The 1987 WNEW-FM Top 1027 Songs of All Time Listener's Poll

WAS a rock station, it's long gone. Whatever has replaced it is no doubt playing a lot more Michael now.

"Beat It" was a self-professed attempt at writing a rock song and got played on rock stations while no other track from Thriller did, so yeah, you could call it when Michael Jackson went "rock."

I mean, am I wrong here?

like idk why you are acting like Michael Jackson being absent from this list would be "silly" in the first place

I mean, am I wrong here?

Not at all. "Beat It" was heard regularly on Chicago FM rock stations in 1983-85, literally sandwiched between Grand Funk and Springsteen.

An Eddie Van Halen solo is an Eddie Van Halen solo.

In this vein, I remember there being a rock mix of Animotion's "Obsession" for these stations, replacing the main synth line with guitars.

37. Funeral For a Friend - Elton John is the first one on the list that makes me draw a blank. Followed by:
55. And You and I - Yes and
67. In Memory of Elizabeth Reed - Allman Brothers, although an itunes sample of the latter jogs my memory

Always wondered who created these AOR playlists and how much they varied across markets. (And why they did or did not vary). And then who decided that major label bands like the NY Dolls and Stooges didn't belong there.

"Beat It" was a self-professed attempt at writing a rock song and got played on rock stations while no other track from Thriller did, so yeah, you could call it when Michael Jackson went "rock."

This is more accurately said about "Dirty Diana" (which got actual AOR play).

(following up my last)...and WHY it was decided that certain bands don't make the cut. Like what were the criteria?

Think they did play one Dolls song now and then, "Personality Crisis." Except when Xgau came and guest DJed on a Sunday night and played "Pills"

Actually David Johansen guest DJed one Sunday there as well. A few people called up to request The Speedies, whom he proceeded to play.

FOREIGNER
-- #456 - JUKEBOX HERO
-- #705 - WAITING FOR A GIRL LIKE YOU
-- #830 - URGENT
-- #978 - DOUBLE VISION

No 'Cold as Ice?' I seem to remember that getting airplay daily at around 3:45

Note: this is not the playlist, this is a listener's poll.

http://rocketfuel.typepad.com/.a/6a00e550a9c7c088340115713ccece970c-pi

scottso lol

Because it looks nothing like him?

A bizarre exchange occurred in 1975 when a hostage-holding bank robber called Muni on the air and engaged him in a long, often nonsensical conversation; the two peppered their post-hippie speech with discussions of Bob Dylan music and requests to hear the Grateful Dead.

I miss the days of good radio.

Good free radio. Sirius XMU is pretty great. Most of the 1987 WNEW DJs are there including a bunch from the above poster.

RIP Scottso.

Some are on WFUV too.

Not sure whether I am confusing the WNEW-FM Sunday night show with the WPIX-FM Sunday night show "Radio Radio" upthread.

Here is something about Scottso I found and posted to The Who Sell Out poll the other day.

This is more accurately said about "Dirty Diana" (which got actual AOR play).

"Beat It" got played more AFAIK. Also, as I said, "Dirty Diana" either wasn't around or had just been released when this list was made.

also "Funeral for a Friend" is dope

Here's the link I meant to post: http://www.areuonsomething.com/features_muni.html

Surprising thing on that list for me: Almost all the AC/DC is Brian Johnson stuff. Were they a (mid-Atlantic) regional thing in the States when Bon Scott was alive? 'cause DC 101 or 98 Rock would have almost certainly had more Bon Scott stuff on their lists in '87.

Feel like I knew who they were but didn't really start hearing them a lot until the earlier 80s, with Back in Black.

In fact, it may go down in history as the single worst interview in WNEW-FM's 30 year history.

In all fairness, Entwistle was deaf as a post -- and in denial about it -- from about 1975 on.

Man, you really seem to know everything there is to know about The Who.

Today remembered years of getting up in the AM listening to Dave Herman saying "Good just barely morning" over and over again which, like a lot of schtick, annoyed at first but eventually grew to be reassuring.

The reason "Beat It" was on rock radio at all in the '80s was due to the Eddie Van Halen guitar solo. Epic marketed it to programmers deliberately. That's pretty much why that MJ song and no others are on the list.

In related news, the only African Americans in the top 100 are Hendrix (43, 84) and the only women are Grace Slick (83) and Cyndi Lauper (86).

did you forget Marvin and Michael

and Otis

In the top 100 I said.

ooh my bad.

weird that fleetwood mac weren't considered a big enough deal for the top 100

"American Pie" can still go die in a fire

Here is a link to a PDF of this list: https://www.nyradioarchive.com/images/radioscans/WNEWFM_1987_Top1027.pdf

One oddity that jumps out at me is there's absolutely nothing by Heart on that list. Every AOR station I listened to in the '80s (not in the NYC area) played tons of Heart, so that's really weird.

i remember hendrix being more popular than that. maybe they were a k-rock thing. i also don't remember springsteen being _that_ popular but that's probably mostly out of a self-preservation instinct.

on the other hand i distinctly remember billy joel, steely dan, and dire straits being very popular...

The prominence of Springsteen there has to be a "local hero" kind of thing? Moody Blues and Yes over Pink Floyd is interesting. They didn't like Supertramp in NYC, eh?

Well WNEW was New York, so surely plenty of Bruce bias.

yeah br00ce was omnipresent where i grew up. maybe that's why i don't remember him. it'd be like remembering trees. of course there were trees!

i have no recollection at all of supertramp.

Ha, "The Logical Song" was #7 when Ottawa's CHEZ106 last did an all-time countdown in 2015, according to the closest thing to a source I could find. Might be another instance of a band being weirdly bigger in Canada.

The prominence of Springsteen there has to be a "local hero" kind of thing? Moody Blues and Yes over Pink Floyd is interesting. They didn't like Supertramp in NYC, eh?

283. HEART OF GOLD - NEIL YOUNG
284. DEAR PRUDENCE - BEATLES
285. GIVE A LITTLE BIT - SUPERTRAMP
286. REELIN' IN THE YEARS - STEELY DAN
287. MISS YOU - ROLLING STONES

!:

Their highest sales levels were in Canada, where they had two diamond-certified (ten-times platinum) albums (Crime of the Century and Breakfast in America).

“Canada has always been a special place for me. Canada discovered Supertramp before America did, actually. The history of my relationship with Canada spans from the Crime of the Century album [released in 1974] and goes right through beyond Breakfast In America [1979] and into my solo career. It’s incredible the support that the music has received from Canada. And I don’t know if you know, but I have a couple of Diamond Awards back home which means that one million Canadians owned Crime of the Century and one million Canadians owned Breakfast in America. At the time I think the population was somewhere around 20 million so that means one in 20 Canadians owned those albums, which is a pretty amazing statistic,” said Hodgson, taking a break from rehearsals just outside Milwaukee.

“It was an amazing relationship from the outset. I remember it very clearly when one day we were in Louisville, Kentucky on tour with Supertramp and the whole band was out in the street giving away tickets to try and get an audience for the night. The next day we flew to Montreal and played the sold-out Forum. So it was pretty mind blowing at the time just how much Canadian fans took to our music.

http://www.musiclifemagazine.net/roger-hodgson-rekindles-his-canadian-love-affair-with-november-tour/

#285 would be extremely low for Supertramp up here.

Found the WLS (Chicago) lists:
http://www.wlshistory.com/RHOF/

Since WLS was an AM top 40 station that also played some FM rock, it's a pretty interesting, and occasionally batshit, mix. Each list also reflects whatever was getting heavy airplay that year, hence the high placings of Styx, REO Speedwagon, and "You Better You Bet" (over all other Who songs) on the 1981 list.

There's a lot of Elvis Costello! How many would be on such a list now? Zero?

There's a lot of Elvis Costello! How many would be on such a list now? Zero?

― Boring, Maryland

or less

Ah getting used to Zing.

Hey, check this out, haven't listened yet: https://www.mixcloud.com/rob-frankel/wnew-fm-1978-12-06-dennis-elsas-alison-steele/