Twostepcublog

Alabama - " Take Me Down " from the album Mountain Music (1982) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #18 (four weeks) Weeks in the top-40: 8 Today's Song of the Day is the #1 country hit "Take Me Down" by the iconic country band Alabama . Formed in the beginning of the 70s by cousins Randy Owen, Jeff Cook, and Teddy Gentry as Wildcountry, the group was signed as Alabama in the later part of the decade by independent label GRT records, and had a minor country hit with " I Wanna Be With You Tonight " in 1977. After that label went under, and after a couple of singles with another label, the band  signed with RCA records, and starting with their first RCA single of 1980, " Tennessee River ", every single they released save one (the #7 " Tar Top ") in the 80's was a #1 Billboard country hit. "Take Me Down" was their seventh of these 27 #1s, and was typical of their urban-country-pop sound. In fact, the song was writ...

Today, May 31st, marks Darryl McDaniels' ("D.M.C." of Run-DMC) 48th birthday today... also singer/songwriter Junior Campbell of the Marmalade hits 65... and Peter Yarrow of Peter Paul and Mary reaches 74. and because I missed it yesterday, a belated 41st birthday to the fabulously Wicked Idina Menzel... And happy birthday Cori! Go vroom down in Dover!

Today, May 30th, marks country singer Wynonna Judd's 48th birthday. My fave Wy songs... 1) Heaven Help My Heart 2) Is It Over Yet 3) A Little Bit Of Love (Goes a Long, Long Way) 4) My Strongest Weakness 5) Why Not Me 6) She Is His Only Need 7) Father Sun 8) Only Love 9) A Bad Goodbye 10) Love Can Build A Bridge Also, the awesome Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave is 48... Marie Fredriksson of Roxette celebrates her 54th.. Stephan Malkmus of alt-rock gods Pavement turns 46... Tim Burgess of the Charlatans is 45... and finally singer, rapper, and Voice mentor Cee-Lo Green reaches 38... Happy humpday!

Johnny Mathis & Dionne Warwick - "Friends In Love" from the Johnny Mathis album Friends In Love (1982) and the Dionne Warwick album Friends In Love (1982) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #38 (two weeks) Weeks in the top-40: 3 Today's Song of the Day is by two legends of vocal pop music, Johnny Mathis and Dionne Warwick . Mathis, who was 46 years old in 1982, was the premiere crooner of the late fifties and early sixties, and his Greatest Hits album was one of the longest-selling albums in American history. He's also had two #1 pop singles, 1957's " Chances Are " as well as his 1978 duet with Deniece Williams, " Too Much, Too Little, Too Late ". Mathis' first 12 charting albums were all top-10 on the US albums chart, and Mathis at the time was the living legacy of the mainstream success of Nat "King" Cole. I grew up on his music, as my mother was a huge fan of his, and owned all his albums (on 8-track, of course)...

Today, May 29th, marks Melissa Etheridge's 51st birthday. My favorite Etheridge tracks... 1) You Can Sleep While I Drive 2) Like The Way I Do 3) Bring Me Some Water 4) Scarecrow 5) Come To My Window 6) I'm The Only One 7) Tuesday Morning 8) An Unusual Kiss 9) Must Be Crazy For Me 10) Similar Features Noel Gallagher of Oasis is 45. My fave Oasis songs... 1) Champagne Supernova 2) Stand By Me 3) The Girl In The Dirty Shirt 4) Wonderwall 5) Live Forever 6) The Shock Of The Lightning 7) Guess God Thinks I'm Abel 8) Don't Look Back In Anger 9) Lord, Don't Slow Me Down 10) Falling Down The Spice Girls' Melanie Brown ("Scary Spice") is 37 today... Oingo Boingo/Tim Burton collaborator Danny Elfman celebrates his 59th... Pelle Almqvist of the Hives turns 34... And finally, two members of the Jackson clan have birthdays today - Oldest sister Rebbie hits 62... ..and meanwhile, the queen, the legen...

The Motels - " Only The Lonely " from the album All Four One (1982) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #9 (four weeks) weeks in the top-40: 15 Today's Song of the Day is by the California-based alt-rock band the Motels . Starting out in the early 70s but revamped in 1978, the band, fronted by singer Martha Davis, originally had bigger success overseas, with " Total Control " making the top-5 in Australia and the top-20 in France. But it wasn't until their third released album (their third LP was rejected by their record company), All Four One , that the group broke through in the US. The smooth yet dark "Only The Lonely" became their first top-10 hit here, and sent their album into the top-40. The album would also feature a cover of the creepy Carole King song "He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss)", and the whole LP was sort of a recap of Davis' relationship ending with former guitarist Tim McGovern. The group would go on to h...

Richard "Dimples" Fields - "If It Ain't One Thing...It's Another" from the album Mr. Look So Good (1982) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #47 This week's "Robbed Hit" of the week is by R&B singer Richard "Dimples" Fields. Signed to Boardwalk Records (the same label as Joan Jett), Fields had reached the #1 spot on Billboard 's Soul chart with "If It Ain't One Thing...It's Another" in 1982, yet only managed to place at #47 on the pop list. Fields went on to be a producer, and recorded a bunch more R&B hits, including a remake of "Tell It Like It Is",but this would be his only pop chart appearance, and he was unfortunately pass on from a stroke in 2000.

Yes, it's a national holiday for me. It's my queen, Kylie Minogue's 44th birthday today. My favorite Kylie tracks... 1) Confide In Me 2) What Do I Have To Do 3) Spinning Around 4) Shocked 5) Wow 6) Better The Devil You Know 7) Your Disco Needs You 8) Can't Get You Out Of My Head 9) Can't Beat The Feeling 10) Get Outta My Way 11) Love At First Sight 12)  On A Night Like This Also, Gladys Knight turns 68.... Billy Vera is also 68... John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival is 67 Roland Gift of Fine Young Cannibals is 52... Country singer Phil Vassar is 48... Mark Feehily of Westlife is 32... and finally, singer Colbie Caillat is 27... Now to go celebrate! Happy Memorial Day!

Eddie Rabbitt - "I Don't Know Where To Start" from the album Step By Step (1981) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #35 (one week) weeks in the top-40: 4 Today's Song of the Day is by country singer/songwriter Eddie Rabbitt, who travelled down from New Jersey to Nashville to find a career in music.His big break came when Elvis Presley recorded his song " Kentucky Rain " back in 1969, which was a top-20 pop hit the following year.  Rabbitt also penned Ronnie Milsap's first #1 country hit, "Pure Love" in 1974. That same year, Rabbitt's first charting single, " You Get To Me ", made the US country top-40. Two years later, he had his first of 17 #1 country hits with "Drinking My Baby (Off My Mind)". As cosmopolitan country and soft pop began to merge at the end of the 70's, Rabbitt's music found a home at mainstream radio as well, and his theme to Clint Eastwood's monkey flick Every Which Way But Loose b...

Today, May 27th...marks Glee 's Chris Colfer's 22nd birthday......congrats Chris you are teh awesome! Andre 3000 from Outkast turns 37.... Neil Finn from Split Endz and Crowded House hits 54.. Siouxsie Sioux is (wow) 55.... Bruce Cockburn is 67... Jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis is 77.. and last but certainly not least.the legendary Cilla Black is 69.. Good night all!

Kansas - "Play The Game Tonight" from the album Vinyl Confessions (1982) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #17 (three weeks) weeks in the top-40: 9 Tonight's Song of the Day is by the arena-rock band Kansas , named for the state they hail from. They cemented their most successful lineup in the mid-70s, and in 1976 had their first top-40 pop hit with the classic rock standard "Carry On My Wayward Son ". Two years later they had their biggest hit, the top-10 pop " Dust In The Wind ". However, by the end of the decade creative tensions in the band led to the departure of lead singer Steve Walsh, and after auditioning new leads (including Sammy Hagar), the band recruited John Elefante. At the same time, founding members Kerry Livgren and Dave Hope pointed the band's music in more of a subtle Christian-rock direction. Vinyl Confessions was the first album released with Elefante in the lead vocal role. "Play The Game Tonight" was rele...

Here's a sampling of the new songs on this weeks R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Adult R&B charts in Billboard magazine. On the main R&B list, the highest debut at #77 is rapper Chief Keef featuring Lil' Reese on "I Don't Like"...(NSFW) On the completely opposite tip, Contemporary jazz instrumentalist Brian Culbertson enlists singer Vivian Green at #87 for "Still Here"...   Brian Culbertson - Still Here (feat. Vivian Green) by Brian Culbertson - DREAMS  Rap artist A$AP Rocky (Rakim Myers) has his first R&B hit at #88 with "Goldie" (NSFW)... New Edition/LSG crooner Johnny Gill is back at #89 with the not-the-Billy-Joel "Just The Way You Are"... Eric Benet comes in at #91 with the smooth "Harriett Jones"... and crossing over from the Adult R&B list, Monica comes in at #99 with "Without You".. Meanwhile, on the Adult R&B list, Brit...

Here's a rundown of the songs debuting on this week's Billboard country chart... There's only three new songs this week, and the highest is also the highest newcomer to the all-genre Hot 100. It's Kenny Chesney with "Come Over" all the way up at #24... The current ACM and CMA female vocalist of the year, Miranda Lambert, brings the third single from her latest Four The Record in at #54. It's the "Fastest Girl In Town"... and lastly, Rascal Flatts follow up their #1 hit "Banjo" with "Come Wake Me Up"... Twang On....

Here's a sampling of the songs that are debuting on Billboard 's rock charts this week. On the Rock Songs chart, the highest entry comes from Christian metal band P.O.D. return after a four year break with a song previewing Murdered Love which is coming out in July. The song at #45 is "Lost In Forever".. Alex Clare finally hits the main rock list at #47 with the Microsoft-shilling dubstep rock of "Too Close"... and Canadian post-grunge band Art Of Dying comes in at #49 with "Sorry"... Meanwhile over on the Modern Rock/Alternative chart, South Australian rock group Atlas Genius featuring brothers Keith, Steven, and Michael Jeffrey and Darren Sell have their first hit featured on MTV's 120 Minutes at #35 with "Trojans"... and Tennessee natives the Features come in at #39 with "How It Starts"... and lastly, on Billboard 's Triple-A chart there's one new song, indie...

Here's a sampling of the new songs coming onto Billboard magazine's Dance Club, Airplay/Mixshow, and Global Dance charts. On the Club chart, former American Idol runner-up and current star of Smash has a remix hit with a song from the latter show, written by OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder. Here's "Touch Me" at #36... Swiss-born actress and singer Kat Graham comes on at #45 with "Put Your Graffiti On Me"... and at #47 is the Princeton University alumnus Kwanza Jones with "Time To Go"...  Meanwhile over on the Airplay/Mixshow chart, Sebastian Ingrosso's "Calling" comes in at #21.. and Maroon 5 debut at #24 with "Payphone"... and over on the Global Dance Tracks chart, the highest entry is at #34, with DJ Avicii featuring fellow Swede Salem Al Fakir on "Silhouettes"... fun. with Jonelle Monae get the remix treatment at #35 with "We Are Young".....

Now that I've got your attention, here's the rundown of the songs debuting on Billboard 's Hot 100 chart and Adult-Top 40 chart this week. Country hunk Kenny Chesney (pictured above) has the second new single from his upcoming CD Welcome To The Fishbowl make the highest entry at # 59 with "Come Over"... Rapper/singer J. Cole places the fourth song from his debut Cole World A Sideline Story . a US #1 album, onto the Hot 100. He gets a little help from Missy Elliott on "Nobody's Perfect" at #90.... Meanwhile, the third single from the Gym Class Heroes' Papercut Chronicles II comes in at #95 with OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder co-writing, co-producing, and guest-singing on "The Fighter"... Love and Theft are down to a duo from a trio, and their latest country hit "Angel Eyes" makes the Hot 100 at #98 the same week it reaches the country top-20... and finally, another country hit comes in ...

Ronnie Milsap - "Any Day Now"  from the album Inside (1982) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #14 (two weeks) weeks in the top-40: 9 Today's Song of the Day is by country singer Ronnie Milsap , with his remake of the soul standard "Any Day Now". Milsap was born in North Carolina, and blind since birth due to congenital disorder, losing both his eyes. His career began as an R&B artist, even having a top-20 hit in 1965 with " Never Had It So Good ", an Ashford & Simpson-written song. An accomplished piano player, he would work with many pop and soul legends of the time, including Elvis Presley, with whom he worked with in his country-leaning period entering the 70s. After moving over to RCA records in the early 70s, Milsap's new country focus found a home, and in 1974 he had his first #1 with " Pure Love ", the first of his 35 charttoppers on Billboard 's country list (the fourth most behind George Strait, Conway Twitty, ...

Hey everyone, it's May 26th, and the amazing Stevie Nicks celebrates her 64th birthday today. My favorite Nicks numbers... 1) After The Glitter Fades 2) Edge Of Seventeen 3) Gold Dust Woman 4) Rihannon 5) Landslide 6) Silver Springs 7) Trouble In Shangri La 8) Stand Back 9) Dreams 10) Violet And Blue Country legend and crazy person Hank Williams Jr. turns 63... and Lenny Kravitz hits 48... Have a safe Saturday!