Are Certain Oldies TOO Old for 1150?

This past week CKOC presented the 50th (!) edition of their formerly-annual-but-now-semi-annual Big 500 countdown. This go-round instead of having listeners submit their three favorite oldies via email, we were given a choice of all the former #1s and asked which one we'd like to see at #1 this year.

About a month ago, CKOC web subscribers were sent a lengthy Rate the Music survey containing 500 songs in which we rated them from "Dislike a lot" to "Like a lot" and the results would be used to determine the rankings of the Big 500 Fall 2013 Edition. Perusing and rating the songs made my heart sink since all of them seemed pulled from the playlist of the short-lived-now-defunct Vinyl 95.3 (2010-2013).

The list eschewed any 1950s classics or any pre-Beatles, Kennedy-era goodies by everyone from Dion to Ricky Nelson to the entire Phil Spector catalogue. Needless to say, I was less than excited about this fall's countdown when some of my beloved oldies would be now replaced with the likes of The Travelling Wilburys, Bryan Adams and even songs from the Footloose soundtrack!

When the countdown got underway Tuesday morning, I felt a little better when the opening strings of "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" laid claim to the #496 spot. So no, those malt-shop oldies hadn't ALL disappeared from the countdown, but by the final day, it was obvious from the 110 casualties from last spring's edition that CKOC is now moving forward and trying less to appeal to Baby Boomers and more to the late boomers/Gen X listeners who had been Vinyl's prime audience back in 2010. And talk about criminal---of those 110 songs that are gone ten of them were Elvis hits! Even more curious is the fact that certain songs from the Doo-Wop era such as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" or "All I Have To Do Is Dream" survived the axe yet slightly less-old oldies like "Sealed With a Kiss", "The Shoop Shoop Song" and even "This Diamond Ring" did not.

It's true---time marches on and while I would gladly say good riddance to "Soldier Boy", "Chapel of Love" or anything by Bobby Curtola, I missed hearing "It's My Party", "Tossin' and Turnin'" or "Johnny Angel" on this fall's Big 500. Even though they are close to (or more than) 30 years old now, I still can't accept "Dancing in the Dark" or "Billie Jean" or even "Dancing Queen" as Golden Oldies. Sorry 1150.

VINTAGE CKOC SOUND BYTES UNEARTHED

Hear some vintage sound bytes of Bob Sherwin and Pete Daly from April 1985.

Oldies 1150 Big 500 Oct 16-19

Oldies 1150 will air the 48th Edition of the Big 500 from Tuesday October 16-Friday October 19, 2012. Email them with your 3 favorites at www.oldies1150.com.

CKOC/OLDIES 1150 BIG 500 POSTERS WANTED

For those who may be referred to this blog from a web search, etc, I am still seeking four CKOC Big 500 pop posters to complete my collection. These are not the small charts that were free in record stores but larger posters (some are 11x17, others are about 20x30--see photo above).

I am looking for the 1971 edition, 1972 edition, 1987 edition as well as an Oldies 1150 edition that is probably undated but came out in 1996 and has #500 as Gladys Knight's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine", #499 is The Animals "It's My Life", etc.

WILL PAY UP TO $50 EACH DEPENDING ON CONDITION.

If you have any of the above, contact me please!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Well, it has taken me nearly a year to upload all the CKOC ALL HIT 40 charts that were not available as "take-home" charts from the record stores. They were transcribed from my notebooks and I had the same experience presenting them in this blog as I did listening to them back in the '80s and early '90s. The experience became less fun and more of a chore as the years wore on. This is probably due to the fact that the music that CKOC was playing near the end (1990-91) was for the most part terrible.

Contrast some of the junk that was charting during CKOC's final years to some of the songs that didn't even crack the Top 20 ten years earlier in 1980-81. Songs like "Things Gotta Change" by Cruiser, "Somebody's Knockin'" by Terri Gibbs or "Try Walkin' Away" by Murray McLaughlan may not be well-remembered by the average listener today, but even though they never became as big as "Rock Lobster" or "Physical", they were still well-written songs you could sing along with. Not so with tripe from the early '90s such as "Temptation" by Corina or "Power Windows" by Billy Falcon.

I'd like to end with my Top Ten most underrated songs from the period this blog spanned, August 1985-February 1992. None of these songs cracked the Top 30 on CKOC yet deserve another listen all these years later. Most of the videos for them can be found in previous posts. Note that half of my list are from 1989.

#1. TANGO by Dalbello, #34 in April 1989
#2. I KNOW YOU'RE OUT THERE SOMEWHERE by The Moody Blues, #33 in August 1988
#3. I DROVE ALL NIGHT by Cyndi Lauper, #31 in July 1989
#4. HANGIN' ON A HEART ATTACK by Device, #35 in August 1986
#5. TELL IT TO MY HEART by Taylor Dayne, #35 in January 1988
#6. AMERICA IS SEXY by Paul Hyde, #32 in November 1989
#7. I FEEL THE EARTH MOVE by Martika, #31 in October 1989
#8. CUDDLY TOY (FEEL FOR ME) by Roachford, #37 in June 1989
#9. HERE I AM (COME AND TAKE ME) by UB40, #34 in July 1991
#10. SENZA UNA DONNA by Zucchero & Paul Young, #34 in January 1992

CKOC ALL HIT 40, February 12, 1992

( 2) 1. I'm Too Sexy - Right Said Fred
( 4) 2. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
( 3) 3. No Regrets - Tom Cochrane
( 5) 4. Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me - George Michael & Elton John
( 1) 5. There Will Never Be Another Tonight - Bryan Adams
( 8) 6. Go Back To Your Woods - Robbie Robertson
( 9) 7. Celebrate - The Infidels
(10) 8. Diamonds and Pearls - Prince
(13) 9. Tears In Heaven - Eric Clapton
(15) 10. Live and Let Die - Guns 'n Roses
( 6) 11. Mysterious Ways - U2
(12) 12. Hearts Don't Think (They Feel) - Natural Selection
(18) 13. Remember The Time - Michael Jackson
( 7) 14. Finally - CeCe Peniston
(28) 15. Be My Yoko Ono - Barenaked Ladies
(16) 16. The Way I Feel About You - Karyn White
(20) 17. Stars - Simply Red
(11) 18. Rescued (By The Arms of Love) - Glass Tiger
(22) 19. I'll Get By - Eddie Money
(14) 20. Martika's Kitchen - Martika
(21) 21. International Bright Young Thing - Jesus Jones
(25) 22. Good For Me - Amy Grant
(27) 23. To Be With You - Mr. Big
(17) 24. Heavy Fuel - Dire Straits
(29) 25. Love Me All Up - Stacy Earl
(19) 26. Can't Let Go - Mariah Carey
(32) 27. I Can't Dance - Genesis
(33) 28. Vibeology - Paula Abdul
(36) 29. Hazard - Richard Marx
(38) 30. Make You a Believer - Sass Jordan
(31) 31. I Want You - Jody Watley
(37) 32. Piece Of Mind (Love Goes On) - One to One
(---) 33. Again Tonight - John Mellencamp
(34) 34. Everybody Move - Cathy Dennis
(---) 35. King of the Heap - The Odds
(40) 36. Power To The People - Debbie Johnson
(---) 37. Levon - Jon Bon Jovi
(---) 38. Too Much Passion - The Smithereens
(---) 39. Give It All Up - Darby Mills
(---) 40. I Can't Make You Love Me - Bonnie Raitt



The video I chose for this final CKOC All Hit 40 was likely on its way to becoming the #1 hit of 1992 had the station continued in its contemporary format and not switched to Oldies two days after this originally aired.

CKOC ALL HIT 40, February 5, 1992

( 3) 1. There Will Never Be Another Tonight - Bryan Adams
( 5) 2. I'm Too Sexy - Right Said Fred
( 4) 3. No Regrets - Tom Cochrane
( 6) 4. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
( 7) 5. Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me - George Michael & Elton John
( 1) 6. Mysterious Ways - U2
( 2) 7. Finally - CeCe Peniston
(11) 8. Go Back To Your Woods - Robbie Robertson
(14) 9. Celebrate - The Infidels
(13) 10. Diamonds and Pearls - Prince
( 8) 11. Rescued (By The Arms of Love) - Glass Tiger
(16) 12. Hearts Don't Think (They Feel) - Natural Selection
(21) 13. Tears In Heaven - Eric Clapton
(15) 14. Martika's Kitchen - Martika
(23) 15. Live and Let Die - Guns 'n Roses
(18) 16. The Way I Feel About You - Karyn White
(10) 17. Heavy Fuel - Dire Straits
(28) 18. Remember The Time - Michael Jackson
( 9) 19. Can't Let Go - Mariah Carey
(26) 20. Stars - Simply Red
(24) 21. International Bright Young Thing - Jesus Jones
(29) 22. I'll Get By - Eddie Money
(20) 23. A Little Lack of Love - World on Edge
(17) 24. No Son Of Mine - Genesis
(31) 25. Good For Me - Amy Grant
(25) 26. Into The Fire - Alias
(33) 27. To Be With You - Mr. Big
(36) 28. Be My Yoko Ono - Barenaked Ladies
(34) 29. Love Me All Up - Stacy Earl
(30) 30. Love Reaction - Harum Scarum
(32) 31. I Want You - Jody Watley
(37) 32. I Can't Dance - Genesis
(---) 33. Vibeology - Paula Abdul
(38) 34. Everybody Move - Cathy Dennis
(35) 35. Get The Funk Out - Extreme
(---) 36. Hazard - Richard Marx
(---) 37. Piece of Mind (Love Goes On) - One to One
(---) 38. Make You a Believer - Sass Jordan
(40) 39. In My Dreams - The Party
(---) 40. Power To The People - Debbie Johnson