(I am in that in-between period where I've just come home from vacationing and the return to work is still a day away. It always feels weird and out of sorts. So, I have an appropriately weird, out-of-sorts post for you. I don't blame you if you don't comment/read. Time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 354th in a series):
As if I'm not a big enough nerd for clinging to a sports-card collecting hobby from childhood all the way into middle age, here's something that will surely earn my nerd badge.
I have been compiling my own music charts -- as in the kind that Casey Kasem counted down -- off and on for more than 45 years.
I first became aware of music countdown shows during the fall of 1979. The first one I listened to was not Casey Kasem's Billboard Top 40 countdown, it was some other version (it wasn't the Rick Dees either, though I was aware of that one at some point). I looked forward to the weekend when it would broadcast the top songs of the week.
This love affair with music countdown shows would continue in force in 1980 when I did come across Casey Kasem's American Top 40. Music countdowns were all the rage and it seemed like every FM station had their "top eight at eight" or "nine at nine". I looked forward to every one. All through the first half of the 1980s, I would listen to Casey, cheer on my favorite songs, frown over the songs I hated ... and often write them down.
Eventually, I would grow dissatisfied with the songs that made it into the top 10 or to No. 1 (Kenny Rogers' "Lady" at No. 1 for six straight weeks? Really??). Off and on, I'd come up with my own top 10 or top 30 or top 40 with songs in the spots where they should be. By the spring of 1984 I'd make it a weekly ritual, which lasted an entire year.
Even during college I'd compile my own top 10 or top 20 favorite alternative songs for a few weeks before stopping and then restarting again. And, although I can't pin down the exact time periods, I know I've done the same as an adult here and there. I love charting the charts. In fact, I have been doing a top 30 of my own ever since I got back into modern alternative/rock/country/folk music four years ago. I compile a new chart every Friday -- and I look forward to the day every week.
This all began when I heard the song "Pop Muzik" by the band M on a countdown show during that fall of 1979. I loved the song immediately, couldn't wait to hear it again. Of course you were at the whim of the local radio station's playlist back then, so it could be days before you heard it again. I took care of that by purchasing the 45 single at a guitar store (still have it). And I was pretty thrilled when I found out that Billboard and Casey Kasem had declared "Pop Muzik" No. 1 on November 3, 1979.
So it's well overdue that I should own this 1979 Warner Brothers Records card of music artist Robin Scott, who was the brainchild of "M" and "Pop Muzik". (Members of "M" were later part of "Level 42").
I've written about the '79 Warner Brothers promo cards before. I received around 20 of them 10 years ago. They were promotional items sent by the record company to radio stations and all the subjects were Warner Brothers artists at the time. Many of those cards were thrown out by those radio stations, which makes some of the cards tricky to land.
I recently started looking around for some of the ones I don't own yet, that's where I found the "M" card. I also have a couple others in a shopping cart. Still others are too much money -- often graded or ridiculously labeled as a "rookie card," such as the Talking Heads one.
That's the back of the Robin Scott card.
I've written about music cards many times on the blog and now have a binder devoted to nothing but music cards. Most of it is occupied by the 1991 MusiCards sets -- both the American series and U.K. version. It contains several other music-themed sets, too, and I've written about them all.
The very back of the binder contains these '79 Warner Brothers cards because they seem more special to me than the rest -- maybe because they weren't marketed to collectors necessarily.
There's no rush to get all of these -- obviously, with 10 years between adding to the collection -- but I hope one day to do so.
Perhaps on that day, I'll compile my own music chart of my favorite song from each artist and rank them from No. 1 to however many number of cards are in this set.
Comments
There were no photos but I sure wish I had some of those Bingo cards with all the artists names on the card.....Earth Wind Fire, Hall Oates, Billy Joel.
P.S. Heartache Tonight unseated Pop Muzik next week at number 1 November 10, 1979
1. If you have Sirius-XM the station "70s on 7" replays a Casey Kasem countdown each Saturday. That is usually when I am running around town doing errands and it is amazing how much good music and total schlock was charting then.
2. You really need to post your current Top 30. If not weekly, at least every once in a while. I am always looking for new music and while I think we have similar tastes, then Venn diagram of our musical interests doesn't completely overlap.
So many times of sitting there ready to record a song you know is coming up, and really want, and then the DJ decides to do an intro over the beginning of the song! Aaaaargh!
Sounds like this audience would like thesummit.fm, which is a local (to me) public radio station that specializes in contemporary adult alternative, but also plays an eclectic mix of music from all across the musical spectrum. I also listen to double j out of Australia, which has pretty much the same format, but a little more Australia-centric in the choice of acts, and for my 80's fix, Charlie's 80's Attic fills that bill.