Casey Kasem's American Top 40 - The 70s

scotchandcigar said:
You like the artists, and I'd understand if you preferred their newer stuff because it's more in your era. But they're both rockers, and I'd think that you'd at least have some regard for their rock classics (the ones their fans come out to see). But their big rockers are "bad" in the world of sadchild. Odd.
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IdRatherBeSkiing said:
I was not disputing that they do use that song to close. But that does not make me any less surprised.
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I am surprised Mr Blue Sky is such a highly-regarded ELO song. I'm looking at their discography and it does seem to mostly be an "era of the band" thing for me. Not into "Strange Magic" or "Mr Blue Sky". "Livin Thing" is ok if it comes on but I'd never choose to hear it. I like "Calling America" best and "I'm Alive" is pretty good. I just went into my high-fives thread and don't have ELO in there, so they don't even have five songs I like enough to include them there. Honestly my favorite work by Jeff Lynne is post-ELO like Harrison's Cloud Nine, Petty's Full Moon Fever and The Traveling Wilburys singles from the first album.

I think the term "bad" may be what's throwing it off. I've long toyed with the idea of a 5 star system that explains how I feel about the songs better:

5 - Great song! ["Bohemian Rhapsody"]
4 - It's good, always glad to hear it ["Hammer To Fall"]
3 - It's ok, wouldn't go out of my way for it though ["Flash"]
2 - Not my thing, but I can see how some may like it ["I Want To Break Free"]
1 - This is shit, fight me ["Body Language"]

With this system, Mr Blue Sky and Load-out/Stay are 2's. Not 'eww gross' but 'hey - you do you, but I'm just not into it'.

As for disliking Load-out/Stay for one bad part, I only mentioned that part because I already did a full explanation somewhere else. Something about Load Out sounding more like 'my dad's music than mine'.
 
I am sure I posted this somewhere but my ELO top 10 (also does not include "Mr. Blue Sky"):

All songs are *** unless otherwise noted. If song is from "Discovery" or "Time" (my favourite ELO albums) this is noted. [] is position in my top NNN list. Also "Xanadu" is not included as it is with Olivia Newton-John. It would be #3 if it was included.

10. The Diary of Horace Wimp (Discovery)
9. Sweet Talkin' Woman
8. Last Train To London (Discovery)
7. Confusion (Discovery)
6. Roll Over Beethoven
5. Rock 'N' Roll Is King
4. Turn To Stone ****
3. Hold On Tight (Time) ***** [85]
2. Don't Bring Me down (Discovery) ***** [62]
1. Shine A Little Love (Discovery) ***** [49]
 
IdRatherBeSkiing said:
10. The Diary of Horace Wimp (Discovery)
9. Sweet Talkin' Woman
8. Last Train To London (Discovery)
7. Confusion (Discovery)
6. Roll Over Beethoven
5. Rock 'N' Roll Is King
4. Turn To Stone ****
3. Hold On Tight (Time) ***** [85]
2. Don't Bring Me down (Discovery) ***** [62]
1. Shine A Little Love (Discovery) ***** [49]
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I'm a "no" on most of these, except for
Sweet Talkin' Woman - meh
Roll Over Beethoven - meh
Rock 'N Roll is King - meh
Turn to Stone - ok
Hold On Tight - meh
Don't Bring Me Down - good

The rest of my favorites are
Fire On High
Mr. Blue Sky
Living Thing
Telephone Line
Evil Woman
Strange Magic
Can't Get it Out of My Head
Do Ya

and I'm Alive from Xanadu is a meh
 
From your list, these would be on my list if it went greater than 10. Not sure order other than Telephone Line would be last:

Mr. Blue Sky
Living Thing
Telephone Line
Evil Woman
Strange Magic
Do Ya
 
IdRatherBeSkiing said:
If song is from "Discovery" or "Time" (my favourite ELO albums) this is noted.
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I meant to comment about this. It's understandable that when you go out and buy an album, and then play it repeatedly, you're likely to become fond of songs that don't get much popular radio airplay. God knows my collection contains mostly songs that few people have heard.
 
My son's dojo (up until summer last year when he went away to college) plays an inordinate amount of ELO. Probably their most-played artist. But it was always the same 4 or 5 songs, mostly "Don't Bring Me Down" and "Living Thing".
 
sadchild said:
I think the term "bad" may be what's throwing it off. I've long toyed with the idea of a 5 star system that explains how I feel about the songs better:

5 - Great song! ["Bohemian Rhapsody"]
4 - It's good, always glad to hear it ["Hammer To Fall"]
3 - It's ok, wouldn't go out of my way for it though ["Flash"]
2 - Not my thing, but I can see how some may like it ["I Want To Break Free"]
1 - This is shit, fight me ["Body Language"]
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Certainly, the term "bad" is one I struggle with. I have to keep reminding myself that you're not saying it's a bad song, but it's bad per your taste in music.

I don't usually rank songs, for this very reason. Some of the best pop songs ever made are one's I dislike, and I'm not going to call them bad just because of my taste.

However, there are plenty of songs that are total crap, and are popular for specious reasons. I wouldn't know how to rank these vs the prior category.
 
scotchandcigar said:
I meant to comment about this. It's understandable that when you go out and buy an album, and then play it repeatedly, you're likely to become fond of songs that don't get much popular radio airplay. God knows my collection contains mostly songs that few people have heard.
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Thinking about this, this doesn't always happen. Sometimes I buy an album expecting it to blow my socks off and only a couple songs grab me. I still have the album but rarely listen beyond the 2 or 3 initial plays to get it's feel.
 
IdRatherBeSkiing said:
Thinking about this, this doesn't always happen. Sometimes I buy an album expecting it to blow my socks off and only a couple songs grab me. I still have the album but rarely listen beyond the 2 or 3 initial plays to get it's feel.
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sadchild said:
Been many times I spent $9 on an album and only liked 1 or 2 songs no matter how hard I tried.
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Over the years, it's gone both ways. Sometimes I only like the songs I bought the album for, and sometimes I like the whole album. But I always had a rule: I never bought an album based on only 1 song. I had to hear at least 2 songs from an album to consider buying it.
 
scotchandcigar said:
Over the years, it's gone both ways. Sometimes I only like the songs I bought the album for, and sometimes I like the whole album. But I always had a rule: I never bought an album based on only 1 song. I had to hear at least 2 songs from an album to consider buying it.
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Back in the 90s, owning individual songs was not easy. So if I really liked the song, and the CD was not super expensive, I would buy it. I also would buy it if the band's last album was really good and i liked the current single. CD buying was a experience then. I would go downtown, have a supper, then go to the 4 different chains of CD stores on Yonge Street (within one block of each other) and look for the CDs on my list. Note the price of each then after all done go back and buy at the cheapest location. Then go home and start listening. I had some sort of portable player on so I was listening to music while doing this.

I think only one of those CD stores remains. The others went bankrupt long long ago.

Here was the most iconic one. The sign has been preserved.
sam.webp
 
IdRatherBeSkiing said:
Back in the 90s, owning individual songs was not easy. So if I really liked the song, and the CD was not super expensive, I would buy it. I also would buy it if the band's last album was really good and i liked the current single. CD buying was a experience then. I would go downtown, have a supper, then go to the 4 different chains of CD stores on Yonge Street (within one block of each other) and look for the CDs on my list. Note the price of each then after all done go back and buy at the cheapest location. Then go home and start listening. I had some sort of portable player on so I was listening to music while doing this.

I think only one of those CD stores remains. The others went bankrupt long long ago.

Here was the most iconic one. The sign has been preserved.
View attachment 9837
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I remember that! The sign was still there in 2010 or so, right?
I stayed at a hotel a bit further up Yonge Street for a conference back then.

Funny how Yonge Street is the only Canadian word that doesn't have a "U" in it........
 
HecticArt said:
I remember that! The sign was still there in 2010 or so, right?
I stayed at a hotel a bit further up Yonge Street for a conference back then.

Funny how Yonge Street is the only Canadian word that doesn't have a "U" in it........
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It's been moved now. A bit east on Dundas.

Yes, they were out of u's the day they named the street.
 
IdRatherBeSkiing said:
I also would buy it if the band's last album was really good and i liked the current single.
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I got burnt several times on that. The biggest being Quiet Riot Condition Critical Terminal and Twisted Sister Come Out And Play
IdRatherBeSkiing said:
CD buying was a experience then. I would go downtown...
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I used to drive an hour from NH to Boston, park near Fenway, then hit a half-dozen music stores in the area. Only two remain.

Newbury Comics, but even they have moved most of the music into the basement. Upstairs it's figurines, wacky socks, trading cards, games, etc.

Nuggets, but I don't enjoy going in there anymore. It's laid out horribly and the staff have bad attitudes usually.
 
sadchild said:
I used to drive an hour from NH to Boston, park near Fenway, then hit a half-dozen music stores in the area.
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I also went to Newbury Comics a lot (various ones). But in my early days in New England - mid-80s to early 90s - when I was closer to the city, I'd spend a couple of hours at the Tower Records on Mass Ave in Boston. They had listening stations where you could hear a bunch of stuff that was just released. And I think it had 3 floors.

1723571042576.webp
 
Yep I remember it well too. It was one of my half-dozen stores. Along with Planet Records, that was a big one for me. One of those listening stations is how I got into Vertical Horizon (before they hit #1) with...

 
For reference and amusement, the stores were:
  • Sam the Record Man
  • A&A records (right next door to Sam's with sign almost as big)
  • HMV (was around as a chain until about 5 years ago. This location closed earlier than that)
  • Sunrise Records (still there. the smallest of the 4).
 
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