The AT40 Blog/October 7, 1972: Walking precariously on the Top 40 line

His is a career that isn't documented quite like that of superstars.

But Leon Russell has had a career that was acknowledged in 2011 by the Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame inducting him. Not bad for a guy with two career Top 40 hits of his own.

Then again, the man born Claude Russell Bridges in Lawton, Okla., on April 2, 1942, is more than those two Top 40 hits, right from the moment he was a youngster playing music in his teens in the 1950s. At Will Rogers High School in Tulsa where he attended classes, one of his older classmates at the school was David Gates. Another student who was there for a short time at the school was future blues legend Elvin Bishop.

It was those three who helped to establish what would be the "Tulsa Sound." By the time he was 16 years old, Russell was playing in a group called the Starlighters, which also included a future star blues guitarist-singer named J.J. Cale. It was about that time that young Claude thought it'd be a great idea to see what he could do beyond the Tulsa area, so at 16 years old, he packed up and left for Los Angeles to hit it big.

But to hit it big, Russell was going to have to cut his teeth in studios around Los Angeles, showcasing his talents as a guitarist and pianist. Working under rock-a-billy guitar master and future Rock 'N Roll Hall of Famer James Burton when he came out to Los Angeles, Russell played on various sessions that involved pop music, rock music, blues and even gospel. Some of the acts he played alongside included Jan & Dean, Gary Lewis, Doris Day, The Byrds, The Ventures, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, the Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra and The Band.

Within time, Russell became the "go-to" guy around Los Angeles and he was making a modest living helping others have hits before one day he could have a hit of his own. In 1964, he was a member of the television show The T.A.M.I. Show alongside artists like Hal Blaine, Carol Kaye, Larry Knechtel, Tommy Tedesco and Glen Campbell, artists that would famously become known as "The Wrecking Crew," the famed Los Angeles-based group of reliable and talented studio musicians.

Record producer Snuff Garrett hired Russell to be his assistant and creative developer. For Gary Lewis & The Playboys, Russell played piano and arranged their lone No. 1 hit, "This Diamond Ring," while co-writing "Everybody Loves A Clown" and "She's Just My Style," a pair of Top 5 hits for the band led by entertainer Jerry Lewis' son. On singer Brian Hyland's 1966 Top 40 hit, "The Joker Went Wild," he played xylophone. He also was a session musician for Dorsey Burnett and played alongside other Wrecking Crew members as pianist on Campbell's 1967 breakthrough album "Gentle On My Mind," credited under the name Russell Bridges.

In 1965, Russell released his first single, "Everybody's Talking 'Bout The Young" with Garrett producing, but nothing came of it. Three years later, Russell and fellow studio musicians, including 21-year-old Marc Benno, recorded an album under the name Asylum Choir called "Look Inside The Asylum Choir." Russell and Benno produced the album, and though it barely missed hitting the Top 200 album chart, it was still confidence enough for Russell to start a new record label a year label that he'd call Shelter Records with British music producer Denny Cordell. He established studios in both Los Angeles and in his native Tulsa, giving him a pipeline to the people who, like him, were wanting to make it in the music business and needed an avenue to get there.

While he was establishing the record label, he met a couple named Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett. He got to play guitar and keyboards on their albums and became a member of the touring group. While this was going on, Russell wrote the song "Delta Lady" for up-and-coming star Englishman Joe Cocker in honor of one of Cocker's backup singers, Rita Coolidge. With Cocker's success, Russell helped to organize what would be the "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" tour, an act that included Delaney and Bonnie and Friends. Cocker's self-titled album, meanwhile, peaked at No. 11 in 1969 and included "Delta Lady" and "Hello, Little Friend," both Russell songs.

The follow-up album, the live "Mad Dogs and Englishmen," would get to No. 2 on the album chart a year later and established Cocker as a superstar. That included his remake of the Box Tops' No. 1 hit, "The Letter," for which it is Russell standing out on piano, as well as Arthur Hamilton's "Cry Me A River" and Dave Mason's "Feeling Alright," also being Top 40 hits, and another Russell competition sung lead by Coolidge throughout the tour called "Superstar."

While Russell -- now noticeable by his long, dark hair, mustache and beard and shades -- had success with Cocker and Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, he was releasing his self-titled debut album in 1970. From the album came Russell's pained "A Song For You," a tale of a man wanting forgiveness and understanding from an estranged lover. Elton John, who would work with Russell on a highly acclaimed album/CD in 2010, said it's "an American classic." Though Russell himself never had a hit with it, other artists made it their own from The Carpenters to Andy Williams to Donna Summer, Herbie Hancock and Ray Charles, who won a 1993 Grammy Award for recording the song. Also, his version of "Delta Lady" appeared on the album.

In December 1970, Russell and friends did a one-hour television special on Los Angeles-based KCET titled "Homeward Sessions" that was unscripted and unrehearsed that went so well that eventually, the show would make its way to public television.

In 1971, Russell was working with Dylan during an experimental period in the singer's life, performing on "When I Pay My Masterpiece" and "Watching The River Flow." And thanks to his association with Delaney and Bonnie and new friend George Harrison, Russell was invited to play on Badfinger's album, "Straight Up" during the summer of 1971. It's his piano playing behind the dual guitar work of Harrison and group member Pete Ham on the biggest hit Badfinger had, "Day After Day," a No. 4 hit in 1972. In between those sessions for "Straight Up," Harrison called upon Russell and his talents to play on the August 1971 relief benefit Concert For Bangladesh.

In between all that, Russell was releasing his next solo album, "Leon Russell And The Shelter People" and working with Benno on another Asylum Choir album, aptly called "Asylum Choir II." The former album would become Russell's first gold album. He would also play on projects beside Eric Clapton, B.B. King and Dylan.

Then as a bonus, he found out one of the hottest duos in music, The Carpenters, wanted to take a shot at his composition, "Superstar." And wouldn't you know it -- "Superstar" climbed all the way to No. 2 on the Hot 100 in October 1971.

Russell had finally gained a name of his own with a song that was his. That still didn't stop him from working alongside blues guitarist Freddie King in resurrecting his career and touring with his own backing band in promoting the "Leon Russell And The Shelter People." By the end of 1972, Russell would be cited as one of the biggest money-making draws in the music world, raking in close to $3 million.

Finally, Russell came back off the tour to begin work on the album "Carney." Once again producing the album with Shelter co-founder Cordell, Russell wrote or co-wrote all the tracks. Along with session guitarists Don Preston and Joey Cooper, bassist Carl Radke, organist John Gallie and drummers Jim Keltner and Chuck Blackwell, Russell worked on all 11 tracks in a matter of a couple of months.

Both Russell and Cordell felt positive about a couple of songs from the album -- and they were both released as the "A" and "B" sides of the first single release. The "A" side was a song called "Tight Rope," for which Allmusic writer/critic Stepen Thomas Erlewine called "an excellent introduction to an off-kilter, confused, fascinating album."

The track itself is one that seems to befit its title -- sounding an awful lot like a perplexed narrator trying to decide what's right and wrong and having to do this with the backdrop of a circus-like atmosphere and music, featuring Russell's piano and steel guitar work.

"Tight Rope" debuted on the Hot 100 at No. 82 on August 26, 1972, then powered its way up 22 notches to No. 60, then to No. 49, and No. 41. On September 23, 1972, "Tight Rope" became Russell's first Top 40 solo hit, debuting at No. 34. A big move of eight places to No. 26, set him up for the biggest move within the Top 40 on October 7, 1972, when "Tight Rope" took the jump of 10 places from No. 26 to No. 16.

"Tight Rope" looked like a sure-shot Top 10 hit after three weeks in the Top 40. But it started to slow down: No. 15, then to No. 11, where there was hope again of being a Top 10 hit.

Nope. It held at No. 11 on October 28, 1972 before falling back to No. 20 the next week and off the Top 40 the following week. Seemed like a disappointment, but the fact that Russell even hit the Top 40 with one of his own songs was a victory alone. As for the "B" side of the single, that would be a tune called "This Masquerade." In 1976, jazz guitarist-singer George Benson remade Russell's composition into a No. 10 smash from his No. 1 album "Breezin'."

Russell continued to do what he was doing and in 1975, he got another crack at the Top 40 with the blues-based ballad "Lady Blue." It would get to No. 14.

The 1972 album "Carney" would become Russell's biggest album on the Top 200 chart, peaking at No. 2. His "Leon Live" album in 1973 would get to No. 9 and that would be it for Top 10 albums for Russell for 37 years. That 2010 collaboration with Sir Elton John, "The Union," would peak at No. 3.

In 2015, Russell reunited with Coolidge, Claudia Lennear, Chris Stainton and various musicians that were part of the original Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour for a tribute concert in honor of Cocker, who had passed away earlier in the year at 70 years old. As for Russell, he embarked on a 2016 tour that was so popular that he booked shows into 2017.

Leon Russell is a major part of the history of Rock 'n Roll, walking that "Tight Rope" of success, even if his name may not be as familiar.

The AT40 Blog/September 26, 1970: A three-piece story from Sweet Baby James

According to the man who made the song famous, James Taylor, "Fire And Rain" was written in three parts and during a very dark time in his life.

In Rolling Stone magazine during a 1972 interview, Taylor said, "The first verse is about my reactions to the death of a friend (Suzanne Schnerr). The second verse is about my arrival in this country with a monkey on my back, and there Jesus is an expression of my desperation in trying to get through the time when my body was aching and the time was at hand when I had to do it. And the third verse of that song refers to my recuperation in Austin Riggs which lasted about five months."

Schnerr was a childhood friend of Taylor's, who, while Taylor was in England recording his first album, committed suicide. Taylor's friends and family made the gut-wrenching decision to keep the news from Taylor while he was recording that album for Apple Records and getting help on it from none other than Paul McCartney and George Harrison. It would not be for six months after her passing that Taylor found out. He was devastated by her passing.

The second verse was also that dark period after finding out of his friend's passing and coming home from England, feeling a bit like a failure because that self-titled debut did not sell well, and Taylor became depressed over it.

As for the third verse, Taylor wrote it about that time he was coming to grips with the early part of his career, recovering from his drug addiction at the Austin Riggs Center in Massachusetts, still battling the depression of letting famous people down and feeling melancholy over the breaking up of his first group as highlighted by the last line of that verse -- "Sweet dreams and Flying Machines in pieces on the ground" referenced the failure of the band Flying Machine, not to be compared to the British group who scored the Top 10 hit "Smile A Little Smile For Me" in 1969.

Taylor was only 21 years old when he finished his composition he called "Fire And Rain." His producer on that self-titled debut, Peter Asher of Peter & Gordon fame, saw something in Taylor even though that first album did not sell well. Even as Apple Records dumped his contract, he got picked up by Warner Brothers. Asher believed he can shape Taylor into an artist everyone would recognize.

On December 8, 1969, Taylor and Asher arrived at the Sunset Sound Recorders studio in Hollywood to begin work on that second album. The centerpiece of the album was to be the title track from it -- "Sweet Baby James." Once that track and others were finished, Taylor showed Asher the composition he had written which would turn out to be the breakout single. Asher liked it and set up the recording with people who knew their way around songwriting and recording.

On piano was a friend to both Asher and Taylor, the one and only Carole King. Session musician Russ Kunkel played the drums, opting to go with brushes instead of sticks for most of the song. And Bobby West played bass guitar. Once he understood the mood of this dark, lonely song, West changed up basses, going with the deeper-sounding double bass, which would underscore the entire meaning of "Fire And Rain."

The song took a few takes to put down. The album took 10 days to record in December 1969. And by February 1970, "Sweet Baby James" was released as the second album by Taylor. And the plan was to release "Sweet Baby James" as the first single from the album. To this day, Taylor states that "Sweet Baby James" is the best song he's ever recorded.

Problem was that audiences were not keen to the single when it was released and "Sweet Baby James" did not even make the Hot 100 chart, another setback in the young career of the 22-year-old born in Boston and raised in North Carolina while his father was a professor at the University of North Carolina in Chappell Hill.

The album lingered with little fanfare and Taylor went off to Hollywood to make a movie with Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson and actor Warren Oates called Two-Lane Blacktop.

Nearly six months passed by from the album's release until August 1970. Taylor had finished working on that movie and was in between living in Asher's house and good friend and fellow guitarist Danny Kortchmar's apartment. Warner Brothers wanted to give another song a chance to succeed and impressed on both Asher and Taylor the song they thought would work was "Fire And Rain," the deeply personal record Taylor didn't see any commercial success with, saying he never thought people would be that interested in his life.

Without much else going on in Taylor's life, "Fire And Rain" was released in August 1970 and on September 12, 1970, made its Hot 100 debut at No. 83. The next week, it pounded up the chart 33 places to No. 50.

And on September 26, 1970, "Fire And Rain" jumped into the Top 40, debuting at No. 40. The song had caught lightning in a bottle and many music fans were caught up in the message of Taylor's depression, his deep feelings for losing his friend Suzanne and the failure of his first album.

"Fire And Rain" continued its strong flight up the chart, from No. 40 to 30 to 17 and right into the Top 10 at No. 10 on October 17, 1970. After a leap to No. 6, "Fire And Rain" jumped to No. 3 on October 31, 1970, where it would hold for three straight weeks in that peak position.

Though it wasn't exactly the song Asher and Taylor saw doing the job, Taylor was now a star. And as "Fire And Rain" became a huge hit, many fans bought the "Sweet Baby James" album. Not only did it feature the hit song and title track, it also featured the folksy "Country Road," the blues "mocker" "Steamroller" (which Elvis Presley would make into a Top 40 hit with his Hawaiian concert version called "Steamroller Blues") and a track Taylor wrote called "Suite For 20 G," which stood for the $20,000 Taylor was promised once this album was delivered from studio to record stores.

Like "Fire And Rain," "Sweet Baby James" hit No. 3 on the album chart. More importantly, the strong reviews for Taylor's album got him recognition in the business and the album earned a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. Taylor's album, though, would lose to Simon & Garfunkel's opus "Bridge Over Troubled Waters."

For as depressing a tune as "Fire And Rain" was, it did have an underlying positive tone to it and turned Taylor into an underdog-who-made-it status. King, it was said years later, was inspired to write "You've Got A Friend" because of the line "I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend" in "Fire And Rain." She recorded "You've Got A Friend" for her historic 1971 classic album, "Tapestry," but would also give to Taylor to record. Put on Taylor's next album, "Mud Slide Slim And The Blue Horizon," also produced by Asher, "You've Got A Friend" would climb to No. 1 in July 1971 and be the lone No. 1 hit in Taylor's career.

In 2015, Taylor was invited on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to talk about "Fire And Rain" and to do an "update" to the song with the host. Putting in numerous pop culture references since the song was first released 45 years earlier, "Fire And Rain" became "Fire And Rain ... And Calzones." For the new lyrics, Taylor sang, "I've seen man buns, Myspace and the Baha Men, but I never thought I'd see a new Star Wars again," as well as "I've seen grandmas reading 50 Shades of Grey" and "Quidditch teams and skinny jeans cutting blood off from my thighs."

It absolutely put a peppier feel to the original version that Taylor wrote at 20 years old because failure was all he saw.

After 14 Top 40 hits, five of which were Top 10s and that one No. 1 hit, it's safe to say James Taylor's fortunes changed in an awfully amazing way.

The AT40 Blog/September 17, 1983: Politically "Fixx-ing" a hit record

So what exactly was "One Thing Leads To Another" by the British group The Fixx all about?

Turns out: Politics.

"If you're going to be a liar, you'd better be a damn good liar and remember what you said, or the whole thing's going to get pear-shaped," said the song's lyricist and group's lead singer, Cy Curnin, for SongFacts in 2011. "That was 30 years ago, and look where the system is now. A lot of people stand on ballot boxes and say a lot of things and lie in order to get elected and do nothing. So those songs I'm pretty proud of."

Turns out that a number of tunes Curnin wrote with the band had political motivation to it, like "Stand Or Fall" and "Red Skies."

"I was feeling that sense of impotence back then in the early '80s or late '70s when Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were getting in bed together, metaphorically speaking, and designing a whole defense system that involved Europeans' lives without asking us -- it was never on any electorate ballot that I can remember," Curnin said in the same interview. "That struck a chord."

Curnin and the band hit the American shores at the perfect time in 1983. With MTV growing as an entity and with American tastes changing from the stars of the 1960s and '70s to a younger generation wanting their "own" music in the form of hard rock and New Wave acts, The Fixx was a group waiting to explode. Curnin and drummer Jamie Woods formed the group in 1979 as The Portraits in their native London, then placed an ad in local periodicals to help fill out the band.

That ad was answered by keyboardist Rupert Greenall, guitarist Tony McGrail and bass guitarist Russell Mckenzie. Mckenzie would ultimately leave and replaced by Charlie Barrett. The band recorded a pair of songs for Ariola Records as Portrait -- "Little Women" in 1979 and "Hazards In The Home" in 1980.

McGrail would leave the band in 1980 and would be replaced by Jamie West-Oram. At that point, the group decided on a name change and went by The Fix. In 1981, recording for 101 Records, they recorded the song "Lost Planes," and that song and others began getting airplay on BBC Radio.

It was from there that the band was contacted by MCA Records. The band signed, but there was an issue -- the label wanted to add an extra 'x' to the name so that people didn't get the name The Fix mixed up with that of what a drug-user has when he needs a hit of what keeps him going as a drug-user. The band went for it and they were The Fixx with two x's.

In 1982, the band recorded its first album for MCA in London called "Shuttered Room," which featured the aforementioned tracks "Stand Or Fall" and "Red Skies." That got them the attention from MTV and music critics liked the album. Though the band was becoming a success in its native land, there was still some resistance to the guys in the U.S. They had a cult following among those who were big on the New Wave music scene, but not everyone was on board.

While The Fixx began to take off as an act, Barrett left and it was now just a quartet -- Curnin, Woods, Greenall and West-Oram. But just before they went into the studio to record their next album, "Reach The Beach" in late 1982, they brought in a new guy for the position, Alfie Agius.

The quintet went right to work on the songs that would lead off the album as the first two singles from the new album, "Saved By Zero" and "One Thing Leads To Another." But after a short time, Agius left the band. The rest of the guys worked on the album without a bass needed on the next seven tracks. Then they brought in Dan K. Brown to play bass on one more track, "The Sign Of Fire," the third single release from "Reach The Beach." Brown would ultimately be the permanent bass player of the band.

The band and producer Rupert Hine were convinced that this time, the band would break through in the United States. The album "Reach The Beach" would get its release on both sides of the Atlantic on May 16, 1983.

This time, The Fixx had reached the U.S. audience masses thanks to the first single, "Saved By Zero," which would peak at No. 20 in August 1983 and would be one of the memorable sounds of the Summer of '83. Now was the time to spring "One Thing Leads To Another" on the American public that hadn't bought "Reach The Beach."

As the summer began to fade away, "One Thing Leads To Another" debuted on the Hot 100 at No. 65 on August 27, 1983. It leaped to No. 45 the next week, then into the Top 40 the following week at No. 38.

On September 17, 1983, "One Thing Leads To Another" was the biggest mover within the Top 40 by leaping nine places to No. 29. While the song was getting heavy airplay on radio, it, too, was getting heavy airplay on MTV via the music video that featured the well-dressed Curnin (he also wears a Flashdance-like, sleeveless shirt as well) in a dark tunnel that changes colors throughout while he sorta "dances," exposing his chest in the video.

Suddenly, The Fixx were being looked at as a new British star band as Culture Club, Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet. After another big jump from No. 29 to No. 21, it moved to No. 17 the week of October 1, 1983, passing up the No. 20 peak of "Saved By Zero."

Then one week later, "One Thing Leads To Another" made a huge leap from No. 17 to No. 9. After a jump to No. 6 the week after that, it held at No. 6. Then it moved to No. 5, and finally peaked at No. 4 on November 5, 1983, before falling back to No. 6 the next week.

While the hit was peaking in the Top 5 in this country, the country that first gave them notice outside of England, Canada, saw the song shoot up to No. 1.

"The Sign Of Fire" would be the third hit from "Reach The Beach" and it would peak at No. 32. The band would have three more Top 40 hits -- "Are We Ourselves?" got to No. 15 in 1984, "Secret Separation" peaked at No. 19 in 1986 and "How Much Is Enough" stopped at No. 35 in 1991.

In July 2012, The Fixx released their 10th CD/album, "Beautiful Friction," produced by Nick Jackson for Kirtland Records in the U.S. In the summer of 2016, The Fixx -- still the same quintet of Curnin, Woods, West-Oram, Greenall and Brown -- went on tour in the United States, playing mostly out west, up north and in the New England states, finishing the tour with a free show at the Madison Beach Hotel in Madison, Conn., on August 31.

Curnin is proud of the work he and his band have done these last 35 years. In that same 2011 interview with SongFacts, he looked back on that changing period in 1983.

"That period of music was a very original period of music," Curnin said. "There were so many different forms coming out that really today we would have different musical divisions. I think, globally, we as musicians don't see ourselves as separate or we don't compete with each other. The nature of competition was very much born in the whole excess of the '80s and striving for as much cash as possible. And competition was good. I don't think most musicians think that way.

"And no, I don't like the name ''80s' as a musical term. It just denotes a time period. There's no way of really describing what '80s music was. It actually was such a mixture. If you look at the radio formats, they were so fragmented; it was a lot of different things. It was big hair bands, it was R.E.M., it was The Police, it was Psychedelic Furs, it was The Fixx, it was INXS, it was Human League, it was Men Without Hats, it was Flock of Seagulls, a lot of little different deviations. You can't call it the blues or rock or funk or R&B, so they had to call it a timeframe."

A timeframe to try anything -- even politically speaking.

The AT40 Blog/September 6, 1975: A song fit for a 'Rhinestone Cowboy'

Glen Campbell paid his dues while trying to make it in the music business. He took a lot of bad jobs and he took a lot of good jobs. He was one of the top session guitarists in the 1960s, even known as the "unofficial" seventh Beach Boy. The work he did in the studio alone was Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame worthy.

And so when the opportunity came along to record a song he heard that he could relate to, he jumped on it.

You see, Campbell's life growing up in Delight, Ark., wasn't easy. He was the seventh of 12 children and the son of a sharecropper. His Uncle Boo taught him how to play guitar and when he finally got to be old enough, Campbell left Delight and headed for Albquerque, N.M., to play with his uncle in a band called Dick Bills and the Sandia Mountain Boys. When he wasn't pickin' guitar and banjo with the band, Campbell was working at his uncle's radio station and doing a children's show on local television station KOB.

By 1958, Campbell had his own band, The Western Wranglers, but while it gave him satisfaction to play, it wasn't enough. And so by 1960, he and his second wife, Billie, packed up and headed for the big time in Los Angeles.

It was there that Campbell began the agonizing procedure of connecting with a record company in the City of Angels. To help alleviate the troubles that could come financially, Billie took a job as a teller at a local bank to help make ends meet. Early on, Campbell caught a break when he was invited to join a group called The Champs. It was two years after their one huge hit, "Tequila," but Campbell jumped on the opportunity. His work between the Champs and in the studio got him a very good reputation in Southern California, and so he was asked to join a group that was being formed by producer Phil Spector to create his famed "Wall of Sound." Campbell agreed and became a charter member of The Wrecking Crew as a guitarist.

For as good a singer as Campbell was, he was a better guitarist. His work got him to studios and play for such artists as Frank Sinatra, Ricky Nelson, Bobby Darin, Dean Martin, Nat "King" Cole, Ricky Nelson, Jan and Dean, The Byrds and even Elvis Presley.

Taking notice of the work he was doing was Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson. Wilson would commonly call in The Wrecking Crew to help be the background music to the group's vocals. And so impressed was Wilson of Campbell's work that he asked him if he'd like to go on tour with the band. He accepted and for three months in early 1965, Campbell sat in for Wilson on tour. In 1966, Wilson asked Campbell to play guitar and sing falsetto vocals on what would be the group's famous album, "Pet Sounds."

And that work with the Beach Boys may have helped Campbell reach the goal of being a solo star. But it was tough. Again, he struggled to find the right material that fit him. In 1965, he nearly scored his first Top 40 hit with Buffy Saint-Marie's composition "Universal Soldier," peaking at No. 45. The song was about individual responsibility for war, but Campbell had a totally different view of things, saying, "People who are advocating burning draft cards should be hung."

Meanwhile, Campbell was making a mark on the television show Star Route, hosted by Rod Cameron. He later became a regular on the shows Shindig! and Hollywood Jamboree. 

Still, things weren't peachy for Campbell. Signed for four years to Capitol Records, Campbell was still not getting anywhere as a singer and the label was ready to drop him. That's when fate stepped in. He partnered with a producer at the company named Al De Lory, who saw potential in Campbell after seeing him work and slave for years. They collaborated on the song "Burning Bridges," and it hit the Top 20 on the country music chart.

Then came the game-changer – they took a shot at a John Hartford composition called "Gentle On My Mind." With Campbell's distinct banjo as the backdrop, the song made it to the Top 30 on the country chart and peaked at No. 62 on the Hot 100. That recognition led to another meeting – this time, the meeting was with a 21-year-old songwriter named Jimmy Webb. He submitted to De Lory and Campbell a song titled "By The Time I Get To Phoenix."

This time around, "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" made Campbell a Top 40 solo artist. It would get him to No. 25, while it almost became Campbell's first No. 1 country hit, peaking at No. 2 in late November 1967. Two singles later, "I Wanna Live" became his second Top 40 pop hit, peaking at No. 36, but would be Campbell's first No. 1 country hit, spending three weeks at the top. An established songwriter, John D. Loudermilk of "Indian Reservation" fame, wrote that one.

His next Top 40 pop hit was with Chris Gantry's "Dreams Of The Everyday Housewife," which got to No. 32 pop and No. 3 on the country chart.

That opened the door for the re-release of "Gentle On My Mind." In early November 1968, it finally hit the Top 40, peaking at No. 39.

But the ball started to roll in 32-year-old Campbell's career when he and De Lory got a hold of another Webb song titled "Wichita Lineman." It hit home about the loneliness of the lineman working odd hours to keep things going electrically in the area. It became a No. 1 country hit and this time, earned Campbell his first solo Top 10 hit on the pop chart, getting to No. 3 by January 1969.

That would be followed up by another Webb piece, the powerful "Galveston" about the wonderment of coming home from an unpopular war. It got to No. 4 on the pop chart and spent three weeks at No. 1 on the country chart.

Eight more Top 40 pop hits would follow, including the Oscar-nominated theme to the John Wayne movie 'True Grit." In late 1970, Campbell scored another Top 10 pop hit with his remake of Conway Twitty's "It's Only Make Believe," then followed that up with a No. 31 hit remake of Roy Orbison's "Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream)." On top of that, Campbell finally got his own variety show in January 1969 at the beginning of the height of his success on CBS called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour. It was a Top 20 show his first two seasons.

But the hits stopped coming. Campbell released over a dozen singles between 1971-74 and none of those hit the Top 40. He still was making a mark on the country music scene and that allowed him to stay with Capitol Records while he was trying to find a pop hit-making identity again. His TV show would be canceled in June 1972.

He kept himself out there thanks to doing numerous variety shows for the likes of Johnny Carson, Dinah Shore, Redd Fox, Mike Douglas and Merv Griffin. He made a 1974 television movie called Strange Homecoming with Robert Culp and 12-year-old Leif Garrett.

And Campbell continued to maintain a touring schedule. While on tour in Australia, he was listening to the radio one day and heard a song for the first time by the man who wrote it, Larry Weiss. Suddenly, a song he heard for the first time began to appeal to him. It was called "Rhinestone Cowboy."

Campbell began to play the song in his off-time. His goal: To surprise Capitol Records with a song he learned from the original that he'd like to record.

When he got back to the states, he was summoned to the Los Angeles offices of Capitol Records by vice-president Al Coury. Campbell was ready to pitch this song he heard on the radio in Australia as the next single he'd like to do. But Coury, who had suggested Capitol release "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" as John Lennon's next single a year before and saw it become the ex-Beatle's first No. 1 solo hit, had a surprise that Campbell wasn't ready for.

He beat Campbell to the punch -- he told Campbell he heard the same song, "Rhinestone Cowboy, by Weiss on the radio and immediately thought of him, the man who paid a multitude of debts in his career to finally shine, for recording the song!

Campbell was dumbfounded, but after collecting his thoughts, agreed with Coury. A week later, Campbell was in the studio doing Weiss' song with his permission. Song co-producer Dennis Lambert played the piano opening and an act called Sid Sharp and the Boogie Symphony played the orchestral strings behind Campbell's vocal, one that he accentuated by overdubbing it to provide the harmony with his own lead voice because he felt so strong about Weiss' lyrics. Campbell would say later on that "Rhinestone Cowboy" was the best song he ever recorded.

His "unveiling" of "Rhinestone Cowboy" came on a national telethon in April 1975. One person watching the performance was Paul Drew, the programmer of music at radio station KHJ in Los Angeles. So impressed with what he heard, he called Capitol about getting a copy of the song for his station. So Capitol sent Drew an "acetate," or a "one-off" record. The company didn't think as highly about the song as Drew ... or Campbell for that matter. But once it got on the airwaves in Los Angeles, the phones lit up requesting Campbell's "new" single, which had not been released yet.

After weeks of nagging, Captiol finally relented and released "Rhinestone Cowboy" as a single in early May 1975. The song made the Hot 100 at No. 81 on May 31, 1975, then began climbing to No. 66, No. 53 and debuted in the Top 40 at No. 38 on June 21, 1975. It zoomed to No. 30 the next week, then got to No. 24 and then to No. 20 by July 12. But it started to slow. It moved to No. 19 the following week, then got to No. 16 after that and then No. 14 the week after.

While that was going on, country radio began to send the song up the chart. And with that being a bit of a factor, "Rhinestone Cowboy," like the old and tired man who paid dues time and time again to survive, found a second wind. On August 9, 1975, "Rhinestone Cowboy" launched up seven places to land at No. 7, while it entered the Top 5 on the country chart. Again, though, "Rhinestone Cowboy" slowed down. It moved up one notch to No. 6, then another notch to No. 5, losing its bullet that signified its strength on the charts. But as it got to No. 5, it became Campbell's first No. 1 country hit since "Galveston" six years earlier.

Though it dropped to No. 2 on the country chart behind the Twitty/Loretta Lynn duet, "Feelins'," it got another wind and moved up two places to No. 3.

Then in its 15th week on the Hot 100, "Rhinestone Cowboy" did the unthinkable -- it hit No. 1 on the pop chart the week of September 6, 1975. It took the perfect descriptive song of Campbell's career to give the 39-year-old veteran of the music scene his very first No. 1 hit. And while it held for a second week at No. 1 the next week, "Rhinestone Cowboy" knocked "Feelins'" out of the top spot on the country chart, giving Campbell simultaneous No. 1 hits on the pop and country charts, something not done since Jimmy Dean did it in November 1961 with "Big Bad John." By the end of 1975, "Rhinestone Cowboy" would finish as the No. 2 song of the year behind only the Captain & Tennille's "Love Will Keep Us Together."

"Rhinestone Cowboy" became Campbell's embodiment the rest of his career. He was that guy Weiss wrote about in the song. Though Campbell would have five more Top 40 pop hits, one of those, the Allen Toussaint composition "Southern Nights," would be his second No. 1 hit a week after his 41st birthday in April 1977.

Campbell continued to entertain fans for decades after "Rhinestone Cowboy" until finding out he had Alzheimer's disease in June 2011. He continued to tour and make many fans happy until finally, it was time to stop. But before he did that, he put on a Tour de force performance at the 2012 Grammy Awards in which he performed "Rhinestone Cowboy" to a packed crowd at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Though Larry Weiss wrote and recorded it, the song for over 40 years has belonged to Glen Campbell. It meant just about everything to him.

Weiss didn't mind one bit, either. Little did he know, he was writing about the man who would make him famous for his song.

The AT40 Blog/September 6, 1986: How not one, but two British trios starred

In the 1970s, three remakes of No. 1 songs found their way to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 charts again. In 1971, 13-year-old Donny Osmond remade a Gerry Goffin/Carole King classic first done by Steve Lawrence and hit No. 1 with it again, "Go Away Little Girl." In 1974, another Goffin-King classic, first done by the duo's baby-sitter at the time in 1962, Little Eva, got louder and bolder when Grand Funk took it to the top, "The Loco-Motion." And in 1975, Motown Records' first No. 1 hit, "Please Mr. Postman," first done by the Marvelettes, hit No. 1 for the Carpenters.

There would be no remakes of a No. 1 hit for another 11 years. Then one of the most challenging songs for the original act to record in 1969 made its return to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on September 6, 1986.

In the summer of 1969, the Dutch band Shocking Blue recorded guitarist Robbie van Leeuwen's composition, "Venus," but the group had to do the song in both their native Dutch and in English because they knew this would be a worldwide release. Recording the song in Dutch was far from being an issue.

Recording it in English was. Lead singer Mariska Veres spoke no English, and so when it came time to record the English version of the song, the words had to be translated phonetically, meaning they were written out in syllables for Veres to sing. And making it harder was the mistake of the very first line. In his work, van Leeuwen's line was supposed to read, "The goddess on the mountain top." But it was a mistake on the writer's part when he re-wrote the lyric, "The god-ness on the mountain top." In future years, that line would be re-recorded by the band in that originally "goddess" line.

Inspired by Pete Townshend's opening guitar riff in "Pinball Wizard," van Leeuwen played the opening riff almost note for note, though he varied slightly off of it. And it didn't matter that Veres was singing a line that didn't translate or that she was doing the song phonetically or that van Leeuwen had ripped off a Townshend guitar solo, American audiences didn't care. "Venus" climbed all the way to No. 1 the week of February 7, 1970, spending one week at No. 1, making Shocking Blue the first Dutch act to ever score a No. 1 hit.

Nine years after "Venus" hit No. 1 in the U.S., a British trio formed. They were students at London's St. George School for Girls. Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward were friends since they were 4 years old. Joined by fashion journalism student Siobhan Fahey, the young ladies were instant rebels, dressing differently than the girls at the school in the post-punk music era in England.

When they began to start performing, "Venus" was a part of their act. But as they evolved and ultimately earned a record label deal, "Venus" and other remakes they were doing at the time got put to the side. The ladies wanted to be serious about a recording career and took their chances on newer material.

And it worked. "It Ain't What You Do (It's The Way That You Do It)" was a collaboration with another trio called Fun Boy Three and it went to No. 4 on the British chart. It was the first of five Top 5 releases for the trio, which did also include a pair of remakes -- "Really Saying Something," another collaboration with Fun Boy Three, and a remake of a Motown song from the 1960s, went to No. 5, and "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye," a remake of the 1969 No. 1 American hit by Steam, also hit No. 5. In 1984, Bananarama scored a No. 3 hit with "Robert DeNiro's Waiting ... " a hit written by the ladies along with producers Tony Swain and Steve Jolley. A song title featuring the name of a well-known American actor certainly gained the ladies a lot of attention, but only got them to No. 95 in the United States.

The break, though, came with a song perfectly pegged for the right time of year. "Cruel Summer," also written by the young ladies with Jolley and Swain, hit No. 8 in their native country, but months later it hit the Top 40 in the Summer of 1984 here and would not only be Bananarama's first Top 40 success, but would be their first Top 10 hit, peaking at No. 9. Two things also helped out the success of the song in the States: The first being the music video shot in New York City featuring the fashionable ladies in a comedic-type shoot, the second was its small inclusion into the summer hit movie The Karate Kid.

And you'd think there'd be more success.

Nope. Not even a sniff. Bananarama had three British chart singles, and none of those got higher than No. 23. And one of those songs barely cracked the Hot 100 in the United States.

The ladies were in a rut and needing a change in career direction.

Enter three men that would change the face of British music the rest of the 1980s. Their names: Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman. Where Jolley and Swain balked at the trio's insistence to remake the Shocking Blue hit "Venus," which they were still doing at their shows, Stock-Aitken-Waterman were open to the idea.

The trio -- collectively known as SAW for the first letters of their last names -- started having a following in the UK thanks for putting together slick-sounding dance songs, scoring a pair of Top 20 chart singles, Divine's "You Think You're A Man" and Hazell Dean's "Whatever I Do," both hits in 1984. But in 1985, SAW exploded in a major way when their production of Dead Or Alive's breakthrough hit, "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)," hit No. 1 in the UK, then broke through on the other side of the Atlantic, hitting No. 11 in the U.S.

So as 1985 began to fade away, the trio went into their new production trio's studio to record "Venus," keeping it in the same style as the original, but this time adding elements to make it into a dance record, something SAW didn't see in this particular song originally. They wanted Bananarama to have success with a song they had done for years, but worked meticulously to make it work. After all, this was their deal as producers.

To "vamp" it up, SAW brought in a session musician to play a new technological toy, a Linn 9000 drum machine that served as the backdrop for "Venus." Stock and Gary Hughes played keyboards on the track and Aiken played guitar.

"Venus" and another track on Bananaram's album "True Confessions," "More Than Physical," were the Stock-Aitken-Waterman additions to an album that Jolley and Swain started. But there was no doubt to anyone's mind that "Venus" was a hot track that needed to be released  by London Records.

The second release in England (after Jolley-Swain's "Do Not Disturb" hit No. 31 there), "Venus" flew up the chart before peaking at No. 8, highlighted by a music video from the photogenic trio that saw their image go from dressing in jean jackets and jeans with the pointy-hair style of the early-to-mid 1980s to a sleeker look with fashionable clothes.

In the U.S., "Venus" was the first release from their new "True Confessions" album. "Venus" started innocently at a normal No. 89 on the Hot 100 the week ending June 28, 1986. The next week, it exploded up 32 places to No. 57, then got to No. 43 the following week. On July 19, 1986, "Venus" made its Top 40 debut at No. 34.

The movements were swift up the chart -- to No. 23, then to No. 15, then to No. 9 where it entered the Top 10 on August 9, 1986. From there, it climbed to No. 6, then No. 3, and then No. 2 on August 30 behind fellow Brit Steve Winwood's first No. 1 hit, "Higher Love." But one week later on September 6, 1986, "Venus" pushed "Higher Love" out of the top spot to become Bananarama's first No. 1 hit on either side of the Atlantic. It would also be Bananarama's first No. 1 hit in New Zealand, Australia and Switzerland as well.

And with it hitting No. 1, "Venus" became the fourth No. 1 hit in U.S. chart history to hit No. 1 after its original hit No. 1.

But even with the success of "Venus" hitting No. 1, Bananarama would have only one more Top 40 hit in the U.S. with "More Than A Rumour" hitting No. 4, a smash from the Fat Boys' movie Disorderlies.

That song was co-written and produced by Stock-Aitken-Waterman. And while Bananarama's chart career was waning in the U.S. (they'd continue to have Top 40 hits in their native UK, including three more Top 10 hits), the British production trio who gave the ladies their biggest hit in the U.S. became huge stars around the world, scoring major hits for newcomers Kylie Minogue, Mel and Kim, Jason Donovan and Rick Astley, who hit No. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic with "Never Gonna Give You Up" and the follow-up in the U.S., "Together Forever," as well as Donna Summer's last Top 40 hit, the Top 10 worldwide smash "This Time I Know It's For Real."

These days, Bananarama are a duo with Fahey leaving in the 1990s to start a family with husband Dave Stewart of the duo Eurythmics, while continuing musically in a duo called Shakespeare's Sister with American Marcella Detroit (better known as Marcy Levy of Eric Clapton's "Lay Down Sally" fame, a song she sang backing vocals and wrote for the British legend). The duo scored a monster international smash hit in 1992, "Stay."

Though Stock-Aitken-Waterman are no longer together on a regular basis, they do get together on occasion to make music for others, most recently the 2015 holiday song "Every Day's Like Christmas," recorded by Minogue and written by Coldplay leader Chris Martin.

But in 1986, the two trios made magic with a song that was first recorded 17 years earlier by a Dutch group that stumbled over the opening line of the English interpretation of its own song.

Overall, "Venus" did pretty well for itself.

The AT40 Blog/August 28, 1982: Not quite leavin' the '70s yet

The 1980s were nearly three years old by the summer of 1982, but yet, there was this feeling that the 1970s never quite left.

Even as MTV was a year old and still taking baby steps in the video music world to bring people into the new decade, there were still a lot of  holdouts who were still making a big impact in the 1980s. And that was shown by the six debut hits within the Top 40 on the week of August 28, 1982.

Five of the debut hits were by acts who first got established in the 1970s. The sixth debut was by a newcomer whose hit was a remake of a 1973 No. 2 smash in England.

So with all that in mind, let's review:

No. 40 Love Or Let Me Be Lonely--Paul Davis: Here's an example of getting two for the price of one. Paul Davis, a Mississippi-born and raised artist and Georgia resident, was in the countdown for what would be his eighth and final time. Davis' first hit was 1974's "Ride 'Em Cowboy" and in 1978, he set the then-record for most consecutive weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 with his No. 7 smash single "I Go Crazy." He had a few hits in the 1980s like "Do Right," "Cool Night" and his previous hit to this one, "'65 Love Affair."

But the other part of the equation was the fact that "Love Or Let Me Be Lonely" was a 1970 Top 10 hit for a group called The Friends Of Distinction, who had previous hits with a vocal version of the Hugh Masekela 1968 No. 1 smash "Grazing In The Grass" and a Top 15 hit "Going In Circles."

No. 39 Never Been In Love--Randy Meisner: Casey Kasem points out as this song made its Top 40 debut that not only was Randy Meisner a founding member of one group, he was of two. He first started with the group Poco in 1969 and then left to start a new group with Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon and Don Felder called The Eagles. He would be the band's bass player and sometimes lead singer until leaving for a solo career in 1977, playing on such classics as "Take It Easy," "Witchy Woman," "Tequila Sunrise," "One Of These Nights," "Hotel California," "Life In The Fast Lane," "New Kid In Town" and the 1976 No. 4 hit "Take It To The Limit," for which he sang lead vocals.

He had hit the Top 40 solo in 1980 with "Deep Inside My Heart," an uncredited duet with Kim Carnes, and in 1981 with "Hearts On Fire." "Never Been In Love" was somewhere between a ballad and a rocker and would turn out to be his third and final solo Top 40 hit.

No. 37 Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)--Joan Jett & The Blackhearts: Joan Jett got her start in the 1970s with the all-teenaged girl band The Runaways. But by 1979, she had left to go on to a solo career. In 1982, she hit paydirt with her remake of "I Love Rock 'N Roll" by a group called The Arrows, who did the song in 1975. Two hits later, Jett and her band were back in the Top 40 with "Do You Wanna Touch Me," which would ultimately peak at No. 20 in this country.

However, it was a remake of a 1973 No. 2 hit in the United Kingdom by British glam rocker Gary Glitter, who had huge amount of hits in his career, including "I'm The Leader Of The Gang, I Am" and his Top 10 U.S. hit "Rock 'N Roll, Part 2" in 1972.

No. 35 What's Forever For--Michael Murphey: He may have added the Martin part to "sound" distinguished later in his career, but this was the same Texas-born and raised guy who tugged at every last heartstring on the 1975 No. 3 smash "Wildfire." But Murphy wasn't all about just "Wildfire." He had other Top 40 hits in the 1970s like "Geronimo's Cadillac," "Carolina In The Pines" and "Renegade."

But by 1976, Murphey had an eye on the country music scene, scoring small chart singles. But with "What's Forever For," which would peak at No. 19 by the early fall of '82, he began a string of 12 Top 10 country hits during the 1980s. And "What's Forever For" was the first of his two No. 1 country hits.

No. 34 Hold On--Santana: The 1960s was where Carlos Santana and his rock band first got off the ground at the famous Woodstock concert in August of 1969. His first Top 40 hit as a performer came in early 1970s with "Evil Ways." That would be followed up by smash hits as "Black Magic Woman" and "Oye Como Va" and "Everybody's Everything" and "No One To Depend On."

But Santana slowed down at the end of the 1970s. He came back strong in the 1980s with "You Know That I Love You" and "Winning." In 1982, he hit the Top 40 with "Hold On" and it would get as high as No. 15, making it Santana's biggest hit of the 1980s. But Santana would not be heard again the rest of the decade. As a matter of fact, he wouldn't be heard again until 1999's "Smooth" with Matchbox 20 lead singer Rob Thomas. It hit No. 1 and spent a mind-blowing 12 weeks at the top.

No. 33 I Keep Forgettin' (Every Time You're Near)--Michael McDonald: His rich, soulful voice punctuated such Doobie Brothers 1970s classics as "Takin' It To The Streets," "Real Love," "Minute By Minute" and the 1979 No. 1 hit "What A Fool Believes." In 1982, he announced he was leaving the Doobie Brothers after seven years for a solo career, some contriving the notion that McDonald was only using the Doobies for his playing benefit as the lead vocalist and songwriter of the group.

He released the album "If That's What It Takes" in the summer of 1982 and the first release was "I Keep Forgettin'," which made the highest Top 40 debut of the week on August 28, 1982, and would peak at No. 4. The song was co-written by McDonald along with Ed Sanford of the Sanford-Townsend Band fame of the one-hit wonder from 1977, "Smoke From A Distant Fire," and the legendary songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who wrote numerous classics in the 1950s and 1960s for such acts as Elvis Presley, The Drifters and The Coasters.

But those acts who started in the 1970s weren't the only ones in the Top 40 that week:

Ray Parker Jr., who got his start as Stevie Wonder's guitarist in the early-to-mid 1970s and was the founder of the group Raydio of "Jack & Jill" and "You Can't Change That" fame was at No. 38 with "Let Me Go,"

Jermaine Jackson, who started with his brothers at Motown Records in the 1970s and was still there in 1982, had the smash hit "Let Me Tickle Your Fancy" at No. 30, getting helped out by New Wave gurus Devo.

Jackson Browne was at No. 29 with his Fast Times At Ridgemont High hit "Somebody's Baby. He'd get to No. 7 with that hit, his first Top 10 hit since his 1972 debut "Doctor My Eyes." His other hits included "Here Come Those Tears Again" and the classic "Runnin' On Empty" in the 1970s.

Elton John was moving up to No. 26 with "Blue Eyes." Of course, no solo artist was bigger in the 1970s than Sir Elton John, including his No. 1 hits like "Bennie And The Jets," "Crocodile Rock," "Island Girl," "Philadelphia Freedom," "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" and his No. 1 duet with Kiki Dee "Don't Go Breakin' My Heart."

The band America moved up to No. 23 with the future Top 10 hit "You Can Do Magic." The duo's famous hits of the 1970s included a pair of No. 1 hits, "Sister Golden Hair" and the debut hit, "A Horse With No Name."

Toto began individually as session musicians for various star acts. They came together in 1977 and a year later, hit the Top 40 with "Hold The Line." The band was on the way down the chart to No. 20 with the No. 2 smash "Rosanna."

Eddie Money made his mark with Top 40 rock classics such as "Baby Hold On" and "Two Tickets To Paradise" in 1978. He was at No. 17 with another rocker, "Think I'm In Love."

The Pointer Sisters had changed identities in the 1970s, starting with the 1940s style of clothes and sound on such smashes as "Yes We Can-Can" and "Fairytale" and finishing the decade remaking Bruce Springsteen's steamy "Fire." Their latest "American Music," was moving to No. 16.

The Alan Parsons Project had a number of Top 40 hits in the late 1970s with "(The System Of) Doctor Tarr and Professor Feather," "I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You," and "Damned If I Do."

Kenny Rogers was a superstar country singer in the latter half of the 1970s with hits such as "Lucille," "She Believes In Me" and "You Decorated My Life." His latest, "Love Will Turn You Around" from his movie Six-Pack was at its peak position on the pop chart at No. 13.

Donna Summer was called "The Queen Of Disco" in the 1970s for such standards as "Love To Love You Baby," I Feel Love" and the Academy Award-winning "Last Dance." In 1982, she was at No. 12 with the Quincy Jones-produced and co-written smash, "Love Is In Control," which peaked at No. 10.

Melissa Manchester, who first shot to fame in 1975 with her debut hit, "Midnight Blue" and had a Top 10 hit in 1979 with "Don't Cry Out Loud," was at No. 11 with what would turn out to be her biggest hit ever, "You Should Hear How She Talks About You," which would peak at No. 5.

Sir Paul McCartney first hit it big with the Beatles in the 1960s. Then in the 1970s, he was a superstar again with Wings with hits such as "Band On The Run," "Silly Love Songs" and "Live And Let Die." In 1982, his second big hit from the album "Tug Of War" was "Take It Away," which would peak at No. 10.

Crosby, Stills & Nash were hippies at heart, starting in the late 1960s, then carrying on to hits with Neil Young like "Teach Your Children," "Our House" and "Woodstock" in 1970 and on their own with the Top 10 hit "Just A Song Before I Go." In 1982, they were back in the Top 10 at No. 9 with "Wasted On The Way," which would peak at No. 9.

Of course, Chicago was iconic for many, many reasons, but their hits like "25 Or 6 To 4," "Saturday In The Park" and "If You Leave Me Now" made them legendary. They were back in the Top 40 with the hit "Hard To Say I'm Sorry," and that would eventually get to No. 1. It was No. 5 on this week in 1982.

Fleetwood Mac formed in the 1960s, but made a name for themselves in the 1970s with hits such as "Over My Head," "Rhiannon," "Go Your Own Way," "Don't Stop" and the No. 1 smash "Dreams." They were back in the countdown thanks to "Hold Me," which was holding for a sixth straight week at No. 4.

Finally, the Steve Miller Band first made its own history with a No. 1 debut hit in 1974, "The Joker" and followed it up with other classics such as "Jet Airliner," "Swingtown," "Fly Like An Eagle" and another No. 1 hit, "Rock 'n Me." The band's second Top 40 hit of the decade, "Abracadabra," would be the band's last Top 40 hit, but what a way to go out by having a No. 1 hit for two weeks.

Though the 1980s were in full bloom, the perennials that were the 1970s acts were still out there and growing. By 1983, that trend would change and a lot of the acts of the 1970s were show the door, some forever and good.

But you wouldn't have known it was the 1980s with the acts from the '70s still out there rockin' out and having Top 40 hits.

Such nostalgia that existed.

The AT40 Blog/August 23, 1980: Paul Simon's jam session

The hit song "Late In The Evening" wasn't a successful pop song that climbed to the Top 10.

It was a jam session that never seemed to want to stop. That's the kind of magic Paul Simon created for the first single from his fifth solo album after leaving longtime partner Art Garfunkel, "One Trick Pony," which would also be the title of Simon's debut movie in 1980.

The movie One Trick Pony was written by Simon and stars him as an aging pop singer named Jonah Lewin. Lewin is having a difficult time regaining the magic he once had as a music star, and now finds himself being the opening act for such artists as the New Wave stars The B-52s, which doesn't sit well with him or with his band trying to help him re-find that music stardom.

He so desperately wants to make another album, but is running into obstacles along the way, one of which is his record company president, played by Rip Torn, who has differing opinions on how this album is to be made and points him to a hip, hot, new, younger producer, played by music star Lou Reed.

While Lewin is doing his best to make the most out of a bad situation to keep his career going, he's trying to reconcile with his wife, played by Blair Brown, and his son, played by Michael Pearlman, who like a lot of things in Simon's life, got put on the back burner.

Lewin and Steve Kunelian (Reed's character), painstakingly make the album and, in the end, the one song that makes the most sense is "Late In The Evening," a funky brand of uptempo pop that is driven by a loud Latin salsa beat and a horn section that seems to blow audiences away.

Simon said he wrote "Late In The Evening" as part of a dream sequence of when he was younger. He's lying in his bed listening to the music that he's enjoyed and he's picturing himself up on that stage playing and the fact that he's "underage at this funky bar" isn't bothering him one bit. He remembers getting high ("So I stepped outside and smoked myself a 'J.'), then turning the amplifier up on his guitar and playing it rather loudly.

Throughout Simon's career, he was not afraid to try other forms of music. In 1972, he recorded his self-titled debut album after the breakup with Garfunkel and found reggae to his liking on his debut Top 40 hit and No. 4 peaked hit "Mother And Child Reunion," which he recorded in Kingston, Jamaica, and found a Latin backdrop in recording "Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard." On the same album, "Duncan" was recorded with Los Incas, who recorded with Simon and Garfunkel on the 1970 class hit "El Condor Pasa (If I Could)."

The next year, he discovered his gospel roots on the No. 2 smash "Loves Me Like A Rock" from the album "There Goes Rhymin' Simon." And he found a little country-style gospel with The Oak Ridge Boys backing him on his 1978 Top 5 hit "Slip Slidin' Away."

Simon not only played guitar on "Late In The Evening," but he also did percussion, while jazz artist Dave Grusin was in charge of the horn arrangements on the song, featuring Michael Brecker on saxophone and Marvin Stamm, Randy Brecker and Irwin "Marky" Markowitz on trumpets.

The jam session was going to become a big hit in America and was the first release from Simon's first movie. It debuted on the Hot 100 at No. 46 on August 9, 1980, then debuted in the Top 40 on August 16 at No. 29.

One week later, on August 23, 1980, "Late In The Evening" made the biggest move of any song within the Top 40, jumping from No. 29 to No. 13. There was no doubt it would be a Top 10 hit.

Produced by Phil Ramone, "Late In The Evening" did crack the Top 10 two weeks later when it moved from No. 11 to No. 9. Then after two weeks at No. 7, it moved up to No. 6 on September 27, 1980, where it would hold for three straight weeks before heading in the other direction.

And when it did start going back the other way, little did anyone know that it would be the last Top 10 hit for Simon's career. He'd have two more Top 40 hits -- the follow-up hit and title track, "One Trick Pony," only got to No. 40, and the raucous and horns-based "You Can Call Me" got a second chance to make some magic in the Top 40 in the spring of 1987, peaking at No. 23. His last chart single was "The Obvious Child," another song with world music ties to it, in 1990, but it peaked at No. 92.

For years, though, Simon has endlessly been touring, whether solo or with Garfunkel. In 2016, he released his newest and 13th album/CD, "Stranger To Stranger." When the newest CD debuted at No. 1 in the United Kingdom, Simon became the oldest artist to ever score a No. 1 UK album/CD at 74 years old. And at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, he performed "Bridge Over Troubled Water."

When he wrote and starred in "One Trick Pony," his former partner, Garfunkel, had made four movies. And for as hard as he worked on One Trick Pony, the movie was panned everywhere by critics. He had previously bit roles in Annie Hall and The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash.

One Trick Pony may not have done well, and neither did the soundtrack Simon performed. But "Late In The Evening" sure did well as a hit single.

It's the jam session that we never want to stop.

The AT40 Blog/August 11, 1979: Far from a "Down" debut

Electric Light Orchestra leader Jeff Lynne wrote "Don't Bring Me Down" as a last-second addition to the "Discovery" album in 1979.

"It's a great big galloping ball of distortion," he said of the song in a 2001 re-mastered re-release of the album on compact disc. "I wrote it at the last minute, 'cos I felt there weren't enough loud ones on the album. This was just what I was after."

Loud was proud when Jet Records executives made "Don't Bring Me Down" the second release from the "Discovery" album after "Shine A Little Love" had made its impact by hitting No. 8.

When ELO first came to the music scene in 1973, it was one of the most unique bands to ever be put together. Lynne, who had been part of a group called The Move and left to start his own band, was a huge Beatles fan. The album that impressed young Mr. Lynne most from his favorite band was the landmark "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album. It was one of the most experimental albums in the history of music and it helped define what Lynne was looking for in making his own band.

He wanted a basic rock 'n roll band that included a guitarist and lead vocalist (himself), along with a drummer, bass player and a keyboardist. But he also wanted a string section behind the band playing. Lynne was a huge fan of classical music, but he didn't know how he could incorporate strings behind a rock band until he heard that fateful "Sgt. Pepper's" album.

He co-founded Electric Light Orchestra with Bev Bevan and Roy Wood in 1970 and started building their band. Bevan played drums and Wood was a singer-guitarist like Lynne who could play instruments such as the oboe, clarinet, bassoon and cello. And the trio brought in a pair of "orchestra" add-ons: Steve Woolam on violin and Bill Hunt on the French horn and hunting horn.

Originally, ELO was a side project from The Move until The Move finally called it a day, which didn't happen until 1972. But while all that was happening, Wood became disillusioned. He and his former Move partner Lynne began seeing things differently on the direction of the band. And Wood saw a burgeoning glam rock scene that he wanted to be a part of, so in mid-1972, Wood left ELO to go form the group Wizzard, which would be a little like what Lynne was doing with ELO, but only with a harder rock sound.

Meanwhile, Lynne had to replace not only Wood, but Woolam, who suddenly passed away in 1971. So he made the Electric Light Orchestra "bigger." He brought in Mike de Albuquerque to play bass guitar and he expanded the orchestra part of the group by bringing in cellists Hugh McDowell, Andy Craig, Colin Walker and Mike Edwards and violinists Wilfred Gibson and Mik Kaminski. Lynne also brought in a new keyboardist-synthesizer player to replace Hunt, who left in 1972, named Richard Tandy.

The Electric Light Orchestra released the self-titled debut to little fanfare, though "10538 Overture" did get some airplay on rock radio. In 1973, the second album, "ELO 2," was released and featured the rousing eight-minute remake of Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven," played behind the backdrop of the original combined with Ludwig von Beethoven's famous Fifth Symphony. It was released in the late spring of 1973 and missed hitting the Top 40, peaking at No. 42.

It wouldn't be until 1975 when ELO finally took off. With Kelly Groucutt replacing de Albuquerque as bass player and Melvyn Gale added as a cello player and pianist, ELO scored their first Top 40 hit in February with "Can't Get It Out Of My Head," which would peak at No. 9. Later in the year, they hit the Top 40 with "Evil Woman," which would become a No. 10 hit by February 1976.

Suddenly, ELO became an album-rock act, going gold with"Face The Music," then going platinum in 1977 with the album "A New World Order," which featured the Top 10 hit "Telephone Line." In late 1977, the band released the double album opus "Out Of The Blue" and saw that album not only go platinum again, but would sell over 10 million copies worldwide, sparked by three Top 40 hits "Turn To Stone," "Sweet Talkin' Woman" and "Mr. Blue Sky."

But while "Out Of The Blue" was a piece of art, some may have looked at the 1979 follow-up album, "Discovery," as a piece of disco. Many of the tracks on the album were of the dance-disco variety, prompting Tandy to agree and call the album in a tongue-in-cheek manner, "Disco Very."

While the album continued to use  strings that made the band famous in the first place, Lynne also wanted to have a rock presence as well. He felt the strings of the band had drowned out any guitar work or bass guitar work or even drum work the band had done. After all, the band was the focal point of the group, but was lost because of the strings and the horns. By the end of the recording, the presence of any string work of Kaminski, Gale and McDowell were not as apparent, and by the time the album was finished and sent off for shipping, Lynne had set the trio free, divorcing himself from the sound that defined the band.

On "Shine A Little Love," Tandy's synthesizer stands out the most in a dance-music way. It was a nice way to open the "Discovery" album as the lead singer.

When it came to the second release, "Don't Bring Me Down" was the choice for a number of reasons. Lynne explained there had not been a "loud" ELO song in a long while, mostly due to the strings drowning out anything that might be loud. With the strings all but gone on this track, Lynne let the sound be raucous between his guitar work and Tandy's Yamaha CS80 synthesizer as well as his piano.

The song opens with Bevan's raucous, rhythmic drumming accompanied by Lynne "counting in" the song, which he does with a searing guitar played above that thunderous backbeat, followed by Lynne's well-known lead vocals.

Lynne's guitar is highlighted on the song and that drum beat that Bevan played would ultimately be looped throughout the recording to make things better for the drummer. The end of the song with Lynne's final word "down" echoing, followed by the sound of a metal door closing. That door, according to Lynne, was at the Musicland Studio in Munich, West Germany where the band was recording the album.

As Jet was ready to release "Don't Bring Me Down" as the next single, it got a boost in a weird way: The band dedicated the song to the famous satellite Skylab was about to fall to the Earth for its final destination, which turned out to be Western Australia.

Released July 24, 1979, "Don't Bring Me Down" was selling copies in the music shops and disc jockeys everywhere played the song. And it may have been the reason why "Don't Bring Me Down" made a powerful debut on the Hot 100 at No. 41 on August 4, 1979. In other words, it was going to make a big Top 40 debut the next week, just no one knew where exactly.

But on August 11, 1979, everyone soon found out when they got their copy of Billboard magazine that week -- it had rocketed into the Top 40 at No. 18.

Yes, No. 18! It was the highest Top 40 debut for any song since Wings had debuted at No. 17 in April 1978 with "With A Little Luck." That song would ultimately get to No. 1 six weeks later.

For ELO, this was easily the highest debuting Top 40 hit of their careers. The highest any of ELO's songs debuted in the Top 40 prior to "Don't Bring Me Down" was both "Sweet Talkin' Woman" and "Shine A Little Love," both debut hits at a more modest No. 32.

By zapping up at No. 18, you'd think "Don't Bring Me Down" would be the band's first No. 1 hit. After a four-notch climb the next week, it entered the Top 10 at No. 6 on August 25, 1979.

But "Don't Bring Me Down" slowed up quite a bit. It moved up to No. 5, then to No. 4 ... and that's where the song would tap out for two straight weeks. The band's 11th Top 40 hit would spend 11 weeks in the Top 40 before falling away. It's how strong The Knack's No. 1 hit, "My Sharona," was at the time as it spent six weeks at No. 1 and would be the No. 1 hit of the year.

Though considered a disappointment, "Don't Bring Me Down" would still become the band's biggest hit ever with its No. 4 peak.

Maybe spurred on by its synthesized and guitar-driven disco sound, "Discovery" would sell two million copies, spurred by four Top 40 hits, the last two being "Confusion" and "Last Train To London."

One of the biggest mysteries of "Don't Bring Me Down" for years has been in the two middle parts of the record where Lynne expounds, "Don't bring me down, groooose." Some have interpreted it as a hidden message, but Lynne said he was saying, "Groooose," which really was a nonsense word. Some said it may have been "Bruce" and one night years later, Lynne would answer the misnomer by singing "Bruce" during those times in the song.

The original ELO began to dwindle down and by 1986, it was the trio of Lynne, Bevan and Tandy recording their last Top 40 hit, "Calling America" for their album, "Balance Of Power." There have been a number of reincarnations of ELO, but they aren't the same without Lynne involved.

In 2014, Lynne teamed up with various musicians to bring back the 1970s sound that was the heyday of the band to record "Alone In The Universe." It was a Top 25 album in this country and a No. 4 CD in Lynne's native England. And American fans wait for the band to finally come to this country and perform again.

Certainly one of the songs they will do is the rousing "Don't Bring Me Down." It was a change of pace for the band in 1979.

And a pretty high Top 40 debut hit to boot.

The AT40 Blog/August 5, 1978: "Stone" into disco

A straight answer is something you will never get when it comes to various members of the Rolling Stones explaining how "Miss You" was conceived.

Lead signer Mick Jagger and guitarist Ronnie Wood claim when they put that record together, the disco craze of the time was the furthest thing on their mind. Then there's Keith Richards, who claimed that "Miss You" was "a damn good disco record; it was calculated to be one."

Whoever you believe, it became another classic hit song by one of popular music's greatest bands ever.

And it was a jam session between Jagger and the late, great Billy Preston that got the ball rolling for what would turn out to be "Miss You," according to former Stones bass player Bill Wyman.

"The idea for those bass lines came from Billy Preston," Wyman said. "We'd cut a rough demo a year or so earlier after a recording session. I'd already gone home, and Billy picked up my old bass when they started running through that song. He started doing that bit because it seemed to be the style of his left hand. So when we finally came to do the time, the boys said, 'Why don't you work around Billy's idea?' So I listened to it once and heard that basic run and took it from there. It took some changing and polishing, but the basic idea was Billy's."

That was in early 1977, and the band was facing a dire situation: Richards was in a load of trouble for drug possession in Toronto and was looking at a long prison sentence if found guilty on the charge. It was at that time that Jagger took control of the entire writing of the album that would turn out to be "Some Girls."

By October, the band was ready to put down the track for "Miss You" at the Pathe Marconi Studios in Paris. And while the band denied it was a disco record, they had done some extensive time going to discos throughout the world. What he had heard in those discos was able to translate to Preston, who put the jam down for him.

However, it was the "supporting" cast what ended up making a big difference in the end. Longtime keyboardist Ian McLagan came in to play the electric piano. Mel Collins was brought in to play the saxophone. The Stones members knew about those guys.

They didn't know, though, about a guy named Sugar Blue. His real name James Whiting, Sugar Blue was born in 1949 in Harlem, N.Y., but was living in Paris and working the Paris Metro (their train station) busking on harmonica. Knowing that a harmonica player may come in handy during the recording sessions, a member of the band's Rolling Stones record label was so impressed by Sugar Blue that this person invited him to the studio.

Turns out that his harmonica would be the highlight instrument of "Miss You." Oh, and that bass riff that Wyman played because he heard what Preston had done. The harmonica's feel made this a dance record with a honky-tonk feel to it. It also gave it a raw blues edge, and if you were a member of the Stones, this was a positive for this was how the band first got started – playing raw blues.

But that whole disco thing? Richards explained that he thought "Miss You" was more an "R&B record and not a disco song." As for drummer Charlie Watts, his explanation was simpler.

"A lot of those songs like 'Miss You' were heavily influenced by going to the discos," Watts said. "You can hear it in a lot of those four-on-the-floor rhythms and the Philadelphia-style drumming. Mick and I used to go to discos a lot. It was a great period. I remember being in Munich and coming back from a club with Mick singing one of the Village People songs, 'Y.M.C.A.' I think it was ... and Keith went mad, but it sounded great on the dance floor."

It was understandable why the Stones got bitten by the disco bug – by 1978, disco music was soaring, thanks to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack that made fellow Brits The Bee Gees stars. And seemingly, most everything out on the radio at the time had a beat to it.

So in that regard, why not the Rolling Stones, the world's most famous rock band at that point?

Richards may have scoffed at it and sarcastic in the end, but the rest of the guys knew they had a hit when they heard it. "Miss You" was released as the first single from the "Some Girls" album and made its Hot 100 debut at No. 76 on May 27, 1978. And it didn't take long from there for the Stones to make a Top 40 entry as "Miss You" jumped to No. 53, then to No. 37 on June 10, 1978, where it debuted. A pair of six-notch climbs was followed up on July 1, 1978 when "Miss You" climbed from No. 25 to No. 14. The next week, "Miss You" entered the Top 10 at No. 7. After a one-notch climb to No. 6, it entered the Top 5 at No. 3 on July 22, 1978. But it held at that spot for two weeks, putting its future in doubt on the chart.

The worries were short-lived -- on August 5, 1978, the Rolling Stones ended its patient wait of Andy Gibb's "Shadow Dancing" at the top to become the eighth and last No. 1 hit in their amazing careers.

As for the lyrics, many suspected that Jagger wrote the words after he and then-wife Bianca had a spat and she kicked him to the curb. No so, said Jagger, who said, "'Miss You' is an emotion. It's not really about a girl. To me, the feeling of longing is what the song is."

With the success of "Miss You" on the pop chart, the time came to re-mix it into what would be the Stones' first "disco" record. With a young Bob Clearmountain behind the controls, the 12-inch "remix" was filled with more repeats of what was heard on the original record, keeping that dance vibe fresh throughout. Before long, there were numerous versions of "Miss You" out at the clubs or on the radio. For the record itself, it was placed on what was pink-colored vinyl.

For better or worse -- and whether Mick and Keith agreed or disagreed -- the Rolling Stones had dipped their bodies completely into the pool known as disco. Other artists would follow over the next year -- from Rod Stewart to Cher to Paul McCartney to Barbra Streisand. It was cool to feel the dance beat.

The Stones would perform "Miss You" in concert over the years, but tried variations of it, eventually choosing to be more bluesy than disco-y.

Before he died, John Lennon stated that "Miss You" sounded an awful lot like his own composition "Bless You." In an interview he gave for Playboy in 1980, Lennon said, "'Bless You' is again about Yoko (Ono). I think Mick Jagger turned 'Bless You' and turned it into 'Miss You.' The engineer kept wanting me to speed it up. He said, 'This would be a hit if you just do it fast.' He was right 'cause as 'Miss You,' it turned into a hit. I like Mick's record better. I have no ill feelings about it. I think it's a great Stones track, and I really love it. But I do hear that lick in it."

You hear something in "Miss You." It's a disco record. It's an R&B tune. It's a blues tune. And it was a No. 1 smash.

Chalk one up for the Rolling Stones even though they still can't truly describe this song to this day.

The AT40 Blog/July 23, 1983: The world was overwhelming the Americans

A sense of what was going on started taking place in the winter of 1982-83 when a number of foreign musical acts began to invade the Top 40 on a regular basis.

By the time the Summer of 1983 arrived, the world was here, imports that were making their existence everyday, whether on the radio or on music videos supplied by MTV or other video music outlets, such as Radio 1990 on USA Network or the weekly Night Tracks on another cable network outlet, TBS.

A lot of these music acts, especially from the United Kingdom, were mere secrets in this country unless you followed the music scene through periodicals such as Cashbox or Billboard. Then you had a major ticket to what was happening.

The British Wave was having a second appearance with good-looking, young artists who were taking advantage of the television and the synthesized sound at the time.

The Summer of '83 was a happy haven for most of these artists ... and we simply didn't get enough of it. By July of 1983, the artists were coming over to this country in enormous numbers, invading the Hot 100 chart. And on the week of July 23, 1983, 25 of the 40 songs in the countdown -- I know math wasn't going to be brought up in this blog, but that's 62.5 percent -- were by foreign acts. So let's run down what was going on and start with the acts from continental Europe:

No. 33. Puttin' On The Ritz--Taco: The Dutch act born 28 years ago this particular week in Jakarta, Indonesia, had worked hard for eight years to make it in the entertainment business in Germany. Signing a record deal in 1981, he recorded "Puttin' On The Ritz" in 1982 and later that year, RCA Records in this country picked the song up for release. It took a while to get people to notice, but this Irving Berlin classic made its Top 40 debut this week and would ultimately peak at No. 4, his one and only Top 40 hit here.

OK, that's the one and only continental European. We will save the Brits for last. Let's go to South America:

No. 4 Never Gonna Let You Go--Sergio Mendes: A superstar of the 1960s with such hits as "Fool On The Hill" and "The Look Of Love," this Brazilian band leader came back in 1983 in a big way with the No. 4 hit "Never Gonna Let You Go," sung in a duet by Joe Pizzulo and Leeza Miller. It was in a holding pattern at No. 4 on this particular week.

Now let's jet set to the other side of the world ... to Australia:

No. 40 Human Touch--Rick Springfield: Rick Springfield was born in Australia, but by 1983, he had not only settled down as a television actor in the United States as Dr. Noah Drake on the soap opera General Hospital, but he had worked with a speech therapist to rid himself completely of his Aussie accent. "Human Touch" debuted at No. 40 on this countdown, the second hit to come from an album called ... ironically ... "Living In Oz." The song's tale of humans living among computers in the modern world would peak at No. 18.

No. 20 It's A Mistake--Men At Work: The band led by Scottish-born Colin Hay that based in Melbourne had made it in a big way in 1982 with the album "Business As Usual" and the No. 1 hits "Who Can It Be Now?" and "Down Under." The second single from the band's newest album, "Cargo" was a look at what happens when the wrong people, drunk on war, have control. "It's A Mistake," a protest song to the highest regard, moved up five places from No. 25 to No. 20 and would ultimately peak at No. 6 a month later.

Off to the Great White North ... Canada:

No. 19 Hot Girls In Love--Loverboy: The band had scored three Top 40 hits between 1981-82 and in 1983, were back with a new album, "Keep It Up," with "Hot Girls In Love," a hard-rocking, '80s-style pounder, as the first single from it. "Hot Girls In Love" bounced up from No. 21 to No. 19 and a month later, would find its way to a peak position of No. 11, the biggest hit the band had at that time

No. 16 Cuts Like A Knife--Bryan Adams: Up from No. 20 the week before was the second Top 40 hit for 23-year-old Bryan Adams, who looked every bit the part of the Canadian artist, even wearing warm clothes on warm days. But this rocker from Vancouver was beginning to carve his niche as a superstar with this pile-driving smash that would peak at No. 15 the next week.

Now the artists representing Great Britain:

No. 37 The Salt In My Tears--Martin Briley: This studio musician would only have this one Top 40 hit, but boy was it a song that lasts for a long time about a woman who does him wrong and he makes it worth his while to just antagonize her for all the bad things she represents. The London-based solo act moved up from No. 39 the week before, and would peak the next week at No. 36.

No. 32 Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You)--A Flock Of Seagulls: The band led by Mike Score and included Paul Reynolds, Ali Score, Mike's brother, and Frank Maudsley had three Top 40 hits, starting in 1982 with the Top 10 hit, "I Ran." But this piece of synth-pop heaven was filled to the hilt with keyboards and synthesizers and was the last image/sound of the band when it came to their Top 40 career. "Wishing" dropped from its peak of No. 26 the week before to No. 32.

No. 30 Stop In The Name Of Love--The Hollies: A band fully recognized from the first British Wave was back after a nine-year absence from the Top 40. With Allan Clarke on lead vocals and Graham Nash back in the fold (for that time) on guitar and backing vocals, the Hollies remade the Supremes' 1965 No. 1 hit and made it into more a plea for nuclear disarmament and worldwide peace. It moved up from No. 32 to No. 30 on this week and would peak at No. 29 the next week.

No. 29 I'll Tumble 4 Ya--Culture Club: The first of two songs in the countdown for Boy George, Mikey Craig, Jon Moss and Roy Hay, "I'll Tumble 4 Ya" was just a simple song about loyalty. It was on its way up the chart to a peak of No. 9, but the third hit from the group's "Kissing To Be Clever" moved from No. 35 to No. 29 on this week. When it did hit the Top 10, Culture Club became the first band to have three Top 10 hits from a debut album since another British band that had a bigger impact in music did in 1964 ... The Beatles.

No. 27 China Girl--David Bowie: The second single from Bowie's huge-selling album "Let's Dance," this one was originally co-written with and recorded by Iggy Pop in 1977 for his album called "The Idiot." Seeing the potential of a big hit and working alongside talented guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughn, Bowie decided to dust off "China Girl" and record it himself with Chic's Nile Rodgers doing the production honors. It moved up from No. 31 to No. 27 and would peak at No. 10 a month later.

No. 26 Rock 'N' Roll Is King--ELO: Up four places from No. 30 the week before, the band formerly known as Electric Light Orchestra had decided to get away from the classical-based music that made them stars in the 1970s. Group leader Jeff Lynne was relying more on guitars and a sound that came straight from the 1950s, as was the case of "Rock 'N' Roll Is King," which would ultimately get as high as No. 19.

No. 24 Saved By Zero--The Fixx: The London-based group, led by charismatic lead singer (and chest shower) Cy Curnin, hit the Top 40 for the first time with "Saved By Zero," another synthesizer-happy hit on our radios that summer. Still together in their hit-making years form today, The Fixx moved up from No. 26 to No. 24 and would reach No. 20 as the first hit single from the album "Reach The Beach."

No. 23 Time (Clock Of The Heart)--Culture Club: While "I'll Tumble 4 Ya" was beginning its climb up the chart, the second single for Culture Club, "Time (Clock Of The Heart)" was beginning its downward spiral on that chart, slipping from No. 10 to No. 23. Once again, the song featured the smoky vocals of Boy George, who when the act first came out, many thought the lead vocalist was black.

No. 22 Rock Of Ages--Def Leppard: The heavy metal-hard rock band from Sheffield had been kicking it around since 1977. Then in 1983 came the album "Pyromania" and the first Top 40 hit that spring, the Top 15 "Photograph." The follow-up would be not as big a hit as "Photograph," but it'd be a lot more legendary, especially for the opening line, "Gunter glieben glauchen globen," which the band admits really was a "nonsense line," though they've joked about its meaning for years. "Rock Of Ages" would peak at No. 16 after it moved up a strong seven places from No. 29 to No. 22. It would be the title of both a Broadway play and a 2012 movie which featured plenty of hard-rockin', arena rock classics of that era.

No. 21 I'm Still Standing--Elton John: The return of the songwriting team of Elton John and Bernie Taupin was a memorable one with "I'm Still Standing," the debut hit from John's newest album, "Too Low For Zero." John's 32nd Top 40 hit, slipped from its No. 12 peak back down to No. 21 on this week in 1983.

No. 18 (Keep Feeling) Fascination--The Human League: Another British band heavy on the synthesizers, The Human League first made it big in 1982 with the No. 1 smash "Don't You Want Me." Their second Top 40 hit was this synth-laden single that featured not one, not two, not three, but four different group members taking turns on a line in the song. Backing singers Joanne Catherall and Susan Sulley have a line, as does keyboaridst Jo Callis, a rarity for him, and Callis' co-writer of "(Keep Feeling) Fascination," lead vocalist Philip Oakey, has the rest of the song. It would peak at No. 8, but moved up from No. 24 to No. 18 on this week in 1983.

No. 15 Baby Jane--Rod Stewart: The first single from Mod Rod's 1983 album, "Body Wishes," the Stewart-Jay Davis composition would be a No. 1 hit in the UK. It moved up from No. 16 to No. 15 this week and would peak at No. 14. It had spent three weeks at No. 1 in the UK and was dumped out of the top spot this particular week by a Brit who was less than a year away from making his American Top 40 debut -- Paul Young with the Marvin Gaye song, "Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)."

No. 13 Too Shy--Kajagoogoo: Also a former No. 1 hit, the band led by bass player Nick Beggs and lead vocalist Christopher Hamill (best known as Limahl) would only have this hit as a reminder of their time together in the Summer of '83. The song was co-produced by Duran Duran keyboardist/synthesizer whiz Nick Rhodes. It dropped from No. 7 to No. 13 this week in '83.

No. 11 Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)--Eurythmics: A former No. 2 hit earlier in 1983, "Sweet Dreams" was the work of lead singer Annie Lennox and multi-instrumental player David A. Stewart. The song was highlighted by a music video that was part weird and part intoxicating, thanks to Lennox's bright red orange hair and her androgynous look in a suit and tie. It moved up from No. 15 to No. 11 and would ultimately be the duo's lone No. 1 hit by the first weekend of September.

No. 8 Is There Something I Should Know?--Duran Duran: A song that debuted at No. 1 in March in their native UK, Duran Duran made it a "single" track in America, though it would ultimately be added on to the band's re-issued debut "Duran Duran" album from 1981. With Russell Mulcahy once again providing fans a music video with splashy colors and featuring the Birmingham, England-based band's good-looking members, "Is There Something I Should Know?" moved up from No. 9 to No. 8 and would peak at No. 4.

No. 7 Our House--Madness: Part of the ska movement that overwhelmed England at the start of the 1980s, the band Madness had fallen into more of a pop sound by 1983 with a bit of wackiness to it. Enter "Our House," the band's first Top 40 hit in this country that continues to be iconic 1980s radio material every chance it has to play the song. It moved up from No. 8 to No. 7 and that's where it would peak, the biggest hit ever for the band based in the Camden Town section of London.


No. 6 Come Dancing--The Kinks: It had been five year since one of the staples of the British Wave had a Top 40 hit. And with the second Wave in full effect, Ray Davies brought The Kinks back together to record a song that was filled with nostalgia and had a nostalgic sound to it called "Come Dancing." Davies reached back into his childhood to remember those days when the "dance hall" was the main place to be on a Saturday night. "Come Dancing," filled with the sounds of Big Band-era horns and the one guitar solo by Ray's brother Dave, held at No. 6 and would peak at that spot.

No. 2 Electric Avenue--Eddy Grant: Grant was born in British Guyana, but moved to London at the age of 12. A member of a group with a Top 40 hit here and a No. 1 hit in the UK in 1968 called The Equals, "Baby Come Back," Grant got topical on the smash hit "Electric Avenue," which had gotten to No. 2 in the UK, and was holding again at No. 2 in this country. That's unfortunately where it would peak because ...

No. 1 Every Breath You Take--The Police: The song of the Summer of '83 was in the top spot for the third straight week. Sting (born Gordon Sumner) wrote maybe one of the darkest tunes in the history of music as his bass guitar set the tone of this song about obsession and wanting someone very badly and that though they may be with you or someone else for that matter, he'll be "watching you." In the end, "Every Breath You Take" would spend eight solid weeks at No. 1, making it one of the biggest hits of the decade.

OK, I'm about equal time, so I will mention the 15 songs in this countdown by American acts ... this won't take long:

Journey's "After The Fall" (No. 39), The Tubes' "She's A Beauty" (No. 38), America's "The Border" (No. 36), Diana Ross' "Pieces Of Ice" (No. 35), Jackson Browne's "Lawyers In Love" (No. 34), Daryl Hall & John Oates' "Family Man" (No. 32), Styx's "Don't Let It End" (No. 28), Quarterflash's "Take Me To Heart" (No. 25), DeBarge's "All This Love" (No. 17), Michael Sembello's "Maniac" (No. 14), Prince's "1999" (No. 12), Donna Summer's "She Works Hard For The Money" (No. 10), Stevie Nicks' "Stand Back" (No. 9), Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Something" (No. 5) and the biggest hit by an American, Irene Cara's No. 1 hit "Flashdance... What A Feeling" at No. 3.

This is what makes music so great. So many different artists from a bunch of countries, most notably from England.

Here's one very strong time where "immigration" was a good thing for us here.