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.