On this day in 1984, the Cyndi Lauper single “Time After Time” reached the #1 spot on the US Billboard Hot 100 (June 9)
The love song penned by Lauper and Rob Hyman from The Hooters was her first US #1, and spent two weeks in the top spot,.
It was also #2 in Canada and Ireland, #3 in the UK, New Zealand and Belgium, #5 in the Netherlands, Italy and Austria, #6 in Australia, #7 in Switzerland, #9 in France, and #10 in Denmark and Sweden.
Like many great songs, it started with the LP’s producer asking for one more song for the album.
Lauper’s debut album “She's So Unusual” was almost completed when the request came, and the inspiration began with the title, which she had seen in TV Guide magazine, referring to the science fiction film “Time After Time” (1979).
Rob Hyman said: "When she saw Time After Time, something clicked - she said, 'I think I have a title.'
I was sitting at the piano and just started banging out what would eventually be the chorus, hook, and the way we sing it.
We never did a demo of the song. We just kind of bashed it out on the piano over a couple of days, maybe a week or two period.
It really did happen pretty quickly, and we needed to because the album was being finished.
I'd say in two or three sessions the song was pretty much done.”
The poignant track went on to become a classic of the era, and one of Cyndi Lauper’s signature songs.
Wrestler Captain Lou Albano, who appeared in the "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" video, played a cook at a diner in this one.
Lauper's mom and boyfriend were also in the video, portraying her mom and boyfriend…
Click on the link below to watch it:
On this day in 1984, the Steve Perry single “Oh Sherrie” peaked on the US Billboard Hot 100 at #3 (June 9)
Perry's debut solo single, and biggest hit as a solo artist, was written for his then-girlfriend Sherrie Swafford, who also appeared in the music video.
It was a great vehicle for one of the best voices in the rock business…
Two of the song's co-writers and supporting musicians, Bill Cuomo and Craig Krampf, also performed on Kim Carnes' signature song "Bette Davis Eyes".
The surrogate Journey track went to #1 in Canada, #3 in the US, #5 in Australia, #6 in South Africa, #8 in New Zealand, and #89 in the UK.
Click on the link below to watch:
This week in 1980, the Billy Joel single “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” debuted on the Australian charts at #99 (June 9)
The single from Joel’s smash hit album “Glass Houses” went to #1 in the US for two weeks, and spent a total of 11 weeks in the Top 10, also becoming a #1 hit in Canada, #10 in Australia, #11 in Ireland, #14 in the UK, and #21 in New Zealand.
Click on the link below to watch:
On this day in 1984, the Elton John single “Sad Songs (Say So Much)” debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at #49 (June 9)
The song from his eighteenth studio album “Breaking Hearts” was yet another Elton John and Bernie Taupin hit…
The music video, directed by Australian film-maker Russell Mulcahy was shot on a street in Rushcutters Bay, Sydney, and featured Elton without his familiar trademark glasses in some scenes.
The single sleeve also featured Elton with no glasses.
The single went to #2 in Ireland, #3 in Switzerland, #4 in Australia and Canada, #5 in the US and South Africa, #7 in the UK, and #8 in New Zealand.
Click on the link below to watch:
This week in 1980, the Jona Lewie single “You’ll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties” debuted on the Australian charts at #100 (June 9)
The song went on to peak at #21 in Australia, #16 in the UK, and #3 in New Zealand where it stayed in the Top 40 for a huge 17 weeks.
The great Norman Watt-Roy from The Blockheads played bass on the track, but Lewie provided the rest of the instrumentation…
Click on the link below to watch:
On this day in 1984, the Pseudo Echo LP “Autumnal Park” debuted on the Australian charts (June 10)
It was the debut studio album for arguably Australia’s most on-point 80’s synth-pop band…
The album was released as “Pseudo Echo” for the North American market, and produced two Australian Top 20 singles, including their debut single "Listening", which peaked at #4, and their second single “A Beat For You” (#12).
Pseudo Echo was formed in 1982 in Melbourne by school friends Brian Canham and Pierre Gigliotti, joining Anthony Argiro and Tony Lugton.
They played around Melbourne, where they were seen by Molly Meldrum, who convinced them to perform on his popular music show Countdown, on which they performed a demo version of "Listening" in June 1983.
Shortly after, they were signed to EMI Australia...
“Autumnal Park” peaked at #11 in Australia, and #14 in New Zealand, and remains their highest-charting album in both those countries.
At the 1984 Countdown Music Awards, the album was nominated for Best Debut Album.
Over the years Brian Canham proved to be a great frontman and excellent guitarist, while Pseudo Echo proved to be an enduring Aussie band; disbanding in 1989, before re-forming in 1998, releasing more albums, and continuing to tour to this day…
Click on the link below to watch “Listening”:
or
Click on the link below to watch “A Beat Fir You”:
This week in 1980, the Split Enz LP “True Colours” was at #1 on the Australian Album charts (June 9)
A breakthrough record for the Australian-based New Zealand band, anchored by the hit single “I Got You”, and scaffolded by great songwriting from the Finn brothers, and superb Eddie Rayner keyboards.
It went all the way to #1 in Australia and New Zealand, was Top 10 in Canada, and Top 40 in the US and the UK.
One of the really cool things about the album was that it came in so many different cover releases of different colours, and also a laser-etched version, which I still have my copy of.
Noel Crombie recalled, “In the end there were 11 covers. The rarest one is the black and white one that got sent out to the press.
There's about 100 of them, with Textas to colour your own. So, if you're really keen, you'll have 11."
Which colour cover do you have?
Click on the link below to watch them on Countdown doing “I Got You”:
On this day in 1978, the Barry Manilow single “Copacabana (At the Copa)" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at #68 (June 10)
Her name was Lola,
She was a showgirl…
The song was inspired by a conversation between Manilow and lyricist Bruce Sussman at the Copacabana Hotel in Rio de Janeiro, when they discussed whether there had ever been a song called "Copacabana".
After returning to the US, Manilow — who, in the 1960s, had been a regular visitor to the Copacabana nightclub in New York City — suggested that Sussman and fellow lyricist Jack Feldman write the lyrics to a story song for him.
They did so, and Manilow supplied the music.
Barry Manilow recalled that the music for "Copacabana" came incredibly fast.
“I remember putting the lyric on the piano's music stand, punching the 'Record' button on my tape deck, and writing the song in less than 15 minutes," he wrote in the liner notes of the “Even Now” album.
The song which incorporates Latin rhythms in the style of the acts that played the Copa in the '40s and '50s (before it became a disco) earned Manilow his first and only Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in February 1979.
“Cooacabana” was a dance hit around the world, peaking at #2 in France, #5 in Belgium, #6 in the Netherlands, #7 in Canada, #8 on the US Billboard Hot 100, #9 in Australia, and #16 in Ireland.
Click on the link below to watch:
The love song penned by Lauper and Rob Hyman from The Hooters was her first US #1, and spent two weeks in the top spot,.
It was also #2 in Canada and Ireland, #3 in the UK, New Zealand and Belgium, #5 in the Netherlands, Italy and Austria, #6 in Australia, #7 in Switzerland, #9 in France, and #10 in Denmark and Sweden.
Like many great songs, it started with the LP’s producer asking for one more song for the album.
Lauper’s debut album “She's So Unusual” was almost completed when the request came, and the inspiration began with the title, which she had seen in TV Guide magazine, referring to the science fiction film “Time After Time” (1979).
Rob Hyman said: "When she saw Time After Time, something clicked - she said, 'I think I have a title.'
I was sitting at the piano and just started banging out what would eventually be the chorus, hook, and the way we sing it.
We never did a demo of the song. We just kind of bashed it out on the piano over a couple of days, maybe a week or two period.
It really did happen pretty quickly, and we needed to because the album was being finished.
I'd say in two or three sessions the song was pretty much done.”
The poignant track went on to become a classic of the era, and one of Cyndi Lauper’s signature songs.
Wrestler Captain Lou Albano, who appeared in the "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" video, played a cook at a diner in this one.
Lauper's mom and boyfriend were also in the video, portraying her mom and boyfriend…
Click on the link below to watch it:
On this day in 1984, the Steve Perry single “Oh Sherrie” peaked on the US Billboard Hot 100 at #3 (June 9)
Perry's debut solo single, and biggest hit as a solo artist, was written for his then-girlfriend Sherrie Swafford, who also appeared in the music video.
It was a great vehicle for one of the best voices in the rock business…
Two of the song's co-writers and supporting musicians, Bill Cuomo and Craig Krampf, also performed on Kim Carnes' signature song "Bette Davis Eyes".
The surrogate Journey track went to #1 in Canada, #3 in the US, #5 in Australia, #6 in South Africa, #8 in New Zealand, and #89 in the UK.
Click on the link below to watch:
This week in 1980, the Billy Joel single “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” debuted on the Australian charts at #99 (June 9)
The single from Joel’s smash hit album “Glass Houses” went to #1 in the US for two weeks, and spent a total of 11 weeks in the Top 10, also becoming a #1 hit in Canada, #10 in Australia, #11 in Ireland, #14 in the UK, and #21 in New Zealand.
Click on the link below to watch:
On this day in 1984, the Elton John single “Sad Songs (Say So Much)” debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at #49 (June 9)
The song from his eighteenth studio album “Breaking Hearts” was yet another Elton John and Bernie Taupin hit…
The music video, directed by Australian film-maker Russell Mulcahy was shot on a street in Rushcutters Bay, Sydney, and featured Elton without his familiar trademark glasses in some scenes.
The single sleeve also featured Elton with no glasses.
The single went to #2 in Ireland, #3 in Switzerland, #4 in Australia and Canada, #5 in the US and South Africa, #7 in the UK, and #8 in New Zealand.
Click on the link below to watch:
This week in 1980, the Jona Lewie single “You’ll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties” debuted on the Australian charts at #100 (June 9)
The song went on to peak at #21 in Australia, #16 in the UK, and #3 in New Zealand where it stayed in the Top 40 for a huge 17 weeks.
The great Norman Watt-Roy from The Blockheads played bass on the track, but Lewie provided the rest of the instrumentation…
Click on the link below to watch:
On this day in 1984, the Pseudo Echo LP “Autumnal Park” debuted on the Australian charts (June 10)
It was the debut studio album for arguably Australia’s most on-point 80’s synth-pop band…
The album was released as “Pseudo Echo” for the North American market, and produced two Australian Top 20 singles, including their debut single "Listening", which peaked at #4, and their second single “A Beat For You” (#12).
Pseudo Echo was formed in 1982 in Melbourne by school friends Brian Canham and Pierre Gigliotti, joining Anthony Argiro and Tony Lugton.
They played around Melbourne, where they were seen by Molly Meldrum, who convinced them to perform on his popular music show Countdown, on which they performed a demo version of "Listening" in June 1983.
Shortly after, they were signed to EMI Australia...
“Autumnal Park” peaked at #11 in Australia, and #14 in New Zealand, and remains their highest-charting album in both those countries.
At the 1984 Countdown Music Awards, the album was nominated for Best Debut Album.
Over the years Brian Canham proved to be a great frontman and excellent guitarist, while Pseudo Echo proved to be an enduring Aussie band; disbanding in 1989, before re-forming in 1998, releasing more albums, and continuing to tour to this day…
Click on the link below to watch “Listening”:
or
Click on the link below to watch “A Beat Fir You”:
This week in 1980, the Split Enz LP “True Colours” was at #1 on the Australian Album charts (June 9)
A breakthrough record for the Australian-based New Zealand band, anchored by the hit single “I Got You”, and scaffolded by great songwriting from the Finn brothers, and superb Eddie Rayner keyboards.
It went all the way to #1 in Australia and New Zealand, was Top 10 in Canada, and Top 40 in the US and the UK.
One of the really cool things about the album was that it came in so many different cover releases of different colours, and also a laser-etched version, which I still have my copy of.
Noel Crombie recalled, “In the end there were 11 covers. The rarest one is the black and white one that got sent out to the press.
There's about 100 of them, with Textas to colour your own. So, if you're really keen, you'll have 11."
Which colour cover do you have?
Click on the link below to watch them on Countdown doing “I Got You”:
On this day in 1978, the Barry Manilow single “Copacabana (At the Copa)" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at #68 (June 10)
Her name was Lola,
She was a showgirl…
The song was inspired by a conversation between Manilow and lyricist Bruce Sussman at the Copacabana Hotel in Rio de Janeiro, when they discussed whether there had ever been a song called "Copacabana".
After returning to the US, Manilow — who, in the 1960s, had been a regular visitor to the Copacabana nightclub in New York City — suggested that Sussman and fellow lyricist Jack Feldman write the lyrics to a story song for him.
They did so, and Manilow supplied the music.
Barry Manilow recalled that the music for "Copacabana" came incredibly fast.
“I remember putting the lyric on the piano's music stand, punching the 'Record' button on my tape deck, and writing the song in less than 15 minutes," he wrote in the liner notes of the “Even Now” album.
The song which incorporates Latin rhythms in the style of the acts that played the Copa in the '40s and '50s (before it became a disco) earned Manilow his first and only Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in February 1979.
“Cooacabana” was a dance hit around the world, peaking at #2 in France, #5 in Belgium, #6 in the Netherlands, #7 in Canada, #8 on the US Billboard Hot 100, #9 in Australia, and #16 in Ireland.
Click on the link below to watch:
