This week, we go all the way back to the second month of the decade. The day before this chart first aired, in Lake Placid, New York, the U.S. Olympic hockey team performed the "Miracle on Ice," beating the heavily favored Soviet team 4-3 on the way to a stunning gold medal win that helped raise the spirits of a nation reeling from the hostage-taking in Iran and the U.S.S.R.'s invasion of Afghanistan. And in between news updates on these events, these were the songs America's Top Forty radio stations were playing:
40 - "I Can't Help Myself," Bonnie Pointer
39 - "Kiss Me in the Rain," Barbra Streisand
38 - "Three Times in Love," Tommy James
37 - "Off the Wall," Michael Jackson
36 - "I Wanna be Your Lover," Prince
35 - "Let Me Go, Love," Nicolette Larson
34 - "Deja Vu," Dionne Warwick
33 - "Don't Let Go," Isaac Hayes
32 - "Special Lady," Ray, Goodman and Brown
31 - "Give it All You Got," Chuck Mangione
We begin with solo women. Bonnie Pointer had her second and last solo hit with a disco cover of the Four Tops' 1965 chart-topper. The world was not crying out for this, but she doesn't embarrass herself. Barbra Streisand followed up her Donna Summer duet "No More Tears" with this ballad about wanting to be smooched while water falls from the sky, because it will "make me feel like a child again." Pretty much what you'd expect from her. Half-decent. Former Neil Young backup singer Nicolette Larson had her second and last pop hit with this MOR portrait of an ending relationship. Michael McDonald sings the whole song along with her, and frankly, his voice is the dominant one. And that doesn't work for me. I'd rather have heard more Nicolette. And Dionne Warwick continued her comeback with this smooth, Barry Manilow-produced ballad about just meeting someone, yet feeling like you've known that person for a long time. I think I like it even better than "I'll Never Love This Way Again."
Then it's the male solo singers. The former frontman for the Shondells had his first hit in nine years with this country-pop number that espouses the belief that the third person you fall in love with is the one you're meant to be with. I don't know what data he has to back that up, but who am I to argue with the man who wrote "Mony Mony?" Michael Jackson is here with the title track to the album that established him as a true solo superstar. It's a nice little dance-groover about putting stress aside and letting yourself go. It's not quite up to that album's first two singles, but those two set a pretty damn high standard, so this is still very good. Prince Rogers Nelson had his very first pop hit with stylish bit of sophistofunk. It's a good preview of things to come, and even sports an early glimpse of his penchant for double-entendre in lines like "I wanna be the only one you come for." And the late Isaac Hayes had his last pop hit with this lust-drenched funk treat. "I wouldn't stop for a million bucks," he growls. Sexxxxay.
The last two songs in this section are a group number and an instrumental. Ray, Goodman and Brown, the artists formerly known as The Moments, had their only pop hit under their new name with this Top 5 smash with this silky soul ballad that sounds like it could have been released ten years earlier as the direct follow-up to The Moments' hit "Love on a Two-Way Street." Listening to this indeed makes me feel like I'm "sittin' on top of the world." And flugelhorn star Chuck Mangione had his second and final pop hit with this tune that he wrote to be the theme for the Lake Placid Winter Olympics. I can't say that this song in anyway makes me think of skiing, bobsledding, hockey, or any other sport, but it has a light, jazzy appeal.
30 - "99," Toto
29 - "Heartbreaker," Pat Benatar
28 - "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)," Rupert Holmes
27 - "The Long Run," The Eagles
26 - "Don't Do Me Like That," Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
25 - "Wonderland," The Commodores
24 - "Him," Rupert Holmes
23 - "Refugee," Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
22 - "When I Wanted You," Barry Manilow
21 - "Fool in the Rain," Led Zeppelin
I'll kick off this bunch with four bands. Toto had their second Top 40 single with this song about being in love with a woman with a number for a name. Naturally, I assumed this was inspired by Barbara Feldon's Agent 99 from Get Smart, but apparently it was inspired by George Lucas' first feature film, the dystopian tale THX 1138. Too bad. The Eagles are here with the title track of the final studio album of their original run. It's an okay midtempo rocker about the potential persistence of love, but frankly, I'm more intrigued by this single's B-side, "The Disco Strangler." I'll have to dig around and hear that one sometime. The Commodores are here with a seduction jam in which Lionel Richie promises to pleasure someone if they allow him to "take control of your beautiful mind." Hmm, I'll have to think about it, Lionel. And Led Zeppelin had their last Top 40 hit with this piano-driven tune about falling in love intensely only to have one's heart broken. Very good song, and I love that samba breakdown. Unfortunately, drummer John Bonham died seven months later, and that was the end of the band.
Then I'll cover two solo artists: one beginning a run of hits, the other near the end of one. Pat Benatar scored her first hit with this hard-rockin' ode to a man who's "the right kind of sinner to release my inner fantasy." But despite this, Pat tells him "don't you mess around with me." Make up your mind, lady! Seriously though, this is great. And Barry Manilow is here with a track very typical of his oeuvre, a ballad in which he declares that he's not nearly as over his ex as he makes himself out to be. Not one of his better moments.
We end this section with a first. We've had artists with two songs in the same group of ten, but never two double-dippers...until now. First, there's Rupert Holmes, who'd previously achieved his greatest notoriety as the writer of The Buoys' infamous 1971 cannibalism hit "Timothy." Nearly a decade later, he had his first hit as an artist with "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)," a slick pop song about a man who, out of boredom with his relationship, responds to a personal ad in the newspaper from a woman who likes tropical drinks and "getting caught in the rain." So the man answers the ad and meets the woman, and...surprise, it's his equally-bored partner. What a twist! Anyway, this song went to #1, and now, it also picks up an Uneasy Rider. He's also here with his second hit, a song that covers similar territory as Biz Markie did at the end of the decade with "Just a Friend." Only in this one, we don't know for sure if the woman is really cheating with her male confidante. And I could do without that caterwauling in the middle. I'll take the Biz over this every time. And Gainesville, Florida's Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers also show up twice in this section. First, we find them on the way down with their first Top Ten "Don't Do Me Like That." It's a poppy rocker in which Petty asks his girlfriend not to break his heart like his buddy's lover did. Solid. Three spots later, there they are again, this time with an edgier, more urgent number in which Tom tells a woman that she doesn't need to wander around like a displaced person when she could be with him. An interesting approach to romance, to say the least. And a genunie classic.
Tomorrow: the school system is questioned, a shout-out to a Shakespeare character, and the story of a peaceful man who gets pushed too far.
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