This is mainly targeted to people who lived in the San Francisco Bay Area in the '80s, though I’d be interested in hearing from people who lived in other markets as well.
Lately, on Facebook, I’ve been posting Youtube links to songs that are considered obscure now, but were moderate to huge hits 25, 30 or 35 years ago. My goal is that hopefully people will think “I remember that song! OMG! I haven’t heard that in 20 years!” I’ve pulled my list from songs I remember getting radio airplay during the time I was first getting into music, and was excited by what I was hearing - about ages 10 to 13. Most of the stuff I’ve posted has been from the early '80s, but there have been many songs from the '70s as well - stuff that was still in heavy rotation during the first half of the '80s, but never gets played today. A few examples: “Never Been Any Reason” by Head East; “Stayed Awake All Night” by Krokus; “On The Loose” by Saga; “I Like To Rock” by April Wine; “No More Lies” by Neal Schon and Jan Hammer… that kind of stuff.
A friend of mine asked me why I haven’t included any Metallica in my list. There are two reasons - one (heh), they never really had any “obscure” songs that don’t get played today. Which leads to reason number two:
Metallica never got any radio airplay back then.
I told my friend this, and he says I’m wrong. I know I’m not wrong.
I listened to the radio a lot when I was growing up. I always had it on. I remember it well. My preferred stations were KOME, KSJO and KRQR, in that order. I need to point out that in those days, rock radio was quite different than now - I’m speaking of the old AOR format (that’s Album-Oriented Rock, for you whippersnappers), before it fragmented. There were no classic rock stations, or heavy metal stations, or adult alternative stations, or whatever. There were rock stations, and they played it all. During a typical hour you might have heard the Beatles, followed by Iron Maiden, followed by U2, followed by Led Zeppelin.
I distinctly remember discovering Metallica through word of mouth, and not from the radio. I also distinctly remember the first time I did hear them on the radio: “Eye of the Beholder,” from …And Justice For All, in 1988. That song and “One” were given some airplay, but briefly - a couple of months at most. It wasn’t until that “Black Album” came out in '91, and Metallica really exploded, that rock radio decided it was ok to play their stuff.
I have a feeling my friend’s confusion may be coming from a gimmick KSJO later did. Starting in 1996, they would play all '80s music on Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends, dubbing them “Lost '80s Weekends.” By this time, KSJO was marketing themselves as a “hard rock/metal” station; while it was cool to hear some of that '80s stuff on the radio, I always thought the whole thing was a joke, because it wasn’t at all indicative of what KSJO was truly like back in the '80s. During these “Lost '80s Weekends” they would play a bunch of stuff they wouldn’t have touched at the time (such as Metallica), and ignored a lot of the stuff they did play. But I digress… my point is, I’m guessing my friend is remembering these “Lost '80s Weekends” and not the actual decade.
Anyway, I’m curious as to how others remember all of this. And like I said, I’m interested in hearing from people in other areas as well - did Metallica get airplay back then? Though I find it hard to believe they were, if they weren’t being played in their home town.
