Jackpot! I couldn't agree more. My own views are identical to yours regarding '80s releases. I've stated them elsewhere on these boards and took a lot of heat from presumably younger R/I members, but I've never backed down. And I agree with your sequence of the top-4 groups of best music years. Thanks for the affirmation.RADIO TRUTH said:
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
Old Top 40 Music that isn't played anymore
- Thread starter Interstate 78
- Start date
RADIO TRUTH said:
I agree with your first choice but would include '68 in there as well.
Disagree with your second choice. The years immediately following the Payola scandal were some of the worst in music history - an opinion shared by virtually all my high school classmates at the time. Suddenly the rock stars of the late 50's were gone and replaced by girl groups, soul, ballads and what we'd now call AC crossovers. BLAH! My junior and senior years were musical wastes of time and didn't begin picking up again until the British Invasion arrived on scene.
firepoint525 said:
Actually, there was a fairly long-running Budweiser commercial using the Romantics' version that began running just before Morales' cover. Might have been what prompted the cover.
Specialty programs are a different story...though a lot of stations will avoid them simply because they believe any listener tuning in at any time should hear what the station sounds like all the time.
If I was doing a class of '80 or '81 special, though, from the list that started this thread, I'd probably go with:
AC/DC - You Shook Me All Night Long
Pat Benatar - Hit Me With Your Best Shot
George Benson - Give Me The Night
Blondie - Call Me
The Brothers Johnson - Stomp!
Irene Cara - Fame
Eric Clapton - Cocaine
The Clash - Train in Vain (Stand By Me)
Eagles - I Can't Tell You Why
J. Geils Band - Love Stinks
Genesis - Misunderstanding
With commercials and some historical stuff, that's probably an hour.
firepoint525 said:
Southern and Northern California would be on that list. KFI in Los Angeles played it...so did KFRC, San Francisco. Most of the album rockers like KMET, KLOS, KMEL...I think KROQ was on it, too.
landtuna said:
Trouble with '68 is stuff like "Honey", "Harper Valley PTA", "The Unicorn", "Cab Driver (yes, the Mills Bros. made the year-end Hot 100)" came back that year. '68's music just didn't have the edge of '67 to me.
I remember Michelob commercials that used Steve Winwood and Genesis songs (Winwood was actually accused of writing "Don't You Know What the Night Can Do" specifically for the Michelob spot), but that is about it.michael hagerty said:
Great, that is also an argument against interrupting the music for sports programming. Yeah, I know it makes $$$ for the station, and they're usually fairly easy to board op, but as a listener, sports on a music station is a definite tune-out for me. If I hear a game on your station, I will be gone for the next six hours, because I know that will be how long it will be before you get back to the music, after all the post-game shows.
But usually at off-peak times, like Sunday mornings, most stations don't mind "branching out" a bit.
Good list! I am going to single out "Stomp" because I had largely forgotten about it, until it was used in a couple of episodes of Freaks and Geeks (time-period piece, set in 1980) back around 2000 or so. I remember also hearing it on a couple of R&B oldies stations back about that time.
michael hagerty said:
I agree that '68 was different than '67 (and I picked '67 as the best year in a prior post) but it did have a dozen or so really great tunes (and I even liked "Honey" but then I am a sentimental old fool):
Scarborough Fair, Simon and Garfunkel
Revolution, The Beatles
Woman, Woman, Gary Puckett and The Union Gap
Elenore, The Turtles
Sky Pilot, Eric Burdon and The Animals
Indian Lake, The Cowsills
Pictures of Matchstick Men, Status Quo
Summertime Blues, Blue Cheer
Jumpin' Jack Flash, The Rolling Stones
Green Tambourine, The Lemon Pipers
Classical Gas, Mason Williams
Love Is All Around, The Troggs
Born to Be Wild, Steppenwolf
Angel of the Morning, Merrilee Rush
Grazing In the Grass, Hugh Masekela
Young Girl, Gary Puckett and The Union Gap
The Dock of the Bay, Otis Redding
...and yes, even
Love Is Blue, Paul Mauriat
That's a pretty good year and I've undoubtedly left a few out.
This has been a white-hot thread! Bongwater suggested a page or two back that programmers were skittish about the Romantics (at least until 1983 or so) because they had been "burned" by the Knack. I don't entirely agree with that. Top 40 radio has always lived in the here and now. Live for the moment. It's been my experience that top 40 radio programmers will quickly embrace whatever is hot at the moment, and deal with any fallout later. Today's headline, tomorrow's punchline. I can't help but think that top 40 djs, particularly when spinning some novelty song that is burning up the request line at the moment, will think that once that novelty hit has had its run and is off the charts, that no one will ever touch it again!
I'm glad that Hagerty didn't have any country on his list. I believe Mickey Gilley's "Stand By Me" was about the only country crossover on the original list, but I have always thought, by and large, that country really never belonged on top 40 radio.
And the worst year for music? 1981, hands down! Play "Elvira," and watch everyone clear the dance floor!
And this is not a "change in taste over time" thing. Most of us hated "Elvira" even back then!
I'm glad that Hagerty didn't have any country on his list. I believe Mickey Gilley's "Stand By Me" was about the only country crossover on the original list, but I have always thought, by and large, that country really never belonged on top 40 radio.
And the worst year for music? 1981, hands down! Play "Elvira," and watch everyone clear the dance floor!
And this is not a "change in taste over time" thing. Most of us hated "Elvira" even back then! firepoint525 said:
Which is why, in markets large enough to support it, all-sports has become a format (and is now moving to FM), and stations with music or even news-talk formats are surrendering play-by-play.
firepoint525 said:I'm glad that Hagerty didn't have any country on his list. I believe Mickey Gilley's "Stand By Me" was about the only country crossover on the original list, but I have always thought, by and large, that country really never belonged on top 40 radio.
And the worst year for music? 1981, hands down! Play "Elvira," and watch everyone clear the dance floor!
I don't have a problem with Country, and I believe that Top 40, back in the day, was great partly because it was all-inclusive...Steppenwolf, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin and Johnny Cash all within the same quarter-hour. I didn't include it in the Class of 1980-81 scenario because Country at that time, tended to have about the same demographics as Adult Contemporary (25-54), and, in some cases, a bit older (35-54), and we're aiming for people who were 17 and 18. 1980 was right about the time that was changing, and the "Urban Cowboy" thing was a big deal, but it's not a killer to ignore it in this case.
As for "Elvira"...gotta watch that "most of us"...#1 Country, #5 on the Hot 100, #8 Adult Contemporary.
There are reasons that 1968 is in the second group and not with 1964-67. There were 190 and 195 top twenty hits in 1966 and 1967. These were the two most competitive years in the history of rock n' roll. There was a significant drop off in the amount of top twenty hits in 1968. There is also another reason. 1968 was the first year that the amount of personality on radio diminished. 1968 was the first year for shorter jingles. Cousin Brucie was once quoted as saying the last good year for personality was 1966. I would say 1967. Starting in 1968, personality radio and jingles started their downhill decline culminating in the mindless toilet radio has evolved to in current times. I also left out a few years that deserve mention 1958 and 1959. 1958 should be in group one with 1964-67 if you eliminate the pop hits. 1959 should be in group three with 1963. The reason 1959 is in group three is because of the payola scandals and the record companies were running scared and there was no Jerry Lee Lewis or Little Richard in 1959 after the payola scandal. 1959 was the year of the sanitized pretty boys such as Bobby Rydell, Frankie Avalon and Paul Anka. Even with 1959's problems, it is still light years better than 1980 because at least the music of 1980 was made for teens of both genders versus all the hits from 1980 being only targeted to people with vaginas. Somebody commented that 1960-63 had little validity. This is very wrong. While record sales were down and music was a little mellower than before the payola scandals, there were still a number of significant things in music that were great. A few examples would be a resurgence of doo wop music, the evolution of Motown, the Phil Spector wall of sound, surf music like the Beach Boys, the Four Seasons and a few dance crazes brought on by Chubby Checker and all the other hits on Cameo-Parkway, rock-a-billy like the Everly Brothers and Johnny Burnette, a bunch of great Brill Building hits like Locomotion. These are just a few examples of new exciting music that started in the 1960-63 era. The best part of 1960-63 music versus 1980 is that you didn't have to have a vagina to enjoy it.
I'd like to correct one typo in what I wrote above. It should be.....
Even with 1959's problems, it is still light years better than 1980 because at least the music of 1959 was made for teens of both genders versus all the hits from 1980 being only targeted to people with vaginas.
Even with 1959's problems, it is still light years better than 1980 because at least the music of 1959 was made for teens of both genders versus all the hits from 1980 being only targeted to people with vaginas.
Well, again, I was in high school at the time, and I don't remember anyone who would admit to actually liking the song, although there was no shortage of those of us who just felt like radio forced it on us. Yeah, I know the stats that it racked up at the time, but very few stations, other than perhaps classic country, will touch it now. It's like I said earlier, chart stats back then mean nothing now. Play it at your class of '81 reunion party, and just wait for everyone to start groaning and rolling their eyes. :michael hagerty said:
Even AC radio won't go near it now, and they still play plenty of '80s.Not that I would not enjoy--- uh--- ok, never mind. But seriously, you've clearly done your homework. Thanks for a great assessment of 30+ years of music on the radio, and it's timeline of linear decline. Hades to the '80s!RADIO TRUTH said:
Without getting too.......gynecological...it should be said that Top 40 skewed female in 1980. It wasn't that records weren't being made with male appeal, it's that Top 40 realized most of their male audience had left them during the late 70s.
Album rock listeners had it pretty good that year, with Pink Floyd's "The Wall", Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "Damn The Torpedoes", Bob Seger's "Against The Wind", Pat Benatar's "In The Heat of The Night", Blondie's "Eat To The Beat", Led Zeppelin's "In Through The Out Door", Styx's "Cornerstone", the Pretenders' debut album, Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk", Supertramp's "Breakfast in America", Molly Hatchet's "Flirting With Disaster", J. Geils' "Love Stinks", The B-52's debut LP, Foreigner's "Head Games", The Cars' "Candy-O", Journey's "Departure", The Rolling Stones' "Emotional Rescue" and ZZ Top's "Deguello" all making the list of the 40 best-selling albums of the year.
And given that singles sales had been declining since 1967, it's quite possible that Top 40's problem in 1980 (and the years leading up to it) was that they weren't including album sales in their decisions about what to play. Tom Petty's "Refugee" was passed on by softer-skewing Top 40s, and only made it to #15 on the singles charts, but the "Damn The Torpedoes" album was the #5 album for the year. Had they been factoring in how many people were spending $8.98 for an album as opposed to buying the single, a lot of song choices might have been very different.
Album rock listeners had it pretty good that year, with Pink Floyd's "The Wall", Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "Damn The Torpedoes", Bob Seger's "Against The Wind", Pat Benatar's "In The Heat of The Night", Blondie's "Eat To The Beat", Led Zeppelin's "In Through The Out Door", Styx's "Cornerstone", the Pretenders' debut album, Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk", Supertramp's "Breakfast in America", Molly Hatchet's "Flirting With Disaster", J. Geils' "Love Stinks", The B-52's debut LP, Foreigner's "Head Games", The Cars' "Candy-O", Journey's "Departure", The Rolling Stones' "Emotional Rescue" and ZZ Top's "Deguello" all making the list of the 40 best-selling albums of the year.
And given that singles sales had been declining since 1967, it's quite possible that Top 40's problem in 1980 (and the years leading up to it) was that they weren't including album sales in their decisions about what to play. Tom Petty's "Refugee" was passed on by softer-skewing Top 40s, and only made it to #15 on the singles charts, but the "Damn The Torpedoes" album was the #5 album for the year. Had they been factoring in how many people were spending $8.98 for an album as opposed to buying the single, a lot of song choices might have been very different.
I'm glad that someone finally said that! I remember the rock being out there back in 1980. It was out there, but you had to dig a little to find it, especially if you were limited to top 40 radio. And nearly all the albums that you mentioned here charted at least a single or two, although some of these albums were indeed carryovers from 1979.michael hagerty said:
I think Fleetwood Mac got kind of a raw deal here, especially in this thread, because "Think About Me" was the only song by them mentioned on this list, and it only reached #20, as you said. But it was the third single from an album which saw its first two singles reach the top 10. "Sara," the immediate predecessor to "Think About Me" as the second single from Tusk, reached #7 in the winter of 1980, and would have been a better candidate for this list, because it was a Stevie Nicks song, and her songs tended to be their biggest and most enduring hits. (Her song "Dreams" was their only #1.) At the same time, though, the Mac really didn't help their own cause, because Tusk was two years in the making, it was a double album, and that leadoff single (the title song) was a bit of a head-scratcher. All this coming on the heels of an album that had been one of the biggest sellers of all time, up to its time.
Interstate 78 said:
It's a mainstay for all-Christmas formats--even though it's a New Year's song and most stations shut down the holiday music at 12:01AM Dec. 26 (even the New Years/"winter" songs like Jingle Bells, Winter Wonderland). I've also heard it occasionally on New Year's Eve/Day--but not much outside the holidays.
- Status