That was pretty much the 1970s. Then came the 1980s and with AM radio not being as powerful as it once was, FM gained strength in both numbers and wattage. And that's where the powerful pop radio stations suddenly cropped up as the decades changed. Not only did FM have room for those album tracks on rock radio, but for the pop stations that weren't afraid to play the hit-potential album tracks.
Thus a new genre of music came about around 1979-80 -- "arena rock," tracks by rock acts who could sell out arenas and stadiums and can be on the radio everywhere.
And as the 1980s began, the chart was starting to reflect that change. This brings us to the Top 40 chart from March 6, 1982, when it was filled with a number of songs that today we consider "classic rock" staples.
Three songs alone debuted within the Top 40 countdown that can be heard regularly on classic rock radio.
The first of those songs was the third Top 40 hit to come from, "4," Foreigner's most successful album ever, "Juke Box Hero." The tale of a young man wanting to be a rock star and hearing the simple sound of a guitar that just "blew him away," highlighted by lead singer Lou Gramm's soaring vocals and Mick Jones' searing guitar work, proved to be appealing to both the album rock and Top 40 radio stations. Following up the Top 10 hits "Urgent," another rocker featuring Junior Walker's wailing saxophone solo, and "Waiting For A Girl Like You," a synthesizer-charged ballad, which spent 10 frustrating weeks at No. 2, "Juke Box Hero" debuted at No. 39 and would peak at No. 26, spending six weeks on the chart.
Speaking of third singles from albums, Stevie Nicks was doing quite well for herself thanks to her solo debut set, "Bella Donna." She had already scored Top 10 hits with the soulful "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" and the ballad "Leather And Lace," songs that were duets with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Don Henley, respectively. This time around, the Fleetwood Mac member was back with a true rocker that has continued to rock out to this day, "Edge Of Seventeen," a free-spirited piece that was originally to be written about the marriage of good friends Tom and Jane Petty, but took a totally different direction after her uncle Jonathan and the great John Lennon died within the same week in December 1980. The song is most famously known for its guitar riff, a pulsating 16th note guitar riff played through three different chords -- C, D and E-minor -- by veteran Waddy Wachtel, who would admit later that he was inspired to play that particular riff after listening to Police guitarist Andy Summers perform a similar riff on the band's song "Bring On The Night." In 2001, that riff was used as the backdrop sample to Destiny Child's No. 1 hit "Bootylicious." But in 1982, it was the backbone for Nicks' third Top 40 hit, which debuted at No. 38. It pushed hard up the chart, but would barely miss out on being a Top 10 hit, stopping off at No. 11. Today, there isn't a classic rock station that doesn't play "Edge Of Seventeen."
The third of these Top 40 debuts on March 6, 1982 was the follow-up to the first No. 1 hit for the J. Geils Band, "Centerfold." The Boston-based blues, boogie and rock band had been hitting the chart for a decade with little success until "Centerfold" pushed them not only into the Top 10 for the first time, but to the top for six solid weeks, including a fifth straight week at the top this particular week. This time around, it was the title track to their first No. 1 album, "Freeze-Frame," a fun and frenzied musical journey co-written by lead singer Peter Wolf and keyboardist-producer Seth Justman that dipped back into the band's recent past of blues. The hit, which debuted at No. 34, the highest-debuting song of the week, features Wolf's fast-moving vocals, Justman's keyboard work, drummer Stephen Bladd's infectious backbeat, which was front and center on this hit, and the horns of session musicians Randy Brecker, Tom "Bones" Malone, Lou Marini, George Young, Ronnie Cuber and Alan Rubin, who seem to have as much of a frolicking good time as the band does on this one. "Freeze Frame" would peak at No. 4.But the "classic rock" theme didn't just hold to those songs. There was also Huey Lewis & The News' debut hit, "Do You Believe In Love?" which moved up from No. 33 to No. 27, Quarterflash's first hit, "Harden My Heart," dropping down from No. 7 to No. 18 this week after getting to No. 3, The Police's "Spirits In The Material World," up one notch from No. 13 to No. 12, and The Go-Go's smash, "We Got The Beat," exploding up eight notches from No. 19 to No. 11 and on its way to No. 2.
The Top 4 songs in the country were future classic rock classics as well: The Cars' "Shake It Up" was holding at No. 4, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts' rock anthem, "I Love Rock N' Roll," rolled up six places from No. 9 to No. 3, Journey's rock ballad, "Open Arms," held for the second of a frustrating six straight weeks at the peak position at No. 2 and "Centerfold" held at No. 1 for J. Geils and his band.
Ultimately, MTV's surging fortunes over the next couple of years would separate the star arena rock bands from the "older" acts who were more synonymous in the 1970s than the current decade, but from the late 1970s until the mid-1980s, classic rock was at its finest time.
The chart of March 6, 1982 was only a sample of what that time period was like when album-oriented rock could bring artists a hit or two ... or more.
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