Great AM pop tunes

Pollyanna

Platinum Member
No surprise that a drummer site is full of fans of rock, jazz, metal, fusion and prog.

Thing is, many pop musicians have broad tastes and are mindful of maximising their chances of living a music life rather than a 9-to-5 life. So every now and then, artists who produce some pretty dull stuff start producing some cool music once they are big enough to have a say in their repertoire.

I set my iPod on shuffle today and came across a couple of pop tunes that I think are sensational - one is Madonna's Papa Don't Preach, which beautifully captures the situation a lot of young girls find themselves in, and I find it really emotionally satisfying. Another was Sherbet's Howzat, which is corny but a beautifully crafted pop number. I also felt that Supertramp tends to be terribly underrated - fabulous musicians, composers and inventive arrangers.

Any examples of pop tunes that really did it for you?
 
"Howzat" got some play in the States, I even had the album!

Apart from a lot of material from major artists & bands, there are a handful of one-hit-wonders and slightly obscure songs that I love from back in the day thru more recently:

Neon Rainbow (Box Tops)
You Were On My Mind (We Five)
Talk Talk (Music Machine)
Outside Chance (Turtles)
Perfect Day (Hoku)
Do You Wanna Hold Me (Bow Wow Wow)
No Matter What (Badfinger)

There are way too many to list!

Bermuda
 
Since I always mention "Afternoon Delight" and "Moonlight Feels Right", I won't mention them here ;)

But when I look back on it, AM radio pop hits abounded throughout my lifetime. I am old enough to have had parents when the the car radio was only an AM radio! Having FM or an 8-track deck in the car was pretty high-falootin'! But right along side the Led Zeppelin and Beatles albums in the house, as well as alot of jazz, I heard alot of one-hit wonders: "Rock the Boat" by the Hues corporation was an interesting beat you didn't hear all the time. "You Make me feel like dancin'"by Leo Sayer was a fav, as well as Nick Gilder's "Hot Child in the City", just to name a few obscure ones!
 
Yes, one hit wonders are often pretty cool. My Sharona was my fave. Jon, I'm not sure what rock I've been hiding under because I haven't heard any of those songs. Bo, I don't know the songs you failed to mention too.

I used to love those old instrumentals - Telstar, Popcorn, Sacha ... and later on there was Birdland from that great one-hit wonder, Weather Report :)
 
Being from England, I know what AM radio is but not what an "AM radio song" is.
Can you enlighten me?
 
Yes, one hit wonders are often pretty cool. My Sharona was my fave. Jon, I'm not sure what rock I've been hiding under because I haven't heard any of those songs. Bo, I don't know the songs you failed to mention too.

I used to love those old instrumentals - Telstar, Popcorn, Sacha ... and later on there was Birdland from that great one-hit wonder, Weather Report :)

Correction: Birdland became a semi-hit when that pop-vocal boy/girl band picked it up: The Manhattan Transfer (they went on to have a pretty good career, I think).

And yeah, Pol, I got a million of 'em!
 
The term AM pop tunes is a bit of lost term.

I've never actually heard an AM pop station. At least here in California, the only AM stations I've heard are news, sports, talk radio, and Spanish. Maybe a classical or an oldies (1950's) station.

But as far as the so-called traditional AM pop station, I've never actually experienced one. All the pop stations switched over to FM a long time ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AM_radio
AM broadcasting now attracts mainly talk radio and news programming, while music radio and public radio mostly shifted to FM broadcasting in the late 1970s.

But as far as I know, the term AM pop radio means really generic bubble gum pop music.
 
I'm far too young to remember AM Pop radio and I don't think it ever really happened over here in the same way. I pick up occasional AM music radio broadcasts on my car radio (usually from other countries, I think the record is Canada) when I'm listening to an AM station and I'll happily say that what I have 'accidentally' listened to didn't provide much inspiration!

I do think, however, that it is important for the various authorities to actually slightly deregulate the AM band - especially in the UK. FM licences are very, very hard to get hold of over here and whilst there is a fair selection of local FM stations in general (there are certainly a fair few where I live in North Lancashire) nationally, there is very little that isn't very mainstream - commercially at least. In my experience, the only national UK stations worth listening to are BBC Radio 2, 3 and 4 (on FM) and 5 (on AM - specifically MW). Now that is a sad state of affairs and I really do dislike almost all UK commercial radio - catering to the same audience. I'm 22, but I don't listen to anything that is typically aimed at my demographic. There's virtually nothing music-wise that I want to listen to and Radio 3 is the only regular music station I listen to. It's a Classical station. And Classic FM is awful.

So, ending the rant. I would like to see more national AM licences issued that cater to more esoteric tastes, failing that, digital radios in cars. Digital radio is the future, but I'm staying well away from buying my own set until the standard is better established - I'm not convinced that DAB is going to be around for too much longer.
 
Last edited:
I've never really listened to the radio, pop tunes are also not my specialty, I'm sure my father would have a huge list, I might ask him next time I see him.
 
Back at the time when I was a teen, FM radio was primarily new and was playing classical music. AM radio was playing popular top ten music when a lot of commercials and upbeat disk jockeys all trying to make a name for themselves, and most of them usually had some sort of act or schtick to define their personalities. FM radio was more high brow, more mature music and programming. I hope that helps with the term AM pOp Music.
 
Since I always mention "Afternoon Delight" and "Moonlight Feels Right", I won't mention them here ;)

Afternoon Delight is of course one of the great trainwrecks of the past half century. But I was turned on to Moonlight Feels Right by a marching band mallet player mainly because of a marimba solo by a guy named Bo Wagner that was actually pretty good. But in judging the entire song the marimba was like a stained glass window on an outhouse.
 
Afternoon Delight is of course one of the great trainwrecks of the past half century. But I was turned on to Moonlight Feels Right by a marching band mallet player mainly because of a marimba solo by a guy named Bo Wagner that was actually pretty good. But in judging the entire song the marimba was like a stained glass window on an outhouse.

And the fact that those two songs were in constant radio airplay for almost the entire year of 1975 (or '76?) puts them in the category of Spam. Everybody says they hate it, but somebody's buyin' it - that's why it's still sold!
 
...

Boy, its been a long road from the Archies Sugar- Sugar to Petula Clark's Rose Garden, via Los Bravos Black is Black, to Shocking Blue's Venus and Tony Orlando's Knock 3 Times and Tijuana Brass' Taste of Honey, thru to BeeGees Stayin Alive, thru all of Michael Jackson, truly the King of Pop, and now I'm covered in cheese...

I think I finally dont listen to any pop anymore. Wittingly, that is.

...
 
Last edited:
Cheddar, Gorgonzola or Brie? Those are your choices!
 
I remember Am radio stations.. (unfortunately) I remember a song called Shannon By Henry Gross that I used to like and my older sisters would make fun of me..LOL Dang I was probably like 6 or so..

Also remember Terry Jacks season in the sun..."We had joy we had fun we had seasons in the sun, but the wine and the song like the seasons all have gone..

Also remember in the year 2525(forgot who sings it ) and another song I used to love but I cannot recall much about, If anyone can get the name and artist I will send them a hardly used air drumming kit...

OK' all I remember is it's about a guy racing another guy in his car and at the end the guy rolls down his window and asks the guy he's racing "how do I get this thing out of 2nd gear" Always thought that was funny and cool when I was 6 anyway...LOL
 
And the fact that those two songs were in constant radio airplay for almost the entire year of 1975 (or '76?) puts them in the category of Spam. Everybody says they hate it, but somebody's buyin' it - that's why it's still sold!

The irony is that Afternoon Delight was written by Bill Danoff who also wrote songs with John Denver, including Take Me Home, Country Roads. The drummer on that tune is Gary Chester. They were sign to Denver's label. I wouldn't be surprised if the drummer on Afternoon Delight was Gary himself.
 
And the fact that those two songs were in constant radio airplay for almost the entire year of 1975 (or '76?) puts them in the category of Spam. Everybody says they hate it, but somebody's buyin' it - that's why it's still sold!
Well, I would have bought Moonlight Feels Right for the marimba solo alone. I would have simply taken the needle and moved it there every time, which must have been the nicest advantage of that kind of medium. As for Afternoon Delight and other travesties, wouldn't you have to say that most of the 1976 AM radio was extra special bad? After all wasn't that also the year of Play That Funky Music White Boy, Muscrat Love and 1000 other hideous songs still discussed in shocked terms today?

No wonder disco soon took over. You also have to think that drugs back then must have been off the chain.
 
... wouldn't you have to say that most of the 1976 AM radio was extra special bad? After all wasn't that also the year of Play That Funky Music White Boy, Muscrat Love and 1000 other hideous songs still discussed in shocked terms today?

No wonder disco soon took over. You also have to think that drugs back then must have been off the chain.

Oh man, now you're hitting too close to home! (With Play That Funky Music, not Muskrat Love!) LOL

I actually saw Wild Cherry live back in the day! I still like that song, and we play it, too. Goes over great, every time!

Please be gentle with comments about my taste, now. The heart wants what the heart wants! (Illegal smiley)
 
Oh man, now you're hitting too close to home! (With Play That Funky Music, not Muskrat Love!) LOL

I actually saw Wild Cherry live back in the day! I still like that song, and we play it, too. Goes over great, every time!

Please be gentle with comments about my taste, now. The heart wants what the heart wants! (Illegal smiley)

I think every era produces great stuff and not-so-great stuff. Look at what we're dealing with now. If the kids today aren't embarrassed about what they listened to 30 years from now, then there's something wrong with them (hell, they might be embarrassed about it in a year or so since everything seems to be moving so fast thanks to the 'net).

But we can also remember that 1976 was when the Police actually became a band, and Thin Lizzy had a hit with "The Boys are Back in Town", Ted Nugent released his album that had "Stranglehold", and Heart was becoming a super-power. I for one, am not embarrassed about what I listened to. It is kinda' strange that certain songs no longer hold my attention anymore, but most do. The 70s were basically my childhood. I certainly don't wish to be part of somebody else's childhood.
 
Back
Top