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And The Stiffs Just Keep On Comin'
- Thread starter Radknowski
- Start date
I see a trend in the last few posts....someone want to elaborate on why or how these songs "stiffed" yet were hot in their time ???
Look at the times. Top 40 (I know that's antiquated nomenclature) was dealing with the death of disco. They didn't play "rock" songs. REO, and other rock purveyors, were playing on those AOR (I know that's antiquated nomenclature) stations, and people had to buy albums to get their favorite songs. REO had platinum albums, but couldn't sell singles because Top 40 wouldn't play them at the end of the '70s.
In the case of REO Speedwagon, their LP Hi Infidelity was a bases loaded home run that yielded sold out arenas (Another Aud Memory) as well as AOR hits and CHR hits. The power ballads from that album, Keep On Lovin' You and Take It On The Run were huge AOR hits in their time that crossed into CHR and now are staples on AC and Hot AC stations. Classic Rock stations give them an occasional spin as well.
True AOR acts like Boston and Blue Oyster Cult crossed over to CHR, although in many cases, the songs were dayparted. Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant did solo projects that were played on AOR and CHR. Heart had many AOR hits that crossed into CHR and AC; same for Supertramp, especially the enormous Breakfast In America LP, which yielded hits on CHR, AOR and AC. The Police gave us the Syncronicity LP which tore up the AOR charts and gave CHR and AC the timeless (high rotation, consistently well tested) classic Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.
It's easy to dismiss the music from 80s ("guilty as charged," occasionally), claiming it to be a period when music was lacking. Sure, there was some junk, but that would apply to any era; the 50s (Dee Dee Dinah) , 60s (Sugar, Sugar) and 70s (Boogie, Oogie, Oogie.)
Truth is, the 80s gave us a good number of legitimate AOR and CHR classics that found their way to AC and Classic Hits stations. These songs play an important part in freshening those formats and attracting 35-44 year olds, especially women. Oldies and Classic Hits stations can't afford to turn their backs on music from the 80s. Think about it: 1981 was... (tick, tick, tick, tick) 28 years ago. Hello, I Must Be Going.
True AOR acts like Boston and Blue Oyster Cult crossed over to CHR, although in many cases, the songs were dayparted. Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant did solo projects that were played on AOR and CHR. Heart had many AOR hits that crossed into CHR and AC; same for Supertramp, especially the enormous Breakfast In America LP, which yielded hits on CHR, AOR and AC. The Police gave us the Syncronicity LP which tore up the AOR charts and gave CHR and AC the timeless (high rotation, consistently well tested) classic Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.
It's easy to dismiss the music from 80s ("guilty as charged," occasionally), claiming it to be a period when music was lacking. Sure, there was some junk, but that would apply to any era; the 50s (Dee Dee Dinah) , 60s (Sugar, Sugar) and 70s (Boogie, Oogie, Oogie.)
Truth is, the 80s gave us a good number of legitimate AOR and CHR classics that found their way to AC and Classic Hits stations. These songs play an important part in freshening those formats and attracting 35-44 year olds, especially women. Oldies and Classic Hits stations can't afford to turn their backs on music from the 80s. Think about it: 1981 was... (tick, tick, tick, tick) 28 years ago. Hello, I Must Be Going.
B
Bob1370
Guest
The interesting thing about acts like REO Speedwagon, and even to a degree Aerosmith, in the 1977-83 period is that while a lot of Top 40 stations didn't play them, some of the strongest AC and hot AC stations did play them even when they were new releases and put them in their regular rotation as current hits.
I can remember both acts being part of the playlist of currents on stations including WGR in Buffalo, WHEN in Syracuse and WGAR in Cleveland, which together helped define the personality hot AC format 30-35 years ago. 'GR played the hell out of REO's "Keep On Lovin' You" (I remember Frank Benny stating on the air that it was one of his favorite songs), and played Aerosmith's "Dream On" as well (IIRC Shane particularly liked that band and that cut). When WBEN joined the AC bandwagon full-force we played REO as well (although I don't remember us ever playing anything by Aerosmith).
I can remember both acts being part of the playlist of currents on stations including WGR in Buffalo, WHEN in Syracuse and WGAR in Cleveland, which together helped define the personality hot AC format 30-35 years ago. 'GR played the hell out of REO's "Keep On Lovin' You" (I remember Frank Benny stating on the air that it was one of his favorite songs), and played Aerosmith's "Dream On" as well (IIRC Shane particularly liked that band and that cut). When WBEN joined the AC bandwagon full-force we played REO as well (although I don't remember us ever playing anything by Aerosmith).
Uh-oh: somebody opened the "CKLW door." We're now deep in "slippery slope" territory. The Slippery Slope Of Stiffs, oddball R&B and CanCon head-scratchers.....
When I went to The Big 8 from WAXC in May '73, it was almost like dropping feet-first into a different format.
(Oh....you wanted SPECIFICS?)
Fencewalk: Mandrill
Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get: Dramatics
Tear Da Roof Off Da Sucka: Funkadelic
(plus an earlier George Clinton K-Big Klassic....(I Wanna) Testify: Parliaments)
Do Me Right: Detroit Emeralds
There's No Me Without You: Manhattans
Show And Tell: Al Wilson
...just imagine doing a four-song sweep including one of these nuggets, segueing to "What About Me" by Anne Murray, maybe a Clyde McPhatter oldie and then The Incredible Bongo Band.....toss in "Money" by Pink Floyd and just for extra laffs "Gonna Love You A Little More" by Barry White.
"Jack?" Been there. Done that. (With 50,000 watts.)
When I went to The Big 8 from WAXC in May '73, it was almost like dropping feet-first into a different format.
(Oh....you wanted SPECIFICS?)
Fencewalk: Mandrill
Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get: Dramatics
Tear Da Roof Off Da Sucka: Funkadelic
(plus an earlier George Clinton K-Big Klassic....(I Wanna) Testify: Parliaments)
Do Me Right: Detroit Emeralds
There's No Me Without You: Manhattans
Show And Tell: Al Wilson
...just imagine doing a four-song sweep including one of these nuggets, segueing to "What About Me" by Anne Murray, maybe a Clyde McPhatter oldie and then The Incredible Bongo Band.....toss in "Money" by Pink Floyd and just for extra laffs "Gonna Love You A Little More" by Barry White.
"Jack?" Been there. Done that. (With 50,000 watts.)
D
Desert Pete
Guest
Savage walking down memory lane brings back memories from the summer of '73. Spent some time in Toronto then, and listened to CHUM a lot. Almost went out of my mind listening to the Canada product. 15%, wasn't it? "I'm A Stranger Here" (Five Man Electrical Band), "Minstrel Gypsy" (Stampeders), the afore-mentioned Incredible Bongo Band and their less-than stellar remake of "Bongo Rock". Yuk. Must have been quite the culture shock for you, Bob, playing stuff like that around "Brother Louie", "Long Train Runnin", "Gyspy Man", etc. If all of Canada's Top 40 stations were like CHUM, it was like listening to two different kinds of music thrust together in one format.
THIRTY percent, Pete. The rule of thumb was during a typical fourteen-song hour, FIVE had to be stiffs....umm, sorry, I meant "Canadian Content." The rule only applied from 7am to 12 midnight, so all other hours you could play the hits.
We could mitigate the awful Can-Con tuneouts by sifting in oldies by Paul Anka, Gordon Lightfoot and Guess Who, but it was still tough sledding.
It was amazing how the CRTC tried everything they could to kill CKLW. They hated the station; it was viewed as a thinly-disguised (and despised) "American commercial voice." When Can-Con didn't kill the ratings, they imposed a massive news commitment. CK promptly met THAT bureaucratic challenge with The Big 8's legendarily outrageous "20-20 News" - newscasts so over-the-top they were at least as entertaining as the music segments. Only CKLW could have produced a news department where the News Director (sadly, the late Byron MacGregor) produced a chart-topping Top 40 single ("The Americans," a song poignantly relevant even today.)
When Ottawa failed to turn CKLW into a milquetoast, typically boring nativist station using draconian programming limitations, they started harassing the hired help. I lived in Windsor and would get periodic phone calls asking me to report - immediately! - to Canada Manpower and Immigration to "update my immigration status." Officials wanted me to renounce my American citizenship and file for permanent immigrant status in order to keep my work permit current. So I would have to troop down to a dreary government office complex and sit and wait to talk to a bureaucrat.
In the late summer of '73, I was summoned to Ottawa to testify about my employment at the station. CKLW was very fine about it and arranged for an immigration lawyer to accompany me entirely at station expense. But that was the last straw for me; I had no intention of becoming a Canadian and didn't want to lie about it. So I quit and headed to WWDJ New York in October.
And, sadly, CKLW has become just what the CRTC always wanted it to be. Sic transit Motor City greatness.
We could mitigate the awful Can-Con tuneouts by sifting in oldies by Paul Anka, Gordon Lightfoot and Guess Who, but it was still tough sledding.
It was amazing how the CRTC tried everything they could to kill CKLW. They hated the station; it was viewed as a thinly-disguised (and despised) "American commercial voice." When Can-Con didn't kill the ratings, they imposed a massive news commitment. CK promptly met THAT bureaucratic challenge with The Big 8's legendarily outrageous "20-20 News" - newscasts so over-the-top they were at least as entertaining as the music segments. Only CKLW could have produced a news department where the News Director (sadly, the late Byron MacGregor) produced a chart-topping Top 40 single ("The Americans," a song poignantly relevant even today.)
When Ottawa failed to turn CKLW into a milquetoast, typically boring nativist station using draconian programming limitations, they started harassing the hired help. I lived in Windsor and would get periodic phone calls asking me to report - immediately! - to Canada Manpower and Immigration to "update my immigration status." Officials wanted me to renounce my American citizenship and file for permanent immigrant status in order to keep my work permit current. So I would have to troop down to a dreary government office complex and sit and wait to talk to a bureaucrat.
In the late summer of '73, I was summoned to Ottawa to testify about my employment at the station. CKLW was very fine about it and arranged for an immigration lawyer to accompany me entirely at station expense. But that was the last straw for me; I had no intention of becoming a Canadian and didn't want to lie about it. So I quit and headed to WWDJ New York in October.
And, sadly, CKLW has become just what the CRTC always wanted it to be. Sic transit Motor City greatness.
This is off topic - wait, maybe not. Savage, is the book done yet? I say that because Lujack did it. I'm seeing enough material on this thread alone (not including the others) that says you have a story to tell. ;D
I've posted that for the world to see, cause the Inquirer wants to know. (big bucks man)
Of course there would be residuals for Radnowski, but I'm sure a 12 pack would be fine.
I've posted that for the world to see, cause the Inquirer wants to know. (big bucks man
)Of course there would be residuals for Radnowski, but I'm sure a 12 pack would be fine.
heydaybegone said:This is off topic - wait, maybe not. Savage, is the book done yet? I say that because Lujack did it. I'm seeing enough material on this thread alone (not including the others) that says you have a story to tell. ;D I've posted that for the world to see, cause the Inquirer wants to know. (big bucks man
Pabst. Chilled to 36 degrees... and 15 per cent of all book sales and audio book sales in perpetuity with rights to the movie, of course. "The Stiff Stories" as adapted from the thread "And The Stiffs Just Keep On Comin'." Sure beats inhalin' fumes and drywall dust. ;D
But that's not what I came here for...
How about a semi-stiff from one of the greatest singer-songrwriters of the American Top 40 Songbook and still, for some unknown reason, not in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame: Neil Diamond, "Done Too Soon."
Sometimes, for overnight shifts, I would ride my bike from my Windsor apartment down Tecumseh Road to Ouellette Avenue and the CKLW studios - it was summertime, traffic was nonexistent-to-minimal at that hour and the ride was good exercise. One morning I was pedaling along the deserted 4-lane suburban highway when, over my shoulder, I noticed a car disconcertingly close right behind me. A second glance revealed that it was an OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) cruiser. He turned on his light bar and tapped the siren. I dutifully pulled over while the cop, ticket book in hand, approached my bike.
"Please don't tell me I was speeding," I said brightly.
The cop failed to see the humor. "I don't need to hear your sarcasm," he said, brooking no frivolity in this traffic stop. "Where do you live? Where were you coming from?" I explained that I was riding from my job at CKLW to my apartment about two miles away.
"CK, eh? They run that station for Americans. You're a deejay?" I affirmed this. He asked if I was American or Canadian, and when I told him the former, he asked if I had my working papers with me. I produced them.
"Your bike doesn't have a license plate, sir. They cost $2.50 at any bike shop. They help us track your bicycle if it's ever stolen. You want to get one right away. If I see you riding without one again, the fine is $25, so it's worthwhile. Wait here until I signal you that it's safe to return to the highway. I MEAN IT, NOW. Get that license." I stood patiently while he reported in on his radio, then he turned off his lights and waved me onto the utterly deserted highway, and I pedaled off.
Was I pulled over on my BICYCLE by a cop because I was an American on "that American station" sucking up employment locals felt should have belonged to a deserving Canadian? YOU decide...
"Please don't tell me I was speeding," I said brightly.
The cop failed to see the humor. "I don't need to hear your sarcasm," he said, brooking no frivolity in this traffic stop. "Where do you live? Where were you coming from?" I explained that I was riding from my job at CKLW to my apartment about two miles away.
"CK, eh? They run that station for Americans. You're a deejay?" I affirmed this. He asked if I was American or Canadian, and when I told him the former, he asked if I had my working papers with me. I produced them.
"Your bike doesn't have a license plate, sir. They cost $2.50 at any bike shop. They help us track your bicycle if it's ever stolen. You want to get one right away. If I see you riding without one again, the fine is $25, so it's worthwhile. Wait here until I signal you that it's safe to return to the highway. I MEAN IT, NOW. Get that license." I stood patiently while he reported in on his radio, then he turned off his lights and waved me onto the utterly deserted highway, and I pedaled off.
Was I pulled over on my BICYCLE by a cop because I was an American on "that American station" sucking up employment locals felt should have belonged to a deserving Canadian? YOU decide...
J
JustPastBuffalo
Guest
Harrowing story, Mr. Savage. Imagine that, nearly busted for DWA (Driving While American) or was that BWA; and with no plates! As if plates mean anything when a bike is stolen. The thief takes a grinder to the serial number under the sprocket tube. Okay, to get the thread back on track thematically and to maintain the Neil Diamond flow, how about "America," which wasn't a stiff, but seems appropriate at this point in time. Perhaps a near-stiff from the group America, "Daisy Jane."
"HARROWing story!" I get it, JPB!!! CKLW's landmark transmitter site was (and is) in Harrow, Ontario!!! HAW HAW HAW!!
Since at least 150 of the 600+ replies in this olympian thread deal with Things Canada, I think we've fulfilled our Can-Con Commitment up to this point. We now return you to All-American Hit Music:
Keem-O-Sabe: Electric Indian.
(Make that NATIVE American Hit Music. Sorta.)
Since at least 150 of the 600+ replies in this olympian thread deal with Things Canada, I think we've fulfilled our Can-Con Commitment up to this point. We now return you to All-American Hit Music:
Keem-O-Sabe: Electric Indian.
(Make that NATIVE American Hit Music. Sorta.)
A
alw
Guest
please God........let it stop!
alw said:
At this juncture - it appears that it won't stop until every song ever to hit the air is mentioned in some way!!
Look at it as the filler to the TOH news! Or, someplace to relax and enjoy a Starbucks while perusing the content! Or being in the company of anonymous friends that have more content then Jimmy Fallon ???
Speaking of Fallon, an old friend of mine who went to Bishop Fallon was in LOVE with Gayle McCormick, the lead singer of Smith.
Check out this video, and you can see what got that poor Catholic boy all atwitter.
Check out this video, and you can see what got that poor Catholic boy all atwitter.