Comments on: Top 5: An Innocent Man

By: Is It Possible To Put A Hit On Some Fish? « Barely Awake In Frog Pajamas

Is It Possible To Put A Hit On Some Fish? « Barely Awake In Frog Pajamas — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:07:47 +0000

[...] assassins, I was inspired by JB at The Hits Just Keep On Comin’ who recently lamented that “1983 was not one of pop’s grander years.” So, I followed the link he had posted to a chart from this week in 1983 to see if it lived up/down [...]

By: Shark

Shark — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 14:33:41 +0000

We seemed to be playing “Dead Giveaway” by Shalamar, “Puttin’ On The Ritz” by Taco, “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Tyler and “Human Nature” by Michael Jackson all the time back in 1983. We also played “One Thing Leads to Another” by the Fixx , “King of Pain” by the Police, and “Too Shy” by Kajagoogoo. I worked weekdays on an FM station that had just switched to a “Hot Hits” type format, playing the same songs every hour and I worked weekends on our AM station which was doing a Top 40/Adult Contemporary/Oldies full-service format. The two stations played a lot of the same current music…and I got sick of the songs in a hurry.

By: AMD

AMD — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 18:57:32 +0000

Total Eclipse Of The Heart would’ve been a huge hit regardless of who sang it. It’s the Jim Steinman arrangement and high camp drama of the production.

As for Billy Joel, An Innocent Man is a pretty good album, and the last decent thing the man ever did.

By: Ted

Ted — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 17:58:05 +0000

Radio is such a weird business at times. I’ve had some of most entertaining moments working in radio, and, alas, some of the most frustrating.

Oddly enough, I remember 1983 as a good year for music because, well, it was my senior year in high school and I was knee deep into AOR and what would become known as “modern rock.” I hated Top 40 because of songs you featured — but I did like Shalamar’s “Dancing in the Sheets” off the Footloose soundtrack. Ah, you can take the boy out of Top 40, but you can’t take the Top 40 out of the boy.

By: Willie

Willie — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 03:19:17 +0000

Honestly, “Everyday People” by Joan Jett is more of a B-side tune to me. But like the song says, “Different strokes for different folks.”

I, too, wonder how “Total Eclipse of the Heart” made it to #1 and stayed there for a month. Bonnie Tyler just ain’t all that.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:30:26 +0000

I have to agree to the Joan Jett sentiment. Seemed like a perfect pop hit for radio!

Honest story: I had the 12″ Taco song and by mistake, as I was recording from pristine vinyl to cassette, I had somehow moved the speed on the turntable, to 45 – for a single. I hadn’t noticed because I was doing something else maybe. I finished the cassette side, with Taco somewhere deep in the middle, and began playing the cassette around town to friends. I noticed my gaffe, but my crowd, who didn’t know the song to begin with, all thought that’s the way the music was recorded. And I continued to play the cassette at parties … wherever. It wasn’t until one of the crowd members – months later, heard the song on the radio and thought it sounded weird because “they play it too slow for some reason”. To this day they have it etched in their mind that the “45 speed version” is the way the track was cut. Try it sometime when you’ve nothing to do – it truely doesn’t sound garbled played at 45.