Casey Kasem American Top 40

[RGMike]

wow -- per that Casey story, Ringo really *was* the luckiest sonofabitch who ever lived! (Well, at least until Seth McFarlane.)

ooo! 2 great mondegreens back-to-back on the chart: The Commodores seem to be telling us "she's a cow, she's a cow, she's a cow now" and KC & Co keep it common-law.

[RGMike]

Hooray for Shaun Cassidy: I hated "Da Doo Ron Ron", but his back-to-back Eric Carmen covers made me a believer. I actually prefer "Hey Deanie" to "That's RnR" but VHM anyway.

And now, Carly Simon makes me feel sad for Debby Boone.

[RGMike]

Well, I'd hoped this marathon thing might mean Magic 98 would bypass the "girls names" countdown, but no: here it is. And I'm outta here.

[SFGuy]

I always wonder how much of this music Casey actually liked. Music changed quite a bit between his first show on July 4, 1970 (side note: I wish XM hadn't screwed up) until his last one in 1988. I guess it's just like Dick Clark, who did American Bandstand for almost 40 years.

[kahunaburger]

I'm listening to it now.  BOS to the Ronnie Milsap.  HM to Rita Coolidge's finest moment; "We're All Alone" is the only time she didn't sound bored to me...

Rumor was that Rita left Mr Kristofferson for a woman (no idea who) so I wonder who she was "All Alone" with when she recorded that -- Kris? or the mystery lady?  Either way, it was ecstasy when they laid down nextashe.

Way 2 Hot knowledge!!!  Didn't Yvonne Elliman sing backup on some of her songs in the early 70's? I just wonder... 

[Wayback]

Article: "Casey's Final Countdown"
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/07/06/entertainment/e174443D70.DTL

[RGMike]

a longer (and quite lovely) piece on Casey from the NYT:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/arts/music/08kasem.html?_r=1&hp

"A college friend of mine — who went on to become a world-champion video-game player when video games were still six feet tall — listened to Mr. Kasem each weekend and wrote down the Top 40 songs, in longhand. We all thought this was incredibly nerdy and weird. We were also jealous: we wished we had that set of notebooks with every Top 40 list for the last 10 years. It was so weird it was cool."

Something we can all relate to -- I know *I* can

[RGMike]

There's a thread on the NYRMB related to the above NYT article. Someone posted that Casey was offered the announcer job on Soap ("these and other questions will be answered on the next episode...") but turned it down because he felt the "risque" plotlines on the show would clash with his wholesome image.

Which is interesting because I remember Casey doing a feature one week in the '70s about Walter Carlos, the synthesizer wizard who had one of the early sex-changes and became Wendy Carlos. It was one of the most matter-of-fact, sympathetic portrayals of the issue I have ever heard -- I recall being quite blown away by it (and I don't remember why it was done; Carlos never charted with a single).

[RGMike]

This week Casey visits July 15, 1978

http://www.oldies1033.com/pages/4770243.php

forgotten hits from Kenny Rogers ("Love or Something Like It") and Dave Mason (an unnecessary cover of "Will You Still Love me Tomorrow"), Todd's fab "Can We Still Be Friends?", and lawd! I surely have not heard Babs' "Songbird" and Bob Welch's "Hot Love, Cold World" since '78.

[Tinka Cat]

This week Casey visits July 15, 1978

http://www.oldies1033.com/pages/4770243.php

forgotten hits from Kenny Rogers ("Love or Something Like It") and Dave Mason (an unnecessary cover of "Will You Still Love me Tomorrow"), Todd's fab "Can We Still Be Friends?", and lawd! I surely have not heard Babs' "Songbird" and Bob Welch's "Hot Love, Cold World" since '78.

the Bob WElch sounds NTM.  Oh good! we'll get to hear the 3 minute version of Joe Walsh's Life's Been Good!  Rod Temperton and Heatwave snorting up The Groove Line, too...

[kahunaburger]

This week Casey visits July 15, 1978

http://www.oldies1033.com/pages/4770243.php

forgotten hits from Kenny Rogers ("Love or Something Like It") and Dave Mason (an unnecessary cover of "Will You Still Love me Tomorrow"), Todd's fab "Can We Still Be Friends?", and lawd! I surely have not heard Babs' "Songbird" and Bob Welch's "Hot Love, Cold World" since '78.

  "Prove It All Night" should've charted higher than it did.  Ditto "FM".  "Thank God It's Friday" has to be the most cringe worthy song on this countdown (disco cheese from an equally bad movie!).  "My Angel Baby" is pretty god awful in it's own right.  "Baker Street" being blocked by  "Shadow Dancing" from the top spot may be one of the greatest chart injustices of all time!!! 

[Gazoo]

This week Casey visits July 15, 1978

http://www.oldies1033.com/pages/4770243.php

forgotten hits from Kenny Rogers ("Love or Something Like It") and Dave Mason (an unnecessary cover of "Will You Still Love me Tomorrow"), Todd's fab "Can We Still Be Friends?", and lawd! I surely have not heard Babs' "Songbird" and Bob Welch's "Hot Love, Cold World" since '78.

  "Prove It All Night" should've charted higher than it did.  Ditto "FM".  "Thank God It's Friday" has to be the most cringe worthy song on this countdown (disco cheese from an equally bad movie!).  "My Angel Baby" is pretty god awful in it's own right.  "Baker Street" being blocked by  "Shadow Dancing" from the top spot may be one of the greatest chart injustices of all time!!! 

I bought Thank God It's Friday on DVD while Virgin was unloading its inventory.  I haven't watched it yet - I'm waiting for an occasion. 

And I totally agree on "Baker Street."  Still such a massive, massive record.

[RGMike]

This week Casey visits July 15, 1978

http://www.oldies1033.com/pages/4770243.php

forgotten hits from Kenny Rogers ("Love or Something Like It") and Dave Mason (an unnecessary cover of "Will You Still Love me Tomorrow"), Todd's fab "Can We Still Be Friends?", and lawd! I surely have not heard Babs' "Songbird" and Bob Welch's "Hot Love, Cold World" since '78.

  "Prove It All Night" should've charted higher than it did.  Ditto "FM".  "Thank God It's Friday" has to be the most cringe worthy song on this countdown (disco cheese from an equally bad movie!).  "My Angel Baby" is pretty god awful in it's own right.  "Baker Street" being blocked by  "Shadow Dancing" from the top spot may be one of the greatest chart injustices of all time!!! 

I'll agree on all but "My Angel Baby" -- a sweet little ballad, and if you didn't notice the obvious resemblance to "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye", they covered the latter the following year (payback to avoid a lawsuit, perhaps?).  I actually saw Toby Beau open for Bob Seger that fall at Nassau Coliseum; they were an energetic Eagles/Poco knockoff and seemed genuinely thrilled to be playing arenas with only one hit under their belts.

[Gazoo]

This week Casey visits July 15, 1978

http://www.oldies1033.com/pages/4770243.php

forgotten hits from Kenny Rogers ("Love or Something Like It") and Dave Mason (an unnecessary cover of "Will You Still Love me Tomorrow"), Todd's fab "Can We Still Be Friends?", and lawd! I surely have not heard Babs' "Songbird" and Bob Welch's "Hot Love, Cold World" since '78.

the Bob WElch sounds NTM. 

"Hot Love, Cold World," New to Me as well.

And I'm sure I saw "King Tut" back in its day, but I doubt I actually stayed up late enough to watch SNL at age 5.  We might have had the 45.  HE'S AN EGYPTIAN!

[Gazoo]

"What George Washington Carver did for peanuts, Barbra Streisand has done for ladies' noses."  Um, wtf, Casey?

"Songbird," NTM, is quite nice, though not as grand as Fleetwood Mac's "Songbird" (did someone just mention Eva Cassidy's version?).