A Reaching For The Stars Series Update
My momentum in this series has been off for a few months. No worries for the two or three of you who care about these posts; I’m not giving up on them! A combination of factors over the summer kept me from listening to American Top 40 very often. Less time in the kitchen, where I play the iHeart Radio…
Reaching For The Stars, Vol. 102
Chart Week: June 20, 1987 Song: “I Want Your Sex” – George Michael Chart Position: #36, 3rd week on the chart. Peaked at #2 the week of August 8. Hey, a countdown that landed on my birthday! How did I celebrate turning 16? Well, we lived in San Leandro, CA at the time, and had dinner the night before at…
Reaching For The Stars, Vol. 101
Chart Week: June 4, 1983 Song: “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” – Michael Jackson Chart Position: #22, 2nd week on the chart. Peaked at #5 for two weeks in July. High Fidelity was one of my favorite movies of the early 2000s. I loved the record store culture it celebrated. Hanging around with fellow music geeks, arguing about insanely obscure bits…
Reaching for the Stars: The First 100
With 100 Reaching for the Stars entries under my belt, it is time to break down where we’ve been, AT40 style. It should be no shock that there have been more entries from 1984 than any other year, a healthy 18 posts from the greatest year in pop music history. I was mildly surprised that 1982 was second with 16.…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 100
Chart Week: May 15, 1987 Song: “Don’t Dream It’s Over” – Crowded House Chart Position: #15, 18th week on the chart. Peaked at #2 for one week in April. A few months ago, as I moved into posts 90-plus in this series, I considered whether I should do something special for number 100. Then I realized that since these entries…
Reaching For The Stars, Vol. 99
Chart Week: April 30, 1983 Song: “Back On The Chain Gang” – The Pretenders Chart Position: #37, 21st week on the chart. Peaked at #5 for three weeks in March and April. The Pretenders were on the verge of big things in 1982. They already had a #1 hit in the UK – 1979’s “Brass In Pocket,” which maxed out…
Reaching For The Stars, Vol. 98
Chart Week: April 3, 1982 Song: “I’ve Never Been To Me” – Charlene Chart Position: #32, 8th week on the chart. Peaked at #3 for three weeks in May/June. Worst Song Ever. That’s a heavy crown to wear. Were I to sit down and figure out my least favorite songs of the Eighties, Charlene’s sole Top 40 hit would for…
Reaching For The Stars, Vol. 97
Chart Week: February 25, 1984 Song: “Nobody Told Me” – John Lennon Chart Position: #7, 6th week on the chart. Peaked at #5 the week of March 3. I’ve been thinking about songs by dead people lately. There’s no mathematical way to quantify it, yet I keep trying to isolate the effect an artist’s death has on new music released…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 96
Chart Week: January 5, 1985 Song: “Centipede” – Rebbie Jackson Chart Position: #24, 14th week on the chart. This was its peak. This is at least the third entry in the RFTS series that is as much about the massive cultural impact of Michael Jackson as the highlighted song or artist.[1] This time we will see how Michael helped pull…
Reaching For The Stars, Vol. 95
Chart Week: December 16, 2023 Song: “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” – Darlene Love Chart Position: #21. Current all-time high is #15 the week of January 7, 2023. I heard the wonderful tidbit this post is built around earlier this year on an AT40 from December 1984. It was one of Casey’s “Special Reports,” music trivia blurbs not related to…