As we move into the last few Bottom of the Top posts, where I consider the songs which were at #40 on the Billboard charts during this week in various years, I have decided that one year was enough, and I will not be continuing these posts into 2023. It was fun, and a BIG nostalgia trip, but it isn’t the kind of project I want to continue indefinitely. I will still offer up occasional music posts, but they will be more centered around a single song, or artist, or topic, or memory.

1977: The Steve Miller Band, “Swingtown”

Oh yeah, this song. I probably heard it when it first came out, and on the radio first on contemporary, and then (and now) classical stations. That opening guitar riff. The opening “ooOOOOOOOOOOOooooOOoooo” hits me right in the nostalgias and I don’t recall a time when “Swingtown” was not part of my life. My strongest association is riding the bus, which means it was still on heavy rotation in the years that followed, as in 1977 I was a walk-three-blocks-to-school latchkey kid in our little town of Parma.

1982: Pat Benetar, “Shadows of the Night”

“Shadows of the Night” received a lot of radio play, and I heard it a lot while milking cows, Sunday mornings and afternoons. Also probably on the bus on the way to and from eights grade. However, being thirteen at the time, I was probably so wrapped up in hormone-fed angst that I didn’t pay a lot of attention. Plus at the time, for comfort, I spent a lot of time listening to the local country station and its rotation of about thirty songs.

1987: Michael Bolton, “That’s What Love Is All About”

I never really got into Michael Bolton. I acknowledge his talent, but there is something about his voice and general vibe, at least when it comes to easy-listening music, which grates on my nerves. Or maybe I just associate him with unsuccessful attempts at romance in my late teens. Yeah, that’s probably it.

1992: Bad Company, “How About That”

I first saw this video when putting together this post. I say that with confidence because I certainly would have remembered the dude in the armor. I have no specific memory of “How About That” but I probably heard it somewhere. I get some definite “If You Needed Somebody” vibes, but that’s probably just because Bad Company has such a distinct sound.

1997: H-Town, “They Like It Slow”

I’ve never heard “They Like It Slow” before but, well, I like it, and the video is a lot of fun.

Late October means football games, cider, picking apples, sleet, Halloween, and angst. Sometimes all in the same day.

1977: The Carpenters, “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft”

This is just a weird song, which I don’t think I have heard before. I had not heard it until putting together this post and, having heard it, I don’t like it.

1982: The Pointer Sisters, “I’m So Excited”

“I’m So Excited” was all over the radio in the early eighties, and it was strange to listen to it while down in the pit in the milking parlor, trying to coax milkers onto cows which had never been milked before, getting kicked and covered in manure as fun, happy songs like this one taunted us from our crappy little radio.

1987: Yes, “Love Will Find a Way”

I remember exactly when I first heard this song – fall semester of 1988, a year after Big Generator was released, and I picked up the cassette tape version at the urging of a young woman upon whom I was sweet at the time, several weeks into my sophomore year at GVSU. I like it, and I like Big Generator, though the previous studio album 90125 caused such a huge splash in my life that most other Yes songs kind of get drowned out.

1992: Technotronic Featuring Ya Kid K, “Move This”

I think I heard this one back in its day, but anything from the Pump Up the Jam album is almost completely drowned out in my memory by, well, “Pump Up the Jam.”

1997: Missy Elliott featuring Da Brat, “Sock It 2 Me”

I am pretty sure I have not heard “Sock It 2 Me” before now, and I certainly would have remembered the video, had I seen it before. It’s just weird and wonderful, and considering it came out in 1997, feels a little ahead of its time, in a nostalgic retro-futurism sort of way. Come to think of it, I wonder if Missy Elliott and company were the occupants of the interplanetary craft who The Carpenters were trying to contact back in 1977..?

Moving past mid- and into late October, the next big concern is, of course, Halloween. Unfortunately I don’t remember what I did for Halloween on any of the following dates. Probably Spider-Man or Batman in 1977, but after that? No idea.

1977: Fleetwood Mac, “You Make Loving Fun”

“You Make Loving Fun” is, for me, the Fleetwood Mac song, and though it was many years before I knew to listen to music closely enough to suss out the lyrics, the bits I could pick out, about “magic” and “miracles” made this one stick in my head even at a young age. Later on it stuck in my head for other reasons. I don’t have any specific memory of the first time I head this one, nor do I associate it with any particular memories, other than that of being young and optimistic.

1982: Linda Ronstadt, “Get Closer”

I don’t know if I heard this song first as itself or as the jingle for Close Up toothpaste. As a 13-year-old stuck on a farm in the middle of nowhere (or so it felt at the time), I was a TV addict and so certainly heard this one, eventually, in addition to 15-second snippets in between episodes of whatever was on in the fall of 1982. Interesting that Ronstadt’s “Blue Bayou” was in a post a month ago, in the 1977 slot. Things do tend to come back around.

1987: Jody Watley, “Don’t You Want Me?”

“Don’t You Want Me” has that mid-1980s song. I don’t remember hearing it before but it could simply have been lost in the crowd of other poppy dance songs, and of course overshadowed by her huge hit “Lookin’ for a New Love.” I associate her voice and general sound with, well, college. And MTV. And simultaneously freezing and roasting in the marching band as a second-trombone freshman.

1992: Trey Lorenz, “Someone to Hold”

Hard to say if I had ever heard this one. 1992 was such a strange year for me when it came to pop culture. I was working my ass off in several capstone classes, learning a new language, getting into the martial arts classes, working long late hours at Jose Babusha’s and generally didn’t have time to do anything fun or relax and enjoy songs like this one, pleasant as it is.

1997: LeAnn Rimes, “You Light Up My Life”

I don’t know if I have ever heard Rimes’ version of “You Light Up My Life,” because the Debbie Boone version was ubiquitous throughout my life. Rimes’ version is good, but Boone’s is baked into my DNA.

No matter what year contains it, October always seems to move quickly as the days grow noticeably shorter and the weather transitions from warm to cold, and the trees change colors from the unity of green through the wondrous variety of autumn to the unity of brown at the end of the season.

1977: Rose Royce, “Do Your Dance (Part 1)”

“Do Your Dance” is way too cool for me to have heard it when it was first released, or indeed at any time where I was living in rural southern Michigan. That said, there is something about the song, particularly the double-clap in the intro, which brings up a faint memory of shag carpet and cigarette smoke, so I probably heard it at my cool aunt’s house, or maybe while visiting friends whose sense of musical adventure went far beyond e.g. James Taylor.

1982: Diana Ross, “Muscles”

I don’t think I have heard this song before putting together this post. It is cool and smooth and Diana Ross performs it beautifully.

1987: Squeeze, “Hourglass”

I LOVE this song, and I am sad to say that I don’t think I had heard “Hourglass” before putting together this post. It is joyful and bouncy and wow, what a great video. I am familiar with Squeeze, mostly due to their more well-known songs “Black Coffee in Bed” and “Cool for Cats.” Then again, there is something familiar about “Hourglass,” so maybe I caught it in passing on MTV. Again, this would have been during my first semester at Grand Valley State University, which was for me a sustained state of sensory overload.

1992: Billy Ray Cyrus, “Achy Breaky Heart”

I had to listen to this song over and Over and OVER while working at Jose Babushka’s on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. I hate it with the fire of a thousand suns.

1997: Mack 10, “Backyard Boogie”

This is a repeat from earlier in the year, so enjoy another listen!

At the start of Autumn, music transcends the boundaries of the senses and the right tune at the right time can taste like apple cider and smell like corn stalks and hay bales. And also the smell of brass instruments and dew on cold autumn mornings as we practiced our marching band routines.

1977: Linda Ronstadt, “Blue Bayou”

Oh my god, this song in her voice. I certainly heard it when it was first released, and regularly for many years thereafter. I probably haven’t heard it for at least a decade, and when I pulled it up in the process of writing this post, I was suddenly, immediately, in my aunt’s house on a small lake in West Michigan, hanging out with Dad and my brother, noodling around in a canoe and catching bluegills. I don’t think I will ever not love “Blue Bayou.”

1982: Willie Nelson, “Let It Be Me”

This is the third week in a row(!) that this song was #40 on the charts.

1987: Bruce Springsteen, “Brilliant Disguise”

Getting a handle on being away from home for an extended period for the first time in my life, trying to sort out who I actually was, and who I could be, as an adult in college and well away from the unpleasantness of the hometown. “Brilliant Disguise” played often on MTV and on the stereos around campus. It’s a good one and I am happy to have been reminded that it exists.

1992: Babyface Featuring Toni Braxton, “Give U My Heart”

This is a repeat from a few weeks back, so please enjoy this live version of “Give U My Heart!”

1997: Coolio featuring 40 Thevz, “C U When U Get There”

I think I heard this one, once upon a time. It would have to have been on MTV and possibly lightly sampled on commercials for Nothing to Lose. I’ve always liked Coolio, and this song is most excellent.

[2022.09.29 UPDATE: Artis Leon Ivey, known to his fans as Coolio, died Wednesday, September 28, in Los Angeles. Rest in power, Mr. Ivey.]

 

1977: Brick, “Dusic”

I’m pretty sure the first time I heard “Dusic” was while compiling this post. It’s, well, funky! And O, that sax. And O, that flute!

1982: Willie Nelson, “Let It Be Me”

This is a repeat from last week, so here is Willie singing “Let It Be Me” with Cheryl Crow.

1987: Go West, “Don’t Look Down – The Sequel”

1992: The Cure, “Friday I’m In Love”

I listened to “Friday I’m in Love” on heavy repeat during a 10-day road trip to Denver and environs in May of 1992, between my fifth and sixth years at GVSU. “Friday I’m in Love” will forever be associated with college.

1997: Mack 10, “Backyard Boogie”