Post by Hervard on Dec 4, 2010 11:19:30 GMT -5
American Top 40: The 80s - December 4, 2010
This week’s presentation: December 6, 1986
Wow, for the first time this year, they’re doing a repeat of a show that the series ran in 2008. But I don’t mind, for two reasons. First of all, this was during the “dry spell”, when I did not have access to AT40: The 80s. Secondly, it’s the very first American Top 40 show that I listened to in full. So it’s cool they decided to do this one. Here’s my criteria of this week’s show.
Dropped:
WELCOME TO THE BOOMTOWN - DAVID & DAVID (37) - This song was OK, but I can see why it didn’t get any higher than #37.
TRUE COLORS - CYNDI LAUPER (34) - This song’s OK, but I prefer many others by her (such as the one featured as an Optional Extra)
WHAT ABOUT LOVE - ‘TIL TUESDAY (32) - Great song! I prefer this to the somewhat overplayed “Voices Carry”.
EMOTION IN MOTION - RIC OCASEK (29) - Good song! The first of two members of the Cars to chart in 1986 (Benjamin Orr, of course, was the second, although his song didn’t hit the Top 40 until January, 1987, but I know it first hit the chart in 1986, for it is one of this week’s Optional Extras!).
LW#1: YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME - BON JOVI - Comments on this one later on.
40: GOLDMINE - POINTER SISTERS (debut) - I was never crazy about this one, though it was kinda good to hear it again, since the last time I heard it was when it was charting, nearly a quarter of a century ago.
39: FOR TONIGHT - NANCY MARTINEZ (debut) - Good song. This song never charted on the Radio & Records chart, since I think the song was played sporadically, mainly on stations that specialized in dance music (like B96 in Chicago).
38: AT THIS MOMENT - BILLY VERA & THE BEATERS (debut) - No. Just no. (Interesting story about Billy’s chart career, however).
37: COMING AROUND AGAIN - CARLY SIMON (debut) - Great song! One of her best (though I do prefer “Jesse”).
36: I DIDN’T MEAN TO TURN YOU ON - ROBERT PALMER (22) - Well, Robert, you didn’t turn me on with this song. I preferred his previous Top 40 entry, “Hyperactive”.
35: YOU BE ILLIN’ - RUN DMC (39) - Funny song! Imagine, going into KFC and ordering McDonald’s food (and when was the last time a Big Mac and an order of small fries cost only a quarter?).
34: ALL I WANTED - KANSAS (40) - Good song, though as I’ve said before, it seems a little incomplete. Interesting story about their first concert, with the bar where they performed being destroyed, as a result of a fight, then a drunk driving his car through two walls as retaliation for not being served.
33: FOOLISH PRIDE - DARYL HALL (36) - Great song, and somewhat underrated. Since “Dreamtime” hit the Top Ten, I figured this would at least hit the Top 20, but in fact, it didn’t even touch the Top 30.
32: FREEDOM OVERSPILL - STEVE WINWOOD (20) - Good song - better than the grossly overplayed “Higher Love”.
LDD: THAT’S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR - DIONNE & FRIENDS - Good song, and very appropriate for the dedication, about the bond between the two stepsiblings.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: CHANGE OF HEART - CYNDI LAUPER - Great song! Too bad radio stations don’t play it much anymore.
31: SOMEDAY - GLASS TIGER (38) - Good song, but I prefer their first hit.
30: THE FUTURE’S SO BRIGHT, I GOTTA WEAR SHADES - TIMBUK 3 (35) - Meh, I wasn’t a big fan of this song.
29: THE RAIN - ORAN “JUICE” JONES (18) - Good song. Especially at the end, when he’s giving his girlfriend (actually, ex at that point) the what-for. Too bad my live stream cut out right before that. Oh well, there’s always YouTube...
28: VICTORY - KOOL & THE GANG (31) - Meh, I didn’t really like this song (at least I didn’t have to do aerobics to it like the students at Boston Middle School did that year).
27: LOVE IS FOREVER - BILLY OCEAN (30) - Great song! As we all know, I like his slow songs best.
26: LAND OF CONFUSION - GENESIS (28) - Great song! One of my three favorites from the Invisible Touch album.
25: WILD WILD LIFE - TALKING HEADS (26) - Good song - much better than the repulsive “Burning Down The House”. (BTW, doesn’t it sound kind of like they’re singing “f***in’ troll” in the bridge?)
24/LDD: I’LL BE OVER YOU - TOTO (14) - Great song! One of their best!
23: IS THIS LOVE - SURVIVOR (25) - Good song, but I generally prefer their earlier material.
22: YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU...DON’T YOU? - HOWARD JONES (24) - This song was OK, but one of my least favorite songs by Hojo.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF - GEORGIA SATELLITES - OK song, though I'm generally not a big fan of southern rock.
21: CONTROL - JANET JACKSON (27) - And this is one of my least favorite songs by Ms. Jackson.
20: WAR - BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND (33) - This song is pretty good. I prefer it to the original by Edwin Starr.
19: (FOREVER) LIVE AND DIE - ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK (22) - Good song, but I preferred “So In Love” and “Dreaming”.
18: TAKE ME HOME TONIGHT - EDDIE MONEY (13) - Back to “least favorite” mode, as this is definitely my least favorite songs by the Moneyman.
17: C’EST LA VIE - ROBBIE NEVIL (21) - Good song, though I slightly preferred the two follow-ups.
16: DON’T GET ME WRONG - THE PRETENDERS (19) - Good song
15: SHAKE YOU DOWN - GREGORY ABBOTT (17) - Great song. Definitely one of the #1 songs of the 1980s that gets the least amount of airplay (though I imagine that they play it occasionally on Urban AC stations).
14: AMANDA - BOSTON (7) - This song’s OK, though I prefer the other two Third Stage releases.
13: STAND BY ME - BEN E. KING (15) - Good song - not sure which version I prefer, as I’ve heard several.
12: TRUE BLUE - MADONNA (3) - Great song! Possibly my favorite song from the album of the same name.
11: NOTORIOUS - DURAN DURAN (16) - This was a good song, but far from being their best.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: TOUCH ME (I WANT YOUR BODY) - SAMANTHA FOX - Good song - I prefer this to her other two Top Ten songs. WUEZ skipped over this one, for some reason, possibly the title of the song).
10: TO BE A LOVER - BILLY IDOL (12) - This song was OK, but I’m generally not a big Idol fan.
9: LOVE WILL CONQUER ALL - LIONEL RICHIE (9) - Great song! Sounds very much like “Love Will Find A Way” from his grammy-winning Can’t Slow Down album from three years before.
AT40 EXTRA (WE’RE GONNA) ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK - BILL HALEY & HIS COMETS - Classic song! The one that kicked off the rock era (and the theme from Happy Days during the first season).
8: HUMAN - THE HUMAN LEAGUE (2) - Good song, though I prefer “Don’t You Want Me” and “Mirror Man”.
7: EVERYBODY HAVE FUN TONIGHT - WANG CHUNG (11) - Good song. Though I prefer a few others by them, I’ve learned to like this song more over the past few years.
6: WORD UP - CAMEO (6) - Not a fan of this song. Why do they feature western whistling on this song anyway?
5: WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN - THE BANGLES (10) - Don’t even get me started on this one...
4: THE WAY IT IS - BRUCE HORNSBY & THE RANGE (8) - Great song. Despite overplay, this is one that has held up quite well.
3/LDD: HIP TO BE SQUARE - HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS (5) - And we’re back to “least favorite” mode, as this is certainly one of my least favorites from the band. Very appropriate song for the dedication, though. Strange that this song was still heading up, as it was on its way down the R&R chart after spending a week on top.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: STAY THE NIGHT - BENJAMIN ORR - Good song. Kind of strange that they picked this song for an extra, since it was a mid-charter and isn’t played much anymore. Perhaps because we just missed hearing another member of the Cars on the countdown?
2: YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME - BON JOVI (1) - Another good song, but I prefer others by them. Another chart oddity - this song hit #1 on the Hot 100, yet only got as high as #7 on the R&R chart. In the early 1980s, this diversity was commonplace, but rare by 1986 standards.
1: THE NEXT TIME I FALL - PETER CETERA & AMY GRANT (4) - Good song, though I preferred “The Glory Of Love”, as well as a few other songs by Amy Grant.
Well, there are no predictions for next week. Now don’t worry, this isn’t the final edition of the show. I just know what next week’s show is going to be. To preserve the element of surprise, I’m not going to tell you what year it is, but I’ll tell you right now, it’s not the John Lennon tribute show, like many people had hoped. It’s a show on which the #1 song is by another artist who is no longer with us, and from a year that has been somewhat overdone lately. That’s all I’m going to tell you, although people as familiar with the charts in the 1980s as I am probably have an idea what year it is.
This week’s presentation: December 6, 1986
Wow, for the first time this year, they’re doing a repeat of a show that the series ran in 2008. But I don’t mind, for two reasons. First of all, this was during the “dry spell”, when I did not have access to AT40: The 80s. Secondly, it’s the very first American Top 40 show that I listened to in full. So it’s cool they decided to do this one. Here’s my criteria of this week’s show.
Dropped:
WELCOME TO THE BOOMTOWN - DAVID & DAVID (37) - This song was OK, but I can see why it didn’t get any higher than #37.
TRUE COLORS - CYNDI LAUPER (34) - This song’s OK, but I prefer many others by her (such as the one featured as an Optional Extra)
WHAT ABOUT LOVE - ‘TIL TUESDAY (32) - Great song! I prefer this to the somewhat overplayed “Voices Carry”.
EMOTION IN MOTION - RIC OCASEK (29) - Good song! The first of two members of the Cars to chart in 1986 (Benjamin Orr, of course, was the second, although his song didn’t hit the Top 40 until January, 1987, but I know it first hit the chart in 1986, for it is one of this week’s Optional Extras!).
LW#1: YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME - BON JOVI - Comments on this one later on.
40: GOLDMINE - POINTER SISTERS (debut) - I was never crazy about this one, though it was kinda good to hear it again, since the last time I heard it was when it was charting, nearly a quarter of a century ago.
39: FOR TONIGHT - NANCY MARTINEZ (debut) - Good song. This song never charted on the Radio & Records chart, since I think the song was played sporadically, mainly on stations that specialized in dance music (like B96 in Chicago).
38: AT THIS MOMENT - BILLY VERA & THE BEATERS (debut) - No. Just no. (Interesting story about Billy’s chart career, however).
37: COMING AROUND AGAIN - CARLY SIMON (debut) - Great song! One of her best (though I do prefer “Jesse”).
36: I DIDN’T MEAN TO TURN YOU ON - ROBERT PALMER (22) - Well, Robert, you didn’t turn me on with this song. I preferred his previous Top 40 entry, “Hyperactive”.
35: YOU BE ILLIN’ - RUN DMC (39) - Funny song! Imagine, going into KFC and ordering McDonald’s food (and when was the last time a Big Mac and an order of small fries cost only a quarter?).
34: ALL I WANTED - KANSAS (40) - Good song, though as I’ve said before, it seems a little incomplete. Interesting story about their first concert, with the bar where they performed being destroyed, as a result of a fight, then a drunk driving his car through two walls as retaliation for not being served.
33: FOOLISH PRIDE - DARYL HALL (36) - Great song, and somewhat underrated. Since “Dreamtime” hit the Top Ten, I figured this would at least hit the Top 20, but in fact, it didn’t even touch the Top 30.
32: FREEDOM OVERSPILL - STEVE WINWOOD (20) - Good song - better than the grossly overplayed “Higher Love”.
LDD: THAT’S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR - DIONNE & FRIENDS - Good song, and very appropriate for the dedication, about the bond between the two stepsiblings.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: CHANGE OF HEART - CYNDI LAUPER - Great song! Too bad radio stations don’t play it much anymore.
31: SOMEDAY - GLASS TIGER (38) - Good song, but I prefer their first hit.
30: THE FUTURE’S SO BRIGHT, I GOTTA WEAR SHADES - TIMBUK 3 (35) - Meh, I wasn’t a big fan of this song.
29: THE RAIN - ORAN “JUICE” JONES (18) - Good song. Especially at the end, when he’s giving his girlfriend (actually, ex at that point) the what-for. Too bad my live stream cut out right before that. Oh well, there’s always YouTube...
28: VICTORY - KOOL & THE GANG (31) - Meh, I didn’t really like this song (at least I didn’t have to do aerobics to it like the students at Boston Middle School did that year).
27: LOVE IS FOREVER - BILLY OCEAN (30) - Great song! As we all know, I like his slow songs best.
26: LAND OF CONFUSION - GENESIS (28) - Great song! One of my three favorites from the Invisible Touch album.
25: WILD WILD LIFE - TALKING HEADS (26) - Good song - much better than the repulsive “Burning Down The House”. (BTW, doesn’t it sound kind of like they’re singing “f***in’ troll” in the bridge?)
24/LDD: I’LL BE OVER YOU - TOTO (14) - Great song! One of their best!
23: IS THIS LOVE - SURVIVOR (25) - Good song, but I generally prefer their earlier material.
22: YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU...DON’T YOU? - HOWARD JONES (24) - This song was OK, but one of my least favorite songs by Hojo.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF - GEORGIA SATELLITES - OK song, though I'm generally not a big fan of southern rock.
21: CONTROL - JANET JACKSON (27) - And this is one of my least favorite songs by Ms. Jackson.
20: WAR - BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND (33) - This song is pretty good. I prefer it to the original by Edwin Starr.
19: (FOREVER) LIVE AND DIE - ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK (22) - Good song, but I preferred “So In Love” and “Dreaming”.
18: TAKE ME HOME TONIGHT - EDDIE MONEY (13) - Back to “least favorite” mode, as this is definitely my least favorite songs by the Moneyman.
17: C’EST LA VIE - ROBBIE NEVIL (21) - Good song, though I slightly preferred the two follow-ups.
16: DON’T GET ME WRONG - THE PRETENDERS (19) - Good song
15: SHAKE YOU DOWN - GREGORY ABBOTT (17) - Great song. Definitely one of the #1 songs of the 1980s that gets the least amount of airplay (though I imagine that they play it occasionally on Urban AC stations).
14: AMANDA - BOSTON (7) - This song’s OK, though I prefer the other two Third Stage releases.
13: STAND BY ME - BEN E. KING (15) - Good song - not sure which version I prefer, as I’ve heard several.
12: TRUE BLUE - MADONNA (3) - Great song! Possibly my favorite song from the album of the same name.
11: NOTORIOUS - DURAN DURAN (16) - This was a good song, but far from being their best.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: TOUCH ME (I WANT YOUR BODY) - SAMANTHA FOX - Good song - I prefer this to her other two Top Ten songs. WUEZ skipped over this one, for some reason, possibly the title of the song).
10: TO BE A LOVER - BILLY IDOL (12) - This song was OK, but I’m generally not a big Idol fan.
9: LOVE WILL CONQUER ALL - LIONEL RICHIE (9) - Great song! Sounds very much like “Love Will Find A Way” from his grammy-winning Can’t Slow Down album from three years before.
AT40 EXTRA (WE’RE GONNA) ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK - BILL HALEY & HIS COMETS - Classic song! The one that kicked off the rock era (and the theme from Happy Days during the first season).
8: HUMAN - THE HUMAN LEAGUE (2) - Good song, though I prefer “Don’t You Want Me” and “Mirror Man”.
7: EVERYBODY HAVE FUN TONIGHT - WANG CHUNG (11) - Good song. Though I prefer a few others by them, I’ve learned to like this song more over the past few years.
6: WORD UP - CAMEO (6) - Not a fan of this song. Why do they feature western whistling on this song anyway?
5: WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN - THE BANGLES (10) - Don’t even get me started on this one...
4: THE WAY IT IS - BRUCE HORNSBY & THE RANGE (8) - Great song. Despite overplay, this is one that has held up quite well.
3/LDD: HIP TO BE SQUARE - HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS (5) - And we’re back to “least favorite” mode, as this is certainly one of my least favorites from the band. Very appropriate song for the dedication, though. Strange that this song was still heading up, as it was on its way down the R&R chart after spending a week on top.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: STAY THE NIGHT - BENJAMIN ORR - Good song. Kind of strange that they picked this song for an extra, since it was a mid-charter and isn’t played much anymore. Perhaps because we just missed hearing another member of the Cars on the countdown?
2: YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME - BON JOVI (1) - Another good song, but I prefer others by them. Another chart oddity - this song hit #1 on the Hot 100, yet only got as high as #7 on the R&R chart. In the early 1980s, this diversity was commonplace, but rare by 1986 standards.
1: THE NEXT TIME I FALL - PETER CETERA & AMY GRANT (4) - Good song, though I preferred “The Glory Of Love”, as well as a few other songs by Amy Grant.
Well, there are no predictions for next week. Now don’t worry, this isn’t the final edition of the show. I just know what next week’s show is going to be. To preserve the element of surprise, I’m not going to tell you what year it is, but I’ll tell you right now, it’s not the John Lennon tribute show, like many people had hoped. It’s a show on which the #1 song is by another artist who is no longer with us, and from a year that has been somewhat overdone lately. That’s all I’m going to tell you, although people as familiar with the charts in the 1980s as I am probably have an idea what year it is.