As 82 proceeded, signs that my chart-keeping days might end before long abounded. I made predictions far less frequently, and I wasn’t listening enough to get all the extras and LDDs, either. On the plus side, my printing was as neat as it ever was!
This was in the middle of the period Billboard‘s chartmeister was imposing conditions that made it difficult for songs to begin falling, regularly leading to clogged charts and unusual runs. Still, it’s strange to see “Heat of the Moment” and “Don’t You Want Me” temporarily stalling out here. And note that I completely screwed up the name of “Let It Whip.”
Over to the Harris charts. It’s a little jarring to me now to see this Rick Springfield song at the top. Huey and Vangelis are the former #1’s; Tommy Tutone is the only future chart-topper listed (it had a four-week run). I’ll highlight the songs I had at #s 7, 8, and 9. The Greg Guidry and LeRoux songs had reached #17 and #18 respectively in real life, but clearly I saw things differently. “Since You’re Gone” was the third (!) Cars song to peak at #41 on the Hot 100–the other two were “Good Times Roll” and “It’s All I Can Do.” All three could be in the conversation for best near-misses of all-time. It’s a little embarrassing to see the Dr. Hook song do so well, but I give myself full marks for having the Tom Tom Club make the top 25.
Finally, there’s this past weekend’s 5/21/77 chart. Two weeks earlier was the point at which I’d started putting #1 at the top of the front page, rather than #40. This was the last of a three-week run where I used light green notebook paper. I have a few earlier charts on purple, orange, pink, or a blue-green. The following week, it was yellow, but thereafter it was forever and always white.
Check out the attempted use of the Kiss logo!
The Music of My Life 