Twostepcublog

" Contact " was a huge club hit for R&B singer/songwriter Edwin Starr. Appearing on his album Clean , the song was produced by Starr, who co-wrote the track with Robert Dickerson and Arthur Pullam. The single spent a week at #1 on the National Disco Action Top-40 chart in 1979. It made it to #65 on the American pop charts, but across the pond in the UK the song rose to #6.

Friday's here, and it's time to run down my top 100 "hit" tunes from the previous week. Sam Smith and Normani reign for a third week, while Pink (pictured above) dances into the top five. Songs from Beck, Marshmello/CHVRCHES, and Avicii/Aloe Blacc make the biggest jumps (moves of 10+ places highlighted in red ), while former big hits from Marshmello/Bastille, Meghan Trainor, and miss Diana Ross drop off my list. This Week        Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Dancing With A Stranger - Sam Smith & Normani (1) 2. Lo/Hi - Black Keys (2) 3. Sucker - Jonas Brothers (3) 4. Walk Me Home - Pink (8) 5. Sweet But Psycho - Ava Max (5) 6. Hey Look Ma, I Made It - Panic! At The Disco (7) 7. Close To Me - Ellie Goulding & Diplo f/Swae Lee (4) 8. Someone You Loved - Lewis Capaldi (10) 9. Trampoline - SHAED (9) 10. Ready To Let ...

" Until I Fall Away " - Gin Blossoms from the album New Miserable Experience (1992) Billboard Hot 100 peak: unable to chart Billboard Hot 100 airplay peak: #21 (one week) Weeks in the Hot 100 airplay Top-40: 19 Today's song of the day comes from the alternative rock band Gin Blossoms , who had landed two top-40 pop hits at the end of 1993 through the beginning of 1994 with " Hey Jealousy " and " Found Out About You ". The next song from the album promoted to radio was "Until I Fall Away". Written by bandmates Robin Wilson and Jesse Valenzuela, the jangle-pop classic wasn't released as a physical single, but got enough mainstream radio airplay to reach the top-40 of the airplay chart in Billboard magazine... While "Until I Fall Away" couldn't make the Hot 100 pop chart in America since it wasn't put out commercially, the song climbed into the airplay top-40 in July of 1994 and ended up spending 43 weeks to...

" Fall Down " - Toad The Wet Sprocket from the album Dulcinea (1994) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #33 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 4 Today's song of the day comes from the alternative rock band Toad The Wet Sprocket , whose third album fear spun off two top-20 pop hits with " All I Want " and " Walk On The Ocean ". In 1994, the band returned with their follow-up record Dulcinea . The lead single from the set would be the harder-edged "Fall Down". Written by lead singer Glen Phillips and guitarist Todd Nichols, the track also appeared in the Wesley Snipes movie Drop Zone ... "Fall Down" became Toad the Wet Sprocket's third top-40 pop hit (and final physical single to reach there) in July of 1994. But the song was a much bigger success on rock radio, spending six weeks on top of the Modern Rock radio chart, and peaking at #5 on the Mainstream Rock format list. Internationally, the single cracked the top ten in Canada ...

" Get On The Funk Train " was a club hit for Munich Machine, the moniker for the collaborative effort between disco giants Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. Appearing on the act's debut album Munich Machine , the set charted as one item, with "Get On The Funk Train" singled out as the standout DJ track. It climbed to #7 on the National Disco Action chart in Billboard magazine in 1977.

" When Can I See You " - Babyface from the album For The Cool In You (1993) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #4 (five weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 30 Today's song of the day comes from singer/songwriter/producer Kenneth " Babyface " Edmonds, whose third studio album For The Cool In You had already spun off a pair of top-40 pop hits with "And Our Feelings" and " Never Keeping Secrets ", along with a top ten R&B hit as the lead single with " For The Cool In You ". Also, two album tracks reached the R&B airplay chart in Billboard magazine in " Lady, Lady " (#68) and " Rock Bottom " (#71), with the latter becoming only his second charting single in the UK at #50. The fourth and final physical release in America from the record would be the ballad "When Can I See You". Written by Babyface, who produced the single with "L.A." Reid and Daryl Simmons, the sparse and emotional breakup tune end...

" It's Over " was a club hit for Canadian singer Alma Faye. Appearing on her album Doin' It , the song was written by Faye with Dom Sciscente and Michel Daigle. The single climbed to #66 on the Disco Top-80 chart in Billboard magazine in 1979. It also was the "B-side" of the 7" single "Don't Fall In Love", which went to #90 on the R&B chart.

" 100% Pure Love " - Crystal Waters from the album Storyteller (1994) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #11 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 34 Today's song of the day comes from the dance queen of second chances, Crystal Waters , who had landed a left-field top ten pop crossover in the summer of 1991 with " Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless) ". With being a club track played on mainstream radio, along with the unexpected song theme, it would have been easy at the time to categorize this as standard "one-hit wonder" fare. And for a bit it seemed that way too, with no other singles making the pop Hot 100 (although her debut album scored two top-40 hits in the UK, along with a " Megamix " that also did the trick at #39). Coupled with the fact that it took three years for Waters to reemerge with a second album would normally follow that VH1: Where Are They Now? pattern of failure on the sophomore try. But in this case, that would not happen. Writt...

" Let No Man Put Asunder " was a club hit for the female vocal trio First Choice. Appearing on their 1977 album Delusions , the song was written by producer Bruce Hawes along with Bruce Gray. The song didn't reach the charts until 1983, where it climbed to #13 on the Dance/Disco Top 80 chart in Billboard magazine. You can pick out the hook that grounded the remix to Whitney Houston's "I'm Every Woman" in the Frankie Knuckles remix of the track.

"(She's) Some Kind Of Wonderful" - Huey Lewis & The News from the album Four Chords and Several Years Ago (1994) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #44 This week's "robbed hit" comes from the pop-rock band Huey Lewis & The News , who were last seen as a Song of the Day for their cover of Curtis Mayfield's soul nugget " It's Alright " from a tribute album to Mayfield, which reached the top-40 of the pop airplay chart in the summer of 1993. The following year, after leaving EMI Records after just one album for the Elektra label, the group recorded an album of all remakes, Four Chords and Several Years Ago . The first single released from the project would be a obscure R&B record that is best known for its first revival as a rock remake in 1974. "(She's) Some Kind Of Wonderful", written by John Ellison, climbed to #3 on the American pop chart for the soul-rock band Grand Funk... That record was so big I never realiz...

" Prayer For The Dying " - Seal from the album Seal (1994) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #21 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 14 Today's song of the day comes from alternative soul singer-songwriter Seal , aka Henry Samuel, who had broken through in America in the fall of 1991 with his atmospheric dance-rock single " Crazy ". In his native Britain, his self-titled debut album spun off five top-40 hits there, and topped the albums chart as well. In 1994, Seal returned with his second album, also titled Seal (some people refer to it as Seal II , but the labeling does not) again with producer Trevor Horn. The lead single from the record would be another song that would combine the electric rock sounds with his soulful voice in "Prayer For The Dying". Written by Seal with Gus Isidore, it brought him back to mainstream radio in America... "Prayer For The Dying" became Seal's second American top-40 hit in August of 1994. The song spent...

" Right In The Socket " was a club hit for the disco act Shalamar. Appearing on their album Big Fun (the first with the lineup of Jody Watley, Jeffrey Daniels, and Howard Hewett), the song was co-written by Leon Sylvers III, Dick Griffey, and Kevin Spencer. The single climbed to #11 on the Disco Top 100 chart in Billboard magazine in 1980. (Click below to see the rest of the post)

" Always In My Heart " - Tevin Campbell from the album I'm Ready (1993) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #20 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 10 Today's song of the day comes from R&B singer Tevin Campbell , whose sophomore album I'm Ready had already spun off a pair of top ten pop hits with " Can We Talk " and " I'm Ready " (a third track from the album, a remake of the Prince song " Shhh... ", made the R&B airplay top ten at #8 and nearly made the pop airplay top-40 at #45). The third physical single released from the record would be the love ballad "Always In My Heart". Produced by Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, who wrote the song with Daryl Simmons, the smooth soul excursion would climb the charts to become his last big pop success in America... "Always In My Heart" became Tevin's fifth and final top-40 pop hit in August of 1994. The song also climbed to #6 on the R&B chart in B...

" Sun...Sun...Sun... " was a club hit for the disco group from Flint, Michigan, Ja-kki. Put together by producer Johnny Melfi and named for their lead singer Jacqueline, the song climbed to #5 on Billboard magazine's Disco File Top 20 in 1976.

" The Place Where You Belong " - Shai from the album Beverly Hills Cop III (Original Soundtrack) (1994) and Blackface (1995) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #34 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 6 Today's song of the day comes from the soul vocal group Shai , whose debut album If I Ever Fall In Love scored three top ten pop hits with " Baby I'm Yours ", " Comforter ", and the #2 smash " If I Ever Fall In Love ". In 1994, the group returned with a single taken from the soundtrack to the Eddie Murphy cinema juggernaut Beverly Hills Cop III , "The Place Where You Belong". Written by the band's members Garfield Bright, Marc Gay, Carl Martin, and Darnell Van Rensalier, the smooth adult soul has a subtle new jack swing beat in the background. The song was released as a single after Patti Labelle's " The Right Kind of Lover ", which hit #8 on the R&B chart, topped Billboard 's dance chart, and stopped at #61 ...

" Rainbow High " was a cover of the Broadway classic from the Andrew Lloyd Webber stage classic Evita , done by the disco group Festival. Appearing on their album Disco Evita , which charted as a single entry on Billboard magazine's Disco Top 100 chart, it climbed to #3 in 1980 and stayed on the list for 30 weeks.

Friday's here, and it's time to run down my top 100 "hit*" tunes from the previous week. Sam Smith and Normani hang on to #1 for a second week, while Panic! At The Disco (pictured above) climbs a notch within the top ten. Former big hits from Hozier, NOTD/Felix Jaehn, Dean Lewis, Michael Ray, DJs from Mars, and Riley Green drop off my chart, while songs from Taylor Swift/Brandon Urie, Maren Morris, and the Lumineers make the biggest jumps (moves of 10+ places highlighted in red ). Have a memorable Memorial Day weekend, folks! *"Hit" tunes generally means in the American Hot 100 top 20, Adult Top-40 top 30, Adult Contemporary top 5, Rock Airplay top 10, Mainstream Rock top 5, Alternative top 10, Triple-A Rock top 10, R&B/Hip Hop Airplay top 5, Adult R&B top-5, Country Airplay top-20, Dance Club Play top 20, and Dance Airplay top 10, as well as British top ten and airplay top ten hits. This Week              So...

" Willing To Forgive " - Aretha Franklin from the album Greatest Hits 1980-1994 (1994) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #26 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 8 Today's song of the day comes from the late great Queen of Soul herself, Aretha Franklin . After landing her second #1 pop hit in 1987 with her duet with George Michael, "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)", her follow-up album Through The Storm , a hugely collaborative set, got a much more muted response, with the lead single " Through The Storm " with Elton John becoming a top-20 pop hit in the spring of 1989, while the second, " It Isn't, It Wasn't, It Ain't Ever Gonna Be ", which paired Aretha with the then-white-hot Whitney Houston, peaked right under the pop top-40 at #41 that summer. She started the 1990s off with yet another album, What You See Is What You Sweat , which garnered an even worse reaction, being her first secular studio record since 1979 to fail to produce ...

" Accidental Lover " was a massive club hit for disco studio group Love And Kisses. Put together by producer Alec Costandinos, the act's debut album Love And Kisses was 15 minute plus versions of this song and " I Found Love (Now That I Found You) ", and charted as a single entry on Billboard 's National Disco Action Top-40, where it spent three weeks at #1. The group would go on to be famous for recording the theme to the movie Thank God It's Friday the following year.

" Longview " - Green Day from the album Dookie (1994) Billboard Hot 100 peak: Ineligible to chart Billboard Hot 100 airplay peak: #36 (one week) Weeks in the Hot 100 airplay chart: 2 Today's song of the day comes from the seminal pop-punk band Green Day . First started by childhood friends Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt along with drummer John Kiffmeyer while they were still in their teens as Sweet Children in the East Bay area of California east of San Francisco and Oakland, the trio changed their name to Green Day as they released their debut EP 1000 Hours in 1989. A year later, they put out a proper full-length album, 39/Smooth (which would eventually get repackaged as 1039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours to include material from their EPs), which was locally successful, but still on the edge of the punk scene. After touring behind the album Kiffmeyer left to go to college, to be replaced by Tre Cool, who would complete the trio's lineup that has stayed...

"La La Peace Song" was a minor R&B hit for soul singer O.C. Smith. Best known for his ballad "Little Green Apples", Smith released this song as the title track of his 1974 album La La Peace Song . While the single preceded the disco charts in Billboard magazine, it rose to #62 on their R&B chart (inhibited a bit by another version of the song from Al Wilson that came out the same time and peaked at #30).

" Back In The Day " - Ahmad from the album Ahmad (1994) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #26 (three weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 12 Today's song of the day comes from rapper Ahmad Lewis, who grew up in Los Angeles, where he eventually launched his music career, recording under just his first name. Ahmad released his self-titled debut album in the spring of 1994, led by the single "Back In The Day". A nostalgic look back at his youth, the original album version of the track, which sampled the Staple Singers' " Let's Do It Again ", didn't get as much attention as the remix, which was grounded by a swaying sample of Teddy Pendergrass' soul classic " Love TKO ". It landed Ahmad his biggest and only success on the pop chart, making himself a true "one-hit wonder"... "Back In The Day" became Ahmad's first and only top-40 pop hit in August of 1994. The song also climbed to #19 on the R&B chart in Bill...

" Danger " was a club hit for disco producer Gregg Diamond. A native of the Philly suburb of Bryn Mawr, Diamond had been a band member for underground glam-rock icon Jobraith, and had previously worked with Luther Vandross. Appearing on the TK label as a stand-alone single, "Danger" climbed to #21 on Billboard magazine's Disco Top 100 in 1979. Diamond passed away from internal bleeding in 1999.

" Fantastic Voyage " - Coolio from the album It Takes A Thief (1993) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #3 (five weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 21 Today's song of the day comes from rapper Artis Ivey Jr., who records under the moniker Coolio . Coolio started his music life on the gang-dominated streets of Compton, and his first success was being a part of the rap group WC and the MAAD Circle, recording their debut album Ain't A Damn Thing Changed , which was a minor R&B album hit. He left shortly thereafter to start a solo career. Signing to Tommy Boy Records, he released his debut album It Takes A Thief in 1993. The first single, " County Line ", a comical look at the unemployment line, slipped on to the R&B chart in Billboard magazine for a week at #97, while it "bubbled under" the pop Hot 100 at #109. But his fortunes would skyrocket with his second release. "Fantastic Voyage", named for the 1980 funk classic by Lakeside that the ...

" Body Music " was a big club hit for the New York City-based funk group the Strikers. With lead singer Ruben Faison, who had worked with disco acts like Made In USA before, the song appeared on their sole album The Strikers . It climbed to #4 on the Disco Top 100 chart in Billboard magazine in 1981.

" Ease My Mind " - Arrested Development from the album Zingalamaduni (1994) Billboard Hot 100 peak: 45 This week's "robbed hit" comes from the alternative hip-hop collective Arrested Development , whose debut album 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of... had been a massive success, scoring three top ten pop hits with " Tennessee ", " People Everyday ", and " Mr. Wendal ". They also released a live record, MTV Unplugged , which reached a respectable #60 on Billboard magazine's albums sales Top 200 chart. In 1994, the group returned for their second studio album Zingalamaduni , trying to capitalize on that success. The first single "Ease My Mind" was released as a first single. Produced and written by group leader Speech, the song tried to expand on the sonics of the original, rolling on a smooth groove that differed from the soul that was on R&B radio at the time... While "Ease My Mind...

" Wild Night " - John Mellencamp & Me'Shell Ndegeocello from the album Dance Naked (1994) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #3 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 33 Today's song of the day comes from the mainstream rocker from Indiana, John Mellencamp , whose first album of the 1990s, Whenever We Wanted , was his first since he hit big with American Fool in 1982 to not produce a top ten pop hit, though it did have a pair of moderate successes with " Get A Leg Up " and " Again Tonight ", both of which were #1 rock radio hits. John's next record, Human Wheels , was released two years later and while it reached the top ten on the albums sales chart and had a #1 rock radio hit with "What If I Came Knocking", none of its tracks even hit the pop top-40 (the title track " Human Wheels " peaked at #48). With pressure from his record company to come up with something more palatable to the mainstream, Mellencamp went and recorded his...