 | Damned if I DoThe Alan Parsons Project |
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DavesMusicDatabase.com is devoted to ranking, rating, and reviewing music of all genres and eras. The DMDB blog serves up album and song reviews, best-of lists, music history snapshots, and music-related essays.
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Saturday, September 29, 1979
Alan Parsons Project “Damned if I Do” charted
Monday, September 24, 1979
Eagles’ The Long Run released
| First posted 3/26/2008; updated 10/17/2020. |
The Long Run |
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Released: September 24, 1979 Peak: 19 US, 4 UK, 15 CN, 13 AU Sales (in millions): 7.0 US, 0.10 UK, 12.10 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock |
Tracks: Click for codes to singles charts.
Total Running Time: 42:29 The Players:
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Rating:  3.634 out of 5.00 (average of 20 ratings)
Awards:
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About the Album: “Three years in the making (which was considered an eternity in the ‘70s), the Eagles’ follow-up to the massively successful, critically acclaimed Hotel California was a major disappointment, even though it sold several million copies and threw off three hit singles.” AMG “Those singles, in fact, provide some insight into the record. Heartache Tonight was an old-fashioned rock & roll song sung by Glenn Frey, while I Can’t Tell You Why was a delicate ballad by Timothy B. Schmit, the band’s newest member. Only The Long Run, a conventional pop/rock tune with a Stax Records R&B flavor, bore the stamp and vocal signature of Don Henley, who had largely taken the reins of the band on Hotel California.” AMG “Henley also dominated The Long Run, getting co-writing credits on nine of the ten songs, singing five lead vocals, and sharing another two with Frey. This time around, however, Henley’s contributions were for the most part painfully slight. Only ‘The Long Run’ and the regret-filled closing song, The Sad Café, showed any of his usual craftsmanship. The album was dominated by second-rank songs like The Disco Strangler, King of Hollywood, and Teenage Jail that sounded like they couldn’t have taken three hours much less three years to come up with.” AMG “Joe Walsh’s In the City was up to his usual standard, but it may not even have been an Eagles recording, having appeared months earlier on the soundtrack to The Warriors, where it was credited as a Walsh solo track.” AMG “Amazingly, The Long Run reportedly was planned as a double album before being truncated to a single disc. If these were the keepers, what could the rejects have sounded like?” AMG |
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Friday, September 21, 1979
The Police charted with “Message in a Bottle”
 | Message in a BottleThe Police |
This post has been moved here. |
Sunday, September 16, 1979
The Sugarhill Gang released "Rapper's Delight"
 | Rapper’s DelightSugar Hill Gang |
Writer(s): The Sugarhill Gang, Sylvia Robinson, Nile Rodgers, Bernard Edwards, Grandmaster Caz (see lyrics here) Released: September 16, 1979 First Charted: October 13, 1979 Peak: 36 US, 36 CB, 45 HR, 4 RB, 3 UK, 12 CN, 37 AU, 19 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, 0.4 UK, 8.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 97.6 video, 133.97 streaming |
Awards:Click on award for more details. 
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About the Song:The development of hip-hop culture dates back to the early ‘70s in the Bronx when DJs and MCs showcased the art form in night clubs and at house parties. NPR However, the movement didn’t hit the mainstream until 1979 when a New Jersey label called Sugar Hill Records introduced the Sugar Hill Gang and the group took “Rapper’s Delight” into the top 40, a first for rap music. FR The trio of Master Gee, Wonder Mike and Big Bank Hank were unknown MCs recruited by Sugar Hill’s Sylvia Robinson. RS500 Sylvia had seen chart success – most notably with the 1957 song “Love Is Strange” (#11) and her own “Pillow Talk” (#3) in 1973. However, in 1979, the label she’d co-founded was on the verge of bankruptcy. When she saw a DJ talking to the crowd one night at a Harlem club, she thought it would be a great idea to make a rap record. Legend has it that Sylvia’s son Joey auditioned Henry Jackson (Big Bank Hank) outside a pizza joint and his friends asked if they could participate as well. TB It has also been said that they were recruited on a Friday and recorded “Rapper’s Delight” in just one take on the following Monday. NPR The 12-inch version of “Rapper’s Delight” released in September 1979 ran 15 minutes long. A shorter version went to pop radio. NPR The song borrowed the rhythm track from Chic’s #1 hit “Good Times,” HT-594 itself a significant song in another important musical revolution of the ‘70s – disco. The practice of “borrowing” from another song became known as sampling and would become the basic approach for all raps songs to follow. The song did not, however, deal with the heavier themes which would come to dominate rap music. While it sported the lyrical boastfulness which became typical for rap, DM “Delight” generated controversy because it was playful instead of reflective of the urban anger of other rap from the time. In addition, none of the three members had ever been a DJ or MC and two of them were from New Jersey. NPR Resources:
First posted 10/13/2011; last updated 6/18/2023. |
Friday, September 14, 1979
Blondie “Dreaming” released
 | DreamingBlondie |
Writer(s): Debbie Harry, Chris Stein (see lyrics here) Released: September 14, 1979 First Charted: September 29, 1979 Peak: 27 US, 20 CB, 24 GR, 23 HR, 18 RR, 7 CL, 2 CO, 2 UK, 4 CN, 53 AU, 2 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.25 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 12.2 video, -- streaming |
Awards:Click on award for more details. 
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About the Song:The new wave group Blondie was formed in 1974 by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. They were an underground band who released their self-titled debut in 1976 and its follow-up, Plastic Letters, the next year. They broke through to the mainstream in 1978 with Parallel Lines and its #1 smash “Heart of Glass.” The next album, Eat to the Beat, didn’t match the top-10 success of the previous album, but its long stay on the charts put it in Billboard magazine’s rankings of the top 10 albums of 1980. It also achieved platinum status, as did its predecessor. The album generated two top-40 hits with “Dreaming” and “Atomic.” “The Hardest Part” reached #84 and “Union City Blues” failed to chart. “The fast-paced new wave song” WK “Dreaming” was the first and most successful single of the four. Its #27 peak in the U.S. was a disappointment to the band, but it has been praised by music writers. Ultimate Classic Rock said the song “wraps everything Blondie did so well – girl-group bounce, big pop hook, [and] the meshing of styles and eras.” WK American Songwriter’s Jim Beviglia said “it’s easy to overlook their depth and the craft behind [Blondie’s songs]. Don’t make that mistake with ‘Dreaming’ or you might miss the hurting yet ultimately hopeful heart beatin inside that pristine pop shell.” WK Billboard described it as a “driving rocker that moves with rollercoaster intensity.” WK That can be partially attributed to what All Music Guide’s Stewart Mason called “possibly the most over-the-top effort by a rock & roll drummer in the entire 1970s.” AMG To be clear, he also referred to it as “a must to hear” and “an amazing performance.” AMG Drummer Clem Burke didn’t expect it to make it to the final recording and even said it “would have been a bigger hit had I not played like that.” WK Harry and Stein were partially inspired by Abba’s “Dancing Queen” in writing the song. Stein wrote the music for the song and “dreamed up” the line “dreaming is free.” SF Harry then wrote the rest of the lyrics. It starts with her “getting propositioned in a restaurant, but it quickly veers off in many directions, simulating a dream where one idea jumps to the next with no real rhyme or reason.” SF Green Day, the Smashing Pumpkins, and Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs have recorded the song. Resources:
First posted 3/11/2023; last updated 4/1/2023. |
Tuesday, September 11, 1979
Foreigner released Head Games
| First posted 9/20/2020. |
Head Games |
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Released: September 11, 1979 Peak: 5 US, -- UK, 5 CN, 45 AU Sales (in millions): 5.0 US, -- UK, 6.5 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock |
Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts.
Total Running Time: 38:12 The Players:
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Rating:  3.195 out of 5.00 (average of 8 ratings)
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About the Album: While Head Games didn’t quite match the lofty heights of Foreigner’s debut or Double Vision, it didn’t miss by much. It was the group’s third top-10, multi-platinum album and generated two top-20 hits. The album marked the debut of Rick Wills as the new bassist after Ed Gagliardi was fired from the band. Wills had formerly been with Jokers Wild and Small Faces. The album was also mark the finale for founding members Ian McDonald and Al Greenwood, who left the group after recording the album. The album was preceded by the “thunderous hard rock song” WK Dirty White Boy as the first single. The title cut followed as the second single. However, after eight top-40 hits over three albums, Foreigner finally missed the mark with the third single from Double Vision. Women peaked just outside the top 40 at #41.
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