I think the point is not what one might have chosen at the time but what makes sense in retrospect, and this decision is absolutely the wrong one IMO. Just like you might have been able to argue Milli Vanilli more successfully on the basis of their several big hits, but looking back given what we learned about them later, it was a disastrous pick.
In April of 1982, Roxy Music released one of their most memorable songs, More Than This. It has become a classic, and I recall hearing it a lot back in the day, but amazingly it didn't even make the top 100 on the US charts at the time. Regardless, it's great, so here it is:
Not a bad song, and a great comeback for this great early-mid-70s group. I admit I didn't particularly care for this at the time (I like The Border better), but it's good fun.
Avalon hit #1 in Canada & ended the year at #4 on the year end chart (only Business As Usual, Freeze Frame & American Fool were above); although "Take a Chance With Me" peaked at #32, but oddly "More Than This" didn't make the Top 50 chart which is what RPM had edited itself down to by 1982. I remember the song all over FM radio though. It is such a groovy and lush song without being sappy or bourgeois.
At this time, this lady was in the top 20, proving that although disco was dead.. Countrypolitan was STILL refusing to go down without a fight.
Avalon, the album that song is from, is incredibly good. Great music for having sex, too. Yeah, "More Than This" should have made Top 40, much less Top 100.
Did any Roxy Music single ever crack the US Top 100? I know Bryan Ferry had a Top 40 solo hit with “Kiss and Tell” (but not with “Slave to Love” - inconceivable!), however Wikipedia doesn’t show any Roxy Music singles doing it. Roxy Music has to be one of the most unique bands in pop music history. How to you classify them? Pop, Progressive, Glam, New Wave, Post-Punk, Alternative, Electronic - they all have claimed Roxy Music as one of their own at one time or another. But, they really don’t fit any definition. They’re great and hugely influential; it’s ridiculous that it took so long for them to get into the Rock and Roll HOF. “Street Life;” “Love is the Drug;” “Dance Away;” “Avalon;” “Angel Eyes;” “More Than This” - great songs.
"Love Is The Drug" reached #30 but it's a crime about the rest of the singles. A truly innovative and original band. This is the kind of stuff that embarrasses me as a music fan in the U.S.
I don't think we the listeners are to blame. It's a crowded market with a much bigger R&B/country/adult contempo scene, plus it's utterly corrupt with payola and so on.
Most people have no idea who sang what, or when songs came out, so Family Feud is a bad argument. It's just a matter of opinion. Zzzzzzzzzzz...
Not true. Their wonderful cover of "Sukiyaki" - which lead vocalist Janice-Marie Johnson wrote English lyrics to based on a translation from Japanese provided by the original lyricist Rokusuke Ei - made it all the way to #3 in 1981, in spite of massive resistance from their producer and the label, who didn't want them to record it and didn't want it released as a single. I think it's one of the best hit covers of this era. The arrangement is beautiful, Johnson's lyric is wonderful and she nails the delivery. She'd loved the original as a child and really does the cover justice. So I don't know if A Taste Of Honey were more "deserving" of a Grammy than Elvis Costello, but those ladies were far from untalented. I think the bigger surprise is that they weren't successful beyond a few years into their career.
"Up Where We Belong" Another one of those songs where I'm not crazy about the song, but its time in the sun still brings back good memories. In this case it reminds me of when Domino's pizza opened a few miles from our house, and every time we ordered from them, I would sit in the same chair in the den to wait on them. This song was on the radio a lot at the time. My parents were also big fans of An Officer and A Gentleman the movie...it was one of the first movies they bought when we finally got a VCR (a Beta!)
Warnes had been a darling of the critics for several years by this point - sort of the thinking man's Linda Ronstadt, although I'm not particularly convinced her work was any smarter. Her late '60s / early '70s records on Parrot and Reprise had sank without a trace, but when Clive signed her to Arista in '75 her fortunes improved. Still, Clive didn't hear any potential hits on her debut Jennifer Warnes album, so he brought in "The Right Time Of The Night" for her to record, and had the album remixed by Val Garay, who'd been doing the mixes for Linda Ronstadt's albums (he'd later go on to produce the album Mistaken Identity for Kim Carnes, giving us "Bette Davis Eyes"). It was far more commercial than the rest of what Warnes had recorded, but it worked, making it to #6 in 1977 (Clive held the album release because he didn't want it getting lost in the crowded '76 holiday market). Warnes wasn't and isn't a huge fan of the song, but she does a great job on it and it was certainly on-point in '77, sounding perfectly at home on the radio next to records by The Eagles, Ronstadt and Fleetwood Mac, with its nods to country/rock and sly lyrics. She only managed one Top 40 placement after that though, with "I Know A Heartache When I See One" in '79, and with country/rock rapidly fading she certainly didn't seem to be well positioned for success circa 1982. Cocker of course had been a huge, shaggy presence on the music scene starting with his '69 debut, With A Little Help From My Friends. My uncle was a big fan of his first few albums, so I was well-familiar with his early work even though he hadn't been a major presence on the US singles charts until he cracked the Top 10 with his cover of "The Letter" in 1970 (from Mad Dogs & Englishmen). His singles chart commercial peak in the US came in '75, with the perennial "You Are So Beautiful" and "It's a Sin (When You Love Somebody)" both making it to #5. But he was probably as well-known for his disheveled, hard drinking stage persona as he was for his music, something John Belushi brilliantly captured in this hilarious SNL performance, which is incredible because it only slightly exaggerated Cocker's stage antics and because Belushi sounds just like him: Cocker also went into a profound commercial slump after his mid-'70s peak, owing to drinking and drugs, so the pair were an unlikely duo to cut a massive #1 hit, but it didn't come completely out of left field. Warnes had won an Oscar for "It Goes Like It Goes" from the '79 film Norma Rae, which is how she came into consideration for the producers of the Debra Winger / Richard Gere vehicle An Officer And A Gentleman. Warnes in turn suggested bringing in Joe Cocker - who she was a huge fan of - and making the song a duet. Songwriter Will Jennings ("Tears In Heaven", "My Heart Will Go On", "Higher Love", "Looks Like We Made It", "I'll Never Love This Way Again") was brought in to rework some motifs from the film's soundtrack into the song, the soundtrack having been scored by '60s veterans Jack Nitzsche and Buffy Sainte-Marie. Amazingly, the whole circuitous process worked, producing a massive hit single from a big hit film. I was happy when it first cropped up on the countdown, because I was glad to see two veteran stars - especially Cocker - back on the charts. I wasn't a huge fan of ballads, but thought this one was at least well-sung - Warnes and Cocker work amazingly well together and sang the **** out of this thing (take note, because Hollywood certainly did, and this wouldn't be Jennifer's last trip to the top as part of a duet from a movie). But after weeks of overexposure I grew sick of it. It feels fairly calculating and obvious, like a train that arrives on schedule at predefined stops. For a song whose birth was amazingly complicated and oblique, there's nothing complicated or oblique about "Up Where We Belong". Didn't stop this one from becoming fairly iconic, though. It was sort of the template for the big, bombastic '80s ballad that didn't sound like something Journey would do. But I'm glad Warnes and Cocker got a huge payday off of it.
Ever since my mom brought home a copy of “Don’t Cry Out Loud” I had a strange fascination and/or crush on Ms. Manchester. Maybe she reminded me of a past school teacher...who knows, but once she decided to vamp it up and go toe to toe with ONJ/Irene Cara/Kim Carnes I simultaneously kinda liked/dreaded it. She certainly goes for it, but I cannot ever get this cringe inducing version she performed...did Corky St. Claire choreographe this? Mellissa Manchester "You Should Hear How She Talks About You"
this song was quite popular at my Middle school for the sole reason that our band director, Jim Leacox was the brother of their drummer, Willie Leacox.
It was issued as a single in Canada in November of 1982 (around the time "Down Under" was breaking in the U.S.). It didn't break the top 10 but it did got a decent amount of airplay for the next couple months. "Overkill" had just hit radio when "Be Good Johnny" fell out of rotation.
Again, they were regulated to the R&B chart and radio. Their cover of "Sukiyaki" was a pop hit, but it was the only one after "Boogie Oogie Oogie" to significantly crossover.
Sorry, I was going by (what I thought was) the list of nominees in JMAC1979's post -- and several posts afterwards which commented on the list presented there. I guess that poster just listed what he/she thought should have been nominated (also apologize for not knowing the poster's sex). I now see that JMAC1979 presented a list of debut artists, and did not claim they were the nominees for the award. That's my fault - I misread the post. WRT this list of 1978 best new artist nominees, I'm not sure why Elvis Costello is here -- wasn't My Aim Is True from 1977??
My point is that -- the people who choose these things obviously can only go by what they know at the time. That seems a little self-evident, doesn't it? I said what I said because (and maybe you are the exception??) a lot of the responders don't seem to take that into account, even though it's glaringly obvious. They should just give the "new artist award" for each year -- 10 years later than they do -- so they always get it right. That sounds absurd (and it's supposed to). I give them credit for trying. I'd be very surprised if there WEREN'T any clunker picks in retrospect.
I've said several times that I was learning a lot about '60s music at this time (1982). Accordingly, "Up Where We Belong" was big around the same time I first saw the Woodstock movie (which Cocker is in). It was at this time that I first realized who Cocker was. I do remember hearing "You Are So Beautiful" in the late '70s but I didn't figure out that was Cocker until about 1984.
During this song's first week at No. 1, Tainted Love by Soft Cell was still at No. 97, spending its record 43rd week on the Hot 100. Climbing the charts at this time was this song: Moving Pictures - What About Me (1982) It would only peak at No. 29 but spent 13 weeks in the top 40 and 26 weeks on the Hot 100. When re-released in 1989, its cumulative week total tied Tainted Love. I always loved What About Me, and even when it was struggling on the charts in fall 1982, I always knew it would become a hit. Despite its low peak, it placed in the year-end top 100 for 1983. These longevity records were all broken when chart methodology changed in late 1991.
