Unfairly Forgotten Song #14: American Music by The Pointer Sisters

When people think of the Pointer Sisters, I would imagine there are a few songs that come quickly to mind:  "I'm So Excited" (not this version, though), "He's So Shy", "Fire", and that pinball song from "Sesame Street" come to mind quickly for me.

But do you think of their 1982 hit "American Music"?

"American Music" was on the same album, So Excited!, as "I'm So Excited" (though that song was added to later releases of their next album, Break Out and re-released as a single in 1984).  The song entered the top 40 at #33 the week of July 24, 1982.  It peaked at #16 five weeks later and stayed at that position for three straight weeks before dropping out of the top 40 the next week.  Overall, it spent 13 weeks on Billboard's Hot 100, its last being the debut week of "I'm So Excited".

(So Excited! peaked at #59 on the Billboard 200.  Album ©1982 Planet Records.  Photo courtesy Wikipedia under Fair Use clause.)

I have heard this song on the radio exactly once since it was on the charts in 1982, and that was sometime around 2002 when my city of residence had an 80s station, and that station was airing what was then called "AT40 Flashback" programs.  I've never heard it on the radio since.

Of course, the Pointer Sisters went on to much bigger successes with their aforementioned next album, which spawned several top 10 hits and went 3x platinum. 

Unfairly Forgotten Song #13: Two of Hearts by Stacey Q

Just after Regina's one big hit, "Baby Love", made its way up both the Hot 100 and Hot Dance/Disco charts in 1986, Stacey Swain, better known as Stacey Q, followed with her one big hit, "Two of Hearts", the debut single from her first album for Atlantic Records, Better Than Heaven.

(Better Than Heaven peaked at #59 on the Billboard 200.  Album ©1986 Atlantic Records.  Photo courtesy Amazon.com.)

"Two of Hearts" entered the Top 40 (at #40) the week of August 16, 1986 and peaked at #3 the week of October 11.  It lasted on the Top 40 charts about another month before falling out the week of November 15.  It also peaked at #4 on the Hot Dance/Disco chart and was ranked the #51 best-selling single of 1986 by Billboard, and it even got Stacey Q a gig singing the song on The Facts of Life as some character named "Cinnamon".  (Yeah, I didn't watch it either.)  Overall, it spent a fairly impressive 22 weeks on the Hot 100.

Stacey Q followed "Two of Hearts" up with "We Connect", which also hit the Top 40, before she disappeared from the Top 40 entirely (though two other singles did hit the Hot 100 later in the 80s).