The 81 charts are among the cleanest-looking in my collection.
I didn’t much care for quite a few of the biggest hits that summer–“Endless Love,” “The One That You Love,” but especially “Hearts” and extra-especially “I Don’t Need You.” On the other hand, I was a fan of several songs that didn’t sniff the top 10:
“Gemini Dream” was in its third week of four at #1. Future chart-toppers included the Oak Ridge Boys (not too sure I’m proud of that one now), Foreigner, and Pat Benatar. Phil Collins got to #2, the Tubes reached #5, the Carpenters #6, and Greg Kihn #7 (that last one should have gotten higher). I love the Rosanne Cash song too.
I was getting my act together more in 76, too, except apparently I couldn’t get my numbers straight on the back side. The following week was one of those rare one-debut song shows: Red Sovine’s infamous “Teddy Bear” spent just one week on, at #40 (that show is one of the few times that Casey told a story about the first song on the show–I suspect he figured it might drop off the following week).
—
Here’s a bit more about my personal chart from 81. Sitting at #34 is what I suspect is close to a total obscurity now: “Mainstreet USA,” by Union. There was one Top 40 station in Cincinnati that gave it a fair amount of airplay that summer, but it didn’t chart at all nationally. I should have recognized the voice (that had to be why it was getting any play at all), but it didn’t register in the slightest. Many years later, I learned that Union was Randy Bachman’s followup to his work with Ironhorse. The group even included a reunion with Fred Turner. Three weeks later, this song reached #25 for me.
The Music of My Life 