Post by Hervard on Sept 29, 2012 8:04:03 GMT -5
American Top 40: The 80s - September 29, 2012
This week's presentation - September 28, 1985
Wow, a fourth repeat in a row! I sure hope this isn't the beginning of the end, with Premiere gearing up to pull the plug on the show, like someone else guessed in the 80s forum. Of course, they might be running out of "new" shows without guest hosts and they want to save a few of those "new" shows so by next year or the year after, they don't have to do all repeats. Not sure what the deal is. Anyway, here's my commentary on this week's show:
LW#1: MONEY FOR NOTHING - DIRE STRAITS
40: WE BUILT THIS CITY - STARSHIP (debut) - Great song! One of their best under the name Starship.
39: YOU BELONG TO THE CITY - GLENN FREY (debut) - This song was pretty good, but I prefer several others by him, including songs by the Eagles with Glenn on lead.
38: AND WE DANCED - HOOTERS (debut) - Great song! My favorite of their three Top 40 hits.
37: ONE NIGHT LOVE AFFAIR - BRYAN ADAMS (debut) - Good song, but not quite his best.
36: BE NEAR ME - ABC (debut) - This song wasn't bad, but I preferred their previous two hits, including "The Look Of Love".
35: SUMMER OF '69 - BRYAN ADAMS (21) - See what I said about his song at #37.
LDD: IN MY ROOM - THE BEACH BOYS - This song wasn't bad, but it's far from being my favorite song from them.
34: SUNSET GRILL - DON HENLEY (40) - Great song! One of his all-time best! Too bad it didn't get any higher than #22.
33: THERE MUST BE AN ANGEL - EURYTHMICS (22) - Great song! Definitely my favorite of their Top 40 hits!
OPTIONAL EXTRA: WEIRD SCIENCE - OINGO BOINGO - Ah, a curveball extra! This song was OK, but nothing that I'd go out of my way to listen to.
32: I GOT YOU BABE - UB40 w/Chrissy Hynde (28) - Great song! One of their best remakes, IMO.
31: I'M GONNA TEAR YOUR PLAYHOUSE DOWN - PAUL YOUNG (38) - Good song, but I preferred "Everytime You Go Away"
30: FOUR IN THE MORNING (I CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE) - NIGHT RANGER (35) - Great song! Definitely one of their best!
29: THE WAY YOU DO THE THINGS YOU DO/MY GIRL (LIVE AT THE APOLLO) - DARYL HALL, JOHN OATES, DAVID RUFFIN, EDDIE KENDRICKS (31) - Great song! Very energetic!
28: HEAD OVER HEELS - TEARS FOR FEARS (39) - Great song! By far their best 1985 hit!
27: YOU'RE ONLY HUMAN (SECOND WIND) - BILLY JOEL (18) - Good song with a good message. Still, I prefer many other songs by him.
26: SMOKIN' IN THE BOYS ROOM - MOTLEY CRUE (20) - Though I'm not a huge fan of them, this one was actually quite good.
25: EVERY STEP OF THE WAY - JOHN WAITE (26) - Good song. He sure has a way of using the same lyrics from other songs by him, though (i.e. "I spend my time thinking about you", the opening line of this song and also, in the first verse of "Missing You".
24: LOVIN' EVERY MINUTE OF IT - LOVERBOY (30) - Great song! Even though this is their biggest hit, several songs by them that have peaked much lower receive more recurrent airplay ("Turn Me Loose" and "Working For The Weekend" come to mind)
23: FREEWAY OF LOVE - ARETHA FRANKLIN (16) - Good song, but I preferred her next hit, the title track from "Who's Zoomin' Who".
22: "MIAMI VICE" THEME - JAN HAMMER (37) - Great song! One of my favorite TV show themes!
OPTIONAL EXTRA: NEVER - HEART - Great song! Which version did they play (as KKLI did not play this one).
21: INVINCIBLE - PAT BENATAR (12) - Good song, though I prefer several others by her.
20: I'M GOIN' DOWN - BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (29) - Good song - one of seven Top Ten hits from his monster album Born In The U.S.A.
19: C-I-T-Y - JOHN CAFFERTY & THE BEAVER BROWN BAND (25) - Great song, but not quite as good as "Tough All Over".
18: CRY - GODLEY AND CREME (19) - Great song, though the video kinda freaked me out.
17: POWER OF LOVE - HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS (8) - Great song! Back To The Future is definitely one of the best movies ever (as well as the two sequels)!
16: FORTRESS AROUND YOUR HEART - STING (23) - Good song! My favorite of his four Top 40 singles from the Dream Of The Blue Turtles album.
LDD: IMAGINE - JOHN LENNON - Great song, and very appropriate for the dedication.
15: PART-TIME LOVER - STEVIE WONDER (24) - This song was OK, but far from being his best.
14: DARE ME - THE POINTER SISTERS (11) - Great song! After 9/14/85, we never looked at this song in the same way again!
13: POP LIFE - PRINCE & THE REVOLUTION (7) - Great song! Definitely one of his best songs!
12: WE DON'T NEED ANOTHER HERO (THUNDERDOME) - TINA TURNER (4) - Great song, though I prefer a few others by her.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: SO IN LOVE - ORCNESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK - Great song! So odd that its follow-up, which is my least favorite song by them, sounds so much like this one, yet this is my favorite song by them (although "Dreaming" is a close second).
11: DANCING IN THE STREET - MICK JAGGER & DAVID BOWIE (17) - Good song, though I prefer other songs by both artists.
10: LONELY 'OL NIGHT - JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP (15) - Good song.
9: SAVING ALL MY LOVE FOR YOU - WHITNEY HOUSTON (14) - Another good song, though I prefer many others by her.
8: ST. ELMO'S FIRE (MAN IN MOTION) - JOHN PARR (3) - Great song! Definitely one of the biggest summer hits of 1985.
7: TAKE ON ME - A-HA (13) - Great song! My favorite of their few Top 40 hits.
6: DRESS YOU UP - MADONNA (10) - Great song! One of my favorite of her 80s hits!
5: OH SHEILA - READY FOR THE WORLD (9) - It's okies, though quite overplayed. I preferred "Love Me Down".
4: DON'T LOSE MY NUMBER - PHIL COLLINS (5) - Great song! One of my favorite of the No Jacket Required singles (I do slightly prefer "One More Night").
OPTIONAL EXTRA: BROKEN WINGS - MR. MISTER - Great song! My favorite of their two #1 hits. Was this where the extra was place? I know it wasn't between #2 and #3, where it usually is, but they told a story to tie in with song #2.
3: FREEDOM - WHAM (6) - Great song! I had always found it weird that this song, the fourth song from a multi-million selling album, was a bigger sales hit than it was on the airplay chart. I'm assuming that the fact that the single version was slightly different than the album version (the former had a horn solo at the end) might have been instrumental in that. And, of course, the song's early action on a few radio stations played a role, as those stations dropping the song from their playlists before it peaked might have impeded the song's progress on the R&R chart, as it moved up like lightning at first, but then hit a brick wall as soon as it hit the Top Ten, peaking at #6.
2: CHERISH - KOOL & THE GANG (2) - Great song! My second favorite song from Emergency, behind "Fresh".
1: MONEY FOR NOTHING - DIRE STRAITS (1) - Good song. Generally an album rock group, this was the one that put them back on the singles chart, after just one Top 40 song back in 1979. And here's something really odd - after KKLI's broadcast of the show, guess what their first song of regular programming was!
Predictions for next week: Well, unless they use a more recent repeat than 2009, I'm thinking that 1984 is out of the question for the next two weeks. The best bet for next week would probably be October 10, 1987. As for my back-up prediction, well, let's break down all the years. My back-up prediction would be 1982, if not for the fact that the show from the first weekend of October of that year is guest-hosted, plus they did October 9 just last year. And I'm somehow kind of doubtful that they'll do 1981 next week. Though not out of the question, they seldom place shows from the early 80s just a month apart. 1980 was just done last week, so I seriously doubt it'll be that year. I already discussed why 1984 is unlikely, and it goes without saying why 1985 isn't going to be played next week. 1986 was done just two weeks ago, so that leaves 1983. Yes, that was just played a month ago, but based on the situation with 1985 last year (playing the year-end show, virtually ignoring it for the first half of the year, then playing it to death in the fall), I'm thinking that they're going to do the same with 1983 this year, so my back-up prediction is October 8, 1983 (if there was such a thing, my alternate back-up prediction would be October 10, 1981. But that wouldn't be fair, so I'll just go with one back-up).
This week's presentation - September 28, 1985
Wow, a fourth repeat in a row! I sure hope this isn't the beginning of the end, with Premiere gearing up to pull the plug on the show, like someone else guessed in the 80s forum. Of course, they might be running out of "new" shows without guest hosts and they want to save a few of those "new" shows so by next year or the year after, they don't have to do all repeats. Not sure what the deal is. Anyway, here's my commentary on this week's show:
LW#1: MONEY FOR NOTHING - DIRE STRAITS
40: WE BUILT THIS CITY - STARSHIP (debut) - Great song! One of their best under the name Starship.
39: YOU BELONG TO THE CITY - GLENN FREY (debut) - This song was pretty good, but I prefer several others by him, including songs by the Eagles with Glenn on lead.
38: AND WE DANCED - HOOTERS (debut) - Great song! My favorite of their three Top 40 hits.
37: ONE NIGHT LOVE AFFAIR - BRYAN ADAMS (debut) - Good song, but not quite his best.
36: BE NEAR ME - ABC (debut) - This song wasn't bad, but I preferred their previous two hits, including "The Look Of Love".
35: SUMMER OF '69 - BRYAN ADAMS (21) - See what I said about his song at #37.
LDD: IN MY ROOM - THE BEACH BOYS - This song wasn't bad, but it's far from being my favorite song from them.
34: SUNSET GRILL - DON HENLEY (40) - Great song! One of his all-time best! Too bad it didn't get any higher than #22.
33: THERE MUST BE AN ANGEL - EURYTHMICS (22) - Great song! Definitely my favorite of their Top 40 hits!
OPTIONAL EXTRA: WEIRD SCIENCE - OINGO BOINGO - Ah, a curveball extra! This song was OK, but nothing that I'd go out of my way to listen to.
32: I GOT YOU BABE - UB40 w/Chrissy Hynde (28) - Great song! One of their best remakes, IMO.
31: I'M GONNA TEAR YOUR PLAYHOUSE DOWN - PAUL YOUNG (38) - Good song, but I preferred "Everytime You Go Away"
30: FOUR IN THE MORNING (I CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE) - NIGHT RANGER (35) - Great song! Definitely one of their best!
29: THE WAY YOU DO THE THINGS YOU DO/MY GIRL (LIVE AT THE APOLLO) - DARYL HALL, JOHN OATES, DAVID RUFFIN, EDDIE KENDRICKS (31) - Great song! Very energetic!
28: HEAD OVER HEELS - TEARS FOR FEARS (39) - Great song! By far their best 1985 hit!
27: YOU'RE ONLY HUMAN (SECOND WIND) - BILLY JOEL (18) - Good song with a good message. Still, I prefer many other songs by him.
26: SMOKIN' IN THE BOYS ROOM - MOTLEY CRUE (20) - Though I'm not a huge fan of them, this one was actually quite good.
25: EVERY STEP OF THE WAY - JOHN WAITE (26) - Good song. He sure has a way of using the same lyrics from other songs by him, though (i.e. "I spend my time thinking about you", the opening line of this song and also, in the first verse of "Missing You".
24: LOVIN' EVERY MINUTE OF IT - LOVERBOY (30) - Great song! Even though this is their biggest hit, several songs by them that have peaked much lower receive more recurrent airplay ("Turn Me Loose" and "Working For The Weekend" come to mind)
23: FREEWAY OF LOVE - ARETHA FRANKLIN (16) - Good song, but I preferred her next hit, the title track from "Who's Zoomin' Who".
22: "MIAMI VICE" THEME - JAN HAMMER (37) - Great song! One of my favorite TV show themes!
OPTIONAL EXTRA: NEVER - HEART - Great song! Which version did they play (as KKLI did not play this one).
21: INVINCIBLE - PAT BENATAR (12) - Good song, though I prefer several others by her.
20: I'M GOIN' DOWN - BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (29) - Good song - one of seven Top Ten hits from his monster album Born In The U.S.A.
19: C-I-T-Y - JOHN CAFFERTY & THE BEAVER BROWN BAND (25) - Great song, but not quite as good as "Tough All Over".
18: CRY - GODLEY AND CREME (19) - Great song, though the video kinda freaked me out.
17: POWER OF LOVE - HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS (8) - Great song! Back To The Future is definitely one of the best movies ever (as well as the two sequels)!
16: FORTRESS AROUND YOUR HEART - STING (23) - Good song! My favorite of his four Top 40 singles from the Dream Of The Blue Turtles album.
LDD: IMAGINE - JOHN LENNON - Great song, and very appropriate for the dedication.
15: PART-TIME LOVER - STEVIE WONDER (24) - This song was OK, but far from being his best.
14: DARE ME - THE POINTER SISTERS (11) - Great song! After 9/14/85, we never looked at this song in the same way again!
13: POP LIFE - PRINCE & THE REVOLUTION (7) - Great song! Definitely one of his best songs!
12: WE DON'T NEED ANOTHER HERO (THUNDERDOME) - TINA TURNER (4) - Great song, though I prefer a few others by her.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: SO IN LOVE - ORCNESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK - Great song! So odd that its follow-up, which is my least favorite song by them, sounds so much like this one, yet this is my favorite song by them (although "Dreaming" is a close second).
11: DANCING IN THE STREET - MICK JAGGER & DAVID BOWIE (17) - Good song, though I prefer other songs by both artists.
10: LONELY 'OL NIGHT - JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP (15) - Good song.
9: SAVING ALL MY LOVE FOR YOU - WHITNEY HOUSTON (14) - Another good song, though I prefer many others by her.
8: ST. ELMO'S FIRE (MAN IN MOTION) - JOHN PARR (3) - Great song! Definitely one of the biggest summer hits of 1985.
7: TAKE ON ME - A-HA (13) - Great song! My favorite of their few Top 40 hits.
6: DRESS YOU UP - MADONNA (10) - Great song! One of my favorite of her 80s hits!
5: OH SHEILA - READY FOR THE WORLD (9) - It's okies, though quite overplayed. I preferred "Love Me Down".
4: DON'T LOSE MY NUMBER - PHIL COLLINS (5) - Great song! One of my favorite of the No Jacket Required singles (I do slightly prefer "One More Night").
OPTIONAL EXTRA: BROKEN WINGS - MR. MISTER - Great song! My favorite of their two #1 hits. Was this where the extra was place? I know it wasn't between #2 and #3, where it usually is, but they told a story to tie in with song #2.
3: FREEDOM - WHAM (6) - Great song! I had always found it weird that this song, the fourth song from a multi-million selling album, was a bigger sales hit than it was on the airplay chart. I'm assuming that the fact that the single version was slightly different than the album version (the former had a horn solo at the end) might have been instrumental in that. And, of course, the song's early action on a few radio stations played a role, as those stations dropping the song from their playlists before it peaked might have impeded the song's progress on the R&R chart, as it moved up like lightning at first, but then hit a brick wall as soon as it hit the Top Ten, peaking at #6.
2: CHERISH - KOOL & THE GANG (2) - Great song! My second favorite song from Emergency, behind "Fresh".
1: MONEY FOR NOTHING - DIRE STRAITS (1) - Good song. Generally an album rock group, this was the one that put them back on the singles chart, after just one Top 40 song back in 1979. And here's something really odd - after KKLI's broadcast of the show, guess what their first song of regular programming was!
Predictions for next week: Well, unless they use a more recent repeat than 2009, I'm thinking that 1984 is out of the question for the next two weeks. The best bet for next week would probably be October 10, 1987. As for my back-up prediction, well, let's break down all the years. My back-up prediction would be 1982, if not for the fact that the show from the first weekend of October of that year is guest-hosted, plus they did October 9 just last year. And I'm somehow kind of doubtful that they'll do 1981 next week. Though not out of the question, they seldom place shows from the early 80s just a month apart. 1980 was just done last week, so I seriously doubt it'll be that year. I already discussed why 1984 is unlikely, and it goes without saying why 1985 isn't going to be played next week. 1986 was done just two weeks ago, so that leaves 1983. Yes, that was just played a month ago, but based on the situation with 1985 last year (playing the year-end show, virtually ignoring it for the first half of the year, then playing it to death in the fall), I'm thinking that they're going to do the same with 1983 this year, so my back-up prediction is October 8, 1983 (if there was such a thing, my alternate back-up prediction would be October 10, 1981. But that wouldn't be fair, so I'll just go with one back-up).