| Billboard Top Hits: 1980 | 
 enlarge | Artist: Various Artists
Label: Rhino / Wea
Category: Music
List Price: $3.98
Buy New: $3.94
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (2 reviews)
Sales Rank: 22014
Media: Audio Cassette
Discs: 1
UPC: 081227067540
EAN: 0081227067540
ASIN: B0000032KD
Release Date: September 15, 1992
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Call Me - Harry, Debbie | | • | Fame - Gore, Michael | | • | Working My Way Back to You/Forgive Me, Girl - Linzer, Sandy | | • | Funkytown - Greenberg, Steven | | • | Little Jeannie - John, Elton | | • | Upside Down - Edwards, Bernard | | • | He's So Shy - Snow, Tom | | • | Please Don't Go - Casey, Harry Wayne | | • | Do That to Me One More Time - Tennille, Toni | | • | Take Your Time (Do It Right), Pt. 1 - Clayton, Harold |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Album Description
The world's number one chart researcher, Joel Whitburn, selected the recordings for this collection. Joel is the author of the Record Research books which chronicle the artists and the records that hit Billboard's music charts. He hand picked each of the songs in this series according to chart performance and licensing availability. Sounding exactly as they did when first released, these classic recordings have been digitally remastered from original tape sources.
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| Customer Reviews:
1980: The 80's are off to a slow start. August 9, 2002
3 out of 8 found this review helpful
NOTES: Rhino's Billboard Top Hits series features ten popular songs from a given year. They may not be the exact biggest hits of the year (due to licensing restrictions from some major artists, etc.) but, more or less, provide an accurate snapshot of the year in pop music.
THIS REVIEW IS FOR 1980:
In many ways 1980 was considered to be a dull time for pop music. It was before MTV exploded (which is what the 80's is often associated with) but after all the '70s phenomenons (Disco, early heavy metal, etc.) had faded. That being said, there's still a few good songs.
1. "Call Me" Blondie -- Kicking off with the semi new wave inspired disco rocker, this gives a good indication of what the 80's would sound like. One of the stronger songs.
2. "Fame" Irene Cara -- Although best known for the super catchy dance-pop single "Flashdance/What A Feeling" three years later, this was her other, lesser known hit. It borrows more heavily from the 70's disco sound.
3. "Working My Way Back to You" Spinners -- Another song that somewhat bridges the gap between 70's and 80's pop, in the form of an uptempo R&B based love song.
4. "Little Jeanie" Elton John -- This is a calm, yet melodic pop styled love song, and one of Elton's stronger hits. Also, one of the few that his usual songwriter Bernie Taupin did not write.
5. "Funkytown" Lipps Inc. -- Probably the catchiest (yet strangest) song to basically only feature one lyric. Heavily electronic sounding disco hit.
7. "He's So Shy" Pointer Sisters -- This is another uptempo song paying tribute to the recent 70's sound, yet laying down the groundwork for what fun and happy pop would sound like in the decade to come.
You might notice I left the other four songs blank. I rarely do this is reviews now, but I sold this volume a few years ago, and I don't remember having much desire to hear them again.
In any event, (6) "Upside Down" from Diana Ross; and (8) "Please Don't Go" from KC and the Sunshine Band are leftover disco numbers that hardly packed a punch.
On the other hand, "Do That to Me One More Time" from Captain & Tenielle, and "Take Your Time (Do it Right)" from the SOS Band (9 and 10) were formulatic and stale pop ballads that failed to make much of an impact.
In short: Although this had six strong songs listed above, the combination of the four clunkers, as well as not enough variety really sink the quality down. One thing present in every other volume of the 80's (except maybe 1987) is the presence of a few good rockers. "Hit Me With Your Best Shot", "What I Like About You" or "Brass in Pocket" would've been very welcome to break up the mostly slow monotony.
Even some more typical sounding music was missing. I'm surprised Christopher Cross - who had his 5X Grammy-winning album this year - didn't have any songs included. "Ride Like the Wind" and "Sailing" were both huge hits, and even though they were more akin to the other pop and ballads here, they were far superior IMHO.
1980 July 29, 2002
2 out of 19 found this review helpful
This shows why MTV came into being. This is the cheesiest music you will ever hear and why Disco died in the first place. Please don't buy this. The '70s disco era was the worst in the century and really shows it on this collection of billboard hits.
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