On May 1, 1980, Casey, I think capitalizing on his own value and the interest in countdown shows, announced that he would host a 30-minute TV show, in addition to his now four-hour weekly “American Top 40.” This new show was called “America’s Top 10.” In addition to the Billboard Top 10, he highlighted songs from other charts and showed some of the earliest videos. That was cool but the show definitely did not have the MTV vibe. Casey was always pretty conservative in style, but fortunately, the show quickly moved on from its debut look, which had Casey sitting behind a desk like he was a news anchor – not exactly a look that would attract his target audience, which was the teenager.

music, music historyAmy LivelyJune 4, 202680s music, music history, Casey Kasem

Episode 55: Heartland Rock Is About More Than the Heartland

Seger admitted that songs like “Beautiful Loser” are influenced by poverty and the tension that comes with it. He told rock journalist Dave Marsh in 1978, “There was a definite…hopelessness of abject poverty that has always crept into everything I’ve ever done. There’s a little bit of desperation — just a little bit. Because I’ve been there, I’ve been broke.”

music, music historyAmy LivelyJune 24, 2025heartland rock, 70s music, 70s podcast, 80s music

Episode 54: Into the 80s! What Came Next for 70s Heavy Metal.

… in 1983, heavy metal was on the verge of its golden era and one of the bands that would open the door was a rock band out of Los Angeles, that had been playing clubs like the Whiskey A Go Go since the mid 70s. Julie Enders-Hudson, writing for the Fort Pierce, Florida Tribune in February 1984 said she was offered a publicity packet for a band she had never heard of in case she would like to write an advance article about them prior to an upcoming concert. She said yes and wondered what she had stumbled upon because she had never heard of Quiet Riot, nor had she heard of the type of music they claimed to play – heavy metal.

music, music historyAmy LivelyMay 23, 2025music history, 80s music, heavy metal

Episode 40: Honestly Loving Olivia Newton-John

It was the early 70s, before there were laws about kids and seat belts and things like that, so when I went with my mom to run errands, I had to slide onto the bench seat in the front and if that seat was too hot from baking in the sun, I would kind of hover of the seat for a few minutes before lowering myself on it. If you know, you know. My view on these drives was the car radio, which was AM only but had these big silver knobs, one for tuning and one for volume. There were 5 or 6 push button presets and I was not allowed to touch any of this but the power my mom had, a twist of the dial here, a push of the button there and boom there she was…the soft rock queen, Olivia Newton-John.