Top 40 Newcomers of the 80's

[robert]

Maybe it's for Scott to decide what heading would be the best for this thread, just thought it might fit here as it was a classic era in the 80's.

As you remember Casey did his last AT40 Special with ABC Watermark on Labour Day weekend in 1988 and it was The Top 40 Newcomers of the 80's.

Any ideas how would it look like if it was counted down after the end of 1989 including also the hits and acts that charted after 1988 Labour Day weekend (or any date before the script for that special was written)?

[jdelachjr2002]

As you remember Casey did his last AT40 Special with ABC Watermark on Labour Day weekend in 1988 and it was The Top 40 Newcomers of the 80's.

The Newcomers special aired on Memorial Day weekend not Labor Day weekend as Casey was already gone by then and it was not the last AT40 special he did before Shadoe Stevens took over. The last special came on July 4th weekend with the Triathlon special (Acts that have charted in the '60s, '70s and Top 10 in the '80s).

I know for the Triathlon special, the Beach Boys and the Bee Gees were not included in the list because they didn't crack the Top 10 until the end of the decade (Beach Boys "Kokomo" #1 '88; Bee Gees "One" #7 '89)

[mkarns]

If a 1980s Newcomers special (AT40 or CT40) had aired in December 1989, say, then Madonna would still have been #1. Some acts not on the May 1988 show that might have been on 19 months later include Bobby Brown, Def Leppard, Paula Abdul, Poison, Guns 'n' Roses, Richard Marx, New Kids on the Block, and Milli Vanilli (which would seem pretty dubious in retrospect. :

[robert]

Thanks for that, yes I realized that Labour Day is in September, of course it was Memorial Day weekend in May.

I forgot about Triathalon.

[Hervard]

I wonder if they're going to do a special this Fourth Of July weekend. For some reason, they went with a regular weekly show last year (for the 80s show, anyway - they did the "Girls Of Rock & Roll" special for AT40: The 70s). I realize they may have a limited number of special shows that would be playable on 80s stations (i.e. the Book of Records special and the Beatles special), but even if they only had three or so, they could rotate them.
I'm hoping to hear the Top 40 Songs of the 80s - So Far, which was played on Independence Day weekend in 1987. I figured that maybe they passed over that show last year so they could hold it until New Year's Day weekend this year, but they played a regular show that week as well. I'm wondering if they don't have a clean copy of that show.

[jdelachjr2002]

Just for fun, I decided to rank the '80s newcomers up until 1989

1. Madonna
2. Huey Lewis & The News
3. Whitney Houston
4. Duran Duran
5. Air Supply
6. Sheena Easton
7. Gloria Estefan/Miami Sound Machine
8. George Michael
9. Culture Club
10. Cyndi Lauper
11. Bon Jovi
12. Survivor
13. Christopher Cross
14. Richard Marx
15. Debbie Gibson
16. Janet Jackson
17, The Bangles
18. Wham!
19. Def Leppard
20. The Eurythmics
21. Bobby Brown
22. Laura Branigan
23. Expose
24. Men At Work
25. Irene Cara
26. New Kids On The Block
27. INXS
28. Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
29. The Jets
30. U2
31. Howard Jones
32. Paula Abdul
33. Tears For Fears
34. Poison
35. Billy Idol
36. Pet Shop Boys
37. Belinda Carlisle
38. Loverboy
39. DeBarge
40. Milli Vanilli

[joman]

That's great! Now how about all of the Top 40 Acts of the '80s on AT40?

[jlthorpe]

I remember listening to this special when it was replayed on, I think, XM (before they dropped the 80s shows), and it seemed like Sheena Easton was excluded from the list, even though she had more hits than some of the acts that made the list (i.e. Debbie Gibson and Tiffany). I'm assuming it was a mistake, since she had no hits that made the Hot 100 before the 80s.