Plethora of Pop’s Rate-A-Record

1980: Driving and Crying

Ratings without borders

Photo by Elsa Gonzalez on Unsplash

As this week’s Rate-A-Record (my version) crosses over into the 1980’s, continuing the crossover country/pop theme, I feel a bit down. Now that could also be due to our plumbing issues — can’t use the washing machine or the kitchen sink for a few days — but as my wife says,

“We’ve still got it good. We’re not sitting in an emergency room somewhere.”

Now that was a slap-me-baldheaded moment.

I’ve done some cleaning, got my boy Max’s supper fixed, and everything else I can think of, and so while I’m waiting to negotiate with the manager whose company’s camera is stuck in one of our basement pipes, I thought, might as well write.

But as I browsed the HOT 100 from Billboard Magazine in 1980, I felt a multitude of emotions, and yeah, that crossed me up pretty badly.

For instance, the #1 song for the year is Blondie’s “Call Me,” which you might know better as one of the nuggets of soundtrack from what is surely one of the 10 greatest movies ever released in the U.S.:

American Giglio

The song, at least, truly kicks, and you know, or should, how much I love Blondie.