Hello, it's been a while, hasn't it? The last time I posted on here, I think Hurricane Helene was aiming at Florida's Big Bend. Since then, that same storm wreaked havoc in the mountains of North Carolina, and the Tampa Bay area virtually got drilled from Hurricane Milton, which is a name that rhymes with the name of my late father Wilton. My dad was a rather interesting fellow. He loved his family very much, but I didn't see it too much. Nor did my siblings who grew up long before I did. We mainly saw him grumpy, irrational, and somewhat mean. Suffice to say we had to endure a lot of negativity from him, I'll leave it at that.
Anyway, I was going to do my World Series preview a few days ago, but now the series is almost over. Thank goodness, too. As a Rays fan, this has to be a nightmare matchup; your most bitter rival versus the team that beat you for the title in 2020 and is what you would aspire to be if you didn't have an owner that cries poor mouth. Not only that, but your team is also now homeless thanks to Milton. Better get to breaking ground on that new ballpark...
Speaking of Dodgers-Yankees, they last met in the World Series back in 1981, which happens to be the subject of today's flashback. I was all of seven years old, and my mother sadly would lose her life that Halloween, which is a big reason my family doesn't really participate in the holiday, even though I still want to. I guess I could things were a lot different.
Anyway, this is a rather different top 40 chart from usual. Instead of going over what the Top 40 songs were from either the Billboard Hot 100, or the top 30 songs from Radio & Records Magazine's CHR chart, I decided to do a hybrid of both. I based it on a points system I use for said charts, I think I explained it on this blog some years ago. Keep in mind that during the 1980's Billboard was based on sales of singles while R/R was based on airplay lists compiled from radio stations throughout the US. Anyway, without further ado, here were the top songs for Halloween 1981, tiebreaker goes to whichever song had the higher chart position that week:
40. Trouble by Lindsay Buckingham. #30 on R/R, #55 on Billboard, 11 points.
39. Leather And Lace by Stevie Nicks with Don Henley. #29 on R/R, #50 on Billboard, 12 points.
38. Hold On Tight by Electric Light Orchestra. #33 on Billboard, fell off the R/R chart, 13 points.
37. Harden My Heart by Quarterflash. #28 on R/R, #49 on Billboard, 13 points.
36. My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone) by Chilliwack. #26 on R/R, #40 on Billboard, 16 points.
35. No Reply At All by Genesis. #25 on R/R, #41 on Billboard, 16 points.
34. Promises In The Dark by Pat Benatar. #27 on R/R, #38 on Billboard, 17 points.
33. Don't Stop Believin' by Journey. #23 on R/R, #56 on Billboard (debut), 18 points.
32. Urgent by Foreigner. #32 on Billboard, fell off on R/R, 19 points.
31. Who's Crying Now? by Journey. #25 on Billboard, fell off on R/R, 21 points.
30. She's A Bad Mama Jama by Carl Carlton. #22 on Billboard, never charted on R/R, 21 points.
29. Stop Draggin' My Heart Around by Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty. #24 on Billboard, fell off on R/R, 22 points.
28. Alien by Atlanta Rhythm Section. #24 on R/R, #29 on Billboard, 29 points.
27. Superfreak by Rick James. #15 on Billboard, didn't chart on R/R, 30 points.
26. Young Turks by Rod Stewart. #21 on R/R, #30 on Billboard, 31 points.
25. Why Do Fools Fall In Love? by Diana Ross. #22 R/R, #28 on Billboard. 32 points.
24. Share Your Love With Me by Kenny Rogers. #14 on Billboard, fell off R/R, 35 points.
23. Sausolito Summernight by Diesel. #17 on R/R, #31 on Billboard. 36 points.
22. Atlanta Lady by Marty Balin. #20 on R/R, #27 on Billboard. 37 points.
21. The Old Songs by Barry Manilow. #18 on R/R, #26 on Billboard, 38 points.
20. Step By Step by Eddie Rabbitt. #10 on Billboard, fell off on R/R, 50 points.
19. Say Goodbye To Hollywood by Billy Joel. #16 on R/R, #18 on Billboard, 55 points.
18. Theme From "Hill Street Blues" by Mike Post & Larry Carlton. #19 on R/R, #13 on Billboard, 58 points.
17. Just Once by Quincy Jones with James Ingram. #13 on R/R, #19 on Billboard, 61 points.
16. Oh No by The Commodores. #10 on R/R, #20 on Billboard, 63 points.
15. Physical by Olivia Newton-John, #9 on R/R, #23 on Billboard, 63 points.
14. We're In This Love Together by Al Jarreau. #12 on R/R, #17 on Billboard, 65 points.
13. When She Was My Girl by The Four Tops. #15 on R/R, #12 on Billboard, 69 points.
12. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic by The Police. #8 on R/R, #21 on Billboard, 72 points.
11. Endless Love by Diana Ross & Lionel Richie. #5 on Billboard, fell off on R/R, 85 points.
10. For Your Eyes Only by Sheena Easton. #4 on Billboard, fell off on R/R, 85 points.
9. I've Done Everything For You by Rick Springfield. #11 on R/R, #9 on Billboard, 89 points.
8. Here I Am by Air Supply. #5 on R/R, #11 on Billboard, 111 points.
7. Tryin' To Live My Life Without You by Bob Seger. #7 on R/R, #6 on Billboard, 122 points.
6. The Night Owls by Little River Band. #6 on R/R, #8 on Billboard, 125 points.
5. Waiting For A Girl Like You by Foreigner. #2 on R/R, #16 on Billboard, 127 points.
4. Start Me Up by The Rolling Stones. #14 on R/R, #2 on Billboard, 145 points.
3. Hard To Say by Dan Fogelberg. #3 on R/R, #7 on Billboard, 160 points.
2. Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do) by Christopher Cross. #4 on R/R, #1 on Billboard, 225 points.
...and the top song for Halloween 1981 was...
1. Private Eyes by Hall & Oates. #1 on R/R, #3 on Billboard. 230 points.
So, those were the top 40 songs for this week 43 years ago. No good spooky songs among those listed, however "Halloween II" was released that particular weekend. I went to a Christian school at the time (maybe that's why my worldview is sometimes messed up), and interestingly enough, I liked a girl with the last name Myers at the time, although I had zero clue about Michael Myers; I thought Halloween at the time was about ghosts, Dracula, withes, and candy. Little would I know that my world would be turned upside down come that Sunday morning.
In any event, have a safe and Happy Halloween!
Bonyscribe. (it will always be Twitter to me, Elon!)
