Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 72
Chart Week: April 26, 1980 Song: “Cars” – Gary Numan Chart Position: #22, 11th week on the chart. Peaked at #9 for three weeks in June. It has always bothered me that Gary Numan never seemed impressed with the biggest song of his career, 1980’s “Cars.” I’ve read several stories in which he speaks of it dismissively. On the song’s…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 71
Chart Week: April 19, 1986 Song: “A Little Bit of Love (Is All It Takes)” – New Edition Chart Position: #38, 8th week on the chart. Peaked at #38 for two weeks. Every teen pop group faces a dilemma as they get older: how do they maintain their audience as they, their fans, and their music matures? New Edition was…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 70
Chart Week: February 16, 1980 Song: “We Don’t Talk Anymore” – Cliff Richard Chart Position: #32, 18th week on the chart. Peaked at #7 for two weeks in January. I’m guessing most, if not all, of my readers have no memory of Cliff Richard. That’s kind of crazy, because he was one of the most popular singers in the world…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 69
Chart Week: February 5, 1977 Song: “Carry On Wayward Son” – Kansas Chart Position: #36, 7th week on the chart, debut week on Top 40. Peaked at #11 for two weeks in April. The world is a much smaller place today than when my generation was growing up. Thanks to cable/satellite TV, the Internet, and social media networks, trends spread…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 68
Chart Week: January 26, 1985 Song: “Do What You Do” – Jermaine Jackson Chart Position: #19, 14th week on the chart. Peaked at #13 the week of January 5. How do you define a single? That dilemma has long frustrated people who track the popularity of music. Over the years Billboard magazine has used a variety of definitions for how…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 67
Chart Week: January 12, 1985 Song: “The Boys of Summer” – Don Henley Chart Position: #16, 10th week on the chart. Peaked at #5 the week of February 9. You might wonder why I spend a few hours each week listening to re-broadcasts of a 40-ish year-old radio show that features songs I can listen to literally whenever I want.…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 66
Chart Week: January 10, 1981 Song: “More Than I Can Say” – Leo Sayer Chart Position: #10, 16th week on the chart. Peaked at #2 for five weeks. (I will be adding an element to these posts moving forward. I’m going to copy my man Tom Breihan and rate each song using his 10-point scale.) One of the only bummers…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 65
Chart Week: December 10, 1977 Song: “Here You Come Again” – Dolly Parton Chart Position: #12, 9th week on the chart. Peaked at #3 for two weeks in January, 1978. This edition features another musician origin story.[1] I really like this one; hope you do, too. It is a tiny miracle that anyone becomes a recording star. There are, what,…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 64
Chart Week: November 6, 1976 Song: “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” – Gordon Lightfoot Chart Position: #3, 11th week on the chart. Peaked at #2 for two weeks. This entry is cheating a little bit, as I’ve written about this song before. However, I heard not one but two countdowns last weekend that included it, so I take that…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 63
Chart Week: November 2, 1985 Song: “And We Danced” – The Hooters Chart Position: #23, 13th week on the chart. Peaked at #21 the week of October 26. (Fear not, music trivia fans! After a long dry spell, I’ve got three, maybe four, of these posts queued up for the next couple weeks.) “Who the fuck are The Hooters?” Those…