American Top 40: The 80s - July 21, 2012
This week’s presentation - July 23, 1988
Well, one last 1988 show before the curtain is pulled for that year until at least January. Some people thought that they might wait and do the last Casey-hosted show, but I have a feeling that we’ll be hearing that one next year, since it’s the 25th anniversary of that show. Meanwhile, here’s my commentary for this week’s show.
40: IN YOUR SOUL - COREY HART (debut) - Great song! Honestly - I hadn’t heard this song since its last week on the charts. This would be the only chance to hear this song, since it was only on the chart for one additional week, and Hall & Oates (begrudgingly) hosted that show.
39: I'LL ALWAYS LOVE YOU - TAYLOR DAYNE (debut) - Meh, this one’s a little bland. One of my least favorite songs from her.
38: I KNOW YOU'RE OUT THERE SOMEWHERE - MOODY BLUES (debut) - “Finally!” I remember saying when I heard that this song had made the countdown. Why is that, you ask? Well, I had been hearing this song regularly on U93 since early June, and I was wondering when this song would be hitting the AT40 chart. It finally did this week, but unfortunately, it only got as high as #30.
37: I SHOULD BE SO LUCKY - KYLIE MINOGUE (28) - Great song! I liked both this one and “It’s No Secret” about the same (but liked them much better than the overplayed “The Loco-Motion”, which Casey mentioned as hitting #1 in Australia. Thankfully, we won’t be hearing that song on thise series!
36: PERFECT WORLD - HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS (debut) - This was OK, but not one of his/their best by any means.
35: WHEN IT'S LOVE - VAN HALEN (debut) - Great song! One of my favorites by them!
34: SWEET CHILD OF MINE - GUNS 'N ROSES (debut) - Great song! The one that started off their chart career.
33: I STILL BELIEVE - BRENDA K. STARR (26) - Great song! I like this and her duet with George Lamond, “No Matter What” about the same.
32: SIMPLY IRRESISTABLE - ROBERT PALMER (40) - Meh, not a big fan of this song, or him in general.
31: THE VALLEY ROAD - BRUCE HORNSBY & THE RANGE (16) - Good song, although I preferred his The Way It Is singles.
LDD: STUCK WITH YOU - HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS - Great song! I prefer this one to their song debuting in the countdown this week.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: LOVE BITES - DEF LEPPARD - This song was pretty good, but I slightly preferred their song in the Top Ten
30: DIRTY DIANA - MICHAEL JACKSON (15) - Great song! I wonder if any album radio stations gave this a try.
29: MAKE IT REAL - THE JETS (20) - Great song - almost as good as their other Top five ballad “You Got It All”.
28: RAG DOLL - AEROSMITH (33) - Passable, but not quite as good as “Angel”.27: FAST CAR - TRACY CHAPMAN (37) - This song was living up to its name, making a big move on the chart. I like this one - much better than the ad nauseam played “Give Me One Reason”.
26: LOVE WILL SAVE THE DAY - WHITNEY HOUSTON (35) - Even though this was making a big move this week, I still knew that this was going to break her number one streak, since it didn’t start off as strong as the other songs from her sophomore album. And my premonition was, of course, right since this song, in fact, barely even made the Top Ten. Even though I was disappointed that her streak was broken, this song wasn’t one of my favorites by her by any means.
25: NOTHIN' BUT A GOOD TIME - POISON (10) - Great song! One of their best!
24: LOVE CHANGES (EVERYTHING) - CLIMIE FISHER (27) - Great song! Didn’t they sound like Rod Stewart?
23: FOOLISH BEAT - DEBBIE GIBSON (13) - Great song! One of my favorite songs of 1988!
22: THE TWIST - THE FAT BOYS W/CHUBBY CHECKER (29) - A rap version of The Twist? What were they smoking?
21: MONKEY - GEORGE MICHAEL (36) - Decent song, but I preferred his two other 1988 #1 songs (“Faith” doesn’t count, since that peaked (and spent most of its time at the top) in 1987).
OPTIONAL EXTRA: KOKOMO - THE BEACH BOYS - Good song, although the word Aruba will always, to many people, be associated with Natalee Holloway.
20: THE COLOUR OF LOVE - BILLY OCEAN (25) - Great song! One of his best! Too bad this one didn’t hit the Top Ten - on the Pop chart, anyway; it did peak at #2 on the AC chart (not sure what song edged it out of #1).
19: LOST IN YOU - ROD STEWART (12) - Good song. Too bad we never hear it much anymore - the song of his from the late 80s that stations usually play is “Forever Young”.
18: I DON'T WANNNA LIVE WITHOUT YOUR LOVE - CHICAGO (23) - Good song, though I prefer several others by them.
17: DO YOU LOVE ME - THE COUNTOURS (24) - Great song! Did they go back and re-record this song when it was released as a single? This one sounds a little different than the original.
16: PARADISE - SADE (18) - Great song! Possibly my favorite of her charted hits!
15: JUST GOT PAID - JOHNNY KEMP (22) - Meh, pretty much your typical late-80s disco hit. I’ll bet this song topped the American Dance Traxx chart - not sure, because I didn’t start listening to that until November.
14: I DON'T WANT TO GO ON WITH YOU LIKE THAT - ELTON JOHN (21) - Good song, but nothing exceptional. Casey mentioned artists who had had albums debut at #1. Little did we know that about five years later, #1 debuts on the album chart would become a lot more commonplace, if not the norm. Casey also mentioned in the outro that there were lots of songs moving up seven spots, which I noticed myself (and was about ready to point out).
13: NITE AND DAY - AL B. SURE (7) - Good song. My favorite of the two songs I’ve heard by him (the other was “Off On Your Own (Girl)”, which was mediocre at best.
12: PARENTS JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND - D.J. JAZZY & THE FRESH PRINCE (17) - Great song! This was back before rap became obnoxious.
11: 1-2-3 - GLORIA ESTEFAN & THE MIAMI SOUND MACHINE (19) - Good song, but I prefer many others by them.
10: RUSH HOUR - JANE WIEDLIN (11) - Great song! Too bad her next hit “Inside A Dream” didn’t hit the Top 40.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: GROOVY KIND OF LOVE - PHIL COLLINS - Good song, but I preferred his other #1 hit from Buster.
9: SIGN YOUR NAME - TERENCE TRENT D'ARBY (14) - Great song! My favorite of his two Top Ten hits.
8: MERCEDES BOY - PEBBLES (2) - Great song! Possibly my favorite of her Top 40 hits.
7: MAKE ME LOSE CONTROL - ERIC CARMEN (9) - Great song! My favorite of his two 1988 hits.
6: HANDS TO HEAVEN - BREATHE (8) - Meh, this song’s OK, but I’m still burned out on it due to overplay. When I first heard this song, I thought it was a new song by Air Supply.
LDD: FRIENDS & LOVERS - GLORIA LORING & CARL ANDERSON - Great song and indeed fitting for the dedication. They sure butchered this song; not only did they cut out the second verse, but they cut the final chorus in half.
5: THE FLAME - CHEAP TRICK (1) - This was OK but, like the Breathe song, it was quite overplayed. I was still glad that they finally got their first #1 hit.
4: ROLL WITH IT - STEVE WINWOOD (6) - Great song! I used to hate this song with a passion back during its chart run, but not anymore.
3: NEW SENSATION - INXS (4) - Even though I’m not generally a huge fan of them, I thought this one was good.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: EVERY ROSE HAS ITS THORN - POISON
2: POUR SOME SUGAR ON ME - DEF LEPPARD (3) - Great song! This was #1 on the R&R chart the week of this show. When I found out that “The Flame” had fallen out of #1, I thought this song would take over on the Hot 100 as well, but not quite.
1: HOLD ON TO THE NIGHTS - RICHARD MARX (5) - Because who knew that this song would take such a gigantic leap to #1? This was a good song, but I prefer several of his other songs, such as “Satisfied”, “Angelia” (which sounds like an upbeat version of this song) and “Now And Forever”.
Predictions for next week: Of course, it’s been longest since they’ve done a show from 1984, but I seriously doubt that they’re going to go with the July 28 show, since they did that one just last year. My prediction is July 25, 1981, with July 30, 1983 as my back-up. There’s still an outside chance that they could play the July 25, 1987 show, so they’ll have run a regular show from each month during the Casey Kasem era, but I’m not going to get my hopes up.