Sunday Showcase February 1, 1981

Another week is in the books and it's time once again to look back through an issue of Sunday Showcase. I'll be looking through the February 1, 1981 edition. I was in 8th grade and all I was interested in was girls, roller skating, girls, music, girls, comics, girls, football and baseball cards, and girls. I had braces on my teeth and I would grab surplus supplies of the tiny rubber bands used with them because we would have rubber band shooting wars in music class. Those things hurt!

The Top Ten Songs of the week in Nashville then were definitely in high rotation at Jack's roller skating rink in Murfreesboro. I can remember skating to so many of these tunes. Kool & The Gang's "Celebration" was huge! I had been a Blondie fan for years and "The Tide Is High" continued their streak of great singles. Note that Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust" has been in the Nashville Top Ten for 20 straight weeks! "8th Wonder" by The Sugarhill Gang only made 82 on the Billboard Hot 100, but here it is in the local chart for the 2nd straight week showing that Nashville was always a big proponent of hip hop. I know I loved that stuff and still do. "I am...Somebody!"

WOO-HAH GOT THEM ALL IN CHECK

OUT OF THE DOORWAY THE BULLETS RIP TO THE SOUND OF THE BEAT

I'M GONNA BE YOUR NUMBER ONE

THERE'S A PARTY GOIN ON RIGHT HERE

Chuck Mangione would be in Nashville soon to play the Grand Ole Opry House. I would have loved to have gone to that concert. I've always dug the jazz pop sounds he lays down. I bet my friend JA would have liked to have gone to this show too. Maybe she did go. 

I would be going to the Grand Old Opry House often in a few years after my father starting managing Jimmy C. Newman's farm. I would get to hang out backstage, but even better was getting into Opryland for free. I was too young to work there and lived too far away anyways, but I envied the teenagers who did work there. This Sunday Showcase, like many in this time of year, has a recruitment ad for Opryland jobs. It touts the good pay, but $3.35 an hour was the minimum then.

The big rock concert on the horizon in February was the arrival of The Boss at Municipal Auditorium on The River Tour. Tickets would be going on sale on February 2nd with a limit of 6 per order. "Hungry Heart" was a popular tune at the rolling rink too. 

I TOOK A WRONG TURN AND I JUST KEPT GOING

There was rocking at Cactus Jack's and the Ramada Inn South too! It's New Year's Eve every night at Cactus Jack's and Ladies Night is on Wednesday. The Ramada Inn South features the band Max and Tuesday is Foxy Lady Night there. I just hope those satin jackets the guys in Max have are matching. 

The Irish Rovers will be coming to Nashville soon, but only for a short while. They are rovers after all. The former Rock 106 radio station (WKQB) had recently switched formats and was now "The Joy of Nashville" (WJYN) and they were promoting the upcoming Johnny Mathis concert. 

That's it for the Sunday Showcase review this week, but here's a series of clips from a huge record club ad that was featured in the Parade insert from February 1, 1981.