Various Artists - Billboard Top Album Rock Hits, 1981 (1997)

The first volume of a very short-lived, 4 disc series from Joel Whitburn and Rhino Records covering the years 1981-84, which just so happen to coincide with the years in which your humble blogger attended high school. The track selection speaks for itself but I'm very disappointed in the lack of liner notes detailing each track. However, there was a "Rock Quiz" included in the CD insert if you are up to the challenge.

More from the CD insert:

For more on the origins of Billboard's Rock charts on March 21, 1981, click here or the image below:

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: Half have already appeared on this blog, but since we're here...

1. Waiting For A Girl Like You - Foreigner (#1 Rock, #2 Pop)
   Also on Foreigner 4, Complete Greatest Hits, and the Footloose soundtrack.
2. Hold On Loosely - .38 Special (#3 Rock, #27 Pop)
   Also on The Very Best of the A&M Years (1977-1988) and Class Reunion '81: Greatest Hits Of 1981.
3. The Voice - The Moody Blues (#1 Rock, #15 Pop)
   Also on Long Distance Voyager and The Best Of The Moody Blues.
4. Burnin' For You - Blue Öyster Cult (#1 Rock, #40 Pop)
   I'm surprised this only charted at 40 on the Hot 100 because 1) I sure heard it a lot back in 1981, and 2) licks, riffs, and hooks abound. 
5. Fire And Ice - Pat Benatar (#2 Rock, #17 Pop)
   I'm not a huge Benatar fan, but in my book, this is one of her better releases. It won the Grammy award in the now-defunct category of Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.
6. Hold On Tight - ELO (#2 Rock, #10 Pop)
   Also on Time.
7. This Little Girl - Gary U.S. Bonds (#5 Rock, #11 Pop)
   Written by Springsteen with sax solo by Clarence Clemons but Bonds completely owns this old school rocker. According to Casey Kasem during the June 20, 1981 edition of AT40, the song was written after the Bonds and Bruce spent a few hours together commiserating about their stalled careers. And how great a stage name is Gary U.S. Bonds?
8. Find Your Way Back - Jefferson Starship (#3 Rock, #29 Pop)
   Of all the incarnations of this band, the "Jefferson Starship" years (1974-1984) are my favorite because they were putting out good stuff like this.
9. A Life Of Illusion - Joe Walsh (#1 Rock, #34 Pop)
   I have no idea why I wasn't listening to more Joe Walsh during my high school days. I should have become a fan after hearing Life's Been Good or even Funk #49.
10. The Stroke - Billy Squier (#3 Rock, #17 Pop)
    Also on Don't Say No.

Missing is the biggest rock hit of 1981, Start Me Up by The Rolling Stones, which spent 13 weeks atop the rock track chart beginning September 5 of that year.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Lots, but here's one I've mentioned before. Around the time these songs were popular, all the "cool senior boys" at my high school would back their mid-70's Ford or Chevy pick-up trucks into parking spots next to the football stadium about 15 minutes before school began, stereos blaring. In addition to the driver, the truck cab would normally seat the driver's current girlfriend. Tradition held that the truck have bench seating and the girl would sit as close to her boyfriend as physically possible without actually climbing into his lap (this was a few years before wearing seatbelts was mandatory in Texas, not as if that would make any difference to young lovers). Trucks entered the school's parking lot at the slowest rate of speed possible with windows down and loud rock music testing the limits of stock speakers. These tracks were just a few of those heard throughout the neighborhood surrounding the school that year.

Back in '81, our high school campus had a student smoking area and no minimum age to buy tobacco plus the legal drinking age was 19 with no open container law, so there was most likely plenty of other stuff going on in those truck cabs. I was but a naïve, sheltered 14/15 year old, so I was just a spectator at that point in time.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Billboard Top Album Rock Hits, 1984