quick test! what songs are #1 RIGHT NOW!!

[fantasticsound]

Originally posted by nat whilk II Maybe my experience was non-standard, but when the Beatles and the other Brit Invasion bands were working their way on the charts along with the Beach Boys and the soul artists, we watched the charts kinda like watching a horse race - we rooted for the good stuff to move up high and stick there...

We did that too... only in the mid to late 1970's and early 1980's.

And I don't think your experience was non-standard. Quite the opposite. I think, in my era and before, that kids watched the charts very closely to see how their own favorite groups and songs fared from week to week.

A lot of people were listening to American Top 40 to make Kasey Kasem a ubiquotous, household name in the 1970's and '80's.

[songrytr]

I think the new Staind CD debuted at number one recently...last week maybe?

Top 40 was my passion beginning at 10 (around '72). I would sit by the portable AM/FM/Cassette, listening to AT40 ("keep your feet on the ground...") and recording my faves onto cassette (pioneer downloader?).

By '78 there was a big buzz about this little station in Pasadena. My buds and I started listening to a guy named Rodney and all of a sudden all of our favorite music came from the UK and really wasn't played much anywhere else.

That was about the time I left the Top 40 behind...but it wasn't too long before that little station (Roq of the '80s, anyone?) was the "go to" for the rest of the country for the hits.

[Lee Flier]

Originally posted by nat whilk II It's such a typical scenario - most folks fall in love with the music they listened to when they were first falling in love, and that becomes their life-long benchmark for "the good old stuff" and they start to gripe about all the crap that passes for music these days, etc etc etc rewind play tape again. Personally, I think that's okay for people who only listen to music casually - but for me, I'm constantly combing the woods for new stuff to like, regardless of when it came out.

 

 

Me too, but hardly any of the new stuff I like is on the charts. I don't think losing interest in the charts is indicative that you've lost interest in new music or think all of today's music is crap. It might simply mean you've found other ways to be exposed to new music, especially in today's climate with satellite and Internet radio, etc., and you might prefer that to what's selling the most.

[Beck]

I

[BOOKUMDANO]

............I

[Ziggs65]

Dont care anymore. the charts are overrun with Pop idol winners and rejects on million pound contracts, whilst the record companies rake in the tens of millions. Exploitation at its worst and means that bands with real talent have to work twice as hard to get heard.
The one redeeming feature of the lack of substance to the charts is the following:
In 1884, a number one record would sell a million units.
in 2004, a number one would be lucky to sell 200,000. (UK)
Thank {censored} people have realised they are getting ripped off.
The album charts are a better indication, but better still is to bypass the mainstream altogether.

[rebonn]

A perfect example of the downward crappy direction of music.
Perhaps going from good singing, arrangements, melodies, and hooks, to reciting a poem to a drum machine where non musicians and just about anyone can be involved in music thus changing the defination of the word "music" might have something to do with not many people knowing or even caring what's on the top 40.

Originally posted by nat whilk II here's a 1966 annual top 40 from some radio station back then... 1. MONDAY MONDAY 2. These Boots Are Made For Walking 3. Cherish 4. Strangers In The Night 5. Ballad Of The Green Berets 6. Last Train To Clarksville 7. Groovy Kind Of Love 8. (You're My) Soul & Inspiration 9. Little Red Riding Hood 10. You Can't Hurry Love 11. Wild Thing 12. Kicks 13. California Dreamin' 14. Good Lovin' 15. Reach Out, I'll Be There 16. Good Vibrations 17. Hanky Panky 18. Lightning Strikes 19. 96 Tears 20. See You In September 21. We Can Work It Out 22. My Love 23. You Don't Have To Say You Love Me 24. When A Man Loves A Woman 25. Sunny 26. Pied Piper 27. Sumer In The City 28. Sunshine Superman 29. Winchester Cathedral 30. Daydream 31. Eleanor Rigby 32. Secret Agent Man 33. 19th Nervous Breakdown 34. Red Rubber Ball 35. Paint It Black 36. Walk Away Renee 37. Cool Jerk 38. Michelle 39. Sounds Of Silence 40. What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted nat whilk ii

 

[Lee Knight]

But don't forget... the "charts" are everywhere now. Not just Billboard's Top 40 but...

VH1's Top 10 Countdown
MTV's Sexiest Videos
Worst Dressed on the Red Carpet
Biggest Breasts on a Americal Idol Contestant

ad naseum...