HIT EXPLOSION [1983]


By the time Hit Explosion was released, I had purchased my last new K-Tel album (Chart Action '83) and honestly, I don't recall ever seeing it for sale anywhere until a used record store one vague day in the Nineties. Nor do I remember ever seeing the commercial above. For the record, Hit Explosion was copyrighted in July 1983 while Get Dancin' wasn't copyrighted until October 1983 although copyright dates have proven to be unreliable in determining actual release dates in the past. (Get Dancin' will be featured here sometime soon - there are currently four K-tel albums ahead of it on the shelf.)
So, yeah, this is not K-Tel's Hit Explosion from 1983. It is Ronco's Hit Explosion from 1977. It may the only time that a compilation album from the two "As Seen On T.V." rivals Ronco and K-Tel ever shared a title. I mentioned Hit Explosion way back in 2012 HERE and today we're once again ignoring that Ronco album instead focusing all of our attention on the 14 original chart blasting hits of today that make up 1983's Hit Explosion.

Chart blasting? Guess that adjective is appropriate considering the album's title and it certainly starts off with a BANG!💥Toni Basil's "Mickey", a Number One song for a lone week in December 1982, kicks off Hit Explosion. There are at least two other Number One Songs on the album; one by Rock and Roll Hall Of Famer Steve Miller and another by People's Choice Award-winning rock band Survivor. I'm not even going to pretend to know where the tracks by Rush, A Flock Of Seagulls, and Haircut 100 ended up on the charts but I feel fairly confident that the other nine tracks probably made the Top 20 - I remember hearing all of them on the radio quite a bit back in 1982-1983 so I expect the majority of them to have a strong showing on the Rock charts. And, based on that memory and my experience with the other sixty-seven K-Tel albums I've run through the Scale, I'm forecasting a score in the low 30s  - most likely 32 or less for Hit Explosion.

HIT EXPLOSION [1983]
29.93
Billboard Top 40s
PopR&BDISCORockACCB
MickeyToni Basil132
VacationGo-Go's817136
Steppin' OutJoe Jackson6(45)745
Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl)Haircut One Hundred(101)(41)(50)
Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)Joan Jett & The Blackhearts202129
Young TurksRod Stewart5(63)235
AbracadabraThe Steve Miller Band1144281
Shadows Of The NightPat Benatar13313
GloriaLaura Branigan24281
Hold OnSantana1517349
Space Age Love SongA Flock Of Seagulls30(59)35
New World ManRush21135
Keep The Fire Burnin'REO Speedwagon7210
Eye Of The TigerSurvivor1(59)1271
I was wrong; guessed a little high. Those three songs I was unsure of proved to be a handicap to the K-Tel Scale™ score. Had just one of them eeked into the Top 20, the album would have scored around a 31 and if two of the three tracks had made it, we'd likely see Hit Explosion crack the K-Tel Scale™ Top 10 with a score near 34. Haircut One Hundred? More like Haircut One Hundred And One!
In addition to vinyl, Hit Explosion is available on both cassette and 8-track tape with the vinyl's tracklisting intact though it should be noted that the latter format splits "Space Age Love Song" between Programs Three and Four, making for a unique listen. The vinyl and cassette versions of the album can be found with little effort for a couple of bucks each though the 8-track seems a little harder to find and therefore commands a premium.
K-Tel Canada appropriated the US artwork but skimped a bit as far as listing artists and songs on the front cover. The Canadian version of Hit Explosion contains sixteen tracks (only three carry over from the U.S.) and nearly half of those sixteen artists are Canadian acts whose singles failed to crack the Top 40 in the States. UK acts A Flock Of Seagulls and Haircut One Hundred both appear on the U.S. and Canadian Hit Explosion albums, though, for their appearance up North, they are represented by their respective highest-charting singles. Had those singles ("I Ran" and "Love Plus One") been featured on the American iteration of Hit Explosion, the album would have cracked the Top 10 in the rankings.
Over in Germany, Hit Explosion was released in 1982 and aside from similar artwork and the inclusion of a Kim Wilde track ("Cambodia") bears no resemblance to either of the North American releases of the album. I've provided an incomplete playlist above featuring a dozen of the album's eighteen tracks if you're curious to hear songs that were popular in Germany circa 1981 and 1982.
Through sixty-eight K-Tel albums run through the K-Tel Scale™, the average score currently stands at 28.36 making Hit Explosion "above average" with its score of 29.93. You can listen to Brandon's needle-drop digitization of Hit Explosion HERE.
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Next time around, the featured album will be the soft rockin' Heartbeat Of The 80's.

3 comments:

  1. Excellent album which earns a 71 on the SRK scale.

    Ever notice how there were more bands/groups back then compared to today? On this album, 9 of the 14 tracks are by bands (64%), the other 5 by solo acts. Compared to the latest NOW release, which has only 5 bands among the 22 tracks (23%). Not saying that's good or bad, just different.

    Can't wait for "Heartbeat of the 80's" [sic] - it may shoot for the moon and produce the first perfect score on the SRK scale!

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  2. I love that album but I'm wait for these other K-Tel Record Albums to be add on the list like

    Get Dancin (1983)
    Hot Tracks (1983)
    Dancing Madness (1983)
    Heartbeat of the 70's (1983)
    Heartbeat of the 80's (1983)
    Sound System (1984)
    Street Beat (1984)
    Michael Jackson and the Jackson Five (1984)
    Let's Beat It (1984)

    and I remember them all in the K-Tel Commercial!

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    Replies
    1. Always a pleasure to hear from one of the biggest K-Tel fans on the Internet, Jermaine.

      Sorry, Buddy, but I'm gonna bust your bubble now. As the title of the this site implies, I'm covering titles from 1973 through 1983 which means those 1984 albums more than likely will not be featured.

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