This week we go back to the beginning of the decade. Around the time this countdown first aired, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir was elected president of Iceland, thus becoming the world's first democratically elected female head of state. Meanwhile, on American radio...
40 - "Atomic," Blondie
39 - "Ashes By Now," Rodney Crowell
38 - "Angel Say No," Tommy Tutone
37 - "Stand By Me," Mickey Gilley
36 - "Take Your Time (Do it Right)," The S.O.S. Band
35 - "Misunderstanding," Genesis
34 - "Love the World Away," Kenny Rogers
33 - "Theme from New York, New York," Frank Sinarta
32 - "Answering Machine," Rupert Holmes
31 - "All Night Long," Joe Walsh
We'll begin with the groups. Blondie followed up "Call Me" with this darkly sexy dance-rocker in which Deborah Harry coos "Oh, your hair is beautiful." What that has to do with fusion or fission or any of the other things one might associate with the song's title, I'm not sure. But does it matter? Of course not. San Francisco's Tommy Tutone would have their most lasting impact on pop in 1982 with "867-5309 (Jenny)," but their first hit came two years earlier with this catchy power pop tune about watching someone do something that seems like a big mistake. I can't say it's better than their more famous number, but definitely worth seeking out. Atlanta soulsters The S.O.S. band are back from last August with their sweet bit of disco-funk about time management. And also returning from that time are Genesis with their hit about discovering a lover's affair. That Phil Collins turned a lot of his romantic travails into hits, didn't he?
Next we have three songs that have the following in common: they were sung by men, and they were not used in a movie in which John Travolta rides a mechanical bull. Country singer Rodney Crowell had his only pop hit with this moving, poetic ballad about a man who can't stay away from a woman even though he's been burned by her so many times (metaphorically, of course.) Lee Ann Womack would have a much bigger country hit with this twenty years later. I've never heard it, but I can't imagine liking it better than the original. The legend that is Ol' Blue Eyes himself, Francis Albert Sinatra, had his final Top 40 hit (and first since 1969's "My Way.") at the age of 64 with this now-standard ode to The Big Apple that was originally written for a 1977 Martin Scorsese-directed musical film that starred Robert DeNiro and Liza Minnelli. The movie didn't make it anywhere, but Frank's boisterous performance took the song to the "top of the heap." And for being an old-school, jazzy concoction among all the other strange strains that composed "pop music" in 1980, Frank claims this week's Uneasy Rider. And Rupert Holmes had his third and last Top 40 hit with this typically slick bit of MOR about a couple who are trying to make a commitment to each other, but they are thwarted by the limits of a newfangled device that allowed people to leave messages to their friends and loved ones when they couldn't answer the phone. Gimmicky, just like "The Pina Colada Song." But I like this one a lot more. But maybe that's because I haven't heard it a million times.
We close this section with three tracks that actually were from a movie that featured Travolta on a mechanical bull. That movie was Urban Cowboy, and the mechanical bull was in a bar called Gilley's. The owner of said bar, country star Mickey Gilley, is here with what would be his only pop Top 40, a cover of the 1961 Ben E. King classic. This version is earnest and twangy, and I can't really say anything negative about it, but it just doesn't do it for me. Kenny Rogers contribued a bland, unremarkable ballad about finding shelter from the outside world in a lover's arms. Can't blame him for saving the good stuff for his own records, though. And sometime Eagle Joe Walsh chipped in with a bluesy raveup about partying in the evening with the aid of alcohol (okay) and dipping tobacco (not such a good idea). Yee haw.
30 - "Two Places at the Same Time," Raydio
29 - "Gimme Some Lovin'," The Blues Brothers
28 - "Lost in Love," Air Supply
27 - "Wondering Where the Lions Are," Bruce Cockburn
26 - "Hurt So Bad," Linda Ronstadt
25 - "In America," The Charlie Daniels Band
24 - "Stomp," The Brothers Johnson
23 - "More Love," Kim Carnes
22 - "Brass in Pocket," The Pretenders
21 - "I'm Alive," The Electric Light Orchestra
I'll start this bunch with American bands. Ray Parker Jr. and his band are here with some lite-funk over which Ray tells a woman he wants to be "inside you, and inside your mind." That's either really deep, really stupid, or really creepy. Oh Ray, you always keep me guessing. Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, as their alter egos Jake and Elwood Blues, are here with a cover of a 1966 Spencer Davis Group hit from the "brothers"' eponymous movie about their "mission from God." This track is hardly essential, but as for the film, I'm so glad they made it. The Charlie Daniels Band are here with a flag waving Southern rocker that declares that in spite of the United States' then-current troubles (a struggling economy, the Iranian hostage crisis and the subsequent failed rescue attempt, lingering post-Watergate disillusionment), "We're gonna put her feet back on the path of righteousness and then/God Bless America again." And this being the middle of the Cold War, Daniels also adds, "If the Russians don't believe that, they can all go straight to Hell." Jingoistic, to be sure, but there's no doubt it tapped into a very real anger that existed in the public mood of the time. And as a song, I actually kind of like it. Not as much as "Uneasy Rider," though. And The Brothers Johnson return from last time, still inviting you do dance vigorously. Why not accept?
Then there are the band from outside the U.S. Australia's Air Supply are back from last time with their ballad about a disorienting romance. Again, better than most of what would follow it. Also returning are the three Englishmen and one Ohioan that made up The Pretenders with their immortal, attention demanding strut. They made me notice, all right. And Britains ELO are here with a song from the then-unreleased movie Xanadu. It's about, well, what it feels like to come to life. And it accompanies the scene in which the nine Muses of Greek Mythology step out of a mural. One of them, played by Olivia Newton-John, inspires a struggling painter to open a roller rink with Gene Kelly, and then...I'm sorry, I'm having trouble coming to grips with the fact that this movie actually exists, never mind the fact that I actually saw it IN A THEATER!
I'll finish off my look at the first half with the solo singers. Canadian Bruce Cockburn (it's prononuced "COE-burn," in case you had other ideas) had his only American hit with this folky ditty with abstract lyrics about jungle cats, trees, flying orange boats, eternity, and ecstasy. I really couldn't say what it's about, but it's wonderful. One of the best songs my country has produced. Linda Ronstadt returns from last time with a song that I didn't mention was a cover of a 1966 Little Anthony and the Imperials hit. Although given her history, the fact that it was a hit for someone else first probably didn't need saying. And Kim Carnes returns from last August, promising a whole lotta love. Still decent, but still not "Bette Davis Eyes."
Tomorrow: father-daughter awkwardness, a songwriter "covers" a song she wrote herself, and, yes, more Xanadu.
No comments:
Post a Comment