As Ted Gioia always points out: it might very well have been corrupt, but at least the players in the game all benefited if kids listened to more new music.
As opposed to now, where Spotify's ideal customer is someone who subscribes but never listens. And since music companies make more money selling old music, they don't care about new artists either.
Glad I found you. I have been seemingly obsessed with Wardlow for decades - his time running the charts was my prime Top 40 listening period. Another thing that Wardlow did was push disco songs up the Hot 100 far higher than Cashbox and Record World did. Between the Fall of '76 and the Spring of '77 there were numerous examples of this. Two that interested me were "Spring Rain" by Silvetti, which literally made the Hot 100 top 40 twice (falling out then coming back in), while on Cashbox it peaked at 97 and never even made the Top 100 on Record World. The other is "N.Y., You Got Me Dancing" by the Andrea True Connection. This peaked at 27 on the Hot 100 but only got in the mid-80s on Cashbox and the mid-90s in Record World. Paul Haney of Record Research even used that later song as an extreme example when he was pushing the chart comparison book.
In his memoir Runnin' with the Devil, Van Halen's second manager, Noel Monk, described being sent by Warners promotion to meet someone at Billboard involved with the Top 200 album charts, just before the release of Van Halen II. Having no clue, Monk finally deduced the Billboard exec was asking Monk what position Monk wanted VHII to debut. "Would you want come in at [No.] five or six, something like that?" the exec asked the flustered manager. "Then it hit me," Monk recalled, "Holy shit, he's calling our chart position. Weeks in advance." Monk finally replied that he thought something in the lower forties would be more appropriate--"that gives us some place to go, rather than falling after the first week." The exec nodded appreciatively and replied, according to Monk: "Smart thinking."
I haven’t put in the work you have, but just anecdotally it feels like there are a suspiciously large number of songs that stalled at No. 2.
Also, I’m trying to remember where I read it, but supposedly a radio guy would go to the diner where his girlfriend was working and found that not only would the customers play the same 10 songs all day, but when the diner closed and they were cleaning up, you’d think the waitresses would want to play some of the other 30 songs, but they played the same 10 songs. And a light bulb went off over his head.
Good luck with the book, Chris.
As Ted Gioia always points out: it might very well have been corrupt, but at least the players in the game all benefited if kids listened to more new music.
As opposed to now, where Spotify's ideal customer is someone who subscribes but never listens. And since music companies make more money selling old music, they don't care about new artists either.
Glad I found you. I have been seemingly obsessed with Wardlow for decades - his time running the charts was my prime Top 40 listening period. Another thing that Wardlow did was push disco songs up the Hot 100 far higher than Cashbox and Record World did. Between the Fall of '76 and the Spring of '77 there were numerous examples of this. Two that interested me were "Spring Rain" by Silvetti, which literally made the Hot 100 top 40 twice (falling out then coming back in), while on Cashbox it peaked at 97 and never even made the Top 100 on Record World. The other is "N.Y., You Got Me Dancing" by the Andrea True Connection. This peaked at 27 on the Hot 100 but only got in the mid-80s on Cashbox and the mid-90s in Record World. Paul Haney of Record Research even used that later song as an extreme example when he was pushing the chart comparison book.
In his memoir Runnin' with the Devil, Van Halen's second manager, Noel Monk, described being sent by Warners promotion to meet someone at Billboard involved with the Top 200 album charts, just before the release of Van Halen II. Having no clue, Monk finally deduced the Billboard exec was asking Monk what position Monk wanted VHII to debut. "Would you want come in at [No.] five or six, something like that?" the exec asked the flustered manager. "Then it hit me," Monk recalled, "Holy shit, he's calling our chart position. Weeks in advance." Monk finally replied that he thought something in the lower forties would be more appropriate--"that gives us some place to go, rather than falling after the first week." The exec nodded appreciatively and replied, according to Monk: "Smart thinking."
I haven’t put in the work you have, but just anecdotally it feels like there are a suspiciously large number of songs that stalled at No. 2.
Also, I’m trying to remember where I read it, but supposedly a radio guy would go to the diner where his girlfriend was working and found that not only would the customers play the same 10 songs all day, but when the diner closed and they were cleaning up, you’d think the waitresses would want to play some of the other 30 songs, but they played the same 10 songs. And a light bulb went off over his head.
That's the story typically told about Todd Storz. I think it's slightly apocryphal but indicative of the truth.
Interesting. Do you have the data/ability to try to analyze which songs/artists may have benefitted the most from Wardlow's nefarious activities?
I listed a few that jumped out at me. Another example people talk about a lot is Shadow Dancing blocking Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty for a bunch of weeks. You can download the entire Hot 100 here if you want to dig through https://github.com/utdata/rwd-billboard-data/blob/main/data-out/hot-100-current.csv
Great stuff. I have it saved in my Amazon cart - that way, you get a review too!
I appreciate it!
Very interesting, Chris!
Thanks!
SO looking forward to the book!
Thank you! I can’t wait for it to come out