There are some songs from the late '70s that I’d like to track down the exact dates when they were released (in the U.S.).
This site (Mindbenders) lists the exact dates when songs entered the charts which I assume is not the same as the release date. For most '60s songs Mindbenders gives a date which is later than their first appearance in the WABC survey.
FWIW I was also able to find a release date for a 1996 single at Borders which predates the Mindbenders date by over 2 weeks (you have to scroll down to 1996 on that last link to see the entry).
What I was wondering is how to obtain info on the original US release dates of popular singles from the late '70s, and preferably also information on which ones were album cuts (and when they were first played on the radio) before the single was released.
I was browsing through some older threads and came across your question.
My suggestion is to check out All Music Guide. It is the motherlode of all things music. It includes release dates for some singles, but not all. It appears that their information only goes back to about 1989 or so.
The best way to find the release date of a single is to first search for the artist. On the artist info page, scroll down to the discography section for singles and eps. You may have to click the link to display all the listed singles. When you click the link for a single, its info page includes the release date.
For example, I did an artist search for Collective Soul. I then clicked the link for the single “Shine”. The release date for that record was May 5, 1994.
Thank you. I already knew about AMG but never thought to check it for the '80s or '90s.
Maybe if I had a rough idea of how many days/weeks a typical '70s song would be on the radio before entering the charts it would be possible to guess the release dates.
I already knew about AMG but never thought to check it for the '80s or '90s.