When American Top 40 began the weekend of the 4th of July 1970, only a handful of radio stations had been in on that debut show. By the time 1988 came around, the number was well over 200 radio stations.
American Top 40 became as much a brand name as Coca-Cola, Chevrolet and the New York Yankees in this country. The heartbeat of that show was none other than its co-creator and host, Casey Kasem. Along with Don Bustany, Tom Rounds and Ron Jacobs, Kasem, a disc jockey at Los Angeles station KRLA-AM who was best known for telling the audience biographical facts about the artists behind the songs while spinning the hits, followed that same format to the national Top 40 show that was like no other.
For three hours each week, Kasem would count down the hits backwards according to the Billboard Hot 100 chart. By 1978, the man who first came to national prominence as the voice of Shaggy on the TV cartoon Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, added the now-famous "long distance dedications" to the show and on October 7, 1978, eight years and almost three months after starting, the show expanded to four hours, allowing Kasem to play more "special" hits and talk more about the artists.
He was there for the singer-songwriter phase of the early 1970s. He was there when disco took off in the mid-to-late 1970s. He was there when new wave music dominated in the 1980s. He was there when the second British Invasion began in 1983. He was there to introduce the debut hits of artists such as Rod Stewart, The Eagles, Electric Light Orchestra, Elton John, Prince, Madonna, Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen, Rick Springfield and Wham! featuring George Michael. And that's just scratching the surface. He was there for Elvis Presley's and the Beatles' last Top 40 journeys. He caught the Bee Gees for all nine of their No. 1 hits and all nine of Michael Jackson's No. 1 hits in the 1980s alone. He watched over Air Supply scoring seven Top 5 hits to start their careers and the six No. 1 hits in a row the Bee Gees had between 1977-79 and all seven straight No. 1s Houston had between 1985-88.
The music was special in the 1970s and '80s and right there to count down the hits each week on AT40 was Casey Kasem.
So when his contract was up for negotiation in the spring of 1988, it was obvious Kasem, almost 56, was looking to go somewhere most stars of shows wanted to go -- well over $1 million a year. But ABC Radio Network, who hosted AT40, pointed out that ratings were not quite as high as they had been. This was discouraging to Kasem because for the first time, he was looking at leaving the show he not only the star of, but one of its co-founders. ABC did not back down from Kasem's demands to be paid and when it was all said and done, Kasem and ABC had reached an impasse and the star of the show decided it was time to go.
Yes, in April 1988, it was reported by Billboard that Casey Kasem was leaving AT40, moving on from the show he started. They had set the date for his last broadcast as August 6, 1988. So in between, Kasem went about his business as ABC began the task of finding his replacement. That would come over a month later when Hollywood Squares show announcer and sometimes "square" Shadoe Stevens would keep the show rolling after Kasem counted down his final hit.
Kasem continued to do his show and a special countdown during Memorial Day weekend of the biggest "new" acts of the 1980s (with Madonna coming in at No. 1). He would have guest hosts step in for him and on the week before his last broadcast, the show made history when superstars Daryl Hall & John Oates counted the hits down for the week of July 30, 1988, the first time non-DJs hosted the show.
But it was Casey Kasem's last "at-bat" for the original AT40. And so he began the countdown by playing the former No. 1 hit "Foolish Beat" by 17-year-old Debbie Gibson, the youngest artist in history to write, record and produce their own No. 1 hit, at No. 40. And dropping back from No. 27 to No. 39 on this countdown was the recent Top 10 hit for Al B. Sure! called "Nite And Day."
Then came the first of five debut hits in his last countdown -- ironically, it was the hosts of the previous week's show doing the honors as Hall & Oates debuted at No. 38 with "Missed Opportunity." That followed at No. 37 with the second debut -- and a man who Kasem announced at No. 1 with four previous songs, two with Chicago -- "If You Leave Me Now" and "Hard To Say I'm Sorry" -- and two on his own, "Glory Of Love" and "The Next Time I Fall," his duet with Amy Grant. It was Peter Cetera's latest single, "One Good Woman," which he co-produced and co-wrote with one of Madonna's main producers/writers, Patrick Leonard. Denise Lopez debuted at No. 36 with her one and only Top 40 hit, "Sayin' Sorry (Don't Make It Right)." The hottest new act of 1988 thanks to two No. 1 hits, Rick Astley, debuted at No. 33 with his third hit, "It Would Take A Strong Strong Man."
But the highest debut of the week -- fittingly -- came from the man who dominated the 1980s with such monster hits as "Rock With You," "Beat It," "Billie Jean" and "Bad." Of course, that was Michael Jackson, debuting at No. 31 with the sixth single from his "Bad" album, "Another Part Of Me." Unfortunately for The King Of Pop, that song would not make the Top 10, peaking at No. 11.
Nine songs in the countdown were by artists enjoying their first Top 40 hit: Sure!, Lopez, Climie Fisher, Jane Wiedlin (her first solo hit after the breakup of the Go-Gos), Tracy Chapman, D.J. Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (aka future Oscar-nominated star Will Smith), Johnny Kemp, Breathe and Guns 'N Roses, whose song "Sweet Child 'O Mine" would become a No. 1 hit in September.
Five of the songs in the countdown were by acts who had Top 40 hits in 1970: Elton John, The Moody Blues, Jackson and both Cetera and his former band, Chicago, who debuted together with "Make Me Smile" in 1970. And Gibson was the only act in the countdown born in 1970 when AT40 began. As a matter of fact, eight shows had already taped before Gibson was born on August 31, 1970.
Even more amazing: Over half the countdown -- 21 songs -- were by acts who hit No. 1 with that song they were on the chart with or had previously been to No. 1 and announced with the No. 1 song in America by Casey Kasem: Hall & Oates, Gibson, Cetera, REO Speedwagon, Astley, Kenny Loggins, Jackson, Van Halen, Huey Lewis & The News, Cheap Trick, INXS, Robert Palmer, Billy Ocean, Houston, Michael, Chicago, John, Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine, Terence Trent D'Arby, Richard Marx and the man with the No. 1 song that week with "Roll With It," Steve Winwood.
On the show, Kasem played the hits as well as answered questions like he normally did and played two long-distance dedications, one for a hit in the countdown at No. 23, the recent No. 1 hit "The Flame" by Cheap Trick, the other being the 1987 No. 1 hit "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life" that, if memory serves correctly, was dedicated by a young man from Jacksonville, Fla. to a group of friends he made at a camp.
The biggest mover within the Top 40 belonged to New Edition, back in the countdown after a couple of years and back without original member Bobby Brown (Johnny Gill replaced him). Their future Top 10 hit, "If It Isn't Love," leaped eight places from No. 34 to No. 26.
And as for the Top 5, D'Arby's "Sign Your Name," the follow-up to his No. 1 hit "Wishing Well," moved up from No. 6 to No. 5, where it would peak, Eric Carmen's second Top 5 hit in 1988, "Make Me Lose Control," went up another notch from No. 5 to No. 4, eventually stopping at No. 3, Marx dropped a notch from No. 2 to No. 3 with his first No. 1 single, the ballad "Hold On To The Nights," and moving up from No. 3 to No. 2 was the British band Breathe with their debut smash, "Hands To Heaven."
As for No. 1 -- Winwood's ode to Memphis soul of the '60s, "Roll With It," held for the second week there.
Many of us waited to hear the announcement most knew would come for months that this would be his last show. We were waiting for him to thank everyone who helped with the show and thank the listeners for being there all these years.
But as we found out, that wasn't how Casey Kasem rolled. He finished his show in the same normal manner he had each week, telling his audience as usual, "Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars." Then the closing music moved back to the foreground.
It was officially done. And it felt empty. Maybe there was so much animosity between Kasem and ABC that he didn't want to thank anyone.
So one era came to an end and another began as Stevens -- a much more bombastic host unlike the grandfatherly Kasem -- took over for the week ending August 13, 1988.
Maybe he got out at the right time as the music styles were changing by then -- freestyle music and rap were becoming a more powerful force than ever. We wanted to remember Casey Kasem for the pop, R&B, country and rock songs he played each and every week on the radio. This thing called "rap music" was still in its infancy and most of us weren't sure how to take it. Maybe it's a passing fad, maybe it's here to stay. Who knows?
Stevens would tell Billboard magazine in a 2010 interview that the first year he did AT40 was rough, simply because he wasn't the iconic Kasem and the show's producers didn't know what to think of his approach and style. And while AT40's ratings continued to slowly slip, Kasem himself was signing a gaudy five-year, $15 million deal with Westwood One to host another countdown show called Casey's Top 40, which would debut the following January 1989. Where AT40 used Billboard as a guide, Casey's Top 40 used the Radio & Records chart.
Casey's Top 40 would last for most of the nine years it was on the air. Meanwhile, Stevens found out not being Casey Kasem wasn't sitting well with the loyal listeners of the show. And whether ABC Radio Networks could use the excuse of "failing ratings" for not giving Kasem another contract, their shift in on-air personalities for the show was a bust as by July 1994, the show stopped being broadcast in the U.S. and only overseas. It finally stopped being broadcast the week of January 28, 1995.
Meanwhile, Kasem was able to acquire the American Top 40 name. In early 1998, he brought the subject up with Westwood One to rebrand the show by that name again. Westwood One, in its infinite wisdom, denied him that opportunity. And so the show died officially on March 21, 1998 with various guests hosting the show as Kasem signed a deal with AM/FM Radio Networks (now Premier Radio Network) and debuted the new American Top 40 on March 28, 1998, one week after the "re-branded" The Top 40 Countdown ended its run with Westwood One. Kasem would be the host of AT40 for almost six years in the second run. His last show came on January 3, 2004 with "Hey Ya!" by Outkast as the top song.
And this time, he did say goodbye, going out on his own terms this time around. He had retired from the four-hour grind of the show at 71 years old, handing it off to a much younger person, 29-year-old American Idol host Ryan Seacrest, who has hosted the show ever since.
Kasem hosted American Top 10 and American Top 20 for a more "adult contemporary" audience. His last show was on AT20 for the countdown of July 4, 2009 -- exactly 39 years after he started with the original AT40. He would live in retirement after that until his passing on June 15, 2014, at the age of 82.
Anyone who grew up with Casey Kasem and AT40 was blessed all these years later to remember there was this countdown show every week and most of the time, it was the soothing and direct voice of this man doing the countdowns each and every Saturday or Sunday. No matter how hard Seacrest or Rick Dees or anyone during his time period tried, they could never, ever beat the original Casey Kasem AT40 brand.
This is where the original story of AT40 ends: That 18-year, one-month period when we cheered on our favorite songs up the chart and found a piece of happiness when it hit No. 1. It was special.
AT40 was never the same after August 6, 1988. Most fans of the show, including myself, knew it. The music's changed. The personalities are changed. Much has changed in the last generation.
But we will always have our memories of the hits and of AT40 and in replays, either on the Sirius XM 70s on 7 channel or on various stations throughout the world replaying the original shows from the Premier Radio Networks and the wonderful work done of remastering the original shows by Arkansas native Shannon Lynn.
And we will always have the memories of Casey Kasem. Thank you.
No comments:
Post a Comment