With two more recent Premiere rebroadcasts from The Charting Years (TM pending), it’s time for another dip into my archives.
The 2/17/79 show is a little notable in AT40 history because it was the last one before Casey started recapping Last Week’s Top 3. For at least the next three years, #40 was the fourth song played on the show; as the years passed, time allowed only two, one, or (by the end of the run) zero of the previous top 3 to be played. Kasem always mentioned what had been in those slots at the top of the show, though. The Lesley Gore LDD is a real treat–it took a while to wrap my head around the fact that she was just 33 32 at the time of this show.
This past weekend we were treated to a nice Feb 82 countdown, even if it does have two novelty songs:
As was often the case by this point, I didn’t appear to listen to the tail end of the show–I didn’t know until Sunday that “I Will Survive” had been the second LDD. Noteworthy #1: Joan Jett’s portentous 21-spot leap. Noteworthy #2: All four debuts were by artists making their first appearance on the show. (How often did that sort of thing happen? Sounds like a mini-research project.) Huey Lewis is the headliner, and the only one who would go on to hit again (unless you count Geddy Lee, who’s pitching in with the hoseheads at #40).
Finally, my stuff from 82:
Aussies rule, with three of the top six; Air Supply and LRB would eventually claim the top two, respectively. Queen/David Bowie, the Go-Gos, and Chilliwack are all still chilling out in the Top 10 despite having already fallen off AT40. That Sheena Easton song is massively underrated–it’s one of her finest. I’m also a bigger fan of the Eddie Schwartz and Genesis tunes than might be evident. (The Harris Top 50 immediately following this one can be found here.)
The Music of My Life 