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For fun: What songs would you bring back to Soft AC if you could?

fmradioguy

fmradioguy

Some of you may know that I am a huge fanatic of the classic flavor of the Soft/Adult Contemporary radio format. A lot of songs from that format were either big hits that radio forgot about because they were "too slow," or "too old" or songs that didn't crack the top 10 (or even 20) of the Hot 100, but were bigger AC hits that got adopted into most "light" stations' playlists and became staples of the format up until AC started to shift to a more modern, uptempo sound.

For fun, pick one (or more if you choose) song from each decade (60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s) that you would resurrect if you were in charge of a station going for that classic Soft AC sound.

Here are my picks:

60s: "Get Together" - Youngbloods, "You've Made Me So Very Happy" - Blood, Sweat & Tears
70s: "I'd Really Love To See You Tonight" - ED/JFC, "Please Come To Boston" - Dave Loggins
80s: "It Might Be You" - Stephen Bishop, "Foolish Heart" - Steve Perry
90s: "In The House Of Stone And Light" - Martin Page
 
1960s: Some evergreen songs by The Beatles.
1970s: "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond. The production values still sound good. Also, an Anne Murray song, or two.
1980s: "The Captain of Your Heart" by Double. Maybe "Life In A Northern Town" by Dream Academy.
1990s: "Can We Talk" by Tevin Campbell
These would be on a 'For consideration' list that could be used in testing to gauge their viability.
 
60s: O.C. Smith - Little Green Apples
70s: Anything by Jimmy Buffet (surprisingly, aside from various commemorations and memorials when he died recently, I have rarely heard any of his music on any station in any format).
80s: Not sure.

c
 
cc333 said:
60s: O.C. Smith - Little Green Apples
70s: Anything by Jimmy Buffet (surprisingly, aside from various commemorations and memorials when he died recently, I have rarely heard any of his music on any station in any format).
80s: Not sure.

c
Click to expand...
I believe 104.7 KREZ "The Bridge" in Cape Girardeau, MO still plays "Little Green Apples." I'm sure they also have some Jimmy Buffett as well. It's a great station that seems to model themselves after WDUV Tampa maybe 13/14 years ago.
 
Just one example of many by decade:
'60s - Mamas & The Papas - California Dreamin'
'70s - Olivia Newton-John - I Honestly Love You
'80s - Whitney Houston & Teddy Pendergrass - Hold Me
'90s - Amy Grant - I Will Remember You (despite underperforming chartwise, it was a popular Casey Kasem Long Distance Dedication for years, at least until Sarah McLachlan's different song with the same title came along)
 
Not radio per se, but I have something to say about Home Depot's "soundtrack":

Whomever programs it, they do a very nice job of assembling a mostly solid 70s and 80s soft pop playlist.

Of the various places I shop (supermarket, drugstore, ag supply) Home Depot's music is by far the smoothest and easiest sounding, if a bit dated; I'm sure they're there, somewhere, but each time I shop there, I haven't really heard anything I would call current. The newest songs I've heard are maybe 20 ish years old, and they are rareties (the overwhelming majority of songs are from the 70s through the 80s and probably well into the 90s).

By comparison, every other place I shop at plays some variation of the standard modern CHR playlist (a few use an actual radio tuned to the local CHR or classic hits station), and while a solid half of the modern pop songs I hear have some musical potential buried under the blindingly glossy and mind numbingly predictable overproduction, the rest is complete junk, and I can barely tolerate any of it due to their tiresome noisiness.

Anyway, back to Home Depot:

Just today, I was checking out their nursery, and I heard over the outdoor PA speakers these songs interspersed among others I couldn't make out:
  • Everything I Own by Bread
  • The single version of Feels So Good by Chuck Mangione
  • Another Saturday Night by Cat Stevens
All of which happen to be favorites of mine, of course :)

c
 
I was in a store the other day where the music playlist included 30 seconds of silence that turned out to be "Year of the Cat" missing the left channel.
 


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