Successful Songs with Same Title

Casey made a big point today (in 1979) that with the rise of the Pointer Sisters' "Fire" into the top 5, that was the first time three different songs with the same title had accomplished that, following the Ohio Players and Arthur Brown.  This is distinguished from remakes of the same song, like "The Loco-Motion" which hit #1 twice plus a third top 5.  In the last 40 years, no other "Fire"'s have gone that high, but...

Using my music catalog, I found some new matches with three trips to the top 5:

"Girlfriend" (*NSync, Pebbles, Avril Lavigne)

"Hero" (Mariah Carey, Enrique Iglesias, Chad Kroeger)

"If" (Bread, Perry Como, Janet Jackson)

"Jump" (Kris Kross, Van Halen, and Pointer Sisters)

 "Power of Love (Kuther Vandross, Huey Lewis, and Celine Dion)

and one with four!

"Angel" (Aerosmith, Madonna, Shaggy, and Sarah MacLachlan)

You may have thought of "Hold On" which hit big twice in the 90's, but the many other songs with that title (including four top 40 entries from 1979-1982, all different), all fell short of even the top 10.

In October 1988, "Don't Be Cruel" made the top 10 concurrently by Cheap Trick (remaking Elvis) and Bobby Brown (new song)!

Later, both Robyn and Robin S. (confusing?) hit the top 10 in the 90's with very different "Show Me Love"'s.

The most unusual example could think of was when Tony! Toni! Toné! hit the top 40 with "It Never Rains in Southern California" which unbelievably was not a remake of the Albert Hammond classic.

Biggest Gap between #1s

This week in 1971, Casey quoted a fun chart fact...Frank Sinatra had gone 20 years between #1's, the longest of any other artist, between "Five Minutes more" from 1946 to "Strangers in the Night" in 1966, which Casey then played.

Looking back in my chart books, I found "Learning the Blues" was listed as a number one hit in 1955, but the fine print showed it was #1 on the radio chart, but not best sellers, which showed Casey relied on that in the days from before the Hot 100 combined radio, sales, and juke boxes (and later streaming)

In the years to follow, the record gap between #1s stayed the same, only matched by Aretha Franklin between "Respect" (1967) and "I Knew You Were Waiting for Me." (1987).

But, later in 1971, Casey would play "Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves" as the #1 song by Cher.  That started a chain of #1's for Cher ending with "Dark Lady" in 1974.  Little might he have known that she would not have another, even through a huge resurgence in the late 1980's, until "Believe" in 1999, extending the record to 24 1/2 years.

As for gaps between first and last #1s, "Believe" also gave Cher that record, at 28 years....or 35 if you count her work with Sonny, with "I Got You, Babe" which hit #1 back in 1964.

Mariah Carey's gunning for that record though.  From "Vision of Love" in 1990 to the now ubiquitous Christmas #1 "All I Want for Christmas is You," she's now up to 32 1/2 years from first to last, and I bet she's got a few more years left as the Queen of Christmas.

Michael Jackson's posthumous records all fell short of #1, leaving him with a 23-year span (25 including his brothers) between "Ben" (1972) and "You Are Not Alone" (1995).

  

Early Installment Weirdness

One of the TV/movie tropes on a website I like is called Early Installment Weirdness where an episode early in the run of (especially) a long-running series, just seems out of place as the characters still develop and the writers work out some things.

Applied to American Top 40, the earliest shows definitely are American Top 40 with a remarkable similarity to the shows of the 80's, but some of the features that disappeared over time:

- radio station DJs doing their own name check, rather than Casey

- predicting next weeks' #1

- playing a track off that week's #1 album

and perhaps most oddly as I heard this week, Casey encouraging young people to register to vote (!!)

Musical Coincidences

Over 10 years ago, I had my first of a series of musical coincidences.  I was in the gym at work, and when I paused my iPod on a Tom Petty song, I was surprised to hear another Tom Petty song playing on the radio in the gym.  It was a classic rock station, so hearing Petty wasn't especially unusual (at the time, I found a site where Petty had 15-20 songs on a list of Top 1000 rock songs), but my iPod is almost always on shuffle across genres...and the possible Petty songs were about 10 out of perhaps 5,000 songs then.

The next level concurrence came when "Viva la Vida" by Coldplay was on my iPod in the car when I stopped at a rest area, only to hear "Viva la Vida" playing inside the rest area.  Not quite as big a coincidence in some sense since the song was a current hit on the radio and I'd been listening to the album.  Rare for me to be current, but there it was.

The ultimate one came though when a classic song, Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" was on the iPod, among 6,000 possible songs by then, when I hit pause to hear that same song coming out of the radio on SiriusXM, which happened to be on "80's on 8" of the 6 main stations I listen to!  That has not happened since and would not expect to again.

And while I've noticed many times having an appropriate song (say about running) matching my current activity, the most uncanny one happened this week.  I was on an airplane playing the 94% app on my iPad.  It's like "Family Feud" where you have to guess the top answers to a question.  I'd been stuck on one "Change of ______"  having guessed Clothes, Pace, Season,... but imagine my surprise as I correctly guessed "Heart" only to notice that at the same moment Cyndi Lauper's song "Change of Heart" was playing in my ear!!!

Cue the Twilight Zone music...

Longest #1 song titles

"American Pie" was the longest #1 hit single for a long time, but its title was of normal length.  On this week's top 40 replay from 1972, Casey was asked who had the longest song title to hit #1.  At that point, it was Brian Hyland from 1960 with "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini." (41 letters) After Casey answered the question, he resumed the countdown with B.J. Thomas'' "Rock and Roll Lullaby"

But what Casey didn't know is that the record for longest #1 song title would be broken by...B.J. Thomas! In 1975, Thomas made it to the top with "Hey, Won't You Play Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" (49!)

The current record holder is a medley, known in 1981 as "Medley" or colloquially "The Beatles Medley" by Stars on 45, a studio cover band.  The full official title on the label of the single and listed in Billboard was a mouthful:  "Medley: Intro 'Venus' / Sugar Sugar / No Reply / I'll Be Back / Drive My Car / Do You Want to Know a Secret / We Can Work It Out / I Should Have Known Better / Nowhere Man / You're Going to Lose That Girl / Stars on 45."

Among non-medleys, no one has yet to beat Thomas.

December 1972 -- some new songs for me

Late 1972 this week on the random AT40 replay on Thursdays, and a good one for me.  I especially enjoy countdowns with songs I don't recall hearing before.  This week had a couple by artists I have complilations for:

1. Dennis Yost and Classics IV, whose "Spooky" and "Stormy" were on a mini-disc I bought that fit nicely in the smaller notch in the tray where you'd put a CD (which you perhaps had not noticed).  I only owned a couple of those, and for the Classics IV with only 4 top 40 hits, that was perfect!  What Casey didn't know is that they would not chart again after "What am I Crying For."

2.  The Bee Gees:  they would chart, but after "Alive" which I'd never heard, they went on a multi-year drought before "Jive Talkin'" in 1975 began one of the great streaks in pop music... the first of 8 #1's in 4 years.

1 2 I AM WOMAN –•– Helen Reddy (Capitol)-16 (1 week at #1) (1)
2 1 PAPA WAS A ROLLIN’ STONE –•– The Temptations (Gordy)-9 (1)
3 5 IF YOU DON’T KNOW ME BY NOW –•– Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes (Philadelphia International)-11 (3)
4 3 I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW –•– Johnny Nash (Epic)-14 (1)
5 7 YOU OUGHT TO BE WITH ME –•– Al Green (Hi)-8 (5)
6 13 ME AND MRS. JONES –•– Billy Paul (Philadelphia International)-6 (6)
7 8 IT NEVER RAINS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA –•– Albert Hammond (Mums)-8 (7)
8 10 VENTURA HIGHWAY –•– America (Warner Brothers)-8 (8)
9 12 CLAIR –•– Gilbert O’Sullivan (MAM)-7 (9)
10 11 I’M STONE IN LOVE WITH YOU –•– The Stylistics (Avco)-9 (10)
11 6 SUMMER BREEZE –•– Seals and Crofts (Warner Brothers)-14 (6)

12 20 FUNNY FACE –•– Donna Fargo (Dot)-11 (12)
13 16 SOMETHING’S WRONG WITH ME –•– Austin Roberts (Chelsea)-9 (13)
14 15 CRAZY HORSES –•– The Osmonds (MGM)-8 (14)
15 19 ROCKIN’ PNEUMONIA – BOOGIE WOOGIE FLU –•– Johnny Rivers (United Artists)-10 (15)
16 4 I’D LOVE YOU TO WANT ME –•– Lobo (Big Tree)-12 (2)
17 18 OPERATOR (That’s Not the Way It Feels) –•– Jim Croce (ABC)-9 (17)
18 9 I’LL BE AROUND / HOW COULD I LET YOU GET AWAY –•– The Spinners (Atlantic)-17 (3)
19 22 CORNER OF THE SKY –•– Jackson 5 (Motown)-7 (19)
20 24 SWEET SURRENDER –•– Bread (Elektra)-5 (20)
21 14 IF I COULD REACH YOU –•– The 5th Dimension (Bell)-14 (10)
22 31 SUPERFLY –•– Curtis Mayfield (Curtom)-4 (22)
23 27 WALK ON WATER –•– Neil Diamond (Uni)-5 (23)
24 26 DIALOGUE (Parts 1 and 2) –•– Chicago (Columbia)-7 (24)
25 32 KEEPER OF THE CASTLE –•– The Four Tops (Dunhill)-5 (25)
26 30 LIVING IN THE PAST –•– Jethro Tull (Chrysalis)-6 (26)
27 35 SITTING –•– Cat Stevens (A&M)-4 (27)
28 21 CONVENTION ’72 –•– The Delegates (Mainstream)-8 (8)
29 34 YOUR MAMA DON’T DANCE –•– Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina (Columbia)-5 (29)
30 33 LONG DARK ROAD –•– The Hollies (Epic)-6 (30)
31 29 ROCK ‘N ROLL SOUL –•– Grand Funk Railroad (Capitol)-12 (29)
32 43 SUPERSTITION –•– Stevie Wonder (Tamla)-4 (32)
33 47 PIECES OF APRIL –•– Three Dog Night (Dunhill)-4 (33)
34 36 SUNNY DAYS –•– Lighthouse (Evolution)-10 (34)
35 37 ALIVE –•– The Bee Gees (Atco)-4 (35)
36 38 I DIDN’T KNOW I LOVED YOU (‘Till I Saw You Rock and Roll) –•– Gary Glitter (Bell)-6 (36)
37 45 I WANNA BE WITH YOU –•– The Raspberries (Capitol)-3 (37)
38 39 THEME FROM “THE MEN” –•– Isaac Hayes (Enterprise)-8 (38)
39 41 WHAT AM I CRYING FOR –•– Dennis Yost and the Classics IV (MGM South)-8 (39)
40 50 BEEN TO CANAAN –•– Carole King (Ode)-3 (40)

April 1976 -- O What a Night

 In 1976 today, and it was a particularly good week for things Casey didn't know.

At #39, Hall and Oates made a modest debut with their first hit, and Casey couldn't have known how after a respectable string of hits for the next 5 years, they would explode into the biggest act of the early 80's.  In fact, they're in the top 5 of any list I've seen of 80's artists, but they're often forgotten often in comparison to the flashier MTV icons.  But to be fair, their greatest hits is in the top 200 here in 2023...

At #33, Casey remarked how it was 4 in a row for Freddy Fender, all #1 country hits...except in this case, it was his last #1 country and pop top 40.

He wished Carole King "Happy Anniversary" for 5 years on the album charts with "Tapestry" -- it would hang out for the rest of 1976, ending the streak with over 300 weeks, which at the time put in in 4th place among solo artists.  What Casey didn't know was that once the album charts moved to electronic counting, rather than sales reports...and further decided to not shunt off older albums arbitrarily, 300 weeks is now far from unusual.  This week's top 100 here in 2023 has _19_ albums with over 300 weeks, led by Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" which is closing in on 1,000 weeks.  The highest with at least 300 weeks is Taylor Swift's "1989" way up at #22.

At #27, Elvin Bishop debuted with "his" first hit, "Fooled Around And Fell in Love" -- Casey clearly wouldn't know that it would be prominently featured in a quirky Marvel blockbuster, "Guardians of the Galaxy" 40 years later!  Casey called Bishop a group, since Bishop didn't sing lead... he'd have been surprised to know that the uncredited lead vocalist Mickey Thomas would 3 years later begin to lead (Jefferson) "We Built This City" Starship through the 80's.

At #22, the Miracles were easing down the chart with their recent #1, "Love Machine"....and they were to never hit the top 100 again, much less the top 40, though their former lead singer Smokey Robinson had a good run through the 80's.  Early 70's icons the Carpenters and John Denver were on the chart, but wouldn't go top 10 again.

The Four Seasons were enjoying a resurgence in the mid-70's, but it was the "Jersey Boys" that turned them into a 1990's phenomenon, with "December 1963" adding a second 27-week chart run in 1994/5.  It was recently among the top 10 hits in a Sirius SX user survey of 70's songs, which I don't believe would've been true had the survey been done in, say, 1990.

Casey commended the Eagles for being at #1 with their greatest hits the past 4 weeks.  Would he guess it would go on to sell 29 million copies, being the biggest selling album of all time at one point?  And yes, it also happens to be on this week's Top 200 chart in 2023, sharing space with its rival "Thriller" by Michael Jackson in the bottom half.

1 5 DISCO LADY –•– Johnnie Taylor (Columbia)-9 (1 week at #1) (1)
2 2 DREAM WEAVER –•– Gary Wright (Warner Brothers)-14 (2)
3 3 LONELY NIGHT (Angel Face) –•– The Captain and Tennille (A&M)-11 (3)
4 8 LET YOUR LOVE FLOW –•– The Bellamy Brothers (Warner Brothers / Curb)-10 (4)
5 6 SWEET THING –•– Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan (ABC)-14 (5)
6 9 RIGHT BACK WHERE WE STARTED FROM –•– Maxine Nightingale (United Artists)-8 (6)
7 7 DREAM ON –•– Aerosmith (Columbia)-22 (7)
8 1 DECEMBER, 1963 (Oh, What a Night) –•– The Four Seasons (Warner Brothers / Curb)-15 (1)
9 10 MONEY HONEY –•– The Bay City Rollers (Arista)-9 (9)
10 11 GOLDEN YEARS –•– David Bowie (RCA)-17 (10)

11 13 ONLY SIXTEEN –•– Dr. Hook (Capitol)-14 (11)
12 15 SWEET LOVE –•– The Commodores (Motown)-15 (12)
13 18 SHOW ME THE WAY –•– Peter Frampton (A&M)-7 (13)
14 14 DEEP PURPLE –•– Donny and Marie Osmond (MGM)-17 (14)
15 17 BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY –•– Queen (Elektra)-14 (15)
16 25 BOOGIE FEVER –•– The Sylvers (Capitol)-8 (16)
17 24 THERE’S A KIND OF HUSH (All Over the World) –•– The Carpenters (A&M)-6 (17)
18 19 TANGERINE –•– The Salsoul Orchestra (Salsoul)-11 (18)
19 4 ALL BY MYSELF –•– Eric Carmen (Arista)-16 (2)
20 16 TAKE IT TO THE LIMIT –•– Eagles (Asylum)-16 (4)

21 23 ACTION –•– Sweet (Capitol)-8 (21)
22 21 LOVE MACHINE (Part 1) –•– The Miracles (Tamla)-24 (1)
23 12 FANNY (Be Tender With My love) –•– Bee Gees (RSO)-15 (12)
24 20 JUNK FOOD JUNKIE –•– Larry Groce (Warner Brothers / Curb)-13 (9)
25 26 GOOD HEARTED WOMAN –•– Waylon and Willie (RCA)-9 (25)
26 36 I DO, I DO, I DO, I DO, I DO –•– Abba (Atlantic)-8 (26)
27 41 FOOLED AROUND AND FELL IN LOVE –•– Elvin Bishop (Capricorn)-5 (27)
28 30 ONLY LOVE IS REAL –•– Carole King (Ode)-8 (28)
29 34 LOOKING FOR SPACE –•– John Denver (RCA)-5 (29)
30 33 LOVE FIRE –•– Jigsaw (Chelsea)-9 (30)

31 37 LIVIN’ FOR THE WEEKEND –•– The O’Jays (Philadelphia International)-5 (31)
32 27 LOVE HURTS –•– Nazareth (A&M)-20 (8)
33 35 YOU’LL LOSE A GOOD THING –•– Freddy Fender (ABC / Dot)-8 (33)
34 50 SHANNON –•– Henry Gross (Lifesong)-6 (34)
35 39 LORELEI –•– Styx (A&M)-8 (35)
36 38 HE’S A FRIEND –•– Eddie Kendricks (Tamla)-8 (36)
37 40 FOPP –•– The Ohio Players (Mercury)-7 (37)
38 42 WE CAN’T HIDE IT ANYMORE –•– Larry Santos (Casablanca)-8 (38)
39 43 SARA SMILE –•– Daryl Hall and John Oates (RCA)-10 (39)
40 44 HIT THE ROAD JACK –•– The Stampeders (Quality)-6 (40)