Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon racked up a few hits, including "Palisades Park" and this next item, "Tallahassee Lassie", which brought him back to American Bandstand in 1964, four years after "Lassie" charted.....
In May 1978, ABC decided to try a sweeps stunt with American Bandstand, just to show that the ratings sweeps periods didn't leave out Saturday daytime.
Donna Summer is the guest co-host, joining Dick Clark for an all-disco show, including some of Donna's own songs.
Neil Sedaka took "Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen" to #6 on the Hot 100 in 1961. 3 years later, he brought the song back on American Bandstand. The clip opens with Charlie O'Donnell bringing us back from commercial.
Nu Shooz peaked at #3 on the Hot 100 in 1986 with "I Can't Wait", which merited an appearance on American Bandstand. Dick Clark interviews the band after the song.
Some genius at Paramount thought having Sylvester Stallone direct "Staying Alive", the sequel to 1977's "Saturday Night Fever", would create another monster hit.
Uh, not so much.
"Alive" was one of two films John Travolta headlined in 1983, the other being "Two of a Kind", reuniting him with "Grease" co-star Olivia Newton-John. But, enough about that for now.
Stallone managed to get his brother, Frank, onto the "Alive" soundtrack, producing a 1-hit wonder with "Far From Over", which landed Frank on American Bandstand:
The Beach Boys were the epitome of California cool in the mid-60's, with a string of hits that included "California Girls" (later covered by David Lee Roth), "Surfin' USA", "I Get Around", and this next entry, "Don't Worry Baby", which landed them on American Bandstand.
One of Eric Carmen's 1st solo efforts away from the Raspberries brought him to American Bandstand in 1976. Here's "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again".
The Romantics' 1st single off 1983's "In Heat" was "Talking in Your Sleep", not to be confused with country singer Crystal Gayle's hit of the same name. The Romantics' "Talking" landed them on American Bandstand.
I think this might've been Prince's 1st appearance on American Bandstand. Here he is with "I Wanna Be Your Lover":
70's hitmakers America, now a duo, made a modest comeback on the charts in 1982 with "You Can Do Magic", off "View From The Ground", their 3rd album for Capitol.
Let's go back to December 1982 and American Bandstand:
Johnny Rivers climbed the charts in the summer of 1964 with a cover of Chuck Berry's "Memphis", which landed Rivers on American Bandstand.
Quarterflash released "Back Into Blue" in 1985, but the band's appearance on American Bandstand, performing "Talk To Me", not to be confused with the Stevie Nicks song of the same name, would be their last.
The Outfield was one of those bands that came & went in the early years of MTV.
"Your Love" was in heavy rotation in 1986, but its follow-up, "All The Love in The World"? Not so much. Both songs landed the band on American Bandstand in May of '86. The usual interview with Dick Clark is sandwiched in between songs.
For the 2nd straight year, Dick Clark (American Bandstand) was called on to host ABC's Saturday morning preview special in primetime. The freshman class of 1983:
Rubik, The Amazing Cube.
Monchichis.
The Littles.
Scooby & Scrappy-Doo was rechristened The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries, and would have that title for 2 seasons (1983-5).
Super Friends was actually off the air to start the season. By the time the ABC affiliate in the 518 resumed airing cartoons around Christmas, the series returned just in time.
We've reviewed all of the freshmen series, including the interstitals with Menudo.
Frank Welker is our announcer, after appearing on camera the previous year.
Scandal, with lead singer Patty Smyth, made quite the first impression with 1982's "Goodbye to You", which landed them on American Bandstand. In addition to "Goodbye" and an interview with Dick Clark, the band also performs the follow-up hit, "Love's Got a Line on You":
Jan & Dean's 1964 hit, "Sidewalk Surfin'" was about skateboarding, which really became a thing in the 70's & 80's.
Hard to believe, but it's been 40 years since Bon Jovi debuted with "Runaway", and right away, you could see that this combo from New Jersey wasn't about to be lumped in with hair metal or any kind of metal. Na-nah!
"Runaway" was the band's debut, followed by "She Don't Know Me". Both songs, sandwiched around an interview, were featured on American Bandstand.
How about some hair metal to start this morning?
Autograph has largely been forgotten amidst all the metal bands that were rolling out in the 80's. As American Bandstand host Dick Clark explains in his intro, the band made their debut opening for Van Halen in front of 12,000 fans.
"Turn Up The Radio", however, ended up a 1-hit wonder.
"Weird" Al Yankovic's Devo send-up, "Dare to be Stupid", landed him on American Bandstand late in 1985. The video quality is a bit wonky at the start, but picks up when host-executive producer Dick Clark comes out to interview Al.
Frank Stallone might not have had the same kind of success in his career as his brother, Sylvester ("Rocky", "Rambo", "The Expendables", etc.), but he made the most of his 15 minutes on the pop charts.
"Far From Over", the 1st single from the movie "Staying Alive", the sequel to "Saturday Night Fever", brought Frank to American Bandstand:
