nearwildheaven:
Rush’s only Top 40 American single was a by now largely forgotten 1982 song called “New World Man”. “Tom Sawyer” and “The Spirit of Radio” bubbled under and peaked in the 40s.
One of my favorite songs from my teen years, Billy Thorpe’s “Children of the Sun”, peaked at #41 ; so did Styx’ “Sing For The Day”.
Hey, ***I ***remember “New World Man.” “Subdivisions” also got some AOR play in my neck of the woods.
cjepson
December 18, 2013, 10:40pm
22
In the US, the Who’s “My Generation” peaked at #74 . They didn’t manage to put a record in the US Top 40 until “Happy Jack”, which entered the charts in May 1967 and peaked at #24 . Their only Top 10 hit was “I Can See For Miles” (#9 ).
ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness:
I was in high school 1979-1983, the era most film makers will signify by putting some new wave on the soundtrack. If you asked me to pick out the one new wave song everyone one would recognize and associate with early 80s, I’d pick Modern English’s I Melt With You . It was inescapable on the radio on album rock and new wave stations. MTV must have played it 10 times a day. Played at every freaking high school dance for the entire year. Every garage band in town played a cover. In 1999, KROQ-FM did a countdown of their most requested songs in station history, and it was #1 . Eventually it showed up in a Burger King commercial. And yet, when I looked it up, I found it peaked at #78 . Modern English weren’t even a one-hit wonder.
Similarly, once I was arguing with someone that Devo weren’t one-hit wonders. I’d followed them since they were guys in Ohio sending in tapes to Dr. Demento through their more punkish phase to the Freedom of Choice/New Traditionalist era until I lost interest around 1986 or so. Jocko Homo and Mongoloid were huge on Dr. Demento. Album rock stations played Freedom of Choice, Satisfaction, Beautiful World, Girl U Want, Gates of Steel, Through Being Cool, Working in a Coal Mine . I was sure my friend was wrong. So we looked it up. Sure enough, Whip It was their only Top 40 hit (#14 ) and one of only 3 songs that cracked the top 100 - one of which I’d never heard (Theme From Dr. Detroit)
All those Devo songs were in rotation in the early days of MTV, too.
Emerson Lake and Palmer were a giant influence on Progressive Rock. “From the Beginning” is a classic rock mainstay, but only got to #39 .
“I’ve Seen All Good People” by Yes only got to #40 .
Paul Stookey’s “The Wedding Song (There is Love)” only reached #24 , but became a mainstay at weddings.
NDP
December 19, 2013, 1:04am
25
ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness:
I was in high school 1979-1983, the era most film makers will signify by putting some new wave on the soundtrack. If you asked me to pick out the one new wave song everyone one would recognize and associate with early 80s, I’d pick Modern English’s I Melt With You . It was inescapable on the radio on album rock and new wave stations. MTV must have played it 10 times a day. Played at every freaking high school dance for the entire year. Every garage band in town played a cover. In 1999, KROQ-FM did a countdown of their most requested songs in station history, and it was #1 . Eventually it showed up in a Burger King commercial. And yet, when I looked it up, I found it peaked at #78 . Modern English weren’t even a one-hit wonder.
KROQ-FM’s format was Modern Rock so it’s not surprising the song was popular on the station. However, Modern Rock made up just one part of a pop music audience that was getting increasingly Balkanized. When “I Melt With You” first came out, it got a lot of airplay on KROQ and other Modern Rock stations but very little on Top 40, (most) AOR stations, and none at all on any Country or R&B/Urban stations. Likewise, the influential Grandmaster Flash rap song “The Message” (which got to #62 on the Hot 100 chart) probably wasn’t heard that much on Modern Rock stations like KROQ.