Don’s Top 10 for March 10, 1980

(#6 last week) Bigger hit locally than nationally. This disco hit has had several lives: it was sampled in Will Smith's 1998 hit "Miami", & it's featured in the videogame "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City".

(#5 last week) Didn't realize the original LP mix is not available anymore. The song was remixed for the single, & that's the version found on all pressings of the album on CD, & all hits collections, & digitally.

(#10 last week) 2012: Guess who Kool & The Gang has been opening for in concert? Van Halen! I love it! Music shouldn't be segregated, whether on the radio, or live in concert.

(#13 last week) About as unlikely a hit single as you'll find on top 40 radio. Pink Floyd, of course, was the anthithisis of a singles band. The "Wall" in Roger Waters's lyrics is a metaphor for the group's slow separation from its audience as they grew in popularity.

(#9 last week) Remake of a summer of '65 smash by Barbara Mason. Never saw DeSario until watching this video. Nice to put a face to the voice. Harry Wayne Casey (KC) was a high school classmate of Teri's who she reconnected with years later.

(#11 last week) I'll let the late Mr. Fogelberg himself describe how he was inspired to write this beautiful ballad: "The song I jokingly refer to as, the song that put me on the elevators, I wrote it on a vacation on Maui in 1979 while lounging in a hammock one night and looking up at the stars. It just seems this song was drifting around the universe, saw me, and decided I'd give it a good home." Perfect.

(#1 last week) After two weeks as your favorite 45, Mr. & Mrs. Dragon are dethroned. This was their first (& last) hit for a new label, Casablanca, after leaving A&M, who they felt was ignoring "adult contemporary" acts such as theirs & the Carpenters in favor of "new wave" acts.

(#4 last week) Sometimes, the record company doesn't know a hit. Elektra did not want to release this as a single, even though everyone in Queen was sure it would be a big hit. American radio forced the record company's hand by playing this as an import.

(#2 last week) As the new decade began, it looked like Donna Summer's 4-year hit streak was unstoppable. But after this smash, she only returned to the top 10 nationally 4 more times over the next 9 years.

(#3 last week; 1st week at #1) Nationally, The Spinners, had one #1 hit, 1974's "Then Came You", but it did not hit #1 around here. Locally, The Spinners had one #1 hit, this one, but it did not hit #1 nationally! An interesting medley of two songs, one a remake of the 1966 classic by the 4 Seasons. The new song was written by well-known disco maven Michael Zager ("Let's all Chant").