Music ads for 1980 releases

Bubbling Under 1982 [Part 4 of 5]

Using information found in the above supplement, below is an annotated list of songs that didn't quite crack the Billboard Hot 100, provided with links in hopes of helping you find some vintage tunes that are new to you. Click on the title to hear the tune or see the video, click on the artist for a Wikipedia entry, and click on the album for the Discogs entry. In all, there were 105 tracks that "bubbled under" the Hot 100 in 1982, here's 21 of those.

Title	Artist	Album	BU	Rock	AC	RB	Dance	Country
It's Our Own Affair	Ray Parker, Jr.	The Other Woman	106			44
Brown Eyed Girl	Henry Paul Band	Anytime	105
Song on the Radio	Pinups	The Pinups	110
Sea of Heartbreak	Poco	Cowboys & Englishmen	109		35
Ghost Town	Poco	Ghost Town	108
Let Her Go	Point Blank	On a Roll	109
As	Jean-Luc Ponty	Mystical Adventures	108
Let's Work	Prince	Controversy	104			9	1
Keep This Heart in Mind	Bonnie Raitt	Green Light	104	39
Me and the Boys	Bonnie Raitt	Green Light	109
Yes It's You Lady	Smokey Robinson	Yes It's You Lady	107
My Old Piano	Diana Ross	Diana	109
Take a Chance with Me	Roxy Music	Avalon	104
Can't Get You Out of My Mind	Dan Seals	Harbinger	110
I Can Make You Feel Good	Shalamar	Friends	102			33
Wait for Me	Slave	Show Time	103			20	21
It's Alright	Gino Soccio	Face to Face	108				2
What	Soft Cell	Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing	101				31
Love Connection (Raise the Window Down)	Spinners	Can't Shake This Feelin'	107			68
Six Months in a Leaky Boat	Split Enz	Time and Tide	104
Black Coffee in Bed	Squeeze	Sweets from a Stranger	103	26

Point Blank - Nicole (1981)

Nicole
b/w Restless

Released: June, 1981 (Epic) Written by: B. Randolph, B. Keith, K. Davis, M. Hamilton, B. Gruen, R. Burns Produced by: Bill Ham Album: American Exce$$

---

Note: when I label a song a "Lost AT40 Single," I'm only speaking for myself. Your mileage may vary.

So I'm listening to a rerun of a fairly lackluster American Top 40 broadcast from September 5, 1981 and Casey Kasem introduced this song thus:

Eight years ago in Dallas, six men formed a band and called it Point Blank. They're still based in Texas and last week their first chart single debuted in the countdown at number 40. Up a notch this week to 39, Point Blank with "Nicole."

Partly because of the Texas connection and partly because it sounds like a poor man's ZZ Top single, "Nicole" was a huge regional hit in the Houston market (at the time, I was mainly listening to KILT-AM, KLOL-FM, and KSRR-FM). The verse is a forgettable blues-based shuffle, but the the chorus is an organ-drenched taste of southern rock with a melody that will stick in your head for days and reappear whenever you hear the name Nicole. The song's also got a nice bridge that raises it's rating a full letter grade.

This would be Point Blank's last week ever to appear on Casey's show. The single only spent 2 weeks in the Top 40 and was the group's only Top 40 hit. Overall, it stayed in the Hot 100 for a respectable 14 weeks. It also peaked at #20 on the Mainstream Rock chart. It's the only Point Blank song I've ever heard, but I'm glad to reconnect with it here.

---

---

Random album ad #13

Point Blank - The Hard Way (1980)