80s0n8 Big 40 Countdown Schedule

[MonoStereo]

Thanks for the kind words about my post - I'll check this thread more often, & if I have something I think I can add of value I'll try to do it.

And the late 80's were definitely a weird time for the Top 40 charts, in that it was really the beginning of the time where they were starting to become irrelevant ( IMO ). You've got people listening to rap/hip hop, but it's barely reflected. And the alternative stuff is starting to take hold a little, but you wouldn't know it from this.

I can remember around this time stuff like Metallica's "One" & I think an Ice Cube song sneaking into the Top 40...& how weird it sounded with Casey Kasem introducing them.

 

[sadchild]

1989:

Good 15
Okay 8
Bad 17

26: MY BRAVE FACE – PAUL McCARTNEY

Shame this is his last top 40 (excluding that garbage with Kanye). These should have been big hits:

2013: Queenie Eye
2018: Come On To Me
2018: Confidante (wasn't released as a single but shoulda been)

11: TOY SOLDIERS - MARTIKA

My friend's son's & roommate's guess at #1

5: IF YOU DON’T KNOW ME BY NOW – SIMPLY RED

2: GOOD THING – FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS

My guess at #1. I win!

1: BABY DON’T FORGET MY NUMBER – MILLI VANILLI

We're in the middle of a ten week stretch where there's a different #1 song every week! Summer of '89 is a tough time play this "guess the #1 song" game!

#53 Cure "Fascination Street"
#58 Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock "Joy & Pain"
#71 Queen "I Want It All"
#74 10,000 Maniacs "Trouble Me"
#80 White Lion "Little Fighter"
#85 Billy Squier "Don't Say You Love Me"
#91 Robert Palmer "Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming"
#93 U2 "All I Want Is You"
#99 REM "Pop Song 89"

All shoulda made the 40. Like I put in my post above, and @MonoStereo sorta echoed too, junk was filling the top 40 but good stuff was in the bottom half and bubbling under. This was only a couple years before the Hot 100 switched from people calling in what they were (supposedly) playing & selling to actually tracking it. Maybe payola was helping put all the sh*t in the top 40 at the time? And that's what made it necessary to actually track it for real?

#86 Jacksons "Nothin' (That Compares 2 U)"

New Jack(son) Swing.

Won't reach the top 40:
#50 Cult "Fire Woman"
#53 Cure "Fascination Street"
#58 Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock "Joy & Pain"
#59 Chicago "We Can Last Forever"
#60 Animotion "Calling It Love"
#65 Whistle "Right Next To Me"
#68 Kevin Raleigh "Moonlight On Water"
#70 Holly Johnson "Love Train"
#71 Queen "I Want It All"
#73 Aretha Franklin/Whitney Houston "It Isn't, It Wasn't..."
#74 10,000 Maniacs "Trouble Me"
#75 Pajama Party "Yo No Se"
#77 38 Special "Comin' Down Tonight"
#78 Wang Chung "Praying To A New God"
#80 White Lion "Little Fighter"
#81 Q-feel "Dancing In Heaven"
#85 Billy Squier "Don't Say You Love Me"
#86 Jacksons "Nothin' (That Compares 2 U)"
#90 Dead Or Alive "Come Home With Me Baby"
#91 Robert Palmer "Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming"
#92 Surface "Closer Than Friends"
#93 U2 "All I Want Is You"
#95 TKA "You Are The One"
#97 Mica Paris "My One Temptation"
#99 REM "Pop Song 89"

 

[HecticArt]

#44 Gino Vannelli "Black Cars"

I was on a guitar nerd forum today and a particular effect pedal had been released in both blue and black. Someone asked if there was a difference between them. Someone else replied that according to Gino Vanelli, black cars looks better in the shade.

I don't check this thread usually,

You should more often. Those are great comments.

CHR station, but we also pulled a lotta stuff from the Rock charts. And at nights ( the shifts I was on-air ) we could be a borderline AOR station at times.

O'm not down with the lingo. CHR & AOR?

"All You Zombies" was an AWFUL choice for 1st single from "Nervous Night",

I love All You Zombies. I thought it was different enough that it really set them apart from everyone else. Maybe it wasn't as radio friendly / hit oriented as the others, but I thought it was a great way to burst onto the scene.

That was a great read about the 85 countdown

Yep.

Classic releases from '89 that shaped the decade to come:

2 Live Crew - As Nasty As They Wanna Be
Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
Cure - Disintegration
Depeche Mode "Personal Jesus" CD Single (won't reach the 40 until Feb 1990)
Faith No More - The Real Thing ("Epic" won't chart until 1990)
Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine
Pop Will Eat Itself - This Is The Day/Hour/This (later given a US deal by Trent Reznor NIN)
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Mother's Milk

A major shift indeed.

Plus some stuff released in 1988 didn't hit the mainstream hard until 1989 (or at least I didn't hear it until then):

Danzig - Danzig
Enya - Watermark
Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking
Living Colour - Vivid
Metallica - And Justice For All

Big stuff that wasn't in a super chart friendly format when it came out.

 

[sadchild]

@HecticArt 50 points to the person on that guitar pedal thread!

 

[HecticArt]

1: BABY DON’T FORGET MY NUMBER – MILLI VANILLI

#53 Cure "Fascination Street"
#58 Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock "Joy & Pain"
#71 Queen "I Want It All"
#74 10,000 Maniacs "Trouble Me"
#80 White Lion "Little Fighter"
#85 Billy Squier "Don't Say You Love Me"
#91 Robert Palmer "Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming"
#93 U2 "All I Want Is You"
#99 REM "Pop Song 89"

All shoulda made the 40.

They were robbed.

Won't reach the top 40:
#50 Cult "Fire Woman"

This was a crime.

 

[HecticArt]

@HecticArt 50 points to the person on that guitar pedal thread!

I actually LOL'd

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

Won't reach the top 40:
#71 Queen "I Want It All"
#99 REM "Pop Song 89"

This weeks surprises for me.

 

[MonoStereo]

O'm not down with the lingo. CHR & AOR?

CHR : Contemporary Hits Radio ( aka Top 40 in earlier times )

AOR : Album Oriented Rock ( at the time, we're talking stuff like Led Zeppelin/Pink Floyd/Boston, etc. And hard rock stuff like Ratt/KISS/Motley Crue )

The station I worked for ( KQWK Quick Rock 97 in the Joplin, MO market ) was more CHR in the daytime, & more AOR from about 8pm-5am ).

 

[HecticArt]

Ahhhh. Thanks for the translation.

 

[sadchild]

"Quick Rock"? Who named it that?

(I get it that QWK=quick)

 

[kingchuck69]

#93 U2 "All I Want Is You"

It did make the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 charts in 1994 thanks to its use in "Reality Bites", peaking at #38.

 

[MonoStereo]

"Quick Rock"? Who named it that?

(I get it that QWK=quick)

The owners, I guess. They had come to the market after succeeding with a similar station with a similar name in Pennsylvania ( where they were from ).We were the #1 station, too - so I guess "if it ain't broke...".

 

[HecticArt]

"if it ain't broke...".

Play the Fixx on it?

 

[MonoStereo]

Play the Fixx on it?

But if we do that, one thing leads to another...

 

[HecticArt]

If we keep this up, we'll be driven out.....

 

[sadchild]

Yikes! Will nothing will save us?!

 

[MonoStereo]

Nope. We stand or fall.

 

[Aaron]

7/7/1984

40. BOYS DO FALL IN LOVE - ROBIN GIBB
39. PRIME TIME - THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT
38. FAREWELL MY SUMMER LOVE - MICHAEL JACKSON
37. ALIBIS - SERGIO MENDES
36. SHE'S MINE - STEVE PERRY
35. IT'S A MIRACLE - CULTURE CLUB
34. ROMANCING THE STONE - EDDY GRANT
33. STUCK ON YOU - LIONEL RICHIE
32. IF EVER YOU'RE IN MY ARMS AGAIN - PEABO BRYSON
31. PANAMA - VAN HALEN
30. SUNGLASSES AT NIGHT - COREY HART
29. SISTER CHRISTIAN - NIGHT RANGER
28. I'M FREE - KENNY LOGGINS
27. WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT - TINA TURNER
26. DON'T WALK AWAY - RICK SPRINGFIELD
25. NO WAY OUT - JEFFERSON STARSHIP
24. I CAN DREAM ABOUT YOU - DAN HARTMAN
23. STAY THE NIGHT - CHICAGO
22. MODERN DAY DELILAH - VAN STEPHENSON
21. STATE OF SHOCK - THE JACKSONS AND MICK JAGGER
20. BREAKING... THERE'S NO STOPPING US - OLLIE AND JERRY
19. GHOSTBUSTERS - RAY PARKER JR.
18. OH SHERRIE - STEVE PERRY
17. SAD SONGS (SAY SO MUCH) - ELTON JOHN
16. DANCE HALL DAYS - WANG CHUNG
15. BORDERLINE - MADONNA
14. INFATUATION - ROD STEWART
13. DOCTOR! DOCTOR! - THOMPSON TWINS
12. MAGIC - THE CARS
11. LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE BOY - DENIECE WILLIAMS
10. LEGS - ZZ TOP
9. THE HEART OF ROCK AND ROLL - HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS
8. ALMOST PARADISE - MIKE RENO AND ANN WILSON
7. TIME AFTER TIME - CYNDI LAUPER
6. EYES WITHOUT A FACE - BILLY IDOL
5. THE REFLEX - DURAN DURAN
4. SELF CONTROL - LAURA BRANIGAN
3. JUMP (FOR MY LOVE) - THE POINTER SISTERS
2. DANCING IN THE DARK - BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
1. WHEN DOVES CRY - PRINCE

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

My guess at #1 was Prince but was "Let's Go Crazy". I thought When Doves Cry was a lot earlier.

 

[HecticArt]

I'm around 14 or 15 for this countdown.