WLS Music Survey – June 16, 1979 (Part Two - The Forty-fives)

This is Part Two of a two-part post covering the WLS Music Survey from June 16, 1979. Click HERE for Part One. This time around, we're covering the backside of the survey, particularly the Bio and Etcetera, Etc. features as well as the list of Forty-fives featured on the survey's front. We'll start off with none of that.

One of my favorite MAD Magazine artists was Jack Davis. He applied his trademark style across many memorable features in the magazine, as well as print advertisements, album covers, and movie posters. On this week's survey, he's got the 7Up ad. Below is Davis's original poster art for The Villain, released in July 1979. I'd see the movie that summer.

One thing the Bio doesn't mention is that The Allman Brothers Band splintered when it broke up in 1976, forming three other bands: Sea Level, Great Southern, and the Gregg Allman Band. I don't know about "recapturing their old magic", but Enlightened Rogues wasn't the spectacular failure it could have been.

The Forty-fives chart is at peak disco with at least 25 disco tracks on the list, just four weeks ahead of the infamous Disco Demolition Night. Two singles are debuting on this week's Forty-fives at numbers 45 and 39. The Doobie Brothers follow-up "What A Fool Believes" with the title track to their latest album, number 6 over on the Thirty-threes. "Minute By Minute" comes in at number 45 on its way to a peak of number 19. The other chart debut is from Earth, Wind & Fire with The Emotions and their roller skating jam "Boogie Wonderland" coming in at number 39. The song would eventually boogie up to number 12 and wind up at number 66 on the Big 89 of 1979.

The EXTRA non-numbered single listed on the Forty-fives this week is "Getting Closer" by Wings. Number 20 is as close as it would get to the top of the chart. Wings' other single on this week's list is "Goodnight Tonight", up at number 12 for a second week as it falls from its peak at number 9. The single would end up at number 66 on the year-end wrap up.

Like Wings, the Bee Gees also have two singles on the Forty-fives this week. "Tragedy" falls six spots to number 37 after peaking at number 4 back in April 1979. The single would land at number 32 on the Big 89 of 1979. 

Rising two spots to its peak at number 9 this week is the Bee Gees' "Love You Inside Out", the featured song of this week's Etcetera, Etc. "Love You Inside Out" would place at number 72 on the Big 89 of 1979 after a fourteen-week chart stay.

Peaches & Herb also have a pair of singles on the Forty-fives with "Shake Your Groove Thing" and "Reunited". After peaking at number 4 back in April, "Shake Your Groove Thing" shimmies down to number 30 this week. It will also end up at number 30 on the Big 89 of 1979. "Reunited" slips from Number One down to number two on the station's survey. The single wound up at number 10 on the year-end tally.

The Doobie Brothers are another of the eight acts with two singles on the list of Forty-fives. We tracked "Minute By Minute" making its debut this week, up above, and mentioned "What A Fool Believes". The latter track drops seven spots to number 14 this week. "What A Fool Believes" peaked at number 2 back in April 1979 and would finish at number 3 on the Big 89 of 1979.

I bought both of the Village People singles on this week's Forty-fives in real time. Rising four spots to number 35 is "Y.M.C.A.", a song that had debuted on the singles list back in December 1978 before peaking at number 2, earning it the number 22 spot on the year-end chart. "In The Navy" drops five spots from its number 10 peak to number 15 this week.

Sister Sledge is down four spots to number 27 this week with "He's The Greatest Dancer" after peaking at number 17 in May 1979. The group's instant anthem "We Are Family" jumps up ten to number 10 this week. The track will go on to peak at number 5 in July, just before The Disco Demolition riot. "We Are Family" will clock in at number 39 on the Big 89 of 1979.

The groove of Rod Stewart's "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" slips four to number 41 this week after peaking at Number One in February 1979. The song would end up at number 2 on the Big 89 of 1979. The follow-up single "Ain't Love A Bitch", one of two songs on this week's Forty-fives with titles that begin with Ain't, is at number 32, down five from it's peak last week.

"Heaven Knows" might just be my favorite song from Donna Summer. This week, the song drops six places to number 42 after peaking at number 8 in March 1979. "Heaven Knows" would land at number 54 on the Big 89 of 1979. Summer's second single on the Forty-fives this week is "Hot Stuff" at Number One. It would hold that position for another four consecutive weeks before its slow descent down the survey and the number 5 position on the Big 89 of 1979.

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There are undoubtedly more connections to be made between the forty-six songs on this week's chart of Forty-fives, including songwriters, labels, producers, and television appearances. Still, I'm going to end this post by saying that listening to this list of Forty-fives was a powerful and instant time machine back to the heady, hormonal days of 1979. Seventh-grade teachers like Mr. Peete (science) and Ms. Bufano (math) were trying to get me to live up to the potential they saw, all the while the women posing as eighth graders were distracting me from said potential by reducing me to a stuttering, slobbering idiot whenever I came in contact with one of them. Where the music takes me seems to be in 4K; clearer, brighter, and more vivid than it ever probably could have been. (Also see this post regarding the singles that charted on the WLS Forty-fives during the Summer of 1979.)