American Top 40

There have been some 'common-experience'-type threads lately, about food and cartoons and whatnot. I hope you guys will indulge me in a little musical stroll down memory lane.

Last May, I was scanning radio stations while driving, and I caught a scrap of a song from my high school years, followed by the familiar voice of Casey Kasem...what the heck am I listening to? It was one of those old countdowns, this one from 1982! It kept going, through some admittedly rough territory: Barry Manilow's cover of 'Let's Hang On To What We Got' and the theme to 'Magnum PI'. When oldies radio of today plays only the really big hits from back then, it's easy to forget some of the bottom-dwellers!

Of course, as the numbers get smaller, the hits get bigger, so I was really enjoying this flashback to my freshman year. Can you answer the trivia question: who was the artist who was just about to break into the rock'n'roll charts in 1958, when he was arrested and spent years in prison? After he was released, he had several big hits on the country charts. (We were on our way to a church service, and we got there before Casey told us the answer. I heard it though - snuck back out to the car after we got the kids settled inside! I'll tell you later.)

We got back out to the car after church just in time to hear number 1 from the first week in May, 1982 (drumroll...) I Love Rock 'n' Roll by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts!

I think I've caught at least some of this show every Sunday morning since. The station is out of Wausau, WI:

]http://www.bigcheese1079.net/

Unfortunately, they don't broadcast over the web, at least not yet. It sounds like a national feed for the AT40 show. They play the countdown from the calendar week we're on in 2008, except from a random year of the 80s. I don't dig it quite as much when they do the late 80s, since I wasn't listening to top 40 radio much anymore by that time. It is kind of funny to hear Casey talk about the early rap groups, though. Imagine your own 50- or 60-year old dad being really enthusiastic about Run DMC and I think you'll get the picture!

I also love the long-distance dedications, and just the trivia stuff you encounter in the course of one of those old shows. A few weeks ago, they were doing...hmm, well, must have been 87. Los Lobos was back-to-back at #34 and #35 with songs from the La Bamba soundtrack, one on the way up, the other on the way down: "La Bamba" and"C'mon Let's Go". Made me wonder how often that kind of thing happened on the charts. Last week, they did 1980. Two songs that week debuted on the hot 100 all the way into the top 40, which I guess is pretty rare. Compared to each other and how they've gone down in history, the songs make a strange couple: at #32, Love on the Rocks by Neil Diamond, and at #38, Starting Over by John Lennon. Just about a month before he died...

There's also a poignant moment every week. They play a public service announcement for animal adoption, voiced by a current day Casey Kasem. He sounds sort of scratchy and a bit weak, but you can tell it's him!

Thanks for letting me go on a bit. I know it's kind of like being nostalgic for McDonald's or something, but what can I say? It was a part of my youth. I listened every week...and still do!

Take care,
Bear85

Answer to trivia: Freddy Fender. His biggest hit was "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights". He also had the very pretty "Before the Next Teardrop Falls"

Oh, man! That's really cool. There are NO oldies stations at my current location. Kind of a bummer. And my favorite oldies station back home transformed into a crummy country station. I mean, C'MON!!! We already HAD about 7 of 'em! Two rock stations, one oldies, and at least 7 country. I can take the country, but only in moderation, you know. Depends on the era it's coming from! They took away my most beloved possession, and it wasn't even really mine!!!

Bear85, thanks for the trivia! If you got more, keep 'em coming! (I guessed wrong)

CHEERS!

Cristo--
80's music is "oldies?" Pardon me while I go pop another Geritol & soak my dentures!! You're taking me back to the days when a co-worker asked me what CD was playing in my computer & I answered "Tears for Fears." She just looked at me & said, "What?"

Bear85--
Great station! Great songs, too. Wish we had a station around here that played some of those classics, shall we say. Joan Jett takes me back to those early college days! Well, what I can remember of them at least!
One of my favorite Neil Diamond songs is a B side of a 45, and I don't even think I have the record anymore, it was called "You Don't Know Me." My teenage, romance-novel starved heart used to listen to that song over & over again! Loved it!!
Thanks for the flashback!

Agreed, thanks for the flasback! American Top 40 would be on the radio when my family were traveling to and from church. I forgot about things like the long distance dedication! It's kinda weird how the mention of something like that can take you back. Those years you mention, I was in 8th grade! Now I'm feelin' kinda sad and old!

Rick

From the week of November 6, 1982 (boy, this was a good one!):

Trivia first: What song, first a hit for Brenda Lee, later for Freddy Fender (coincidence from first post! different song here), hit for a female singer on this week's countdown? (answer later - here's a hint...more country than pop, but had several hits on AT 40 in early 80s)

At #33, a first for me since rediscovering Casey...Stray Cats! Third week on the countdown with "Rock This Town".

Long-distance dedication: from Jason, a Marine stationed in San Diego, to his platonic best friend Rhonda, back home in Illinois, "She's Got A Way" by Billy Joel. (I have a hunch he was trying to tell her he had feelings for her...hmm, wonder how that turned out.)

Other highlights: Pat Benatar debuting at #40 with "Promises in the Dark", "Jack & Diane" by John Cougar (no Mellencamp yet!), "Eye in the Sky" by the Alan Parsons Project (when was the last time you heard that one?), "Who Can It Be Now" by Men at Work, "Heart Attack" by Olivia Newton-John all the way at #3 (do you remember that being such a big hit?), and at #1 (drumroll) "Up Where We Belong" by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes, from the Officer and a Gentleman soundtrack.

This is Bear85, saying so long, and remember...keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars!

(trivia answer: "Break It To Me Gently" by Juice Newton)

Juice Newton....now there's a name that will take you back.

enjay07 wrote:

Cristo--
80's music is "oldies?"

HAHA... no, when I use the term "oldies" I generally think of '50s and '60s stuff, maybe a splash of '70s here and there. I don't really know what I was thinking - I just saw the "1958" part of the trivia question and decided to go off on a tangent to rant about my poor ol' self, how bad I got it in my no-good-radio-wave-gettin' location. I guess I just can't get no 'Radar Love'.

Get me outta here!!!

Bear85, this is really cool. Can't wait for the next one!

Who's a HUGE John Cougar Mellencamp fan? THIS guy.

This week's countdown was from my senior year - November 1984.

The re-cap of the previous week's number 1 was one of those that kind of makes you wonder what America was thinking - "I Just Called To Say I Love You" by the great Stevie Wonder. (If you now have this song in your head, purge it by watching "High Fidelity" with John Cusack and Jack Black. This movie made me a Jack Black fan, mostly for the scene pertaining to the song "I Just Called".) It had been #1 for three weeks, and would slip to #2. This week's #1 is also my trivia question: The title has two words, which the artist would continually manage to mess up. When the song was originally released in Europe, it had a different title than it did when it was released in America; when he performed it in concert in the US, he kept singing the old title. What's the song? (answer at end of post)

Early in the countdown we had Pat Benatar with "We Belong", Rick Springfield singing "Bop Till You Drop", and 38 Special with the theme song from the movie "Teachers". That's another one I haven't seen in ages - I remember seeing it in late November or early December of that year.

Long Distance Dedication came from the Emerald Isle: A widower and father of a young child asked Casey to play Dion's "Teenager In Love" for his dear departed wife, becasue when they met, that's what they were. (I was teaching Sunday School this morning so I missed this story; my wife told me about it afterward. Good thing I didn't hear it - I probably would have started bawling...I kind of embarrass myself sometimes.)

The Mrs. also mentioned another big movie song, although she couldn't remember the number: "On the Dark Side", by John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, from the movie "Eddie and the Cruisers".

Here's the end of the countdown:
#6: "Lucky Star" by Madonna
#5: "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham!
#4: "Hard Habit to Break" by Chicago
#3: "Purple Rain" by Prince (the soundtrack was the #1 album of the week)
#2: "I Just Called..." by Stevie Wonder

And the answer to this week's trivia question, this week's number 1 song...


"Caribbean Queen" by Billy Ocean ("European Queen" was the original title)

This is Bear85 signing off. Remember, keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars!

Bear85--
You HAVE to keep us updated on this radio show! What a wonderful walk down memory lane!

Since I have the anonimity of the internet, I have to confess---I actually bought a copy of the "Eddie and The Cruisers" soundtrack! Ha ha!! I loved that movie! I remember seeing that movie and my friend & I were the only 2 people in the theater! How "On The Dark Side" made it to the Top 40 is beyond me! Did 40 people even see the movie?? "Tender Years" was probably my favorite song from the soundtrack.

And Michael Pare'? I thought he was hot! I don't know that I've seen him in anything since....but hey...mysterious rock star? I was a teenager, easily impressed.

And "Purple Rain!" What a hoot! I remember parties at my friends' house (who had the biggest crush on him) where we would sing along to that song at the top of our lungs! We must've drove her parents crazy!

Oh yeah....and John Cusack! Who didn't have a crush on him!! Can you tell what I was into in the 80's? Boys!!! Haven't see "High Fiedelity" in ages.

Unfortunately, at the time, I was just about to meet one of the worst choices I made in boys/men. Wow...if only I knew now what I didn't know then!
Funny how songs take you back down those roads as well. Mostly good times with friends though!
Keep the songs a-comin'!

Hey, Bear85! Thanks for the update, but... aww, man! I'm 0 for 3!

I also love "High Fidelity" - and yes, Jack Black was awesome in that movie!

'84 was your senior year, eh? I wasn't even born yet! Haha, sorry... couldn't resist. Now's the time when you tell me I'm just a young whipper-snapper and I don't know nothin' bout nothin'!

M.A.S.G.:"Oh, okay, buddy. I didn't know it was 'Pick on the Middle-Aged Square Guy Day'. My apologies, I'll be on my way."

JB: "Buh-bye!" HAHAHA

CHEERS!

Eddie and the Cruisers! I was one of the 40 people who saw that movie! (guilty confession there). Speaking of 80's movies and movie guys...remember The Lost Boys? Ah, there was a "tasty" movie!

Wow. I have such a jukebox in my little ol' brain. When I read the titles of those songs, a little snippet of each one started playing in my head. Wham! Ah geez. Anybody else remember boppin' along to that song at high school dances? We used to have "sock hops" after each home basketball game (no I didn't go to high school in the 50's! ), and that was one of the songs that would get everyone on the dance floor. Yeah, silly times back then!

Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
hrg

Eddie & the Cruisers was a GREAT movie!!! Eddie & the Cruisers II?? Not so great... LOL!!

Wordman Budge

Hey you guys,

I'm really glad you're enjoying the thread. The AT 40 replays are something I look forward to each week. I can't tell you what a bummer it is when they do 1988 or 1989 - that's not the Eighties to me. They seem to favor the years 1981 to 1985 or 86 - I think the music was just better then!

Enjay, I saw "Eddie & the Cruisers" numerous times in one month on HBO. I also own the soundtrack - got it at a Goodwill (that's where I score most of my 80s vinyl...didn't actually buy very much of it back in the day.) Michael Pare was also the hero in Streets of Fire (have that soundtrack too!) Empty theater story: went with a buddy to see Midnight Run with Robert DeNiro and Charles Grodin. We're the only two in the theater. Lights go down, trailers start, we hear the door open at the back. I glance over my shoulder, it's a guy by himself. I whisper to my buddy, "You watch, this guy's gonna sit right infront of us." Then he did! We started laughing so hard I thought I was gonna wet myself. The guy must have thought we were on dope or something.

Also, when the fascinating story of my life is made into a movie, Cusack's playing me. If he's too busy, I'll settle for Andrew McCarthy.

Cristo, I graduated in the spring of '85...hence the username (our mascot was the Bears).

HRG, I came up empty one day on a Goodwill vinyl dive...except for Wham! Ah, what the hey, I thought, it has hits, I'll buy it to round out the collection. So I go home, played it once, went to shelve it, only to discover...I already had one. First sign of old age, huh? Well, second, I suppose, after hair loss!

From the week ending November 14, 1981:

#38: falling 15 spots from last week, \"Share Your Love With Me\" by Kenny Rogers. This must have been a big album, because I see an awful lot of them in the Goodwill bins.

#36: \"Heart Like A Wheel\" by the Steve Miller Band. Don\'t think I\'d heard this one in about 27 years. Great song.

#35: \"Step by Step\" by Eddie Rabbitt. Along with much of Kenny Rogers, this song was considered country, because Rabbitt started as a country singer. Listen to it though; it\'s not really a country song. Pop all the way.

#34: \"Sayin\' I Love You\" by Neil Diamond. Remember how huge this guy was then? Our junior high choir director was really into him, so we did \"Sweet Caroline\" a lot.

#33: \"The Sweetest Thing\" by Juice Newton. High school freshman boys probably aren\'t supposed to be quite this sensitive, but wow, I always thought this was just about the most beautiful song ever.

#32: \"No Reply\" by Genesis. Casey told me it was only their third top 40 hit. It\'s weird hearing stuff from the past. It almost made them sound like up-and-coming band...well, I suppose they were! They\'d been around for quite awhile, but only got to be big commercially in the 80s.

Trivia question, and I\'m sorry to say I\'m going to need your help. (No, it\'s not one of those teacher tricks where I pretend to not know, just so you\'ll answer...I really don\'t know!) Who is the only artist to have two songs in the top 40 at the same time, under two different names? I got to church just as he was going to give the answer, and I really couldn\'t wait to hear it - people were waiting for me. Mrs. Bear85 was at home busy tending a sick young\'un so she missed it, too. I haven\'t really tried researching it yet - if I find out, I\'ll let you know. (Update: I caught the show on a Sunday night webstream. Trivia answer at end of post.)

#31: Chilliwack! \"My Girl (Gone Gone Gone, she been gone so long, she been gone gone gone so long)\"

I taught Sunday School today, so I only got back to the car for the top 5...

5: \"Tryin\' to Live My Life Without You\" by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. I remember the song, but didn\'t remember it as such a big hit.

4: \"Waiting for a Girl Like You\" by Foreigner.

3: \"Physical\" by Olivia Newton-John, on its way up. Hope I\'m not stepping on too many toes here, but another example of a whole bunch of people being very wrong about a song for a really long time. Man, how many weeks was that thing #1? That\'s another album I see a lot of at GW.

2: \"Start Me Up\" by the Rolling Stones. They also had the number 1 album, for the ninth week, Tattoo You.

And the number one song in the country, for the second week in a row.....

\"Private Eyes\" by Daryl Hall and John Oates.

(AT Top 40 EXTRA: Just found this on Wikipedia...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stations_that_air_Casey_Kasem%27s_American_Top_40:_The_80%27s

It\'s a list of stations that stream the show online! WooHoo!)


Trivia Answer: Bobby Darin. He thought he was going to get dropped by the Atco label, so he recorded a song of his own on the sly and sold it to Brunswick. It was \"Early In The Morning\", which was released under the name The Rinky Dinks. It was on the charts at the same time as Darin\'s Atco hit, \"Splish Splash\".

Bear85--
Regarding your trivia question the first artist that comes to mind is John Cougar Mellencamp. I've been trying to research it, but couldn't verify for sure. But I wanted to post my answer before Rickabilly jumped in with his dissertation. Ha!
I'm also having trouble finding the Bob Seger song but I'll have to keep looking.

"Private Eyes" now there's a blast from the past! That's another of those slumber party, dancin' with your friends in front of the mirror, hairbrush for a microphone, kind of song!!!
Hot Rod Girl if you're reading this, back me up..."Private eyes (clap clap) are watching you (point to eyes-then mirror) they see your every move...(arm scans the crowd).."

Thanks again for the trivia!

Enjay,

I was updating when you posted. Hey, click this:

http://www.wqsr.com/

They're streaming the show right now!

Got it!
You're a gem!

enjay07 wrote:

Bear85--
Regarding your trivia question the first artist that comes to mind is John Cougar Mellencamp. I've been trying to research it, but couldn't verify for sure. But I wanted to post my answer before Rickabilly jumped in with his dissertation. Ha!
I'm also having trouble finding the Bob Seger song but I'll have to keep looking.

"Private Eyes" now there's a blast from the past! That's another of those slumber party, dancin' with your friends in front of the mirror, hairbrush for a microphone, kind of song!!!
Hot Rod Girl if you're reading this, back me up..."Private eyes (clap clap) are watching you (point to eyes-then mirror) they see your every move...(arm scans the crowd).."

Thanks again for the trivia!

Uh, Enjay....were you at my slumber parties? Sometimes the mirror just wasn't big enough for all of us to fit in front of! It was also a popular one at the roller rink.

Gotta go shovel the 6" of snow we got last night! Whooooo hooooo!
hrg

Quote :

2: \"Start Me Up\" by the Rolling Stones. They also had the number 1 album, for the ninth week, Tattoo You.

YES!!!!!!!!!!

Mr. Bear85, Sir - I gotta question for ya, if ya don't mind - that link you so kindly provided... I noticed they had a "Listen Now!!!" tab on the main page. I checked it out. Got an earfulla Def Leppard, but I'm assuming that's the same station that brings us this totally rad "Top 40" show where you're gettin' this trivia on Sundays. Is that correct?

I know you posted earlier that they weren't putting the broadcasts online, but if that has changed, I'd be grateful to know. Thank you in advance!

HRG, how's the weather up there? I'll be back home in northern MN for Xmas/New Years to share in all that blustery, bitter-frozen goodness that I've been missing these past two years. Why don't you shovel my parents' driveway while you're at it, and save me some time? I know they've got no problems telling me to do it, even though it'll be my vacation! Just kidding. Happy holidays!

CHEERS!

Northern MN, eh? Driveway, eh? Hmmm....let me think on that one.

Um, nope, sorry Cristo, you're on your own with that one. Besides, I'm a tad bit older than you, so your back will probably hold up better than mine shoveling that snow.

Have a safe trip up this way in a month!

Take care,
hrg

Cristo,

The WQSR link is where I was listening Sunday night. I didn't know anybody was playing it online until about 5pm Sunday. I discovered a list on Wikipedia (see my long post from 11/23, near bottom of page 1 of this thread) of stations and the times they play AT 40. My local station (Big Cheese 107.9) is not one of those stations. I suspect I'll continue my habit of listening on the radio on Sunday mornings, but I'm glad I found that Sunday night webcast. It will sure be nice to catch the parts I miss in the morning.

Now you guys are gonna know the trivia answers - you can listen for yourselves!

Sorry, I don't know how I missed that! Anyway, thanks for the update. I'm looking forward to listening.

Ha. "Big Cheese"... haha.

CHEERS!

This weekend's replay was from November 23, 1985 (I was a freshman in college):

Trivia first: who were the artists, male and female, who had the most hits on the Top 40 without ever reaching Number 1? (Warning about one of these answers: I'm pretty sure one of these artists did reach Number 1 shortly after this question aired in November of 1985.)

Highlights of the countdown: Um, not so many, actually. I recognized some of these songs, but wasn't very excited about them. I was watching a lot of MTV at the time, which would explain the less-than-stellar GPA. The sister group Heart was in the top 10, as was Phil Collins in a duet with (??? sorry, just can't remember!) called Separate Lives (White Nights soundtrack), You Belong to the City by Glen Frey of the Eagles (Miami Vice soundtrack), and Number One was the song which, several years ago, was voted the Worst Song of the Rock Era by VH1...We Built This City, by Starship. (Right now, as I'm listening to the evening replay over the 'net, #25 is Small Town by John Mellencamp. That one has certainly had legs over the years!)

The Long Distance Dedication was a heartbreaker. A girl who's dad died in a car crash six years earlier. She was 14 at the time, and going through a really rebellious phase - wouldn't show any affection, didn't want anything to do with him, would only say Yes or No when asked a question, etc. She hadn't even said goodbye to him when he went off on a business trip for the last time. She'd been wracked with guilt and regret in the ensuing years. She requested Hard Habit to Break by Chicago.

Trivia answer: the female was Pat Benatar, and the male was James Brown, who I'm almost sure hit #1 with Livin' In America from the Rocky IV soundtrack, which was released in late 1985.

Have a great week, everybody. Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars!

Hey everybody,

I don't know if anyone else has been listening to the repeats of AT40 lately. If you don't have anything going on tonight, this week's show is a goodie. I'm almost positive they played it last year at this time, because there was a particular line that I remembered, a total 'Brave NewWorld' experience for my guy Casey Kasem.

He's describing Boy George for a mostly American audience who doesn't really know him very well yet. He says (and it's really gotta be done in Casey's voice), "Boy George wears makeup, and dresses oddly for a man." Omigosh, I though I was gonna lose it!

Search WQSR - they stream it on Sunday nights. The whole countdown is pretty good (June 4, 1983), and the section I mentioned above was about 25 minutes from the end (roughly 3.5 hours into the show.)

There's a really good one on this week...

Check out the above links to to listen to the replay of American Top 40 for the week ending March 12, 1983.

Stray Cats were in the top 3 the previous week, so they'll be appearing near the end of the show this week. I've already heard Pat Benatar, Greg Kihn, Adam Ant, the Thompson Twins.

This show seems to be pretty close to what I'd consider the epicenter of the 80s. Emphasis on the "I'd consider" - I was a sophomore in high school that year. Is music ever as important to you as when you're that age? (sighs wistfully...)

Update: 'Pass the Dutchie' by Musical Youth is on at about 1.5 hours after the start...too much!