#50 - BILLY JOEL - Glass Houses (1980) (11 million albums)
Notable songs: It's Still Rock And Roll To Me (#1), You May Be Right (#7), Don't Ask Me Why (#19), Sometimes A Fantasy (#36), All For Leyna, Sleeping With The Television On
LOVE the first side. The second side . . . not so much. Joel was big with the mainstream kids in high school. Pretty much the clean cut, rank and file, yuppy-ish types. I've seen Billy countless times, and I didn't really listen to his albums all that much. I made mix tapes and dropped the filler songs.
#49 - THE EAGLES - The Long Run (1979) (11.15 million albums)
Notable songs: Heartache Tonight (#1), Title Track (#8), I Can't Tell You Why (#8), In The City, Those Shoes, Disco Strangler, Teenage Jail, The Sad Cafe
Heartache was the last of their five #1 songs. This album has come up in other threads and has been strongly criticized. I recently played this one straight through after several years of not giving it a thought and still knew every lyric. This was smack dab in my wheelhouse when it was released. It's not as good as Hotel California but I still love it regardless.
#48 - THE ROLLING STONE - Some Girls (1978) (11.3 million albums)
Notable songs: Miss You (#1), Beast Of Burden (#8), Shattered (#31), Respectable, When The Whip Comes Down, Just My Imagination, Title Track
Tim had it at #79. I'm not sure this deserves to be the Stones best-selling album, but it has a lot of popular songs. I'll listen to any of the songs if they pop up somewhere. I never understood the fascination with Mick from women young enough to be his granddaughter. But it is what it is. Either way, we say sayanora to Mick and the boys. It ranked #78 on Tim's list.
#47 - QUEEN - A Night At The Opera (1975) (11.4 million albums)
Notable songs: (#2 . . . in 1991), You're My Best Friend (#16), Love Of My Life, I'm In Love With My Car, 39, Death On Two Legs
Bohemian Rhapsody charted higher from Wayne's World than it did initially upon its release (#9). I used to think Stairway To Heaven was the song I hear most on the radio, but with Bohemian Rhapsody having so many revivals (Live Aid, Freddie's passing, Wayne's World, the feature film) that it may have caught up. I still hear it all the time. Wave buh-bye to Queen. Tim had it at #16.
#46 - LED ZEPPELIN - In Through The Out Door (1979) (11.5 million albums)
Notable songs: Fool In The Rain (#21), All My Love, In The Evening, Carouselambra, Hot Dog, South Bound Saurez, I'm Gonna Crawl
The last studio album (unless we count the leftovers album Coda). For almost any other band, this would be their crowning achievement. But for Zep, it was just all right. Don't get me wrong, I do like it, but it's just not the same of their early stuff. Tim had this one at #98.
Up next, two American bands that shared a couple of band members . . . and three more British artists. No one should have any issues with the next set. There are some real head scratchers later on, but we don't need to get paranoid about them yet.