Monthly Archives: August 2015

1990, Artists, Music, Top 40

Top 40 Songs This Week – August 11, 1990: Songs 30-21

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Welcome back to this week’s Top 40 Countdown! Yesterday’s countdown had quite the variety of music. Today is no different. A lot of these songs are new to me. So, let’s Return to the week ending August 11, 1990, and continue the countdown.

30. “Tonight” by New Kids On The Block

Even though the New Kids are local to me, I never paid much attention to them. I do love Donnie Wahlberg in the television show, Blue Bloods. And the show, Wahlburgers is a guilty pleasure for me. But, I am not the target audience for the group. That being said, I actually like this song a little. It reminds me of the pre-disco Bee Gees. I’m not going to hurry up and buy the Step by Step album, from which this song came from, but I don’t mind this song.

29. “Mentirosa” by Mellow Man Ace


Ugh! It’s songs like this that make me regret dabbling into 1990! This song, which samples Santana’s “No One To Depend On“, and “Evil Ways“, was Mellow Man Ace’s only hit (I’m shocked). It reached all the way up to #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 (I’m shocked).
[The first “I’m shocked” was sarcastic. The second one was not sarcastic]

28. “Tic-Tac-Toe” by Kyper


You can’t see me, but I am beating my head against my desk as I listen to this. Oh my God, this song is so stupid! And it doesn’t help that he samples “Owner of a Lonely Heart” by Yes. Blasphemous! It’s slightly better than the last song, but it’s so stupid! Let’s put this in perspective – this song could probably be a hit today. So, if you like the music of today, you might like this song.

27. “Love & Emotion” by Stevie B

OK, this is a little better. Like I’ve said before, I’m a sucker for the Freestyle music of this period. I had never heard this song before. I don’t know if it’s because of the two crap songs before this, but, I’m liking this song.

26. “The Other Side” by Aerosmith

FINALLY!!! Now, this is the music I was really into back then. I love Aerosmith’s album Pump way more than Permanent Vacation. There were so many great songs on that album, and this was one of my favorites. I remember buying Pump the day it came out. When my roomates and I were listening to the album, and this song came on, I told them that this would be released as a single, and would be a hit. I was right.

25. “I Didn’t Want to Need You” by Heart

Brigade was another great album that I owned. Heart was on a hot streak from the mid-’80s through the early ’90s. This song was the second single released from Brigade. It was written by Diane Warren, who was one of the most successful writers of the ’80s and ’90s.

24. “Hanky Panky” by Madonna

Madonna was indeed ahead of her time. Two decades before the Fifty Shades of Grey craze, Madonna was singing about spanking. This isn’t one of my favorite songs by her, but it is a fun song from the Dick Tracy soundtrack album, I’m Breathless.

23. “Possession” by Bad English

Today’s list of songs is turning out to be a pretty good! This is a ballad by the supergroup (and Journey spinoff) Bad English, that is not “The Price of Love” or “When I See You Smile“. If your tired of hearing those other two songs, then “Possession” is a good alternative. If you want to know more about Bad English, and their debut album, check out the article that Robert wrote on it.

Just as they do on Casey’s American Top 40 station on iHeart Radio, let’s listen to a bonus song. I love the band Vixen. Every song, on each of their albums, is great. This week, their song “How Much Love” debuted on the Hot 100, charting at #95.

22. “Across the River” by Bruce Hornsby & The Range

Oh man, this band was still around at this time?! Ugh! Not a fan. This would be Hornsby’s last significant hit single. It was off of the third and final album by Bruce Hornsby and the Range. Bruce Hornsby went solo after that. Well, this song isn’t as horrible as some of his other songs. I kind of like the chorus.

21. “Banned in the U.S.A.” by Luke Featuring The 2 Live Crew

This is the third rap song today. And it is the third rap song that samples another song. This time, it is “Born in the U.S.A.” Bruce Springsteen actually gave the 2 Live Crew permission to use his song. Unlike the first two rap songs from today, I actually like this one. The song title refers to the decision in a court case that 2 Live Crew’s album, As Nasty As They Wanna Be, was obscene. Record store owners would actually be arrested for selling the album. The decision was eventually overturned on appeal. With all the social issues going on in the world today, I think it would be nice if some artists had the guts to sing and protest. Listening to this song makes me feel that it is nice and refreshing to hear somebody standing up for themselves and speaking out in a very cool way.

That wraps up today’s list of songs. It definitely gets mixed reviews from me. But, now that we got past this hump, the countdown is going to get better. As usual, please feel free to leave your thoughts and memories from 1990.

Movies, Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day: Toy Soldiers

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Jonathan “Snuffy” Bradberry (Keith Coogan): Man, this stuff is great. It’s opening up my lungs, it’s making me breathe easier.
Ricardo Montoya (George Perez): Evidently it’s making you fart easier, too.
Jonathan “Snuffy” Bradberry: I didn’t fart.
Ricardo Montoya: It’s the first rule of prep school etiquette. When you’re in a basement with no windows, don’t fart.
Jonathan “Snuffy” Bradberry: No, the first rule of prep school etiquette is to pretend you’re asleep when your roommate’s beating off.
Henry “Hank” Giles, III (T.E. Russell): No, the first rule of prep school etiquette is to wait until your roommate falls asleep before beating off.
Jonathan “Snuffy” Bradberry: Was that a personal remark directed at me, roommate?
Henry “Hank” Giles, III: Choke your chicken. It’s yours.
Jonathan “Snuffy” Bradberry: You slap your monkey all the time! I can’t sleep at night!

This was the first movie I saw when I returned from the Gulf War.

Artists, Music, Remember That Song?

Remember That Song: 8/11/15

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Can you name the artist and song:

And you think you’re so strong
But there ain’t no stopping no there’s nothin’
You can do about it

Last Song: “Voices That Care” by Voices That Care (1991)

Great job Sophie (@SophieCoberly)!!!

I wish we never had to choose,
To either win or lose,
That we could find a way

Here is the list of the lead vocalists in order of appearance
Ralph Tresvant
Randy Travis
Celine Dion
Peter Cetera
Bobby Brown
Brenda Russell
Jani Lane
Luther Vandross
Garth Brooks
Kathy Mattea
Gunnar & Matthew Nelson
Michael Bolton
Pointer Sisters
Little Richard
Will Smith
Mark Knopfler — Guitar solo
Kenny G — Saxophone solo
Warren Wiebe

1990, Artists, Music, Top 40

Top 40 Songs This Week – August 11, 1990: Songs 40-31

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Welcome back to a new Top 40 Countdown! You may have seen my article kicking off 1990-1991 Week. If not, then “Surprise!” It was this week in 1990 that I left Oakland Naval Hospital to go on to the hospital ship, USNS Mercy, and head to the Gulf War (Desert/Shield Desert Storm). This was a life changing event for me. And my grandmother dying at the same time also added some drama. I know a lot of ’80s music fans are not very fond of the music of this period. But, I have a real soft-spot for it. This music was my outlet as my life was totally changing, post-high school. So, let’s take a look back at what was on the countdown this week in 1990. Things were a little crazy that week, so I’m pretty sure I wasn’t listening to the radio. So come with me, and Return to the week ending August 11, 1990.

40. “Thieves in the Temple” by Prince

This song is from Prince’s soundtrack album, Graffiti Bridge. I had heard of this album, and knew it was a movie soundtrack. But, that was all I knew. I did not know that this was a sequel to Purple Rain. I suppose that shouldn’t be too surprising. The movie was a critical and commercial flop. It was also nominated for five Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Picture, Worst Actor (Prince), Worst Director (Prince), Worst Screenplay (Prince), and Worst New Star (Ingrid Chavez).

As far as this song, “Thieves in the Temple” goes, I kind of remember this song – especially when it gets to the chrous. It’s actually not too bad. I’m not a big fan of Prince’s work post-Revolution. But, I don’t hate this song. It topped the R&B chart, and peaked at #6 on the Billboard chart.

39. “Close to You” by Maxi Priest

Maxi Priest. In the words of Obi-Wan Kenobi, “That’s a name I’ve not heard in a long time. A long time.” Maxi Priest is a British reggae singer. He would hit #1 with this song on October 6, 1990. This song was released just before I left for the Gulf, so I had no idea that it became a huge hit. Although I was heavy into rock music, I also loved R&B at the time. I liked this song, but not enough to run out and buy it.

38. “Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)” by Mötley Crüe

Now, this was in my wheelhouse back then! This was the fourth single from the great Dr. Feelgood album. In my opinion, this was their best album since Shout at the Devil. This is a fun, great kiss-off song.

37. “We’re All in the Same Gang” by West Coast Rap All-Stars

This is a collaboration of the who’s-who of the West Coast hip-hop artists at the time. It promoted anti-violence. Here is a list of the artists performing in this song:

King Tee
Body & Soul (including Dee Barnes)
Def Jef
Michel’le
Tone-Loc
Above the Law
Ice-T
Dr. Dre, MC Ren and Eazy-E of N.W.A
J.J. Fad
Young MC
Digital Underground (Money-B and Shock G)
Oaktown’s 3.5.7
MC Hammer

36. “The Girl I Used to Know” by Brother Beyond

Brother Beyond were a British boy band group, who only released two albums – Get Even in 1988, and Trust in 1989. This song, “The Girl I Used to Know”, was off of their Trust album, and would be their last hit song. They broke up in 1991.

35. “Pure” by Lightning Seeds

This song, is from the British band’s debut album, Cloudcuckooland. I’m not a huge New Wave fan, so I was not exactly blown away by this song. I probably like it more now than I would have back then. This was completely off my radar, and I never heard of the band or the song.

[Not on iTunes]

34. “Enjoy the Silence” by Depeche Mode

More New Wave. But, I do like some of Depeche Mode’s songs. This song isn’t bad, and it’s classic late-’80s Depeche Mode.

33. “It Must Have Been Love” by Roxette

For some reason, I thought this song was released a little bit later in the ’90s. They released this song in 1990, hot off their Look Sharp! album, for the Pretty Woman soundtrack. Roxette has quite a few great songs, but this is probably the one they are best known for. Here is a fact that I had not been aware of: This song was originally called “ It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the Broken Hearted)“, and was released in 1987 as a Christmas single. It became a Top 10 hit in Sweden. You learn something new every day!

32. “(Can’t Live Without) Your Love and Affection” by Nelson

I bought Nelson’s After the Rain just before I left for the Gulf. I loved every sing song on that album, including this lead single. When I got back, it seemed like they had more of a boy band reputation instead of a rocker reputation. It doesn’t matter to me. I still love that album, and this song. I think it rocks, and the harmonies are incredible.

31. “My Kinda Girl” by Babyface

We wrap today’s list of songs with an R&B tune. I didn’t remember this song. It was the fourth and final single from Babyface’s album Tender Lover. Babyface has been very successful over the years, as he has written and produced over 26 No. 1 R&B hits and has won 11 Grammy Awards.

Well, that wraps up today’s list of songs. What a variety! We had R&B, Rock, Rap, and boy bands. So, there’s a little something for everyone. And tomorrow will be more of the same. I hope you’re enjoying your trip back to 1990 so far, and will come back to continue the countdown tomorrow.

Artists, Music, Remember That Song?

Remember That Song: 8/10/15

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Can you name the artist and song:

I wish we never had to choose,
To either win or lose,
That we could find a way

Last Song: “Wild is the Wind” by Bon Jovi from New Jersey (1988)

Great job Robert (@mishouenglish)!!!

Maybe a better man
Would live and die for you
Baby, a better man would
Never say goodbye to you

News

This Week – 1990/1991 Theme/Gulf War Deployment

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We are going to do something a little different this week. It was this week in 1990 that I was shipped out to the Gulf War. On August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. From that moment, there were rumors that we would be going to war. At the time, I was stationed at Oakland Naval Hospital. But, as with a lot of the people stationed there, I was also affiliated with the USNS Mercy. The Mercy is a hospital ship that had only been fully activated during a crises or a humanitarian mission. There were only a handful of full time Navy personnel on the ship, as well as several merchant marines. So, from the time Iraq invaded Kuwait, we were all on pins and needles wondering if we would go to war and be shipped out.

On August 9, I went into work as I normally did. However, anybody who had the day off, also had to come in. We had a meeting, and were told that we were going to war. Not everybody was going to be transferred to the Mercy though. So, they went through the list, and of course, I was selected. I was not in a relationship, and most of my family was across the country. So, I had no problem going. There were other people not selected, but wanted to go. So, they would ask around and see if anybody would switch. There were some takers. But, I wasn’t going to switch with anybody. We were also told that we could tell family members that we were leaving, but we weren’t allowed to say where we were going. We would be moving on to the ship on August 12, and we were leaving on August 14.

When I got back to my apartment that night, I called my parents to tell them the news. My mother answered the phone, and she already knew where I was going. It was all over the news that our ship was being activated. And, to top off this news, my mother, who was home by herself, had just received another phone call a few minutes before I called. My grandmother (my father’s mother) died after a long battle with Alzheimers. My grandparents had lived in Colorado, so I had only seen them a few times in my life. But, we did talk on the phone every Sunday. My world had turned upside down. But,
what else is there to do, but carry on?

When I got to my ship, we worked around 20 hours a day for the two days, loading our ship with supplies. My job was to work in the food storeroom, so I got all the food loaded up.

Since I feel like I’m rambling on, I’m not going to go over everything I did during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. But, we all know what the final outcome was. Our ship headed backin the middle of March 1991. We pulled back into our home port in the middle of April.

So, I wrote all that just to say that this week, all of the Remember That Song and Movie Quote articles will be music and films from 1990 to 1991. The dark days of grunge had not arrived yet, so we still had a late ’80s feel about it.

I hope you enjoy this week’s selections.

Artists, Music, Remember That Song?

Remember That Song: 8/7/15

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Hair’s to Friday!!!

Can you name the artist and song:

Maybe a better man
Would live and die for you
Baby, a better man would
Never say goodbye to you

Last Song: “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades” by Timbuk3 from the album Greetings from Timbuk3 (1986)

Great job Andy (@andytorah)!!!

Things are going great, and they’re only getting better
I’m doing all right, getting good grades

 

Miami Vice, Television

MIAMI VICE: SEASON 1- EPISODE 5: Calderone’s Return: Calderone’s Demise (Part 2)

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It’s Friday! So, you know what that means. Time for some Miami Vice! I’ve been looking forward to this all week! This is really making me feel like I am Returning to the ’80s. I am really trying to avoid the current trend of binge-watching. It is actually really fun just taking my time and soaking it all in. Now, let’s get to the conclusion of “Calderone’s Return”

Summary

This episode was directed by Paul Michael Glaser. You know him as Starsky from the ’70s television show, Starsky and Hutch. He also directed the movie that prompted me to begin this series – Band of the Hand. This episode was written by Alfonse Ruggiero, Jr. and Joel Surnow. The original air date for this episode was October 26, 1984.

When last we left, Crockett and Tubbs were ready to go to the Bahamas to get Calderone. One small problem. There are many islands in the Bahamas, so they need to find out exactly which island. So we open with Tubbs and Crockett interrogating Mendez (who they caught last episode). They finally find out from Mendez, that the hit man, from the last episode, still had the other half of his pay coming to him. He was supposed to have a meetup on St. Andrews Island. So, away we go. We see Crockett and Tubbs on a speedboat en route to the Bahamas. There is basically a music video, set to “Voices” by Russ Ballard. In this video, we see all the events that led to this moment. Normally, these days, before an episode, somebody says “Previously on xxx”, and we see the important stuff. I love the Miami Vice approach, in this episode, so much better.
Upon their arrival, Crockett and Tubbs meet Jimbo at a tiki bar at the place they are staying at. Jimbo is played by this week’s biggest name guest star, Sam McMurray. You may not recognize the name, but you have seen him before. He looks a lot like Jason Segal in this episode. But, I was going crazy trying to remember where I had seen him before. He has guest starred on many, many shows, including Hill Street Blues, Moonlighting, 21 Jump Street, Head of the Class, and Empty Nest. Then I finally realized who he was. He played Doug’s (Kevin James) boss, O’Boyle. Crockett shows him a picture of a woman that has been seen with Calderone, and asks who she is. Jimbo recognizes her. Her name is Angelina,and he says that she’s a nice person. It’s a small island, so they should be able to find her.

Crockett meets with the local police chief. He says that Calderone isn’t on his island. Ya, I believe him! Meanwhile, Tubbs finds Angelina (Phanie Napoli). She’s on a beach painting. You can see the sparks begin to fly. She leaves to go on a yacht. Crockett catches up with Tubbs, and they see through binoculars, that Calderone is on the yacht.

Crockett, pretending he is the hit man, meets up with one of Calderone’s men. Crockett demands more money and that Calderone meet him face-to-face.

CalderonesDemise048And we have our obligatory car chase. And it was a good one! Instead of Crockett and Tubbs doing the chasing, they were the chasees.

After they manage to get away, the police chief sees Crockett and Tubbs, and apologizes. He said that Calderone’s boat was refueling at the island, and he left and could be anywhere. Crockett knows that something’s not right, since Calderone obviously knows who they are, and the only other person on the island, who knew who they were, was the police chief.

Last episode, Crockett hooked up with his (soon to be ex?) wife. This episode, Tubbs gets himself some nookie with Angelina. During their pillow talk, Tubbs sees a picture of Angelina with Calderone. He says “Isn’t he too old for you”. But, it turns out that Calderone is her father. Duh-duh-duh. There’s going to be a masquerade party tonight, so maybe she can introduce Tubbs to him there.

Both Tubbs and Crockett go to the the masquerade beach party. They see Angelina, so Tubbs goes to her and they dance. Then Tubbs goes to get them drinks and is confronted by a thug. Tubbs takes care of business with a beer bottle. Then he sees Crockett being led away on a boat by gunpoint.

The next time we know Tubbs is in a screaming match with Angelina as he tells her all about her father. She didn’t believe him, until he tells her that her father killed his brother.

Crockett is at Calderone’s hideout, with Calderone and some of his men. Oh, and whaddya know!?! The police chief was there too puffing away on a cigarette (or more likely, ganja). One of Calderone’s thugs comes in and says that Tubbs got away. Again, this guy gets clocked with a beer bottle. Calderone orders to have this guy killed, and Angelina walks in. She said that somebody’s been telling her things about him. He asks who. Then Tubbs makes his appearance with a gun, and says “me”. I smell a Miami Vice shootout! And they don’t disappoint! I thought for sure that Angelina was going to get caught in the crossfire, but she didn’t. But she freaks out as Crockett guns down her father.

As we close out, Angelina leaves Tubbs. Then we get a closing video to the sound of Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do with It”, and we get a montage of events from this episode blended in with Crockett and Tubbs back in the speedboat, heading back home. This song was still pretty new at the time that this episode originally aired.

Music

There were only two songs featured in this episode. One was towards the beginning of the episode, and the other closed out the show.

“Voices” by Russ Ballard


 

“What’s Love Got to Do with It” by Tina Turner


 

Final Thoughts

I hate to sound like a broken record, but this episode was great too. There didn’t seem to be as much action as in other episodes. But, there was plenty of action anyway. And this episode went by really fast. I was missing all the side characters from the vice squad this week. And I got teased because Edward James Olmos’ name was in the opening credits. But, he was not on this episode. Maybe next one? Ah, something to look forward to!

Once again, I would love to hear your thoughts on this episode, or on Miami Vice in general.