Urban Cowboy is a 1980 American romantic Western film directed by James Bridges. The plot concerns the love-hate relationship between Buford Uan "Bud" Davis and Sissy. The film captured the late 1970s/early 1980s popularity of country music. Much of the action revolves around activities at Gilley's Club, a football-field-sized honky tonk in Pasadena, Texas.
Mickey Leroy Gilley is an American country music singer and songwriter. Although he started out singing straight-up country and western material in the 1970s, he moved towards a more pop-friendly sound in the 1980s, bringing him further success on not just the country charts, but the pop charts as well. Among his biggest hits are "Room Full of Roses," "Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time," and the remake of the Soul hit "Stand by Me". Gilley has charted 42 singles in the top 40 on the US Country chart. He is a cousin of Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl McVoy, Jim Gilley, Sonny Gilley, and Jimmy Swaggart.
Johnny Lee is an American country music singer. His 1980 single "Lookin' for Love" became a crossover hit, spending three weeks at number 1 on the Billboard country singles chart while also appearing in the top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and top 10 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. He racked up 17 top 40 country hits in the early and mid-1980s.
Country pop is a fusion genre of country music and pop music that was developed by members of the country genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country pop music blends genres like rock, pop, and country, continuing similar efforts that began in the late 1950s, known originally as Nashville sound and later on as Countrypolitan. By the mid-1970s, many country artists were transitioning to the pop-country sound, which led to some records' charting high on mainstream top 40 as well as the Billboard country chart. In-turn, many pop and easy listening artists crossed over to country charts during this time. After declining in popularity during the neotraditional movement of the 1980s, country pop had a comeback in the 1990s with a sound that drew more heavily on pop rock and adult contemporary.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1980.
"Clint Eastwood" is a song by English virtual band Gorillaz, released as the first single from their self-titled debut album on 5 March 2001. The song is named after the actor of the same name due to its similarity to the theme music of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
"(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend" is a cowboy-styled country/western song written in 1948 by American songwriter, film and television actor Stan Jones.
"Lookin' for Love" is a song written by Wanda Mallette, Bob Morrison and Patti Ryan, and recorded by American country music singer Johnny Lee. It was released in June 1980 as part of the soundtrack to the film Urban Cowboy, released that year. Marcy Levy was one of the female singers who provided backing vocals on the track. "Lookin' for Love" was reissued as the lead song on his October 1980 album of the same name.
"I Wouldn't Have Missed It for the World" is a song written by Charles Quillen, Kye Fleming and Dennis Morgan, and recorded by American country music singer Ronnie Milsap. It was released in October 1981 as the second single from the album There's No Gettin' Over Me. The song became one of his biggest hits in his recording career and came during the peak of his crossover success.
"Bouquet of Roses" is a 1948 song written by Steve Nelson (music) and Bob Hilliard (lyrics). It was originally recorded by Eddy Arnold and his Tennessee Plow Boys and his Guitar in Chicago on May 18, 1947. It was released by RCA Victor as catalogue number 20-2806 and by EMI on the His Master's Voice label as catalogue numbers BD 1234 and IM 1399. "Bouquet of Roses" was Eddy Arnold's third number one in a row on the Juke Box Folk Record chart and spent 19 weeks on the Best Selling Folk Records chart. In 1949, when RCA Victor introduced its new 45 RPM single format this record was among seven initial releases and the first in the Country and Western category. Arnold would re-record "Bouquet of Roses" several times during his career.
"Too Late to Worry, Too Blue to Cry" is a 1942 song by Al Dexter. It was recorded on March 18, 1942 at the CBS Studio at Radio Station KNX, Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, California with session musicians Frank Marvin, Johnny Bond and Dick Reinhart. It was released on Okeh records #6718 on February 6, 1944, paired with "So Long Pal". It went to number one on the Folk Juke Box charts for two weeks and stayed on the charts for a total of thirty weeks.
"Here Comes the Hurt Again'" is a song written by Jerry Foster and Bill Rice, and recorded by American country music artist Mickey Gilley. It was released in July 1978 as the second single from his album Flyin' High. The song reached number 9 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and number 43 on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada.
"How to Be a Country Star" is a song recorded by American country music group The Statler Brothers, written by group members Harold Reid and Don Reid. The song – a humorous, tongue-in-cheek advice song that names many of the top country music recording artists of the time, along with a number of classic country artists – was released in March 1979 as the first single from the album The Originals. The song eventually climbed to No. 7 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart that May, and also No. 18 on the Canadian RPM country singles chart.
