The spring of 1980 gave us all so much and asked so relatively little in return.
Here's Pure Prairie League, with Vince Gill on lead vocals, and "Let Me Love You Tonight."
I heard this the other day at our local Safeway and made a quick jot in the notebook I keep in my purse for grocery lists, to-do lists, and ideas for this blog.
During the summer of 1980, this tune peaked at #10 on the Billboard pop chart. It topped the adult contemporary Billboard chart for three weeks.
Suddenly, I have an urge to discuss brisket with a butcher...any butcher.
This is a fine, fine series! It strikes me that there is a very specific period from which most of the iconic grocery store music emerged, roughly 1978 to 1981, with some outliers +/- 4 years outside of that range. Dan Fogelberg, the Little River Band, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Gerry Rafferty ... for me, the music conjures specific memories of grocery shopping mid-morning on a weekday. Not the weekend or prime time, but like, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM, Monday through Thursday. The Time-Life "Romancing the 70s" collection really does it. I was listening to XM 80s on 8 this weekend, and they ran a Top 40 countdown for this week in 1981. I'd swear that every song was a Shine 99 FM classic. I asked Charlotte, "what were we smoking then?" and she corrected me, "we weren't smoking anything. It was the grown-ups' fault."
ReplyDeleteHaving worked the overnight shift at Meijer in the summer of 1990, I built some very specific associations with a slice of pop tunes that were on a looping mix tape that played all night, every night, at least three or four times. I've blocked a lot of them from conscious retrieval, but every once in a while, I'll hear one of the songs on the PA at the mall and get instantly transported back to the summer of 1990, when it was all Butterfingers, Ocean Spray Mauna Lai and maroon polyester vests all night long. "Tempted" by Squeeze, "Blame it on the Rain" "by" Milli Vanilli, and New Kids' "Hang Tough" are just three that I've been able to recover ...
Sean, I love your comments. The comments about your snacks and Meijer have me laughing out loud. You definitely have A Touch Of Tuesday Weld.
ReplyDeleteWhy is your blog not on my blogroll? What happened?
This Devil Woman. Check out Mary Robbins' version.
ReplyDelete