May 22, 1982

As I opt to periodically do – when I have no other viable or unviable ideas – it’s time to pull up an old Billboard magazine Hot 100 chart and note the songs that debuted that week.

I nicked the concept from Chris at 70′s Music Mayhem who uses the format with far greater attention to detail as he works his way through the ’70s.

The first few years of the ’80s was when pop radio provided much of the music for me and Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 was appointment listening. Thirty years ago, twelve songs debuted on the Hot 100…

Leslie Pearl – If The Love Fits Wear It
from Words And Music (1982)
(debuted #90, peaked #28, 16 weeks on chart)

I know nothing about Leslie Pearl.

If I didn’t know If The Love Fits Wear It, I might believe Leslie Pearl was the name of a character pitched as a “female James Bond” for some proposed movie that never materialized.

But I do know If The Love Fits Wear It. I’d hear it on occasion as its soft rock style was well suited to the sound favored on our hometown radio station before it went full-frontal country a few years later.

It wasn’t much my cup of tea as a fourteen-year old guy in 1982, but now I find it a pleasant if undistinctive momento from the time.

Eye To Eye – Nice Girls
from Eye To Eye (1982)
(debuted #89, peaked #37, 13 weeks on chart)

I was surprised to find that Nice Girls only got to #37, as it was all over the radio stations I was listening to during the summer of ’82.

It’s not surprising that the debut album by the duo of American singer Deborah Berg and British pianist Julian Marshall would find success, though, as it boasted an impressive array of noted session players like Abe Laboriel, Jeff Porcaro, and Jim Keltner as well as guest appearances by Donald Fagen and Rick Derringer.

Tying it all together was producer Gary Katz, who had a lengthy resume working with Steely Dan and, though it lacks the lyrical bite of Becker and Fagen, Nice Girls is similarly sophisticated pop.

(Paloma loved the song when I played it for her but didn’t recall hearing it in the ’80s)

Kim Wilde – Kids In America
from Kids In America (1982)
(debuted #88, peaked #25, 18 weeks on chart)

We didn’t know much about Kim Wilde when she arrived with the New Wave bubblegum of her song Kids In America. She was a comely blonde and I imagine that’s all we needed to know.

But we did love the song.

It bounded along.

It had a chanted chorus.

It was about kids in America and we happened to be kids in America.

The J. Geils Band – Angel In Blue
from Freeze Frame (1981)
(debuted #87, peaked #40, 11 weeks on chart)

The R&B-laced blues-rock of the J. Geils Band earned them comparisons to the Rolling Stones and throughout the ’70s the Boston band was a popular live act with the occasional hit song.

In late ’81, the group released Freeze Frame and scored major pop radio success with Centerfold – one of the biggest songs of the year – and the title track.

The third track pulled from Freeze Frame was the mid-tempo ballad Angel In Blue which found its inspiration in doo-wop. Though the song failed to equal the success of the prevous two singles, the lovely, melancholic song retained the band’s soulful vibe and blue-collar grit as it told the tale of a world-weary cocktail waitress.

(for some reason, I’ve long mentally linked the unnamed waitress in Angel In Blue to Brandy in the hit by Looking Glass)

The Greg Kihn Band – Happy Man
from Kihntinued (1982)
(debuted #86, peaked #62, 7 weeks on chart)

Two of my friends were rabid fans of the work of power pop heros Greg Kihn Band even in 1982. I knew the band – as most people probably did – for the insanely hooky The Breakup Song (They Don’t Write ‘Em) from a year earlier.

I don’t recall ever hearing Happy Man, but it’s certainly in the same vein as The Breakup Song and far more appealing to me than the shuffling dance-rock of Jeopardy, which would be a mammoth hit for the band the following spring.

The Gap Band – Early In The Morning
from Gap Band IV (1982)
(debuted #83, peaked #24, 14 weeks on chart)

There was essentially one R&B station in our listening area and it rarely caught my ear when I’d surf the channels. The pop stations I was listening to would play the hits, but I don’t remember hearing the funky cool and percussive Early In The Morning much at the time.

(which is too bad)

Jon And Vangelis – I’ll Find My Way Home
from The Friends Of Mr. Cairo (1981)
(debuted #81, peaked #51, 8 weeks on chart)

Jon And Vangelis is a duo, so they have that in common with Hall & Oates.

However, this duo is comprised of the lead singer for Yes and the man best-known for the theme from Chariots Of Fire and, unlike the singles of Hall & Oates, I’ll Find My Way Home is utterly devoid of a hook.

(though it is jam-packed with New Age sentiments)

Melissa Manchester – You Should Hear How She Talks About You
from Hey Ricky (1982)
(debuted #76, peaked #5, 25 weeks on chart)

Melissa Manchester was also an act which I associated with the hometown radio station. Her mellow hits like Midnight Blue and Don’t Cry Out Loud were staples I’d hear a breakfast as a kid.

You Should Hear How She Talks About You sounded nothing like those melodramatic ballads. It was upbeat, synthesized dance-pop and it seemed like Manchester was on Solid Gold every other week that summer performing the song.

Van Halen – Dancing In The Street
from Diver Down (1982)
(debuted #74, peaked #38, 11 weeks on chart)

Van Halen’s Diver Down was the first of the band’s albums to be released after my interest in music had become more than passive. So thirty years ago, I was far better acquainted with the band for their recent cover of Roy Orbison’s (Oh) Pretty Woman from earlier that spring than stuff from their classic catalog.

And I have no doubt that I had yet to be introduced to Martha & The Vandellas when I heard Van Halen’s version of Dancing In The Street.

I still love their remaking the Motown classic as a hard rock anthem complete with gurgling keyboards, Eddie’s guitar heroics, and David Lee Roth’s vocal howl.

(a position that is likely considered blasphemy to many)

Neil Diamond – Be Mine Tonight
from On The Way To The Sky (1981)
(debuted #73, peaked #35, 11 weeks on chart)

I vividly recall hearing a lot of Neil Diamond’s hits from the ’70s from the vantage point of the backseat of the car as songs like Cracklin’ Rosie, Song Sung Blue, and You Don’t Bring Me Flowers streamed from the soft rock stations my parents seemed to favor.

By 1982, I had (mostly) wrested control of the radio from the parents and I would have been far more intent upon finding Kids In America somewhere on the dial than Be Mine Tonight.

Journey – Still They Ride
from Escape (1981)
(debuted #72, peaked #19, 14 weeks on chart)

Of course I loved Journey in the ’80s. I was in junior high and high school when Escape and Frontiers were multi-million selling albums and allegiance to the band was hardly uncommon.

Like J. Geils Band, as summer arrived in 1982, Journey was still having hits from an album released before Thanksgiving break. Still They Ride – which I’d already been hearing for months – was the latest hit from the monstrously successful Escape,

Though I dug Journey and had worn out a cassette of Escape, I wasn’t too enamored with Still They Ride and often skipped it. Three decades later, I have considerably more affection for the wistful song that builds to a rather dramatic crescendo.

Alabama – Take Me Down
from Take Me Down (1982)
(debuted #69, peaked #18, 13 weeks on chart)

During the first couple years of the ’80s, our hometown radio began to shift from Top 40 to light rock to, eventually, whatever was passing for country at the time. Alabama managed to fit into all three formats and, thus, I was used to hearing Feels So Right, Love In The First Degree, and the laid-back, slightly twangy Take Me Down on the kitchen radio.

(not that I was particularly happy about it)

After Five Weeks And Innumerable Hours Rifling Through Bins Of Vinyl…

It’s been five weeks since Paloma and I began buying up vinyl. At the outset, we didn’t even have a turntable, but that situation has been remedied and we have bought over 500 albums. It’s been educational.

I, now, realize that finding a copy of Eye To Eye’s debut wasn’t the rare event which I thought it was on one of our early ventures. It’s understandable now, as beyond the one song I knew – the sophisticated, breezy Nice Girls – the album isn’t particularly memorable.

There also seems to be an extraordinary amount of Dan Fogelberg in the bins. I know his hits; most of which I found to be pleasant and a couple I thought to be very good. A lot of folks whose blogs I read seem to be quite enthusiastic about his earlier work, so I probably should take advantage of their availability.

There’ve been surprises and the triumph of finding something special amidst the innumerable copies of Christopher Cross’ debut (it sold five million albums and I’m beginning to think everyone has sold them). I snagged a Dutch import of Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside on silver vinyl for less than the cost of two gallons of gas.

Paloma found an album with a photograph she had taken on the back.

We’ve managed to accumulate an interesting collection thus far and we’re making fewer finds of things that we need to purchase. We’re being a bit more selective.

Our most recent outing added about thirty more albums to the brood. The one that makes me most psyched is a copy of Stevie Wonder’s Original Musiquarium I. The music is amazing (and water is, of course, wet), but it’s the artwork – colorful fish on a dark, soothing background – that has me momentarily mesmerized. It’s like seeing something in high-definition after having known it most of my life with a cover the size of a CD case.

This vinyl thing has gone well. Now we merely need to somehow become independently wealthy so we can sit around with the time to listen to what must be three-hundred fifty sixty hours of music.

Eye To Eye – Nice Girls
Produced by Gary Katz of Steely Dan fame, Nice Girls from the self-titled debut by the duo Eye To Eye was all over the radio where I grew up in the summer of ’82. The album boasts an impressive array of noted session players like Abe Laboriel, Jeff Porcaro, and Jim Keltner as well as guest appearances by Donald Fagen and Rick Derringer.

Perhaps Nice Girls is just too perfect because the rest of the album suffered in comparison and was a bit of a letdown.

Dan Fogelberg – Same Old Lang Syne
I probably should delve further into this late singer/songwriter’s catalog and acquaint myself with something other than his hits. I’ve always been partial to Same Old Lang Syne, though, as it was a huge hit when I first became seriously interested in music. I can still vividly recall hearing it on the radio on a clear, still, snowy night in the winter of ’82 as I rode home from a basketball game with friends.

Kate Bush – Wuthering Heights
One of the more (if not most) underappreciated British superstars here in the States. Like most of us here, Hounds Of Love and the glorious Running Up That Hill served as my introduction to her unique artistry.

Wuthering Heights was her first UK single, written and recorded when she was merely sixteen. I don’t believe I’d ever heard the original until I snagged the aforementioned copy of The Kick Inside. Personally (and what many hardcore Kate fans would consider blasphemous), I think I prefer this rerecorded version with David Gilmour on guitar.

Stevie Wonder – That Girl
JB at The Hits Just Keep On Comin’ acknowledges that all roads seem to lead to 1976 for him. 1982 is my 1976. One of four new songs for his double LP compilation Original Musiquarium I, That Girl was a fixture on radio in the late winter/early spring of ’82. It was, essentially, my introduction to Stevie. Of course, I was familiar with his earlier hits, but That Girl was his current hit as I realized my interest in music.

Venturing Into The Valley Of Vinyl

So, as the only turntable to which I had access belonged to my parents, the chosen format for me as I discovered a love of music was the cassette. A couple of friends, with older siblings, understood the fidelity of vinyl, but I wasn’t that committed. I quickly moved to compact disc as soon as they became readily available.

There were a few albums that I acquired, simply because of their unavailability on disc, but it was no more than a handful.

Now, it’s almost exclusively mp3 files – much to the great consternation of Paloma, who grew up on vinyl. Compact discs, at least, gave her something tangible, but this new virtual world doesn’t sit well with her where music is concerned.

Out of the blue, we decided to begin acquiring vinyl. The idea was proffered over coffee and, within six hours, we had dropped a couple hundred dollars on LPs. That was the first day.

A second day rifling through record store bins nearly doubled our investment. We’ve now added to our crowded quarters one hundred and eight vinyl records in various states of wear and tear.

Paloma opted for works of classic acts – from Carpenters to The Stones and Lennon to Steely Dan – but she did go off the board a couple times, too – Peter Nero’s Pure Gold (The Great Songs Of Burt Bacharach And Hal David) anyone?

I seemed to be shopping for bargains using some kind of method that I kept a secret from myself which yielded the double-album soundtrack to FM and a copy of Christopher Cross’ debut for a quarter each. I also went heavy on early ‘80s stuff like Marshall Crenshaw’s debut, Men At Work’s Cargo, and The Police’s Synchronicity.

So, we stand poised to enter a new era and, personally, I’m curious to hear for myself if vinyl lives up to the hype. And to see if I can hear the “warmth” of the format, it’s appropriate that amongst our haul is a copy of Listen To The Warm by Rod McKuen.

Eye To Eye – Nice Girls
The only thing I knew from this duo was this song, their only hit. Nice Girls was all over the radio in the summer of ’82, so I was surprised to find that it only got to #37 on Billboard’s charts. There are a slew of name players on it – Jim Keltner, Abraham Laboriel, and Jeff Porcaro – and it’s produced by Gary Katz, who did a lot of Steely Dan’s stuff. Nice sophisticated pop.

Marshall Crenshaw – Someday, Someway
It pains me to admit it, but I’ve never heard Crenshaw’s debut in its entirety. When he arrived on the music scene, I was impervious to the considerable charm of Someday, Someway. The classic pop from which Crenshaw was influenced, and so wonderfully recreated, sounded “dated” alongside the New Wave stuff I was smitten with at the time.

Stevie Nicks – If Anyone Falls
I won’t be a party to any debate regarding the merits of Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie within the confines of Fleetwood Mac – they were both integral. As for Stevie, even though Bella Donna was her bigger album, I was far more partial to The Wild Heart and this song in particular. I seem to recall reading that Prince actually played on some of her demo versions of it.

Men At Work – Overkill
Why don’t these Aussies receive more respect? Quirky and engaging, Men At Work was inescapable as soon as Who Can It Be Now? hit radio in late summer of 1982. I still remember hearing it for the first time and being instantly charmed. Business As Usual is a far deeper album than simply Who Can It Be Now? and Down Under (yes, Be Good Johnny lost its appeal after the first couple listens, but I loved People Just Love To Play With Words and Paloma always requests Down By The Sea).

Anyhow, ‘83’s Cargo, like many a blockbuster follow-up, wasn’t quite as good, but it did contain their finest moment – Overkill. Quirky and engaging, it also was so wistful. For me, it always sounds like wet, empty streets , nothing but streetlights in the early morning when almost everyone is asleep. It always seemed to play on the radio that spring, as my friends and I – having gotten our driver’s licenses – would be out late, killing time.