Promo posters as seen on "WKRP in Cincinnati" #76

Albums: Pacific Jazz 1981 reissue series, Stevie Nicks - Bella Donna (1981, Atco), and Mick Fleetwood - The Visitor (1981, RCA)
Episode: Season 4, Episode 10, "Love, Exciting and New"
Original air date: Wednesday, January 6, 1982

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

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

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

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)

Promo posters as seen on "WKRP in Cincinnati" #23

Albums: Stevie Nicks - Bella Donna (Modern, 1981) & Ian Hunter - Short Back 'n' Sides (Chrysalis, 1981)
Episode: Season 4, Episode 7, "Three Days of the Condo"
Original air date: Wednesday, November 18, 1981

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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