85: John Hunter, "Tragedy"

Wm.

February 27

A number of years ago I wrote a bit about my quest between 2004 and 2012 to secure digital versions (CD or music files) of all the songs that hit the Top 40 over a ten-year period starting in June 1976, when I began keeping my charts, and wrapping up right after I graduated from college. I wasn't 100% successful, occasionally because the CD was priced beyond what I was willing to pay, but more frequently due to the album/song never being re-released in a digital format--lack of sales when it first came out or its record label going belly-up in the interim both played roles in many of those cases, I'm sure.

The spring of '82 had more than its share of problem children, preventing me from assembling several weeks' worth of forty-song playlists: "The Beatles Movie Medley," "Pop Goes the Movies Part I" by Meco, "Stars on 45 III (A Tribute to Stevie Wonder)," and David Lasley's "If I Had My Wish Tonight." Almost exactly five years earlier was another period with a few missing pieces, primarily "Disco Lucy" by the Wilton Place Street Band, Ambrosia's "Magical Mystery Tour," and "Old Fashioned Boy (You're the One)," from Stallion.

I seem to also recall having difficulty fifteen years ago tracking down "Sun City" by Artists United Against Apartheid, but looking around today I see that one's easily stream-able or available for $1.29 as an .mp3. Which quite possibly means that the last Top 40 song never converted to 0's and 1's is the only chart appearance by Chicago native John Hunter. "Tragedy" spent two weeks at #39 at the end of February 1985; the album on which it appears, Famous at Night, was released on Private I Records (whose biggest hit was Matthew Wilder's "Break My Stride") and distributed by Columbia. Private I didn't survive long enough for Famous at Night to get issued on compact disk, and no one ever saw enough upside to pick up the rights. So here we are, with a few desperate characters out there still wishing and hoping.

I don't believe I heard "Tragedy" back when I was a junior in college. The video is pretty over the top with a ridiculous conclusion, but the song itself is plenty catchy.