Post by Hervard on Jan 20, 2023 14:59:04 GMT -5
American Top 40: The 80s - January 21, 2023
This week's presentation - January 23, 1988
Droppers:
ANIMAL - DEF LEPPARD (40) - Ah, the first Top 40 hit from their behemoth album Hysteria (the first release, "Women" had fallen way short, peaking at #80 in early September). I wonder if it would have done better had they decided to re-release it after the album became a huge hit - I'm guessing probably not, as the last hit from the album, "Rocket" sounded a lot like "Women" and they figured it would be best to put out a new track instead of chancing the re-release flopping (and I certainly doubt they'd release "Women" right after "Rocket" due to said similarity.
(I'VE HAD) THE TIME OF MY LIFE - BILL MEDLEY & JENNIFER WARNES (35) - Though this song dropped out, Dirty Dancing fever was still in full swing, with other tracks from the soundtrack charting. For some reason, I hated this song with a passion when it was on its way up the chart. Probably because of the overplay, but I never liked it in the first place. Now I think it's a good one, though I wouldn't want to hear it on a regular basis.
HEAVEN IS A PLACE ON EARTH - BELINDA CARLISLE (33) - This song outpeaked all of her hits with the Go-Go's by hitting the top back in early December. This is another song that I didn't care much for back in the day, but it's one of those song that, like fine wine, gets better with age. It is my second favorite of her Heaven On Earth singles - more on that in a moment.
DUDE (LOOKS LIKE A LADY) - AEROSMITH (31) - I recall a somewhat humorous event tied to this song. When this song was growing on the charts, my stepmother was taking us to see a movie and on the way there, this song was playing and my younger stepsisters, who had never heard the song before, were laughing at the title. It wasn't a bad song, but I preferred the next release, which hit the Top 40 a month later and would go on to become Aerosmith's biggest hit (up to that point, that is).
40: I GET WEAK – BELINDA CARLISLE (debut) - As her former #1 hit steps off the chart, Belinda doesn't miss a beat, as she debuts with the second hit from Heaven On Earth. This was a great song and I remember it going through my mind all day when I first heard it, and it didn't annoy me a bit. This is very possibly my favorite of Belinda's solo hits.
39: 853-5937 - SQUEEZE (debut) - Ah, the other telephone number song in the 1980s that spawned nuisance phone calls. People would call this number and ask for Angela. But not quite as often as the other phone number song (come on, you know the title), since this song was much more obscure - I don’t think it ever got any kind of airplay after it fell off the chart - here in the states, anyway).
38: VALERIE – STEVE WINWOOD (28) - A song that originally charted in 1982, when it was released from Winwood's album Talking Back To The Night, but it didn't quite make the Top 40. But it became a Top Ten hit its second time around, and deservedly so, as it was a great song!
37: FATHER FIGURE – GEORGE MICHAEL (debut) - I’m surprised this song only moved up seven spots, as it was already well inside the Top 20 on the R&R chart. Probably because so many fans had the Faith album, so no need to buy the single. That could also explain why this song spent only half as long at #1 on the Hot 100 as it did on R&R.
36: TRUE FAITH – NEW ORDER (34) - I liked this song, as well as Casey's reference to its erratic chart movement. Charlie VanDyke, who had subhosted the previous week, also made a clever reference to it (saying that it couldn't seem to make up its mind which way it wanted to go).
35: I FOUND SOMEONE - CHER (38) - Very interesting story about Cher's "Take Me Home" waking up a little girl, who was kidnapped, beaten, and left for dead, from a coma. This was Cher's comeback hit since that song, which charted in 1979, not long before the incident. As for the song, it wasn't bad, but I generally preferred her later songs such as "Just Like Jesse James", "Save Up All Your Tears" and "Believe" to name a few.
34: NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP – RICK ASTLEY (debut) - YAHHH!! I'VE BEEN RICKROLLED!!! That was pretty much a guarantee with any show from 1988 during the Casey Kasem era. This was my second favorite of the three two Top Ten singles from Rick's Whenever You Need Somebody album (remember - this and "Together Forever" were pretty much the same song. I also liked the title track, which was a #1 hit in his native England and I believe was on the dance charts in late 1988.
33: DON'T YOU WANT ME - JODY WATLEY (20) - She seems to have pairs of songs that sound alike. Her next hit, "Some Kind Of Lover" sounds a lot like this one (and "Real Love" is a dead ringer for "Looking For A New Love"). I thought this song was pretty good.
32: CAN’T STAY AWAY FROM YOU – GLORIA ESTEFAN & MIAMI SOUND MACHINE (36) - Interesting story about the band releasing nine albums before they had their first Top 40 hit. But it was well worth the wait, as Primitive Love spawned four singles and their second big album (here in the States, that is) was on its way to doing the same. This was a good song, but one of her/their weaker slow songs, IMO. I actually preferred the song that preceded this, the mid-tempo "Betcha Say That". Too bad that ran out of gas at #36.
31: SHE’S LIKE THE WIND – PATRICK SWAYZE FEATURING WENDY FRASER (39) - As the Medley/Warnes duet leaves the countdown, this song, the third single from Dirty Dancing, makes the biggest move of the week. This song peaked at #3 for three weeks, but couldn't get past George Michael and Rick Astley. It was a nice song, IMO - too bad Lumidee had to go and mess it up.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: HOW CAN I FALL - BREATHE - Ever notice how the beginning of this song sounds like the intro to "Purple Rain" by Prince? Anyway, I wasn't a huge fan of the singles from their debut album All That Jazz (probably since they were so overplayed, especially the first two). I do prefer this song over "Hands To Heaven", though. But I preferred the singles from their second album, Peace Of Mind, which was nowhere near as successful as the first.
30: PUMP UP THE VOLUME – M.A.R.R.S. (37) - I remember hearing this song ad nauseum on B96 on Z95 (the latter on which the song spent six weeks at #1) back in early 1988. It's good to hear every now and then.
29: POWER OF LOVE – LAURA BRANIGAN (26) - I always thought that AT40 heavily edited this song down, but I believe what they usually played was the single version, on which all they cut out is the second chorus and the bridge. I was just used to hearing the Celine Dion version, which has all the elements of the original, except the ending, which is shortened, while the Laura Branigan version repeats the chorus to the fade-out. Anyway, IIRC, the only week that they played the album version of this song was the Charlie Vandyke-hosted 12/5/87 show.
28: CATCH ME (I’M FALLING) – PRETTY POISON (19) - This song was one of three Top 40 hits from movie Hiding Out, during the skating rink scene. It's a pretty good song, but I preferred the other two hits that the soundtrack spawned, especially "Live My Life" by Boy George, which I thought was totally underrated. The third single, BTW, was "You Don't Know" by Scarlett & Black, which I just recently learned.
LDD: GREATEST LOVE OF ALL – WHITNEY HOUSTON - This song always brings me to tears, especially when it was used as an LDD on the November 28, 1987 show, with the parents dedicating the song to their baby who had died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome a year before. Man, was THAT ever a depressing one! Anyway, I liked this song a lot, too - right up there with "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" as her best 80's ballads.
27: PUSH IT – SALT ‘N PEPA (32) - As we know all too well, I’m not a big rap fan, but generally, 80s rap was OK, and this is an example.
26: POP GOES THE WORLD – MEN WITHOUT HATS (30) - This was a cool, fun song. I liked it better than “The Safety Dance”, including the single version.
25: HONESTLY - STRYPER (27) - Possibly THE first heavy metal Christian band to hit the chart. Lead singer Michael Sweet sounds very much like Styx, especially in the chorus of this song, which I thought was a great song, though the way this was edited to omit the instrumental bridge was very sloppy and screwed up the continuity of the song. I seem to remember that they used this edit several times during the song's chart run, though it was played intact the following week, as I noted in the critique for that one.
24: SHAKE YOUR LOVE – DEBBIE GIBSON (13) - I like most of her hits, but always thought this one was a little too teenybopper sounding for my tastes. At least they edited this one down somewhat.
23: EVERYWHERE – FLEETWOOD MAC (29) - This was the fourth of five singles released from Tango In The Night and the final one to hit the Top 40 (the fifth, "Family Man" only got as high as #90), and my second favorite of the singles, behind "Seven Wonders".
22: CHERRY BOMB – JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP (12) - I liked the way Casey referred to this song's chart movement, comparing it to a bomb (except, if it exploded at #8, it wouldn't still be "ticking away in the countdown"). This was another song I didn't like when it was on the chart, but I think it's pretty good now. This was the fourth song in a row that was edited, meaning that there must be an extra coming up in the show.
21: DON’T SHED A TEAR – PAUL CARRACK (25) - He'd had top 40 success as the lead singer of bands like Ace and Mike + The Mechanics, and he even had a few solo hits. This was a good song, but I preferred a few others from him, both solo and with said bands.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: MY PREROGATIVE - BOBBY BROWN - This song helped to expand my vocabulary, as I had never even heard of the word "prerogative" before, let alone knew what it meant. As for the song itself, I thought it was a great song - one of his all time best!
20: I LIVE FOR YOUR LOVE – NATALIE COLE (23) - She'd been absent from the charts for most of the 80s as she battled drug and alcohol abuse, but her comeback was certainly no fluke, as this song proved, since it was a Top 20 hit like her comeback hit "Jump Start". Like most of her ballads, I thought this was a great one - definitely in my Top Five of my favorite songs from her, right up there with "Miss You Like Crazy" and "When I Fall In Love" (her own version which was on the same album as this song). This one was also notably edited, but it didn't mess up the song's continuity as much as the Stryper song.
19: IS THIS LOVE - WHITESNAKE (10) - Their first two Top 40 hits from this English rock band were both mid-tempo ballads. I liked both of them about the same.
18: WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS – PET SHOP BOYS W/ DUSTY SPRINGFIELD (24) - Meh, for some reason I never really got into this song. One of my least favorites from both artists.
17: SAY YOU WILL - FOREIGNER (22) - Another weak song from a band whose material I generally like. I did, however, like the story about how the frequent quarrels between Mick Jones and Lou Gramm caused the latter member to leave the band and try it on his own for awhile.
16: FAITH – GEORGE MICHAEL (9) - Wow, three in a row! I liked many songs from George Michael, both with Wham! and solo, but this was definitely not one of them! This and "I Want Your Sex" were easily my least favorite of the singles from the Faith album!
15: TUNNEL OF LOVE – BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (21) - The second of three singles released here in the States from the album of the same name. It was a good song, IMO, though I preferred "Brilliant Disguise" by a slight margin.
EXTRA: PLEASE MR. POSTMAN – THE MARVELETTES - Was this song edited out of the 2009 rebroadcast, or was that just the station I listened to (WRVF). Well, either way, it was indeed heard this time around (on Magic 98.9). Interesting that this song was actually written by a mailman.
14: CRAZY - ICEHOUSE (18) - The first of two Top 20 hits for this six-member Aussie band. I thought that both this and "Electric Blue" were great songs; I liked them about the same.
13: I COULD NEVER TAKE THE PLACE OF YOUR MAN - PRINCE (16) - Not sure if I prefer this version or Jordan Knight’s ballad version of the song, which charted in the summer of 1999. Both are great songs in their own ways.
12: THERE’S THE GIRL - HEART (14) - This was a song on which Nancy Wilson sang lead (IIRC, this was the second chart hit on which she handled the lead vocals, but I could be wrong). It was pretty good, but I preferred their other two Top 40 hits from Bad Animals (not sure how the fourth one, "I Want You So Bad" goes, since it never hit the Top 40.
11: HUNGRY EYES – ERIC CARMEN (17) - The second of two Dirty Dancing hits on the chart this week. This was definitely my least favorite of the two. Not sure why; this song just never did anything for me.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: EARLY IN THE MORNING - ROBERT PALMER - His remake of the Gap Band's 1982 hit (though he did not include the rooster crowing at the beginning), which was even more successful, peaking at #19, five spots above the original. I actually thought it was a good song, which is kind of surprising, given that I'm not a huge Robert Palmer fan (perhaps the fact that this wasn't even one of his own songs contributed to that).
10: I WANT TO BE YOUR MAN - ROGER (15) - I always found this a tad annoying. I can stomach a listen to it once in awhile, but wouldn't like to hear it everyday (like I did back in early 1988)
9: SO EMOTIONAL – WHITNEY HOUSTON (2) - This would become Whitney's sixth number one in a row (limited to songs that hit the Hot 100, that is), setting a record. I liked this one, but much preferred the next release, which would extend her #1 streak to seven.
8: SEASONS CHANGE – EXPOSE (11) - A rare instance where the final song from an album turns out to be the most successful (I seem to remember this happening a few other times in 1988, by acts like the Jets and Richard Marx). Anyway, this would be my second favorite release from their Exposure album behind "Point Of No Return".
LDD: WONDERFUL WORLD – SAM COOKE - I'll have to take another listen to this LDD...
7: TELL IT TO MY HEART – TAYLOR DAYNE (8) - I'd been hearing this one on Chicago's B96 about a month before it hit the chart, and I always thought that, based on the opening synth notes sounded like a dance version of Glenn Frey's "The One You Love". This was probably my favorite song from the album that Casey said she was in the studio recording at the time.
6: CANDLE IN THE WIND – ELTON JOHN (7) - This was one of three versions of this song that I've heard, and my least favorite. I much prefer the original studio version, which Chicago's Z95 played in place of this live version (in fact, I remember hearing it on the way to the movie theater that I mentioned earlier). The following week is when AT40 played the original version from Elton's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
5: HAZY SHADE OF WINTER – THE BANGLES (6) - This one wasn't bad (I do prefer it over "Walk Like An Egyptian"), but I prefer many other songs by the Bangles.
4: GOT MY MIND SET ON YOU – GEORGE HARRISON (1) - This was George's first hit in over six years, and he picked up right where he left off, as this was a big hit like his last one before this. I liked the song when it first came out, but to this day, I'm still a tad burned out on it due to overplay.
3: COULD’VE BEEN - TIFFANY (5) - Here's another song that I'd been hearing on B96 for several weeks - and I kept hoping that it would soon hit the charts - which it would the following week. And, like her first hit, it went to #1 - in fact, its first week at the top was on the chart dated January 29, 1988 - my sixteenth birthday, so that was a great birthday present for me!
OPTIONAL EXTRA: HOLDING ON - STEVE WINWOOD - The third and final Top 40 single from Roll With It. I preferred the other two, but this one wasn't bad (though it seemed to be a watered-down version of the title track.
2: NEED YOU TONIGHT - INXS (4) - The first of four Top 40 hits from what would become their best singles album, Kick. I wasn't a huge fan of it, or INXS in general, but they did have a few songs that I liked (this just wasn't one of them).
1: THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL – MICHAEL JACKSON (3) - He was on a roll, cranking out #1 hit after #1 hit from the Bad album. This was one of the two songs from the album that had a relatively long chart run (as the others besides this and "Man In The Mirror" seemed to zip up and down the chart). I like this song, though my sentiments were quite different back in the day, since I hated this song back then - I referred to it as "a dicky song" in my journal entry when this song was #1. Now I think it's a good song!
This week's presentation - January 23, 1988
Droppers:
ANIMAL - DEF LEPPARD (40) - Ah, the first Top 40 hit from their behemoth album Hysteria (the first release, "Women" had fallen way short, peaking at #80 in early September). I wonder if it would have done better had they decided to re-release it after the album became a huge hit - I'm guessing probably not, as the last hit from the album, "Rocket" sounded a lot like "Women" and they figured it would be best to put out a new track instead of chancing the re-release flopping (and I certainly doubt they'd release "Women" right after "Rocket" due to said similarity.
(I'VE HAD) THE TIME OF MY LIFE - BILL MEDLEY & JENNIFER WARNES (35) - Though this song dropped out, Dirty Dancing fever was still in full swing, with other tracks from the soundtrack charting. For some reason, I hated this song with a passion when it was on its way up the chart. Probably because of the overplay, but I never liked it in the first place. Now I think it's a good one, though I wouldn't want to hear it on a regular basis.
HEAVEN IS A PLACE ON EARTH - BELINDA CARLISLE (33) - This song outpeaked all of her hits with the Go-Go's by hitting the top back in early December. This is another song that I didn't care much for back in the day, but it's one of those song that, like fine wine, gets better with age. It is my second favorite of her Heaven On Earth singles - more on that in a moment.
DUDE (LOOKS LIKE A LADY) - AEROSMITH (31) - I recall a somewhat humorous event tied to this song. When this song was growing on the charts, my stepmother was taking us to see a movie and on the way there, this song was playing and my younger stepsisters, who had never heard the song before, were laughing at the title. It wasn't a bad song, but I preferred the next release, which hit the Top 40 a month later and would go on to become Aerosmith's biggest hit (up to that point, that is).
40: I GET WEAK – BELINDA CARLISLE (debut) - As her former #1 hit steps off the chart, Belinda doesn't miss a beat, as she debuts with the second hit from Heaven On Earth. This was a great song and I remember it going through my mind all day when I first heard it, and it didn't annoy me a bit. This is very possibly my favorite of Belinda's solo hits.
39: 853-5937 - SQUEEZE (debut) - Ah, the other telephone number song in the 1980s that spawned nuisance phone calls. People would call this number and ask for Angela. But not quite as often as the other phone number song (come on, you know the title), since this song was much more obscure - I don’t think it ever got any kind of airplay after it fell off the chart - here in the states, anyway).
38: VALERIE – STEVE WINWOOD (28) - A song that originally charted in 1982, when it was released from Winwood's album Talking Back To The Night, but it didn't quite make the Top 40. But it became a Top Ten hit its second time around, and deservedly so, as it was a great song!
37: FATHER FIGURE – GEORGE MICHAEL (debut) - I’m surprised this song only moved up seven spots, as it was already well inside the Top 20 on the R&R chart. Probably because so many fans had the Faith album, so no need to buy the single. That could also explain why this song spent only half as long at #1 on the Hot 100 as it did on R&R.
36: TRUE FAITH – NEW ORDER (34) - I liked this song, as well as Casey's reference to its erratic chart movement. Charlie VanDyke, who had subhosted the previous week, also made a clever reference to it (saying that it couldn't seem to make up its mind which way it wanted to go).
35: I FOUND SOMEONE - CHER (38) - Very interesting story about Cher's "Take Me Home" waking up a little girl, who was kidnapped, beaten, and left for dead, from a coma. This was Cher's comeback hit since that song, which charted in 1979, not long before the incident. As for the song, it wasn't bad, but I generally preferred her later songs such as "Just Like Jesse James", "Save Up All Your Tears" and "Believe" to name a few.
34: NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP – RICK ASTLEY (debut) - YAHHH!! I'VE BEEN RICKROLLED!!! That was pretty much a guarantee with any show from 1988 during the Casey Kasem era. This was my second favorite of the three two Top Ten singles from Rick's Whenever You Need Somebody album (remember - this and "Together Forever" were pretty much the same song. I also liked the title track, which was a #1 hit in his native England and I believe was on the dance charts in late 1988.
33: DON'T YOU WANT ME - JODY WATLEY (20) - She seems to have pairs of songs that sound alike. Her next hit, "Some Kind Of Lover" sounds a lot like this one (and "Real Love" is a dead ringer for "Looking For A New Love"). I thought this song was pretty good.
32: CAN’T STAY AWAY FROM YOU – GLORIA ESTEFAN & MIAMI SOUND MACHINE (36) - Interesting story about the band releasing nine albums before they had their first Top 40 hit. But it was well worth the wait, as Primitive Love spawned four singles and their second big album (here in the States, that is) was on its way to doing the same. This was a good song, but one of her/their weaker slow songs, IMO. I actually preferred the song that preceded this, the mid-tempo "Betcha Say That". Too bad that ran out of gas at #36.
31: SHE’S LIKE THE WIND – PATRICK SWAYZE FEATURING WENDY FRASER (39) - As the Medley/Warnes duet leaves the countdown, this song, the third single from Dirty Dancing, makes the biggest move of the week. This song peaked at #3 for three weeks, but couldn't get past George Michael and Rick Astley. It was a nice song, IMO - too bad Lumidee had to go and mess it up.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: HOW CAN I FALL - BREATHE - Ever notice how the beginning of this song sounds like the intro to "Purple Rain" by Prince? Anyway, I wasn't a huge fan of the singles from their debut album All That Jazz (probably since they were so overplayed, especially the first two). I do prefer this song over "Hands To Heaven", though. But I preferred the singles from their second album, Peace Of Mind, which was nowhere near as successful as the first.
30: PUMP UP THE VOLUME – M.A.R.R.S. (37) - I remember hearing this song ad nauseum on B96 on Z95 (the latter on which the song spent six weeks at #1) back in early 1988. It's good to hear every now and then.
29: POWER OF LOVE – LAURA BRANIGAN (26) - I always thought that AT40 heavily edited this song down, but I believe what they usually played was the single version, on which all they cut out is the second chorus and the bridge. I was just used to hearing the Celine Dion version, which has all the elements of the original, except the ending, which is shortened, while the Laura Branigan version repeats the chorus to the fade-out. Anyway, IIRC, the only week that they played the album version of this song was the Charlie Vandyke-hosted 12/5/87 show.
28: CATCH ME (I’M FALLING) – PRETTY POISON (19) - This song was one of three Top 40 hits from movie Hiding Out, during the skating rink scene. It's a pretty good song, but I preferred the other two hits that the soundtrack spawned, especially "Live My Life" by Boy George, which I thought was totally underrated. The third single, BTW, was "You Don't Know" by Scarlett & Black, which I just recently learned.
LDD: GREATEST LOVE OF ALL – WHITNEY HOUSTON - This song always brings me to tears, especially when it was used as an LDD on the November 28, 1987 show, with the parents dedicating the song to their baby who had died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome a year before. Man, was THAT ever a depressing one! Anyway, I liked this song a lot, too - right up there with "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" as her best 80's ballads.
27: PUSH IT – SALT ‘N PEPA (32) - As we know all too well, I’m not a big rap fan, but generally, 80s rap was OK, and this is an example.
26: POP GOES THE WORLD – MEN WITHOUT HATS (30) - This was a cool, fun song. I liked it better than “The Safety Dance”, including the single version.
25: HONESTLY - STRYPER (27) - Possibly THE first heavy metal Christian band to hit the chart. Lead singer Michael Sweet sounds very much like Styx, especially in the chorus of this song, which I thought was a great song, though the way this was edited to omit the instrumental bridge was very sloppy and screwed up the continuity of the song. I seem to remember that they used this edit several times during the song's chart run, though it was played intact the following week, as I noted in the critique for that one.
24: SHAKE YOUR LOVE – DEBBIE GIBSON (13) - I like most of her hits, but always thought this one was a little too teenybopper sounding for my tastes. At least they edited this one down somewhat.
23: EVERYWHERE – FLEETWOOD MAC (29) - This was the fourth of five singles released from Tango In The Night and the final one to hit the Top 40 (the fifth, "Family Man" only got as high as #90), and my second favorite of the singles, behind "Seven Wonders".
22: CHERRY BOMB – JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP (12) - I liked the way Casey referred to this song's chart movement, comparing it to a bomb (except, if it exploded at #8, it wouldn't still be "ticking away in the countdown"). This was another song I didn't like when it was on the chart, but I think it's pretty good now. This was the fourth song in a row that was edited, meaning that there must be an extra coming up in the show.
21: DON’T SHED A TEAR – PAUL CARRACK (25) - He'd had top 40 success as the lead singer of bands like Ace and Mike + The Mechanics, and he even had a few solo hits. This was a good song, but I preferred a few others from him, both solo and with said bands.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: MY PREROGATIVE - BOBBY BROWN - This song helped to expand my vocabulary, as I had never even heard of the word "prerogative" before, let alone knew what it meant. As for the song itself, I thought it was a great song - one of his all time best!
20: I LIVE FOR YOUR LOVE – NATALIE COLE (23) - She'd been absent from the charts for most of the 80s as she battled drug and alcohol abuse, but her comeback was certainly no fluke, as this song proved, since it was a Top 20 hit like her comeback hit "Jump Start". Like most of her ballads, I thought this was a great one - definitely in my Top Five of my favorite songs from her, right up there with "Miss You Like Crazy" and "When I Fall In Love" (her own version which was on the same album as this song). This one was also notably edited, but it didn't mess up the song's continuity as much as the Stryper song.
19: IS THIS LOVE - WHITESNAKE (10) - Their first two Top 40 hits from this English rock band were both mid-tempo ballads. I liked both of them about the same.
18: WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS – PET SHOP BOYS W/ DUSTY SPRINGFIELD (24) - Meh, for some reason I never really got into this song. One of my least favorites from both artists.
17: SAY YOU WILL - FOREIGNER (22) - Another weak song from a band whose material I generally like. I did, however, like the story about how the frequent quarrels between Mick Jones and Lou Gramm caused the latter member to leave the band and try it on his own for awhile.
16: FAITH – GEORGE MICHAEL (9) - Wow, three in a row! I liked many songs from George Michael, both with Wham! and solo, but this was definitely not one of them! This and "I Want Your Sex" were easily my least favorite of the singles from the Faith album!
15: TUNNEL OF LOVE – BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (21) - The second of three singles released here in the States from the album of the same name. It was a good song, IMO, though I preferred "Brilliant Disguise" by a slight margin.
EXTRA: PLEASE MR. POSTMAN – THE MARVELETTES - Was this song edited out of the 2009 rebroadcast, or was that just the station I listened to (WRVF). Well, either way, it was indeed heard this time around (on Magic 98.9). Interesting that this song was actually written by a mailman.
14: CRAZY - ICEHOUSE (18) - The first of two Top 20 hits for this six-member Aussie band. I thought that both this and "Electric Blue" were great songs; I liked them about the same.
13: I COULD NEVER TAKE THE PLACE OF YOUR MAN - PRINCE (16) - Not sure if I prefer this version or Jordan Knight’s ballad version of the song, which charted in the summer of 1999. Both are great songs in their own ways.
12: THERE’S THE GIRL - HEART (14) - This was a song on which Nancy Wilson sang lead (IIRC, this was the second chart hit on which she handled the lead vocals, but I could be wrong). It was pretty good, but I preferred their other two Top 40 hits from Bad Animals (not sure how the fourth one, "I Want You So Bad" goes, since it never hit the Top 40.
11: HUNGRY EYES – ERIC CARMEN (17) - The second of two Dirty Dancing hits on the chart this week. This was definitely my least favorite of the two. Not sure why; this song just never did anything for me.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: EARLY IN THE MORNING - ROBERT PALMER - His remake of the Gap Band's 1982 hit (though he did not include the rooster crowing at the beginning), which was even more successful, peaking at #19, five spots above the original. I actually thought it was a good song, which is kind of surprising, given that I'm not a huge Robert Palmer fan (perhaps the fact that this wasn't even one of his own songs contributed to that).
10: I WANT TO BE YOUR MAN - ROGER (15) - I always found this a tad annoying. I can stomach a listen to it once in awhile, but wouldn't like to hear it everyday (like I did back in early 1988)
9: SO EMOTIONAL – WHITNEY HOUSTON (2) - This would become Whitney's sixth number one in a row (limited to songs that hit the Hot 100, that is), setting a record. I liked this one, but much preferred the next release, which would extend her #1 streak to seven.
8: SEASONS CHANGE – EXPOSE (11) - A rare instance where the final song from an album turns out to be the most successful (I seem to remember this happening a few other times in 1988, by acts like the Jets and Richard Marx). Anyway, this would be my second favorite release from their Exposure album behind "Point Of No Return".
LDD: WONDERFUL WORLD – SAM COOKE - I'll have to take another listen to this LDD...
7: TELL IT TO MY HEART – TAYLOR DAYNE (8) - I'd been hearing this one on Chicago's B96 about a month before it hit the chart, and I always thought that, based on the opening synth notes sounded like a dance version of Glenn Frey's "The One You Love". This was probably my favorite song from the album that Casey said she was in the studio recording at the time.
6: CANDLE IN THE WIND – ELTON JOHN (7) - This was one of three versions of this song that I've heard, and my least favorite. I much prefer the original studio version, which Chicago's Z95 played in place of this live version (in fact, I remember hearing it on the way to the movie theater that I mentioned earlier). The following week is when AT40 played the original version from Elton's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
5: HAZY SHADE OF WINTER – THE BANGLES (6) - This one wasn't bad (I do prefer it over "Walk Like An Egyptian"), but I prefer many other songs by the Bangles.
4: GOT MY MIND SET ON YOU – GEORGE HARRISON (1) - This was George's first hit in over six years, and he picked up right where he left off, as this was a big hit like his last one before this. I liked the song when it first came out, but to this day, I'm still a tad burned out on it due to overplay.
3: COULD’VE BEEN - TIFFANY (5) - Here's another song that I'd been hearing on B96 for several weeks - and I kept hoping that it would soon hit the charts - which it would the following week. And, like her first hit, it went to #1 - in fact, its first week at the top was on the chart dated January 29, 1988 - my sixteenth birthday, so that was a great birthday present for me!
OPTIONAL EXTRA: HOLDING ON - STEVE WINWOOD - The third and final Top 40 single from Roll With It. I preferred the other two, but this one wasn't bad (though it seemed to be a watered-down version of the title track.
2: NEED YOU TONIGHT - INXS (4) - The first of four Top 40 hits from what would become their best singles album, Kick. I wasn't a huge fan of it, or INXS in general, but they did have a few songs that I liked (this just wasn't one of them).
1: THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL – MICHAEL JACKSON (3) - He was on a roll, cranking out #1 hit after #1 hit from the Bad album. This was one of the two songs from the album that had a relatively long chart run (as the others besides this and "Man In The Mirror" seemed to zip up and down the chart). I like this song, though my sentiments were quite different back in the day, since I hated this song back then - I referred to it as "a dicky song" in my journal entry when this song was #1. Now I think it's a good song!