This very week in 1978, the pop charts reached an interesting--and seemingly paradoxical--midpoint in their history. For most of the rock era up to that time, what you and I would call "chart action" remained relatively fast. From the early '60s thru about 1975, the music was particularly teenage and young adult-oriented and the vast bulk of hit records, even number ones, never stayed on the Hot 100 more than 13-14 total weeks. During the first 3-4 years of the '60s British invasion, it was more like 10-11 weeks, and it was typical for many songs to jump 20-30+ points in one survey. The common joke (especially among grownups) that kids were fickle when it came to music (i.e., a record or artist could be on top one week and dropped like a hot potato the next) often seemed not so gross of an exaggeration. As late as 1974 and '75, there was a new #1 practically every week. But by the late '70s that had drastically changed. Most of us had grown up and the pop charts with it. Individual singles were still selling by the millions, but there no longer seemed to be the energy or desire by the industry or radio to push records along at breakneck speed as before. Except for the Bee Gees, Donna Summer and a few other hot artists, the days where big and frequent chart leaps were routine had passed, and by the summer of '78 the charts had literally slowed to a crawl. By late August of that year, something truly unique occurred: On Billboard's Hot 100, all 14 top singles stayed in the same positions for two consecutive weeks. I'll never forget Casey Kasem on AT40 saying that such a thing had never happened before (and hasn't since) in the entire history of the charts, and the odds against it were astronomical. I have an aircheck of that moment in the show (I taped it while on vacation in Pa., and am almost sure the station broadcasting it was WFIR in Roanoke, Va.; this aired at night as you've no doubt guessed). That would be a fabulous one to put on the Web, whenever I figure out how to do it! J
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Posted By: Jeff on: 08/24/2006 19:53:28 EDT