Earlier this calendar week the venerable Kemal Amin Kasem , considerably known to wireless auditor as Casey Kasem , announce that he was stepping down from his weekly countdown show . The Detroit native has done a lot of other voiceover oeuvre in addition to belittled playing character in his 77 years , but he ’ll no doubt always be remember as the interpreter of American Top 40 . Here are 10 spry Casey facts everyone should know , countdown - panache :
10. Â Casey’s relationship with Scooby-Doo (and Why he Left the Franchise!)
consider it or not , Casey had provided the voice of " Shaggy" onScooby - Doo , Where Are You?from the show ’s inception in 1969 but leave the series in 1995 after a beef cattle over a Burger King commercial . Kasem had become a vegan and could not in good conscience advertize the consumption of hamburgers . He came back to the fold in 2002 when producers made the Shaggy character a strict vegetarian .
9. What band’s popularity did Casey woefully misjudge?
When inaugurate " Pride ( In the Name of Love),“ U2 ’s first U.S. top 40 single , Casey began read a protracted first appearance / explanation : " That ’s the letter " ˜U ' and the numeral two” ¦ .The four - man band features Adam Clayton on bass , Larry Mullen on metal drum , Dave Evans , nicknamed " ˜The Edge ' , on " ¦ this is bull—-! Nobody cares ! These guy rope are from England , who return a ( tough word)?!“ For the book : The band in reality hails from Ireland , and they did go on to sell a few million records in the twelvemonth to fare .
8 . Have any Casey mistakes made it to the actual American Top 40 broadcast ?
A couple . For example , during the first hour of a January 1976 program , Casey mention that Simon and Garfunkel ’s " The Sounds of Silence" was the telephone number one song exactly 10 years ago . Then , during the second minute of the show he pronounce the same affair about the Beatles ' " We Can Work It Out . “ He also related a back - story about Paul Revere and the Raiders ' " Indian Reservation" that by and by turned out to be a double-dyed fabrication made up by the strain ’s composer , John D. Loudermilk .
7. When did AT40 debut?
Casey first counted " ˜em down on July 4 , 1970 . The show was broadcast on only a handful of stations at the time , and attender had to hold off an anxious three hours before ascertain out that the number one attain in the country that workweek was " Mama say Me ( Not to Come)“ by Three Dog Night .
6. What was the first Long Distance Dedication?
The LDD debuted in August 1978 . A man wrote Casey request a particular song for his girl , Desiree , who was moving to Germany to live with her family on an Air Force Base . The bereft boyfriend ’s song request ? " Desiree" by Neil Diamond , natch .
5. What is Casey’s connection to The Price is Right?
4. What song made it to number one without Casey ever mentioning its title during its ascent up the chart?
That honor goes to George Michael ’s 1987 hit " I need Your Sex . “ Even though he was very liberal in his political science , Casey was conservative when it fare to AT40 and he just could n’t lend himself to phrase this championship over the atmosphere . Instead he simply foretell something along the lines of " here ’s the a la mode polish off by George Michael" each calendar week the strain remained in the Top 40 . ( Luckily Shadoe Stevens was hosting the show by the time 2 unrecorded Crew ’s " Me So Horny" hit the charts . )
3. Wait a minute ““ Casey wouldn’t say “I Want Your Sex"? Isn’t this the same guy who cussed out U2?
Yes , but he did n’t do that over the air . That niggling tirade was an outtake that somehow leak out of the studio . And whatever his objection may have been to the title of George Michael ’s song , he still dutifully announced Rod Stewart ’s " Ai n’t Love a Bitch" during the late Spring of 1979 .
Â2. How did radio stations around the world get AT40 ““ was it via satellite feed or what?
During the Casey epoch , each installment of AT40 was compress on to vinyl LP records ( usually four per show ) and bulk - mailed to subscribing receiving set post . Every now and then listeners in certain markets would see a " skip" during the show do by a prick in the record .
Â1. What’s the deal with the infamous “Snuggles" rant?
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If you could type while keeping your foot on the earth and reaching for the superstar , we ’d love to learn your own Casey storage .
