40 YEARS AGO: AIR SUPPLY HIT THE TOP WITH ‘THE ONE THAT YOU LOVE’

UltimateClassicRock ^ | July 25, 2021 | Rob Smith

[Dr. Sivana]

To me, the lead singers of Air Supply, Styx and Supertramp all sound alike.

[Steely Tom]

How simple things were back then. I didn’t have anything but a future. Ronald Reagan was in the Oval, Space Shuttle was flying all the time. Ribbon cables and RS-232. CPUs had at most 16 bits, and if you needed more than 4 or 8K of memory, you could get a floppy drive.

ATM machines had built-in cameras, and banks. Beyond that, no one was looking at you. Computer viruses didn’t exist yet. Ransomware didn’t exist yet. A VCR was way out of my price range. When I saw Blade Runner and Body Heat, it was in a theater, and the fear of being shot in there by a crazed mass murderer was completely nonexistent.

For fun, I could go to a shopping mall and hang out at a Waldenbooks. Or I could go to South Street, the TLA, get a cheesesteak at Jim’s, sit upstairs and watch the people go by on the sidewalk.

Long ago.

[DoodleBob]

To be fair, Styx had three guys singing lead (it varied with the lead songwriter) and Supertramp had a similar setup.

That said, yes...Roger Hodgeson and Dennis DeYoung can sound similar.

[nickcarraway]

ATMs back then? I don’t remember hearing about them back then. I don’t remember eve seeing a person use one until the 90s. And I remember some people called them MAC machines.

[A strike]

Gotta admit pretty minor compared to all the rest 60’s, 70’s, 80’s

[DoodleBob]

....or go to the Granite Run mall and spend hours without a worry, or go to JFK Stadium for Live Aid and sing US’s “40” with everyone else on the El going home, or go to 69th Street and catch Zappa at the Tower.

[Viking2002]

Air Supply made me react the same way then, as now: I want to puncture my eardrums out with ice picks. It’s the bubonic plague of yacht rock.

[Dr. Sivana]

To be fair, Styx had three guys singing lead

OK, "Lady" doesn't sound like "Air Supply", but "Nothing Ever Goes As Planned" does. Supertramp goes heavy on the dime store existentialism that gets really old really fast. I'm not even sure if Weird Al could have parodied them.

[DoodleBob]

I remember the Eagles’ Bill Bergey doing commercials, saying “tap MAC, for a little cash.”

[nickcarraway]

U2. lol.

[max americana]

I’d rather listen to Air Supply than listen to Springsteen and his commie sh*t. That lefty asshole I would rather slit my wrist.

[Revel]

Those songs only worked when there was love and hope in life. A certain political party has changed all of that.

[DoodleBob]

Seriously, after Live Aid was over, many of us walked to the El stop nearby to get home. One guy (who was either wasted or toasted - like the rest of us - from 12 hours of exposure) started singing the lyrics to "40" (which is basically Psalm 40) and everyone in the subway tunnel sang the chorus. It was very cool.

Nowadays you'd get stabbed.

[DoodleBob]

I grew up near Philadelphia. The popular kids LOVED Springsteen, as did the rock stations WMMR and WYSP. He was inescapable.

The rest of us cranked Van Halen while drinking beer in a graveyard and thought Bruce was music you listened to while washing your car and drinking Bartles & James.

[Viking2002]

Springsteen fancies himself as the reincarnation of Woody Guthrie. He’s become more like a Jersey Shore ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic.

[grame]

Boookstores. Hubby and I could take a vacation in a good bookstore.

Not much anymore. The good ones, are all shuttered up around here.

[ElkGroveDan]

Good post. My recollections too.

[Steely Tom]

Oh they definitely had them, at least in big cities. I remember because I was constantly using them, and consequently never saved any money. Finally I got smart and cut up my card, getting a hundred dollars from each paycheck from the teller and forcing myself to live on that for two weeks.

[Steely Tom]

D’ja ever go to Pulsations?

Not too far from the Granite Run Mall.