“Retro Top 40” is all about pop music that has enjoyed chart success. The songs I play either made the Top 40 as singles or were significant tracks from albums that charted. The programme is unashamedly not about obscure album tracks by little known artists or bands. While that means that “Retro Top 40” is commercial in its nature, that was what songs that made the charts were all about; they were commercially successful.
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“Retro Top 40” covers over 40 years of Top 40 music, from the recognised start of the pop music era in 1955 through to the turn of the century, but the majority of the music played is from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, with some from the 1990s and the occasional track from the 1950s.
The concept of the programme is to intersperse the music played with facts about the artists or groups, where they came from, how successful the song was here and overseas, perhaps who wrote or produced it, and other interesting snippets.
Like …..
- Who played the drums on the Beatles’ “Love Me Do”? (Ringo Starr played the tambourine)
- How many people were involved in the 256 voice backing choir on 10CC’s “I’m Not In Love”?
- Who is the current member of the British House of Lords who once wrote and sang the jingle for a jeans commercial that was turned into a successful pop song?
- Who was Willie Everfinish?
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My philosophy is not to follow the lead of commercial radio and play songs on regular, almost predictable rotations. Rather, because over 9000 songs charted on the Australian Top 40 in the period covered (and I have personal access to virtually every one of them), it is my aim to never play any song more than once a year. Even then, if that did happen, it would probably only occur during a “special” programme (like the ones I’ve done for American Independence Day, the history of the ARIA Hall of Fame, and songs with "summer" in their title), because there’s certainly plenty of music to be covered. The sources of references during the programme to chart positions in Australia, America and England are covered in the following sections.
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