My Personal Chart Blog, August 1980

**Bolded and Underlined songs were on my top 100 this month in 1980 & the number in parentheses is its position on the chart.

 

See my August 1980 chart here

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Part 2, Section 1 – The UK and the Many Faces of New Wave

Squeeze/Pulling Mussels From The Shell (2)

Though the movement had begun a few years earlier in the UK, 1980 was the watershed year for its ascent in the States. By the time the album “Argybargy” (a British expression for a lively discussion or argument) came out in early 1980, the band lead by Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, already had 2 albums, 1978’s “Squeeze” and 1979’s “Cool For Cats” and a series of hit singles. I did not know those previous albums and singles until after this album blew up on Boston radio. “Argybary” was the first of their albums to chart in the U.S., reaching #71.

The week of May 17 was when I first bought the album. In the late ‘70s into the early ‘80s, I did a regular airplay chart in addition to my weekly personal chart. I was that geeky music kid that always wanted to discover new music and, of course, I was also extremely interested in stats. Part of it was to see a comparison between what I heard and what the official charts said. The airplay chart started with me spinning the radio dial and keeping a tally of the songs I heard. I still have a lot of those paper charts saved in folders, along with detailed release information. I can’t even fathom how much time I devoted to this stuff.

At some point, I must have started including the spins of the music I owned as well. That week 3 of the songs from the album, ‘Mussels”, “Another Nail In My Heart” (35), and “If I Didn’t Love You” (49) all debuted. Since they were 3 of the 4 singles released in the UK I may have heard any number of them on the radio but it’s likely that ‘Mussels’ was the one getting radio exposure at the time as it was the highest debut at #48. From what I can tell though ‘Nail’ was the first single when the album was released and ‘Didn’t Love” You” the second (at least in the States). That song was featured in an episode of “Breaking Bad”.

‘Mussels’ which went to #1 on my chart only reached #44 in the UK. Even ‘Nail” only peaked at #17 there. Despite the surprising singles chart performance, the album is considered a classic. Along with these 3 songs. 2 other songs from the album were on my chart the week of August 3, “Separate Beds” (56) and “Misadventure” (143). Supposedly “Mussels” was inspired by a”holiday’ lyricist Difford went on. The line “behind the chalet, a holiday’s complete” has led to some feeling there is a double entendre in play. One of my favorite parts is the piano bridge.

Their manager in the early years was Miles Copeland III, brother of Stewart Copeland, the drummer of the Police. In late 1979 that band put out their second album “Reggatta de Blanc” which spawned the UK #1 “Message In A Bottle” and 4 other songs that made my top 100, “Bring On The Night”, “The Bed’s Too Big Without You”, “Walking On the Moon” and “It’s Alright For You” plus a song re-released from their first album “So Lonely”. Miles Copeland was also the Police’s manager and in 1979 formed I.R.S. Records that became responsible for the rise of artists like R.E.M., The Go-Go’s. Fine Young Cannibals and The Bangles.

While the early Police albums were a Reggae-Rock hybrid, another Jamaican music style called Ska was having a huge revival in the UK in 1979 and 80. The style was actually called Two-tone as it was a mix of Ska and Punk. The original Ska music was a precursor to Reggae, born in the late ’50s, and was a popular style in the UK in the early ‘60s. The Two-tone revival was exemplified by bands such as The Specials, Madness, The Selecter, Bad Manners, and The English Beat. These bands amassed over 25 top 10 hits over a 2 to 3 year period between 79-81. At the time they had minimal impact on my personal chart with only The English Beat’s remake of ‘Tears of A Clown” making my top 100, peaking at #26 in April 1980.

Madness was certainly the most prolific of this group of artists, clocking in 17 UK top 10’s (9 in a row over 2 years) and 31 songs making the top 40. Their only #1 on the UK chart, “House of Fun” from 1982, came after that with a #14 in between. They certainly employed a more pop bent to the style overall, certainly evidenced on their one Stateside top 10, “Our House”. A snippet of their 1st UK top 10 “One Step Beyond” is used in 2019’s fantastic cover of Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” by the L.A. band The Interrupters. That Ska-Punk version went to #2 on my chart (and should have hit #1). We discuss that song and Ska in general on the “Beyond Radio Presents” Podcast (Castlist #5, Episode 1) released on April 7, 2020.

The Motors/Love And Loneliness (4)

One of the many facets of the New Wave movement came from a subset called Pub Rock. The scene drew from early Rock & Roll and R&B. It was a response against the Progressive Rock and Glam of the early ‘70s. It had a back to basics approach and was fueled mostly by indie record labels. The original scene was supposedly short-lived and was usurped by the Punk scene. The scene did not generate much in the way of radio hits in the UK. The Motors “Airport” was one of them in 1978, reaching #4, though being synth-driven I feel the song was veering more into New Wave territory.

The swirling synth line of “Love And Loneliness” hooked me in. It only peaked at #58 in the UK but would go all the way to #1 on my chart. The album it came from, their 3rd and last, “Tenement Steps” did not even crack the UK album chart. The song was remade by Chris Thompson in 1986 with a more guitar-based approach, with the replete sax solo so prevalent at the time and returned to #1 on my chart. That was featured on the soundtrack of “American Anthem”, a highly derided movie, which starred gymnast Mitch Gaylord who was nominated for a Razzie for his performance. Thompson’s voice would be recognizable from 2 ‘70s hits, Manfred Mann’s 1977 “Blinded By The Light” and his solo ballad “If You Remember Me” from the movie “The Champ” in 1979.

The Motors followed ‘Loneliness” with “Time For Makeup” (68) a bouncy, carnivalesque ditty, that would make my top 10 in the fall of 1980. 2 earlier singles were also covered by other artists. 1977’s “Dancing The Night Away” was done by Cheap Trick and “Forget About You” by teen heartthrob Leif Garrett. That song is extremely reminiscent of the Grass Roots “Sooner Or Later”. One of the members of the band, Bram Tchaikovsky, turned solo in 1979 and scored a top 40 hit in the States, “Girl Of My Dreams”, which did not chart in the UK.

Graham Parker was another artist who came out of the Pub Rock scene. His band The Rumour was formed from the ashes of 3 bands from the scene. One of those, Ducks Deluxe, included 2 future members of the Motors. One of Parker’s earliest songs, the Reggae influenced “Don’t Ask Me Questions” has become one of his more well-known songs but it was his remake of the Trammps 1975 R&B hit “Hold Back The Night” that put him on the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. It was really the band’s 1979 album “Squeezing Out Sparks” that solidified his status. It included “Local Girls” (89), “Discovering Japan” and “Protection”.

The 1980 follow-up album, “The Up Escalator” generated 3 Rock radio hits in Boston with “Stupefaction” (84), “The Endless Night” (87)” and “No Holding Back”. None of those songs charted in the UK but all did moderately well for me. This album was the last with The Rumour, though it was credited as a solo album. The Rumour’s Brinsley Schwarz had his own pub band in the early ‘70s (named after him) that featured vocalist, Nick Lowe. Their 1974 song “(What’s So Funny About) “Peace, Love And Understanding” was made famous later in the decade by Elvis Costello. Lowe, best known for 1979’s “Cruel To Be Kind” was also in the band Rockpile in 1980. He teamed with Dave Edmunds and Billy Bremmer for one album, highly influenced by the music of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. They would reach my top 75 in 1981 with “Teacher, Teacher” and “Heart”. Another alumnus of Brinsley Schwarz, Ian Gomm had a U.S. hit in 1979 with the #18 “Hold On”. It did not chart in his homeland. He co-wrote “Cruel To Be Kind” with Lowe.

Dave Edmunds had a strong showing in the UK the previous year with his album “Repeat When Necessary”. That album spawned 3 UK hits, “Crawling From The Wreckage”, “Queen Of Hearts” (made famous in the States in 1981 by Juice Newton), and the top 5 “Girls Talk”. That song showed up on 1980 albums by Linda Ronstadt and again, Elvis Costello. Both Costello songs are found on the 1980 album ‘Taking Liberties”.

Costello was prolific during this period though I can say I was not a big fan. It was only in late 1980 that he would reach my weekly top 100 for the 1st time with “Getting’ Mighty Crowded. The following year he made my top 100 of the year with “From A Whisper To A Scream”, a duet with Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze. All the Costello albums from 1997-1981 were produced by Nick Lowe.

The Vapors/Turning Japanese (14)

Anyone who knows this song thinks it’s a euphemism for masturbation though the songwriter and lead singer David Fenton claims otherwise. He says the song is about someone losing their girlfriend and slowly going crazy. “No sex, no drugs, no wine, no women, no fun, no sin, no you, no wonder it’s dark”, yeah that makes sense. Regardless I love this iconic song. The classic guitar riff, the gongs, the chorus, as you might suspect this went to #1 on my chart a few weeks later.

Considered Power Pop, the Vapors started out in the Pub Rock scene and were discovered by Bruce Foxton of The Jam, one of the most successful bands in the UK coming out of the Punk/New Wave realm. Foxton co-managed the group with John Weller, the father of The Jam’s central figure Paul Weller. Ironically, even with the stature of The Jam, The Vapors eclipsed them in the States by reaching the Top 40 in Billboard, reaching #36 (#3 in the UK and #1 in Australia), though they are truly a one-hit-wonder. 2 subsequent singles, “News At Ten” and “Jimmie Jones” (a song about cult leader Jim Jones) both peaked at #44 in the UK.

The Vapors supported The Jam on their 1979 “Setting Sons” tour. It was the song “Strange Town” (50) from that album they introduced me to the pleasures of the band. The song had peaked at #7 on my chart in June and #15 in the UK in the spring of 1979. From their debut single “In The City”, #40 in May of 1977 to 1982’s final single “Beat Surrender” they had 18 consecutive top 40 singles on the UK chart, and their swan song was 1 of 4 #1’s.

They were a dichotomy in a way because the early songs were rooted in Punk, but their fashion style was very mod, wearing suits and emulating the aesthetic of ‘60s bands like the Kinks. As their sound evolved, they incorporated more R&B and Pop elements (‘Surrender’ is an up-tempo, horn-laden jam-haha). Weller, who started performing in pubs with the band when he was 14, went on to create the successful Jazz/Soul influenced ‘80s band Style Council. Their song “The Paris Match” a smoky piano ballad, perfect for a French café, remains an all-time favorite of mine.

Between the fashion and the move towards the Style Council, the intersection with Roxy Music begins. Bryan Ferry certainly had a similar fashion style and this band’s music veered towards the smooth and stylish side of New Wave. Like The Jam, they had an impressive string of UK top 40 hits, 16 between 1972’s “Virginia Plain” and 1982’s “Take A Chance With Me”. The 1980 album “Flesh And Blood” was the pinnacle for me. This week in 1980 4 songs from the album appeared on my chart. “Same Old Scene (13) and future #1, “In The Midnight Hour” (34) a cover of the 1965 Wilson Pickett tune, “Over You” (63) and “Oh Yeah! (On The Radio)” (66) which follows ‘Scene’ to #1 on my chart.

To my surprise, the original ‘Midnight Hour’ only reached #21 on the Billboard Hot 100. Its stature has certainly elevated over time. Rolling Stone magazine places that song as the #134 greatest song of all time and it has been widely covered. A rollicking version of the song actually appears as the closing track of The Jam’s 2nd album “This Is The Modern World”.

“Same Old Scene” has a great combination of clippy guitar, smooth synth, dreamy vocal, and a subtle groove that really ushered in the New Romantic movement that was spearheaded by bands like Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet in the early ‘80s. ‘Oh Yeah’ evokes romantic imagery, wistfully seeping into our memory of being a teenager in love and connecting to the song on the car radio. Just beautiful.

Roxy Music was inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2019 finally. Before Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry auditioned to replace Greg lake in the Prog band King Crimson. The band was co-founded by Ferry and Brian Eno, a legend in the music industry, producing albums for Talking Heads, U2, and Coldplay among many others. Eno has teamed with the founder of King Crimson Robert Fripp on 4 instrumental albums as Fripp & Eno and co-produced the 1st Ultravox album with another legendary producer Steve Lillywhite.

Ultravox produced 3 albums with founder and lead singer John Foxx between 1977-79 with commercially disappointing results. It wasn’t until Midge Ure replaced him in 1979 that the band took off. 1980’s album “Vienna”, another New Wave masterpiece. The lush title song is the 1 that solidified their presence on UK radio but the propulsive “Sleepwalk” (116) was their 1st chart hit. As a solo artist Ure has over time had 8 songs make my top 50 of year, 3 of those in the top 10 including my #1 song of 1989 “Just For You” a soaring slice of joy.

Visage was another group that Midge Ure was a member of at the time and co-wrote their debut and biggest hit “Fade To Grey”. He co-founded it with Rusty Egan who was Dj’ing and hosting Roxy Music/David Bowie nights along with the band’s eventual lead singer Steve Strange. What’s funny about this song is that as I was listening to it and doing research my husband said it sounded like Kelly Osbourne’s 2005 single “One Word”, which he loves. Clearly, he was not the only one as there was an out of court settlement to pay royalties to the band. Kudos John.

A New Zealand band, Mi-Sex took their name from the Ultravox song “My Sex”. Their one international success was the song “Computer Games” (41) which topped the charts in Australia. The lead singer Steve Gilpin won a New Zealand talent contest in 1972 called “New Faces” and then went on to perform on the local cabaret circuit. When the band first formed in 1978 as Fragments Of Time the disparate influences came from heavy metal, the progressive sound of Yes, and the Post-Punk sound of early Ultravox. In the end, their rise to fame was steeped in New Wave. In 1992 Gilpin died from complications from a car accident.

The song “Computer Games” also reminds me of the song “The Plastic Age” by The Buggles. As many people know, their hit “Video Killed The Radio Star” was the 1st video played on MTV. That song peaked on my chart at #41 in March 1980. The Buggles was a duo consisting of Trevor Horn and Geoffrey Downes. The interesting progression here is that both became members of Yes soon after for the recording of the album “Drama” that was released in mid-August. Horn took over lead vocals from Jon Anderson. I charted 2 songs, “Tempis Fugit” and “Into The Lens”, reaching #26. Another song, “Man In a White Car” was written about seeing Gary Numan in his Stingray. Numan was on my chart this week with “Are Friends Electric?” (85). Numan said that it’s a song about a robot prostitute and the BBC would not have played it if they had known. His 1st chart single, it reached #1 in the UK before his Stateside hit “Cars” (another UK #1). After Yes, Geoffrey Downes went on to the supergroup Asia with John Wetton who had spent time with the aforementioned groups Roxy Music and King Crimson.

The video for “Video Killed The Radio Star” was directed by Australian Russell Mulcahy, a famed director. A funny aside about him is that this past weekend we had our friend Chris over to celebrate his and John’s birthdays (8 days apart) and he talked about the cult movie Highlander. We did not remember the movie and he spoke of what a great soundtrack it had. Of course, once I decided to dig into Mulcahy’s history I discovered he directed that movie. He also directed a cornucopia of music videos; many of the iconic Duran Duran videos, a ton for Elton john including “I’m Still Standing”, one of the 1st videos to be considered a mini-movie (“Vienna” by Ultravox), and “Turning Japanese”. Go figure.

 

Part 1, Section 3, Big Albums continued, more Background Cross-Pollination and the Party Record of the Year

Boz Scaggs got his start in the mid-60s with a failed solo album before teaming up with childhood and college friend Steve Miller as part of his band on their 1st2 records in 1968 and 1969. The early Steve Miller Band albums were vastly different than the hit-making machine of the ’70s, steeped in Psychedelic Blues instead of heartland Classic Rock. Scaggs wrote and sang lead on a couple of tracks from each album, including “Steppin’ Stone”. Going solo again in the late 60s my introduction to him was the song “Dinah Flo” from 1972. This song indicated a direction change, one to a more soulful Pop stance. It only reached #86 on the Hot 100 but certainly received its share of airplay on NYC rock station WNEW, as did 1974’s ‘You Make It So Hard (To Say No”).

His true breakthrough came in 1976 with the album “Silk Degrees” that spawned 5 hit songs. His original version of “We’re All Alone” was not released as a single but received substantial airplay and is my preferred version, though I do like the Rita Coolidge hit version as well. 5 of the songs from the album and all 4 single releases were co-written by David Paich who would go on to form Toto the following year. 1980 became another big year for Scaggs with the release of the album “Middle Man” and a contribution to the “Urban Cowboy” Soundtrack. 2 of those songs, the rocker “Breakdown Dead Ahead” (45) and the movie ballad “Look What You’ve Done To Me” (6), both reached #1 on my personal chart and made my top 10 of the year. The entire album, along with the soundtrack single, was co-written by Scaggs and David Foster while members of Toto also contributed as musicians, most notably Steve Lukather. He also helped write 1 song from the album. All 9 songs from the album placed on my personal chart with this week boasting 5 of them (‘Breakdown’, “Jojo” (48), a song about a pimp on Broadway, “Middle Man” (91), “Isn’t It Time” (111), and ”You Got Some Imagination” (141) ).

Scaggs received other star assists as well from Carlos Santana, Ray Parker Jr., and members of the Eagles (backing vocals on ‘Look’). That song was written and recorded in 1 night. The studio had requested the song for the shooting of the scene the next day. Later in the year, he released “Hits”, a greatest hits package with the new song “Miss Sun”. After that, it wasn’t until 1988 that he released new music again. His 1st name is an abbreviated version of a nickname he got as a child, Bosley.

Quite a few of the performers on the Boz Scaggs songs showed up on the album “21 At 33” by Elton John. The title meaning he had 21 album/EP releases by the age of 33. Lukather and Paich from Toto, David Foster, members of the Eagles, Bill Champlin of Chicago, and a regular Elton contributor James Newton Howard all appeared. This was an underrated album of his in my opinion. It only generated 1 true hit with the easy-going “Little Jeannie” (36). That was only his 2nd top 10 on the Hot 100 since 1976, a period where he dabbled in Disco and wrote with songwriters other than Bernie Taupin. ‘Jeannie’ was co-written with Gary Osborne, whom he had collaborated with on the 1978 album “A Single Man”. His 1979 disco album “Victim Of Love” actually had no songs written by John on it and none have ever been performed live.

The 2nd single from “21 at 33” was “Sartorial Eloquence (Don’t Ya Wanna Play This Game No More?)” (3), which would go to #1 on my chart the following week. It has stood up as one of my favorite songs by him, but barely made the Hot 100 top 40 at #39 and missed the top 40 in the UK at #44. It does have an interesting history though, becoming the theme to the BBC’s annual coverage of the World Snooker Championship. Snooker is a cue sport like pool, with the added level of impeccably dressed participants. Sartorial means “of or related to a tailor or tailored clothing”. So, it makes total sense that one of my favorite songs of 1975 was a song called “Snookeroo” by Ringo Starr, another song relating to the game AND written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. It was coupled with “No-No Song” and a double-sided single in the States, reaching #3 on the Hot 100. It did not chart in the UK and surprisingly through his solo career, Starr did much better on the charts overall in the U.S.

The lyrics to ‘Eloquence’ were written by Tom Robinson. His band had a handful of UK top 40 hits, their debut single “2-4-6-8 Motorway” reaching #5 in 1977. I must remember this song from airplay on WBCN and WFNX in Boston as I know it well, but I never charted it back during my college days. Robinson, who is gay, attempted suicide at the age of 16 when homosexual activity was a crime in the UK. In ‘Motorway’ he references a gay truck driver and 1 of his most popular songs is “Glad To Be Gay”.

Another favorite from “21 at 33” is “Two Rooms At The End Of The World” (10), 1 of 3 songs on the album reuniting John with Bernie Taupin. The other 2, “White Lady White Powder” and “Chasing The Crown” which would debut the following week, would make 5 top 20s on my chart in 1980, 4 of which would make the top 10. These 3 are all upbeat Pop-Rockers. I can’t decide if I like ‘Rooms’ (horn-laden with a Phil Collins vibe) or ‘Crown’ (rollicking with urgent female background vocals) better.

Another album that had all of its songs reach my personal chart (and all 7 made the top 15) is “Hold Out” by Jackson Browne. I can’t say that would be the case this time around. It is already showing signs of weakness with “Boulevard” (52) which originally peaked at #5 and “Hold Out” (100)that made it all the way to the top. That song will at least make it to the top 25, I suspect. The song that will probably perform the best is “Disco Apocalypse” which was the last song I charted from the album. That could probably return to the top 10. Browne has connections to Linda Ronstadt, The Eagles, and a myriad of other artists, being a prolific songwriter. In 1966 he was a member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. In the summer of 1980, they had a top 25 hit “Make A Little Magic” with the aforementioned Nicolette Larson. This was the last week that the Eagles “In The City” (126) was in my top 150, after peaking at #2 in June. That was my last charted song from their swan song album “The Long Run”. Joe Walsh was featured on lead vocal and he is represented on the chart this week as well with his solo song “All Night Long” (73).

Bob Seger was a co-writer on the Eagles 1979 hit “Heartache Tonight”. The Detroit rocker’s album “Against The Wind” was a major player for me back then with 9 songs charting; the best showing the title track (117) that peaked at #5. This week 4 others are on the chart “You’ll Accomp’ny Me” (123), “No Man’s Land” (108), “Long Twin Silver Line” (77) and “Betty Lou’s Gettin’ Out Tonight” (47). Like Browne, he suffers in the present day, I imagine from Classic Rock burnout. “Fire Lake” has seen the biggest erosion, down from #8 in 1980 to a #58 peak now.

These major players on my 1980 personal chart (Billy Joel, Hall & Oates, Boz Scaggs, Elton John, Jackson Browne, and Bob Seger) all got their starts in the late 60s and early 70s, spending the better part of a decade honing their craft before reaching their peak. I can’t say this is as true nowadays. Likewise, the J. Geils Band got their start in the mid-60s. The band started as an acoustic blues trio called Snoopy and the Sopwith Camels. I love this, being a big Peanuts fan. By the end of the decade they had moved towards electric blues and through the 70s solidified their stance a bar band with a number of well-known party songs starting with 1971’s “Looking For A Love” and continuing with 1973’s “(Ain’t Nothin’ But) a House Party”. They really came into their own commercially with the album “Love Stinks”. This was the biggest album for me that year, perhaps because I was a newcomer to Massachusetts, their home base. They clocked 3 #1’s and a #2 on my chart and placed 5 songs in my year-end top 100. “Come Back” had the right ingredients (dance pulse and rock swagger) to become my #1 song of the year. I love it when those 2 elements come together exactly right. Seth Justman’s keyboard is just killer in this gem.

Lead singer Peter Wolf started out as a late-night DJ on Boston’s WBCN in the late 60s and was married to Faye Dunaway from 1974-1979. Perhaps the song “Love Stinks” was written in response to that break-up. This was another #1 on my chart for the band and just missed the top 10 this time around. Both of these songs had minor national top 40 impact, reaching #32 and #38 but they were ubiquitous in Boston. There have been comparisons made to the Kingsmen “Louie Louie” and Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” but to me, either is a stretch. The song has been used in a number of movies, most notably “The Wedding Singer”.

The album is a true party record. The guitar/keyboard/harmonica combo is a winner. The hand-clappy “Just Can’t Wait” (19) was the 3rdsingle release and another #1 for me. “Till The Walls Come Tumblin’ Down” (28) and “Takin’ You Down” (a #2 peak on my chart) both feature response backing vocals (ooh yeah) and feel like good time drinking songs. “No Anchovies Please” is a great unexpected comedy piece (“that bowling ball, it’s my wife!”). “Night Time” (90), coming off a #19 peak in June is a sped-up remake of the Strangeloves 1966 top 30 hit. 1 of the Strangloves was Richard Gottehrer, who if you remember was Blondie’s original producer and co-founded Sire Records. Another unexpected connection that makes my life so great.

Part 1, Big albums, Dabbling in Alternate Styles and Six Degrees of Toto and Paul Shaffer

Billy Joel/Sometimes A Fantasy (1)

This was the summer between my freshman and sophomore years of college and the music landscape was changing. Having moved from New Jersey to Boston in the fall of ’79 I discovered 3 essential things in my music life. Used record stores, small local clubs with live music in a thriving music town, and a different kind of radio palette than I was used to from NYC radio. Of course, the Pop, Dance, and late 70’s AOR bands were all part of it but 3 radio stations were offering a wider mix of rock music; WBCN, WCOZ, and the very local WLYN which would morph into the influential 80s’/90s’ station WFNX.

My personal chart was becoming more diverse because of this and expanded to 200 songs per week on the week of Oct. 21, 1979 (my #1 song that week was “The Main Event” by Barbra Streisand). With so many songs my chart was becoming slower moving so by the beginning of 1980 it might take a song 5 months to reach the top of my chart. In the years since my chart has become much faster paced. To illustrate the point, the top 10 from my original chart for the week of Aug. 3 had 7 songs that had peaked at radio in March, April, and May. Here they are:

2 DAN FOGELBERG Heart Hotels my

3 BOZ SCAGGS Breakdown Dead Ahead my

4 BILLY JOEL You May Be Right ap

5 J. GEILS BAND Come Back mr

6 THE CLASH Train In Vain (Stand By Me) my

8 CHRISTOPHER CROSS Ride Like The Wind ap

9 J. GEILS BAND Love Stinks my

I started creating an updated chart for each week from that period last fall when I began working on the retro personal charts for the website. These move more like my current charts do so the music is much timelier to the date. And certainly, my view of songs has changed with quite a number of songs that never charted for me back then that have become favorites making impact, and conversely, some songs that did well with my 19-year-old self have fallen out of favor.

There were quite a few huge albums that generated 6 or more songs on my chart back then. Ones like “The Wall” and “Against The Wind” I will cover in other posts. The above list features 4 artists whose albums were huge for me at the time. Billy Joel’s “Glass Houses” was one where all 10 songs from it charted for me. Clearly, Joel was a holdover of my NYC radio days. Being a Long Island guy, he was ubiquitous.

Even with that, he had become an international superstar and this album was a departure in style for him. He incorporated a rockier New Wave edge to a bulk of the album, definitely a thing at that moment in time. New Wave and Punk had been slowly rising in popularity in the late 70s’ (much quicker in the UK than the States). The #1 song of 1979 was “My Sharona” by The Knack and M’s “Pop Musik” was another Pop #1. It was typical for artists to jump on stylistic bandwagons as their careers progressed with varying results. ’79 was still early in the process as the next closest songs with that influence on Billboard’s Hot 100 were ‘Let’s Go” by the Cars which peaked at #14 and “Driver’s Seat” by Sniff ‘N The Tears, reaching #15.

It was perfect timing for Joel because he achieved his 1st Hot 100 #1 with “It’s Still Rock ‘N Roll To Me”. It spent 2 weeks at the top and fell to #2 this week in 1980. This is one that did not hold up for me. It reached #9 on my chart 40 years ago but couldn’t rise above #70 this time around. This was true of the 1st single as well but to a lesser extent. “You May Be Right” reached #17 on the 2020 version of my chart, while it spent 3 weeks at #1 back then.

“Sometimes A Fantasy”, the 4th single from the album is one of the most New-Wavey of the songs on the album and it holds up nicely for me, reaching the summit in both 1980 and now. The song about phone sex actually hit #1 on Feb. 8, 1981, on the old charts but struggled to reach the Hot 100 top 40, finally topping out at #36. The actual #1 on the original Aug. 3 chart was another from the album, “Close To The Borderline” (20), and still made it into my top 5 now. It has a nice staccato guitar lick and a somewhat affected vocal by Joel. He received the Grammy for Male Rock Vocal Performance for the album.

The ballad “Through The Long Night” (148) is a stunning example of a fall from grace. It was #2 on my chart at the beginning of October that year and is struggling to stay in the top 150 right now. The Latin-tinged “Don’t Ask Me Why” became a #1 Adult Contemporary song in the fall and was released as the 3rd single at the end of July. It too may have a hard time making inroads now.

A song that should do equally as well as the 1st time around is “All For Leyna” (debut-81) which made it to #9. Another more up-tempo tune. plus more piano-driven, this was released as a single in Europe and hit #40 in the UK and #16 in Spain. Here it was the B-side of ‘Fantasy’.

Another major artist who took the New Wave direction on her 1980 album “Mad Love” was Linda Ronstadt. She was nominated for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance at the Grammys in 1981 for the 1st single “How Do I Make You”, a Hot 100 #10 that, according to the songwriter Billy Steinberg, was influenced by “My Sharona”. She lost to Pat Benatar (who won the award 4 years in a row between ’81- ‘84. Both ladies had a hard time recreating their original luster on my chart. ‘Make You’ and Benatar’s “You Better Run” (122) made my top 10 last time out. Neither made the top 30 this time. I did not know that this song was a remake, done by the Garfield, NJ (right across the river from my hometown of Passaic) band the Rascals. It was the follow-up to their #1 song “Good Lovin’” and reached #20 in 1966. It fared better than Benatar’s version which only reached #42.

Ronstadt often turned cover versions of older songs into bigger hits. This was no exception on “Mad Love”. The other 2 single releases were remakes. “Hurts So Bad”, originally by Little Anthony and the Imperials, beat the peak of the original on the Hot 100 by 2 points (#8 vs. #10) and “I Can’t Let Go” (32)made the top 40 at #31, while the 1966 version by the Hollies just missed it at #42. That song was co-written by Chip Taylor who also wrote the hits “Wild Thing” by the Troggs and “Angel of The Morning” by Merilee Rush (and subsequently Juice Newton). Taylor is the brother of actor Jon Voight and uncle to Angelina Jolie. The Hollies former lead singer Allan Clarke is moving up my Aug. 3 chart with “Slipstream” (54) that did not make my chart back in the day.

The Ronstadt album at the time had the distinction of having the highest debut on the Billboard album chart for a female artist at #5. Other cover tunes on the album include 3 from Elvis Costello (including “Girls Talk”-both had minor chart success for me), 3 from the new wave band the Cretones (their “Real Love” made it to #79 on the Hot 100 earlier in the year ), and 1 from Neil Young (never been a fan).

An oft collaborator with Ronstadt was Andrew Gold. He was an instrumentalist and arranger on a number of her big 70s albums. He and singer Nicolette Larson both provided backing vocals on “Mad Love”. Larson had a top 10 Pop hit in 1979 with “Lotta Love” and a handful of AC and Country hits over the course of the 80s’. Her “Dancing Jones” could chart for me now. Gold and Larson were briefly engaged in the early 80s’ and unfortunately, both died at young ages. Gold died in his sleep at age 59 after being diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2011 and Larson in 1997 at 45 from liver failure.

On this week’s chart, Gold was represented by the Pop-Rocker “Kiss This Thing Goodbye” (18), a former #1 on my chart. His greatest success would come when his 1978 moderate hit “Thank You For Being A Friend” was chosen as the theme to the hugely popular sitcom “The Golden Girls”. He also wrote and recorded the theme to the show “Mad About You” (“Final Frontier”). In the 80s’ he was in a duo called Wax, with Graham Gouldman on 10cc. In 1987 they scored a UK #1 and on my personal chart as well, with “Bridge To Your Heart”. This remains a big personal fav of mine as well as 1986’s “Ball And Chain”. Gold’s mother was Marni Nixon who provided the singing voice for Natalie Wood, Deborah Kerr, and Audrey Hepburn in “West Side Story”, “The King And I” and “My Fair Lady” respectively.

It has been said that Ronstadt’s vocal on “How Do I Make You” was fashioned after Deborah Harry of Blondie. In 1980 the New York band was in the middle of their career peak that spanned ’79-’81. Unlike Ronstadt and Benatar, Blondie has fared better on the modern-day take on my 1980 charts. “Atomic” (69) was coming off its #18 peak from a month earlier and was their 3rd UK #1. Earlier in the year, they went to #7 with “The Hardest Part” and “#32 with “Call Me”, their Disco-fied Hot 100 #1 from “American Gigilo”. ‘Part’, a song about an armored car robbery, is definitely my favorite Blondie track. It was the 2nd single from their album “Eat To The Beat” in the States (“Dreaming” was the 1st).

In the UK they went with “Union City Blue” as the 2nd single, making it to #13. The B-side was a cover of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love”. Summer’s version was co-written and produced by Giorgio Moroder. He also performed those tasks on “Call Me” which spent 6 weeks at #1 on the Hot 100 and ended up as the #8 song of the decade. Before Moroder collaborated with Harry on the movie theme the offer had been given to Stevie Nicks, though she turned it down. The following #1 on the Hot 100, Lipps Inc. “Funky Town”, did much better with me this time around, rising to #14. In 1980 it only managed to peak at #128.

My Personal Chart, New Version

August 3, 1980

2             1             BILLY JOEL       Sometimes A Fantasy  8

1             2             SQUEEZE           Pulling Mussels From The Shell             12

5             3             ELTON JOHN    Sartorial Eloquence (Don’t You Wanna Play This Game No More)    6

3             4             THE MOTORS  Love And Loneliness    12

6             5             IRENE CARA     Fame    10

7             6             BOZ SCAGGS     Look What You’ve Done To Me              8

4             7             GENESIS             Misunderstanding          14

10           8             AIR SUPPLY      All Out Of Love                8

11           9             BENNY MARDONES      Into The Night 8

12           10           ELTON JOHN    Two Rooms At The End Of The World               8

16           11           IRENE CARA     Hot Lunch Jam                6

8             12           ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA               I’m Alive             13

19           13           ROXY MUSIC     Same Old Scene              6

20           14           VAPORS              Turning Japanese           5

17           15           GENESIS             Turn It On Again             11

18           16           DEVO   Whip It                10

24           17           KENNY LOGGINS           I’m Alright         5

14           18           ANDREW GOLD              Kiss This One Goodbye               12

25           19           J. GEILS BAND Just Can’t Wait                5

9             20           BILLY JOEL       Close To The Borderline             17

22           21           LINDA CLIFFORD          Red Light            6

21           22           TOMMY TUTONE          Angel Say No    10

32           23           VARIOUS ARTISTS        I Sing The Body Electric             3

13           24           B-52’s   Dance This Mess Around           12

26           25           PRETENDERS  Cuban Slide       14

29           26           EDDIE RABBITT             Drivin’ My Life Away   8

43           27           FLASH & THE PAN        Welcome To The Universe        5

27           28           J. GEILS BAND Till The Walls Come Tumblin’ Down  11

15           29           B-52’s   Rock Lobster    15

31           30           JERMAINE JACKSON    Let’s Get Serious             10

40           31           DAN FOGELBERG          Beggar’s Game                9

33           32           LINDA RONSTADT        I Can’t Let Go   7

41           33           QUEEN                Play The Game                7

34           34           ROXY MUSIC     In The Midnight Hour 9

38           35           SQUEEZE           Another Nail In My Heart          9

23           36           ELTON JOHN    Little Jeannie    14

64           37           QUEEN                Another One Bites The Dust    3

46           38           OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN             Magic    10

28           39           HALL & OATES               Portable Radio                16

48           40           BILLY SQUIER Who’s Your Boyfriend Now     9

50           41           MI-SEX Computer Games           12

44           42           DAN FOGELBERG          Times Like These           11

37           43           THE BABYS       Midnight Rendezvous  14

30           44           SOS BAND          Take Your Time (Do It Right) 12

36           45           BOZ SCAGGS     Breakdown Dead Ahead            19

52           46           DIANA ROSS     Upside Down   6

47           47           BOB SEGER       Betty Lou’s Gettin’ Out Tonight             8

51           48           BOZ SCAGGS     JoJo       11

57           49           SQUEEZE           If I Didn’t Love You      6

39           50           THE JAM             Strange Town  15

42           51           STEVE FORBERT           The Sweet Love That You Give              12

60           52           JACKSON BROWNE      Boulevard          6

96           53           PAUL SIMON    Late In The Evening     2

66           54           ALLAN CLARKE              Slipstream          11

62           55           ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA               On The Run       8

70           56           SQUEEZE           Separate Beds  5

72           57           JOY DIVISION   Love Will Tear Us Apart             5

77           58           TUBES & OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN        Dancin’                3

56           59           DARYL HALL    Sacred Songs    8

63           60           JOAN ARMATRADIING                Me Myself I       9

67           61           ROBIN LANE & THE CHARTBUSTERS                When Things Go Wrong             9

69           62           B-52’s   Planet Claire     7

58           63           ROXY MUSIC     Over You            12

new       64           ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA               All Over The World      1

35           65           FLASH & THE PAN        Media Man        14

86           66           ROXY MUSIC     Oh Yeah (On The Radio)            3

68           67           TOUCH                (Call Me) When The Spirit Moves You               9

89           68           THE MOTORS  Time For Make Up        4

45           69           BLONDIE            Atomic 12

74           70           IAN HUNTER & ELLEN FOLEY               We Gotta Get Out Of Here         11

57           71           OZARK MOUNTAIN DAREDEVILS        Take You Tonight          14

87           72           CLOUT Portable Radio                3

61           73           JOE WALSH       All Night Long 11

49           74           BOB SEGER       Nine Tonight    13

71           75           BLUE OYSTER CULT    Here’s Johnny (The Marshall Plan)     6

90           76           JOHNNY LEE    Lookin’ For Love            4

75           77           BOB SEGER       Long Twin Silver Line 11

80           78           NEW MUSIK     Straight Lines  4

54           79           PINK FLOYD     One Of My Turns            14

91           80           JIM CARROL BAND       People Who Died           5

new       81           BILLY JOEL       All For Leyna    1

84           82           DEVO   Girl U Want       4

93           83           AMBROSIA         You’re The Only Woman           4

76           84           GRAHAM PARKER         Stupefaction      7

79           85           GARY NUMAN Are Friends Electric     7

55           86           LITTLE RIVER BAND   It’s Not A Wonder          14

73           87           GRAHAM PARKER         The Endless Night         9

59           89           GRAHAM PARKER         Local Girls          15

53           90           J. GEILS BAND Night Time        19

104        88           GENESIS             Behind The Lines           6

103        91           BOZ SCAGGS     Middle Man       6

102        92           ROBBIE DUPREE           Hot Rod Hearts               3

129        93           ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA               The Fall               2

88           94           KENNY ROGERS             Love The World Away                7

92           95           KENNY LOGGINS           Mr. Night            7

74           96           KENNY ROGERS & KIM CARNES           Don’t Fall In Love With A Dreamer      21

118        97           RED RIDER       Avenue A           3

108        98           THE CLASH       London Calling                4

98           99           CHEAP TRICK  Everything Works If You Let It              10

114        100        JACKSON BROWNE      Hold Out             3

110        101        BENNY MARDONES      Hometown Girls             4

new       102        KINGS   This Beat Goes On/Switchin’ To Glide               1

94           103        PRETENDERS  Tattooed Love Boys     10

99           104        PAUL DAVIS     Cry Just A Little               4

113        105        QUEEN                Rock It (Prime Jive)     5

109        106        THE JAGS           Back Of My Hand           8

122        107        BLOTTO              I Wanna Be A Lifeguard              2

106        108        BOB SEGER       No Man’s Land                6

83           109        THE FOOLS       I Won’t Grow Up            9

107        110        ERIC CARMEN It Hurts Too Much         6

116        111        BOZ SCAGGS     Isn’t It Time      5

125        112        HALL & OATES               How Does It Feel To Be Back  2

144        113        POINTER SISTERS         He’s So Shy       2

78           114        PURE PRARIE LEAGUE              Let Me Love You Tonight           12

133        115        B-52’s   52 Girls                2

new       116        ULTRAVOX        Sleepwalk           1

81           117        BOB SEGER       Against The Wind          14

119        118        RAY GOMEZ      Summer In The City     3

101        119        GLEN CAMPBELL & RITA COOLIDGE Somethin’ Bout You Baby I Like            11

128        120        TOMMY TUTONE          The Blame         3

136        121        GENESIS             Man Of Our Times         2

97           122        PAT BENATAR                You Better Run               10

124        123        BOB SEGER       You’ll Accompany Me  2

137        124        POCO    Under The Gun               3

135        125        PRETENDERS  Kid         4

85           126        EAGLES               In The City         18

95           127        AMBROSIA         Biggest Part Of Me        18

146        128        POCO    While We’re Still Young             2

155        129        DIONNE WARWICK      No Night So Long           1

132        130        KIM CARNES    More Love         5

143        131        SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY & THE ASBURY JUKES On The Beach   3

123        132        THE KORGIS     Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime 7

115        133        BLUES BROTHERS        Gimme Some Lovin’     9

100        134        JOE JACKSON    On Your Radio 13

147        135        ROSSINGTON COLLINS BAND                Don’t Misunderstand Me          2

148        136        BILLY SQUIER You Should Be High Love          4

117        137        JUDAS PRIEST Breaking The Law         7

158        138        CARLY SIMON Jesse      1

new       139        MARTHA AND THE MUFFINS Echo Beach       1

134        140        ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN         Rescue 9

149        141        BOZ SCAGGS     You Got Some Imagination       2

141        142        ROLLING STONES         Emotional Rescue          5

152        143        SQUEEZE           Misadventure   1

142        144        KISS       Shandi  5

154        145        MOLLY HATCHET          It’s All Over Now           11

121        146        CINDY BULLENS            Raincheck On Romance             10

127        147        CAROLE KING  One Fine Day   8

151        149        LINDA RONSTADT        Mad Love           1

145        148        BILLY JOEL       Through The Long Night           2

new       150        HALL & OATES               Diddy Doo Wop (I Hear The Voices)   1