Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 47
Chart Week: August 14, 1982 Song: “Someday, Someway” – Marshall Crenshaw Chart Position: #40, 6th week on the chart. Peaked at #36 for two weeks in August/September. Some one-hit wonders are easy to explain. There are the accidental hits, songs by unknown artists that get tied to popular movies or TV shows. There are novelty hits that piggyback on some…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 46
Chart Week: August 2, 1986 Song: “Your Wildest Dreams” – The Moody Blues Chart Position: #20, 16th week on the chart. Peaked at #9 for two weeks in July. Having a teenage crush on a teacher is kind of a rite of passage, the stuff dozens – perhaps hundreds – of trashy novels and movies have been based on over…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 45
Chart Week: July 3, 1982Song: “Hurts So Good” – John CougarChart Position: #5, 11th week on the chart. Peaked at #2 for four weeks in August. This entry is about how the biological information Casey Kasem shared on American Top 40 was not always accurate. John Cougar (Mellencamp) is the perfect artist to demonstrate this point, as he charted under…
40 at 50
I missed an absolutely huge anniversary over the holiday weekend and have been grievously late in finally getting to it. Last weekend was the 50th anniversary of the first American Top 40 broadcast. If you follow here closely you know that there has likely been no bigger pop culture influence on my life than AT40. I remember my parents and…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 44
Chart Week: June 23, 1984Song: “Obscene Phone Caller” – RockwellChart Position: #39, 8th week on the chart. Peaked at #35 the week of June 30. I have always prided myself for knowing minor hits by artists who have been labeled as One Hit Wonders by the general public. Others find this trait annoying, but it’s kind of too late to…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 43
Chart Week: May 10, 1986 Song: “Be Good To Yourself” – Journey Chart Positions: #20, 5th week on the chart. Peaked at #9 the week of May 31. Remember when it used to be a surprise when new music arrived? At least for kids. Before the internet, before I had cable TV, and before I could read music magazines regularly,…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 42
Chart Week: April 23, 1983 Song: “One On One” – Daryl Hall & John Oates Chart Position: #7, 13th week on the chart. Peaked at #7 for three weeks. Sometimes I come across anecdotes on AT40 that make me giddy. For example, I first heard this episode a few years back while in the car one Sunday morning. I heard…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol 41
Chart Week: April 10, 1982 Song: “Genius of Love” – Tom Tom Club Chart Position: #37, 12th week on the chart. Peaked at #31 for two weeks. (Administrative note: this is the second RFTS entry from this chart week. The first is here.) This entry is both about the song and about the radio station on which I heard it…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 40
Chart Week: March 30, 1985 Songs: “Missing You” – Diana Ross, “Nightshift” – The Commodores Chart Positions: #15, 18th week on the chart. Peaked at #10 for two weeks in April. #10, 10th week on the chart. Peaked at #3 the week of April 20. Music fans know where I’m going with this entry. These two songs were both tributes…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 39
Chart Week: March 24, 1984 Song: “They Don’t Know” – Tracey Ullman Chart Position: #30, 5th week on the chart. Peaked at #8 for two weeks in April/May. It’s been a minute or two since I’ve done one of these. Part of that is because my AT40 workflow has changed. My normal, weekday routine is to turn on the iHeart…