Flashback: 4/25/81

 Hello again everyone. Had a little difficulty getting this old laptop fired up this morning (it's pushing nine years old, which is in computer ages, is Methuselah-esque), and I desperately need a different laptop, but I was able to accomplish getting it started without crashing every ten minutes, so here we are, hoping my 'puter holds on for dear life.

This week, we're going back to when my mother was alive, MTV hadn't launched into our living rooms yet, and the Space Shuttle had just completed her maiden voyage. We're going back to 1981 for this week's flashback. These were the Top 40 songs in the USA for the week ending April 25, 1981:

40. Say You'll Be Mine by Christopher Cross. Funny how his stock, which was on the rise in 1981, suddenly tumbled after 1984 when MTV began to get more and more mainstream.

39. Wasn't That A Party by The Rovers. As a little kid, I fell in love with this song because I thought the lyrics were funny. Of course I didn't know it was about drinking too much and having a hangover as a result. Man do those suck!

38. A Woman Needs Love (Just Like You Do) by Ray Parker, Jr. and Raydio. Some people will say that Parker is only known for his 1984 smash, "Ghostbusters." I disagree. He had several hits up until then, including this one.

37. Mister Sandman by Emmylou Harris. Yes, it's a remake of the 1954 song performed by the Chordettes, among others. No it is not to be confused with Metallica's 1991 classic "Enter Sandman."

36. What Are We Doing In Love? by Dottie West & Kenny Rogers

35. Turn Me Loose by Loverboy. Yes, "Working For The Weekend" is this group's signature hit, but this, their maiden top 40 hit, might be second.

34. The Party's Over (Hopelessly In Love) by Journey

33. Hold On Loosely by 38 Special. Hold on loosely, but don't let go. Some sage advice from the offspring of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

32. Love You Like I've Never Loved Before by John O'Banion

31. Don't Stop The Music by Yarbrough & Peoples. As I would eventually learn, this group had nothing to do with popular racecar driver at the time Cale Yarborough.

30. Sukiyaki by A Taste Of Honey

29. I Missed Again by Phil Collins. I actually remember hearing this for the first time during a TV commercial for the NBA, several years later.

28. It's A Love Thing by The Whispers

27. I Love You by Climax Blues Band. The song that went out for many a long-distance dedication on American Top 40 way back when.

26. How 'Bout Us? by Champaign. When I first heard of the group, my seven-year old brain thought it was the drink that adults drank. I didn't know at the time it shared the same name as the University of Illinois.

25. Watching The Wheels by John Lennon. His follow-up to "Woman" which reached #1, his last one which unfortunately he didn't see. 

24. You Better You Bet by The Who. Funny story regarding this song. It came out on a compilation cassette along with many other songs of that era. As a little kid I liked the song, and wondered who actually sang it, as if to think, "This song is sung by The who?" Little did I know that I had answered my own question.

23. Sweetheart by Franke & The Knockouts

22. Time Out Of Mind by Steely Dan. After this song, hey kinda went away, until they won a shock Grammy in 2001.

21. Just Between You And Me by April Wine

20. Ain't Even Done With The Night by John Mellencamp. Of course, at this time he actually went by John Cougar.

19. Too Much Time On My Hands by Styx. Sort of sounds like me, too much time on my hands.

18. Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes. Probably the first music video I remember watching, which I think was during an episode of "American Bandstand." That was a bit of a tradition on Saturdays for me way back then, watching "American baseball, eating a hamburger from McDonald's (when they were like $0.39), and watching the baseball game of the week on NBC.

17. Take It On The Run by REO Speedwagon. Love this song. Intersetingly enough, this group is from Champaign, Illinois, just like the university.

16. Living Inside Myself by Gino Vanelli. If I'm not mistaken, and my memory is pretty good, I want to say that this song was the basis for a radio jingle in the Raleigh, North Carolina area around 1990 for Mitchell's Hair Styling. I remember hearig it on G105 in Raleigh at that time.

15. Crying by Don McLean. The man best known for "American Pie" with his version of the Roy Orbison classic.

14. Keep On Loving You by REO Speedwagon

13. Somebody's Knockin' by Terri Gibbs

12. Her Town Too by James Taylor & J.D. Souther

11. I Can't Stand It by Eric Clapton

10. Don't Stand So Close To Me by The Police. I imagine certain teachers should listen to this particular song. Right, Debra LaFave?? 

  9. The Best Of Times by Styx. I'm hoping for more of those as this summer goes on. I know, it's only spring, but you're talking to a Floridian here, summer lasts nine months.

  8. Woman by John Lennon. See Number 25...

  7. While You See A Chance by Steve Winwood. For some reason, I always would get this song with Electric Light Orchestra's "All Over The World" from the year before.

  6. Rapture by Blondie. Classic song and a classic video to boot.

  5. Angel Of The Morning by Juice Newton. I kinda fell in love with Juice after this song. I was only seven though and it wouldn't last.

  4. Just The Two Of Us by Grover Washington, Jr. with Bill Withers. Seventeen years before Will Smith's remake would also be popular. No, Withers didn't slap Washington after this was recorded.

  3. Being With You by Smokey Robinson. When I first downloaded this to my Spotify, I somehow got the Spanglish version.I have no idea why.

  2. Morning Train by Sheena Easton. She had her 64th birthday yesterday, so Happy Birthday Sheena!

...and the number one song for this week forty-two years ago was...

  1. Kiss On My List by Daryl Hall & John Oates. I heard on TikTok the other day that this song actually helped inspire Van Halen's 1984 mega-hit "Jump." I also found out that Van Halen actually asked Hall to be their lead singer after DLR left. He declined. And people want to ban TikTok? Jeez.

There is your flashback for this week. Hopefully, if I feel up to it, I'll have another blog entry for this weekend. Until then, take good care of yourself, and each other.

RIP Jerry

CT

Flashback: April 22, 1994

 Good morning, everyone. Last time I did one of these flashbacks was about a couple of weeks ago, when I did a flashback in honor of my crush's birthday. Since then, some things have changed a little bit. Let's just say that the fire that was there has been somewhat extinguished, much to my chagrin. Be that as it may, this blog continues on, and today's flashback goes one year later than the previous one, to 1994. Now 1994 was a very interesting year if you're a chart geek like myself in that the methodology of how the Top 40 songs, at least as far as what was printed in Radio & Records Magazine, changed drastically, and this is the particular week in which those changes were implemented. 

Before the April 22, 1994 issue, Radio & Records tabulated their Top 40 by various radio stations calling into their office and basically calling in which songs were played and how often. Then those songs were tabulated by a mathematical formula (based on market size) to determine how the songs were ranked. Starting this particular week, however, the system became automated and from that point (and here on out to present day) were tabulated by the number of spins a particular song garnered, otherwise known as the plays per week, or PPW era. I kind of miss the old system itself now that I found out that iHeart Media now runs Meidabase, and man do I have issues with them, but I won't get into that here.

So, without further ado, these were the Top 40 songs according to Radio & Records magazine for the week of April 22, 1994:

40. Beautiful In My Eyes by Joshua Kadison. Not very memorable in my opinion. Down seven from the previous week.

39. Leaving Las Vegas by Sheryl Crow. Her debut effort. The title of the song was based on the 1990 novel from John O'Brien. Very sad story regarding O'Brien by the way. On a side note, it seems like more and more entities are going to Las Vegas rather than leaving. The Oakland A's are the latest example.

38. Don't Turn Around by Ace Of Base. This song making its debut this week was the third release from this group. It would eventually reach number 1 later in the year.

37. Completely by Michael Bolton. Unremarkable song. Down from 25 the previous week.

36. I Swear by All-4-One. Full disclosure, I hated this version because at the time I thought they blatantly stole this from John Michael Montgomery, who made this hit a monster on country radio at the time. I was unaware that the country version had been released a few months beforehand. Then I realized that country and pop have been copying off each other for years (ex: "Slow Hand" by the Pointer Sisters and covered by Conway Twitty).

35. Regular Thing by Ovis. Rather unremarkable song as I don't remember ever hearing this on any radio station, but then again radio where I was located at the time (Charleston, SC) wasn't exactly good.

34. The Right Time by I to I

33. No Excuses by Alice In Chains. Incredibly enough, their only top 40 hit.

32. Misled by Celine Dion

31. Stay (I Missed You) by Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories. I'll never forget the tumble she took in the video for this song. Thank you, "Pop Up Video", for that little tidbit of info.

30. The More You Ignore Me (The Closer I Get) by Morrissey. I never understood the fixation with him, or the Smiths for that matter.

29. And Our Feelings by Babyface

28. Bump 'N' Grind by R. Kelly. Of course, in sorry-ass Charleston, we got a completely different version of this song. Still I don't see nottin' wrawwwwwwng. 

27. Dreams by The Cranberries. RIP Dolores.

26. Dream On Dreamer by Brand New Heavies

25. Mary Jane's Last Dance by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. Oh my my, oh hell yes. This song I think was supposed to played at 11;58 pm of 4/20. #IFYKY.

24. Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) by Us3. I don't think this track gets enough credit as the years go by. I think this was one of the songs that helped define that era of music.

23. I'm Ready by Tevin Campbell. Ready for what, exactly? Campbell would only have one top-40 hit after this song, in 1996.

22. Come To My Window by Melissa Etheridge. This song practically stayed on the top 40 forever after this week when the PPW era started. In fact, it would stay on the chart for another nineteen weeks after this one...

21. Neon Moonlight by Roscoe Martinez. A pretty good and catchy song that I feel didn't get enough run.

20. Love Sneakin' Up On You by Bonnie Raitt. And as the late Garry Shandling once said during the 1990 Grammys, Bonnie Raitt has just scored again on the Denver Broncos. 

19. Loser by Beck. Soyyyyy un perdadorrrrr. I still don't know why Beck's mask was censored/blurred out for the video to this song.

18. You Mean The World To Me by Toni Braxton. Now if only a particular woman actually felt the same about me.

17. Found Out About You by The Gin Blossoms. This is one of those chart anomalies created by the PPW switch. The song had exited from the chart two weeks prior yet magically reappeared for this week's chart, and all the way into the top 20 at that!

16. I Want You by Juliet Roberts

15. Because Of Love by Janet Jackson

14. I'll Take You There by General Public

13. Whatta Man by Salt N Pepa f/En Vogue. I loved the video to tis song because, well, the ladies of En Vogue and Salt N Pepa were attractive, especially to a twenty-year-old virgin.

12. So Much In Love by All-4-One. Ugh, just what I need to hear, a sappy song that could be played at a wedding. NEXT!

11. Streets Of Philadelphia by Bruce Springsteen. I'm still a little pissed at Philadelphia, not as much as I was over last summer, but along those same lines...

10. The Power Of Love by Celine Dion. Remake of the late Laura Branigan's 1983 track. 

  9. Now And Forever by Richard Marx. What's with all the sappiness on this stretch of the chart? seriously...

  8. MMM MMM MMM MMM by Crash Test Dummies. Seriously, how did THIS song make the Top 10? Because the singer sounded unique? Because the subject matter was somewhat disturbing? Because it was mindless? Probably all of the above.

  7. Return To Innocence. Now this was a song that I enjoyed. The video was kind of weird though.

  6. Without You by Mariah Carey. Remake of Nilsson's 1971 smash hit.

  5. I'll Remember by Madonna. A reminder that Madge not only dominated the 80's, but a good share of the 90's as well.

  4. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World by Prince. Just before his career went kind of sideways thanks to a dispute with his record label.

  3. Baby I Love Your Way by Big Mountain

  2. Mr. Jones by Counting Crows

and the number one song this date 29 years ago was

  1. The Sign by Ace of Base. 

Well, that's it for this week's flashback. Now time to look in to why my computer wants to shut itself off every hour or so (Spoiler alert: it's older than dirt). Until next time.

CT

Sunday Evening Post

 Hello again everyone, except for Collier County, Florida. Seriously, does it seem like every bad story nowadays seemingly emanate from Florida? I mean this week we had Fort Lauderdale got drenched in rain, and now the opposite side of the state is celebrating being on the wrong (and losing) side of the Civil War. At least nobody shot anybody up down here (that we know of), yet that was close enough to Florida, and the continuation of a disturbing trend across the country that has been happening the past two decades. Especially this week in Louisville. Sad. 

Personally, I had a pretty good week, but it could have been better to be honest. Gwen celebrated her 69th (nice) birthday today. The Rays are off to a torrid start to the season, and one of my favorite times of year starts this week as the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin. I'm afraid my Bolts aren't taking home Stanley this year, but three straight Final appearances is quite impressive however. Next week should be big; my banking situation that was put into big time flux when Jean died just after my birthday is finally taken care of, and it couldn't come at a better time. My crush and dear friend has had a stressful last couple of weeks, and I think I need to be there for her. So, the sooner I'm finally able to visit her, the better, and I'll leave it at that. 

I haven't posted my usual flashback this week because well, they're time consuming, and I haven't had much reason to. That should change later this week though, I need to get more eyeballs on this blog, but I don't really know the most effective way to do so other than a grass-roots word of mouth campaign. Thing is, not many eyeballs see my Twitter page, and after the past couple of months on that platform, I don't really know why I'm even there. Oh well, as long as Squealon Muskrat doesn't run Twitter into the ground (which I'm not very enthusiastic about), I'll still be there. 

For now, I guess I'll go ahead and writing my flashback entry. Until next time...

CT

Flashback: April 5, 2003

 Hello again everyone. I didn't really feel like posting an entry today or this week for that matter. The news, what little actual news we get nowadays, is nothing but brain drain, and the news we should be getting but is being hid from us by mainstream media is infuriating, or sad. But I thought I would give a brief respite from the "all Trump all the time" news cycle, and give you the top 40 songs on this date twenty years ago, according to Radio & Records Magazine:

40. Losing Grip by Avril Lavinge. After three singles that reached #1 to start her career, this one feel short of even reaching the top ten, peaking at #17.

39. Breathe by Blu Cantrell. Believe it or not, "Hit 'em Up Style" was not her only top 40 hit, as this song hovered around #40 for quite a while during the first half of 2003.

38. Landslide by The Dixie Chicks. Thier only pop hit, a remake of the Fleetwood Mac classic. Oh, and if I was from Texas (which I thankfully am not), I'd be ashamed of George W. Bush too.

37. Can't Nobody by Kelly Rowland

36. Blowin' Me Up With Her Love by JC Chasez. Dude went solo right about the same time as fellow 'NSync (and Mickey Mouse Club) member Justin Timberlake, though not quite as successful.

35. Misunderstood by Bon Jovi. Yes, the band had a top 40 hit this late into its career.

34. Dumb Girls by Lucy Woodward. I didn't know that MTG and Lauren Boebert would have a song just for them, twenty years ahead of its time.

33. Sick Of Being Lonely by Field Mob. Same, Field Mob. Same.

32. '03 Bonnie and Clyde by Jay-Z f/Beyonce. Yes, they've been together for twenty years already. We're all getting old.

31. Bring Me To Life by Evanescence. This one's a classic from this year.

30. Tell Me by Smilez and Southstar. I believe this outfit hailed from Orlando (checks Wiki, they were). Only noteworthy song by them.

29. I Drove All Night by Celine Dion. This was Celine's remake of the Cyndi Lauper classic from 1989. 

28. I'd Do Anything by Simple Plan

27. Unwell by Matchbox Twenty. Kinda describes most people in 2023...

26. Hell Yeah by Ginuwine

25. Stuck by Stacie Orrico. As I recall, FLZ in Tampa refused to play this because (in my opinion) of a stupid policy that they apparently had that no song that did not begin with a musical introduction (such as this one) could be played on air. I hated that station as well as many others that were under the ClearChannel/iHateMedia umbrella, but that's another story.

24. Running by No Doubt

23. The Anthem by Good Charlotte. This contains one of my all-time favorite lyrics: "Shake it once that's fine. Shake it twice that's okay. Shake it three times, you're playing with yourself again."

22. Cry Me A River by Justin Timberlake. Speaking of FLZ, one DJ who would be ultimately fired from that station (because the top dog there couldn't take a joke, classless or not) HATED playing the end of this particular song (which I thought was the best part).

21. Damaged by TLC. Sadly, their last chart hit, coming after the death of Lisa Lopes.

20. Fighter by Christina Aguilera. I didn't really care for her "Dirrty" period tbh.

19. Girl All The Bad Guys Want by Bowling For Soup. Sound like the story of my life, to this very day.

18. Sing For The Moment by Eminem. His take on the Aerosmith classic "Dream On."

17. Don't Mess With My Man by Nivea. no, this wasn't named after the facial care product of the same name. In fact, the singer's actual name was Nivea. 

16. All The Things She Said by T.a.T.u. Russia's only foray into American pop music to this day, and I still have a bit of a crush on Lena Katina. 

...she is a redhead after all...

15. Superman by Eminem. Absolutely loved this track.

14. Beautiful by Christina Aguilera

13. Bump Bump Bump by B2K and P. Diddy. I guess they were supposed to be the 2000s version of Boys II Men, but that group didn't last very long.

12. If You're Not The One by Daniel Beddingfield. I thought I found the one, until some dude named Mike swiped her away before I had the chance...I'm still bitter about that by the way.

11. Miss You by Aaliyah. Another star that was extinguished prematurely...

10. Gossip Folks by Missy Elliott. This song sampled "Double Dutch Bus" by Frankie Smith.

  9. Ignition by R. Kelly. How interesting (and somewhat creepy) that this artist is almost next to Aaliyah on this chart. After all, didn't he marry her when she was just 15?

  8. Rock Your Body by Justin Timberlake. He sings, "gonna have you naked at the end of this song," and unfortuantely for Janet Jackson, he literally did that following February. 

 

  7. I'm With You by Avril Lavigne. Of the three songs that I mentioned earlier to reach number one, I think this may have been my favorite.

  6. Picture by Sheryl Crow and (name redacted). No, I'm not giving Robert Ritchie credit for this song, after he wasted a bunch of perfectly good Bud Light on social media the other day. Fricking MAGA loon...

  5. Mesmerize by Ja Rule f/Ashanti. I remember that these two performed at halftime of that year's NFC Championship Game between the Bucs and Eagles in Philly, and were booed off the field. Then again, EVERYONE gets booed in Philly. 

  4. Angel by Angela Perez. A song that has been largely forgotten, by an artist who has been largely forgotten.

  3. All I Have by Jennifer Lopez f/ LL Cool J

  2. When I'm Gone by Three Doors Down. I think the only reason this song was widely popular was because we were at war with Iraq at the time, thanks to faulty intelligence. Remember when Colin Powell went to the UN and claimed Iraq had WMDs? Well, to this day, I think it was actually Syria that had them. At least we got Saddam Hussein though...

 and the number one song this week twenty years ago was...

 1. In Da Club by 50 Cent. Go shorty, it's ya birthday. Geez I could've sang this to Samantha a couple of weeks ago.

 So. that was a look back at 2003, a year marked by war, a Super Bowl triumph for my Bucs, andthe start of the post punk era in music. Time to watch the never ending Trump slurp fest on the news networks now. God help me...

More to come

CT