American Top 40: The 80s - August 31, 2013
This week's presentation - August 30, 1986
Droppers:
HANGING ON A HEART ATTACK - DEVICE (35) - Great song! Shame that it fell off - this reminded me of "Love Touch" by Rod Stewart (but that's no coincidence, since Holly Knight wrote both songs
ONE STEP CLOSER TO YOU - GAVIN CHRISTOPHER (34) - Aww, another great song! This was one of the most underrated songs of 1986, IMO.
INVISIBLE TOUCH - GENESIS (33) - OK, are all this week's droppers going to be great songs? This is another one - by far my favorite song from the album of the same name.
SUZANNE - JOURNEY (30) - Yep, another great song - my second favorite from Raised On Radio, behind "I'll Be Alright Without You".
RUMBLESEAT - JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP (29) - Great song! Another somewhat underrated hit. Not sure how this song charted higher on the Hot 100 than on R&R - one would think that everyone had the Scarecrow album by now and wouldn't buy the single. Who knows?
ALL THE LOVE IN THE WORLD - THE OUTFIELD (25) - OK, does anyone happen to have the August 23, 1986 show? All six songs that fell off from that one were all great songs! This was my favorite of their three 1986 singles (their third one, "Everytime You Cry", petered out at #66 a few months later).
LW#1: PAPA DON’T PREACH – MADONNA - I'll comment on this later.
40: MONEY’S TOO TIGHT TO MENTION – SIMPLY RED (debut) - Great song! Much better than "Holding Back The Years" which, at this point, I was sick and tired of. It's good to hear every now and then now, but it sure got overplayed!
39: TWIST AND SHOUT – THE BEATLES (debut) - Good song, but not their best. Casey said that this song "re-debuts". Actually, it returns, or re-enters. Anyway, it's pretty common knowledge that this song came back owing to its inclusion in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "Back To School", two of the summer's biggest movies.
38: DANGER ZONE – KENNY LOGGINS (26) - Good song
37: ALL CRIED OUT – LISA LISA & CULT JAM WITH FULL FORCE (debut) - Well, with all the great songs that fell out this week, at least this great song was one of the debuts - this, of course, was my favorite song of the 1980s, according to my Personal Top 30 chart.
36: LOVE WALKS IN – VAN HALEN (debut) - Great song! This one was definitely underrated, as it only got as high as #22, significantly lower than its R&R peak (#14).
35: VELCRO FLY – ZZ TOP (debut) - Wow, people who were watching both R&R and AT40 were probably wondering why this song was taking so long to hit the latter of the two, as it had debuted on R&R three weeks prior. Anyway, I liked this song, but preferred the other three Afterburner singles.
34: MISSIONARY MAN - EURYTHMICS (debut) - Meh, I was never crazy about this song. I think you all know what song I prefer from them (I wonder if we'll hear it on the next 1985 show?)
33: HEAVEN IN YOUR EYES - LOVERBOY (40) - Great song, though not quite their best.
32: TAKEN IN – MIKE & THE MECHANICS (32) - Wow, this song was stuck at #32 for a fourth week! This was another underrated song, IMO, as it was one of my favorite songs by them of all time!
31: OH PEOPLE – PATTI LaBELLE (37) - I heard this song for the first time today, since it never hit the R&R chart. It was a great song - had sort of a jazzy feel to it. Too bad it only got as high as #29.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: TRUE COLORS - CYNDI LAUPER - It's okies, but far from being my favorite song from her.
30: LOVE TOUCH (THEME FROM “LEGAL EAGLES”) – ROD STEWART (17) - Good song - I do prefer the Device song mentioned earlier, however.
29: SLEDGEHAMMER – PETER GABRIEL (19) - Meh, not a big fan of this one - still burned out from the overplay - not that it was one of my favorite songs in the first place.
28: PRESS – PAUL McCARTNEY (39) - Wow! As this song continued to take baby steps up the R&R chart, it made a huge move on AT40. This song was OK, but definitely not one of his best hits.
27: THROWING IT ALL AWAY - GENESIS (38) - This song was OK, but it was my least favorite single from Invisible Touch.
LDD: WHEN THE HEART RULES THE MIND - GTR - Great song, and indeed fitting for the dedication, which was very touching.
26: WHEN I THINK OF YOU – JANET JACKSON (36) - Wow, lots og big jumps in this area of the chart. Anyway, I like this song, but it's nowhere near being her best.
25: TWO OF HEARTS – STACY Q (31) - No. Just no.
24: THE CAPTAIN OF HER HEART - DOUBLE (27) - Great song! Too bad it was their only hit - if they'd had at least one more, Casey would have been able to pronounce their name correctly (doo-BLAY).
23: DREAMTIME – DARYL HALL (28) - Great song! Sounded just like his hits with John Oates.
22: LOVE ZONE – BILLY OCEAN (24) - Good song - a nice slow jam.
21: YOU SHOULD BE MINE (THE WOO WOO SONG) – JEFFREY OSBORNE (13) - Another slow jam, but I wasn't a big fan of it - kind of a dumb subtitle.
20: THAT WAS THEN, THIS IS NOW – THE MONKEES (21) - Great song! Definitely one of their best!
19: MAN SIZE LOVE (FROM “RUNNING SCARED”) - KLYMAXX (22) - Another great song! It's kind of a toss-up between this and "I'd Still Say Yes" as my favorite song from them - depends on my mood at the time.
18: DON’T FORGET ME (WHEN I’M GONE) – GLASS TIGER (23) - Great song! My favorite song by them!
17: THE EDGE OF HEAVEN - WHAM (10) - Great song! Too bad it was their final hit.
16: YANKEE ROSE – DAVID LEE ROTH (18) - Good song - I liked his conversation with his electric guitar at the very beginning.
15: WALK THIS WAY – RUN D.M.C. (20) - Great song! I like this even better than the original by Aerosmith (which may sound odd coming from me, considering that I'm not a huge rap fan).
14: BABY LOVE - REGINA (14) - Wow, this song was stalled out? I wonder if anyone doubted it would hit the Top Ten. Glad that it did, because it's a great song!
13: WORDS GET IN THE WAY – MIAMI SOUND MACHINE (16) - Good song, but not quite their best.
12: GLORY OF LOVE (THEME FROM “KARATE KID PART II”) – PETER CETERA (5) - Great song! One of his best solo hits!
11: WE DON’T HAVE TO TAKE OUR CLOTHES OFF – JERMAINE STEWART (8) - Great song, with a great message!
OPTIONAL EXTRA: I DIDN'T MEAN TO TURN YOU ON - ROBERT PALMER - This was OK, but I'm not generally a huge fan of his (although I did like his last hit, "Hyperactive". An interesting note about the first three extras: When I heard the first two, which debuted on the R&R chart the following week, I was wondering if the third debut that week would be the next one - and indeed it was!
10: MAD ABOUT YOU – BELINDA CARLISLE (4) - Good song, but I prefer several of her other solo hits.
9: STUCK WITH YOU – HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS (15) - Great song! Very deserving of being the #1 song of the entire year (on the R&R chart, that is!)
LDD: LOVE CHILD – THE SUPREMES - Great song, and indeed appropriate for the dedication!
8: RUMORS – TIMEX SOCIAL CLUB (9) - Good song, though I sure got sick of hearing it every single time I turned on the radio back in August, 1986. This song was actually moving back up the chart after dropping a spot the week before, which was unusual back in the mid-80s.
7: SWEET FREEDOM (THEME FROM “RUNNING SCARED”) – MICHAEL McDONALD (11) - Great song! One of his best solo hits!
6: FRIENDS AND LOVERS – CARL ANDERSON AND GLORIA LORING (12) - This song was OK, but, as I said in another thread, this song was played ad nauseum on the radio stations I listened to, so I was tired of it by about this point. I preferred the country remake by Eddie Rabbitt and Juice Newton.
5: DANCING ON THE CEILING – LIONEL RICHIE (6) - Good song, and interesting story about Fred Astaire in the movie The Royal Wedding (and how the video was directed by Stanley Donen, who also directed "The Royal Wedding"
4: TAKE MY BREATH AWAY (THEME FROM “TOP GUN”) - BERLIN (7) - Good song, but I actually preferred Jessica Simpson's 2004 cover.
3: PAPA DON’T PREACH - MADONNA (1) - Meh, I was never a huge fan of this (and, yes, I did prefer the Kelly Osbourne cover from 2002).
OPTIONAL EXTRA: IN YOUR EYES - PETER GABRIEL - I like this one better than "Sledgehammer", which isn't saying much, since this is hardly one of my favorite songs either.
2: VENUS - BANANARAMA (3) - Meh, not a fan of this one either. My least favorite of their three Top 40 hits.
1: HIGHER LOVE – STEVE WINWOOD (2) - Wow, 1986 was indeed a great year in music, though it sure didn't show near the top of the chart. The Top Three is made of tired, overplayed 80s hits. This, along with "Addicted To Love" and "Sledgehammer" are possibly THE three most overplayed #1 songs of 1986. No, I prefer most, if not all, of Winwood's songs over this (and for you people who like it - hey, more power to you. It just isn't my cup of tea, that's all).
Predictions for next week: I'm thinking that next week's show might be a repeat, since they're kind of hard up for new shows for early September. My first prediction for next week is September 3, 1983 (since September 9 was done just last year). My back-up prediction is actually not a repeat, but a year that was somewhat recently done - more specifically, 1987. We haven't heard the September 5, 1987 show yet, but that's about all I can think of. 1980 is out, since the 9/6 show was guest hosted, 9/5/81 was done last year, 1982 was heard last week and 1984 and 1986 were also heard within the past month. September 7, 1985 is possible, but I kind of doubt it, since we heard that one two years ago. So my predictions are as listed above.