Before we resume 1980, let's have a look at the list from October 27, 1973. At the top were Gladys Knight and the Pips with the immortal "Midnight Train to Georgia." And below...
Good bunch in the top ten, including "Angie," "Half-Breed," "Heartbeat, It's a Lovebeat" and "Higher Ground"...There's Cheech and Chong again, with their fun, funny ode to hoops obessesion, "Basketball Jones featuring Tyrone Shoelaces" at 17. "I can dunk it with my nose!"...Before she was known for creepy album covers, Millie Jackson had scored two pop hits, the second and biggest of which was this week's #24, the more than a little masochistic "It Hurts So Good"...Bobby Goldsboro makes the questionable decision to rhyme "julep" with "two lips" on his last Top 40 hit, the older-woman-deflowers-teenage-boy tale "Summer(The First Time)," which this week was at 25...Kool and the Gang had their first pop hit with a triumph of truth in advertising, "Funky Stuff," found this week at #29...Roberta Flack is here with one of her more minor hits, "Jesse," a lush love song that got no higher than this weeks position of 30...The Doobie Brothers scored one of their more enduring hits with this week's #31, a bluesy ode to a town called "China Grove"...Future Eagle Joe Walsh had his first solo hit with the bluesy, eventual-Coors-jingle "Rocky Mountain Way," here at #33 Is it just me, or does it's opeining sound very similar to that of "China Grove?"...The Jackson 5 would continue their two-year Top 10 drought with this week's #34, "Get it Together," but its slippery funk deserved a better fate...The Ohio Players had their second pop hit with the bubbly funk of "Ecstasy," here breaking into the 40 for a third time (after falling out twice) at 35...But this week, I shine my spotlight upon...
39 - "You've Never Been This Far Before," Conway Twitty
The man born Harold Lloyd Jenkins in Mississippi changed his name and pursued a singing career, first finding success as an Elvis soundalike, most notably on the 1958 #1 "It's Only Make Believe." When the pop hits dried up, he went country in the mid-60s, beginning a run that saw him top that chart over thirty times. But of those, only one managed to crack the pop chart. This tune is extremely suggestive for the times, with it's mention of "trembling fingers touch(ing) forbidden places." But with Twitty's almost comically deep voice, and those cheesy "bum bum bums" punctuating so many lines, the song sounds more corny than sexy to these ears. Still, an interesting bit of music history.
Okay, now let's dial it forward to 1980.
20 - "Dreamin'," Cliff Richard
19 - "Master Blaster (Jammin')," Stevie Wonder
18 - "I'm Coming Out," Diana Ross
17 - "Lady," Kenny Rogers
16 - "Look What You've Done to Me," Boz Scaggs
The second half opens with the last U.S. Top Ten for the British music institution born Harry Rodger Webb. It's inoffensive pop-rock about an unattainable lover. Nowhere near as memorable as "Devil Woman."
Next is Stevie Wonder with his bouncy tribute to Bob Marley, who he had been tourning with that year. As a kid, I didn't know about Bob Marley, or Jah, or the political situation in Zimbabwe, all of which are referenced in the lyrics. I didn't even know that this was a reggae song. All I knew was that it was infectious and fun, and that my local radio station wasn't playing it for some reason. So I looked forward to my one weekly listen on Casey's show. This song probably has a lot to do with why American Top 40 holds a special place in my memory, and thus it has a lot to do with why I write these things. So there you go. Blame Stevie.
Then it's Diana Ross with her funky statement of existence that has become a gay anthem of self-esteem ("I want the world to know/Got to let it show.") Appropriately, its origins lie in a drag performance witnessed by the song's co-writer, Chic's Nile Rodgers. Diana herself related to the song's message in terms of her leaving Motown Records. I wonder how gangsta rap legend The Notorious B.I.G. viewed it when he decided to use it as the base for his posthumous hit "Mo Money Mo Problems." Anyway, it's great no matter how you look at it, plus it features a trombone solo of all things, performed by the man who took Star Wars to the dance floor, Meco Menardo.
Kenny Rogers follows with what would be his only solo pop #1, a drippy ballad written and produced by Lionel Richie. I'm sure I'd like it a bit better if Lionel had done it himself, but as it stands, not a fan.
This section ends with William Royce Scaggs' contribution to the Urban Cowboy soundtrack. I don't know, I've never liked it. Looking it up now, I've learned that it was co-written by David Foster. That just might explain it. It just sounds like a sludgy downer to me.
15 - "Hot Rod Hearts," Robbie Dupree
14 - "Give Me the Night," George Benson
13 - "Jesse," Carly Simon
12 - "Never Knew Love Like This Before," Stephanie Mills
11 - "The Wanderer," Donna Summer
This section opens with Brooklyn's Robbie Dupree, returning from last time with his soft rockin' song about girls and cars. Not to be confused with "Girls in Cars," the song he'd perform seven years later on the World Wrestling Federation album Piledriver. I like that one a little better than this, and that's very faint praise.
George Benson is next with his biggest pop hit, a gently funky tune about going out in the evening to party. Decent enough. Also, I just saw a recent picture of him, and he currently looks a bit like former World Heavyweight Champion Larry Holmes. Interesting.
Carly Simon returns from last time with her biggest 80s hit, a song about a guy she can't live with and can't live without. But unlike the subject of "You're So Vain," no one cared who this song was about. Myself included.
Stephanie Mills also returns from last time, singing about happiness with a new love. And yes, I'm going to mention the fact that she dated Michael Jackson again. Wouldn't you?
This group is rounded out by Donna Summer's first Geffen single. The lyrics aren't that special, as they're about traveling "from here to outer space." But the sound is what makes this stand out. Unlike the disco that made her name, this song is stuttery, new wave-influenced pop rock. And through most of it, her voice is unrecognizable. On the verses, she affects what sounds like an attempted impression of either Elvis, or The Cars' Ric Ocasek, or both. And on the choruses, she employs a sort of falsetto. It was a pretty radical departure, but with disco dying, it was the right thing to do, and the song reached #3. It sounded trippier when I was a kid, but it's still pretty cool.
And now, ten songs that sold themselves:
10 - "Late in the Evening," Paul Simon
The Rhymin' one returns, singing about music. Still cool.
9 - "Drivin' My Life Away," Eddie Rabbitt
Fun stuff about life on the road from the man I assume is the biggest country star to ever come from New Jersey. He can't have too much competition, can he?
8 - "Xanadu," Olivia Newton-John and the Electric Light Orchestra
The movie this came from is laughable cheese, and totally unworthy of containing Gene Kelly's last film role. But if you can't lose yourself in the lush boogie of the title song, I'm not sure I want to know you.
7 - "I'm Alright," Kenny Loggins
Kenny's run as the soundtrack king of the 80s started here with this song that soundtracked a gophers triumph over certain death in Caddyshack. Speaking of Loggins-laden movies, why did they remake Footloose? I mean, seriously, jump back!
6 - "Real Love," The Doobie Brothers
The Doobies' final Top 5, a typical Michael McDonald blandwich where he tries to convince a woman who, shall we say, entertains multiple suitors, that he is the one that can provide her with genuine affection. I wonder if he was singing this to Amy Holland.
5 - "He's So Shy," The Pointer Sisters
I probably think this song is about me. Yeah, the guy with the glove on his head isn't the most comfortable person in social situations. Surprised? Anyway, this might be second only to "Fire" on my list of Pointer faves.
4 - "All Out of Love," Air Supply
Probably the best of their early hits, but it would of course be completely blown out of the water by "Making Love out of Nothing at All."
3 - "Upside Down," Diana Ross
As Donna Summer was abandoning diva disco, Miss Ross was riding high on the groove. So for a brief period, Diana donned Donna's dancefloor crown. Gotta love alliteration.
2 - "Woman in Love," Barbra Streisand
As a new decade dawned, Babs decided the way to approach the new era was to have Barry Gibb write her first 80s album. The first single from that LP was this sumptuous ballad in which the Streisanator belts out some typically solid Gibbian lyrics about devotion and passion. It's as gargantuan and bombastic as you'd expect from this combination, but that turns out to be a good thing.
And at the top of the charts 31 years ago was...
1 - "Another One Bites the Dust," Queen
Freddie Mercury and co.'s only American charttopper was this funky strut that sounds like a three-minute audio version of a slick, violent action movie. Few songs can create such a cinematic atmosphere in such a tiny space of time. Still undeniable after all these years.
The NotCaseys this week were "Without Your Love" by Roger Daltrey, "Turning Japanese" by The Vapors, "You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC, and "Theme from The Dukes of Hazzard" by Waylon Jennings. Casey himself opened the show with the previous week's Top 3 (exactly the same as this week's), and later played three early-60's #1s: "Don't Break the Heart that Loves You" by Connie Francis, "Johnny Angel" by Shelley Fabares, and "Good Luck Charm" by Elvis Presley. And there were two Long Distance Dedications: A man who was a patient in a psychiatric hospital dedicated David Naughton's "Makin' It" to the family and medical professionals who helped him, and a college freshman dedicated Bob Seger's "We've Got Tonight," to his girlfriend, a senior veterinary student who was about to go away to serve a three-year stint in the Army.
And we're clear.
No comments:
Post a Comment