Well, being born in 1963, I was too young to care or pay attention to when it changed from the 60s to the 70s. So 1980 is the year I first remember or paid attention to the decades changing. I was a junior in high school in the first half of the year, a senior the second half, and living in the small town of Harrington, Washington, the true definition of “small town America” with less than 600 people living in the town 50 miles southwest of Spokane. Music was my refuge, and my tastes were all over the road. Disco was still hanging in there, new wave was starting blossom in the States, ballads were still good, and some pop and country made it into my charts. I mean, I look at my charts now from that year, and I was big into teen acts – Leif Garrett was at #1 on the first chart of the year with “Give In“; a year earlier he had been in the same position with “I Was Made For Dancing“. I loved the music of The Keane Brothers, although 1980 was the last year they’d have a big impact on my chart, except for one more huge TKR hit a couple years later. As the year went on, you could tell I was growing as a music connoisseur; I became a huge new wave fan as the year went on – I found “Rock Lobster” by B-52s, still one of the greatest songs OF ALL TIME, in the late spring, which forever changed my musical direction, gradually edging out most of the disco stuff. I also lived through the Eastern Washington aftermath of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens on May 18th – there was nothing like watching TV at 1 o’clock in the afternoon when it was as dark as midnight and ash falling from the sky at the rate of about a half-inch an hour through most of the afternoon…eerie and somewhat terrifying and beautiful at the same time – it was a once in a lifetime experience (or at least, one can HOPE…). I still assumed I’d be heading for broadcasting school when I graduated from high school the following year – being a radio jock was all I wanted at that time. By the end of the year, a 14 year old R&B singer named Stacy Lattisaw entered the picture – OMG I loved her heaven-sent voice; I would remain a huge fan until she retired to be a wife and mom in the early 1990s. And I used my chart to play “Name That Tune” with friends, and introduce them to the many songs that hit my chart that didn’t do that well (or ANYTHING AT ALL) on the national charts. Along the way, there were songs from several movies, like “American Gigolo“, which was a huge hit, and “Xanadu“, which wasn’t (but the music was). Ah….1980…be forewarned…my handwriting is ATROCIOUS on these early charts…heh heh heh…
JANUARY 5 1980
JANUARY 12 1980
JANUARY 19 1980
JANUARY 26 1980
FEBRUARY 2 1980
FEBRUARY 9 1980
FEBRUARY 16 1980
FEBRUARY 23 1980
MARCH 1 1980
MARCH 8 1980
MARCH 15 1980 (TC’S 17TH BIRTHDAY)
MARCH 22 1980
MARCH 29 1980
APRIL 5 1980
APRIL 12 1980
APRIL 19 1980
APRIL 26 1980
MAY 3 1980
MAY 10 1980
MAY 17 1980
MAY 24 1980
MAY 31 1980
JUNE 7 1980
JUNE 14 1980
JUNE 21 1980
JUNE 28 1980
JULY 5 1980
JULY 12 1980
JULY 19 1980
JULY 26 1980
AUGUST 2 1980
AUGUST 9 1980
AUGUST 16 1980
AUGUST 23 1980
AUGUST 30 1980
SEPTEMBER 6 1980
SEPTEMBER 13 1980
SEPTEMBER 20 1980
SEPTEMBER 27 1980
OCTOBER 4 1980
OCTOBER 11 1980
OCTOBER 18 1980
OCTOBER 25 1980
NOVEMBER 1 1980
NOVEMBER 8 1980
NOVEMBER 15 1980
NOVEMBER 22 1980
NOVEMBER 29 1980
DECEMBER 6 1980
DECEMBER 13 1980
DECEMBER 20 1980
DECEMBER 27 1980
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