Forty Years Ago This Week: WLS Music Survey - April 23, 1977

So I'm reading the John Oates memoir and in the third paragraph of his Introduction, he sets the record straight about his creative partnership with Daryl Hall: "We are not a duo" he says before going on to emphatically state "it has never been Hall & Oates" (the italics are his). I can't go for that (no can do) as I've got around 150 songs in my digital library credited to "Hall & Oates" in the Artist field. Sorry, John, I don't mean any disrespect but it has always been Hall & Oates in my little world (those italics are mine). I file the vinyl albums and compact discs the two of you released under the letter H - not for Hall of Famers but for Hall & Oates. And when I talk about attending your concert at the McKale Center in December 1984, I don't say "I saw Daryl Hall & John Oates in concert at the McKale Center on the beautiful University of Arizona campus"; I simply say "I saw Hall & Oates back in 1984 on campus."

"Rich Girl" was the first Hall & Oates 45 I ever bought and the song still grabs my attention forty years later despite the heap of trouble it got the ten-year-old me into at school though it wasn't the first time nor would it be the last time singing a song in school got me in trouble. I'm fairly certain I bought the 45 around Valentine's Day 1977 and initially planned to give it to the only rich girl I knew, my fifth-grade crush, the lovely Diana B. before keeping it for myself and just thinking about her as I listened to it. The single eventually topped the WLS Forty-fives survey the week of April 16, 1977, having its lyrics printed on the back of the survey and knocking "Dancing Queen" out of the slot after a one week stint. "Rich Girl" reigned for two weeks but by April 30th, Glen Campbell's "Southern Nights" had usurped the top spot and "Rich Girl" took a tumble. We came together today not to examine the April 16th or April 30th surveys but to go in depth with the WLS survey dated April 23, 1977.

Bob Sirott was the Jock of the Week and I heard him just a few times because of the timing of his shift (2-6), which was inconducive to my listening habits unlike the air shifts of my favorites Larry Lujack (mornings) and John Records Landecker (evenings). After a long career in both radio and TV throughout Chicagoland, Sirott is back at WLS these days, co-hosting a show with his wife. It should be noted that the once mighty Musicradio had switched to all talk radio abruptly on August 23, 1989, after playing this final song.

As usual, the Concerts in the Weeks Ahead was woefully out of date, advertising mostly shows that had already blown through The Windy City. One of the shows not noted on the Concerts calendar is an April 23rd show by an ascending Cheap Trick at B'Ginnings, a Schaumburg club co-owned by Danny Seraphine, drummer for Chicago, who were recording their Chicago XI album at the time.

On music television that week, Van Morrison performed with Carlos Santana and host George Benson on The Midnight Special, which was taped a month before it actually aired. This was the standard practice for nearly all shows, which often aired acts performing their latest singles weeks or even months after they had peaked on the charts. If you spent any time at all in front of the tube back then, you know 1977 was an excellent year for music television. Not only were there shows like The Midnight Special, Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, American Bandstand, Soul Train and Saturday Night Live but there were music-based variety shows like The Sonny & Cher (Comedy Hour) Show, The Captain & Tennille, The Tony Orlando & Dawn Rainbow Happy Hour, The Jacksons, The Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis, Jr. Show, Donny & Marie, Hee Haw and The Muppet Show. If it was a snow day or a rare sick day, there was a chance a musical act would guest on Dinah! or The Mike Douglas Show.

Over on the Thirty-threes chart, the A Star is Born soundtrack was in its ninth week at the top of the chart while runner-up Hotel California held its ground for a sixth consecutive week. (SPOILER ALERT: The two albums would switch places the following week.) Three acts have a pair of albums on the chart this week: ABBA, Eagles and KISS. But with three albums on the chart, Barry Manilow handily bests all comers.

The biggest mover on the Thirty-threes chart is the soundtrack to Rocky, which debuted at the anchor spot last week before jumping nine places up to number 24 this week with the single, "Gonna Fly Now (Theme from ROCKY)" debuting at number 37 on the Forty-fives chart. The lyrics to the number 7 song appear on the reverse of the survey which is sponsored by yummy Zingers, which were but one of my rotating menu of after-school snacks.

Four songs debuted on the Forty-fives chart that week, including the previously mentioned 

"Gonna Fly Now (Theme from ROCKY)", which was highest chart-crasher at number 37. Hot's "Angel In Your Arms" came in at number 40 while "Your Love", the follow-up to "You Don't Have To Be A Star (To Be In My Show)" limped in at number 42. Edging the other three debut singles out for the cash & prizes that accompany the awarding of My Favorite Debut of the Week were KC & The Sunshine Band and their can't-sit-still hit "I'm Your Boogie Man", sliding in at number 43.

The biggest mover on the Forty-fives chart that week was "Calling Dr. Love". It jumped thirteen places, from 28 to 15, while KISS's other single on the survey "Hard Luck Woman" dropped from 29 to 39. Other acts with a pair of songs on the Forty-fives chart were the Eagles with two singles from Hotel California  and Rose Royce with two singles from the Car Wash soundtrack .

WLS	title	artist	Billboard	Cashbox	Canada	UK
45	Crackerbox Palace	George Harrison			37
44	New Kid In Town	Eagles			35
43	I'm Your Boogie Man	KC & The Sunshine Band	17	14	20
42	Your Love	Billy Davis & Marilyn McCoo	20	20	27
41	Feels Like The First Time	Foreigner	29	29
40	Angel In Your Arms	Hot	25	15	23
39	Hard Luck Woman	Kiss
38	Sam	Olivia Newton-John			36
37	Theme From "Rocky"	Bill Conti
36	Car Wash	Rose Royce
35	Gloria	Enchantment
34	I Wanna Get Next To You	Rose Royce	13	12	31	14
33	Weekend In New England	Barry Manilow		30	39
32	Couldn't Get It Right	Climax Blues Band	14	13	41
31	Go Your Own Way	Fleetwood Mac
30	Maybe I'm Amazed	Wings	24	24	15
29	After The Loving	Englebert Humperdinck
28	Tryin' To Love Two	William Bell	11	10	22
27	Lido Shuffle	Boz Scaggs	15	8	18
26	The First Cut Is The Deepest	Rod Stewart	22	44	16	13
25	Do Ya	Electric Light Orchestra		31	17
24	Sir Duke	Stevie Wonder	19	21	30	4
23	Night Moves	Bob Seger			33
22	Long Time	Boston			21
21	Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow	Tom Jones
20	Fly Like An Eagle	Steve Miller			19
19	Hot Line	Sylvers
18	Year Of The Cat	Al Stewart			29
17	Right Time Of The Night	Jennifer Warnes	10	7	9
16	Torn Between Two Lovers	Mary MacGregor		32	28
15	Calling Dr. Love	Kiss	23	19	32
14	I've Got Love On My Mind	Natalie Cole	6	4	7
13	Can't Stop Dancin'	Captain & Tennille	16	18	24
12	Carry On Wayward Son	Kansas	21	23	14
11	I Like Dreamin'	Kenny Nolan	38	34	13
10	So Into You	Atlanta Rhythm Section	8	5	5
9	Love Theme From A Star Is Born (Evergreen)	Barbra Streisand	7	22	12	25
8	When I Need You	Leo Sayer	9	9	11
7	Don't Leave Me This Way	Thelma Houston	1	11	4
6	Hotel California	Eagles	3	1	6	21
5	Dancing Queen	Abba	18	17	3
4	The Things We Do For Love	10cc		16	2
3	Southern Nights	Glen Campbell	2	3	8	35
2	Don't Give Up On Us	David Soul	4	2	1
1	Rich Girl	Hall & Oates	12	6	10

Comparing WLS's Forty-fives chart to other national and international singles charts that week yields no unanimous, worldwide Number One Song as the four other charts each had their own chart-toppers and none of them were also titled "Rich Girl"; the song had already topped both Billboard's Hot 100 and Cash Box's Top 100 on March 26. As we've come to expect, the Canadian RPM chart comes closest to WLS's by sharing 36 of the latter's 45 singles with Cash Box and Billboard matching fewer as they were slightly ahead of the curve (or rather WLS was slightly behind the curve) and many of WLS's charting singles had already run their course on their respective charts.

			WHYI	WPGC	CHUM	WIBG	KOLA
WLS	title	artist	100.7	1580	1050	990	99.9
45	Crackerbox Palace	George Harrison
44	New Kid In Town	Eagles
43	I'm Your Boogie Man	KC & The Sunshine Band	1	4	19	22	8
42	Your Love	Billy Davis & Marilyn McCoo		10		12	13
41	Feels Like The First Time	Foreigner		14			23
40	Angel In Your Arms	Hot		15		25	25
39	Hard Luck Woman	Kiss
38	Sam	Olivia Newton-John
37	Theme From "Rocky"	Bill Conti	10	30		21
36	Car Wash	Rose Royce
35	Gloria	Enchantment
34	I Wanna Get Next To You	Rose Royce	11	13	25	9	9
33	Weekend In New England	Barry Manilow
32	Couldn't Get It Right	Climax Blues Band		11	29		5
31	Go Your Own Way	Fleetwood Mac
30	Maybe I'm Amazed	Wings	30		16
29	After The Loving	Englebert Humperdinck
28	Tryin' To Love Two	William Bell		8		18	11
27	Lido Shuffle	Boz Scaggs		5	12	10	3
26	The First Cut Is The Deepest	Rod Stewart
25	Do Ya	Electric Light Orchestra
24	Sir Duke	Stevie Wonder	3		26	20	6
23	Night Moves	Bob Seger			22
22	Long Time	Boston			24
21	Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow	Tom Jones
20	Fly Like An Eagle	Steve Miller
19	Hot Line	Sylvers
18	Year Of The Cat	Al Stewart			18
17	Right Time Of The Night	Jennifer Warnes		7	14	15	12
16	Torn Between Two Lovers	Mary MacGregor	27		30
15	Calling Dr. Love	Kiss	26	9		23	10
14	I've Got Love On My Mind	Natalie Cole	8	15	15	8
13	Can't Stop Dancin'	Captain & Tennille		22		13	4
12	Carry On Wayward Son	Kansas	16		8	17
11	I Like Dreamin'	Kenny Nolan			2	14
10	So Into You	Atlanta Rhythm Section		6	7	1	7
9	Love Theme From A Star Is Born (Evergreen)	Barbra Streisand	20	25	13	6
8	When I Need You	Leo Sayer	12	1	11	11	1
7	Don't Leave Me This Way	Thelma Houston	24		10	24
6	Hotel California	Eagles	2	3	3	2	2
5	Dancing Queen	Abba	4	23		16
4	The Things We Do For Love	10cc			4	4
3	Southern Nights	Glen Campbell	13	2	5	5	17
2	Don't Give Up On Us	David Soul	15	17	1	7
1	Rich Girl	Hall & Oates	7	19	6	3

The chart above matches WLS Forty-fives up against other stations' weekly surveys across the country and Canada, both FM and AM, including WHYI in Ft. Lauderdale, FL; WPGC in Washington, DC; CHUM in Toronto, ON; WIBG in Philadelphia, PA; and KOLA in San Bernadino, CA. Once again, there is no agreement - we were all at the mercy of our favorite station's music directors and, to a lesser degree, the favorite songs of our fellow listeners. Down in Florida, the home team of KC & the Sunshine Band was already at Number One though they were just debuting on WLS's chart while in DC and way over in San Bernadino, coast to coast one might say, Leo Sayer's ballad "When I Need You" was sitting on top of their respective charts. That's all I got for now. Let's meet up again soon to examine the Memorial Day weekend WLS survey of June 4, 1977.

For a closer look at the Billboard's Top 40 for the week of April 23, 1977, head on over to the soft rock kid's detailed rundown of that week's episode of Casey Kasem's American Top 40.

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