Song you wondered how they they ever got played on Top 40 radio

[radiofan2023]

Did Saturdays at 9 PM on NBC not count as family viewing time in the '80s? I used to watch that show on weekends during its original run thanks to adults who were in command of the remote control. Clearly, it never did anything to warp my brain later in life...

Meanwhile over on ABC, Mr. Belvedere was dealing with having a curse put on him, among other things, and my brother and I watched it all:

Mr. Belvedere

Looking to watch Mr. Belvedere? Find out where to watch Mr. Belvedere from Season 6 at TV Guide

www.tvguide.com

 

[kevtronics]

Family hour was the FIRST hour of prime time (8, 7 Central).

And the NAB extended it to the local 7 PM hour:

Family Viewing Hour - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[michael hagerty]

And the NAB extended it to the local 7 PM hour:

Family Viewing Hour - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Right, extending earlier, not later. The original question was:

Did Saturdays at 9 PM on NBC not count as family viewing time in the '80s?

 

[AMRadioGuy]

I'm not sure that they're radio friendly today. I'm with you on "I Don't Know How To Love Him", though that kind of evaporated along with any mass public awareness of "Jesus Christ, Superstar". None of those songs seemed to stand on their own.

"I Am Woman" is a much better song than I gave it credit for after it had been played every hour and 40 minutes for three months straight back in 1972. I had the opportunity to hear it recently and it's actually really solid.

"You and Me Against the World", if you trim off the thing with the kid at the beginning---yeah. I mean, it's a Paul Williams song.

This is still my favorite of hers, and other than a dated horn arrangement in the chorus, I think it holds up pretty well:

And it might be a tie:

Oh, "Peaceful" is such a great 45. One of my favorites of hers, too... I used to toss it on my Panasonic record changer in the morning before high school. Always a great morning song!

 

[gr8oldies]

That didn't seem to apply to Benny Mardones ("She's just 16 years old / Leave her alone, they say"), especially if you've seen the music video. Apparently the record company wanted someone younger to play his role in the video, but Benny insisted on doing it himself.

How manty "lusting after underage girls" songs did we have in that time period? "Christine Sixteen" is only one that comes to mind.

 

[michael hagerty]

Along the lines of how ill-served Helen was by her manager/husband...

Remember this shot of Helen for the "I Don't Know How To Love Him" album cover in 1971? This was her debut album:






You know where they shot that?


Maybe some lovely garden?


Nope.


That's two blocks up Vine Street from Capitol Records.


Here:



See, back in the day, pre-Prop 13, Caltrans used to plant ivy in underpasses and along freeway embankments.

So, Helen, looking serene in a field of green, was probably inhaling exhaust fumes.

 

[michael hagerty]

How manty "lusting after underage girls" songs did we have in that time period? "Christine Sixteen" is only one that comes to mind.

Well, we've already mentioned "My Sharona". Rod Stewart uses the phrase "my virgin child" in "Tonight's the Night", and then there's "Hot Legs":

Imagine how my daddy felt
In your jet black suspender belt
Seventeen years old,
He's trudging sixty four
You got legs right up to your neck
You're makin' me a physical wreck
I'm talkin' to you
Hot legs in your satin shoes
Hot legs, are you still in school?
Hot legs, you're makin' me a fool
I love you, honey

 

[gr8oldies]

Along the lines of how ill-served Helen was by her manager/husband...

Remember this lovely shot of Helen for the "I Don't Know How To Love Him" album cover in 1971? This was her debut album:


View attachment 9389



You know where they shot that?


Maybe some lovely garden?


Nope.


That's two blocks up Vine Street from Capitol Records.


Here:

View attachment 9391

See, back in the day, pre-Prop 13, Caltrans used to plant ivy in underpasses and along freeway embankments.

So, Helen, looking serene in a field of green, was probably inhaling exhaust fumes.

If you've ever read Wolfman Jack's autobiography "Have Mercy", Wolfman related that when Helen was hosting the Midnight Special, someone had to be designated to start an argument with Helen's husband/manager so they could film her segments.

 

[michael hagerty]

If you've ever read Wolfman Jack's autobiography "Have Mercy", Wolfman related that when Helen was hosting the Midnight Special, someone had to be designated to start an argument with Helen's husband/manager so they could film her segments.

Yeah, I did read that. Jeff Wald had a reputation going way back. I was fortunate that he was not with her in Reno when I interviewed her in 1978.

 

[secondchoice]

Not any questionable words:

How in the world did anyone with any knowledge of Chicago history or geography play Paperlace's "The Night Chicago Died".

IIRC the Eastside of Chicago would be Lake Michigan and I have never heard of a gun battle between The Chicago PD and Al Capone.

IMHO the song sounds like it came out of a bad musical.

 

[michael hagerty]

Not any questionable words:

How in the world did anyone with any knowledge of Chicago history or geography play Paperlace's "The Night Chicago Died".

IIRC the Eastside of Chicago would be Lake Michigan and I have never heard of a gun battle between The Chicago PD and Al Capone.

IMHO the song sounds like it came out of a bad musical.

I have a dentist's appointment, so I'm just gonna copy and paste Wikipedia (professional writer, closed course, kids, don't try this at home):


Songwriters Peter Callender and Mitch Murray said in interviews (most notably on Beat Club shortly after the song's smash success) that they had never been to Chicago before that time, and that their knowledge of the city and that period of its history had been based on gangster films. (Callender defended his interpretation of Chicago's geography by saying, "There's an East Side of everywhere!")

As reported by History.com:

"...in England there were at least a few young men that didn’t have all the facts straight, and in the 1970s their pop group from Nottingham turned their romantic misunderstanding of American history into a historically dubious yet gloriously catchy hit record. Though it was never intended for the American market, Paper Lace’s "The Night Chicago Died" crossed the Atlantic and became a #1 hit on the U.S. pop charts..."[3]


Paper Lace sent the song to the mayor of Chicago, Richard Daley, who greatly disliked it.[4] A member of Daley's staff is quoted as saying that Paper Lace should "jump in the Chicago River, placing your heads under water three times and surfacing twice. Pray tell us, are you nuts?”[5]

 

[michael hagerty]

Also, no Top 40 PD ever:

“It’s a million-seller and the phones are blowing up, but it’s based on a flawed understanding of geography in Chicago, so we won’t play it.”

 

[Cold Coffee]

What about this one?

 

[Mark Roberts]

Not any questionable words:

How in the world did anyone with any knowledge of Chicago history or geography play Paperlace's "The Night Chicago Died".

I’m sure WLS played it, but someone else will want to figure that out.

IIRC the Eastside of Chicago would be Lake Michigan and I have never heard of a gun battle between The Chicago PD and Al Capone.

The “east side” of Chicago would be Michigan (first after crossing the lake, of course). Not Michigan Avenue. Michigan.

Signed, A Former Resident of Andersonville.

IMHO the song sounds like it came out of a bad musical.

It’s one of many Top 40 tunes that drove me to become primarily an album-rock listener. Not that there wasn’t dreck in that genre, too, but album-rock dreck was dreck more aligned with my sensibilities.

 

[kevtronics]

How manty "lusting after underage girls" songs did we have in that time period? "Christine Sixteen" is only one that comes to mind.

On the flip side is Mott the Hoople's "All the Young Dudes". I thought it was a Vietnam War protest song, but no... they just liked singing about young dudes.

Ad-libs over the chorus: "Hey, you there... with the glasses... I want you... you bring him down, 'cause I want him... I've wanted to do this for years"

 

[Ed Nielson]

How in the world did anyone with any knowledge of Chicago history or geography play Paperlace's "The Night Chicago Died".

IIRC the Eastside of Chicago would be Lake Michigan and I have never heard of a gun battle between The Chicago PD and Al Capone.

Artistic license.

 

[secondchoice]

Artistic license.

Sometimes icenses need revoked.

 

[K.M. Richards]

IIRC the Eastside of Chicago would be Lake Michigan and I have never heard of a gun battle between The Chicago PD and Al Capone.

There is also no "south Detroit" as in Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'". Didn't stop that from being a big hit either.

 

[kevtronics]

How in the world did anyone with any knowledge of Chicago history or geography play Paperlace's "The Night Chicago Died".

Paper Lace is from the UK. At least they got the pronunciation right, unlike the Brits who sing about "Los Angelees".

They also had the original version of "Billy, Don't Be a Hero", but Bo Donaldson rushed out a cover version of it before they had a chance to release it in the US.

 

[Ed Nielson]

Paper Lace is from the UK. At least they got the pronunciation right, unlike the Brits who sing about "Los Angelees".

Arlo Guthrie (who is definitely NOT British):