this is a duet with Michael McDonald, who wrote the tune. Smooth.

Listener question: "What is the highest debuting song in the rock era?" Casey teases that it was the one of the last releases from one of the biggest acts ever. Details coming up.

#38: "Special Lady'" by Ray, Goodman & Brown. By a vocal group formerly known as The Moments. This thing's a soulful favorite.  Bought the 45.  Can sing all the different parts.  Love the a cappella part fade out. It deserves a close listen as there's a lot of good stuff going on in the arrangement.

Answer to above question: "Let It Be" by The Beatles debuted at #6 in 1970. Casey answers the question, but doesn't play so much as a clip of the tune. "Now, on with the countdown:"

#37: "Give It All You Got" by Chuck Mangione. This piece isn't nearly as good as Mangione's earlier single, "Feels So Good."  Bad melody, poor phrasing, unimaginative solos, but at least it's got a funk-lite groove underneath that holds it all together.  Of course, none of this mattered to me at the time - I ran right out and bought the album immediately upon release and wore out the grooves. The song was written for the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid NY and was debuting on AT40 this week. When was the last time a jazz instrumental charted? Kenny G with "Songbird" in '87?

#36: "Lost Her in the Sun" by John Stewart. After mentioning a connection between Stewart and Zappa, Casey plays this mediocre tune.  I prefer Stewart's earlier hit "Gold" but not by much.  Produced by Lindsey Buckingham, this sounds like a bad Fleetwood Mac track. This would make it only to #34 in its 4 weeks in the Top 40.

Casey teases a Long Distance Dedication "from a lawyer in Indiana to the woman he says saved his life fourteen years ago."

#35: "Why Me" by Styx.  This might be my favorite Styx tune. I didn't buy many 45 singles, but I rode my bike down to the local Radio Shack to pick up this one. The reason: that chord progression over an ostinato bass in the chorus.  Evidently, the choice of this cut as a single caused a spat between Dennis DeYoung and Tommy Shaw, but what didn't? This song would peak at #26, breaking a streak of top ten hits for the band.

Long Distance Dedication: "Just You and I" by Melissa Manchester (#27, 1976).

Dear Casey, many years ago in my adolescence, I had the urge to go out on my own. At 17, I left Connecticut for California to spend the summer there. As much as I laugh about it now, it was very painful to realize then that I was a failure at being on my own. I had no job, no way of getting money. I had no friends and I felt helpless and at the mercy of the big city. I turned to petty theft then I got in with a rough gang who supported my stealing. To top it all off, I began doing hard drugs. To say the least, my life could have taken a violent turn.

But one day as I was walking alone on a beach, tormented in mind, a young girl came up to me and said I looked worried. She was the first warm, understanding human being I had met since leaving home. Her name was Kim. I poured out my feelings and she listened intently. Every day we met and walked along the shore. Three weeks later, I admitted myself to a hospital and received the help I needed. All because she gave me the courage to fight for my sanity.

At the end of summer, I returned to Connecticut and my parents never knew of the trauma I had gone through. I wrote to Kim every week and we vowed to keep in touch. But one day, my letter came back; she had moved away. I knew I'd never see her again. Since then, I've become a lawyer, I have a wonderful marriage of 7 years, and 2 beautiful children. I have everything a man of 31 could want and I know I owe it all to a sweet young friend who got my head together and gave me the love to help me grow up. The song "Just You and I" reminds me of Kim and how she felt about me. I dedicate it to her, wherever she is now. My name is Richard, but she would know me as Dutch.

I've long maintained that all LDD letters were re-written to meet a specific format that included a high level of sympathy pandering through the use of melodramatic run-on sentences. The above letter is a good example of the boilerplate I'm alleging the AT40 staff used. I also allege that they fabricated letters, but that accusation can wait for another time.

#34: "Heartbreaker" by Pat Benatar. I'll be honest, I thought this tune was a Heart tune when I was 13 years old. I'm not a big Benatar fan, but this is by far her best tune.

AT40 Archives: "Sir Duke" by Stevie Wonder.   At the time, Casey was counting down the #1 songs of the 1970's, so we're treated to three #1's from 1970 during this countdown; this is the first. From May 1977, this was the 199th number one single of the decade. God bless Stevie Wonder.

--end of hour one--

#33: "99" by Toto. Recently, I was having a text conversation with a longtime reader of this blog when I realized that, no matter how much I love the Toto IV album, this is my pick for my favorite Toto song. And hearing it here only confirms my decision. The tune only spent 8 weeks in the Top 40, peaking at #26. It deserved better. This song always reminds me of a 8th grade ski trip during spring break (the only time I've ever snow skied).  Pro tip: listen to the 5+ minute album version always.

#32: "We Don't Talk Anymore" by Cliff Richard. Now we're cookin'! This was the very first single to be featured on this blog.

Listener question: "Which song titles containing the names of famous people have hit #1 in the rock era?" Casey states there are five singles that meet the criteria. Details coming up.

#31: "I Wanna Be Your Lover" by Prince. One of the most perfect R&B/disco/dance tunes of 1979, excepting anything by Nile Rodgers (side note: how awesome would a Prince & Nile Rodgers collaboration have been? Mind-boggling.). I'm sure this song was my first exposure to Prince, as was the case for many. It was falling down the chart on this show, but had peaked at #11 back on January 26. For the record, it also hit #1 R&B and #2 Disco).

Answer to listener question: "Which song titles containing the names of famous people have hit #1 in the rock era?" Casey lists the following: 

1. Beethoven ("A Fifth of Beethoven" by Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band, 1976)
2. Duke Ellington ("Sir Duke" by Stevie Wonder, 1977)
3. Davy Crockett ("The Ballad of Davy Crockett" by Bill Hayes, 1955)
4. George Custer ("Please Mr. Custer" by Larry Verne, 1960)
5. King Henry VIII ("I'm Henry VIII, I Am" by Herman's Hermits, 1965)

Billboard, February 16, 1980, p.  94

More to come...