Welcome back to this week’s countdown! If you missed the previous songs, you can go ahead and check out songs 40-31, 30-21 and 20-11. We will wrap up the countdown today. So, let’s Return to the week ending September 7, 1985, and check out the top songs.

10. “Pop Life” by Prince & The Revolution

I don’t remember this song. And since Prince doesn’t want us to listen to his music, we’ll listen to a different (and maybe better) song.

9. “You’re Only Human (Second Wind)” by Billy Joel

This song originally appeared on Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits album. A bit presumptuous if you ask me. But, he was right to include it on that album as it did indeed become a hit, peaking right here at #9.

8. “Don’t Lose My Number” by Phil Collins

This is a great song from Phil Collins’ classic No Jacket Required album. Some artists at this time, such as Phil Collins and David Lee Roth, told long stories in their music videos before the music actually started. This is one of those videos:

But, if you don’t have much time, but still want to listen to the song, here is a shorter version of the video that jumps right into the song:

I have been listening to Casey’s Top 40 on iHeart Radio lately, and I had forgotten that towards the end of every countdown, he would tell us what was topping the other music charts. So we’ll do the same here.

This week, at the top of the Country charts was “I Don’t Know Why You Don’t Want Me” by Rosanne Cash

This week’s top R&B song was “Saving All My Love For You” by Whitney Houston, which we have already seen at #23 on the Billboard Hot 100 countdown.

This week’s top Rock song was another song we have already seen here at #25 – “Lonely Ol’ Night” by John Cougar Mellencamp

The top Dance tune was “Trapped” by Colonel Abrams

And this week’s top Album was Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits

7. “Cherish” by Kool & The Gang

And this week’s #7 song was also the #1 Adult Contemporary song. This is a nice ballad that was probably a popular wedding song at that time.

6. “Money For Nothing” by Dire Straits

This is one of the most over-rated songs of the ’80s. The first 45 seconds of the song is outstanding. After that, I kind of space out. Much like Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer,” the only thing this song had going for it was it’s creative, groundbreaking video. But, it was a #1 hit for three weeks and won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 1986.

Another reason that this song was such a big hit, and got tons of airplay was probably it’s reference to MTV. If I knew anything about writing music, I would write a song that mentions iTunes, YouTube, or Pandora. This would assure me a #1 hit. So any songwriters or musicians out there reading this – You’re Welcome. And don’t forget to mention me when you’re accepting your Grammy.

5. “Summer of ’69” by Bryan Adams

Classic ’80s tune! This is probably Bryan Adams’ signature hit.

4. “Freeway of Love” by Aretha Franklin

This smash hit was the first single released off of the “Queen of Soul”‘s Who’s Zoomin’ Who? album. It won her a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. And that is Clarence Clemons, from Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, playing sax in the song.

3. “We Don’t Need Another Hero” by Tina Turner

This is a great song by Tina Turner, which was the theme song for the movie Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. There is going to be another Mad Max movie coming out soon. If they want it to be a surefire hit, maybe they could get Tina to do the theme song for it.

2. “The Power of Love” by Huey Lewis & The News

Besides being the first #1 hit for Huey Lewis & The News, this song was also featured in the blockbuster movie, Back to the Future. Not to make anybody feel old, but next year is going to be 30 years since Marty McFly went WAY, WAY BACK in time – 30 years back to 1955.

1. “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)” by John Parr

Movie soundtracks were the way to go this week! We finish up the top of the countdown with the third consecutive soundtrack song. This is a great rocker by John Parr, for the movie St. Elmo’s Fire.
Booga-booga-booga! Ah-ah-shoot me. Other than that stupid part, I loved the movie. And this theme song was a great song on an outstanding soundtrack.

Well, that wraps up this week’s countdown. I hope you enjoyed it. We’ll be back soon for a new week. In the meantime, Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.

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