American Top 40: The 80s - August 6, 2011
This week’s presentation: August 2, 1986
Well, at least my back-up prediction was correct (mind you, this was before I saw the clue for next week’s show on the AT40 boards). Indeed, it was about time for a 1986 show, since the last one was in late May. It’s been longer since the last 1982 show (which was the week before), but perhaps we’ll hear from that year next week (unless they wait yet another week so they can run one of the former Flashback shows). Anyway, 1986 was a great year in music (partly because it was a great year for me, personally). Here is my commentary on this week’s show:
Droppers:
ON MY OWN - PATTI LABELLE & MICHAEL MCDONALD (39) - Great song! I didn’t like this song at all during its time on the chart, but it’s kinda like wine - it gets better with age.
DREAMS - VAN HALEN (38) - Great song! I thought this song was one of their most underrated songs. Same with their next release “Love Walks In”.
CRUSH ON YOU - THE JETS (36) - Meh, no big loss. I preferred their slow songs.
HYPERACTIVE - ROBERT PALMER (35) - Great song! My favorite of his three 1986 songs. Too bad we don’t hear it anymore (but let’s play the hell out of “Addicted To Love”!)
TUFF ENUFF - FABULOUS THUNDERBIRDS (29) - Good song - this one sort of depends on whether or not I’m in a southern rock mood.
LIKE A ROCK - BOB SEGER & THE SILVER BULLET BAND (28) - Aka “Chevy Trucks”, lol! his song has sort of a laid-back southern rock sound to it. It’s a good one, but I prefer others by him.
40: MAN SIZE LOVE (FROM RUNNING SCARED) - KLYMAXX (debut) - Great song! Not sure whether I prefer this or “I’d Still Say Yes”; depends on my mood at the time. I like both songs better than “I Miss You”, which is still also a great song, IMO (though I know at least one person that would beg to differ).
39: HANGING ON A HEART ATTACK - DEVICE (debut) - Great song! This song sounds a lot like “Love Touch” by Rod Stewart (and with good reason; Holly Knight wrote both songs).
38: TAKEN IN - MIKE & THE MECHANICS (debut) - Great song! Possibly my favorite song by them. Too bad it didn’t get past #32 (#22 on Radio & Records).
37: NO ONE IS TO BLAME - HOWARD JONES (26) - Great song! This is possibly my favorite song by him as well.
36: THAT WAS THEN, THIS IS NOW - THE MONKEES (debut) - Wow, we’re on a roll with great songs! I like their 60s hits, as well as the theme song to their TV show, but I would think this is my favorite song by them.
35: RUMBLESEAT - JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP (debut) - Hmm, I think I’d consider this a great song as well, partly because you never hear it anymore - since it wasn’t that big of a hit. But seeing as it was the fifth single from a huge smash album, it wasn’t a big seller (since most fans had the album) and there was no need to call in and request it.
34: YANKEE ROSE - DAVID LEE ROTH (40) - Well, this breaks the streak, but it is still a good song - I like the conversation with the guitar at the beginning.
33: WORDS GET IN THE WAY - MIAMI SOUND MACHINE (37) - Good song, your typical mid-80s slow song.
32: WHEN THE HEART RULES THE MIND - GTR (17) - Great song! Sounds a lot like something by Yes (and that could very well be because the group contains a former member of that band).
31: FRIENDS AND LOVERS - CARL ANDERSON & GLORIA LORING (debut) - Good song. I just realized that on last year’s August, 1986 show, two songs that got a boost from being heard on soap operas were played - “Think Of Laura” as a Long Distance Dedication (since Casey mentioned that song as he was going over songs that were heard in soap operas this decade). Anyway, as I said, this is a good song, but I preferred the country remake, entitled “Both To Each Other”, by Eddie Rabbitt and Juice Newton.
30: BABY LOVE - REGINA (34) - Great song - sounds like something that Madonna should have recorded.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: YOU’RE A FRIEND OF MINE - CLARENCE CLEMONS & JACKSON BROWNE - Great song! The E Street Band will never be the same without Clarence
29: THERE'LL BE NO SAD SONGS (TO MAKE YOU CRY) - BILLY OCEAN (16) - Great song! One of my favorites from him!
28: ONE STEP CLOSER TO YOU - GAVIN CHRISTOPHER (31) - Great song! This is another one that was way underrated.
LDD: WHENEVER I CALL YOU FRIEND – KENNY LOGGINS & STEVIE NICKS - Great song! And very fitting for the dedication.
27: WHO'S JOHNNY (SHORT CIRCUIT THEME) - EL DEBARGE (14) - Great song! One of my favorite songs by him (including with the group DeBarge).
26: ALL THE LOVE IN THE WORLD - THE OUTFIELD (30) - Great song! One of their best, and most underrated. Pretty much the only song you hear by them nowadays is “Your Love”.
25: SECRET SEPARATION - THE FIXX (19) - Great song! Possibly my favorite song by them.
24: TAKE IT EASY - ANDY TAYLOR (26) - Great song! The second of the Taylors from Duran Duran to have a solo hit in 1986.
23: TAKE MY BREATH AWAY (LOVE THEME FROM "TOP GUN") - BERLIN (32) - Good song, but I slightly prefer Jessica Simpson’s cover version from 2004.
22: HOLDING BACK THE YEARS - SIMPLY RED (9) - When this song first came out, I loved it to death. But then, it got so overplayed, which dimmed my fascination for it. It’s good to hear it every now and then, but I still prefer most of their other hits - mainly, the ones that peaked lower on the charts.
21: SUZANNE - JOURNEY (27) - Great song! My second favorite song from Raised On Radio, behind “I’ll Be Alright Without You”
OPTIONAL EXTRA: ALL CRIED OUT - LISA LISA & CULT JAM WITH FULL FORCE FEATURING PAUL ANTHONY & BOWLEGGED LOU - Great song! My favorite song of the 1980s, according to my recently discontinued personal Top 30 chart.
20: YOUR WILDEST DREAMS - THE MOODY BLUES (13) - Great song! I definitely preferred their 80s hits to their earlier ones.
19: DANCING ON THE CEILING - LIONEL RICHIE (33) - Wow, what a big jump! One would guess that this song would go to #1 but not quite; it peaked at #2, shut out of the top by Berlin, and Huey Lewis & The News.
18: SWEET FREEDOM (THEME FROM "RUNNING SCARED") - MICHAEL McDONALD (24) - Great song! One of his best solo songs!
17: YOU SHOULD BE MINE (THE WOO WOO SONG) - JEFFREY OSBORNE (21) - This song was OK, but the “woo woo” -ing was kind of annoying.
16: THE EDGE OF HEAVEN - WHAM! (22) - Great song! Too bad it was their last (though George Michael solo wasn’t much, if any different).
15: VENUS - BANANARAMA (23) - Meh, didn’t really care for this or the original.
14: DIGGING YOUR SCENE - THE BLOW MONKEYS (15) - Great song! Their only Top 40 hit.
13: RUMORS - TIMEX SOCIAL CLUB (20) - Good song - also their only Top 40 hit (though the frontman eventually formed Club Nouveau, who had a pair of Top 40 hits in 1987).
12: HIGHER LOVE - STEVE WINWOOD (18) - Meh, I used to like this one before I heard it umpteen times a day. It’s still quite overplayed to this day.
11: MODERN WOMAN (FROM "RUTHLESS PEOPLE") - BILLY JOEL (10) - Good song, though not his best by any means.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: STUCK WITH YOU - HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS - Great song! This song debuted at #42, and I’ll bet it was right outside the Top 40 of the R&R chart as well, since the next week, it debuted at #21. It didn’t make as dramatic an entrance on AT40, since more people were buying the Fore! album instead of the single. But it eventually made it to #1 on both charts.
10: OPPORTUNITIES (LET'S MAKE LOTS OF MONEY) - THE PET SHOP BOYS (11) - Great song. I liked this better than “West End Girls” (probably because it pretty much faded into obscurity very soon after it fell off the charts).
9: WE DON'T HAVE TO TAKE OUR CLOTHES OFF - JERMAINE STEWART (12) - Great song with a great message.
8: NASTY - JANET JACKSON (4) - Great song, though I prefer several others by her.
7: LOVE TOUCH (THEME FROM "LEGAL EAGLES") - ROD STEWART (7) - I mentioned this song earlier - I actually prefer the Device song.
LDD: I WANT TO BE A COWBOY – BOYS DON’T CRY - Good song - very appropriate for the dedication.
6: MAD ABOUT YOU - BELINDA CARLISLE (8) - Good song. Duran Duran’s Andy Taylor, who has a song in this week’s countdown, played guitar on this song.
5: INVISIBLE TOUCH - GENESIS (3) - Great song! One of my all-time favorite songs from them!
4: PAPA DON'T PREACH - MADONNA (6) - This one was OK, but not one of my favorites from her by any means.
3: DANGER ZONE - KENNY LOGGINS (2) - Good song, but one of my least favorite of his movie hits.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: HEAVEN IN YOUR EYES - LOVERBOY - Great song! I never really understood why this was on the Top Gun movie soundtrack since, as I recall, you only heard a few seconds of it in the movie (coming through on a transistor radio, no less). I could be wrong, though; it’s been years since I’ve seen that movie.
2: SLEDGEHAMMER - PETER GABRIEL (1) - This song was OK, but quite overplayed. Sounds like it might have been inspired by “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder.
1: GLORY OF LOVE (THEME FROM "KARATE KID PART II") - PETER CETERA (5) - Great song! Definitely one of the songs that I most associate with the summer of 1986.
Predictions for next week: The popular year of choice seems to be 1982, so I’ll go along with that as well (August 14), to complete the even-numbered year pattern. Failing that, my back-up prediction is August 15, 1987.