Monday, April 27, 2009

"...and she writes, Dear Casey"

Happy 77th birthday to Countdown King Casey Kasem. He is seeing a resurgence in his popularity thanks the reairing of his original American Top 40 shows from the 70s and 80s.
I love to listen to those shows and see how it evolved over the years and expanded to four hours from 3 in the early 80s. Still love the long distance dedications and its amazing what people would share and then the song they wanted to hear. My wife wonders if sometimes they just made them up to have dedications each week.
"I'm Casey Kasem and American Top 40 is coming to you from Hollywood, now on with the countdown..."

Friday, April 24, 2009

#1 song of the week

Lets go back to my senior year of high school this week in 1985. The #1 Song was a unique venture called "We Are the World" by USA for Africa. It was the brainchild of Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones. They got almost all of THE major music stars in music to appear with the exception of John Denver who asked to be involved and was turned down even though he had spent most of his career in the cause to fight world hunger. It was said by one of the producers that he (Denver) might hurt the credibilty of the song, and looking back that was such a ridiculous statement. To me it was just plain bias against John Denver not bein "in" with the current music scene. Madonna was asked to be involved but she declined, I figure probably because she didnt get paid and it wasnt about her, but thats my opinion and I cant stand the woman.
The song was rehearsed and recorded the night of the American Music Awards in January 1985 and released in March and raced up the charts to hit #1 on April 17th and stayed there 4 weeks.
I do remember it still being very popular even after my graduation in May and this all led to the "LIVE AID" concerts on my 18th birthday, July 13th 1985. We had cable by then but it did not have MTV so I had to listen to most of it on the radio but it was an awesome concert and it is out on DVD but sadly I havent taken the time to watch it.
Now I dont think this same thing could be done today due to the egos of "music" stars today, too many rappers would rather fight with each other instead of cooperate and most "musicians" today would feel it wouldnt make them any money. Now I could be wrong but its a different world now and I dont think something like this could happen. Please tell me if you think I am wrong.
Enjoy the video of "We Are The World" by USA for Africa


Here is a video of the making of the video and song...interesting process to watch even though the narration is in japanese. I found myself watching this was great fascination, number one because I love the music making process of the producers and mixers and arrangers but to see how everything fits together. For my money Steve Perry has an incredible voice and really stood out. Over all this is a great snapshot of the world of music in 1985. Check youtube for some other great behind the scense videos of this once in a lifetime happening.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Today in Academy Award History

1971 and "Patton" is awarded the Best Picture of 1970 and George C Scott is named the winner of the Best Actor Award and refuses the award.

Also that night the song "For All We Know" won Best Song, from the movie "Lovers and Other Strangers". Originally performed in the movie by Larry Meredith but made popular by the Carpenters.

Monday, April 13, 2009

3 Famous in one day

Wow what a day for the obit section. First we saw Harry Kalas the Philadelphia Phillies announcer die in the broadcast booth, then it was announced Marilyn Chambers was found dead yesterday in her home. Tonight Mark "the Bird" Fidrych was found dead on his farm from an apparent truck accident.
check out the latest.
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/obituaries/index.html

Friday, April 10, 2009

#1 Song of the Week

I havent posted in a few days but I am back and will have some good stuff (I hope) for you in the next few days.
I was listening to the radio a couple of days ago and heard Bob Seger's "Shakedown" and it reminded me of this fun fact, it was Bob Seger's only #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Hard to imagine but as far as chart success goes this is his best ever. All of the classic songs that Bob Seger is known for "Mainstreet", "Against the Wind", "Shame on the Moon", "Like A Rock", "Turn the Page" all made the top 40 chart and "Shame on the Moon" was #2 for four weeks in 1982 but none hit that coveted #1 spot. Well in 1987 Bob Seger did a song for the "Beverly Hills Cop 2" soundtrack called "Shakedown" and with that movie being such a huge hit and the soundtrack flying off the shelves it was just a matter of time before he found the #1 spot.