I remember watching this every Saturday afternoon at 5 when I was a teen and enjoyed the top ten countdown of songs as well as the dancing. I didn't care too much for the different hosts though that took turns holding the show's reigns during it's run.
Rick Dees was by far the worst host. I got tired of his comic jabs about being the singer of 'Disco Duck'. I didn't care much for Marilyn McCoo either though she could be pretty decent sometimes. I just didn't care for her singing. I remember when she sang Billy Ocean's 'Loverboy' and changed the lyrics from, "I want to be your lover boy" to "I want you to be my lover boy".
Dionne Warwick was alright as host for awhile, but she kind of made things mellow, especially when one episode was entirely dedicated to Frank Sinatra and his long list of songs. She even kissed up to Frank too during an interview with him. After he said there was something further he wanted to say, she said, "You can do anything you want."
The one co-host I enjoyed was Arsenio Hall and his comedy sketches and it's too bad he was never made the main host of the program. He carried the potential and it isn't surprising he got his own talk show later on.
The list of pop star guests were endless, but it was obvious to see they didn't really perform their songs. They lip-synced. I noticed when the Nu Shooz band performed their hit, "I Can't Wait" the musicians were clearly pretending to play their instruments.
There was also a noticeable degree of favoritism towards some singers, like in the Solid Gold special where they had a top 50 countdown of the best songs from movies. 'Flashdance - What A Feeling' was at #1, but the show didn't give the song a grand finale to the countdown. They merely showed the song playing to a video of World War I planes flying in the air. The grand finale had been reserved for the #2 song in the countdown: Stevie Wonder's 'I Just Called To Say I Love You' from The Woman In Red (1984). Easy to see that Solid Gold wasn't pleased with the song being at #2 and treated it like it was #1 instead.
Regardless of the highs and lows, this show was an iconic piece of the 80s era featuring the fashion styles and hit performers of the day. It truly is a deep rooted piece of nostalgia for that decade.
