Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine Top 100 Songs of the Year, 33 Years Ago (1980)

True story about No. 1:

The last concert I've been to to date was Blondie in 2002. It was also the last date I went on with the girl I was seeing at the time. We were at an outdoor amphitheater, and I remember the people next to us dancing and getting in the groove. My date just stood there. So did I. I didn't know that would be the last time we would go out, but it wasn't a surprise. We weren't right for each other.

I can't recall if Blondie performed "Call Me" that night--they probably did. But it's one of those songs that extolls the perfection of romantic love and how you'll do anything for the person you love--he or she can call you anytime, after all. It's bullshit. Songs like this represent the common cultural fantasy we all believe in or want to believe in: that we'll find the one person we'll do anything for and who will do anything for us.

It's fitting that this song spent six weeks at No. 1 and became the top song of the first year of the 1980s. The song says nothing but pretends to say everything--a fitting start to the new decade.

I thought you could call the song's subject any anytime because that was his job: gigolo, American (with a little French thrown in).

I hadn't thought of the song as being a literal interpretation of the movie. I think the brilliance of most film songs is they can apply generally to the movie but are also broad enough (or vague enough) that any romantic situation can be read into them.

Hey, old-timers! For kicks & giggles you can check out your old responses on the Top 40 of 1980 thread from the first onslaught of Billboard threads. (If they survived the board's lost half-week of of August '03, that is).

You'll notice that the lists aren't exactly the same. The ones I posted were from an official Billboard book from the 2000s. My guess is that the later lists have been adjusted for the exact calendar year, but I wouldn't bet all my jukebox money on that.

I think some of his ballads are pretty good (especially "Honesty"), but I think all his attempts to rock out are so forced that they reek of flopsweat. Guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

It's interesting to compare the two lists. One thing I can shed light on is that the AT40 chart covered from November of the previous year to November of the current year (in other words, from November 1979 to November 1980 in this case, which explains the presence of "Pop Muzik" and "Heartache Tonight," both of which peaked at No. 1 in late '79). AT40 needed that much lead time in order to tabulate results and produce a program to be aired on or around New Year's Eve.

I notice that the Billboard book chart ranks songs in terms of weeks spent at No. 1, etc. The formula used in 1980 was a bit more complex, I think. It included factors such as total weeks in the top ten and total weeks in the Hot 100. Also, a song which was released earlier in the year had a better chance of ranking higher simply because it had been on sale longer and had had more time to get airplay. To wit: Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" ranked significantly higher than "Another One Bites the Dust," even though the latter ultimately earned a platinum disc, according to Joel Whitburn's Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits.

Another point of contrast: John Lennon's "(Just Like) Starting Over" didn't hit No. 1 until 12/27/80--it spent four of its five weeks at the top in 1981, which explains why it's not on the AT40 list.

There's no denying that Joel is a pop singer first and foremost. But he always brought a rock 'n' roll attitude to pop music. In the late '70s, songs like "Moving Out" and "Big Shot" were clearly pop songs, but they were in-your-face, no-holds-barred, and "don't f* with me or I'll tell you what I think of you." That's rock 'n' roll.

"You May Be Right" (the single which preceded "It's Still Rock 'n' Roll to Me" from the same album, Glass Houses) is still an awesome rock song, in my opinion. Clashing guitars, a driving beat, and another sax solo support clever lyrics about Bedford Stuy and an electric chair. Joel was rock 'n' roll in attitude if not always in melody or fashion.

25. CARS, Gary Numan
10. COMING UP, Paul McCartney & Wings
7. IT’S STILL ROCK ‘N’ ROLL TO ME, Billy Joel (2nd of 2)
46. GIVE ME THE NIGHT, George Benson
5. UPSIDE DOWN, Diana Ross
6. CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE, Queen (2nd of 2)
2. ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL (PART 2), Pink Floyd
1. CALL ME, Blondie
8. MAGIC, Olivia Newton-John (2nd of 2)
47. LADIES’ NIGHT, Kool & The Gang (2nd of 2)

I've probably heard
9. POP MUZIK, M more than anything else on the chart. Not by choice, but by saturation.

I've always found another brick in the wall to be a bit depressing to listen to too much.

But Gary Numan is way out in front. Probably with his foot on the pedal in Cars.


I hadn't heard 23. WORKING MY WAY BACK TO YOU, The Spinners (2nd of 2), which was decent and 37. SAILING, Christopher Cross (1st of 2) was quite relaxing.

"Pop Muzik" by M is one of my favorite musical memories of 1979. It's a goofy number that celebrates the superficiality of pop music in a way that is irresistibly appealing . . . and it's sung by a guy who looks and sounds like the ultimate nerd in the era of Robert Plant and Rod Stewart! How cool is that?

"Heartache Tonight": The Eagles were macho rock and American rock. They had the harmonies and the guitar licks; they made complicated professionalism appealing to the masses. A few years earlier, when I was young teen, you couldn't get away from songs like "New Kid in Town," "Hotel California," "Witchy Woman," and "Take It to the Limit"--and you didn't want to. "Heartache Tonight," with its finger-snapping beat, power chords, and harmonies about the inevitability of heartbreak, was a continuation of the same. It's the only Eagles single I went out and bought.

"Another Brick In the Wall (Part 2)": I didn't care for this song at the time, largely because it was such a huge hit it was overplayed. I was also disappointed that the single version did not include the intro ("When we were in school, there were certain teachers . . .") and outro ("If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding!"), which I now know were listed on the LP as different tracks. But, whenever I hear the song now, I think it's quite marvelous. David Gilmour's guitar solo is soaring and sublime, and the lyrics ("We don't need no education/we don't need no thought control") express the damage the educational system has unwittingly inflicted on generations of children. I find it sadly fitting in the era of No Child Left Behind. A rare song that has aged well.

I like that song a lot, too. A good way to innaugurate what I consider an underrated era -- that of synthesizer pop.

I don't know if I'd call M the ultimate nerd, though. He exhuded a certain confidence that I found cool...or at least he did in the song's video.

Is M the ultimate nerd or not? You be the judge.

Agreed. This is another song that holds up well, and the video is still one of the most surreal pieces I've ever seen--a masterwork of disconnected and disturbing images that reflect the song's paranoia.