I’ve had some false starts on these things before, but why not try again?
“Please Don’t Go,” KC
& The Sunshine Band, #1, 1/5/80
The first #1 hit of the 1980s, this replaced Rupert Holmes’
monster “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” for a week, only to be replaced by the
same song the following week. Notable
primarily for being the band’s first ballad after a string of disco tunes. They’d had five songs hit #1 or #2 between
1975 and 1977, but for two years after that couldn’t hit the side of a barn – the
best they could do was “Boogie Shoes” and a remake of The Four Tops’ “It’s the
Same Old Song,” both of which made #35. (It
probably didn’t help that they gave away the pulsating “Dance Across the Floor”
to Jimmy “Bo” Horne, who managed to hit #38 – who knows how well these guys
might have done with it?) so they tried
a new approach. And it worked – this is
a syrupy ballad, not atypical of the disco hangover era. While KC (real name Harry Casey) charted
himself in a duet with Teri DeSario twice in 1980, this would be the last band
chart hit (although 1984’s “Give It Up,” while listed under just KC, is
actually a full KC & The Sunshine Band production).
“Move Your Boogie
Body,” The Bar-Kays, #57, 1/5/80
Seventh of nine hits for this band stretching between
stretching between 1967 (“Soul Finger”) and 1984 (“Freakshow on the Dance Floor”). Some people will know them for either of
their two biggest hits, “Soul Finger” or 1977’s “Shake Your Rump to the Funk”
(were these guys fixated on female body parts or what?), while others will hear
the name and say, “Oh, that’s the band that was in the airplane with Otis
Redding.” And they were; four of the six
original members of the band died along with Redding and his manager on
December 10, 1967, when their plane crashed into Lake Monona, Wisconsin. Trumpeter Ben Cauley survived the crash,
while bassist James Alexander was on a different plane; the two of them rebuilt
the group and carried on.
“Ladies’ Night,” Kool
& The Gang, #8, 1/12/80
This marks the second part of Kool & The Gang’s
career. Part one ran for ten albums from
1969 to 1978, in which time they rang up 13 Top 40 hits, including two top tens
in “Jungle Boogie” and “Hollywood Swinging.”
But they hadn’t had a Hot 100 hit in three years, and their 1978 album Everybody’s Dancin’ didn’t crack the top
200 on the album charts. Give the band
credit for trying something new: they
brought in a new producer, Eumir Deodato, and a new lead singer, James “J.T.”
Taylor (the “J.T.” added to avoid being mistaken for that other guy with the
same name). “Ladies’ Night” was the
first single from the album of the same name, and it sizzles; when 50 percent
of the people in the club want to dance to it, it’s going to be a hit.
“Chiquitita,” Abba,
#29, 1/12/80
Fourth chart hit for Abba off their 1979 Voulez-Vous, although this was only the
second one to make the American Top 40.
This made #1 in 13 other countries, however, possibly for reasons not
necessarily attributable to the song’s quality:
Abba donated half of the song’s royalties to the United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF – remember those orange boxes you carried with you at
Halloween years ago?). The song actually
debuted at a concert in January 1979, which was broadcast all over the
world. Abba is still donating half of their royalties to UNICEF, in case you’re
feeling charitable at the same time you’re downloading music. This is the version shown at the UNICEF concert; the late Gilda Radner introduces them.
“Savannah Nights,”
Tom Johnston, #34, 1/12/80
This chugging danceable rocker was the one and only solo hit
for the once and future lead singer of The Doobie Brothers – it’s the same guy
who sang “Listen to the Music” and “China Grove,” among others. Johnston had been on the sidelines for a
couple years after having multiple health issues (mostly stemming from stomach
ulcers), and by the time he was ready to assume a more full-time role, the band’s
sound had changed to that of his replacement, Michael McDonald. Johnston left on good terms (even during the
years when the band was officially inactive, various members would reunite for
charity events, and they have an open-door policy toward former Doobs making
guest appearances), and his first solo album was helped by riding the wave
created by their hit album Minute by
Minute. Subsequent albums didn’t
perform as well, however, but don’t fret – Johnston and Patrick Simmons revived
The Doobie Brothers as an ongoing entity in 1989, and will be touring again
this year starting in May. Further,
Johnston placed a song he wrote, “Where Are You Tonight?” on the 1987 Dirty Dancing soundtrack, which at last
report was one of the top 20 selling albums of all time worldwide, so he’s
still making a few bucks in his old age.
“Rapper’s Delight,”
Sugarhill Gang, #36, 1/12/80
The first rap song to hit any chart, and the first to gain traction
in popular culture. The origin of the
song came when Blondie, Chic, and The Clash did a concert together at New York’s
Palladium (that must have been a
blast), and rapper Fab 5 Freddy and the Sugarhill Gang members ("Big Bank
Hank" Jackson, Mike Wright, and "Master Gee" O'Brien) jumped on
the stage and started freestyling during Chic’s “Good Times.” Sugarhill Gang cut the song within weeks
(Chic’s Nile Rodgers heard an early version of the song in a club, which
resulted in a lawsuit and a shared songwriting credit; Rodgers has been
effusive in his praise of the song since), but Americans could only find a
12-inch “disco” single; a 7-inch (regular) single was never commercially
released. (I don’t there was much
airplay for the song either; its chart standing in the States was pretty much
based off sales.) #36 in the US, but #1
in Canada – go figure.
“I’d Rather Leave
While I’m in Love,” Rita Coolidge, #38, 1/12/80
Second chart hit from Coolidge’s 1979 album Satisfied (which was preceded by the
albums Anytime… Anywhere and Love Me Again – do I detect a theme
here?), this was a huge Adult Contemporary hit both in the U.S. and in Canada, and
hit the Top 40 on the Country charts in both territories as well. Melodic love song (as was the case with most
of Coolidge’s material, including her remake of Jackie Wilson’s shouter “Higher
and Higher”), written by Carole Bayer Sager and Peter Allen, who would have
better luck in 1981 with the theme song from Arthur (“Best That You Can Do”).
“You’re Gonna Get
What’s Coming,” Bonnie Raitt, #73, 1/12/80
Bonnie Raitt released nine albums for Warner Brothers
between 1971 and 1986, but only two songs hit the Billboard singles charts – this and a 1977 remake of “Runaway.” Hopes were high for its parent album, The Glow, as Raitt was coming off her
most popular album with 1977’s Sweet
Forgiveness and had just signed a new contract with Warner Brothers. But it just didn’t happen, and Raitt was
dropped by the label a few years later – her gigantic commercial success came
in the early 1990s with Capitol Records.
She’s backed here by a treasure trove of Los Angeles-based musicians –
Danny Kortchmar, Waddy Wachtel, Bill Payne, Rick Marotta, and J.D.
Souther. The song was written by Robert
Palmer, and appeared on his 1978 album Double
Fun.
“Make Believe It’s
Your First Time,” Bobby Vinton, #78, 1/12/80
Yecch blech ptui. Oh,
sorry – Vinton’s 44th and final chart hit from his album Encore.
No matter what I think of his music, you’ve got to give him credit for
his longevity – he started in 1962 with “Roses Are Red (My Love),” and kept
hitting even after the British Invasion and well into the 1970s (including in
1975 with “My Melody of Love,” partially sung in Polish). He’s due to perform a few concerts later this
year at the age of 80.
“Let Me Sleep Alone,”
Cugini, #88, 1/12/80
It looks like Scotti
Brothers (an independent label distributed by Atlantic Records at the time)
wanted to break Don Cugini as a solo artist – he’d co-written two songs for
Leif Garrett’s 1979 album Same Goes for
You, including the title track.
(This was back when working with Leif Garrett was a positive.) But this song didn’t chart particularly well,
and no album was issued, so except for a cowrite on the soundtrack to the 1987
movie He’s My Girl, that was pretty
much it for Cugini. Long out of print,
obviously, and YouTube is making it impossible for me to embed the one video for the song properly, so here's the link: https://youtu.be/I8jh4VG8piw
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