AM-FM Playing the Hits
Winter of 1972
January 1972 was more than a safe harbor for a broad genre of popular music that would eventually be labeled Classic Rock™. Fifty years ago, what you heard depended on where you listened.
Radio has fractured into two camps, AM and FM. The first has ruled the roost since the Roaring Twenties. It tends to skew toward an older, more predictable audience. They play it in their cars, their offices, their stores. Top 40 stations cram a little something for everyone in a list that may not extend over 50 songs repeated heavily in any given week, based on sales. A hit is a hit and programmers think nothing of plugging in Frank Sinatra right next to Alice Cooper right next to The Carpenters. Crossover hits will become a goal in the near future.
TOP TEN SINGLES JANUARY 31, 1972
1 AMERICAN PIE (Parts 1 and 2) –•– Don McLean (United Artists). 2 BRAND NEW KEY –•– Melanie (Neighborhood). 3 LET’S STAY TOGETHER –•– Al Green (Hi). 4 SUNSHINE –•– Jonathan Edwards (Capricorn) 5 DAY AFTER DAY –•– Badfinger (Apple) 6 CLEAN UP WOMAN –•– Betty Wright (Alston) 7 SCORPIO –•– Dennis Coffey and the Detroit Guitar Band (Sussex) 8 NEVER BEEN TO SPAIN –•– Three Dog Night (Dunhill). 9 YOU ARE EVERYTHING –•– The Stylistics (Avco) 10 SUGAR DADDY –•– Jackson 5 (Motown)
Things are a bit rougher on the FM side. The frequency was born in the late 30s, but nearly 40 years later it still seems a novelty. We will address the story of AM attorneys keeping FM in check and away from consumers another time. For these times, the signal doesn’t carry as far as AM. Listeners appear unwilling to pay extra for better sound. Home units, inspired by quality furniture, add class to any living room. But automobile manufacturers mostly provide factory AM, labeling FM an “extra” like air conditioning or tinted windows. Cars were made for hearing ballgames, news, traffic reports, weather bulletins and all the hits all the time.
FM falls back on more music and less talk. Many of the stations rely on “beautiful music” which is a mishmosh of lounge crooning and instrumental giants on the levels of Percy Faith and Mantovani.
But the times they are a-changing. Three years after Woodstock, program directors have taken notice that these hippie bands are selling to an album market. A big album is so much cooler than a pop hit. Call it underground, progressive, long hair.
Singles, you hear on any radio. Drop a dime in the jukebox (still a major indicator of popularity) and you get the A-Side or the B-Side, your call. 90% of the time it’s going to be THE hit. Albums have evolved into an art form. Most are built around a single or a handful of them. They are crafted to be heard start to finish, for the listener to devote 40 minutes to an artist and come away with an experience,
TOP TEN ALBUMS JANUARY 31, 1972
1 CONCERT FOR BANGLADESH - GEORGE HARRISON & FRIENDS (APPLE) 2 ELECTRIC WARRIOR - T. REX (FLY) 3 TEASER AND THE FIRECAT - CAT STEVENS (ISLAND) 4 A NOD'S AS GOOD AS A WINK...TO A BLIND HORSE - THE FACES (WARNER) 5 BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER - SIMON AND GARFUNKEL (CBS) 6 IMAGINE - JOHN LENNON (APPLE) 7 EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY - ROD STEWART (MERCURY). 8 LED ZEPPELIN IV - LED ZEPPELIN (ATLANTIC). 9 JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR - STUDIO CAST (MCA). 10 TAPESTRY - CAROLE KING (A&M)
For these simultaneous lists, the line is clearly drawn. None of the singles artists have a Top Ten album. None of the albums are represented on the singles charts (although albums from Simon and Garfunkel, John Lennon, and Carole King would or had already had big hit singles from their albums).
Singles come and go in a matter of weeks. Albums stay on the charts for a long time and are often infiltrated by comedy, greatest hits compilations, and Broadway original soundtracks. Something’s happening here, what it is is pretty clear. Music habits are being forged that will determine what will be heard and where it will come from for at least the next half century. Or more.
Happy Winter Charts, 1972!
Professor Mikey!
THE SINGLES
THE ALBUMS
“The past is a blast.”