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Today’s Top 5: June 16th, 1979

Posted: June 16, 2019 in 1970s, 1979, Anita Ward, Donna Summer, Randy VanWarmer, Rickie Lee Jones, Sister Sledge, Supertramp, Top 5
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It’s been a few months since I blasted into the past, and the long break makes it all the more mind-blowing to think that I wasn’t just alive 40 years ago this day, but was fully cognizant of the world around me – well, as fully cognizant as a 13-going-on-14-year-old can be. 

To better set the mood for this particular post: It was a Saturday, and the weather in my Delaware Valley neighborhood was, in a word, wondrous: The temperature peaked at 84 Fahrenheit degrees in the afternoon, and the blue sky was mostly free of clouds.

The biggest news of the day, as indicated by the above screenshot from the Philadelphia Inquirer, was the decision of Pennsylvania governor Dick Thornburgh, a Republican, to back a 3-cent-per-gallon gas tax to fund PennDOT (aka the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation). Then, as now, potholes needed to be filled! Another, even more steep increase in fuel costs was hidden further down the front page, however: Coffee prices were expected to rise by 40 cents due to a recent frost in Brazil.

Desmond Ryan, the Philadelphia Inquirer’s movie critic, reviews the new film “Walk Proud” on Page 5A; it’s a movie I’ve never heard of but, apparently, earned some notoriety for casting white-bread Robby Benson as a Chicano gang leader. That’s not why I’m highlighting the movie section, however. This tidbit, from Ryan’s “On Movies” column, is:

Allan Carr’s “Discoland,” for those willfully ignorant of yesteryear kitsch culture, found its way into the movie theaters the following June as “Can’t Stop the Music,” and the new title proved oxymoronic given that the disco beats on the soundtrack had plummeted from popularity by then. Not that this week’s charts hint at the downfall.

Closer to home: I’ve revisited this stretch of months before, so won’t delve too deep into the intricacies of my life. (If you’re interested in an in-depth flashback, click here.) My days in eighth grade had just wrapped, and – aside from an upcoming visit to an uncle’s farm – was looking forward to sleeping late, hanging with friends, enjoying matinee movies, and listening to lots of music – either selections from my growing LP/45 collection, Michael St. John’s weekend oldie show on WPEN-AM, or my favorite station, WIFI-92, which was a Top 40-oriented station that played pretty much anything that was a hit. Disco, rock, pop, country, R&B – so long as it was hot, it made the playlist. 

And, with that, here’s today’s Top 5: June 16th, 1979 (via Weekly Top 40): 

1) Donna Summer – “Hot Stuff.” Holding tight to the No. 1 slot for the second week in the row is this taut pop-rock track, which was the lead single from Donna’s Bad Girls album. Former Steely Dan and Doobie Brother guitarist – and future Defense Department consultant – Jeff “Skunk” Baxter handles the incendiary guitar break.

2) Sister Sledge – “We Are Family.” Nipping at the heels of “Hot Stuff” is the soon-to-be Pittsburgh Pirates anthem, which was and remains a catchy tune that only a Music Grinch could dislike. Here’s some trivia: It’s the first song written and produced by Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards for a non-Chic act.

3) Anita Ward – “Ring My Bell.” Written by former Stax artist Frederick Knight (“I’ve Been Lonely for So Long”) for 11-year-old Stacy Lattisaw to sing, this tune wound up being reworked for Memphis-born Anita Ward, a former schoolteacher who held a degree in psychology. She initially rejected it, but Knight – whose label she was recording for – insisted; and, thus, a future No. 1 hit was born.

4) Randy VanWarmer – “Just When I Needed You Most.” The No. 4 song of the week is this sensitive, soft-rock classic, which was inspired not by a girl, but – a la Neil Young’s “Long May You Run” – a beloved car. In the years since, it’s been covered by a wide range of artists, including Tim McGraw, Skeeter Davis and Bob Dylan. 

5) Donna Summer – “Bad Girls.” Jumping into the Top 5 is this propulsive number, the second single from Summer’s double-LP of the same name.

And two bonuses…

6) Supertramp – “The Logical Song.” Odd, I just discussed this song with a coworker last week and here it is, at the pinnacle of its popularity. For whatever reason, it just takes me back to many a late-spring/early summer/late-summer day, when friends and I played in the middle of the never-busy street in front of someone’s house. On a less personal front, no less than Paul McCartney cited it as his favorite song of 1979…

7) Rickie Lee Jones – “Chuck E.’s in Love.” Yeah, I’ve featured this exact clip in another 1979 Top 5. Maybe two. It’s such a blast of effervescent fun, however, how could I not feature it again? (For the record, it clocks in at No. 7 this week.)

Today’s Top 5: November 11, 1978 (via Weekly Top 40)

Posted: November 10, 2018 in 1970s, 1978, Al Stewart, Ambrosia, Anne Murray, Donna Summer, Foreigner, Linda Ronstadt, Nick Gilder, Top 5
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It’s safe to say that, when it comes to popular music, 1978 was no better or worse than most years. Disco was hot, but so was pop, rock, country and soul/R&B. I was 13, and listened to WIFI-92, a Top 40 station in the Philly market, and an oldies show that WPEN-AM featured every Saturday night. (I used to send in requests for Jan & Dean songs via postcards.) And, when flush with cash, I usually frequented the Hatboro Music Shop, which was run by the town’s future mayor, Joe Celano.

But although I knew pop music present and past, I was ignorant of much – AOR rock is one example. I remember tuning in a station recommended by a classmate – either WMMR or ‘YSP – and thinking I’d turned the dial to a country station when the deejay announced Jethro Tull was up after the commercial. The only Jethro I knew was Bodine (aka Max Baer Jr. on The Beverly Hillbillies), so I tuned away.

I’ve written about the year before, of course, although not this month, so I’d like to give a shoutout to The Hideaway’s rundown of the WLS chart for 11/4/78, which led me to deep dive into this week. (As I tweeted Herc, “that fall has stuck with me through the decades.” It may not have been the greatest year, but it was a great time to be a kid.

And, with that, here’s today’s Top 5: November 11, 1978 (via Weekly Top 40).

1) Donna Summer – “MacArthur Park.” Okay, so some folks absolutely, positively hate this song in any form, and absolutely, positively hate Donna’s disco-fied rendition, which topped the charts this week and would remain there for the remainder of the month. Me? I hear my first months as a teen. 

2) Anne Murray – “You Needed Me.” The No. 2 song in the land came courtesy of the Canadian snowbird, who was gliding down from the chart’s peak, which she’d perched on the previous week. 

3) Foreigner – “Double Vision.” A song inspired by a vicious hockey check? That’s what Lou Gramm claims led him and Mick Jones to craft this million-selling single, the title tune to the band’s second LP. 

4) Ambrosia – “How Much I Feel.” According the Wikipedia, this SoCal band scored five Top 40 singles with their soft-rock sound from 1975 to 1980.

5) Nick Gilder – “Hot Child in the City.” The platinum-selling smash topped the charts in October, but remains a heatseeker this week at No. 5. The inspiration for it? Gilder’s shock at seeing underage girls being trafficked on the streets of Hollywood. He wrote the song from the perspective of a lecher.

And two bonuses…

6) Al Stewart – “Time Passages.” In its seventh week on the charts, Stewart’s classic musings on the passing of time – which was produced by Alan Parsons – rises two notches to No. 17. This video, by the way, was recorded on Nov. 12, 1978…

7) Linda Ronstadt – “Ooo Baby Baby.” Debuting on the charts at No. 59 is this wondrous remake of the 1965 Miracles’ hit, the second single released from her Living in the USA album. It would peak at No. 7 on the Billboard charts.

Today’s Top 5: July 7th, 1979

Posted: October 21, 2017 in 1970s, 1979, Anita Ward, Donna Summer, Kenny Rogers, Paul McCartney, Rickie Lee Jones, Supertramp
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Thursday night found us at what sometimes seems like our home away from home, the World Cafe Live in West Philly, to see Rickie Lee Jones. If I’ve done my math right, it was the seventh time that I’ve seen the jazzy singer-songwriter, who’s long been a favorite. Though she had a cold, she delivered a solid set that was accented by spellbinding moments – especially on “We Belong Together.”

That’s not my video, I hasten to add. We were in the front row, where experience has taught me that the upward angle guarantees the overhead stage lights will appear like glowing orbs on my iPhone videos. But here’s a photo I took:

“We Belong Together” hails from her classic 1981 album Pirates, of course, and really should’ve been released as a single, as it’s one of her best songs.

Another highlight came earlier in the night with the second single released from her 1979 eponymous debut, “Chuck E.’s in Love,” which is the first thing I – and most folks, I’m sure – heard by her. According to Weekly Top 40, it made its chart debut – at No. 65 – on April 28th, the same week that Blondie’s “disco song,” “Heart of Glass,” topped the charts. Over the course of the next two months, it slowly weaved its way through the disco and pop dross cluttering Top 40 until, on June 9th, it hit entered the Top 10 at No. 8.

Four weeks later, on July 7th, it peaked at No. 4 (a spot it would hold for an additional week).

That July wasn’t much different from what I described in Today’s Top 5: June 1979 or Today’s Top 5: September 29, 1979 other than, for me, school being out. There was also this: I was 13 when the month began, and 14 when it ended. Beyond that, according to Wikipedia, the month’s notable events included, on the 2nd, the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin being introduced; on the 8th, L.A. passing a gay and lesbian rights bill; and, on the 16th, Steve Dahl’s “Disco Demolition” stunt at Chicago’s Comiskey Park going kaboom.

Among the albums released this month were Neil Young & Crazy Horse’s Rust Never Sleeps, the B-52’s debut and the Kinks’ Low Budget, but I wouldn’t discover them for quite some time. I was a kid on a budget, after all, and albums were often a luxury. And, too, there’s this: I was (likely) still grooving to a release from the month before: Wings’ Back to the Egg.

And, with that, here’s today’s Top 5: July 7th, 1979 (via Weekly Top 40):

1) Anita Ward – “Ring My Bell.” Some people hate this pure shot of disco fluff, which was enjoying its second week at No. 1, and it’s understandable why they might. But it has a certain charm…

2) Donna Summer – “Bad Girls.” As I noted after her untimely death, Donna Summer wasn’t just the “queen of disco” in the late ‘70s, but the queen of the Top 40. This week, she holds the No. 2 spot with the propulsive second single from the Bad Girls album; it was No. 3 the previous week, and would hit No. 1 the next. According to the Wikipedia entry, she was inspired to write the song after she was stopped one night by a police officer who mistook her for a prostitute. Who knew?

3) Donna Summer – “Hot Stuff.” And here’s additional proof of Summer’s chart dominance: “Hot Stuff,” the lead single from Bad Girls, dropped to No. 3 this week from No. 2, and before that had enjoyed a three-week run as No. 1. It would remain in the Top 10 for several more weeks, too. One of the interesting things about the song, to me at least, is the way it effortlessly blends rock and disco. (Check out the guitar solo at the end.)

4) Rickie Lee Jones – “Chuck E.’s in Love.” Rickie Lee’s biggest hit is also one of her greatest songs, a true effervescent shot of upbeat joy. This week, it reached No. 4 on the charts – a spot it would hold for one more week before falling out of the Top 10.

Here’s a cool video of her singing it on stage back in the day…

5) Kenny Rogers – “She Believes in Me.” Disco may have ruled the charts in the late ‘70s, but as evidenced by “Chuck E.’s in Love,” there was more to the era’s music than fast beats. And just as hip sounds could find their way in the charts. So could country – especially when sung by Mr. Rogers.

And a few bonuses…

6) Supertramp – “The Logical Song.” Mr. Spock’s theme song, from Supertramp’s smash Breakfast in America LP, peaks at No. 6 this week.

7) Wings – “Getting Closer.” Back to the Egg sported a cool cover, and some good-to-great tunes. Not Paul McCartney’s best, but far from his worse – New Wave in theory, at least in spots, but Old Wave in practice, through and through. This, the lead single, clocks in at No. 31, and would stall a few weeks later at No. 20.

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