This week in 1984

[dougl]

On the charts

[Villavic]

As in the lists of best bands, best albums, etc. of the magazines, I take these charts as something referential, actually just for fun, and not an absolute truth.

So I don't understand how GAHOM, a song I like very much, reached #1 in Adult Contemporary but Hold Me just reached #7.

And You Make Loving Fun reached #27 in the same category. Wasn't it adult enough?

I read the adult contemporary definition is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet storm and rock influence. Adult contemporary is generally a continuation of the easy listening and soft rock style that became popular in the 1960s and 1970s with some adjustments that reflect the evolution of pop/rock music.

If YMLF didn't fit in that definition, shouldn't it be included on the list, or should it?

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by Villavic

As in the lists of best bands, best albums, etc. of the magazines, I take these charts as something referential, actually just for fun, and not an absolute truth.

So I don't understand how GAHOM, a song I like very much, reached #1 in Adult Contemporary but Hold Me just reached #7.

And You Make Loving Fun reached #27 in the same category. Wasn't it adult enough?

I read the adult contemporary definition is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet storm and rock influence. Adult contemporary is generally a continuation of the easy listening and soft rock style that became popular in the 1960s and 1970s with some adjustments that reflect the evolution of pop/rock music.

If YMLF didn't fit in that definition, shouldn't it be included on the list, or should it?

Radio was always crazy with their charts. GAHOM was perfect for adult contemporary stations. Hold Me was pure pop top 40. Its guitar solo was not welcome on some AC stations. I remember there was a local AC station that edited out Madonna's Dress You Up guitar solo when they played the song. YMLF is a pure rocker pop song but it did get played on AC stations and still does.
But the most extreme example of how crazy these radio charts are is As Long As You Follow never charted in the top 40 of pop songs yet went to #1 AC.
More extreme is Skies The Limit charted quite high on AC charts but came nowhere close to charting on Top 40 radio (at least in the states).

[jbrownsjr]

She did have a #1 hit! And it was solo.

[WalkAThinLine.]

Fleetwood Mac had quite a few songs that performed well on the Adult Contemporary charts. McVie had four number one songs on the AC charts: 1 as a solo artist ("Got a Hold on Me") and 3 with Fleetwood Mac ("Little Lies", "Everywhere", and "As Long as You Follow"). There are quite a few Fleetwood Mac songs that had middling to poor showings on the Billboard Hot 100 but charted relatively well on the AC charts. "Save Me" hit #33 on the Hot 100 but reached #6 on the AC charts. "Skies the Limit", "Silver Springs", "Landslide", and "Peacekeeper" failed to crack the top 50 of the Hot 100 but all reached the top 10 of the AC charts.

The Mainstream Rock chart also has some unusual entries that you would not expect. "Straight Back", "No Questions Asked", and "Tango in the Night" (the title track) all charted in the top 40 even though they were never released as commercial singles.

[Macfan4life]

When satellite radio and streaming became popular sort of blew up terrestrial radio so many of these formats no longer exist. Its hard to find even a classic rock format these days let alone an AC one. But back in the day AC stations were in every city and town. I remember being in the dentist office and them playing these stations. I was in college in 1990 and there was this hole in the wall station that broadcast a national syndicated Dick Clark Adult Contemporary countdown every Sunday. It was the only time that I heard Skies The Limit on the radio. I was floored. Dick was a big Christine McVie fan and Mac fan and he would have such good info on the band when I would listen to hear Skies The Limit on the charts. He even said once how disappointed the band was for sales of BTM. The odd thing is that even though Skies did very well on his AC chart I never heard it on any AC station. Some of these charts are interesting because they never corresponded to anything where I lived and I listened to all stations back then.
Also back then Vh1 was the adult contemporary video station. Annoyed the hell out of me that MTV never played ASAYF video and had to watch Vh1 to see it. Yet MTV would play all sorts of Whitney Houston AC kind of songs. Made no sense. MTV played the hell out of Save Me only to not play Skies The Limit. I only saw it on VH1.