Pulse Rankdown: 1979 Year-End Mainstream Rock (Finished)

[rowellfarm490]

Our hearts have been shattered, condolences to singingrulebritannia , Daryl the Beryl , and BB🌕

3


Heart of Glass
Blondie

1413 points
Standard Deviation: 17.316
Average Rank: 12.688
Year-End Rank: 89 | Peak: #22 | Weeks: 15

singingrulebritannia : 1
rowellfarm490 : 1
Daryl the Beryl : 1
BB🌕 : 1
peacebone : 2
House Lannister : 2
Juanca : 2
Butterflies & Hurricanes : 3
Doc Indie Party Rock : 5
aerodynamite : 5
thethirdcurry : 18
gonecountry : 22
razorshark : 23
Mirago : 24
DJDaveMick69 : 27



wheatsquares33 : 66

Movements:
7 8 4 4 4 2 8 7 6 6 4 5 3 3 3

Artist performance history:
#2 Alt 1980 (Call Me) | #9 Alt 1980 (Atomic) | #19 Alt 1981 (Rapture) | #35 AAA 2017 (Long Time)

Spectators:
tanooki
Geometrical

SPOILER: Click to show

{Remaining songs}
Dreaming
Sultans of Swing

[DJDaveMick69]

Regarding Heart of Glass, I'd rank it even higher on a pop rankdown. I don't know if I've *ever* heard it on AOR radio.

[Doc Indie Party Rock]

3. Heart of Glass - Blondie
Boy was I off. I actually pegged that #1 group would have been on team Dire Straits. Anyway this is Blondie's best , but also the best Disco cruise over that ever graced the Mainstream Rock world. I heard this song about 500x through the years on the radio. Here is hoping to another 500 more.

[rowellfarm490]

DREAMING
vs.
SULTANS OF SWING

-these 2 songs spent 11 combined movements in first place and battled back and forth for the lead over the last 7 movements
-one of these has the 2nd lowest SD while the other has the 4th lowest SD
-each song received 11 top 10 rankings
-one had 5 top 5s while the other had 6 such rankings
-there were only 5 rankings outside of the top 20 between the two
-no #1s still remain
-the two were only separated by 14 points

Find out in a few minutes which song takes the 1979 mainstream rock chart title...

[singingrulebritannia]

How did every remaining bottom half make the top 4 Jesus

4 vs 28, I knew the 28 was going to do well but not top 2 well. Hope I'm not the lowest ranking on the winner

[Doc Indie Party Rock]

man I can't get over that #66. I'm guessing someone sent you a breakup mix tape with that song after breaking up with you?   Other than that how? Why? 

[razorshark]

I always get so weirded out that people seem to rank these lists by if they've heard the song on the format before. Maybe that's why I always do so awful in these.

Edit: 6 vs 7. I walked into the top 10 with no top 5s so I am actually doing as well as I possibly can.

[wheatsquares33]

Oh I really tanked Heart of Glass huh. I guess I didn't realize it was that beloved. Never really liked the song though, I just think it's annoying and got overexposed to it in Rock Band 3. Dreaming is great though.

[rowellfarm490]

This song has always been good but I never fully appreciated it until listening to it for this rankdown

2


Sultans of Swing
Dire Straits

1437 points
Standard Deviation: 10.691 (4TH LOWEST)
Average Rank: 11.188
Year-End Rank: 3 | Peak: #1 | Weeks: 21

wheatsquares33 : 2
thethirdcurry : 3
Daryl the Beryl : 3
Juanca : 3
BB🌕 : 5
Butterflies & Hurricanes : 6
Mirago : 6
razorshark : 7
gonecountry : 8
DJDaveMick69 : 8
peacebone : 9
rowellfarm490 : 11
aerodynamite : 13


singingrulebritannia : 28
House Lannister : 31
Doc Indie Party Rock : 36

Movements:
14 6 5 1 1 4 2 2 2 1 1 1 2 2 2

Artist performance history:
#16 Active 1985 (Money for Nothing) | #26 Alt 1985 (Money for Nothing) | #30 Active 1979 (Lady Writer) | #32 Active 1985 (Walk of Life) | #41 Active 1981 (Skateaway) | #45 Active 1992 (Calling Elvis) | #59 Active 1985 (One World) | #66 Active 1992 (Heavy Fuel) | #70 Active 1992 (The Bug) | #87 Active 1983 (Industrial Disease)

---

Probably not the Blondie song you might have expected to win here but still a damn good one!

1


Dreaming
Blondie

1451 points
Standard Deviation: 10.524 (2ND LOWEST)
Average Rank: 10.313
Year-End Rank: 70 | Peak: #8 | Weeks: 10

gonecountry : 3
Mirago : 3
singingrulebritannia : 4
thethirdcurry : 4
BB🌕 : 4
Daryl the Beryl : 5
razorshark : 6
rowellfarm490 : 7
aerodynamite : 7
Butterflies & Hurricanes : 8
House Lannister : 9
wheatsquares33 : 12
Juanca : 12
peacebone : 14


Doc Indie Party Rock : 22
DJDaveMick69 : 45

Movements:
2 1 1 3 3 3 3 3 1 2 2 2 1 1 1

Artist performance history:
#2 Alt 1980 (Call Me) | #3 Active 1979 (Heart of Glass) | #9 Alt 1980 (Atomic) | #19 Alt 1981 (Rapture) | #35 AAA 2017 (Long Time)

Spectators:
tanooki
Geometrical

[DJDaveMick69]

Don't get me wrong, I do like "Dreaming", I just really felt in my heart of hearts 44 songs were better. AND it's the only Blondie song I've ever heard on AOR radio. WTG!

Thanks, rowellfarm490, for a great rankdown--my all-time fave year of music!

[thethirdcurry]

Some wild stuff going on with the ranking movements in this top 10, but they're all great tracks, so I really can't complain. Congratulations to Blondie on the #1, Cheap Trick on taking a live track as far as they did, and to a whole lot of bands getting their first top 10.

[rowellfarm490]

The 1979 year-end mainstream rock chart rankdown is now complete! I hope you had fun listening to and ranking many of these classics for the first time as we entered a new decade of rock music. Perhaps you even made some new discoveries here, I know that I sure did. As we go back further with these rankdowns, I'm familiar with fewer and fewer songs on these lists but I'm still very excited for what's in store for 1978. Thanks again everyone for taking part in this year's rankdown!

SPOILER: Click to show

{RECAP}
1. Blondie - Dreaming
2. Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing
3. Blondie - Heart of Glass
4. The Police - Message In a Bottle
5. The Cars - Let's Go
6. The Doobie Brothers - What a Fool Believes
7. Cheap Trick - I Want You to Want Me (Live at Budokan)
8. Supertramp - The Logical Song
9. Toto - Hold the Line
10. Nick Lowe - Cruel to Be Kind
11. Electric Light Orchestra - Don't Bring Me Down
12. Talking Heads - Life During Wartime
13. Cheap Trick - Dream Police
14. The Cars - Good Times Roll
15. The Police - Roxanne
16. Fleetwood Mac - Tusk
17. Roxy Music - Dance Away
18. The Charlie Daniels Band - The Devil Went Down to Georgia
19. Molly Hatchet - Flirtin' With Disaster
20. Supertramp - Goodbye Stranger
21. AC/DC - Highway to Hell
22. The Records - Starry Eyes
23. Led Zeppelin - All My Love
24. Billy Joel - My Life
25. The Knack - My Sharona
26. Neil Young - Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)
27. Joe Jackson - Is She Really Going Out With Him?
28. The Alan Parsons Project - Damned If I Do
29. Van Halen - Dance the Night Away
30. Dire Straits - Lady Writer
31. Sniff 'n' the Tears - Driver's Seat
32. The Pointer Sisters - Fire
33. Wings - Goodnight Tonight
34. Bad Company - Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy
35. Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Accidents Will Happen
36. Wings - Getting Closer
37. Nicolette Larson - Lotta Love
38. Bram Tchaikovsky - Girl of My Dreams
39. Neil Young - My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)
40. John Stewart - Gold
41. The Kinks - (Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman
42. Bonnie Raitt - You're Gonna Get What's Coming
43. Rickie Lee Jones - Chuck E's in Love
44. George Harrison - Blow Away
45. Blackfoot - Highway Song
46. New England - Don't Ever Wanna Lose Ya
47. Eagles - Heartache Tonight
48. Queen - Fat Bottomed Girls
49. Rod Stewart - Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?
50. Blue Öyster Cult - Dr. Music
51. Ian Gomm - Hold On
52. Joe Walsh - In the City
53. Jethro Tull - North Sea Oil
54. Billy Joel - Big Shot
55. The Babys - Every Time I Think of You
56. Little River Band - Lonesome Loser
57. Sad Café - Run Home Girl
58. Robert Palmer - Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)
59. Toto - I'll Supply the Love
60. Kansas - People of the South Wind
61. The Knack - Good Girls Don't
62. Gerry Rafferty - Days Gone Down (Still Got the Light In Your Eyes)
63. REO Speedwagon - Back On the Road Again
64. The Doobie Brothers - Minute by Minute
65. Poco - Heart of the Night
66. Poco - Crazy Love
67. Styx - Babe
68. Charlie - Killer Cut
69. The J. Geils Band - One Last Kiss
70. Ian Hunter - When the Daylight Comes
71. Eric Clapton - Promises
72. Frank Zappa - Dancin' Fool
73. Eddie Money - Maybe I'm a Fool
74. Linda Ronstadt - Ooh Baby Baby
75. The Fabulous Poodles - Mirror Star
76. Santana - Stormy
77. George Thorogood & The Destroyers - Move It On Over
78. Peter Frampton - I Can't Stand It No More
79. Steve Forbert - Goin' Down to Laurel
80. Pat Travers Band - Boom Boom (Out Go the Lights) [Live]
81. Bob Welch - Precious Love
82. McGuinn, Clark & Hillman - Don't You Write Her Off
83. Herman Brood & His Wild Romance - Saturday Night
84. Moon Martin - Rolene
85. The Kinks - A Gallon of Gas
86. The Blues Brothers - Soul Man
87. Journey - Just the Same Way
88. Foreigner - Dirty White Boy
89. Jimmy Buffett - Fins
90. Bob Dylan - Gotta Serve Somebody
91. David Werner - What's Right
92. Jay Ferguson - Shakedown Cruise
93. Ted Nugent - I Want to Tell You
94. Rod Stewart - Ain't Love a Bitch
95. Atlanta Rhythm Section - Do It or Die
96. Styx - Sing for the Day
97. Grateful Dead - Good Lovin'
98. Tycoon - Such a Woman
99. Cat Stevens - Bad Brakes
100. The Allman Brothers Band - Crazy Love

SPOILER: Click to show

{FINAL STATS}

[Doc Indie Party Rock]

2. Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits
Really surprised this beat "Money For Nothing" as the band's best showing on a Rock RD. I don't recall how I can about this song, but I do remember listening to a bunch of Dire Straits songs at one time. This one included. This is the song those that put Blondie at #1 would have upgraded instead.

1. Dreaming - Blondie
It always blows my mind how songs that didn't receive one single #1 rank win the Rds. This is a good song. Far from my Blondie favorite, hut a good pop rock jam. On a side more this song always reminds me of Cliff Richard's very own "Dreaming". Love both at the same level.

rowellfarm490.

Great job with the rd. best part is always the videos and extras. Most of those extras made up half my 1979 top 100.

[singingrulebritannia]

The underdog did it, hooray! "Sultans Of Swing" is a really pretty song, but most of the time I just can't put my full heart behind these "Freebird"-type tracks where the main tune is moreso a delivery system for guitar solos. "Dreaming" is simply more my kind of jam.

I'll try to open the thread for 1978 tomorrow.

[razorshark]

I'm always good with an underdog winner. Well deserved win for Blondie. Thanks Rowell, great host as always.

[gonecountry]

Agree with the underdog comments. This song definitely has nowhere the street creds that Blondie's bigger hits have, but this song has heart and unbridled energy. There's a great review of this song that says "Unlike its all-killer-no-filler predecessor, 1979’s Eat to the Beat hinges on its singles. But what incredible singles they are, as exemplified by Dreaming: a perfect pop song, thrillingly underpinned by Burke playing as if under the impression the whole track was supposed to be a three-minute drum solo."

Thanks rowellfarm490 for a great rankdown!

[Daryl the Beryl]

For once, I am on time with the average rank updates:

New entries:
Atlanta Rhythm Section
Bob Welch
Bram Tchaikovsky
Cat Stevens
Charlie
David Werner
Fabulous Poodles, The
Frank Zappa
Gerry Rafferty
Herman Brood & His Wild Romance
Ian Gomm
Jay Ferguson
Jimmy Buffett
John Stewart
McGuinn, Clark & Hillman
Moon Martin
New England
Nicolette Larson
Pointer Sisters, The
Records, The
Rickie Lee Jones
Sad Café
Sniff 'n' the Tears
Tycoon
Wings

Improvements:
AC/DC -1.87
The Alan Parsons Project -2.054
The Babys -6
Bad Company -2.314
Billy Joel -4.75
Blackfoot -24.5
Blondie -4.75
Bob Dylan -1.833
Bonnie Raitt -7.167
The Cars -1.806
Charlie Daniels Band, The -14.5
Cheap Trick -8.889
Dire Straits -6.02
The Doobie Brothers -8.667
Eagles -7.333
Electric Light Orchestra -5.5
Elvis Costello & the Attractions -6.571
Fleetwood Mac -1.209
George Harrison -1.5
George Thorogood & the Destroyers -1.839
Ian Hunter -6.5
Jethro Tull -6.75
Joe Jackson -2.833
Joe Walsh -4.667
Kansas -3
The Kinks -0.167
The Knack -17.75
Led Zeppelin -4.05
Molly Hatchet -14
Neil Young -5.667
Nick Lowe -43.5
Peter Frampton -0.417
Poco -2.5
The Police -2.341
REO Speedwagon -1.161
Robert Palmer -0.1
Roxy Music -2.6
Supertramp -22.667
Talking Heads -1.568
Ted Nugent -2.5
Van Halen -0.965

Downgrades:
The Allman Brothers Band 2.643
Blue Öyster Cult 1.85
The Blues Brothers 6
Eddie Money 0.591
Eric Clapton 0.19
Foreigner 2.256
Grateful Dead 10.167
The J. Geils Band 1.95
Journey 1.115
Linda Ronstadt 8.833
Little River Band 4
Pat Travers Band 6
Queen 1.364
Rod Stewart 0.7
Santana 2.833
Steve Forbert 20
Styx 3.833
Toto 4.667

Top Performing Artists on Pulse Rankdowns:*
1 Tool
2 Royal Blood
3 Deftones
4 Tears for Fears
5 Radiohead
6 Foals
7 Queens of the Stone Age
8 Chevelle
9 A Perfect Circle
10 Alice in Chains
11 Nirvana
12 Rise Against
13 The Killers
14 The Goo Goo Dolls
15 System of a Down
16 Rage Against the Machine
17 Rush
18 Soundgarden
19 Foo Fighters
20 Death Cab for Cutie
21 Florence + the Machine
22 Silversun Pickups
23 Volbeat
24 The Strokes
25 New Order
26 Incubus
27 The Psychedelic Furs
28 Young the Giant
29 Nine Inch Nails
30 Jimmy Eat World
31 Filter
32 Peter Gabriel
33 AFI
34 The Cars
35 Spoon
36 Garbage
37 The Smashing Pumpkins
38 Duran Duran
39 Kings of Leon
40 The 1975
41 Stone Sour
42 Alter Bridge
43 Tom Petty
44 Depeche Mode
45 Linkin Park
46 Audioslave
47 Siouxsie and the Banshees
48 R.E.M.
49 10 Years
50 Highly Suspect

Bottom Performing Artists on Pulse Rankdowns:*
1 Kid Rock
2 Hinder
3 Big Audio Dynamite
4 Limp Bizkit
5 Saliva
6 Drowning Pool
7 X Ambassadors
8 Dirty Heads
9 Sammy Hagar
10 Buckcherry
11 Saving Abel
12 Creed
13 Puddle of Mudd
14 Seven Mary Three
15 Hellyeah
16 Theory of a Deadman
17 Dave Matthews Band
18 The Rolling Stones
19 In This Moment
20 Days of the New
21 P.O.D.
22 Godsmack
23 Aerosmith
24 311
25 ZZ Top
26 Imagine Dragons
27 Crossfade
28 Mötley Crüe
29 Journey
30 Jack Johnson
31 Panic! At the Disco
32 Rob Zombie
33 Candlebox
34 Papa Roach
35 Fall Out Boy
36 Bryan Adams
37 Vance Joy
38 Tesla
39 Korn
40 Rod Stewart
41 Black Stone Cherry
42 Elle King
43 Adelitas Way
44 The Lumineers
45 Fitz & the Tantrums
46 Mudvayne
47 Hoobastank
48 Devo
49 Eric Clapton
50 All That Remains

* - requires at least 10 entries

Spreadsheet link: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1w4zSyRghGi1MZbgmVIDRfT1OrHnofpjwFpE6l1zEhrY/edit?usp=sharing