Episode 39: American Top 40: Keeping Our Feet on the Ground and Reaching for the Stars (Part 1)

PLAY LIST

  1. Mama Told Me (Not to Come) by Three Dog Night (1970) 

  2. Superfly Meets Shaft by John & Ernest (1973)

  3. Will it Go Round in Circles by Billy Preston (1973)

  4. Way Down by Elvis Presley (1977)

  5. Desiree by Neil Diamond (1978)

  6. Escape The Pina Colada Song by Rupert Holmes (1979)

SHOW NOTES

Casey Kasem’s national countdown show, American Top 40, is embedded in the music history of the 70s and 80s. In this episode, Amy discusses the first and last #1 songs to be played during the show’s run in the 70s, the first long distance dedication, and the problems that some program directors had with the show’s first hour when there was too much R&B (read: too many songs by African American artists.) For more about that so-called problem, as well as the importance of AT40 in music history, you can read the essay that Amy wrote about AT40 here: American Top 40 is a Vital Chapter of Music History

Part 2 of this episode, following the changes to the music and the show itself in the 80s, will be available on FTR80 in September.

SOURCES

"081677 Remembering Elvis Presley - an AT40 "Extra"." YouTube. August 16, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYzDPP_jsNo.

"082678 Commemorating the First Long Distance Dedication on AT40." YouTube. August 26, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuYxj8_UAeI.

"American Top 40 August 21 1976 Pt5." YouTube. August 30, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iINaIr7oLQE.

"American Top 40 with Casey Kasem - Airchecks from January 27, 1979." YouTube. January 24, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA1UY0HIsKo.

Battistini, Pete. American Top 40 with Casey Kasem (The 70s). Author House. 2005.

Briehan, Tom. “The Number Ones: Three Dog Night’s ‘Mama Told Me (Not to Come)’.” Stereogum. January 17, 2019. https://www.stereogum.com/2027393/the-number-ones-three-dog-nights-mama-told-me-not-to-come/columns/the-number-ones/

Briehan, Tom. "The Number Ones: Billy Preston's "Will It Go Round In Circles"." Stereogum. March 17, 2021. https://www.stereogum.com/2039154/the-number-ones-billy-prestons-will-it-go-round-in-circles/columns/the-number-ones/.

Bolton, Matthew. “King Kasem.” The Age, (Melbourne, Australia), June 14, 1984.

Deutsch, Linda. “Neil Diamond: The Best Thing about Performing is You’re Not Lonely Anymore.” The Miami Herald. February 21, 1977.

Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Elvis Presley: Way Down in the Jungle Room." Pitchfork. August 11, 2016. https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/22213-way-down-in-the-jungle-room/.

Everley, Dave. "How Three Dog Night Turned a Song No One Knew into a Party Anthem Everyone Knows." Loudersound. April 18, 2022. https://www.loudersound.com/features/how-three-dog-night-turned-a-song-no-one-knew-into-a-party-anthem-everyone-knows.

Fong-Torres, Ben. “Three Dog Night: See How They Run.” Rolling Stone. September 14, 1972. 

Guralnick, Peter. Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley. Little, Brown, and Company. 2012.

"How American Keyboardist Billy Preston Became Known as the 'fifth' Beatle | CBC Radio." CBCnews. December 31, 2021. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/flooding-and-pipelines-woody-the-talking-christmas-tree-indigenous-land-title-the-fifth-beatle-and-more-1.6263170/how-american-keyboardist-billy-preston-became-known-as-the-fifth-beatle-1.6263180.

Reddicliffe, Steven. “Casey Kasem is Everywhere!” The Miami Herald. Nov. 20, 1977.

VINCENTDICRESCE. "3 Dog Night - Mama Told Me Not To Come (1970)." YouTube. May 08, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVE59Aj7kog.

Walthall, Catherine. "Behind the Meaning of "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes." American Songwriter. May 19, 2022. https://americansongwriter.com/behind-the-meaning-of-escape-the-pina-colada-song-by-rupert-holmes/.

Wiser, Carl. “Rupert Holmes (Pina Colada Song): Songwriter Interviews.” Songfacts. https://www.songfacts.com/blog/interviews/rupert-holmes-pina-colada-song

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