the 70s - you may hate the music, but it'll keep you awake...

[acroyear]

So I discovered this weekend that XM Radio now has the rights to the 70s and 80s complete editions of American Top 40 with Casey Kasem.  Trips through the history of music of 1982, 1980, 1981, 1987, 1971, and 1973 got us through the long hauls of nowhere, and the complete 5 hour (minus commercials) "top 50 songs of the entire 1970s decade" is plenty to keep one driver awake when driving home at midnite.  Simply not knowing "what song are they going to play next", even for songs I hated then and hate now, is enough to keep one going.

Observations...

• sometimes, the countdown would be extremely eclectic, like following up a Juice Newton country-lite song with Rick James's "Superfreak"
  
• the single 45 rpm edit of Pink Floyd's Money absolutely sucks.
• fleetwood mac was definitely an "album" band - few of their songs from Fleetwood Mac or Rumors made it to #1 as a single, none long enough to make that top 50, even though the albums charted up there for months.
• singles got rereleased, and made it to the top 40 on the rerelease, more often back then.  the last time that happened afaik is the rerelease of Bohemian Rhapsody, as a tie-in to wayne's world, but it happened a lot on those countdowns, including "The Monster Mash".
• the jackson 5 were big on the soul chart, but only had 1 hit single on the pop chart top 50
  
• disco took about 12 songs on that top 50.  prog rock took 0.  the arena-rock balled didn't exist yet except in the hands of the Guess Who and Zep, and Zep didn't bother with singles, so really most of what we listen to today from the 70s in "classic rock" never sold on the singles charts.
  
• i was reminded how much AT40 was such a major influence on my ability to remember useless statistics
• there were 18 songs by british bands in the top 50 of the 70s, but paul mccartney (and the beatles and wings), george harrison, elton john, andy gibb, and his brothers in the bee gees, dominated them.
• at the time, Saturday Night Fever was still the #1 selling album of the 70s.  the "classic rock" era would later move Pink Floyd's Dark Side and Fleetwood Mac's Rumors ahead of it when cd sales got figured in, but of course, Kasem had no way of knowing that at the time.  but not until the great burnings when people bought that album just to burn it before stadium rock concerts :)
• La Bamba wasn't filmed yet, so when talking about "The Day the Music Died", Kasem said nothing about the Big Bopper and Richie Valens, only Buddy Holly.  he did tell the story about how the "Court Jester who played for the Queen" was Bob Dylan.
• i've finally gotten objective enough to not get teary-eyed at "The Way We Were".  either that or i'm just too happy with the way we are!
• faireraven can sleep through almost anything...except me changing the station when "I Will Survive" comes up.
  
• the #1 song of the 1970s sucks so bad that nobody plays it today: You Light Up My Life.
  

and the odd note that history just scares you with...

the billboard charts are usually calculated 4 weeks in advance of the magazine's weekly release, with the American Top 40 recorded 2-3 weeks before to give it time to get distributed to the stations.  this format was usually 4 vinyl records (I have a rick dees 4lp set from feb 1984).  As such, sudden changes in the news at the time might not make it to broadcast...

They were running one that was a mere "2 weeks before Christmas" 1980.  As they got to the top ten, he played the great comeback song of John Lennon, "Just Like Starting Over".

and it dawned on me.

2 weeks before Christmas would have been sunday December 14th.

and though Kasem had no possible way of knowing when he recorded such uplifting, positive support for the comeback, John Lennon would already be dead by the time that went to broadcast.

spooky stuff...

Comments

[thatliardiego.livejournal.com]

at the time, Saturday Night Fever was still the #1 selling album of the 70s.

This galled me to no end in 1979. Any time I went to a party, the Designated Black Guy is asked to "pick out some dance music." I'd ask, "What do you have?" And the answer would be, "Um ... we've got Saturday Night Fever...."

Oy.

[thelongshot.livejournal.com]

It was nice to hear this weekend, going to and fro from Otakon. It brings back memories when it was really my only link to popular music when I was living in Germany. I'd listen to it religiously every Sunday. I actually have a couple shows recorded, including one of the year end shows. (I think 1985.)

I didn't know that the show went as early as the early 70s. It was wierd listening to a show that was broadcasted before I was born.

[dacuteturtle.livejournal.com]

I've listened to the Top 100 of all years from 1956-2005, and Top 30 from 1950-55.

You are right on the money with most of your observations. The number of standards that charted at #99, and the number of top tens that no one likes are plethora.

If you can ever listen to all the top 100's, I highly encourage you. It's an astoundingly good musical education in modern pop music.

[supergoober.livejournal.com]

I've always thought it was crazy just how many songs there were in the top 40 that nobody, but NOBODY, actually liked. (I have to admit, though, that "You Light Up My Life" was my favorite song when I was kid; I was also a big fan of Air Supply.) Just because something is getting played on the radio constantly doesn't mean anybody's actually listening to it on purpose. I've always thought that was a major flaw in the system.