4 Soft Rock Gems That Landed at No. 2 in 1980

The year 1980 represented one of those transitional years in music history. Still a year away from MTV, many different genres that would struggle to find a footing once the network premiered were still holding a bit of sway.

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For example, soft rock still exerted a lot of influence on the pop charts in 1980. These four mellow classics all made it to the No. 2 spot on the charts during that calendar year.

“All Out Of Love” by Air Supply

The Aussie duo Air Supply had already proven they could do a feel-good midtempo number when they hit the top of the charts with “Lost In Love”. (These guys included the word “love” in a lot of their titles.) “All Out Of Love” showed that they could get it done (and then some) with a tearjerker of a ballad. Graham Russell wrote it, although record exec Clive Davis nabbed co-writing credit because he helped with one line that would have been lost in translation from Australia to America. Russell sings the verses and then hands it off in the refrains to the human special effect that is the voice of Russell Hitchcock, who holds that last glory note for about two hours.

“Ride Like The Wind” by Christopher Cross

Perhaps worried that Christopher Cross’ output might be a little too laid-back for mass consumption, his record label chose the more aggressive “Ride Like The Wind” as the lead single from his debut album. Of course, they needn’t have worried, as audiences took extremely well to his mellower compositions. Nonetheless, “Ride Like The Wind” offered up a different side of him. Cross convincingly plays the harried outlaw in the song. Because producer Michael Omartian had played with Steely Dan, he had an in with Michael McDonald. McDonald lent his unmistakable backing vocals to the track.

“Longer” by Dan Fogelberg

Dan Fogelberg reached his commercial peak in 1981. His album The Innocent Age, released that year, spun off three straight Top 10 singles. Just before that, “Longer”, the first single from his ’79 release Phoenix, stretched its legs all the way into early 1980 and peaked at No. 2, Fogelberg’s biggest ever hit. The sentiment might be a bit too sticky-sweet for some folks. But Fogelberg rises above those concerns because of how he delivers the song with touching earnestness. And the melody is a beauty, accentuated as it is by a wondrous flugelhorn solo by Jerry Hay.

“More Than I Can Say” by Leo Sayer

Leo Sayer proved quite the resilient hitmaker, especially in his native Great Britain, where he hit the Top 20 with regularity until 1983. In America, however, things dropped off pretty drastically after the success of “More Than I Can Say” in 1980. The song was written and recorded by two members of The Crickets, not long after Buddy Holly’s death. Bobby Vee scored a British hit with it. And The Beatles briefly had it in their setlist in their pre-fame days. Sayer unearthed it two decades later and made the most out of the “Whoa-oh, yay-yay” refrain that kicks off each of the verses.

Photo by Ebet Roberts/Redferns