Hits and Misses

Jamie Music History #16

A favorite haunt of mine in those days was a radio station out of Vancouver that identified themselves as LG73. They were big on keeping track of which songs were hits; in fact, they would do a top 40 countdown every Saturday. I learned a lot of songs between 1980-83. I sometimes wrote down the list and took it to school, thinking someone might be interested.

Notable memories.

When Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes took the number one position, I was disgusted. Why does everyone enjoy a song about a prostitute?

Another One Bites The Dust by Queen was the number 1 song for 18 weeks straight. I knew that Queen had written the anthem for the homosexual movement a couple years before, which bothered me, and the song bothered me, too. I did not like it much, but it got into my bones anyway.

I remember when Just Like Starting Over started climbing the charts. I wondered why on earth people thought that was a great song. It sounded 20 years old to me. And who on earth was John Lennon? (Newbie alert! Newbie alert!) He used to be part of a famous band, I later learned, called the Beatles. I didn’t know who he was, and he seemed like a doofus to me…

I really liked the sound of REO Speedwagon, but their lyrics…

And the Police… they were just good. What an awesome band. They were at their heights about the time I left my radio and went to Bible school.

There are quite a lot of songs from this era in my guitar teaching files.

1979 was a bad year for the Canadian and American public. The number one song, the song they loved the most, was a guy lusting after an underage girl (My Sharona – The Knack); the number two song was celebrating prostitution (Bad Girls – Donna Summer), number three was a mindless dance song (Le Freak – Chic), the number four song was Rod Stewart hitting on everybody (Do You Think I’m Sexy?), and Gloria Gainor got dumped by some guy in the number six song, and she is ANGRY about it (I Will Survive). In number seven, Donna Summer is back, declaring how she will sleep with any man who is warm (Hot Stuff), and in song number ten the girly-voiced Robert John Is sending his illicit lover out the back door while his wife is coming in the front, all the while encouraging her to remember with fondness the good times they had (Sad Eyes).

In 1980 Air Supply was lost in love, but then they ran out and were all out of love. This band caught your attention with their vapid love songs, which seemed great for a day or so, but it was easy to grow quickly tired of Air Supply.

There was one enduring song from 1980. Another Brick In The Wall, Pink Floyd’s only commercial hit, made it to number two. Maybe Bette Midler’s The Rose, or Bob Seger’s Against the Wind. Not much.