The Reagan Era had only just begun. The charts marked the occasion by diving headlong into soft rock. Manilow and Fogelberg, Air Supply and Al Jarreau–if this week’s countdown was a food, it would be a mayonnaise and Wonder Bread sandwich. But like any early 80s bagged lunch, the snacks here are better than the main course—funk tunes hiding at the bottom of the bag like Chips-Ahoy soft-serve, a few stray rockers like a fun-sized bag of Doritos.
You get the idea. It was the ‘80s. We only had processed foods and AOR radio.
But before we get to that, a look back at the week in history…
October 31, 1981—The Week at a Glance
On Wednesday, October 28th, the Los Angeles Dodgers completed an improbable comeback. After losing the first two games of the World Series, they came roaring back with four consecutive wins to clinch their first title since 1965.
This was the 11th World Series matchup between the two storied franchises and the third in just five years. The Yankees took the first two of those matchups during those wild and unhinged Bronx Zoo seasons of 1977 and 1978. The Dodgers got the better of them here, taking the final game in Yankee Stadium by a decisive 9-2 score.
Though the Dodgers and Yankees have faced off more than any other teams in World Series history, this 1981 showdown stands as their most recent postseason matchup. The Dodgers earned a true team victory, and for the first time in Series history, bestowed MVP honors on three players—Ron Cey (3B), Pedro Guerrero (RF), and Steve Yeager (C).
On the same day that the Dodgers clinched their fifth title in franchise history, another storied Los Angeles franchise was just beginning. Metallica was formed on this day in 1981. It all started five months prior, when Danish drummer Lars Ulrich placed an ad in a local weekly circular called The Recycler “looking for other metal musicians to jam with Tyers of Pan Tang, Diamond Head and Iron Maiden.”
Rhythm guitarist James Hetfield was the first guy to answer the ad. So when Ulrich scored a slot on Metal Blade Records’ forthcoming Metal Massacre compilation, he naturally thought of Hetfield first. They joined forces, placed another ad for a lead guitarist, and immediately hired Dave Mustaine when they saw how expensive his guitar gear was.
By early ’82, they had recorded their first original song—“Hit the Lights”–for inclusion on the Metal Massacre compilation.
The band was credited incorrectly on the compilation as Mettallica, a fact about which they were none too pleased. And with this inauspicious beginning was launched the best selling band of the Soundscan Era.
And Saturday, October 31 1981—the same day as this week’s Top 40 Countdown—marked a momentous event in sports history. During a University of Washington Football Game in Seattle, game show host, television personality, and future Entertainment Tonight anchor Robb Weller initiated The Wave. The resulting stadium-wide staggered cheer is often acknowledged as a catalyzing event in the future popularization of “The Wave.”
And yet, like most great inventions, there are some disputes as to its true origins.
Many say professional cheerleader Krazy George Henderson actually invented the wave, and that the first documented occurrence was two weeks prior, on October 15th at a nationally televised matchup between the Oakland Athletics and the pennant-bound Yankees. So while Weller may have helped to popularize the cheer, it was Henderson who imagined it.
Wherever it began, or leapt to popularity, October of 1981 was ground zero for The Wave.
Important stuff. Important historical stuff.
But what about this week’s countdown?
Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 for the Week of October 31, 1981
Best That You Can Do
At the top of this week’s countdown, and at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for three consecutive weeks in the month of October, was the theme song to the film Arthur. The romantic comedy starred Dudley Moore as a drunken socialite who falls in love with a working class girl from Queens played by Liza Minelli.
The film was a box office success, but its theme song was the real winner, scoring both the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Song of the Year. Christopher Cross wrote the effecting bit of soft rock with support from legendary songwriter Burt Bacharach, his wife and songwriting partner Carole Bayer Sager, and Minelli’s ex-husband Peter Allen.
Allen, in particular, contributed the evocative refrain “when you get caught between the New York City”, which came to him one night while his plane hovered in a holding pattern over JFK Airport.
It’s also worth noting that the studio sessions on this one include contributions from Steve Lukather (guitar), David Hungate (bass) and Jeff Porcaro (drums). The next year, these guys would be splitting studio time between work on Michael Jackson’s Thriller and on their own fourth full-length LP as Toto (which would spawn the 1982 mega-hit “Africa”).
This only reinforces a fact that we’ve reiterated many times here at Music Influence—the dudes from Toto were absolutely everywhere in the early 80s, even between the moon and New York City.
Mike Posts Another Hit
You may perhaps recall that Mike Post appeared in our look back at the countdown for the last week of June 1975—then for composing the theme song for “The Rockford Files.”
I’ll tell you now what I told you then. Post is an absolute legend in the field of TV theme-making, and whether you know it or not, you’ve heard his music a ton. To reiterate:
Post began as a songwriter and arranger in the 60s, even winning a Grammy at age 23 for his arrangement work on the 1968 Mason Williams #2 hit “Classical Gas.” He also charted with his own instrumental Northern Soul one-off, “Afternoon of the Rhino.”
But it was as a composer and arranger of television theme songs that Mike Post made his music familiar to millions of households. Post’s resume includes the themes from Real American Hero, Law and Order, NYPD Blue, The A-Team and (my personal favorite), Hill Street Blues.
The last of these is not just my favorite, but was also a favorite with radio listeners in the fall of ‘81.Hill Street Blues debuted in January of 1981 and the police procedural went on to earn eight Emmy nominations that year. This was, at the time, a record for a show in its first season. The show’s primetime popularity helped drive Mike Post’s theme to #13 on this week’s countdown.
Buttery smooth synth rolls over a dinner lounge piano to create something weirdly palatable as both nostalgia and un-ironic enjoyment. Indeed, one could make the case that Mike Post’s work here is the stuff that Japanese city pop dreams are made of.
Going Soft
Even beyond Christopher Cross and Mike Post, the charts are all but dominated by light, slick and smooth productions. Some of the week’s biggest hits come from middle of the road stalwarts—Barry Manilow at #26 with “The Old Songs”; Al Jarreau at #17 with “We’re In This Love Together”, and “Share Your Love With Me” by Kenny Rogers at #14.
But perhaps more telling are the softer divergences from veteran rock artists including former Guess Who singer Burton Cummings at #37 with the maudlin “You Saved My Soul”, former Jefferson Airplane singer Marty Balin with the yacht-rocker “Atlanta Lady” at #27, and arena rockers Foreigner with monster power ballad “Waiting For a Girl Like You” at #15.
Then there’s former Commodore Lionel Richie, who trades in his funky bonafides for a super saccharine duet with Diana Ross on “Endless Love.” The slow skate ballad reaches #4 on this week’s countdown. Not to be outdone by their former bandmates, the remaining Commodores slide it at #20 with the equally anodyne “Oh No.”
The Stones Never Stop
Here’s the good news. There’s not a ton of rock on this week’s countdown, but what does make the list is pretty great. Most notable are the Go-Gos at #39 with “Our Lips Our Sealed”, the Police with “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” at #20, and the inspired Stevie Nicks-Tom Petty duet “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” at #26.
And at #2, the legendary Rolling Stones crash this week’s countdown with one of their signature hits. “Start Me Up” was—fittingly—the lead single from the band’s 1981 album Tattoo You.
It actually began, though, as a failed experiment in reggae back in 1975. The original incarnation of “Start Me Up” was called “Never Stop”. Stones guitarist Keith Richards contributed the reggae-inspired composition to the sessions for the transitional but underrated Black and Blue (1976) album.
However, the band wrestled with more than 50 different variations on “Never Stop”, even reviving it for the Emotional Rescue (1980) sessions. Again, they just couldn’t stick the landing.
Finally, as they plumbed old demos for Tattoo You, producer Chris Kimsey salvaged one take of “Never Stop” with a slightly harder arrangement. He suggested a full-throttle riff-rocker, and the result was a massive hit.
“Start Me Up” would become the last Stones song to reach the Top Ten in the U.K. and, topping out at #2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, remained the band’s biggest North American hit of the 1980s.
Mick Jagger, convinced that MTV was the future of popular music, insisted on shooting an accompanying video. He also insisted on wearing a purple spandex unitard. At least one of these things proved to be a good decision.
“Start Me Up” earned the Stones heavy airplay on early MTV, and helped them retain relevance at a time when young, arty New Wavers dominated the emergent medium.
Funking Up the Early ’81
I would be remiss to overlook the handful of landmark funk recordings bumping their way through this week’s countdown including Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Let’s Groove” at #36, Carl Carlton’s “She’s a Bad Mama Jama” at #22, and the untouchable “Super Freak” from Rick James #16.
Now, you’ve got two options from here. You can scroll down for a look at the full Top 40 countdown for this last week of October 1981, or you can jump here and find out how Rick James and Neil Young formed a band together, scored a contract with Motown, and got busted by U.S. military police.
The Top 40 for October 31, 1981 in Order
LW#1: ARTHUR’S THEME – CHRISTOPHER CROSS
40: MY GIRL – CHILLIWACK
39: OUR LIPS ARE SEALED – THE GO-GO’S
38: PROMISES IN THE DARK – PAT BENETAR
37: YOU SAVED MY SOUL – BURTON CUMMINGS
36: LET’S GROOVE – EARTH, WIND & FIRE
35: IN THE DARK – BILLY SQUIER
34: HE’S A LIAR – THE BEE GEES
33: HOLD ON TIGHT – ELO
32: URGENT – FOREIGNER
31: SAUSALITO SUMMERNIGHT – DIESEL
ARCHIVES: DIZZY – TOMMY ROE
30: YOUNG TURKS – ROD STEWART
29: ALIEN – THE ATLANTA RHYTHM SECTION
28: WHY DO FOOLS FALL IN LOVE – DIANA ROSS
27: ATLANTA LADY – MARTY BALIN
26: THE OLD SONGS – BARRY MANILOW
25: WHO’S CRYING NOW – JOURNEY
24: STOP DRAGGIN’ MY HEART AROUND – STEVIE NICKS WITH TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS
23: PHYSICAL – OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN
LDD: JUST REMEMBER I LOVE YOU – FIREFALL
22: SHE’S A BAD MAMA JAMA – CARL CARLTON
ARCHIVES: AQUARIUS (LET THE SUN SHINE IN)– THE 5th DIMENSION
21: EVERY LITTLE THING SHE DOES IS MAGIC – THE POLICE
20: OH NO – THE COMMODORES
19: JUST ONCE – QUINCY JONES FEATURING JAMES INGRAM
18: SAY GOODBYE TO HOLLYWOOD – BILLY JOEL
17: WE’RE IN THIS LOVE TOGETHER – AL JARREAU
16: SUPER FREAK – RICK JAMES
15: WAITING FOR A GIRL LIKE YOU – FOREIGNER
14: SHARE YOUR LOVE – KENNY ROGERS
13: THE THEME FROM HILL STREET BLUES – MIKE POST FEATURING LARRY CARLTON
12: WHEN SHE WAS MY GIRL – THE FOUR TOPS
11: HERE I AM – AIR SUPPLY
ARCHIVES: GET BACK – THE BEATLES
10: STEP BY STEP – EDDIE RABBITT
9: I’VE DONE EVERYTHING FOR YOU – RICK SPRINGFIELD
8: THE NIGHT OWLS – THE LITTLE RIVER BAND
LDD: GETTING BETTER – THE BEATLES
7: HARD TO SAY – DAN FOGELBERG
6: TRYIN’ TO LIVE MY LIFE WITHOUT YOU – BOB SEGER & THE SILVER BULLET BAND
5: ENDLESS LOVE – DIANA ROSS AND LIONEL RICHIE
4: FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – SHEENA EASTON
3: PRIVATE EYES – DARYL HALL & JOHN OATES
2: START ME UP – THE ROLLING STONES
1: ARTHUR’S THEME – CHRISTOPHER CROSS