Wm. Harris

I've seen an uptick in what I think must be bot visits in recent weeks, particularly from the most populous country in the world.

I’m Relying On Your Common Decency Time for the second quarter of my list of faves among 1985 Hot 100 hits. I acknowledge this is a creation springing from a couple nights’ thought and that the rankings could easily be somewha…

Twenty-five more groovy tunes that peppered the charts 40 years ago. Don't know about you but I'm digging on the incongruity between title of the post and the video thumbnail.

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Two people dressed up in frog outfits at the No Kings event in Lexington, KY on 10/18/25. It appears they might be kissing but it's much more likely they're simply talking to each other in a noisy space.

My fave picture from Lexington this afternoon. I'm certain they're only trying to talk to each other above the noise.

Part 1 of a musical look back forty years and what I think of the hits of 1985 now.
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One feels like there's hope for a day when the song one hears on the way to work (it's a short commute) is "Tangled Up in Blue."

Modern Rock Tracks, 10/7/95 One Friday afternoon toward the end of September 1995 found me on the road to Ft. Wayne, meeting up with friend Mark L for a weekend bridge tournament. A quick search at the American Contract Bridg…

The greatest musical discovery I made around this time of year 30 years ago wasn't on the MRT chart then but definitely should've been.
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Thanks much for reading and for your kind words. I still don't know if I've completely let go of the guilt. Wishing you well as you continue to work through things.

Whenever One Door Closes The first photo of me with my mother, ca. March 1964. Which drew my attention first: Glen Campbell or Anne Murray? “Country Boy” or “Shadows in the Moonlight?” I’m standing in the hallway around th…

This is quite a read. I appreciate your frankness and am sorry for all the frustrations you encountered along the way.

You asked others to share. My mother passed away in March 2015 and I released this into the world on the 5th anniversary of her death.
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Always fun to see other charts--no doubt my scope is too BB-centric.

Never thought about that potential mix-up, but it makes sense. I've long known not everyone paid attention to actual titles the way I did.

American Top 40 PastBlast, 9/22/79: Nick Lowe, “Cruel to Be Kind” Once Mark Seaman and I agreed to “debate” the merits of AT40 lists from the 70s and 80s (now over four years ago), there was the matter of making my first selection for discussion. I el…

This past weekend Premiere played the first show from what evolved into an ongoing series of discussions, referred to within as "wide divergences of opinion."
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Sounds like a great show! I saw Suzanne Vega at the Colonial three-plus years ago--it's definitely a nice venue.

Forgotten Albums: Camera Obscura, Let’s Get Out Of This Country There are many days when I question the wisdom of continuing to visit Facebook on an ongoing basis. I post daily Wordle results in a couple of places and share links to these pieces when I get my a…

How about something good that's happened as a result of scrolling through Facebook?
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I'll guess New Frontier by Donald Fagen.

American Top 40 PastBlast, 9/8/84: Madonna, “Lucky Star” Long, long ago, the beginning of the college year was energizing, exciting, fun. The hint of change in weather, the new folks you’d meet–there was just something in the air that felt di…

Start-of-the-school-year ain't what it used to be, so I'm thinking about some of the times when it was.
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Stereo Review In Review: August 1976 This is the farthest back in time I have yet gone for one of these looks back. While I don’t recall anything from this issue, it’s likely it was still in the house when I began perusing Dad’s SR ma…

Hard to fathom that the albums addressed within are on the cusp of becoming a half-century old.
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The Rothberg is indeed fab. Also adore Sucked Out, which tbh has never left my brain.

I Can’t Trace Time Today is the first day of class at my institution. It’s a weird one for me, since, outside of sabbatical terms, it’s the first time I’m not going to be in the classroom on day one…

Why, yes, there are changes a-plenty in the air...
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I read it this morning—fun looking back (longingly?) at obscure September callups…

YouTube video by Aimee Mann - Topic Could've Been Anyone

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Reflections, Coming Through The Radio This past Friday I traveled to Newberry, SC, to visit college friend Warren and his wife Debbie. A couple of months ago he invited me to go see 10,000 Maniacs, who would be playing at the Opera Hou…

Seeing friends, losing friends, great joy, and great sadness.
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Modern Rock Tracks, 8/5/95 In July of ’95, I spent two weeks teaching the math portion of a science/math camp for high schoolers that my college had been running for about five years. I was involved with it (with one e…

A fave concert and an appalling failure of memory lead in to a look back at alternative hits from the summer of '95.
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Completely on board with the 1990 association but the single did debut at #85 on the 12/30/89 Hot 100. (Pretty sure I heard it that December.)

It’s Only Life After All Thirty years ago today, I took a rental car south from San Jose, connected with the coastal highway at Monterey and continued down about as far as Big Sur. We’d had non-stop sun in the Bay Ar…

Six years ago I wrote a fair amount about music from 1989. Hope you don't mind me sharing a post about some Hot 100 hits from the week following the one you've explored in yours.
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American Top 40 PastBlast, 8/7/82: The Gap Band, “Early in the Morning” I became an avid, ardent listener of American Top 40 in the late winter of 1976. Since it’s always been very much my nature to seek out patterns and try to formulate rules when encountering n…

Another helping of arcane AT40 trivia, but at least there's some fine early 80s funk accompanying it.
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It's a truly amazing song. Between this and "Don't Dream It's Over," Sixpence None the Richer had impeccable taste in covers.

Neat story. I saw the strip from time to time in my younger days, though I couldn't tell you now where it ran.

Must have logged in to the 'Sky at the wrong times today to see your notices--have a feeling I miss a lot of what I'd like to see come through the feed...

Other sheets I have on which it's listed are 7/24 (as an extra), 7/31 (extra again), 8/21 (#32), and 10/2 (#3 again). It's gone from the chart by 11/27. I can recall the station playing it but i wouldn't have guessed now it was THAT big for them.

Songs Casey Never Played, 7/29/78 Several years ago I noted that I ran daily (and I do mean daily) for several months beginning in June of ’78 in an attempt to improve on my lackluster eighth grade performance on the school c…

ICMYI from yesterday, but it's also been updated to include EVEN MORE CanCon material from the SCNP universe.
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Songs Casey Never Played, 7/29/78 Several years ago I noted that I ran daily (and I do mean daily) for several months beginning in June of ’78 in an attempt to improve on my lackluster eighth grade performance on the school c…

From the summer of Grease, six songs that looked longingly up the charts in hopes of more love:
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American Top 40 PastBlast, 7/22/72: Argent, “Hold Your Head Up” The summer I turned 8, we moved. After spending almost four years at a church in Stanford, a small town forty-five miles south of Lexington on U.S. 27, Dad accepted a pastorate in Walton, a small t…

Today is the blog's 8th birthday. This weekend's AT40 show from 1972 gave me an excuse to think back on the summer I was 8 years old. Turns out what I most remember are the neighborhood kids in the new world I'd just joined.
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