rockofallages81-tvgda

Radio & Records was a trade publication for the radio and music industries. It was co-founded by, among others, Robert Kardashian, who was most well-known as O.J. Simpson’s defense attorney. Yikes.
Getting away from murder trials, Radio & Records began in 1973 as an independent trade and would continue to remain independent until 2006, but that’s a story for a later date. For now, we go back to the December 17, 1976 issue of Radio & Records, in which the publication printed the first year-end list for the rock airplay format. Or more accurately, the album-oriented rock (AOR) format.
If you’re unfamiliar with the term, AOR stations would play entire LPs instead of individual singles. Granted, sometimes the singles would get more attention than other songs, but the focus was still on playing the entire LP. On multiple occasions, this resulted in what we now call “album bombs” entering the airplay chart. However, we can talk about that in more detail later. Let’s get back to the 1976 list.
Going in ascending order, we begin the 1976 Radio & Records Album Airplay year-end at #40. This is Long May You Run by The Stills-Young Band. The album art will be at the bottom of the page.
In the late Sixties, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash formed a supergroup called “Crosby, Stills & Nash.” Occasionally, they were joined by Canadian music legend Neil Young, who was previously bandmates with Stills in Buffalo Springfield. Thus, Crosby, Stills & Nash sometimes recorded and toured as “Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.” If you’re confused, don’t worry; the band was too dysfunctional to care. I won’t bore you with the very lengthy history of the internal drama between the four men, so when I talk about it, I will limit myself to only the most relevant parts.
Case in point, after a massive stadium tour in 1974, CSNY tried and failed to make a new album. In 1976, they tried again, only for Crosby and Nash to bail because they had to meet a deadline for a separate album they were making on their own. In response, Young and Stills removed Crosby and Nash’s parts from the master tapes. Recording spanned from February to early June 1976, followed immediately by a supporting tour. Young, however, dropped out of the tour after a month, leaving Stills to do the remaining dates himself. Why? Well, reviews of the tour praised Young but harshly criticized Stills. Stills started drinking heavily and took out his frustrations on the tour crew. Young told Stills not to read the reviews, but Stills kept reading anyway, so Young dropped out. The Atlanta show on July 21 was cancelled, and Stills only managed three solo shows before cancelling the rest of the tour.
With all of that in mind, Long May You Run by The Stills-Young Band was released in September 1976. The album was certified Gold in the U.S. Oh, and how’s this for drama? The album had nine songs – five written by Young and four by Stills – but the two singles were both by Young. Neither of them entered the Hot 100; regardless, letting Young have both of the singles seems unfair to Stills. He did write half of the album, after all.
As I said earlier, though, AOR stations played entire albums. And while the title track (written by Young) did get a lot of attention on its own, one of the Stills songs was also a rock airplay hit. Surprisingly, it was not 12/8 Blues (All The Same), which was the B-side to the title track. Instead, it was Make Love To You.
…moving on…
Long May You Run is a decent album. The Young songs are in general a bit better than the Stills songs, but the musicianship is consistently good across the whole record. I’ve never been a massive fan of Crosby, Stills, Nash or Young, so I couldn’t tell you where it ranks in their collective repertoires or even if it makes a good entry point. But if you want some Seventies soft rock to chill out to, give it a spin.