We have reached the top, the #1 Most Important Country Song 1980 – Today. As great as all the songs on this list are, this is the one that made a lot of the others possible. “Most Important” is the term to keep in mind as you read. This simple little song, from the most important album in generations, Storms Of Life, single-handedly took country and its fans in a new direction almost overnight. Country was struggling with pop-country. It was good music, but wasn’t selling and wasn’t expanding our brand. The first song from this debut album was a song named 1982. A remake of an older song called 1962, and the success was decent going to #6. This song though, which had been released BEFORE 1982 – died at #67 on the charts. Then this was re-released and went #1, and fans LOVED it. 12 of his next 14 singles went #1 and Randy Travis was the star of our format. Storms Of Life is credited with “saving” or at minimum “redirecting” Country Music for generations to come. It pretty much put an end to 80’s pop country all by itself. Even Garth has been quoted as saying Randy Travis saved Country Music. Travis was told by many in Nashville in the biz at first he was “too country”. What this song did was show everyone in and out of the biz that “country” is what people wanted then, and it’s what they want now, and will always want first. The class of 1986-ish was the precursor to the class 1989, that led to the boom of the 1990’s and continues today as country is still the king and fans by the tens of millions still love it. This song, along with this album, turned country on a dime and showed the world Country was viable and still the music fans want the most. Pretty much every country star since, should send Randy Travis a thank you card for this song, this album and his amazing success that predated theirs. Then, someone had to do it, and Randy Travis did.
My Full Profile On Randy Travis
