The AT40 Blog/December 21, 1985: Hard lessons of a 7th Top 40 hit

Everyone remembers who did what first. No one remembers who did anything second.

Usually, that is.

When Michael Jackson hit the Top 40 with seven hit singles from "Thriller" between 1982-84, many music fans figured this was never going to happen again and that what the Prince Of Pop did was just an anomaly where everything just came together at the right time.

But while "Thriller," the seventh Top 40 (and Top 10) hit from the album was fading into the musical sunset, a new album by a New Jersey-born and raised rocker was about to be released in the early summer of 1984 with the first single flying up the Top 40 en route to its peak position of No. 2.

The song was "Dancing In The Dark," and the album -- "Born In The U.S.A." by Bruce Springsteen. It easily became the biggest hit in the then-34-year-old rocker's career, passing up the No. 5 peak of "Hungry Heart" in early 1981. The best, though, was yet to come.

"Cover Me" went to No. 7. "Born In The U.S.A.," the powerful third single and title track that caused a bit of political controversy back in that Summer of '84, went to No. 9. "I'm On Fire" went to No. 6, followed by the fifth Top 10 hit, the nostalgic "Glory Days." Then there was the sixth Top 10 hit from the mega-selling album, the No. 9 "I'm Goin' Down."

Maybe Columbia Records, Springsteen's record label, was thinking of stopping at six Top 10 smashes from the album. But it was now November 1985 and the hit well seemingly had run dry. But the label had one more trick up its sleeve ... and it was going to market a seventh single rather sharply.

They made the decision to release "My Hometown." Unlike the other six releases from the album, "My Hometown" was darker and far more moody. Springsteen wrote the song about his recollections of growing up in his native Freehold, N.J., and the racial tension that took place in his town as well as other cities in the Garden State during the 1960s, a trying time for most everyone growing up in that time period.

He brings up the line "They're closing down the textile mills across the railroad tracks. Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they ain't coming back to your hometown." What Springsteen was referring to was the 1964 closing down of the A&M Karagheusian rug manufacturing plant in Freehold on Center and Jackson streets after being open for 60 years.

At the end of the song, Springsteen sings about being married and having a family of his own and talks about heading south. Then he sings, "I'm 35, we got a boy on our own. Last night I sat him up behind the wheel and said, 'Son take a good look around. This is your hometown.'" All the while, he never really gives you an idea that he actually moved saying he and (wife) Kate "packing up their bags maybe heading south."

It hit a nerve for the 30- and 40-somethings who grew up in the 1960s and remembered that time period all too well, especially in the Garden State. Springsteen made it his business to play that song during the 1984-85 Born In The U.S.A. Tour every night, so it was ripe to be released.

But Columbia Records went one step further. For the late November release of the song as the seventh Top 40 release, they paired it up with a Springsteen classic that radio stations had played for years since they got their hands on the recording. It was Springsteen's famous 1975 live performance at C.W. Post College in Long Island, N.Y., of the Christmas classic, "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town," a version in which he's joking around, having a good time talking to the band ("Hey Clarence, you been good this year!? Is Santa getting you a new saxophone?" he yells to longtime E Street member Clarence Clemons).

On the American Top 40 for December 21, 1985, "My Hometown" debuted at No. 32, the highest debuting song of the week and the record-tying seventh Top 40 hit from "Born In The U.S.A.," tying Springsteen with Jackson for most Top 40 hits from one artist's album. The song would race up the Top 40 and hit the Top 10 six weeks later, peaking at No. 6. But more amazingly, "My Hometown" was also racing up the Adult Contemporary chart ... all the way to No. 1, Springsteen's one and only No. 1 song on that chart.

It was the perfect song and the perfect end to a perfect run on the singles chart for The Boss. By 1986, Bruce Springsteen was a mega-superstar and wasn't afraid to sing about any subject.

Even the dinginess of his hometown.

Not a bad way to be remembered as "the second" to do something.

The AT40 Blog/December 12, 1987: Having 'Faith' pays off

By 1986, George Michael believed that Wham! had run its course. Partner Andrew Ridgeley and he had started small, but by 1984, the success the duo had with Wham! had exploded into No. 1 hits on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

And so by the spring of 1986, Michael, whose solo career had already taken off with the No. 1 British hit and Top 10 U.S. hit, "A Different Corner," made the announcement that he and Ridgeley were playing their 'farewell" concert. That was on a Saturday afternoon at London's Wembley Stadium on June 28, 1986.

When it was over, it was over.

Michael was suddenly on his own and ready to prove he could branch out. So from there, he went on to help a pair of artists with March 25th birthdays. First, he helped out Elton John on his tour after he had recorded "Wrap Her Up" and "Nikita" for John's 1985 album "Ice On Fire." Then he went into a studio in late 1986 to work on a duet with the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, on a track from her album, "Aretha," called "I Knew You Were Waiting For Me," a future No. 1 duet on both sides of the Atlantic.

By early 1987, Michael was in a London studio to write, produce and record the songs that would make up the album "Faith." And one of the tracks would turn out to be the title cut, a composition that starts with an "ode" to a former Wham! hit. The organ that begins the song, played by Chris Cameron, is the chorus line for "Freedom," a Top 5 hit from the 1984 album "Make It Big."

But after a few seconds, the organ suddenly turns into a familiar piece of music that has been used over the years on such tracks as The Who's "Magic Bus," the Strangeloves' "I Want Candy" and Shirley & Co.'s disco classic "Shame Shame Shame." It's the 1955 blues-rock classic "Bo Diddley," named after and performed by the late great Bo Diddley (born Ellas Otha Bates).

From that point until the end of the record, "Faith" is a rockabilly piece that no fan of Wham!'s or Michael's ever saw coming. But it was pure guilty pleasure pop. And on October 31, 1987, the song, the follow-up to Michael's No. 2 hit from the Beverly Hills Cop II soundtrack and movie, "I Want Your Sex," debuted on American Top 40 at No. 37. By December 5, the song bounced up to No. 3, just behind Belinda Carlisle's "Heaven Is A Place On Earth" and Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes' Dirty Dancing anthem, "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life" at spots Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, the latter dropping from the No. 1 spot the week before.

One week later, "Faith" ascended to the top spot on AT40 from No. 3 to No. 1 and began a four-week stay at the top to close out 1987. It would be the first of four No. 1 hits from Michael's wildly diverse album called "Faith," and in Billboard's year-end chart for 1988, the song "Faith" would finish as the No. 1 song of the year.

While Michael's song continues to be played on adult pop and 1980s radio, it's the music video that still is remembered about "Faith." Michael reportedly purchased the "BS Artist" leather jacket for the video at a Melrose, Calif. shop called Leathers and Treasures. Wearing a pair of tight jeans, boots, sunglasses and sporting what would be his trademark Five O'Clock shadow stubble, Michael oozed sexuality in the video, leaning up against the famed Wurlitzer jukebox, playing a guitar (that actually is played on the song by musician Hugh Burns).

Michael later said he despised the whole "bad boy image" that the video "Faith" brought him. And in 1990, he "straightened" that whole thing out when he burned the jacket and blew up both the guitar and jukebox in the "Freedom '90" video from his "Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1" CD/album. And, no, "Freedom '90" had nothing to do with the Wham! song "Freedom."

However as hard as Michael would have liked to distance himself from that image portrayed in late 1987 by the music video, it is that image we most think about when we think of the song "Faith."

Yep, it was a time and a place. And we were all witnesses.

Michael would score five solo No. 1 hits between 1987-90, starting with "Faith," the song that gave him faith in his solo career.

The AT40 Blog/December 5, 1981: Rock-edged country or Country-edged rock

When they mention the greatest country acts in history, the names of Hank Williams Jr., Conway Twitty, Charley Pride, Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton, George Strait and band Alabama are normally mentioned.

And rightfully so. Those acts are among the pillars of the genre.

Rarely, though, is the name of Eddie Rabbitt brought up. And that's a shame. In his all-too-brief career, Rabbitt scored 39 Top 40 country hits between 1974-90 with 34 of those being Top 10 hits and 17 of those -- exactly half -- being No. 1s.

Not bad for a man who was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. Yes, Broooook-lyyyyn! Home of great pizza and Junior's Cheesecake Factory.

Yeah, not exactly the best marriage -- country and Brooklyn. But Rabbitt (born November 27, 1941), who would spend his youth living in nearby East Orange, N.J., made it work when he took a chance in 1964 to make it in Nashville, scoring his first break when country star Roy Drusky recorded Rabbitt's composition, "Working My Way Up To The Bottom," in 1968. After working as a soda jerk, truck driver and a fruit picker just to stay in Nashville and keep his music career alive, Rabbitt's foot was in the door at long last.

And not too long after that, he wrote "Kentucky Rain," a song that appealed to music's biggest star -- not just country, but overall.

Elvis Presley made it a Top 20 pop hit and Rabbitt, who co-wrote the song with a man named Dick Heard, was off and running at 28 years old. He continued to make a name for himself as a songwriter, writing "Pure Love" in 1974, which turned into a No. 1 country hit for another rising star and friend of Presley's, Ronnie Milsap.

With his name established in songwriting, Rabbitt set out to become a star singer. That came in 1974 when "You Got To Me" peaked at No. 34. Two years later, his fourth Top 40 country song, "Drinkin' My Baby (Off My Mind)," became his first No. 1 hit.

With his singing career established, next up was pop crossover status. Touring with Kenny Rogers, then Dolly Parton certainly got his name out there and in 1979, it was the theme song from a Clint Eastwood movie called "Every Which Way But Loose" that did the trick. Not only was that his fourth No. 1 country hit, but it became his first American Top 40 hit, peaking at No. 30. That was followed by his first Top 20 hit in the summer of '79, "Suspicions," which went to No. 13 pop and became another No. 1 country hit.

In 1980, Rabbitt finally cracked the Top 10 pop with "Drivin' My Life Away" from the movie Roadie. Then his follow-up did the amazing -- "I Love A Rainy Night" became his first and only No. 1 pop hit in February 1981, spending two weeks at No. 1 after hitting No. 1 country.

By now, that gave Rabbitt the chance to do what he wanted to do in the studio. He cranked out another country crossover hit in the fall of 1981 with "Step By Step," a No. 1 country and No. 5 pop hit. But on his next single, he dared to be different.

The song was "Someone Could Lose A Heart Tonight." Rabbitt and his studio band decided to go away from the traditional country sound and bring more mainstream guitar than steel guitar to the track. Opening with a closed, muffled riff, the song travels into a soft-pounding backbeat and ringing guitars before Rabbitt sings his first note.

This downright serious tune made its debut on AT40 on December 5, 1981 at No. 32, the highest debut of the week of any of the debuts. And while it may have fallen short of its Top 10 expectations, peaking at No. 15 in late January 1982, the song still succeeded in luring more country music fans -- it hit No. 1 on February 13, 1982, spending one week at the top.

Interestingly, though, Rabbitt would never have another Top 20 pop hit as a solo performer. A year later, though, he hit No. 1 country (again) and the Top 10 pop for the final time when his duet with country star Crystal Gayle, "You & I," peaked at No. 7.

His pop career may have dried up, but Rabbitt continued to have hits on the country chart, including his 1986 No. 1 duet with Juice Newton "Both to Each Other," which was the country version of the No. 2 pop hit by Gloria Loring and Carl Anderson titled "Friends And Lovers."

In 1989, Rabbitt had his final No. 1 country hit, "On Second Thought." His last Top 10 hit was "Runnin' With The Wind" in 1990 and soon after that, his last Top 40 country hit came out, "American Boy," a song that Bob Dole used as his introduction while on the road promoting his bid for president in 1996.

Rabbitt continued to tour through the 1990s, but in 1997, he was diagnosed with lung cancer even though he wasn't a smoker. Years and years of playing honky tonks and bars finally caught up to him. Still, Rabbitt continued on to record new music and tour, never telling his own agent of his diagnosis. When Rabbitt passed away from the disease on May 7, 1998, at the age of 56, even his agent had no idea. In 1998, Rabbitt was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

He may not get the notoriety as a Conway Twitty or a George Strait or a Hank Williams Jr., but Eddie Rabbitt was very much a country star in his own right.

The AT40 Blog/November 30, 1974: The Free Wheelin' Yo-Yo Effect

The year was 1974. At this particular time, the Billboard Hot 100 showed songs moving up the countdown slowly and with dignity and grace. It was not out of the realm of possibility that a song could peak in its 10th or 11th or maybe even its 12th week on the chart then begin to descend.

And when that drop began, it was quite majestic. Songs that would get to the Top 5 would find themselves dropping out of the Top 20 by the next week. And songs that went to No. 1 would be out of the Top 10. You could have the biggest song in America and find yourself out of the Top 40 three weeks later. It really, really happened in 1974. For example, Billy Preston's smash chart-topper, "Nothing But Nothing," went from being No. 1 to being No. 39 two weeks later.

Then there's the case of the one and only No. 1 hit for the Canadian hard rock group Bachman-Turner Overdrive. The follow-up to the Top 15 hit "Takin' Care Of Business," "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" climbed swiftly up the Top 40 and got to No. 6 by October 19, 1974. The next week, it vaulted to No. 3, then to No. 2 the next week. Finally, on November 9, the song had climbed to No. 1, a great accomplishment for the four-man band led by former Guess Who guitarist-singer Randy Bachman and Joe Turner.

But with the way the charts were back in 1974, it was almost expected the song was about to take a tumble the next week. And, oh, did it ever!

"You Ain't Seen Nothin'  Yet" slipped 11 notches out of the top spot and out of the Top 10 to No. 12. Worse, it slipped 22 notches for the week of November 23 down to No. 34. It was destined the song would make a tumble out of the Top 40 the next week. Well, at least it had a nice chart run.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP7u8DmD15g

Something else, though, was happening on FM radio. Disc jockeys turned the 45 over of "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet," and heard a bluesy instrumental on the other side. It was called "Free Wheeln'," featuring Bachman's trademark guitar work and solos by each member of the four-man band. The song was a jam session wrapped into three minutes and 48 seconds.

And a funny thing happened -- with radio airplay added in to how Billboard magazine tabulated the Hot 100 chart, the song that was destined to fall out of the Top 40 suddenly was a double-sided single and with the brand new recognition of the track "Free Wheelin'," "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" proved the title prophetic. It leaped back up the Top 40! From No. 34, the song made the biggest leap of the week on November 30, 1974 -- 26 notches into the Top 10 again at No. 8!

A great fete for a song that originally was supposed to be a "gag" record for Bachman's brother, Gary, whose stuttering problem was "celebrated" by Bachman on the chorus of "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet." But the move proved to be nothing more than a novelty -- it held at No. 8 the very next week after the 26-point climb and would be out of the Top 40 by the end of 1974.

But the real anomaly is the fact that "Free Wheelin'," the track that resuscitated a dying No. 1, is rarely ever heard on classic rock radio. So go figure!

Still, it did something that very few songs had at that time -- give it staying power.

Long live "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet." Oh, and you, too, "Free Wheelin'," even if no one ever hears you anymore.

The AT40 Blog/November 25, 1978: One, two! Awwwwwwwwww ...

After getting to No. 1 on the disco chart at the height of disco's musical ride, it was no wonder that when "Le Freak" debuted at No. 37 the week before that it may take a significant chunk out of the Top 40 countdown.

No one saw this move coming, though.

And as Casey Kasem explained on AT40 in this very week, only two other songs made such significant moves within the Top 40. There was David Seville's "Witch Doctor," which leaped up from No. 36 to No. 4, a move of 32 notches, before that song would hit No. 1 for five weeks. And there was Elvis Presley's classic "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" which leaped up 33 places from No. 35 to No. 2 in November 1960. The next week, that song jumped to the top and spent six weeks at No. 1.

So there was Chic's "Le Freak," the top disco song in the land, about to make the leap of a lifetime in the countdown from Nov. 25, 1978 after debuting at No. 37. It didn't make the of "Witch Doctor" or the 33-point leap of "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" but the move was still memorable.

"Le Freak" made the biggest move within the Top 40 in the entire 1970s, leaping 31 solid notches on this week from No. 37 to No. 6. The next week, it jumped to No. 4, then reached the top spot the week after that. After the song dropped to No. 2 the next week, it bounced back to No. 1 for the last two weeks of December.

But the story didn't end there. After giving way for two weeks at the top, "Le Freak," sitting in the No. 2 spot to start the year, bounced back into the No. 1 spot and spent three more weeks at No. 1 to become the first song in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 to hit No. 1 on three different occasions in the same chart run, a total of six weeks at No. 1 and the biggest disco song of all-time.

Still, the story behind "Le Freak" is more unique than the chart occurrence. According to Chic's co-leader and guitarist, Nile Rodgers, the band were guests of singer Grace Jones at the famed Studio 54 discotechque in their native New York City. The group dressed up for a night of hobnobbing and disco dancing in the studio that brought in only the best of the best in its heyday.

When the band reached the front of the club, though, they found trouble. No one had alerted those working the famed "velvet rope" that the group members were allowed in thanks to Ms. Jones. Miscommunication meant that the band was not getting in for an enjoyable night. And it was back at their various places that Rodgers and his partner in crime, bassist and co-leader Bernard Edwards, began to write a song that would be an insult to the club with the original line of "Awwww, freak out!" being "Awwww, f**k you!"

Obviously, no sane radio station was going to play a song with the latter line. But not only did the song send a strong message to the strong-armed lugs of Studio 54, but started a dance craze that, well, no one really knew how the dance went.

Yet, the song is one of the most memorable of the 1970s. And when that song comes on, you know it's time to move your body, even so slightly. And when that opening, "One, two, awwwwww ... " comes on, you know to answer "Awwww, freak out!"

And that 31-point leap to No. 6 got the ball rolling on what would be a memorable chart run that saw the song spend 15 weeks in the Top 10.

Rejection never felt so successful.

The AT40 Blog/November 8, 1980: The Ramones' "Hungry Heart?"

Imagine, for a moment, punk rock's favorite American princes, The Ramones, launching into a hard-driving version of "Hungry Heart," done in the same fast-paced frenzy as other songs of theirs like "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "Rock 'N Roll High School."

Just for a moment.

Yeah, me neither.

But that nearly happened. If not for Bruce Springsteen's friend and producer, Jon Landau, "Hungry Heart" would have been an album track and concert staple for the late Joey Ramone and his brothers.

Springsteen's intention was to write "Hungry Heart" for the Ramones after a chance meeting in late 1979 between Ramone and Springsteen in Springsteen's beloved Asbury Park, N.J. Ramone had the utmost respect for Springsteen and wanted him to write a song for him. Well, the respect was mutual on Springsteen's end and that night after hanging out together, Springsteen reportedly wrote "Hungry Heart."

But Landau got wind of this. As his producer, Landau had watched his superstar buddy hand over hits that could've been big for him to others, such as "Fire" for the Pointer Sisters, "Because The Night" for Patti Smith Group and "Blinded By The Night," a song that Springsteen recorded for his "Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J." debut album, but became a monster smash for Manfred Mann's Earth Band in early 1977, the one and only No. 1 hit in Springsteen's career as either a singer or songwriter (not counting the benefit song "We Are The World" by USA For Africa). He convinced Springsteen that he should record the song and for once, put selflessness aside. Springsteen agreed.

Springsteen had recorded numerous songs for an upcoming album, songs that did not make the final cut for his "Darkness On The Edge Of Town" album. Those songs were still in the can when Springsteen, his E Street Band buddies and Landau went into the studio to record in 1980. One of the newer songs was "Hungry Heart," whose backing vocal would come from Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan of Turtles fame and the infamous "Flo And Eddie." With Danny Federici's organ giving the track a bluesy feel to it, "Hungry Heart" became the song all parties involved with the record agreed should be the debut single for a new Springsteen album.

When that album was finished, "The River" was 19 songs strong and instead of leaving more songs on the "cutting room floor," Landau did another successful convincing job -- he got Columbia Records to agree that Springsteen's new album should be a double album.

They agreed. On November 1, 1980, the album debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard Top 200 album. One week later, on November 8, "The River" pounded out the last seven notches ahead of it on the chart and became Springsteen's first No. 1 album, spending four weeks at the top.

And "Hungry Heart" -- the song that Springsteen nearly made a Ramones staple -- gained immediate street cred for the Freehold, N.J.-born-and-raised rocker, debuting on the entire Billboard Hot 100 at No. 30 on November 8, 1980! The song, Springsteen's third Top 40 hit after "Born To Run" and "Prove It All Night," made a strong climb up the chart and in December became Springsteen's first-ever Top 10 hit. In January 1981, "Hungry Heart" peaked at No. 5.

The hit put Springstreen on the map as more than just an album-rock artist who never quite hit his potential after making the covers of Time and Newsweek magazine on the same week in October 1975. He would follow that up with "Fade Away," another organ-driven single from Federici's fingers. That song would peak at No. 20 in early 1981.

"The River" was a combination of peppier and dark tunes that helped to define a time in our country in which the economic recession was in full swing, but also defined Springsteen's sound as a singer and songwriter, among the songs being "The Ties That Bind," (which was nearly the title of the album), "Independence Day," "Jackson Cage," "Sherry Darling," "Point Blank," "Ramrod," "Cadillac Ranch" and the title track, a tale inspired by his sister's relationship with his future brother-in-law when they were teens.

"Hungry Heart" is still a staple of Springsteen concerts where he lets the audience sing the opening verse, while urging them on with his occasional "C'mon!" He returns for the second verse after they get done with the chorus.

It's amazing that the unselfish Springsteen nearly gave the song to Joey Ramone. He and his brothers may have had a nice, little version of it.

Good thing Jon Landau saw the hit potential for his partner in crime.

The AT Blog/November 1, 1975 ... Reuniting in "their little town"

Make no mistake about two things:

One, Simon & Garfunkel were back together, but back together for nothing more than a song and a cup of coffee. And two, the song that brought them together for their first Top 40 hit in over five years was hardly that of admiration, especially the picture that Paul Simon painted.

The song that did the trick was "My Little Town," which made its Top 40 debut at No. 30 as the second-highest debuting song on November 1, 1975, only KC & The Sunshine Band's "That's The Way (I Like It)" debuting higher at No. 28.

Simon & Garfunkel scored 13 Top 40 hits between 1965-70, their first being the chart-topper, "The Sounds Of Silence," and their last being "El Condor Pasa (If I Could)" in the fall of 1970. After their breakup, the duo waited a bit before getting into their next musical project with Art Garfunkel going into an acting career.

Paul Simon would break the ice with his self-titled album that featured the Top 5 "Mother & Child Reunion" and "Me & Julio Down By The Schoolyard." A year later, he recorded the album, "There Goes Rhymin' Simon" that featured a pair of No. 2 hits, "Kodachrome" and "Loves Me Like A Rock."

In 1973, Garfunkel finally released his first solo album, "Angel Clare," the highlight being Jimmy Webb's gorgeous ballad and Top 10 hit, "All I Know."

Both men had their careers going forward in solo mode. But as Simon was writing material for his newest album in 1975, "Still Crazy After All These Years," he was thinking about his former partner, the man who helped make a name for him. And the song he was writing was, let's say, outside the box.

"My Little Town" was far from an ode to the town the narrator grew up in. For as brilliant as Simon's writing is in it, it's the picture he's painting of a drab, dreary town that never changes for the better that has his audience standing at attention, talking about how after a rain, there's a rainbow, but it's a familiar rainbow that has black in it as he sings, "It's not that the colors are there. It's just imagination, they lack. Everything's the same back in my little town."

This beautifully crafted composition was far from a positive ode to the town Simon writes about (and for the record, he said he never wrote this song about his own hometown of Forest Hills, N.Y.). And after the syrupy, sweet ballads Garfunkel sang about, Simon figured his old partner could use a change.

When he contacted his partner, Simon played him the song. Garfunkel was on board.

They recorded the song for two albums -- Simon's "Crazy" and Garfunkel's "Breakaway." And to promote the song, the pair made their triumphant return on a fledgling show that Simon was the host of in its second-ever episode.

That show as "Saturday Night Live." They did this song as well as "The Boxer" and "Scarborough Affair" and the buzz after the show was such that the song,  which was at No. 81 on October 18, 1975, on the Billboard Hot 100, jumped up 34 notches to No. 47 the next week before leaping into the Top 40 on November 1 at No. 30.

The production of the song -- produced by Simon, Garfunkel and Phil Ramone -- features the haunting low piano keys pressed by Barry Beckett, the quiet bass line played by David Hood and a memorable percussion by Ralph MacDonald. Even more unique are the vocals -- in one of the rare moments in their history together, neither man took on lead vocals. From start to finish, they are singing in two-piece harmony, making "My Little Town" one of the duo's most unique songs ever.

The tune is done in relative quiet with McDonald's percussion and those low notes continually being pressed by Beckett on the piano highlighting the mood. By the time the song reaches the chorus, it's pace and tempo increases and the horns become a major part of the song, especially in the fadeout.

"My Little Town," the song with amazing allusion thanks to Paul Simon's pen, peaked at No. 9 in December. But it wasn't going to be the last time Simon and Garfunkel would be together on the chart. In 1978, Garfunkel asked Simon and good buddy James Taylor to come in and collaborate on "Wonderful World," a slowed-down, acoustic-sounding Top 20 remake of the Sam Cooke 1960 classic.

And, of course, Simon and Garfunkel continue to tour from time to time, starting with 1981's triumphant concert in Central Park. Simon continued to have an amazing solo career, highlighted by his 1986 Grammy-winning Album of the Year "Graceland." In 1995, the duo was finally elected into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame.

They will still do this little song called "My Little Town." And though Simon didn't necessarily write the song about his hometown, he painted a picture of a lot of hometowns that the listener didn't like living in.

As for the top of the Top 40 that week, Elton John's "Island Girl" finished out an amazing run to No. 1 -- from the No. 36 debut on October 18, to No. 8 the very next week and then to No. 1 in its third week, the fastest-climbing No. 1 hit in John's career.

The AT40 Blog/October 29, 1983: When the Bee Gees docked on an 'Island'

One of the greatest country music songs of all-time was written by none other than disco's favorite songs, Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb.

No, seriously. It was written by the Bee Gees, who made a mint gettin' down and funky to songs such as "You Should Be Dancing," "Stayin' Alive," "Night Fever" and "Jive Talkin'."

In 1983, the Bee Gees were still trying to walk away from that part of their lives. Disco had died out and a new era of 1980s music was starting up. In 1983, it was about spry, peppy pop that would one day be the staple of pop adult contemporary, new wave music and a second wave of British artists who were ruling the roost that year.

The Bee Gees were still relevant as songwriters. In 1982, they wrote Dionne Warwick's "Heartbreaker," a No. 10 hit. And that success allowed them to branch out further. So they composed "Islands In The Stream," a song they were targeting for a man who was enjoying a major comeback on the charts -- Marvin Gaye, who was scoring kudos everywhere for the song "Sexual Healing" and the album "Midnight Love."

The problem, though, was Gaye was not recording anything immediately. So the Brothers Gibb had a composition that had a lot of soul to it with no takers. It was suggested to them, though, by his manager, Ken Kragen, that country star Kenny Rogers was looking for new material for an album that would ultimately called "Eyes That See Through The Dark."

They handed "Islands In The Stream" to Kragen and immediately, Rogers loved it. Then came the idea to make the song into a duet, something the Brothers Gibb never intended on the song being. But Rogers knew the perfect partner -- fellow country star and the ever-so-sassy Dolly Parton. Both were familiar with pop-crossover success, each scoring solo No. 1 hits in the early '80s on the Billboard Hot 100, he with "Lady" in 1980 and she in 1981 with "9 To 5."

The song proved to be a magical collaboration. It debuted in the Top 40 in September of 1983 and a month later, it had gotten to No. 1 on the chart on October 29, 1983, spending two weeks there, while simultaneously spending two weeks at the top of the country chart.

The song, everyone found out, had a lot of staying power over the years. In 1998, the tune was the premise behind the Top 15 pop rap hit for Pras, Mya and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard as "Ghetto Superstar" from the Warren Beatty-directed and starred Bulworth. And in 2005, Country Music Television (CMT) did a countdown of the 100 greatest collaborations of all time. Guess what song was No. 1?

Yup. And Kenny and Dolly were more than happy to perform their amazing duet for a live audience when the Top 10 of that countdown was revealed.

The pair would record quite a bit more in the subsequent years, including a Christmas album and the song "Real Love."

As for Barry, Robin and Maurice, the success of the songs "Heartbreaker" and "Islands In The Stream" would continue to grow their confidence as songwriters and in 1989, six years after their previous Top 40 hit "The Woman In You," they would hit the Top 10 with "One," their first Top 10 hit in 10 years.

So the Brothers Gibb never worried about starving or living out on the streets in the 1980s. They did quite well after the disco era died out. All they did was co-write one of the greatest country music songs ever, showing they can transition from dancing shoes to cowboy hats and boots.

The AT40 Blog/October 20, 1973: Celebrating Jim Croce's short career

When it came to the king of the countdown, Casey Kasem was pretty straight-forward, counting down the hits, while reading listeners' mail when it came to a question or maybe an occasion comment about the show.

But rarely did he do what he did in this countdown. He spent a six-minute segment in this particular week talking about the life and short career of Jim Croce, who scored the biggest mover within the Top 40 that week with "I Got A Name," which leaped 18 places from No. 40 to No. 22 and eventually peaked at No. 10.

It was a tribute he did to Croce. The Philadelphia native had come off a No. 1 hit in the summer of 1973 with "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" and was only continuing to get bigger in his career. However, on September 20, 1973, Croce and his entire band were leaving Northwestern State University's Prather Gymnasium after playing a sellout concert. He, the band and comedian George Stevens and booking agent Kenneth D. Cortose were leaving from Natchitoches Airport in Louisiana.

The Beechcraft E18S plane had issues taking off from the runway and just gotten off the ground when, in the dark, the pilot, a 57-year-old veteran of over 14,000 hours in the air, did not see a pecan tree at the end of the runway. The plane clipped the runway and crashed to the ground, killing everyone on board.

Croce was only 30 years old. He left behind his wife, Ingrid, and their nearly 2-year-old son, A.J.

The music business was in complete shock. It just didn't seem fair that Croce, who had only earned his big break just one year earlier working with producer-performers Tommy West and Terry Cashman, was now gone way too soon. His death was reminiscent of the death of Buddy Holly, J.P. Richardson aka The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens on February 2, 1959 and of talented stars such as Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves and Otis Redding.

Right before playing Croce's fast-climbing single, Casey spent the time talking about how Croce, the son of Italian-Americans, got into the music business in an unusual way -- while working as a teacher in his native Philadelphia, he got into an argument with a rather large and troubled African-American girl, one of many troubled youths who were in this school Croce was a teacher at. She got angry and the two ensued in an argument. In the end, she pushed him so far across the room and into a blackboard that it made it easy for Croce to push ahead into the music business, something he had dabbled in for some time.

Casey told the story of Croce and AT40 played snippets of Croce's first four Top 40 hits he had out while he was alive -- "You Don't Mess Around With Jim," a No. 8 hit in 1982, " the No. 17 hit about a phone conversation between the singer and a phone operator called "Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels)," "One Less Set Of Footsteps," a small No. 37 hit in 1973 and finally, "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown," which sauntered to the top in July 1973, spending two weeks at the top.

Croce tirelessly toured with his band and was in the middle of his "Life And Times" tour when the fatal crash took place. After talking about his career, Casey played the No. 21 hit of the week in "I Got A Name," which came from the motion picture "The Last American Hero."

"I Got A Name" would fall of the charts, but Croce had a catalog of songs still left to be released. And so came the follow-up, introspective "Time In A Bottle," the beautifully emotional song that hit No. 1 in December 1973 and helped Croce join Redding and Janis Joplin as the only artists to ever have a posthumous No. 1 hit. In 1974, Croce's "I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song" went to No. 9, his last Top 40 hit.

Interestingly, Croce would write a lot of songs off of his own personal experiences, like "Operator." And story songs like "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" and "You Don't Mess Around With Jim" painted a great picture for the listener. But ironically, "I Got A Name" was not a song written by Croce. It was written by the team of Charles Fox and  Norman Gimble.

No one will ever know how great Croce's career could have been. He was still growing as an artist when the fatal crash took place.

But while he was here, he left us with a great amount of music most of us will never forget.

As for the top spot in the countdown that week, the Rolling Stones' beautiful ballad, "Angie," leaped into the No. 1 spot from No. 5 the week before, to become the band's seventh No. 1 hit of their career, dropping Cher's "Half-Breed" down to No. 2.

The AT40 Blog/October 9, 1976: Rockin' Out to Ol' Ludwig

Only one human being can link Ludwig von Beethoven and Peter Griffin together.

His name is Walter Murphy, who these days is best known for the music he composes on Family Guy, The Cleveland Show and American Dad!, television shows created by Murphy's good friend, Seth MacFarlane.

But for all the fame Murphy has for his musical work on those shows, he's known best for one song.

And it's a disco classic to say the least. It was on this week, October 9, 1976, that Murphy took the classical composer to a place he never was before -- No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 as "A Fifth Of Beethoven," based solely on Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5 In C Minor," which finished being composed in 1808, finished off the slowest climb on the Hot 100 to No. 1 at that time, 20 weeks. It had debuted on the Hot 100 at No. 80 and reached the top spot by knocking Wild Cherry's disco classic, "Play That Funky Music" from the top.

The story behind "A Fifth Of Beethoven" began in 1974 when Murphy (born December 19, 1952) was composing songs for commercials he had been contracted for. It was a producer who suggested to this multi-instrumentalist that he should update classical music. So in his spare time, Murphy, who had major keyboard and piano training from his work as a child with the legendary New York City-based silent screen keyboardist Rosa Rio, composed a demo tape of "the classics" put together in a disco groove.

The response to those "re-workings" was lukewarm at best. But it was his disco interpretation of Beethoven's famous "Symphony No. 5" that got the attention of Larry Uttal, the head of Private Stock Records, in 1975. Uttal signed Murphy and in early 1976, he went into the record studio to once again create that magic that he originally put on that demo for "A Fifth Of Beethoven," once again playing every instrument on the track, a long, arduous task and undertaking.

When the single was done, backed by another disco instrumental called "California Strut," Murphy was excited. But he was brought back to reality when Uttal told him that it'd be best if there was a bigger "name" behind his work than just "Walter Murphy." So Murphy became infuriated when he found out that his song was being released as Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band ... even though there was no other players on that record! The song got released in the spring of 1976. But imagine Uttal and Private Stock's shock when they found out that there already was a Big Apple Band. Ultimately on subsequent releases, the song would be dubbed under The Walter Murphy Band and later, just Walter Murphy.

And wouldn't you know it -- people ate up "A Fifth Of Beethoven." It became a club music favorite and discos everywhere played it on a nightly basis. So, too, did radio, and the people went out and bought the 45. And as soon as the song spent this one week at No. 1, Murphy was asked to an entire album based on the classics put to disco. One such song, "Flight '76," which was based on Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight Of The Bumble Bee," hit the Hot 100, but missed out on the Top 40, peaking at No. 44 in early 1977.

After doing another album of disco classics, this one featuring George Gershwin's classic, "Rhapsody In Blue," Murphy would miss out on the Top 40 again in 1982 when his "Themes From E.T. (The Extra-Terrestrial)" hit No. 47. That movie work ultimately led to Murphy being contracted to do television music from shows like Buffy, The Vampire Slayer and Channel Umptee-3. before he connected with MacFarlane to do work on his television cartoon shows as well as the motion picture "Ted," which MacFarlane starred as Mark Wahlberg's talking teddy bear.

And in 1977, "A Fifth Of Beethoven" was contracted to be used in a movie that would make disco music a staple forever -- Saturday Night Fever. Then in 2002, a long-haired new artist named Robin Thicke used "A Fifth Of Beethoven" as the backdrop to his debut single "When I Get You Alone." And that opening musical refrain -- "Dum-dum-dum-duuuuuuuuum" -- has been used at sporting events, especially when the opponent has done something bad, like walk a batter or make an error in baseball or committed a foul in basketball or a penalty in hockey.

Finally, one other footnote -- that real Big Apple Band eventually changed its name because of Murphy's smash. They changed it to Chic and became a legendary dance-disco band that had hits with "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah Yowsah Yowsah)," "Le Freak" and "Good Times and was once again nominated for induction into the Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame.

But it all started with a suggestion to "update the classics." And though the record label screwed up the name of the act because it would "appeal" more, Walter Murphy will forever be linked to Ludwig von Beethoven.

The AT40 blog/October 3, 1981: The long road for "Hollywood"

When Billy Joel wrote "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" in 1976, he was writing the song with a great 1960s song in his mind.

That song was the Ronettes' classic "Be My Baby." Joel has gone as far as tell college students at lectures of its birth as he was writing songs for what would be his album "Turnstiles," his fourth studio album. It's the same album that brought us classics such as "Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)," "Summer, Highland Falls" and one of the most recognizable songs he does in all his concerts, "New York State Of Mind."

Joel claimed to have written the song after he moved back from being on the West Coast for three years. Though some have interpreted the song as him not liking the bright lights of L.A., Joel said he was writing it from the point of living the experience, enjoying the success he began to have, but knowing it was time to go back to his native New York. And as for Spector's influence on the song, Joel said he was a huge fan of the Ronettes and most girl groups growing up in Long Island, New York as a teenager. If you play the recordings of "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" and "Be My Baby" side by side, you can hear the similarities, the only thing missing is the legendary Phil Spector "Wall of Sound" he helped make famous on "Be My Baby."

"Say Goodbye To Hollywood" may have been just stuck on the "Turnstiles" albums forever if not for Joel and his backing band playing this song and many others he recorded before his breakthrough "The Stranger" album in 1977 on tour in 1980. It was those recordings that would wind up on the 1981 album, "Songs In The Attic," his first live album. Many of those songs have become Joel staples on FM radio like "Captain Jack," "The Ballad Of Billy The Kid" and "You're My Home."

And to give Joel fans who only caught on with the superstar because of "The Stranger," the first release was the live performance of "Say Goodbye To Hollywood," that sentimental ode to the "growing up" part of his career of the 1970s. The song debuted on the Top 40 on September 26, 1981, at No. 40, and it was on this week, October 3, 1981, that it made the biggest leap within the Top 40, jumping 10 places from No. 40 to No. 30. It would eventually peak at No. 17 and be Joel's 14th Top 40 hit since "Piano Man" debuted in 1974. Another live track from that album, "She's Got A Way," would hit the Top 25 in early 1982.

As a side story to "Say Goodbye To Hollywood," a year after Joel recorded his original, guess which artist also recorded the song?

Uh-huh ... Ronnie Spector. She took it to heart, saying, "In a way it's my life story 'cause I was married in Hollywood, I lived in Hollywood, my life fell apart in Hollywood and now I am saying goodbye to Hollywood." Her version of the song was produced by Steven Van Zandt, who had plenty of time to work with Spector as he and the rest of the E Street Band were waiting to record again as his "Boss," Bruce Springsteen, was dealing with legal wranglings with his management and productions teams. Spector also had done backing vocals for Springsteen and the E Street Band.

As for the top of the chart on October 3, 1981, Diana Ross and Lionel Richie were riding at No. 1 for the eighth straight week with the theme from the movie Endless Love, but leaping up five places to No. 2 was Christopher Cross' hit from the movie Arthur, "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)."

The AT40 blog/September 22, 1984: The era of 'multiple-hit' albums was thriving

By the mid-1980s, the era of putting together material for at least one album a year was over. The costs had already begun to skyrocket and the record companies weren't willing to shell out the bucks to freely have an act come in to the studio to record a 12-song package, much to the consternation of the act's agents/managers who believed in pushing their act to the brink of exhaustion.

So with less albums being produced, record companies were gambling more on their acts churning out numerous hits from those albums. And it was this week that 18 of the 40 songs in the countdown were the second or third or fourth or even fifth singles from the act's albums.

No. 38 All Of You--Julio Iglesias & Diana Ross: The follow-up single to his debut duet with Willie Nelson, "To All The Girls I've Loved Before" was from Iglesias' breakthrough album 1100 Bel Air Place, which also featured a collaboration with the Beach boys on the Hollies' classic "The Air That I Breathe."

No. 37 Flesh For Fantasy--Billy Idol: It was late in 1983 when Idol's breakthrough album Rebel Yell, and though the title cut missed the Top 40, the follow-up, "Eyes Without A Face," sure didn't. It got to No. 4 in the summer of '84. "Flesh For Fantasy" was the follow-up and peaked at No. 29.

No. 36 Who Wears These Shoes?--Elton John: The venerable Mr. John released his 24th album, Breaking Hearts, in the summer of '84 and produced the Top 10 hit "Sad Songs (Say So Much)." The follow-up, "Who Wears These Shoes?" would get as high as No. 16. This song, like the previous hit, was co-written with his legendary writing partner, Bernie Taupin.

No. 33 Bop 'Til You Drop--Rick Springfield: Since his 1981 breakthrough in "Jessie's Girl," Springfield was non-stop on the chart. He had three Top 40 hits from that album, Working Class Dog, three more from Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet, and three more from Living In Oz. From the movie soundtrack of his debut film, "Hard To Hold," Springfield had hit the Top 10 with "Love Somebody" and Top 30 with "Don't Walk Away." "Bop 'Til You Drop" would get as high as No. 20 as the third single from this soundtrack.

No. 31 Some Guys Have All The Luck--Rod Stewart: The album Camouflage was Rod Stewart's fourth solo album of the decade and produced the Top 10 hit "Infatuation" during that summer of '84. "Some Guys Have All The Luck," the perky remake of the 1973 Persuaders' Top 40 hit smash, would also be a Top 10 hit, peaking at No. 10.

No. 29 I'm So Excited--The Pointer Sisters: Talk about unique hit songs. "I'm So Excited" was a follow-up release on not one album, but two. In 1982, it was a Top 30 smash from the album "So Excited!" and was the follow-up to the Top 20 "American Music." Then their record label slipped the song back in thanks to an edited and remixed version for their 1984 album "Breakout," and was the third release after "Automatic" and "Jump (For My Love)." This time, the song made the Top 10, peaking at No. 9.

No. 25 The Lucky One--Laura Branigan: In the early summer, Branigan's first release from her third album, Self Control, the title cut, peaked at No. 4. "The Lucky One" was her fifth top 40 hit in two years, peaking at No. 20.

No. 19 Torture--The Jacksons: It had been over three years since Marlon, Jackie, Tito, Randy and Michael had a Top 40 hit with "Heartbreak Hotel" (not the Elvis song). Then came the album Victory and the first single, "State Of Shock," which featured Michael and Mick Jagger on vocals. "Torture" was produced and co-written by Jackie and features brother Jermaine, who was uncertain of his availability on the album until the last moment, and Michael on lead vocals. It got as high as No. 17.

No. 17 When You Close Your Eyes--Night Ranger: This song was actually the third release from the album Midnight Madness as the first song, "(You Can Still) Rock In America" got to No. 51. It was the second release, the '80s classic "Sister Christian," which peaked at No. 5 that finally got the band into the Top 40. The follow-up, with Jack Blades on lead vocal, was "When You Close Your Eyes." It got as high as No. 14.

No. 16 Lucky Star--Madonna: The self-titled album for the woman we would come to know as the "Material Girl" gave us the Top 20 hit "Holiday," and the No. 10 hit "Borderline." She was about to continue her upward climb to fame and fortune with the hit "Lucky Star," highlighted by a memorable music video that would punctuate the "Madonna look" of the mid-1980s. "Lucky Star" would get to No. 4.

No. 14 Hard Habit To Break--Chicago: Now sailing again with a second wind starting with 1982's No. 1 hit "Hard To Say I'm Sorry" and with Canadian writer-producer David Foster behind the controls of the band production-wise, Chicago released Chicago XVII in late spring of 1984 and "Stay The Night" went as high as No. 16. But the follow-up was the emotional "Hard Habit To Break," featuring Peter Cetera and Bill Champlain on co-lead vocals. It would get as high as No. 3.

No. 12 Stuck On You--Lionel Richie: By now, Richie's Can't Slow Down album was running out of steam, though "Penny Lover" was waiting in the wings to become the fifth Top 40 hit from that album. "Stuck On You" gave Richie an audience he rarely ever touched -- country music fans. After the dance-happy hits "All Night Long (All Night)" and "Running With The Night" and the No. 1 ballad "Hello," Richie got his cowboy hat and boots on for "Stuck On You," which peaked at No. 3 and was on its way down the chart at this point.

No. 11 Cover Me--Bruce Springsteen: Little did anyone know that The Boss was going to break the bank with the album Born In The U.S.A. by releasing an insane seven singles from it. In the early summer of '84, Springsteen and his merry E Street Band mates were bounding into the Top 10 with "Cover Me," the second Top 10 hit from the album and follow-up to the No. 2 smash and biggest hit ever, "Dancing In The Dark."

No. 6 If This Is It--Huey Lewis & The News: The band from Marin County, California was already up to their fourth release from the No. 1 album Sports. They hit the Top 10 with "Heart And Soul," "I Want A New Drug," and "The Heart Of Rock 'N Roll." Then came the summer-driven "If This Is It," complete with a music video featuring the band at the beach. It peaked at No. 6 as "Walking On A Thin Line" was in the on-deck circle ready to become the band's fifth Top 40 hit from the album.

No. 5 Drive--The Cars: The sassy "You Might Think" started off as the first single from the Boston-based band's fifth studio album. The hard-driving "Magic" became a summertime smash, peaking at No. 12. Then came the beautiful "Drive" with bass player Benjamin Orr on lead vocal after Ric Ocasek sang lead on the first two hits. "Drive" would peak at No. 3.

No. 4 What's Love Got To Do With It--Tina Turner: Dropping from the No. 1 spot after three weeks at the top, this Grammy Award-winning smash was really the second release from Turner's comeback album Private Dancer. Her remake of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" was a Top 30 hit in the late winter of '84, her first Top 40 hit in over 10 years when she was still married to Ike.

No. 3 She Bop--Cyndi Lauper: The album She's So Unusual gave us the fun-packed "Girls Just Want To Have Fun," which went to No. 2, and the beautiful "Time After Time," which went to No. 1. This time around, Lauper needed a chaperone because she couldn't "stop messin' in the danger zone." "She Bop" hit No. 3 as the third single and she still had two more releases to go ("All Through The Night" and "Money Changes Everything") from this breakthrough album.

No. 2 Let's Go Crazy--Prince & The Revolution: From the soundtrack of the movie "Purple Rain," the first single, "When Doves Cry," which was still in the Top 40 at this point, gave His Purple Majesty the first No. 1 of his career. "Let's Go Crazy," the second release from the soundtrack, was the follow-up and a week away from becoming the second No. 1 hit for Prince. Purple Rain would give us five Top 40 hits.

Of course, that's just the songs that were "follow-up" singles. There were also "first" releases from albums ("Strut" by Sheena Easton at No. 40, "Swept Away" by Diana Ross at No. 35,  "On The Dark Side" by John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band at No. 32, Prince's "When Doves Cry" at No. 23, "Caribbean Queen" by Billy Ocean at No. 22, "Sunglasses At Night" by Corey Hart at No. 20, "Lights Out" by Peter Wolf at No. 18, "Dynamite" by Jermaine Jackson at No. 15, "I Just Called To Say I Love You" by Stevie Wonder at No. 9, "The Glamorous Life" by Sheila E. at No. 8 and "Missing You" by John Waite, which went to No. 1 for its only week in this particular week) that would also spawn multiple Top 40 hits.

That's 29 songs in the Top 40 that week from albums that gave us multiple hits.

Yes, as you can see, the times of "an album a year" were definitely a-changin'.

The AT40 Blog/September 13, 1980: Two iconic early '80s hits take huge jumps

They are two of the most iconic songs of the early part of the 1980s. And for the week ending September 13, 1980, they were the two biggest movers within the American Top 40 countdown, one song heading to the Top 10, the other heading straight to the top.

The biggest mover in the Top 40 was Kenny Loggins' first foray into movie music. "I'm Alright," the big track from the motion picture Caddyshack, starring Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight and Bill Murray, jumped a hefty 15 notches from No. 27 to No. 12 on its way to peaking at No. 7. It would be Loggins' actual first Top 10 solo hit, even though 1978's No. 5 hit "Whenever I Call You Friend" was listed as a Loggins solo effort. He had help on that song from Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks.

"I'm Alright" would help establish Loggins as a bonafide star of singing movie music. Throughout the 1980s, it was his voice that gave life to movies such as Footloose (the title track, "I'm Free"), Over The Top ("Meet Me Halfway"), Top Gun ("Danger Zone") and Caddyshack II, which got him yet another Top 10 hit from that movie with "Nobody's Fool."

And hey, who doesn't remember the gopher dancing to "I'm Alright" after he helped to ruin the golf course at the end of the first Caddyshack and Dangerfield famously announced, "Hey everybody! We're all gonna get laid!"

The second biggest mover of the week was the third single to come from Queen's "The Game" album. It seemed as if the luster of the No. 1 song "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" had worn off after "Play The Game" only got as high as No. 42 in the mid-summer of 1980. Didn't look as if the album was going to carry on.

But there was a hidden jewel on the album that was ready to be the third release, a funky, dance record that bass player John Deacon composed that seemed like a throwaway on the album. Deacon composed one of the more popular songs the band had four years earlier in "You're My Best Friend," and he was about to do it again with a song that picked up quite a bit of radio airplay in the second half of the summer. I can still remember 99X WXLO-FM in New York playing the tar out of this dance tune.

And how I loved "Another One Bites The Dust." It's Deacon's bass complementing Roger Taylor's drums that make this tune memorable. Then you add the amazing and theatrical vocal of the late Freddie Mercury and that song would become one of the reasons we loved the 1980s musically.

"Another One Bites The Dust" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 16, 1980 at No. 67 and two weeks later, it was debuting in the Top 40 at No. 28. Two weeks later after that, the week of September 13, 1980, it leaped 14 places from No. 23 into the Top 10 at No. 9 to give Queen its fourth Top 10 hit (sadly, it would be the band's last Top 10 hit as "Bohemian Rhapsody," the band's classic 1976 Top 10 smash, would be re-released thanks to the "Wayne's World" soundtrack and hit No. 2 months after Mercury's passing).

Three weeks after it hit the Top 10 in a splashy way, "Another One Bites The Dust" would get to No. 1 and spend three weeks at the top and make the band first to have two No. 1 hits in the 1980s. "Another One Bites The Dust" would spend a mesmerizing 15 weeks in the Top 10.and since its release in the summer of 1980, it has become one of the biggest sports anthems of all time.

As for the very top of the Top 40 this weekend, Diana Ross held at the top with her fifth No. 1 hit after leaving the Supremes and her 17th overall No. 1 hit with "Upside Down," while Australia's Air Supply moved into the No. 2 spot with their second straight big hit "All Out Of Love" and the Rolling Stones held firm at No. 3 with the title track from their album "Emotional Rescue."

The AT40 Blog/September 3, 1983: When " Human Nature" made history

There's that so-often told story of something being "the last" or "the last-moment substitute" that makes history and does well.

And so is that story of "Human Nature," the fifth single release from Michael Jackson's memorable 1982 album Thriller. But how did "Human Nature" even make its way to Jackson's album in the first place? This is the story.

"Human Nature" was co-written by Steve Porcaro of the group Toto and John Bettis, who wrote a number of hits in the 1970s and early 1980s for the Carpenters as well as the Pointer Sisters' big 1981 No. 2 hit "Slow Hand." But "Human Nature" was not really a "finished" project. Porcaro put down the song in a sketchy form on a cassette tape, not much in lyrics, most likely thinking producer Quincy Jones, the superstar behind Jackson's success for 1979's Off The Wall would even give the song a second look, but might give him an opinion to what he thinks which direction the song might go in.

So after completing the sketchy recording, Porcaro reportedly handed the tape over to Toto pianist-singer and leader David Paich to hand to Jones with two songs that Paich had put together for Jones and Jackson to listen to for approval.

Jones and Jackson were already in the process of recording Thriller while Porcaro and Paich and the rest of Toto were enjoying monster success with the album that would win the Grammy for Album of the Year, Toto IV. So Jones received the demos from Paich ... and stunningly rejected both of Paich's songs! Then he heard the sketchy melody and words to "Human Nature."

Something clicked. In the notes of the re-released Thriller 25 in 2008, Jones said, "All of a sudden, at the end, there was all this silence, there was: 'Why, why, dah dah da-dum dah dah, why, why.' Just a dummy lyric and a very skeletal thing—I get goosebumps talking about it. I said, 'This is where we wanna go, because it's got such a wonderful flavor.'"

So he had Porcaro and Bettis pursue the song further. A couple of weeks later, Porcaro brought Jones the finished version of "Human Nature," for which he would play the synthesizers and keyboards as a session musician. And in a last-second judgment, Jones substituted a song that was already set to be placed on the album, "Carousel," for "Human Nature."

"Human Nature" provided a perfect balance for Thriller as a slower song alongside "The Lady In My Life" and "The Girl Is Mine" against the funky dance songs like "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)," "Wanna Be Startin' Something," the title track and "Billie Jean" along with the fire of the Eddie Van Halen guitar-driven "Beat It."

But only one album in the history of popular music had ever seen more than four releases from it hit the Top 40 -- that was the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, which featured four No. 1 hits, three by the Bee Gees and the other by Yvonne Elliman, while the other Top 40 hits came from the Trammps, K.C. & The Sunshine Band and Tavares.

Never in the history of music had one album generated five Top 40 hits by one artist. Fleetwood Mac scored four Top 10 hits from its landmark 1977 Rumours with "Go Your Own Way," "Dreams," "Don't Stop" and "You Make Lovin' Fun." And Jackson did it with four Top 10 hits from Off The Wall with "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," "Rock With You," the title track and "She's Out Of My Life." The Grease soundtrack in 1978 generated four Top 10 hits as well, two being duets by the stars, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, along with a solo single by Newton-John and Frankie Valli's No. 1 title track.

So as the wintertime release of Thriller turned into the spring of '83, then the summer of '83, and the first four songs were all Top 10 hits -- "The Girl Is Mine," a duet with the great Paul McCartney, "Billie Jean," "Beat It" and "Wanna Be Startin' Something" -- the executives of CBS/Epic Records made a big decision. Thriller was huge and selling a trough full of albums each day through the summer of '83. They didn't want this party to end at four Top 40 hits knowing there was more hit potential from the album.

So on Tuesday, July 5, 1983, "Human Nature," the last-moment substitution for the album that originally came to its producer as a sketchy demo, was released after the power of the dance-happy "Wanna Be Startin' Something." This brooding moody ballad that had Jackson's vocals on full display about life in the city and his relationship with it, made its Hot 100 debut on July 23, 1983 and a week later, debuted at No. 35 in the Top 40.

And it kept climbing until Labor Day weekend. It was on that weekend it leaped from No. 13 to No. 10, making it the record fifth Top 40 hit from the album. A couple of weeks later, it would peak at No. 7. But even then the CBS/Sony execs didn't want the party to end. Soon after that, "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" was released and hit No. 10. And in the winter of 1984, the title track hit No. 4.

That would be seven Top 40 releases and seven Top 10 hits from Thriller. The seal was broken -- you could release more than four songs from an album if the album ... and the popularity ... were right and the right time.

But while Thriller was finished selling albums on an insane pace daily, another CBS album was being released in the late spring of 1984. It was Bruce Springsteen's Born In The U.S.A. and the company, too, made the landmark decision to go beyond four Top 10 hits from the amazingly great album after it became a smash. "Glory Days" did the trick with a Top 10 hit in the summer of 1985, followed by Top 10  followups "I'm Goin' Down" and "My Hometown," matching Jackson's seven Top 10 hits from Thriller.

Still, as they say, you always remember your "first." And in the case of Thriller, the record label took a chance on that sketchy, brooding, beautiful song "Human Nature" and it broke the glass ceiling for Top 10 hits from one album.

Yet another reason why Thriller will be judged as the greatest album of all-time if not one of the greatest.

The AT40 Blog/August 31, 1985: A shout out for the Jersey Shore

The Top 40 for August 31, 1985 was best known for all the international artists in the countdown. There were 17 songs by international artists ... that is, 17 different artists.

From England, there was 13 acts in the Top 40 alone: Dire Straits, John Parr, John Waite, Wham!, Howard Jones, Eurythmics, Billy Ocean, Phil Collins, Sting, Paul Young, Godley & Creme, Tears For Fears and Dead Or Alive. There were two Canadians in the countdown: Corey Hart and Bryan Adams. One act came from Australia ... Rick Springfield. The other foreigner in the countdown: newcomers a-ha from Norway.

While the foreign invasion of the charts that started in 1983 with the second British Invasion was still going strong, there were three songs in the countdown to come from one of the smallest states in the U.S.

Yes, New Jersey, aka the Garden State, was being repped in this countdown. In the Top 10 up four places from No. 12 to No. 8 was the third Top 10 hit from the album "Emergency" for Kool & The Gang out of Jersey City. The ballad "Cherish" would ultimately get to No. 2.

And then the other two Garden Staters could be found  near the end of the first hour of American Top 40. Of course, Casey Kasem himself teased that segment in the previous segment by telling everyone, "Up next, the man who makes the Garden State rock."

Then after the break, Casey goes into his spiel when it comes to all the radio stations all over the world. In this case, he pointed out WQLT in Florence, Ala. He gave a shout-out to 2XL in Cooma, New South Wales, Australia. And then ...

"And Jersey Shore hit radio WJRZ, Manahawkin and Toms River, New Jersey."

That was special. When Casey points out your home base, there's a big piece of pride involved. Growing up in Toms River, WJRZ was the Top 40 station of choice there at 100.1 on the dial in the early-to-mid 1980s along with another radio station that would broadcast AT40 a few years later, WPST in Trenton.

Then he continued from there ...

"And from the Garden State, here's New Jersey's favorite rock and roller, Bruce Springsteen, with his recent Top 5 smash now at No. 32, "Glory Days."

Swelled pride, no doubt, especially since Bruce is the iconic Jersey Shore rocker, straight from the hard-scrabbled streets of Freehold, a town I used to drive through a lot in a younger day for one reason or another. Perfect segue way. And that would be followed up at No. 31 by a song moving up eight notches in its second week in the countdown. From East Orange, N.J., it was the second Top 40 hit for 22-year-old Whitney Houston, "Saving All My Love For You," the song that would end up being her first No. 1 hit.

Yes, the moment lasted a second or two, but you can't help but remember it. It's in the final segment before the end of the first hour.

Meanwhile, three of the Top 4 songs in America came from movies: "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)" by Tina Turner from the movie she was a star in, "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome," was at No. 4, "St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)" by John Parr was waiting to get to No. 1 at the No. 2 spot, and holding the fort down was the hit from the Michael J. Fox movie "Back To The Future," "Power Of Love," by Huey Lewis & The News, holding at the top for a second straight week.

The AT40 Blog/August 24, 1974: America felt nostalgic

The world wasn't such a great place to be in 1974. Gas prices had gone up dramatically. There was crisis in the Middle East with Israel and Egypt at the forefront. But the lowlight in the summer of 1974 came on Thursday night, August 8, when in a speech made from his Oval Office to the country, President Richard M. Nixon announced that as of that next day at noon, he was resigning the office of the presidency and replaced by Vice-President Gerald R. Ford.

Watergate had gotten too much at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and in a short amount of time, President Nixon was going to be asked to testify in front of the Senate hearing committee and asked what he knew and when he knew it to them and a national audience.

Let's just say it wasn't going to end too well.

The people were bummed. They didn't like the world or their own country at this point in 1974. And so they turned to the one thing they could always turn to -- nostalgia. The year before, a movie that told of a simpler time in the early 1960s was released called "American Graffiti" and it became a huge hit and made household names of such actors as Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss and Harrison Ford. Earlier in 1974, the first No. 1 hit of the rock 'n roll era was released -- Billy Haley & The Comets' iconic "Rock Around The Clock" -- and in late May, it hit the Top 40, peaking at No. 39, spending one week in the countdown. And ABC was beginning to develop a new television show about life in the 1950s in Milwaukee that would star Howard and little-known actors such as Tom Bosley, Marion Ross, Anson Williams, Donny Most and a guy named Henry Winkler ... yup, "Happy Days."

And on the weekend of August 24, 1974, there was plenty of that nostalgia to go around in a number of songs within the Top 40.

Debuting at No. 33 was the latest single for the British artist known as Cat Stevens. A decade earlier, Sam Cooke went to No. 10 with "Another Saturday Night. Now Stevens was having his playful take with that number and would peak higher on the chart with his version at No. 6.

Moving up nine solid notches from No. 40 to No. 31 was the first and only Top 40 hit for the British group First Class. "Beach Baby" was a longing look at the long, beautiful days of summer lovin' and enjoying days on the sand and in the surf. It's the closest thing any foreign act has ever come to sounding like Brian, Carl, Dennis, Mike, Al and Bruce and the Beach Boys sound. With singer Tony Burrows, who made a history of singing on other one-hit wonder studio acts such as the Pipkins' "Gimme Dat Ding," White Plains' "My Baby Loves Lovin'" and Edison Lighthouse's "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes), leading the way, that smash single was a hit long after summer turned to fall, peaking at No. 4 in this country.

Also leaping nine places from No. 30 to No. 21 was the latest hit by lead singer Burton Cummings and his group, The Guess Who. "Clap For The Wolfman" was also an ode to a disc jockey who first made a name for himself playing rock 'n roll records while on a Mexican radio station, Wolfman Jack (real name, Robert Smith, from Brooklyn, N.Y.). The Wolfman made a name for himself in that smash movie "American Graffiti" the year before and the Guess Who paid tribute to the man, who was now also the host of NBC's highly successful "The Midnight Special." It would end up peaking at No. 6.

Another act getting nostalgic ... well, in a much different way ... was the British band Fancy, led by the lone female in the group, lead singer Helen Court. They moved up four places from No. 22 to No. 18 with their fresh take on the Troggs' 1966 No. 1 hit "Wild Thing."

But maybe the most unique act with any kind of nostalgic lineage was a country star who failed as a pop singer in the 1950s. Billy "Crash" Craddock, given his nickname for his prowess on a Greensboro, N.C. football field as a running back, released numerous songs with unique titles such as "Smacky-Mouth," "Birddoggin'" and "Boom Boom Baby." Only one title even reached the Billboard Hot 100 and that was the No. 94 song "Don't Destroy Me" in 1959. So in the mid-1960s, Craddock stopped trying to be a rock-a-billy star and turned his focus to the country music scene, where he scored numerous Top 10 hits, including his breakthrough smash, his No. 3 country remake of Dawn's pop No. 1 smash "Knock Three Times" in 1971. Then came "Rub It In," the playful tease of a record about layin' the suntan on while bakin' on a summer's day at the beach. It became Craddock's first No. 1 country hit at 35 years old and even better, the song finally helped him crack the pop Top 40. The man who had the same kind of charisma as the King of Rock 'n Roll did, Elvis Presley, moved up four places in this countdown from No. 20 to its peak position of No. 16, where it held down for three straight weeks.

Moving up a notch from No. 9 to No. 8 was the first collaboration of Donny and Marie Osmond, who were 5 and 4 years old, respectively, when Dale & Grace took "I'm Leaving It Up To You" to No. 1 for two weeks in November 1963. Donny and Marie decided to add an "all" into the title and "I'm Leaving It All Up To You" would wind up peaking at No. 4.

Last but not least was the guy at the top. Between June 1963 and the middle of July 1974, Canadian Paul Anka had exactly one Top 40 hit with the No. 27 song "Goodnight My Love" in 1969. But it wasn't as if he was doing nothing in the interim. He had composed the theme song to "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" and he wrote the classic Frank Sinatra Top 30 smash "My Way." And he was still on the circuit, doing night clubs in Vegas. He was hot even if he wasn't having a hit. Well it was this week in 1974 that Anka's first Top 40 hit since "Goodnight My Love," "(You're) Having My Baby" jumped up from No. 3 to land at No. 1 to become his first No. 1 hit since "Lonely Boy" in 1959 and 17 years after scoring his very first No. 1 hit at 16 years old, "Diana."

The song caused a stir in two ways: First was the title of the song. A lot of women were offended by the title, "(You're) Having My Baby," as if he was saying we were giving birth instead of the mother, who got to endure the nine months of labor and then give birth. The feminists out there said that Anka didn't get it, even if he didn't think anything of it. Second, the song contained the line, "Didn't have to keep it ... wouldn't put you through it. You could've swept it from your life, but you wouldn't do it. No you wouldn't do it." Those who were pro choice got all over Anka, but the star defended himself, saying in 1974, "I am into the antihuman thing, and I do understand the other side of it. There are those who can't cope, and it's not in the cards for them to have kids. I'm a libber myself, in the sense that ... if you've got to abort, you do. Some people just can't cope."

Though given the title by some as "the worst song ever," Anka's song has lasted for three generations and was one of his biggest hits ever, staying at No. 1 for three weeks.

It was a nostalgic time on the music charts. And with what was happening in the world, especially in this country, you could understand why Americans turned to a more cherished and "innocent" time.

The AT40 Blog/August 16, 1986: When chocolate met peanut butter

For years, rap music was threatening to infiltrate the mainstream Top 40 world.

Sure, there were some songs that had their moments in the song. The two most memorable rap singles up through the mid-1980s were "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang in January 1980, the first-ever all-rap song to make the Top 40. The other came a year later when Debbie Harry rapped in the second half of "Rapture," Blondie's fourth and final No. 1 hit in less than two years.

But starting in 1984, three friends from Hollis, Queens, N.Y., Joseph Simmons, Jason Mizell and Daryl McDaniels, started to make noise in the R&B world with their raps. And unlike other artists out there like Kurtis Blow, Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaata, these guys were a little harder edged. It was in 1984 when they made waves with a song called "King Of Rock," using a guitar-edged backdrop to their loud and proud raps.

Jason, Joseph and Daryl grew up on smooth R&B, but they also grew up on hard rock. They saw an avenue with their rap that might get them noticed a little more quickly than some of the other acts out there. And so Jason, the DJ and scratcher, Joseph, who went by the nickname of "Run" and Daryl, who took the "DMC" from his name, went to work on an album that would get them noticed in the summer of 1986 with the help of a little-known producer named Rick Rubin.

It was called "Raising Hell." The centerpiece of the album was an innovative rap using a song all three guys never heard growing up -- "Walk This Way" by Boston's bad boys of rock, Aerosmith. It was Rubin who brought his copy of the album the song was from, "Toys In The Attic," to the studio and played the original for the young rappers. He suggested they try to rap Tyler's original lyrics and neither Simmons or McDaniels were up for it. But Rubin was persuasive. And Mizell was willing to give it a shot by putting his own unique scratching skills to the song.

They got the permission from Tyler and Joe Perry, the writers of "Walk This Way" and who were unusually inspired to write the song after they caught the Mel Brooks-directed "Young Frankenstein" at the movies one day, to do the song. Next thing they asked permission for: If Perry and Tyler would like to play on the remake. They were both willing to come to New York and cut the new version.

What happened next is what some of us calling "the moment when chocolate met peanut butter" in rap music. Tyler was used mainly as the backing vocal while Perry starred on lead guitar just like he had a year before. And Run and DMC traded raps off the original lyrics as if they wrote the song.

It was a landmark. And on the weekend of August 16, 1986, "Walk This Way" was the highest Top 40 debut of the week at No. 30, already supplanting the Sugarhill Gang's No. 36 smash "Rapper's Delight" as the highest-charting single by a rap act. The song zoomed into the Top 10 within weeks and would peak at No. 4 by late September.

The door was opened for other rappers such as L.L. Cool J., D.J. Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Salt-N-Pepa, J.J. Fad and 2 Live Crew to walk through before the 1980s came to an end and another group of rappers invaded the charts from the 1990s on. And trust me, rap has had some great songs hit the charts, but not everyone that hits the Top 40 is a classic.

That could be said about songs that are sung. And that's partly why "Walk This Way" is such a landmark single. The song also did something else -- it revived the career of Aerosmith, who would release "Permanent Vacation," their first successful album in years and featured the Top 40 hits "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)," "Rag Doll" and "Angel," the Top 3 ballad that served as the band's first Top 10 hit since "Walk This Way." Aerosmith's dominance continued well into the 1990s where they scored their first No. 1 hit with "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" from the "Armageddon" movie soundtrack. And when "Jaded" hit the Top 10 in 2001, it proved the band had strength going into the 21st century. And they still continue to rock out when they can.

But Aerosmith's "second" life and rap music could not have happened without Rick Rubin's insistence that three early 20-somethings record a 10-year-old song and put their own spin on it.

The true meaning of chocolate meeting peanut butter.

The AT40 Blog/June 30, 1979 ... When the women took over the Boys Club

Like in most other businesses, the men were the ones in charge when it came to the music industry.

Now, there were some top female acts throughout the first 24 years of the rock era, everyone from Doris Day to Patti Page to Lesley Gore to Mary Wells to Carole King to Helen Reddy to Carly Simon to Roberta Flack to Olivia Newton-John to Diana Ross to Linda Ronstadt to Donna Summer.

They were all great. The problem was they were the stars and there were not many other female acts who could complement their talents. And then in the 1970s, more and more female stars came into their own. And with disco, even more female acts started to hit the charts.

It led to what would be "the perfect storm" on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week of June 30, 1979. Let's start by reviewing the Top 5 songs from June 23 first: Donna Summer was holding at No. 1 with "Hot Stuff," her second No. 1 hit in seven months. Meanwhile, she was also at No. 5, up six places from No. 11 with her fast-streaking follow-up "Bad Girls." Sister Sledge was holding at No. 2 with the women's anthem, "We Are Family." At No. 3 was the first hit for Tennessee-based school teacher-turned-singer Anita Ward with "Ring My Bell."

Then at No. 4 was the first hit for newcomer Randy Vanwarmer with the tear-jerker "Just When I Needed You Most." Randy was a guy. And among the women, he was an uncomfortable sore thumb sticking out. While the other four songs by the ladies looked like they were going to stay firm within the Top 5, only Vanwarmer's song looked prime to drop down on the chart.

So what was right behind in the Top 5 that week? At No. 6 was the first hit from the No. 1 album in America, "The Logical Song" by Supertramp from their monster success "Breakfast In America." A bunch of dudes from England. They were in a holding pattern at No. 6. But right behind them at No. 7 was the first hit for a newcomer named Rickie Lee Jones called "Chuck E's In Love."

She wasn't a dude. She was a threat to make the Top 5, though she was, too, holding in her position at the seventh slot. The Emotions of "Best Of My Love" fame from 1977 were at No. 9, but it was a duet called "Boogie Wonderland" with their friends from Chicago, Earth, Wind & Fire.

And that brings up to the weekend of July 30, 1979. As expected, Vanwarmer began his Vancoolingdown on the chart as "Just When I Needed You Most" dropped from No. 4 to No. 9. His plummet out of the Top 5 made way for history that weekend:

No. 1 Ring My Bell--Anita Ward: The Tennessee teacher-turned-singer strode two places up to No. 1 with the song that was written by Frederick Knight of "I've Been Lonely For So Long" fame and was first given to 12-year-old Stacy Lattisaw ... whose management turned the song down! Yup, her loss, Anita Ward's gain.

No. 2 Hot Stuff--Donna Summer: After being known as the "The Queen Of Disco," the woman born La Donna Gaines in Boston, Mass., on December 31, 1948, wanted to go more of a rock edge with her first single from her new album, "Bad Girls." Giorgio Moroder, her producer, brought in Doobie Brothers guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter to play the famous guitar solo in the middle of this classic now known for its usage in the 1997 movie The Full Monty than it was a disco-era classic.

No. 3 Bad Girls--Donna Summer: As part of a "medley" on the album "Bad Girls," "Hot Stuff" goes straight into the title cut, which told of life on the streets for a lady of the night. For a woman with strong religious believes, the dialogue may not have been comfortable for Summer, but she handled them more than well and would perform this song on tour for years until her passing in 2012. "Bad Girls" would go on to spend five weeks at No. 1.

No. 4 We Are Family--Sister Sledge: Written and produced by Chic's dynamic duo of Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers, "We Are Family," the theme song of sisterhood for the Sledges, would be the biggest hit for the quartet. They had peaked at No. 2 for two weeks and looked like they may crack the top, but Donna Summer was too strong and the song would slip down a pair of notches on this week.

No. 5 Chuck E's In Love--Rickie Lee Jones: While Supertramp was holding for one last week at No. 6 with "The Logical Song," it was Jones making the leap over Supertramp to No. 5 with "Chuck E's In Love," a song she wrote about friend and fellow songwriter Chuck E. Weiss, who hung out regularly with Jones and her boyfriend at the time, singer-songwriter Tom Waits. One day, Weiss stopped hanging around and then explained to Waits on the phone that he had left to go home to Denver because he fell in love. Ah, inspiration!

With that, for the first time ever, the women ruled the Top 5 slots on the Billboard Hot 100. It was a point that did not escape the American Top 40 research people and would let host Casey Kasem know to repeat a number of times the rest of the show. It was as impressive a Top 5 for one week since the Beatles owned all Top 5 spots on the chart 15 years and almost three months earlier.

And there was one another history-making moment mentioned by CK himself: By holding the No. 2 and 3 spots on the chart, Donna Summer became the first female artist to score two of the top three songs in the country in the same week. And the company she joined in that feat were pretty special to say the least -- Elvis Presley (1956), the aforementioned Beatles (1964) and the Bee Gees, who had done the trick just one year earlier.

This magical moment for the ladies on the chart would last one week. The next week, Sister Sledge slipped out of the Top 5 and Kenny Rogers invaded the all-girls club with his ballad "She Believes In Me," which moved up from No. 7 to No. 5.

By 1981, the women had pulled off another amazing chart success – for the first time in the rock era, the women spent more weeks at No. 1 (26 1/2) than the guys did (25 1/2) by the slightest of margins, led by Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes" and Newton-John's "Physical."

But none of that would have been possible if not for the success of the ladies of the '70s. More importantly, it was their domination of the Top 5 that proved to be a watershed moment for the women.

Yes, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Beyonce and Lady Gaga, you're welcome.