I have a possible explanation for why Steve Winwood’s Higher Love remains so popular. It really is an amazing track. I first noticed it when it was featured in the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia episode “Sweet Dee Gets a Heart Attack.” In that episode, Dennis brings a Steve Winwood CD to the gym because he can’t stand the music they play there. Winwood keeps getting mentioned in connection with his character, and the whole thing is just epic. It's season 4, I believe.
I enjoyed your input, but I'm confused. Did you support Chris' theory about the late '80s, or do you believe there's no evidence to support it? One big difference between the early '80s and late '80s is the average number of weeks each song spent at the top. There were only 82 number one hits in the early '80s (1980-84), while there were 149 chart-toppers in the late '80s (1985-89). Just about 16 per year vs 30 per year.
Ah, I was reading Chris's theory as this: The late 80s hit songs left a larger cultural footprint than the early 80s songs. Chris's supporting evidence was that the Wikipedia pages for late 80s hits are more substantial (larger in size, more page views) than the early 80s hits. I validated this by looking at those specific articles and talking to a few of the involved editors.
So my view is that the Wikipedia record supports Chris's theory. As to the theory itself? This is a bit hard for me because I wasn't alive for much of the 80s and didn't have personal experience with the songs when they were released. But my take is that yes, the late 80s songs have made a bigger impression. My personal test is that when Chris shared the chart that it's in his book, I could mentally hum the late 80s songs more easily than the early 80s songs, some of which I didn't recognize as hits. To your point, I wouldn't have remembered what songs got the longer playtime in the 80s, so my hunch is that it's more so that the late 80s hits are catchier tunes.
Thanks. That's much more clear. As for the early '80s vs the late '80s, we could also go to Sirius XM and look at their '80s playlists to see if they favor one over the other. They're constantly asking their listeners which songs they like best. I would be interested in seeing that data.
I have a possible explanation for why Steve Winwood’s Higher Love remains so popular. It really is an amazing track. I first noticed it when it was featured in the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia episode “Sweet Dee Gets a Heart Attack.” In that episode, Dennis brings a Steve Winwood CD to the gym because he can’t stand the music they play there. Winwood keeps getting mentioned in connection with his character, and the whole thing is just epic. It's season 4, I believe.
Thank you, Chris, for sharing my piece.
P.S. You've built such a cool community of readers, interested in both data-driven analyses and music history. Well done.
I enjoyed your input, but I'm confused. Did you support Chris' theory about the late '80s, or do you believe there's no evidence to support it? One big difference between the early '80s and late '80s is the average number of weeks each song spent at the top. There were only 82 number one hits in the early '80s (1980-84), while there were 149 chart-toppers in the late '80s (1985-89). Just about 16 per year vs 30 per year.
Ah, I was reading Chris's theory as this: The late 80s hit songs left a larger cultural footprint than the early 80s songs. Chris's supporting evidence was that the Wikipedia pages for late 80s hits are more substantial (larger in size, more page views) than the early 80s hits. I validated this by looking at those specific articles and talking to a few of the involved editors.
So my view is that the Wikipedia record supports Chris's theory. As to the theory itself? This is a bit hard for me because I wasn't alive for much of the 80s and didn't have personal experience with the songs when they were released. But my take is that yes, the late 80s songs have made a bigger impression. My personal test is that when Chris shared the chart that it's in his book, I could mentally hum the late 80s songs more easily than the early 80s songs, some of which I didn't recognize as hits. To your point, I wouldn't have remembered what songs got the longer playtime in the 80s, so my hunch is that it's more so that the late 80s hits are catchier tunes.
Thanks. That's much more clear. As for the early '80s vs the late '80s, we could also go to Sirius XM and look at their '80s playlists to see if they favor one over the other. They're constantly asking their listeners which songs they like best. I would be interested in seeing that data.