Tag / Captain & Tennille

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Fifty Years Of Music – 1980

Fifty years ago, I made my first appeared on the Earth.  In celebration, we are going to take a look at the year-end Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for each year of my life and see what songs resonated with me at the time and if they continue to do so to this day.

We continue our look back at the music of my lifetime with 1980, the start of a new decade and the year I wrapped up kindergarten, entered the first grade, and turned six.  I still have no knowledge of these songs from their original release, but it is strange how few of that year’s songs have stood the test of time.  Only fourteen of the Hot 100 are familiar to me now, with only seven of them appearing in my collection in one way or another.

#100: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Refugee
iTunes stats: 19 plays

Regarded as one of Petty’s best songs, the track peaked at #15 on the charts.

#75: Billy Joel – You May Be Right
iTunes stats: N/A

Topping out at #7 on the Hot 100, the song was the lead track from Joel’s seventh album.

#66: Irene Cara – Fame
iTunes stats: N/A

The theme song of the film of the same name, it took home the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1980.

#64: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Don’t Do Me Like That
iTunes stats: 18 plays

The lead single from the band’s third album, it reached #10 on the charts, becoming the group’s only top ten hit.

#61: Anne Murray – Daydream Believer
iTunes stats: 17 plays

Murray’s version of the Monkees’ classic peaked at #12 on the Hot 100, while topping the Adult Contemporary charts and hitting #3 on the country chart.

#55: Air Supply – All Out of Love
iTunes stats: N/A

Known for singer Russell Hitchcock holding the final note for a then record 16.2 seconds, the track topped out at #2.

#20: Styx – Babe
iTunes stats: N/A

Styx’s first, and only, #1 hit, it was the penultimate single to top the charts in the 1970s.

#19: KC and the Sunshine Band – Please Don’t Go
iTunes stats: 12 plays

The song spent a single week atop the charts, shortly before the breakup of the group.

#11: Rupert Holmes – Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
iTunes stats: 16 plays

The song became the first in Billboard history to climb to #1 on the Hot 100 in two different decades, having been the final #1 hit of the 70s and then returning to the top of the charts in the second week of January.

#9: Billy Joel – It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me
iTunes stats: N/A

The track, Joel’s response to critics of the era’s changing musical styles, spent eleven weeks in the top ten, including two at the top of the charts at the end of July.

#8: Lipps Inc – Funkytown
iTunes stats: N/A

Spending four weeks at #1 on the Hot 100 in the spring, the track ranked #18 in a 2018 listing of the Top 25 Dance Pop Songs of All-Time.

#5: Captain & Tennille – Do That to Me One More Time
iTunes stats: 12 plays

Reaching the top of the charts in mid-February, the song ultimately became the group’s last to crack the Top 40.

#2: Pink Floyd – Another Brick in the Wall, Part II
iTunes stats: N/A

The track was nominated for a Grammy for Best Performance by a Rock Duo or Group and was ranked #384 on Rolling Stone‘s 2010 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

#1: Blondie – Call Me
iTunes stats: N/A

The theme song to American Gigolo, the song spent six consecutive weeks on the Hot 100, becoming the band’s biggest single.

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Fifty Years Of Music – 1975

Fifty years ago, I made my first appeared on the Earth.  In celebration, we are going to take a look at the year-end Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for each year of my life and see what songs resonated with me at the time and if they continue to do so to this day.

We continue our look back at the music of my lifetime with 1975, the first full year of my life.  Given my first birthday took place in late-October, I have no knowledge of these songs from their original release.  Only fifteen of the Hot 100 are familiar to me now, with only six of them appearing in my collection in one way or another.

#98: Bachman-Turner Overdrive – You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet
iTunes stats: N/A

Released in September of 1974, the song peaked at #1 on the Hot 100 charts in just seven weeks.

#67: Joe Cocker – You Are So Beautiful
iTunes stats: N/A

Released in November of 1974, the track, originally performed by Billy Preston earlier that year, became Cocker’s highest-charting solo hit, peaking at #5 on the charts.

#65: KC and the Sunshine Band – Get Down Tonight
iTunes stats: 18 plays

The beginning of the disco influence on the charts, the song, released in February of 1975, became the band’s first of five #1 hits.

#61: Styx – Lady
iTunes stats: N/A

Originally released in 1973 on a small, local label, the song was re-issued in November of 1974 after the band moved to A&M Records and made it to #6 in March of 1975.

#49: Barry White – You’re The First, The Last, My Everything
iTunes stats: 14 plays

Originally written as a country song in the early 1950s, White re-worked the lyrics and turned it into a disco song, which became his fourth top ten hit.

#39: Harry Chapin – Cat’s In The Cradle
iTunes stats: N/A

Chapin’s only #1 song, it was nominated for the 1975 Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2011.

#36: Barry Manilow – Mandy
iTunes stats: 21 plays

Switching from the original name of Brandy, the song became Manilow’s first #1 hit on the Hot 100 and Easy Listening charts.

#24: War – Why Can’t We Be Friends?
iTunes stats: N/A

The song, which required eight credited songwriters for its highly repetitive lyrics, managed to top out at #6 on the Hot 100 chart in the summer of 1975.

#23: Labelle – Lady Marmalade
iTunes stats: N/A

The track, which I only became aware of due to the 2001 cover featured in Moulin Rouge!, hit the top of the charts for one week in the spring of 1975.

#22: Van McCoy and the Soul City Symphony – The Hustle
iTunes stats: N/A

A staple of weddings for the last 40-some odd years, the disco track hit #1 during the summer of 1975 and took home the Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

#18: B.J. Thomas – (Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song
iTunes stats: 26 plays

Winner of the 1976 Grammy award for Best Country Song, the song became Thomas’ second #1 single in April.

#15: Carl Douglas – Kung Fu Fighting
iTunes stats: 20 plays

Owing its initial popularity to dance clubs, the tune, which ranked #100 in VH1’s listing of the greatest one-hit wonders, was released in the US after topping the British charts in September of 1974.

#11: John Denver – Thank God I’m a Country Boy
iTunes stats: N/A

The live version of the song released as a single became one of six songs released in 1975 that topped both the Hot 100 and the Hot Country Singles charts.

#2: Glen Campbell – Rhinestone Cowboy
iTunes stats: 11 plays

A cover of a song Campbell had heard on the radio while on tour in Australia, his version spent two weeks atop the Hot 100 during the summer of 1975.

#1: Captain & Tennille – Love Will Keep Us Together
iTunes stats: N/A

Originally recorded by Neil Sedaka in 1973, the title track from the duo’s debut album spent four weeks at #1 in June and July of 1975.

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Mix Tape Monday – Ballads

After my tape deck crapped out in 1997, I was stuck listening to either the radio or full albums in whatever order the artist intended. That all changed in 2001, when the new-fangled MP3 technology got combined with my new CD burner.

In addition to the occasional series of CDs I had burned in order to keep abreast of new music, I had created a bunch of genre-specific mixes that could be used both in the car and at the gym. This week we will take a look at the disc covering the world of (mostly) 70s ballads and love songs.  Many of these songs are not ones that a man in my position is “supposed” to enjoy, but occassionaly one wants to turn down the hard rock and roll and mellow out with a good tune.  So, without further ado, I bring you Ballads, volume 1.

Neil Diamond – Cracklin Rosie

From 1970, this was Neil Diamond’s first #1 hit in the good ol’ US of A.

iTunes stats: 4 plays, most recently on 2/23/2011

BJ Thomas – Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song

From 1975, this tune became the longest titled #1 in the history of Billboard’s Hot 100.

iTunes stats: 3 plays, most recently on 7/21/2011

Billy Joel – Piano Man

From 1973, this was Billy Joel’s first hit and peaked at #25 on the American pop charts.

iTunes stats: 3 plays, most recently on 2/1/2013

Barry Manilow – Mandy

Originally titled Brandy, Barry Manilow changed the name when he covered it in 1974 to avoid confusion with Looking Glass’s Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl).

iTunes stats: 5 plays, most recently on 2/8/2013

The Carpenters – Rainy Days And Mondays

Released in 1971, the song did not chart in the UK until 1993.

iTunes stats: 1 play, on 1/27/2011

Rupert Holmes – Escape (The Pina Colada Song)

Released in September 1979, it wound up being the last U.S. number one song of the 1970s.

iTunes stats: 2 plays, most recently on 7/13/2012

Eric Carmen – All By Myself

From 1975, this was Carmen’s first solo release after leaving the Raspberries.

iTunes stats: Never played

Neil Diamond – Sweet Caroline

The stadium sing-a-long was released in 1969 and again in 1972.

iTunes stats: 2 plays, most recently on 7/30/2012

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