Country Crossovers To Pop

[CatCall]

Were there any Country songs that crossed over to the Pop charts from 1985-1995 that actually charted on AT40?

I'm thinking of the post-Kenny Rogers and pre-Shania Twain era in particular.

I can only think of "Achy Breaky Heart" from 1992, but I don't think even that ever made it on AT40.

 

[Mid West Clubber]

Un fourtunately that song made it to number one... Horrible memories trying to forget that song.

 

[the golden boy]

Restless Heart crossed over a couple of times with "I'll Still Be Loving You" in 1987 and "When She Cries" in 1992. I'm not sure if Garth Brooks crossed, but I did hear "Shameless" and his remake of "Hard Luck Woman" on CHR in the early 90s.

 

[Mid West Clubber]

Hard luck woman was a rock song during his Chris Gains days, which was a disaster.. Shameless didnt chart, but some rural markets played it briefly... I miss garth,, he was a good singer.. I like the thunder rolls,, it could have been a cross over. Im loving the new Lady antebellium Need you now.... and Also some Adult leaning chrs are starting to play Tim Migraw Live like you were dying, another good song.

 

[Jay F]

Dan Seals-Bop crossed over from Country to Pop in 1986.

 

[the golden boy]

"Hard Luck Woman" was credited to Garth Brooks. Chris Gaines was later in the 90s.

 

[NoWayNoCC]

Q-102 Cincinnati actually did play "Shameless." And I'm pretty sure WLAP-FM Lexington played "The Thunder Rolls", but that didn't last long.

 

[firepoint525]

"Hard Luck Woman" was credited to Garth Brooks. Chris Gaines was later in the 90s.

Right, "Hard Luck Woman" was on the Kiss My Ass KISS tribute album, which came out in 1994. I believe Garth was the only country artist to appear on that one.

 

[firepoint525]

Were there any Country songs that crossed over to the Pop charts from 1985-1995 that actually charted on AT40?
I'm thinking of the post-Kenny Rogers and pre-Shania Twain era in particular.
I can only think of "Achy Breaky Heart" from 1992, but I don't think even that ever made it on AT40.

It's worth noting that even during that time frame, a few country crossover tunes that didn't quite make it on pop radio could be heard on AC radio. One example that comes to mind is "What About Me" by Kenny Rogers, Kim Carnes, and James Ingram. It hit #15 pop in late 1984, but that must have been almost entirely due to sales, because I don't remember it ever getting much, if any, CHR airplay. It was, not surprisingly, a #1 AC hit, by the way.

Dan Seals-Bop crossed over from Country to Pop in 1986.

Another one that was more of a crossover to AC than to CHR. I remember seeing the video for it on VH-1, but never on MTV.

 

[firepoint525]

Un fourtunately that song made it to number one... Horrible memories trying to forget that song.

It reached #4 on AT40, but spent 22 weeks on the charts! "Achy Breaky Heart" was to the '90s, what "Swingin'" by John Anderson had been for the '80s. I remember pop radio briefly (and I do mean very briefly!) playing "Swingin'" in the spring of 1983, but I don't think any of them would have even gone near it even just a couple of weeks later!

Oftentimes, I hear "what was I thinking?" when referring to bad fashion styles, but program directors need to ask themselves "what were we thinking?" when they played "Swingin'" on pop radio!

 

[NoWayNoCC]

Were there any Country songs that crossed over to the Pop charts from 1985-1995 that actually charted on AT40?
I'm thinking of the post-Kenny Rogers and pre-Shania Twain era in particular.
I can only think of "Achy Breaky Heart" from 1992, but I don't think even that ever made it on AT40.

It's worth noting that even during that time frame, a few country crossover tunes that didn't quite make it on pop radio could be heard on AC radio. One example that comes to mind is "What About Me" by Kenny Rogers, Kim Carnes, and James Ingram. It hit #15 pop in late 1984, but that must have been almost entirely due to sales, because I don't remember it ever getting much, if any, CHR airplay. It was, not surprisingly, a #1 AC hit, by the way.

I may have heard it on WPFB-FM (suburban Cincinnati) once when it was a CHR, but I'm not 100% sure if it was WPFB. I think it was, but I'm not positive.

Dan Seals-Bop crossed over from Country to Pop in 1986.
Another one that was more of a crossover to AC than to CHR. I remember seeing the video for it on VH-1, but never on MTV.

I know for a fact I heard "Bop" on WCLU Cincinnati when it was CHR. People who were at WCLU at the time deny that WCLU ever touched "Bop", but I know WCLU was the ONLY place I heard "Bop" at the time.

 

[Mid West Clubber]

Not only WLAP aka Power 94 played Thunder Rolls, but so did the short lived X-100 which was the crosstown rival CHR station.. If I remember correctly both stations only played it during the day. Power 94.5 and X-100 where both Hot AC by day and CHR Rhythmic/Dance at night. Quote me if im wrong but when living in east Tennessee at the time, I thnk the former I-100 WOKI Knoxville also played it, but they were always all over Country crossovers...

 

[Jay F]

I just looked it up...Bop was #1 Country, #10 AC, and #42 CHR in 1986.

Looking back at the early 90s Country boom fueled by Garth Brooks, it's surprising that Pop didn't try to co-opt some of the excitement. In that era there were many CHRs that evolved (or devolved depending on how you look at it) into Hot ACs..they didn't want to play the rap and urban product that was hitting the charts. Most of these new Hot ACs/Adult CHRs were doing quite poorly. Meanwhile Country radio was booming with it's highest ratngs ever before or since.

If more country songs crossed over to pop back then maybe Country wouldn't have been quite as dominant. I am convinced one of the reasons Country just does mediocre in so many markets today are all the songs that crossover to pop.

 

[bk77]

I just looked it up...Bop was #1 Country, #10 AC, and #42 CHR in 1986.

Looking back at the early 90s Country boom fueled by Garth Brooks, it's surprising that Pop didn't try to co-opt some of the excitement. In that era there were many CHRs that evolved (or devolved depending on how you look at it) into Hot ACs..they didn't want to play the rap and urban product that was hitting the charts. Most of these new Hot ACs/Adult CHRs were doing quite poorly. Meanwhile Country radio was booming with it's highest ratngs ever before or since.

If more country songs crossed over to pop back then maybe Country wouldn't have been quite as dominant. I am convinced one of the reasons Country just does mediocre in so many markets today are all the songs that crossover to pop.

Country music in the early 90's also recieved a very big boost from, oddly enough the first Gulf war. As I can remember it seemed a lot of people had this "idea" that the soldiers fighting were way into country music so there-for they really felt that by listening to country music was the "American" thing to do. I still can remember many many country stations were starting to apply the American flag to their logos plus you also had then President George H. Bush saying he was a very big fan of country music ( Washington DC's country station WMZQ really milked that one) and with Bush being so popular at the time, that helped.

 

[Jay F]

@bk77 That's a good point about the first Guld war. I recall a song that some Country stations played at the time..."We Are With You" by the U.S. Navy Band.