Crazy Love (1979) 8/2/20

The country-rock group Poco was formed in 1968, but it took them more than a decade to score their first “Great Song.”

That was rather puzzling, since the original lineup included founder/singer/songwriter/guitarist Rusty Young and some other extremely talented musicians like Richie Furay (of Buffalo Springfield), Jim Messina (later of Loggins and Messina), and Randy Meisner (who later co-founded the Eagles).

After several albums failed to garner much interest, only Young was left from the original group. But even then, Tom Cotton and Timothy B. Schmidt were on the roster. (Schmidt had replaced Meisner, and later on when Meisner left the Eagles, Schmidt replaced him there as well!)

Nothing was happening for the group, and they were just about to call it quits, when ABC Records decided to give them one more shot. And FINALLY, in 1979, with the release of their ELEVENTH album (“Legend”), Poco hit the charts in a big way. The album reached #14 on Billboard's Album Chart, and the single, “Crazy Love,” made it to #17 on the Hot 100.

It was also moving up nicely on the Adult Contemporary Chart.

And then, two things happened.

First, ABC Records was bought out by MCA, who pulled all radio promotion for the group. Usually that sort of thing would stifle airplay and kill any chart progress. It did just that on the Album chart and Hot 100.

Second: For some lucky reason, the momentum of “Crazy Love” on the Adult Contemporary Chart was not affected. It grabbed the #1 spot for 6 weeks...making it 1979's longest lasting #1 of the year! The only reason for this: radio listeners and record buyers loved the song! Crazy how it all worked out!

Here's Poco, with a “Great Song of 1979!”