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Saturday, August 27, 1983
Saturday, August 20, 1983
Air Supply chart with Greatest Hits
8/20/1983:
| First posted 9/10/2020. |
Greatest Hits |
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Recorded: 1980-1983 Charted: August 20, 1983 Peak: 7 US, -- UK, -- CN, 11 AU Sales (in millions): 5.0 US, -- UK, 5.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: adult contemporary |
Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts.
Total Running Time: 37:27 |
Rating:  3.550 out of 5.00 (average of 4 ratings)
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About the Album: Air Supply released four albums in their native Australia before finding success in the United States, thanks to signing a deal with Arista Records. From 1980 to 1983, the group released three albums which produced seven consecutive top-five hits on the Billboard Hot 100. The 1980 album Lost in Love produced the title cut, All Out of Love, and Every Woman in the World. The title song to their 1981 album The One That You Love was the group’s only U.S. #1. It was followed by Here I Am and Sweet Dreams. They landed another top-five hit with Even the Nights Are Better from their 1982 Now and Forever album. They landed their eight and final top-ten hit with Making Love Out of Nothing at All, the one new song featured on their 1983 Greatest Hits compilation. The song was penned by Jim Steinman, who’d most famously worked with Meat Loaf on his Bat Out of Hell album. He also wrote Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” the song which kept “Making Love” from reaching the top spot in America. Unfortunately, this was Air Supply’s last trip to the top ten in the states. They only managed one more top 40 hit, the 1985 song “Just As I Am,” which peaked at #19. That makes this collection a pretty good sampling of the band, certainly during their heyday in the early ‘80s. At only nine songs, though, the collection feels a little light. They did have two minor hits (“Two Less Lonely People in the World” and “Young Love”) during this era which could have easily been added. Instead, the set features “Chances,” a non-single album cut from the band’s Lost in Love album. |
Resources and Related Links: |
Monday, August 8, 1983
Billy Joel’s An Innocent Man released
An Innocent Man |
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Released: August 8, 1983 Peak: 4 US, 2 UK, 12 CN, 3 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 7.0 US, 0.9 UK, 13.3 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop/rock singer-songwriter |
Tracks:Click on a song title for more details.
Total Running Time: 40:25 |
Rating: 4.154 out of 5.00 (average of 26 ratings)
Awards:(Click on award to learn more).
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Beyond The Nylon CurtainAfter his trifecta of successful albums with The Stranger, 52nd Street, and Glass Hosues, “Joel went through a turbulent time. He got into a bad motorcycle accident. He divorced his first wife. He poured all his songwriterly energies into the layered, ambitious 1982 album The Nylon Curtain.” SG While it reached two million in sales, it was a letdown compared to the previous three albums which had sold at least 7 million each. It was his first album since 1976’s Turnstiles to fail to generate a top-10 song.An Homage to Early Rock and Roll“Since he labored so hard at the record, he decided it was time for a break – it was time to record an album just for fun. And that’s how his homage to pre-Beatles pop, An Innocent Man, was conceived: it was designed as a breezy romp through the music of his childhood.” AM “This collection of barefaced salutes to Otis Redding, Frankie Valli and ‘Stand by Me’ was unabashedly corny in its re-creation of ‘50s pop and ‘60s R&B.” DBThe album finds Joel “effortlessly spinning out infectious, memorable melodies in a variety of styles, from the Four Seasons send-up Uptown Girl and the soulful Tell Her about It to a pair of doo wop tributes, The Longest Time and Careless Talk.” AM Christie BrinkleyOtherwise, “Joel has rarely sounded so carefree either in performance or writing, possibly due to Christie Lee Brinkley, a supermodel who became his new love prior to An Innocent Man.” AM “There was no denying the exuberance and joy in what he called his ‘valentine’ to his second (but not last) wife.” DB This is “his Christie Brinkley State of Mind album.” DB “He can’t stop writing about her throughout the album – only three songs…aren’t about her in some form or fashion. That giddiness is infectious.” AMA Chart BlockbusterThat’s probably why the album became his biggest in terms of charting singles. “Tell Her about It” was a #1 hit, “Uptown Girl” hit the top 3, and the title cut was also a top-10 hit. Beyond those three, he charted with three more top-40 hits from the album with “The Longest Time,” “Leave a Tender Moment Alone,” and “Keeping the Faith.”The SongsHere’s a breakdown of each of the individual songs. |
Easy MoneyBilly Joel |
Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: 7/17/1983 (B-side of “Tell Her about It”), An Innocent Man (1983) Peak: 35 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 4.87 streaming About the Song:“Easy Money is a slice of Stax/Volt pop-soul, via the Blues Brothers (quite possibly the inspiration for the album).” AM Joel was asked to write the song for the Rodney Dangerfield movie of the same name. He came up with this “peppy, stagey facsimile of early-‘60s soul. Joel was into it, so he just went ahead and made a whole album like that.” SG |
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An Innocent ManBilly Joel |
Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: December 1983 (single), An Innocent Man (1983), Greatest Hits Volume III, The Ultimate Collection (2000), The Essential (2001), Piano Man: The Very Best of (2004) B-Side: “I’ll Cry Instead” (live) First Charted: 12/17/1983 Peak: 10 BB, 15 CB, 8 GR, 7 RR, 11 AC, 8 UK, 16 CN, 23 AU, 5 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, -- video, 33.74 streaming About the Song:“The haunted title track” AM is one of only three songs on the album not about Joel’s relationship with Christie Brinkley. Released as the album’s third single, Joel’s “attempt at a Drifters’ tribute” SG landed him his third top-10 hit in a row. An Innocent Man is Joel’s only album to land three top-10 hits. |
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The Longest TimeBilly Joel |
Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: March 1984 (single), An Innocent Man (1983), Greatest Hits Volume I & II (1985), The Ultimate Collection (2000), The Essential (2001), The Hits (2010) B-Side: “Christie Lee” First Charted: 3/24/1984 Peak: 14 BB, 10 CB, 10 GR, 11 RR, 12 AC, 25 UK, 36 CN, 15 AU, 8 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 100.80 video, 189.48 streaming |
Awards:(Click on award to learn more).
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About the Song:In his book 50 Songs from the 70s and 80s That Still Hold Up, Brad Carl notes that this doo-wop, predominantly a cappella throwback “worked well on the radio in 1984 despite the fact that its style was nearly twenty-five years out of date.” BC Joel recorded all the vocals himself, as well as finger snaps and hand claps. The only instrument on the recording is a bass guitar. BC“’The Longest Time’ is a fine piece of songwriting.” TB The “music is so spare and unadorned that the songwriting needs to be strong. You can't hide a sub-par tune in slick production. You need to bring it. Joel brings it.” TB |
This NightBilly Joel |
Writer(s): Billy Joel/Ludwig van Beethoven Released: June 1984 (B-side of “Leave a Tender Moment Alone”), An Innocent Man (1983) Peak: 78 UK, 31 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 6.30 streaming About the Song:“This Night” is the only song on An Innocent Man that features an additional songwriter to Joel – none other than Ludwig van Beethoven. Joel gave the composer credit on the song because the chorus is based on the second movement of Beethoven’s Pathétique Sonata. It was released as a single in the UK. Joel said the song was based on his brief relationship with Elle MacPherson, who Joel dated briefly before dating and marrying Christie Brinkley. WK |
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Tell Her About ItBilly Joel |
Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: 7/17/1983 (single), An Innocent Man (1983), Greatest Hits Volume I & II (1985), The Ultimate Collection (2000), The Essential (2001), Piano Man: The Very Best of (2004), The Hits (2010) B-Side: “Easy Money” First Charted: 7/22/1983 Peak: 11 BB, 3 CB, 2 GR, 13 RR, 12 AC, 17 AR, 4 UK, 5 CN, 9 AU,6 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 2.0 radio, 15.9 video, 65.62 streaming |
Awards:(Click on award to learn more).
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About the Song:“Tell Her About It” was Joel’s second trip to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 (1980’s “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” was the first). It was the first of six top-40 hits from An Innocent Man, making it his most successful album from a song-charting standpoint.The song pays tribute to early Motown. “Joel and his band effectively tap into the classic Holland-Dozier-Holland four-four big-beat stomp. Joel comes up with a memorable hook, and he keeps the structure sharp and uncluttered.” SG “Joel hits some big notes on ‘Tell Her About It,’ but as a singer, he’s got nothing on the stars of early Motown.” SG “There’s nothing revolutionary about it, but…theress not supposed to be.” SG “It might as well be Grease, set four years later.” SG “Joel realized how many of the early Supremes hits involved giving romantic advice to lovelorn young women, so he wrote an advice song of his own.” SG Joel casts himself as “the guy who's made mistakes and who wants to tell a younger guy how to avoid them. If you’re in love, Joel tells this hypothetical young man, you need to let someone know about it. It might not work out, but it’s better than the alternative.” SG The “video is really, really good. Joel famously disliked the entire idea of music videos, but he still threw himself into the performance, going for fully hammy self-aware showmanship.” SG Set in 1963 before the Kennedy assassination and Beatlemania, an “Ed Sullivan impersonator introduces "BJ & the Affordables – Billy Joel, in sunglasses and skinny tie, with an all-Black Motown-style backing band. A whole lot of period-appropriate bopping ensues.” SG Director Jay Dubin “keeps things moving and throws in a bunch of little jokes” SG such as a dancing cosmonaut and a Rodney Dangerfield cameo “that’s both predictable and note-perfect. In evoking memories of a pre-MTV era, Joel and Dubin came up with some pretty great MTV-bait.” SG |
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Uptown GirlBilly Joel |
Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: 9/19/1983 (single), An Innocent Man (1983), Greatest Hits Volume I & II (1985), The Ultimate Collection (2000), The Essential (2001), Piano Man: The Very Best of (2004) B-Side: “Careless Talk” First Charted: 9/24/1983 Peak: 3 BB, 3 CB, 2 GR, 2 RR, 2 AC, 22 AR, 15 UK, 4 CN, 11 AU, 7 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 3.0 US, 1.17 UK, 4.17 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 2.0 radio, 291.4 video, 1337.63 streaming |
Awards:(Click on award to learn more).
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About the Song:In discussing the origins of this song, Joel explained that he was playing piano while vacationing in the Caribbean and looked up to see Elle McPherson, Christie Brinkley, and Whitney Houston “marveling at his piano playing. Joel thanked his creator that all three gorgeous women were interested in him.” RC He “considered himself a hard-working, regular guy” RC so “Uptown Girl” was “inspired by his amazement that he could attract such glamorous women.” RCHe started dating McPherson, but when she moved to Europe, he dated Brinkley and reworked the song to be more about her. They married in 1985. He told Q magazine, “The fact that I can attract such a beautiful woman as Christie should give hope to every ugly guy in the world!” RC Sure, Billy. Let’s just overlook the fact that most guys don’t have your level of fame and fortune. An Innocent Man was an album inspired by the R&B and rock music of the early ‘60s. “Uptown Girl” was specifically inspired by the Four Seasons. RC “Those endless runs of ‘oh-oh-whoas’ are the main reason to listen to the song.” FT “Its instant singability makes it sound like a Grease outtake.” FT “It isn’t a record about bedding an uptown girl or wanting to bed an uptown girl, it’s a record about remembering wanting to bed an uptown girl and boasting to your blue-collar buds that that’s what you were gonna do.” FT “The video makes this explicit with Christine Brinkley as pin-up come to life, but it’s in the song too, in the husky, hearty interplay of those cascading backing vox, whose prominence makes it obvious that the guys – not the girl – are the chief audience for Joel’s talk.” FT |
Careless TalkBilly Joel |
Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: 9/19/1983 (B-side of “Uptown Girl”), An Innocent Man (1983) Peak: 29 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 2.76 streaming |
Christie LeeBilly Joel |
Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: March 1984 (B-side of “The Longest Time”), An Innocent Man (1983) Peak: 28 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 2.73 streaming |
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Leave a Tender Moment AloneBilly Joel |
Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: June 1984 (single), An Innocent Man (1983), The Ultimate Collection (2000), The Essential (2001) B-Side: “This Night” First Charted: 6/23/1984 Peak: 27 BB, 32 CB, 20 GR, 21 RR, 12 AC, 29 UK, 58 CN, 76 AU, 3 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 3.4 video, 20.75 streaming About the Song:“Leave a Tender Moment Alone” was the fifth of six singles released from An Innocent Man. All of them reached the top 40 but “Alone” was the lowest charting of the six, peaking at #27 on the Billboard Hot 100. Only two of the six singles – the title cut and “Alone” – were not accompanied by videos initially although the latter eventually had a live promo clip for the song.Cash Box called the song “a tender country-tinged cut that is highlighted by the veteran songster’s effortless vocalizing.” WK The song and the video feature Toots Thielemans on harmonica. In the video, Joel says he went to Paris just to recruit Thielemans for the song. WK |
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Keeping the FaithBilly Joel |
Writer(s): Billy Joel Released: January 1985 (single), An Innocent Man (1983), Greatest Hits Volume III B-Side: “She’s Right on Time” First Charted: 1/19/1985 Peak: 18 BB, 14 BA, 23 CB, 10 GR, 13 RR, 3 AC, 81 CN, 9 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 8.4 video, 20.29 streaming About the Song:The sixth U.S. single released in support of An Innocent Man was also the album’s sixth top-40 hit. The single failed to chart in the UK. Cash Box said the song was “Joel at his melodic and lyric best, representing pure American pop music.” WKJoel wrote the song about his teen years in the ‘50s and ‘60s. He said he owed “a great debt to that time in his life” and “to the wild guys he used to hang out with and the old rock and roll” that really inspired him. WK |
Resources/References:
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First posted 5/30/2008; last updated 2/9/2026. |
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