Category: American Bottom 60

Got It and Gone

On By jbIn American Bottom 60, Record Charts9 Comments
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(Pictured: soul singer Margie Joseph in 1973.)

Instead of following up an American Top 40 post by looking at the Billboard Bottom 60, let’s look instead at the Cash Box Looking Ahead chart for the week of July 17, 1971, which is like Billboard‘s Bubbling Under chart.

1. “Crazy Love”/Helen Reddy. “Crazy Love,” Reddy’s followup to “I Don’t Know How to Love Him,” is Van Morrison’s song.

2. “And When She Smiles”/The Wildweeds. The Carpenters sang this song as early as 1971 as “And When He Smiles,” but the version by the Wildweeds, a band from Connecticut, is the original.

8. “Make It With You”/Ralfi Pagan. Pagan’s falsetto version of “Make It With You,” which had been a #1 hit by Bread a year before, maybe ain’t for everybody, but it got Pagan onto Soul Train and boosted his career as one of the top Latin artists of the early 70s. In 1978, he was murdered under mysterious circumstances while touring in Colombia. The crime was never solved.

9. “That Other Woman Got My Man and Gone”/Margie Joseph.  If “That Other Woman Got My Man and Gone” puts you in mind of Johnnie Taylor’s “Jody’s Got Your Girl and Gone,” that was probably the idea.

16. “Leave My Man (Woman) Alone”/Raelettes. In which Ray Charles’ backup singers gender-switch one of his songs. “Leave My Man (Woman) Alone” is advice you’d be wise to take.

17. “Breezin'”/Gabor Szabo and Bobby Womack. Although “Breezin'” was more famously recorded in 1976 by George Benson, this “Breezin'” is the OG.

20. “Good Enough to Be Your Wife”/Jeannie C. Riley. If Carly Simon’s contemporaneous “That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be” is about the ambivalence many young women felt about being expected to fit into society’s expectations about marriage and domesticity circa 1971, “Good Enough to Be Your Wife” expresses a dissenting view. Jeannie C’s man says marriage doesn’t fit his way of life, but she says (paraphrasing), you want the milk, honey, you best buy the cow.

21. “Near You”/Boz Scaggs. Boz was already on his way to stardom in the San Francisco Bay area by 1971. “Near You” would fit right in with his stuff from the late 70s and early 80s, a period that Boz now refers to as “the Hollywood years.”

22. “Candy Apple Red”/R. Dean Taylor. After throwing shots with the police in a doomed attempt to escape a murder charge in “Indiana Wants Me,” R. Dean Taylor commits suicide over a lost love in “Candy Apple Red.” In a church. His last words are, “Someone please pray for me on Sunday,” and the record goes to the fade with a bit of the Lord’s Prayer. What the hell, R. Dean?

23. “Hymn 43″/Jethro Tull. “Hymm 43” seems like such a weird choice for a single. It’s hard to imagine on it AM radio alongside the likes of “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” and “Draggin’ the Line.”

25. “I Want to Take You Higher”/Kool and the Gang. As long as the original exists, you don’t really need this version of “I Want to Take You Higher,” but it’s fine.

26. “Where Evil Grows”/Poppy Family
27. “K-Jee”/Nite-Liters
28. “Do You Know What I Mean”/Lee Michaels
30. “Where You Lead”/Barbra Streisand
A handful of singles on this week’s Looking Ahead charts would scrape onto various Top 40s and bigtime radio stations. “Do You Know What I Mean” would end up the biggest. “Where Evil Grows” deserved to be bigger. I have for many years fanboy’d over “Where You Lead.” And “K-Jee” is straight-up disco, years before the word came into widespread use.

29. “Call Me Up in Dreamland”/Van Morrison. After the success of “Domino” and “Blue Money” from His Band and the Street Choir, “Call Me Up in Dreamland” was a stiff. It’s got a great chorus, but the verses are lacking and Morrison’s tenor sax is kind of old-timey.

Sometimes I worry A) that I should do better at keeping up with current music trends strictly because playing that music on the radio is my job now and B) that I am missing out on new stuff that’s good and worthwhile. But I remember that there are hundreds and hundreds of good, worthwhile, and/or interesting records from the preceding 130 years or so that I haven’t heard yet. Then I stop worrying and listen to them instead.

Programming Note: A while back, a reader asked a question I am happy to answer. But my answer is going to be a Sidepiece post, for reasons I will enumerate there. It will go out over the weekend. If you’re not a subscriber yet, the Sidepiece is free and worth the price. Find out about it and sign up here. 

Horny Season

On By jbIn American Bottom 606 Comments
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(Pictured: this website will never miss opportunities to post contemporary pictures of Emmylou Harris. Here she is in April, three weeks past her 74th birthday.) 

Looking over the Bottom 60 from the week of July 12, 1975, there are lots of songs I’ve written about before. In this post, I will try to write about different songs, or say new things.

50. “Philadelphia Freedom” /Elton John. Just out of the Top 40 in its 19th week on the chart. “Philadelphia Freedom” was billed on the label to the Elton John Band, a billing reinforced by the full-band photo on the front of the 45’s picture sleeve. It was a one-shot deal, however. When “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” from Captain Fantastic became a single, it was billed to Elton only.

57. “Fallin’ in Love”/Hamilton Joe Frank and Reynolds
67. “Fame”/David Bowie
Two records that couldn’t be more different, and would both reach #1 before the end of the summer.

62. “Got to Get You Into My Life”/Blood Sweat and Tears
63. “That’s the Way of the World”/Earth Wind and Fire
65. “Sneakin’ Up Behind You”/Brecker Brothers
The summer of 1975 was a very horny season. In the Top 40 this week, Paul McCartney’s “Listen to What the Man Said” featured a Dixieland-style saxophone; Major Harris got down with a sexy alto sax and Gwen McCrae got up with a whole horn section; Bazuka and AWB did what they did, and “Disco Queen” knocked down Jericho walls. Earth Wind and Fire’s horn section never sounded better than on “That’s the Way of the World.” It was inevitable that BS&T would cut “Got to Get You Into My Life,” although it’s got far less horn punch than the Beatles had, or Earth Wind and Fire’s version would. Randy Brecker was gone from BS&T by 1975, but he and his brother Michael formed their own jazz/soul/fusion outfit. Their self-titled 1975 debut album was nominated for three Grammys, and two tracks from the album remain at least somewhat familiar, “Sneakin’ Up Behind You” and “Some Skunk Funk.” On any list of Names Most Familiar to Nerds Reading the Credits on the Album Cover, the Brecker Brothers would probably be in the Top 10. Other familiar studio cats on “Sneakin’ Up Behind You” include David Sanborn and Will Lee.

79. “Biggest Parakeets in Town”/Jud Strunk. Jud Strunk’s sappy and sentimental “Daisy a Day” rose to #12 in the spring of 1973 at about the same time he was completing his lone season as a member of the cast of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. His Laugh-In persona was a guy from rural Maine, which he was, although he’d been born in New York state. Coming up, he sang in clubs and performed on Broadway, and he made four country-tinged albums between 1970 and 1977. The last one was titled A Semi-Reformed Tequila Crazed Gypsy Looks Back. In 1981, he had a heart attack while flying a private plane and died at the age of 45. “Biggest Parakeets in Town,” a double-entendre novelty recorded live, has a single word of the lyrics bleeped. Even if you remember the words most frequently bleeped in hits of the 70s, you’ll never guess which one gets it here.

81. “Black Superman (Muhammad Ali)”/Johnny Wakelin and the Kinshasa Band. As an indication of just how culturally significant Muhammad Ali was by 1975, you can hardly do better than “Black Superman.” Nobody ever hit so big with a song about Michael Jordan (although rappers loved to name-check him) and even Joe DiMaggio merited only a single verse in “Mrs. Robinson.”

94. “Get Down Tonight”/KC and the Sunshine Band. In its first week on the Hot 100. I heard this the other day and was impressed by it all over again: it smokes.

99. “Honey Trippin'”/Mystic Moods. Record-store browsers of the 70s would have been quite familiar with the Mystic Moods Orchestra, a studio project that mixed instrumentals with environmental sounds (birds, rain, etc.). Although the Mystic Moods albums were intended originally as a showcase for audiophile recording, their stuff eventually assumed another purpose; as Wikipedia puts it, “these were records to serve as the preamble or accompaniment to sexual intercourse.” However, “Honey Trippin'” chugs along too fast for that (ask your wife), and it does so on a solid electric piano groove.

103. “If I Could Only Win Your Love”/Emmylou Harris. “If I Could Only Win Your Love” is my favorite thing by Emmylou, originally written and recorded by the Louvin Brothers in 1958. Emmylou’s version was her first Top 10 country hit; she would have 19 more in the next 15 years.

Take Me Home

On By jbIn American Bottom 60, Record Charts15 Comments
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(Pictured: Freda Payne sings on Top of the Pops in 1970.)

After recapping an AT40 show, we usually explore the next 60 positions on the chart in search of records that are notable, interesting, historic, or weird. For this edition of the feature, I’m tempted to simply reproduce the entire Bottom 60 from June 5, 1971, and say, “See?”

47. “Don’t Pull Your Love”/Hamilton Joe Frank and Reynolds
58. “Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again”/Fortunes
62. “Take Me Home Country Roads”/John Denver and Fat City
64. “Mr. Big Stuff”/Jean Knight
77. “Sooner or Later”/Grass Roots
80. “You’ve Got a Friend”/James Taylor
88. “Signs”/Five Man Electrical Band
See? All of these would eventually make the Top 10, and they stand 50 years later as the distilled essence of that AM-radio summer.

48. “High Time We Went”-“Black Eyed Blues”/Joe Cocker. I have dug “High Time We Went” forever, but until this morning I had no idea what the precise lyrics are.

49. “13 Questions”/Seatrain. This California band of constantly shifting membership contained, at one point or another, veterans of the Blues Project, the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, and Earth Opera. “13 Questions” is on their second album, titled Seatrain after their debut had been called Sea Train, and was produced by George Martin.

59. “Melting Pot”/Booker T and the MGs. This is the last week on the Hot 100 for the last hit single by Booker T and the MGs.

60. “Tarkio Road”/Brewer and Shipley
76. “Get It On”/Chase
84. “Never Ending Song of Love”/Delaney and Bonnie
I did not list these under “See?” because they feel like they’re a cut below that level for most people, although to me they’re as indelibly stamped.

66. “Bring the Boys Home”/Freda Payne. Although white singers did plenty of famous antiwar songs, the ones by Black performers, especially by 1970 or so, carry extra weight, considering that Black and poor communities were most heavily affected by the Vietnam-era draft. “Bring the Boys Home” is one of the strongest antiwar sentiments ever to make it big on AM radio.

72. “Hot Love”/T. Rex. I bought nothing but 45s from 1971 until the end of 1973, but why I bought what I bought is a mystery to me now. “Hot Love,” for example: WLS charted it for only three weeks and it peaked at #24, but I heard it enough and dug it enough to lay down my 95 cents. Later, I’d buy “Bang a Gong (Get It On)” too.

78. “Done Too Soon”-“I Am I Said”/Neil Diamond. Radio stations that turned over “I Am I Said” in favor of “Done Too Soon” got a “We Didn’t Start the Fire”-style list of prominent names, concluding with a slow verse that’s kinda moving:

And each one there had one thing to share
They had sweated beneath the same sun
Looked up in wonder at the same moon
And wept when it was all done
For bein’ done too soon

87. “Walk Away”/James Gang. In its day, on the singles chart, “Walk Away” would peak at #51. A decade later, it would be in the classic-rock radio canon.

89. “If Not for You”/Olivia Newton-John. The first hit of her career, in its second week on the chart.

91. “I Don’t Want to Do Wrong”/Gladys Knight and the Pips. With several arrangers and producers getting credit on the If I Were Your Woman album, it’s not easy to tell who’s responsible for the great sound of “I Don’t Want to Do Wrong,” but master arranger David Van De Pitte and underrated producer Clay McMurray are among those credited, so they’re a safe bet.

92. “Love Means (You Never Have to Say You’re Sorry)”/Sounds of Sunshine. Inspired by Jenny’s famous line from the movie Love Story but not otherwise related to the film, “Love Means” went to #5 on Billboard‘s Easy Listening chart, spent a single week (July 31, 1971) on the Hot 100, and was two weeks on the WLS chart. The Sounds of Sunshine, three closely harmonizing California brothers, were frequently mistaken for the Lettermen, who recorded their own version of “Love Means” in 1972 because of course they did.

95. “I’ve Found Someone of My Own”/Free Movement. This record was the longest-charting Hot 100 hit of 1971, 26 weeks—five of which came in May and June before it dropped out for a couple of weeks. It came back in July and eventually made it to #5.

96. “Mandrill”/Mandrill. Homework assignment for the readership: other songs that have the same name as the band that recorded them.

Fifty years ago this month, the fifth grade was over and summer had come—a summer that would sound different to me than any one before.

Midwestern Jams

On By jbIn American Bottom 606 Comments
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(Pictured: Midwestern rock gods Kevin Cronin and Gary Richrath of REO Speedwagon, on stage in 1980.)

Following on from Friday’s post, here’s some of what was below the Top 40 during the week of May 27, 1978.

41. “Follow You, Follow Me”/Genesis. From . . . And Then There Were Three, the first album by the Genesis configuration that transitioned from prog-rock to pop radio. My favorite single of theirs.

52. “Since You Been Gone”/Head East. If you hear “Since You Been Gone” on the radio today, it’s likely to be the 1979 version by Rainbow. Here in the Midwest, we dig the poppier OG by Head East. (But our radio stations play Rainbow more often because of course they do.)

53. “Ça Plane Pour Moi”/Plastic Bertrand. Here in the Midwest, I never heard this on the radio, as it was not a Midwestern sort of jam. It does, however, have quite a backstory.

63. “Roll With the Changes”/REO Speedwagon. I have just listened to “Roll With the Changes,” a classic of the Midwest heartland-rock genre, for the first time in a while and I had forgotten how completely awesome it is. I’m a grown-ass man sitting at my desk playing air guitar and keyboards and singing “keep on rollin'” like I was 18 again. /hits repeat button/

69. “Grease”/Frankie Valli. “You’re the One That I Want” by Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta had been to #1 and was #3 in this week; “Grease” was the highest debut on the Hot 100. The movie wouldn’t come out for three weeks yet.

71. “Stayin’ Alive”/Bee Gees. On this week’s AT40 show, Casey mentioned that “Stayin’ Alive” was off the show after 22 weeks, which means it debuted in mid-December 1977.

74. “It’s Late”/Queen. Somebody at Elektra Records deduced that “It’s Late” would be a hit, but I’d like ’em to show their work. This is its peak position.

76. “Miss You”/Rolling Stones. This was the first week on for “Miss You.” The return of the Stones after two years was a big rock ‘n’ roll news story in the summer of 1978, at least for a while.

78. “Hold On to the Night”/Starz. Two members of this band had been in Looking Glass (“Brandy”). They were signed by KISS manager Bill Aucoin and their first two albums were produced by Jack Douglas, who produced Aerosmith’s mid-70s work. They made a living for a while as the eternal opening act, on the bill with everybody, the band that played right after gates opened at the World Series of Rock, or whatever they called those daylong shows at the baseball stadium in your town. (Here’s more about their rise and fall.)

89. “King Tut”/Steve Martin. I have mentioned here before that the Saturday Night Live episode broadcast on April 22, 1978, is the single greatest episode in the show’s history. It’s the show that featured the Czech Brothers, the Blues Brothers, Theodoric of York, Martin and Gilda Radner’s “Dancing in the Dark,” and “send more Chuck Berry.” (Watch it here.) In addition, Martin performed “King Tut” that night, and it became a perfectly timed novelty given the cultural interest in the treasures of Tutankhamen that summer.

93. “Georgia on My Mind”/Willie Nelson. This is the first single from Stardust, Willie’s first Great American Songbook album, produced by Booker T. Jones and recorded in Emmylou Harris’ living room. “Georgia on My Mind” and “Blue Skies” would go #1 country and “All of Me” would make #3, but “Georgia” is the only single that made the Hot 100. (This piece about the making of Stardust is excellent.)

99. “I Go Crazy”/Paul Davis. Down from #95 last week, and in its 40th week on the Hot 100, which was the longest chart run ever at the time. The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” spent 43 weeks in the Top Five, in case you still think there’s any validity in comparing charts from the pre- and post-streaming eras.

100. “Mama Let Him Play”/Doucette. Down from #98 last week, this is a song I’ve written about before. Even though Jerry Doucette was from Canada, “Mama Let Him Play” vibrates on the same wavelength as “Since You Been Gone” and “Roll With the Changes,” and all the Midwestern dudes say “hell yeah.”

101. “(You’re Such a) Fabulous Dancer”/Wha-Koo. Wha-Koo was the sort of superstar (or superstar-adjacent) supergroup record labels loved to risk budget on in the late 70s. It included former members of Steely Dan, Buddy Holly’s Crickets, and Savoy Brown, but the original lineup lasted for just one album. That album, Berkshire, was produced by Ken Caillat, co-producer of Rumours, and goes for the same sort of vibe.

Can You Handle It?

On By jbIn American Bottom 606 Comments
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(Pictured: Charlie Rich sings on the 1978 TV special The Phenomenon of Benji, which is a real thing that happened.)

Thanks to all for weighing in on my thesis about the blandness of the spring of 1974 and what it says about the changing face of radio pop as the long 1960s came to a close. Let me add, based on your comments, that I don’t have anything against “Come and Get Your Love.” Its proximity to less interesting stuff on the radio in that season has colored it a little for me, that’s all. Also, you like the Diana Ross/Marvin Gaye “My Mistake” a lot more than I do; Motown’s early-70s pairings of established superstars seem to me like a cash grab and not in any way organic.

Here’s what else was on the Billboard Hot 100 during the week of May 4, 1974. See anything you like?

45. “Eres Tu”/Mocedades
46. “Sundown”/Gordon Lightfoot
“Eres Tu,” which had been a Top-10 hit, is more bland spring-of-’74 pop. But the future #1 “Sundown” is a sign that the summer of 1974 is going to be way more interesting.

47. “Jet”/Paul McCartney and Wings
49. “Rock Around the Clock”/Bill Haley and the Comets
52. “Star Baby”/Guess Who
77. “La Grange”/ZZ Top
83. “If You Want to Get to Heaven”/Ozark Mountain Daredevils
84. “Teenage Love Affair”/Rick Derringer
97. “Already Gone”/Eagles
The rock ‘n’ roll on this Hot 100 is outside the Top 40. “Jet” and “Star Baby” are on their way down; the rest are moving up. “Rock Around the Clock” was on the chart due to the success of the TV show Happy Days, about which I’ll say more next week.

55. “Chameleon”/Herbie Hancock. Here’s the funkiest thing on the Hot 100 in this week, which is sayin’ something since James Brown’s “The Payback” and “Jungle Boogie” are on the list, too. “Chameleon” would make #42, vastly higher than the much-better-remembered “Rockit,” which made it only to #71 in 1983.

56. “Dance With the Devil”/Cozy Powell. Take some of Sandy Nelson’s “Teen Beat,” shake it up with “Rock and Roll Part 2,” add some surf guitar, shanghai a choir from someplace, and you end up with “Dance With the Devil.” It peaked on the Hot 100 during the week of April 27 at #49.

57. “Billy Don’t Be a Hero”/Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods
96. “Billy Don’t Be a Hero”/Paper Lace
Paper Lace had the big hit in the UK; Bo Donaldson would have it in the States. But Paper Lace would have their own monster American smash before too long.

67. “There Won’t Be Anymore”/Charlie Rich
80. “I Don’t See Me in Your Eyes Anymore”/Charlie Rich
Add these to “A Very Special Love Song,” which was still in the Top 40, to make three Charlie Rich hits on the Hot 100 in the same week. These two were on RCA, which was releasing old product from its vaults to compete with his more recent recordings on Epic.

81. “(I’m a) YoYo Man”/Rick Cunha. Google the phrase “yo yo craze” and you will find that every decade from the 50s to the 90s had one, until screen-based entertainment conquered all. “(I’m a) YoYo Man” somehow made #61 despite not doing anything for 2:46.

82. “One Chain Don’t Make No Prison”/Four Tops. The Tops scored several hits on ABC Dunhill after leaving Motown, and I can’t help but wonder how much hotter “One Chain Don’t Make No Prison” would have been with the Funk Brothers burnin’ behind them. As it was, it would peak at #41.

84. “Save the Last Dance for Me”/DeFranco Family. After the #3 hit “Heartbeat It’s a Lovebeat” and “Abracadabra,” which peaked at #32 on the Hot 100 (but #5 on WLS), the DeFrancos would get to #18 with this smooth Drifters cover.

87. “Bad Bad Leroy Brown”/Frank Sinatra. Guess which Jim Croce song Frank Sinatra would turn into a hit, and “Bad Bad Leroy Brown” is fairly far down the list. Yet it made #84 on the Hot 100 and #31 on adult contemporary despite being dreadful.

88. “The Air That I Breathe”/Hollies
89. “Be Thankful for What You Got”/William deVaughn
One of these will end up the most gorgeous record of the summer. “The Air That I Breathe” is woozy and perfect; as I have reminded you before, the Tom Moulton mix of “Be Thankful for What You Got” should be our National Anthem.

91. “Can You Handle It”/Graham Central Station. One of the more popular pieces I ever wrote at this website was inspired by the cover of a Warner Brothers Loss Leaders promotional compilation: “it was the only picture of breasts I could keep in my room at home without repercussions”. One of the songs on the album was “Can You Handle It,” an easy-rollin’ groove I dug from the first time I heard it, and one I continue to enjoy all these years later.

I Hear the Sound I Have to Follow

On By jbIn American Bottom 60, Record Charts7 Comments
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(Pictured: participants in Hands Across America try to span the Arizona desert on May 25, 1986.)

After listening to the American Top 40 show from April 26, 1986, earlier this week, here’s the usual look into the Bottom 60 of the same week to see what’s interesting.

44. “Crush on You”/The Jets. “Crush on You” takes four minutes to do not very much, but it was the first of five Top-10 hits the Jets would score in the next two years.

48. “Nothin’ at All”/Heart. Heart’s mid-80s comeback had so far consisted entirely of bombast: “What About Love,” “Never,” and “These Dreams.” “Nothin’ at All” was more like the rockin’ Heart of old. It would make the Top 10 like the others, but it didn’t get much radio play after it dropped off the charts. The video looks great, although much of the budget seems to have gone for hair styling, flowing scarves, and animal wrangling.

49. “Right Between the Eyes”/Wax. In 1981, singer, songwriter, and session man Andrew Gold (best known for the singles “Lonely Boy” and “Thank You for Being a Friend”) was invited to record with 10cc as the group worked to finish an album. Later, he was extended a formal invitation to join the band. He didn’t, but a couple of years later, he and Graham Gouldman, longtime 10cc member and a prolific songwriter, formed Wax, which recorded three studio albums in the late 80s and a fourth a decade later. “Right Between the Eyes” sounds great, and the video is directly in the mid-80s pocket, with Gold and Gouldman performing in front of random whimsical images, intercut with a pretty dancing girl and clips from silent movies and old TV shows.

57. “A Different Corner”/George Michael. This was the highest-debuting record on the Hot 100 in this week, and was the first single George Michael released under his own name, although two records credited to Wham would hit the American charts later in 1986. Your average adult-contemporary or oldies radio station is gonna play “Faith” 100 times before they play “A Different Corner” once, which don’t seem right.

69. “Hands Across America”/Voices of America. In retrospect, this seems like an incredibly strange thing: an attempt to create a human chain stretching  through 16 states from coast to coast to raise money to fight hunger in the United States. But at the time, a year after Live Aid and “We Are the World,” it had great appeal, and USA for Africa was instrumental in organizing it. It was announced with a Super Bowl TV ad in January, and on May 25, 1986, nearly five million people were said to have participated, including President and Mrs. Reagan. About $15 million supposedly went to charity, a lot of it from corporate sponsors, but it could have been more if people had actually paid the participation fee USA for Africa sought.

My radio station was involved in our local event, although I can’t recall many specifics. We were on the national route, but we couldn’t form hands across our own town, let alone join up with anyone else. Playing “Hands Across America” on our air was easier. It’s a power ballad featuring a couple of anonymous singers doing the leads backed by the New Jersey Mass Choir, with several members of Toto handling the instruments. It got a celebrity-studded video but didn’t have much radio appeal, topping out at #65 during the week of May 17.

There’s going to be an attempt to make a virtual human chain on social media for the 35th anniversary of Hands Across America on Tuesday, May 25 of this year, as a benefit to help the homeless. It will not have a song.

77. “Tuff Enuff”/Fabulous Thunderbirds
79. “Bop”/Dan Seals
Amidst all the English haircuts, proto-hip-hop records, and gated reverb came a blues-rock band from Texas with a highly unlikely hit, which would eventually make #10, and a #1 country hit by the erstwhile England Dan, which had stalled just outside the Top 40.

81. “Your Wildest Dreams”/Moody Blues. The Moodys had charted singles right along during the first half of the 80s and would continue to do so after 1986, but “Your Wildest Dreams” became the third and last Top 10 hit of their career, joining “Go Now” and “Nights in White Satin.” The video is one of my two or three favorites of all time, about the hold that love, memory, and music have on us, a subject that always has been directly in my wheelhouse: “When the music plays / I hear the sound / I have to follow.”