Yeah, I've got something to tell you. But there's a lot to get to before that.
This week, back to the end of August 1982. But before we journey there, let's dial it back to August 28, 1971.
The Bee Gees were at #1 with "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart." The Top Ten also included "Signs," "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)," "Mr. Big Stuff," and "Go Away Little Girl."...First new one we encounter is the second and biggest hit by Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, the jangly "Never Ending Song of Love," found this week at 24...Freda Payne had her last pop hit with this week's #28, the soulful plea for the end of the Vietnam war "Bring the Boys Home."...At #34 we find B.J. Thomas trying his hand at gospel on "Mighty Clouds of Joy." And he actually does pretty well with it. One of his better efforts...At 37 and 38 we find two R&B covers of then-recent pop hits. First, the Isley Brothers sublty-but-effectively funk up Steven Stills' "Love the One You're With." Then the formidable team of Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway provide a more impassioned take on Carole King's "You've Got a Friend" than James Taylor did. But his laid-back version was a #1, so...And Barbra Streisand is at #40 with her version of another Carole King composition, the future Gilmore Girls theme "Where You Lead."...But this week, my spotlight falls on...
29 - "Rings," Cymarron
This nondescript soft-rock group had their only hit with this countryish bit of romantic fluff in which the title refers to telephones, doorbells, wedding bands, and wedding bells. They namedrop James Taylor and two presumably unknown dudes named "Tony and Mario." Never heard it before, glad I did now, don't need to hear it again. And two of the three members went on to form a moderately successful new-country band in the early 90s. That sounds about right.
And now to '82. Here we go with 40-11, new ones in bold.
40 - "Love or Let Me be Lonely," Paul Davis
39 - "Never Been in Love," Randy Meisner
38 - "Let Me Go," Ray Parker Jr.
37 - "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)," Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
36 - "Someday, Someway," Marshall Crenshaw
35 - "What's Forever For," Michael Murphey
34 - "Hold On," Santana
33 - "I Keep Forgettin'," Michael McDonald
32 - "Don't You Want Me," The Human League
31 - "Tainted Love," Soft Cell
30 - "Let Me Tickle Your Fancy," Jermaine Jackson
29 - "Somebody's Baby," Jackson Browne
28 - "Hot in the City," Billy Idol
27 - "Let it Whip," The Dazz Band
26 - "Blue Eyes," Elton John
25 - "Kids in America," Kim Wilde
24 - "Only Time Will Tell," Asia
23 - "You Can Do Magic," America
22 - "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going," Jennifer Holliday
21 - "Out of Work," Gary U.S. Bonds
20 - "Rosanna," Toto
19 - "Only the Lonely," The Motels
18 - "Who Can it Be Now," Men at Work
17 - "Think I'm in Love," Eddie Money
16 - "American Music," The Pointer Sisters
15 - "Eye in the Sky," The Alan Parsons Project
14 - "Jack and Diane," John Cougar
13 - "Love Will Turn You Around," Kenny Rogers
12 - "Love is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)," Donna Summer
11 - "You Should Hear How She Talks About You," Melissa Manchester
We begin our look at the thirteen newbies in this bunch with the easy-listening stuff. MOR playlist-filler Paul Davis had his last pop hit with this cover of a 1970 hit by The Friends of Distinction. The original's okay, the cover is inessential. Ex-Eagle Randy Meisner had his last Top 40 with this okay soft-rocker about a romance that feels like the first time. Serviceable, but nothing that sticks in the memory. The Pointer Sisters are here with this gentle midtempo ode to songs created in the U.S. of A., which are perfect for both "moving to the stereo" and "driving with the radio." Boring, and beneath them. And Kenny Rogers shows up this week with the theme song to his one attempt at becoming a film star, the stock-car-driver-takes-on-a-group-of-plucky-orphans-as-his-pit-crew comedy Six Pack. As I've said here before, I went to see the movie when it came out, and I don't remember it being very good. But the song is a breezy little tune about the unexpected surprises that make life interesting and good. One of his more enjoyable hits.
Good chunk of R&B in this section. Ray Parker Jr. is here with this ballad about wanting a commitment from an indecisive woman. It wouldn't stand out except for the line "I know when a woman gets in her twenties, she starts to feel like she's running out of time." Ah, the good old days when a lady who wasn't married by 25 was considered an old maid who was doomed to life as a dowdy librarian like Donna Reed in the alternate reality in It's a Wonderful Life. For that line alone, Ray gets this week's Uneasy Rider. Jermaine Jackson is here with this electro-funk sex jam that apparently features backing vocals by members of Devo. Not a combination I'd ever have imagined, but it works. Jermaine's best hit. Texas-born Jennifer Holliday conquered both Broadway and the music charts with this showstopper from the musical Dreamgirls. Former American Idol contestant Jennifer Hudson would later perform this in the film version (and win an Oscar for her efforts), but I can't imagine anyone doing better than Holliday's urgent declaration that "you're gonna love me." I do, Ms. Holliday. I do. And Donna Summer returned to the Top Ten after two years with this nice little funk tune that was produced and co-written by Quincy Jones. It was proof that she still had something to offer after the death of disco (though those whistles in the middle proved that she hadn't left it completely behind).
What's left are two solo Americans and three British acts. First among the former is Michigander Marshall Crenshaw, who got his first big break playing John Lennon in a touring company of Beatlemania and would later play Buddy Holly in La Bamba. His most famous moment as himself came with this catchy retro-rocker about trying to love and understand an enigmatic lover. Joyous and fantastic, it deserved to get much higher than the peak it reached this week. And 60s R&B singer Gary U.S. Bonds had the second and last hit of his Bruce Springsteen-assisted revival with this Boss-penned raveup about being unemployed. Solid stuff, and even better than "This Little Girl."
We finish with the U.K. delegation. Billy Idol scored his first American hit with this sultry rocker about wandering New York in search of adventure in the heat of a summer evening. He captures the vibe perfectly. Among his best work. Second-generation pop star Kim Wilde had her first hit with this song about a rising excitement among the youth of the United States, a "new wave" that is spreading from "New York to East California." Ah yes, that renowned hotbed of teenage rebellion East California. Kind of silly, but indelibly catchy. And prog supergroup Asia followed up the smash "Heat of the Moment" with this big-sounding number about a dying relationship. It's all right, and one of the songs I played a lot on the cassette of their album that I bought, but it just doesn't hold up as well as "Heat of the Moment."
Top Ten sighted, lock and load.
10 - "Take it Away," Paul McCartney
Sir Paul cracked the Top Ten again with this unremarkable bit of soft rock about playing music on the road and stuff. Well put-together, but not much more than background music.
9 - "Wasted on the Way," Crosby, Stills and Nash
CSN's return to the charts after a five-year absence. I'm glad they didn't go after "Just a Song Before I Go." That would have been a sucky way to end their pop hit history.
8 - "Vacation," The Go-Gos
The all-female New Wavers had their second and last Top Ten with this tune about a holiday "meant to be spent alone." Great song, and the video was memorable for its scenes of what appeared to be the band waterskiing in formation. Not only was it not actually them doing the waterskiing, but when their closeups were shot, they were all extremely drunk on champagne. And it shows. I love that.
7 - "Keep the Fire Burnin'," REO Speedwagon
Was the only hit by these guys with "fire" in the title? I think so. Given what they were named after, you'd think there would have been more.
6 - "Even the Nights are Better," Air Supply
Than what, guys? Than what?
5 - "Hard to Say I'm Sorry," Chicago
This song was apparently featured in the 1982 film Summer Lovers, which was about a couple who went to Greece and ended up in a three-way affair with another woman. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Early 80s movies were much more sexually...interesting than I would have ever imagined.
4 - "Hold Me," Fleetwood Mac
Their usual reliable pop-rock. Always welcome.
3 - "Abracadabra," The Stever Miller Band
You're not as magical as you think you are, Steve.
2 - "Hurts So Good," John Cougar
So it does, John. So it does.
And at the top thirty years ago was...
1 - "Eye of the Tiger," Survivor
The song that inspired Rocky Balboa to get his title back from Clubber Lang. Hey Sly, how come Mr. T hasn't been in either of those Expendables movies? Your casting director better send a call out to him for the next one, or else, I...have sympathy for that unwise person.
This week's NotCaseys were "Nobody" by Sylvia, "Steppin' Out" by Joe Jackson, "I Ran (So Far Away)" by A Flock of Seagulls, and "You Don't Want Me Anymore" by Steel Breeze. Casey played two extras of his own: "Happy" by The Rolling Stones" (the band's only hit with Keith Richards on lead vocals), and "Proud Mary" (Creedence Clearwater Revival's biggest hit. And there were two LDDs: In the first, a man who wanted to let his girlfriend know his intentions toward her were honorable asked Casey to play Air Supply's "Lost in Love." And later, an ex-high school softball player dedicated Joey Scarbury's "Theme from The Greatest American Hero," to her former teammates on the squad that nearly won a state championship.
Okay, here we go. No, I'm not stopping this train. Not yet anyway. But what I've decided to do is stray off the path a little. Starting next week, I'm going to be taking a look at the Billboard Top 40 from the years after Casey stopped doing AT40. I'll start with the chart from September 2, 1989, then the 1990 list corresponding with the next week, then '91, and so on, right on up to today. I think it'll be interesting to see how both"Top Forty" pop and my own relationship to it has evolved over the years.
Now I'm not completely abandoning Casey just like that. Upcoming entries will still include recaps and spotlights on songs from the 70s and 80s shows that I haven't covered yet. And if a show has so much new stuff that it merits its own full entry, I'll try to squeeze it in. But this is the end of an era, and as such, I'd like to give out a few thank-yous:
To Oldies 1150 in Hamilton, for broadcasting the show I heard one summer night that started the germ of this idea.
To the Internet, for making it possible to listen to these shows when it was most convenient for me.
To WWIS in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, for playing the 80s shows on Friday afternoons and allowing me to get a jump on things every week.
To sites like Charis Music Group and Ultimate Music Database, for allowing me to look up the charts ahead of time.
To the American Top 40 - Fun and Games message board for alerting me to what shows would be played in advance, and especially to Jimmy Delach for his comments and input.
To Larry "NotCasey" Morgan (sorry about that!).
To all of you who have taken the time to read this stuff.
And of course, to Casey Kasem.
So there we are. Join me next week as we enter the scary depths of post 1988-pop.
Thanks for the shout-out.
ReplyDeleteI think I have the AT40 show from 1989 if you're interested. Please let me know.
"Then the formidable team of Roberta Flack provide a more impassioned take on Carole King's "You've Got a Friend" than James Taylor did."
ReplyDeleteWhere's Donny Hatahway?