Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 25
Chart Week: April 20, 1985 Song: “We Are the World” – USA for Africa Chart Position: #1, 5th week on the chart. Spent four weeks at #1. Ah, the 1980s celebrity/cause single. It seems like there were tons of these but a check of Wikipedia shows there really weren’t that many original songs written for this or that benefit. I…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 24
Chart Week: February 25, 1978 Song: “How Deep Is Your Love” – Bee Gees Chart Position: #10, 23rd week on the chart. Peaked at #1 for three weeks in December 1977 and January 1978. The most amazing chart stretch of my life was the Bee Gee’s run in the late ‘70s. They absolutely owned the charts thanks largely to the…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 23
Chart Week: March 1, 1986 Song: “Beat’s So Lonely” – Charlie Sexton Chart Position: #26, 12th week on the chart. Peaked at #17 for three weeks in March/April. One-hit-wonders come in all size, shapes, sounds, and types. Charlie Sexton may be one of the cruelest examples of a OHW. Sexton was a bit of a musical prodigy, trained in his…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 22
Chart Week: November 6, 1976 Song: “The Rubberband Man” – The Spinners Chart Position: #15, 9th week on the chart. Peaked at #2 for three weeks in December. As promised, our first journey into the 1970s. This is the perfect jam to make that deeper run into the chart history. As I’ve said many times in the past, my parents…
Some Notes
A couple smaller things smashed into one post today. First, there’s just too much information out there. I know this is, like, a devastatingly deep and original opinion, but that’s why I have a blog, people. Wait, I’m not talking about the general flood of information we swim through each day. I’m talking about the maddening process of trying to…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 21
Chart Week: February 12, 1983 Song: “Down Under” – Men at Work Chart Position: #1, 15th week on the chart. Spent four non-consecutive weeks at #1 in January and February. If you’ve paid very close attention to my music posts over the years, you may recall that I kicked around a project in which I would find the best single…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 20
I’m on nephew duty the next couple days so I’ll go ahead and post this late on a Sunday to kick off the week. Chart Week: January 28, 1984 Song: “Let the Music Play” – Shannon Chart Position: #18, 12th week on the chart. Peaked at #8 the week of February 25. Reached #1 on the US Dance Club Songs…
Starting Off Strong (In Theory)
Happy New Year! Hope your celebrations were safe, happy, and the headaches/stomaches that resulted have passed. Our New Year’s Eve went well. The Pacers game was good. Well, other than spending 15 minutes to travel three blocks right before our parking garage. Not sure what the hell was going on but traffic was a nightmare. The Pacers won by 8,…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 19
Chart Week: December 22, 1984 Song: “The Belle of St. Mark” – Sheila E. Chart Position: #34, 9th week on the chart. Peaked at #34 for three weeks over December and January. One last 1984 countdown to close out the year. And, holy crap, what a countdown it was! The summer of ’84 gets all the glory, but this week…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 18
Chart Week: November 15, 1986 Song: “Human” – The Human League Chart Position: #2, 10th week on the chart. Peaked at #1 the week of November 22. I only got to listen to a few minutes of the local countdown two Sundays ago. I felt obligated, though, to write about it as that was the last old AT40 we will…