K-Chuck Radio: Another 10 classic pop songs you barely remember

I believe that the songs we currently call “classics” and “oldies” are only branded as such because, at one point in time, they topped the pop charts – thus, by that metric, the song should be popular forever, while a song that might have inched into the Top 20 or been a regional hit is now a barely forgotten melody.

On today’s K-Chuck Radio broadcast, I’m bringing you ten songs from the late 1970’s and early 1980’s that, while fantastic in their own right, aren’t going to make the oldies station playlist any time soon. Which is a shame, because they’re really awesome tracks.

Starting with:

JUDIE TZUKE
Stay With Me Till Dawn

This track is just absolutely haunting. The music video just shows Judie Tzuke sitting in a chair by the beach. That’s it. But the song itself features her brilliant voice soaring over a sparse orchestration. Wow.

PROMISES
Baby It’s You

Promises were a Canadian family pop/rock group whose one hit, “Baby, It’s You” became a massive hit … on the other side of the world. Topped the charts in New Zealand and Australia, barely even got a sniff in their Canadian homelands. Someone completely dropped the promotional ball on this one, IMHO.

GET WET
Just So Lonely

Another bouncy pop song, and this track would have certainly dominated the early 80’s pop scene – had Get Wet not had the miserable luck of their record company shutting down and going bankrupt during the song’s promotional run. Yikes.

And speaking of artists whose record company completely petered out at the worst possible time, I bring you …

THE MONROES
What Do All The People Know?

True story. I’m in college in the early 1980’s, and The Monroes’ “What Do All The People Know?” seemed to be on every radio station in the Mohawk Valley, every hour on the hour – and then, one day, the song just vanished. Just like the record company the Monroes called home. Oof.

SILVER CONDOR
You Could Take My Heart Away

This group was big. Trust me. That’s a video clip from the variety show Solid Gold. But “You Could Take My Heart Away” was Silver Condor’s one and only hit. No fair.

JON AND VANGELIS
The Friends of Mr. Cairo

Of course, that’s Jon Anderson of Yes. And that’s Vangelis from Chariots of Fire. And they collaborated several times, including this ode to classic film that was a #1 hit in Canada … but barely got a spin in the United States. And trust me, I only brought you the 4:00 minute version of this song, there’s a 15-minute full-length version, don’t threaten me.

TONY CHRISTIE
Avenues and Alleyways

Originally written as the theme song for a British TV series called The Protectors, Tony Christie’s vocals take this song and elevate it into an alternate James Bond theme. I mean, you hear this song once, and you want to hear it again and again.

JULUKA
Scatterlings of Africa

Yeah, we played this song on college radio over and over and over again. Because it was good. So what if it only reached #109 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts? Come on, you can’t appreciate amazing world music like this?

HUEY LEWIS AND THE NEWS
Some Of My Lies Are True

Yes, you’ve heard of Huey Lewis and the News. But you’ve NEVER heard this track, unless you were listening to the radio in 1980. You might have thought Huey Lewis and the News was a cool New Wave / surf band at the time. Which is all fine and dandy. But man, this track just slaps hard every time.

THE FLYING LIZARDS
Money

A totally deconstructed, re-imagined interpretation of the Barrett Strong Motown classic, as performed on prepared piano and tape loops. Come on, you don’t think this track was just a little too avant-garde for local Top 40 radio?

So, yeah. Ten great tracks here from the 1970’s and 1980’s that should have received more love on the radio, and can still receive love from you today. All you have to do is click on those embedded videos and enjoy these classics.

On K-Chuck Radio!