Okay, here's the story. This week's 70s show is from 1978. Which is fine, except it's only been three weeks since the last time they played that year. So I got the idea to give you a glimpse of the future. After the one-year anniversary of this blog in August, I plan to transition into covering syndicated episodes of "American Top 40: The 80s."
These shows present a whole different experience for me. One, I between the ages of nine and seventeen when these songs were hits (the shows only go up to mid-88, because that's when Casey left the show and was replaced by Shadoe Stevens). Two, I actually listened to quite a few of these countdowns when they originally aired. So I think it's going to be cool doing these in its own unique way.
I'm not abandoning the 70s completely. If an interesting chart comes up from that decade after my cutoff date, I'll cover it as a bonus. And I will do a one-part post about this week's '78 show after I get through with this list. But this is just a little peek at what's ahead. Enjoy.
40 - "The Stroke," Billy Squier
39 - "How 'Bout Us," Champaign
38 - "Angel of the Morning," Juice Newton
37 - "Too Much Time on My Hands," Styx
36 - "Stronger than Before," Carole Bayer Sager
35 - "Just the Two of Us," Grover Washington Jr.
34 - "Sweet Baby," Stanley Clarke and George Duke
33 - "Queen of Hearts," Juice Newton
32 - "Say What," Jesse Winchester
31 - "Seven Year Ache," Rosanne Cash
We begin our first foray into this decade with rock. After bouncing around in a couple of mildly successful bands, Billy Squier made his big breakthrough with this immortal plea for someone to stroke...what exactly? His ego? His long luxurious hair? I really don't know, and that's probably for the best. But this song's huge, stomping beat has guaranteed its endurance. And our first visitor from last decade, the Bob Seger of Chicago, are here with a song about being driven to the brink of insanity by the lack of things to do. I can relate. This song is notable for two reasons: a rare lead vocal by guitarist Tommy Shaw instead of regular singer Dennis DeYoung, and its new wave-ish sound, which foreshadowed their full-on assault on the genre with "Mr. Roboto."
Then it's R&B. Champaign, a band named not after alcohol but rather their Illinois hometown, are here with their biggest hit, a solid ballad about giving love one last chance. Buffalo jazz saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. made his biggest impact on the pop charts with this sultry slow jam sung by the legendary Bill Withers. Will Smith would later sample this for a song he did about his relationship with his son. Wasn't a fan of that. And two more jazzmen, bassist Stanley Clarke and keyboardist George Duke, combined for this lazy little love song. Not much here, just above-average waiting room fodder.
Three songs here are by female country singers. Judith Kay Newton, who for some reason decided to record under the name "Juice," has two songs in this batch. The first, on its way down, was her first big hit, a cover of a 1968 Merilee Rush hit about a woman who has no regrets the morning after a night of passion. All she asks is that her partner "touch my cheek before you leave me." Okay. The second, headed in the other direction, is a fun, chugging number about love with the wrong person. Definitely my favorite flavor of Juice. And The Man in Black's daughter made her country breakthrough and scored her only pop hit with this catchy number about a married man trolling the bars and wooing the women while trying to ease a midlife crisis. This is a song my local station didn't play, but I liked it a lot, and I looked forward to getting to hear it once a week on AT40. There were quite a few songs like that over the years.
We close with easy listening. Carole Bayer Sager was a prolific songwriter, both on her own and with ex-husband Burt Bacharach. But she did make a few records on her own, and this was the only hit they produced. Listening to it, it's not surprising we didn't hear more of her. Her voice isn't that strong. I'm sure it was good for demos, but really, this one would have been better served if someone else had sang it. And Jesse Winchester, an American who fled to Canada to avoid the Vietnam draft, had his only hit with this reggae-flavored trifle. Coincidentally, this U.S. breakthrough came after President Carter granted blanket amnesty to draft dodgers.
30 - "Time," The Alan Parsons Project
29 - "Fool in Love with You," Jim Photoglo
28 - "Still Right Here in My Heart," The Pure Prairie League
27 - "The Boy From New York City," The Manhattan Transfer
26 - "Gemini Dream," The Moody Blues
25 - "Modern Girl," Sheena Easton
24 - "Winning," Santana
23 - "Elvira," The Oak Ridge Boys
22 - "I Don't Need You," Kenny Rogers
21 - "Nobody Wins," Elton John
Again, we open with rock. The Alan Parsons Project, contrary to Homer Simpson's belief, was not some sort of hovercraft, but rather the studio-only band led by Parsons, a recording engineer on such records as The Beatles Abbey Road and Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Though they were primarily known for concept albums about robots, the Great Pyramids, and Edgar Allan Poe, they did manage to have their share of pop hits as well, including this languid ballad about the passage of the minutes and hours. The Moody Blues, who had long been known for their orchestra-aided progressive rock sound, debuted their 80s synth-pop incarnation on this song that, while catchy, doesn't really make clear just what a "Gemini Dream" is. But I must say, it's my favorite of their 80s hits, much better than, say, "Your Wildest Dreams." Carlos and his namesake band are here with a midtempo, synth-adorned song about one's luck turning around. You would think this song would have made a comeback, given Charlie Sheen's fondness for the title word. But who knows, maybe someone has made a YouTube video incorporating this song with footage of Mr. Tiger Blood. But I don't feel like looking it up right now. And Elton John, a staple of the last decade, of course shows up on our first visit to this one with this synth-pop drama about a man remembering the pain he went through when the love died in his parents marriage and trying to apply the lessons he learned then to his own rocky relationship. Elton was up and down in this decade, but this one is kind of in the middle.
A lot of soft stuff here. Jim Photoglo, a California singer whose name sounds like some sort of lotion you'd rub on your skin to make it look better in pictures, had his biggest hit with this R&B-lite tune on which he sounds like a less-soulful Michael McDonald. The Pure Prairie League, who we encountered in the 70s with "Amie," had their final Top 40 with a tender country-pop ballad sang by future country superstar and Mr. Amy Grant, Vince Gill. Jazz vocal group The Manhattan Transfer had their biggest pop success with a cover of a song by written by Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller that was a 1965 hit for The Ad Libs. According to the song, this boy is tall, attractive, rich, wears mohair suits, and is quite a dancer. So I guess he's a keeper. And Sheena Easton, who becames a star in part by having her quest for a recording career documented in a British TV series, followed up her monster debut "Morning Train (9 to 5)" with a song that's lyrically opposed to that song. On "Morning Train," she's a housewife who waits all day for her man to come home and treat her like a queen. But on "Modern Girl," she's the one taking the train, an "independent lady" with an office job who tells her boyfriend that she'd rather stay home and watch TV than go out with him that night. Versatility, or trying to play both sides? You be the judge.
We finish with a couple of country crossovers. The Oak Ridge Boys, a group named after the Tennessee birthplace of the atom bomb, had their biggest pop hit with this cheesy, honky-tonk ode to a lady who shares her name with a certain Mistress of the Dark. Not only is it corny ("giddy-up oom poppa mow mow, hi-ho silver away!") but it was seemingly made for line dancing ten years before that became popular. Oh yes, and my father once gave a, shall we say, legendary karaoke performance of this song. Happy Father's Day, Dad. And Kenny Rogers had one of his lesser pop hits with this pretty good ballad about a couple who claim they don't need each other, until Kenny adds at the end "Or do we?" Love those twist endings.
Tomorrow: a superhero's theme, a shout-out to a film legend, and many, many blasts from the past.
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