This Beat Goes On/Switchin' to Glide by The Kings

If someone were to mention The Kings to most Americans, my guess is that the most common response (other than "Who?") would be something along the lines of "Hey, aren't they that group that sang 'Lola'?"  No, The Kings were a Canadian rock group that formed in the late 70s and, per the group's official website, refer to themselves as a one-hit wonder...which they basically were.

The group's website has a fairly good biography section that tells the story of The Kings.  Originally known as WhistleKing, the group mostly did club gigs at first before recording their first album.  In the process of doing that, they ran into a well-known producer named Bob Ezrin*, who was all set to mix the tracks when he discovered that everything had to be redone.  Mr. Ezrin talked to Elektra Records and got the group signed to a deal, where they recorded everything again in an album which was released as The Kings Are Here in 1980.

(The Kings Are Here peaked at #74 on Billboard's Hot LPs and Tape chart. Album ℗1980 Elektra Records. Photo courtesy Amazon.com.)

When the single was originally released, only "Switchin' to Glide", a song that appears to be about relaxing and gliding through life rather than stressing about it, was included.  It did fairly well with just the second song, entering Billboard's Hot 100 the week ending August 23, 1980 (for whatever reason, Billboard's issue of that date is not available online, though the issue for the week ending August 30 is available; it shows "Switchin' to Glide" in its second week on the chart).  It reached a peak at #56 the week ending October 4 and began to make its way back down the charts.

Strangely, though, the single got new life after that.  The Kings, who had always felt that "This Beat Goes On" (a song that appears to be basically about partying) and "Switchin' to Glide" were "really two songs in one" (per their bio) insisted on including both songs on the single until Elektra Records finally gave in and released them together.  And then, as their bio continues, "radio really picked up on it".  Radio stations in some areas gave the song heavy airplay (even though the two songs together are almost six minutes in length), and the single began to move back up the Hot 100, so that the single reached its ultimate peak at #43 in its 17th week on the charts, the week ending December 13.  According to billboard.com, the single managed to remain on the charts for 23 weeks in total (though the group's bio says it was on the charts "for over six months").

Afterward, The Kings were never able to duplicate their early success.  A second album, Amazon Beach (presently available on Amazon only as a combination CD with The Kings Are Here) only hit #170 on the album chart, and The Kings were dropped by Elektra.  (The Kings themselves call Amazon Beach "really not that great an effort".)  They have continued to record since then (though for smaller record labels), and they are still, as far as I know, continuing to play live shows as well.

The Kings, as I wrote earlier, realize that most of their fame comes from one single in 1980.  Deciding to capitalize on this, they have released on their site a DVD entitled "Anatomy of a One-Hit Wonder".  (To those familiar with my blog: yes, Amazon has this, but for a much higher price than on The Kings' webpage, so I could not in all good faith link to it.)  "This Beat Goes On/Switchin' to Glide" apaprently (from what various people online have written) still receives airplay in some places, though I've never heard it apart from the long-running radio show Crap From the Past.  I'd love to hear more stations adding it to their playlists.

*Yes, I'm violating my own policy of avoiding Wikipedia links.  Sorry to anyone who, for whatever reason, might be offended by this.

The Super Bowl Shuffle by the Chicago Bears Shufflin' Crew

In late 1985, the Chicago Bears were dominating the NFL, cruising to a 15-1 record.  It was widely expected that they would continue to win easily all the way through the Super Bowl.

What was not widely expected is that they would release a hit song along the way.

The idea of a sports team recording a song wasn't new--for example, the San Francisco 49ers had, on their way to winning Super Bowl XIX a year earlier, recorded a song called, so originally, "We're the 49ers".  That song did not make a dent on the charts, however.

But regardless of whether the Bears were aware of the 49ers' effort a year earlier, they were convinced to release a rap song and video entitled "The Super Bowl Shuffle" during the regular season.  While Wikipedia (and multiple other sites which borrowed extensively from Wikipedia) state that the idea came from a "die-hard Bears fan" named Randy Weigand, this site featuring an oral history of the song seems to point more toward Richard "Dick" Meyer, who produced the song and owned Red Label Records, which released the single.  Most histories of the song agree that the idea for the title and lyrics came from the "Kingfish Shuffle", which had its origins on "Amos & Andy" many years earlier.  These histories also seem to agree that the idea was first pitched to Bears receiver Willie Gault, who managed to get most of the rest of the team onboard.  (Bears defensive end Dan Hampton thought the song was a little arrogant and opted out.)

(This is about the only thing related to this song that I can upload without exposing myself to liability.  Free clip art courtesy clker.com.)

The Bears shot a video for the song, ironically, the day after their only loss of the 1985 season.  If you've seen the video, you know Jim McMahon and Walter Payton were unavailable that morning and were added in via the most up-to-date special effects available in 1985 (namely, a green screen). Steve Fuller, the backup QB that season, can be seen in the video with a broken foot, which typically is not good for dance moves (or for running like lightning, as Mr. Fuller purported to do in the song's lyrics).

A week after that, "The Super Bowl Shuffle" was released.  It debuted on Billboard's Hot 100 at #92 for the week ending January 11, 1986.  Four weeks later (after Chicago had already won Super Bowl XX), the song peaked at #41.  In total, the song spent nine weeks on the Hot 100.  Per Rick Geiser of sportssongs.com (as quoted on grantland.com's oral history of the song), the song should have charted much higher than its peak of #41:

“The Super Bowl Shuffle” record should have been number one, or a Top 10 song. Based on sales, it did go gold extremely quickly. But because most radio stations didn’t officially add it to the playlists they reported to Billboard, it only got to number 41. It’s probably one of the only songs to go gold but never make it into the Top 10.

As stated in the first verse of the song by Walter Payton, the aim in recording "The Super Bowl Shuffle" was to "feed the needy".  Specifically, this was done via a six-figure donation to the Chicago Community Trust.

Since then, there has been some outcry from the players about whether enough of the proceeds were donated to CCT, as well as whether they themselves were compensated fairly for participating.  Just last year, six former Bears filed a lawsuit against Julia Meyer (Dick Meyer's widow--she also portrayed the referee in the video), who currently holds the rights to the song, and Renaissance Marketing Corporation, her agent for licensing the song.  The aim in the suit was to prevent non-charitable uses of the song and video.  At the time this blog entry was written, the suit was still pending.

Many football fans might remember more recently an ad for Boost Mobile featuring many of the same players who appeared in the original video.  However, as Willie Gault says here, he "was a little disappointed with the experience":

I think they had an opportunity to make that really great and I tried to come up with some ideas for them. I thought we could redo “The Super Bowl Shuffle” in a great way and I gave them ideas and they thought they were OK, but wanted to go another way. It became a comedy about McMahon and Ditka as opposed to being about the team. 

It should be noted that Julia Meyer is very diligent in tracking down people who use images, audio, or video of "The Super Bowl Shuffle" without permission, and since this blog is more of a labor of love than anything else, I don't really have any desire to deal with litigation.  Thus, unfortunately, I am unable to bring you a clip of the song.  However, Amazon (via a third-party seller) is selling new copies of the video, which I assume to be licensed, and so you can purchase the song here:

Time by the Alan Parsons Project

In the late 70s and early 80s, the Alan Parsons Project had several hits, a few of which still receive the occasional spin.  (And then there's "Sirius", which will be forever associated with NBA team introductions in my mind, and possibly for many others as well.)  They were known for a few concept albums that had a little bit of a storyline.

This was certainly the case in the group's 1980 album The Turn of a Friendly Card, which tells the tale of an addiction to gambling.  This album was one of several successes for the group, spawning two Top 20 singles.  The first, "Games People Play", hit #16 on Billboard's Hot 100 in early 1981.

(The Turn of a Friendly Card peaked at #13 on Billboard's Hot LPs and Tape chart. Album ℗1980 Arista Records. Photo courtesy Amazon.com.)

The second single, "Time", is somewhat of a departure from the gambling theme of the rest of the album.  Instead, it is more of a wistful ballad, with the protagonist saying goodbye to several people.

The song entered the Hot 100 the week ending April 18, 1981* and peaked at #15 the week ending August 1.  It remained at that same position for two more weeks before beginning a somewhat slow decline.  "Time" finally fell out of the Hot 100 the week ending September 26 after a fairly impressive 23 weeks on the chart.  That performance was enough to make it #48 on Billboard's year-end chart for 1981.  It was the best-selling single for the Alan Parsons Project until the release of "Eye in the Sky" the next year.

It should be noted that "Time" was the first Alan Parsons Project single for which lead vocals were sung by Eric Woolfson, the co-creator of the group.  (Also, Alan Parsons, about whom the album notes on his album Try Anything Once said "he almost never sings", is credited for background vocals.)  Mr. Woolfson would go on to sing lead vocals for "Eye in the Sky" in 1982 and "Don't Answer Me", the final Top 20 single for the group, in 1984.

I suppose it is always difficult for ballads to gain recurrent status on many stations, including the Classic Hits stations now present in many cities.  And that's too bad, as "Time" is widely regarded as a very beautiful song.  That's not a description you would find attached to too many Top 40 songs now...and that's to the detriment of current Top 40 radio.  Take a listen to this track and see for yourself.

* Google's archive of Billboard is still incomplete; this issue is not available online at present.

In America by The Charlie Daniels Band

Most people who have heard of Charlie Daniels probably remember him mostly for The Charlie Daniels Band's platinum-certified #3 smash "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", which still gets a fair amount of airplay even today, and rightly so.  Some may also remember his #9 song from a few years before, "Uneasy Rider", or they might even remember this ad from 2010:

Most people, though, probably don't remember that The Charlie Daniels Band very nearly returned to the Top 10 just a year after "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" had its run and helped the album on which it appeared, Million Mile Reflections, go platinum as well.  The band's follow-up album was entitled Full Moon and was released in the summer of 1980.

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(Full Moon peaked at #11 on Billboard's Hot LPs and Tape chart. Album ℗1980 Epic/Nashville Records. Photo courtesy Amazon.com.)

A few weeks before Full Moon dropped, the debut single, "In America", was released.  The song was about restoring patriotism in the United States after a rather lousy decade (with an economy to match) and while the Iran hostage crisis was still ongoing.  It spoke of Americans becoming united, and after all this, "God bless America again".  The hope, optimism, and patriotism of the song resonated with many people.  It debuted in Billboard's Hot 100 in its May 31, 1980 issue* and peaked at #11 the week ending August 2; it remained at that position for two weeks and then went into a freefall, falling out of the Top 40 within three weeks of peaking (by which time the second single from Full Moon, "The Legend of Wooley Swamp" had already begun its chart run) and out of the Hot 100 completely just two weeks later.  "In America" spent a respectable 15 weeks on the Hot 100, and it did well enough to land at #96 in the year-end chart for 1980.

According to Wikipedia**, "In America" experienced a short revival in 2001 after the events of September 11; however, since that time I know of no station that has played the song except WCBS-FM, in a 2008 Sunday night broadcast of their Top 20 from August 3, 1980.

* Google's archive of Billboard is still incomplete; this issue is not available online at present.
**Standard Disclaimer:  some information on this blog comes from the always-reliable Wikipedia; as such, its veracity may be questionable.

Love Sneakin' Up On You by Bonnie Raitt

Bonnie Raitt is one of those rockers who was around for years before ever having a top 40 hit.  She started recording in the early 1970s and even got a shoutout from Dr. Johnny Fever on WKRP in Cincinnati when he played her late 70s remake of "Runaway", which got up to #57.  But it wasn't until the early 90s that she ever hit the top 40 charts.  She hit first with "Have a Heart", but she is probably best known for "Something to Talk About", which hit #5 on Billboard's Hot 100 in 1991.  "Something to Talk About" still gets some airplay on radio these days, and deservedly so, usually on adult contemporary stations.

But who remembers the first single from her follow-up album in 1994?  Maybe some of my readers, whom I assume are quite enlightened, will remember "Love Sneakin' Up On You", the first single from Longing in Their Hearts, but I don't think radio remembers it at all.

(Longing in Their Hearts, as might be expected, peaked at #1 on the Billboard 200. Album ℗1994 Capitol Records. Photo courtesy Amazon.com.)

"Love Sneakin' Up On You" debuted on Billboard's Hot 100 the week ending March 12, 1994 at #90 (Google's Billboard archive is missing that week's issue), and I personally heard the song for the first time that same week on a Spring Break quasi-roadtrip.  It slowly made its way up the charts, peaking at #19 almost two months later, as seen in the issue for the week ending May 7.  The song had fairly good staying power, staying on the Hot 100 for 20 weeks and ending up at #94 for the year.  It did even better on the Canadian charts, where it was a #1 song.

After its run, there was one more single to be released from Longing in Their Hearts.  Unfortunately, "You" was not nearly as successful, peaking at #92.  After that, Ms. Raitt hit the Hot 100 a couple more times before basically moving solely to the adult contemporary chart, which she last hit in 2006.

"Love Sneakin' Up On You", though, has seemingly disappeared.  (In researching this song, I discovered that YouTube does not even presently have the album version of this song on its site.)  It would be nice to see it reappear on the airwaves sometime.

Room to Move by Animotion

This post has moved.  Find it here at the new Unfairly Forgotten Songs site.

How Much Love by Leo Sayer

When asked about Leo Sayer, I would guess that most people would either respond with "Who?" or possibly remember one or two songs of his...or the fact that he once appeared on the Muppet Show.  I personally remember him for three songs.  Two of them, "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" and "When I Need You", were mainstays on middle-of-the-road radio in my hometown for years.  The third, Mr. Sayer's 1980 remake of "More Than I Can Say", was popular after I was old enough to pay attention to what songs were popular at the time.

But I never remember hearing "How Much Love" even once.  It's quite possible that I heard it when it made its appearance on the charts, but I was too young to notice, and for some reason, it never survived as a recurrent the way other songs from Mr. Sayer did.

"How Much Love" was the third single from Mr. Sayer's 1976 album Endless Flight.  The first two singles were the two mainstays I remembered from my youth; both songs hit #1 on Billboard's Hot 100.

(This picture deserves a better caption than I can come up with at this hour.  Submissions are welcome.)
(Endless Flight peaked at #10 on Billboard's Top LPs and Tape Chart. Album ℗1976 Warner Bros. Records. Photo courtesy Amazon.com.)

While Google's Billboard archives, on which I have become rather dependent for specific information for these posts, is incomplete for 1977, it appears that "How Much Love" debuted on the Hot 100 the week ending July 9, 1977.  It peaked at #17 the week ending August 27 and stayed there for two weeks before rather quickly descending the charts, appearing at #70 during its 15th and final week on the charts, the week ending October 15.  Billboard ranked it the #98 song for the year 1977.

Following "How Much Love", which turned out to be the final single from Endless Flight, Mr. Sayer hit the bottom of the top 40 twice before hitting #2 with "More Than I Can Say" three years later.  His songs continued to chart in the U.K. into the 1980s, but after 1981, he never again appeared on the Hot 100.

As for "How Much Love" itself, I heard this song for the first time during a local radio station's daily nine-songs-from-one-year feature (mentioned on this blog before...here, for example), when they happened to be featuring 1977.  I heard it a second time...another time that same station used 1977 for that same feature.  And I've heard it on the radio no other time before or since.