The #48 song on the 1/26/80 Hot 100 was Pat Benatar's debut single, "Heartbreaker." This installment of SCNP could easily be called the Heartbreaker edition, as all six of these tunes came within two spots of making it to AT40, three each at #41 and #42.
86. Patrice Rushen, "Haven't You Heard"
Wow--this is super-tasteful dance music. Rushen's first experience with pop chart success, it was also a top 10 hit on the R&B and Disco charts; I was missing out, for sure. It's debuting this week and reached its #42 peak in early March.
61. Molly Hatchet, "Flirtin' with Disaster"
The only one of these six that I remember hearing prior to writing this post. I'll confess to a genuine appreciation for it--everyone plays their hearts out, and vocalist Danny Joe Brown gives a memorable performance, one that I expect many a karaoke singer has tried to duplicate across the decades. As Southern rock goes, it's pretty hard to beat.
47. Dann Rogers, "Looks Like Love Again"
I'm learning from YouTube commenters and my copy of Whitburn's Top Pop Singles that Dann is the nephew of Kenny Rogers. This is absolutely a pleasant enough piece--listening to it, though, I just can't shake the feeling that it's what'd you get by sticking half-a-dozen similar Adult Contemporary tunes in a blender and pouring out the mixture on vinyl (and it's bugging me I can't identify which songs/artists). Would be #41 in two weeks.
43. Joyce Cobb, "Dig the Gold"
Maybe this would have been a bigger hit a year or two earlier, before the disco backlash? The fiddle solo sure gives it a distinctive flavor. It was Cobb's only pop chart appearance, but she's stayed in the music biz, mostly in Memphis. "Dig the Gold" would climb one more spot the following week before tumbling.
42. Robert John, "Lonely Eyes"
Let me go on record now in saying that I think "Sad Eyes" is one of the worst #1 hits of the 1970s. Sure, it's radio-friendly and John gives us his all on the chorus, but What. A. Jerk. the narrator is. These days I'm just not able to get past the story the song tells.
This dance-able follow-up goes down smoothly enough, but I can't help thinking this is what became of the woman in "Sad Eyes" after she got dumped. It was next week's #41 song.
41. Suzi Quatro, "She's in Love with You"
Leather Tuscadero just couldn't buy a second break--this is the third song that Quatro had peak in the 40s after she'd reached the top 10 with Chris Norman on "Stumblin' In" the previous spring. I wasn't surprised at all to learn this one's a Mike Chapman/Nicky Chinn composition. A little repetitive but Suzi's got the charisma to overcome that; I like it.
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