Can you name the artist and song:
I was a car hop
You were into be-bop
You sang do wop diddy wop diddy wop doo
All of them changes you put me through
Last Song: “Obsession” by Animotion from the album Animotion (1985)
Great job Craig (@cdennis0130) and Adora (@Adora2000)!!!
There’s no balance
No equality
Be still
I will not accept defeat
Can you name the artist and song:
I’ve got this feeling
That times are holding me down
Last Song: “Room To Move” by Animotion from the album Animotion (Room to Move) (1989)
Great job Adora (@Adora2000) and Erwin (@erwin_green)!!!
I know it seems like I’m a million miles away
At times you feel like you don’t even know me
But in this world the pressure’s building everyday
And I need time to work things out
If you’d like to get this song from Amazon, click on the album cover below:
Hi Everybody! Welcome back to this week’s countdown! At this point in time, we were getting away from that classic early to mid-’80s sound. It is kind of sad as we begin to move out of the ’80s. But, I did love the huge range of musical styles. For example, yesterday we had Metallica and Enya on the same list! Today also has a mix of rock acts and pop acts.
There are going to be a couple of different things about today’s list. For each song, I will include an Amazon link to the song. Then you can download it, and put it on your iPod, MP3 player, whatever listening device you use. Don’t worry though. You can still click on the song title to listen/watch the YouTube video of the song.
The second change is that I am going to throw an older song into this list. I listen to Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 station on iHeartRadio whenever I get a chance. I noticed that he often plays an older song in addition to the Long Distance Dedication. So I will do the same thing here.
Now, let’s Return to the week ending March 25, 1989, and continue the countdown.
I had heard this song before. But, I had no idea that Animotion (best known for their smash hit, “Obsession“) was the band who performed this. It has that distinctive late-’80s sound. This song was also featured in the 1988 movie, My Stepmother Is an Alien, starring Dan Aykroyd and Kim Basinger.
“Room to Move” by Animotion on Amazon
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This is one of my favorite duets of all-time. I bought the 45 of this song before I joined the Navy. You can’t go wrong with Ann Wilson lead singer of Heart, who I think has one of the best rock voices ever. She sounded really good with Robin Zander, the lead singer of Cheap Trick. It also doesn’t hurt that Richard Marx was one of the songwriters here, as he was at the top of his game. This song was also featured in a 1988 movie. This one was for Tequila Sunrise starring Mel Gibson, Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell.
“Surrender to Me” by Ann Wilson and Robin Zander on Amazon
.38 Special is mainly known for their upbeat rock songs. However, this awesome ballad would be the band’s biggest hit, peaking at #6. It also peaked at #2 on the Mainstream Rock chart, and became the band’s first #1 single on the Adult Contemporary chart.
“Second Chance” by .38 Special on Amazon
This is one of the biggest power ballads of all-time. Bon Jovi was in the peak of their incredible run at this point, and this song shot right up to #1. I still love this song. Richie Sambora’s backing vocals are just incredible. And it feels like Jon is putting everything he has into this song – Especially, at the part where he screams after the lyrics I didn’t mean to miss your birthday, baby/I wish I’d seen you blow those candles out. So, so great!
“I’ll Be There For You” by Bon Jovi on Amazon
He’s back. Yesterday, we hit Tone Lōc’s “Wild Thing”. Now here is his other song. This song does sound like “Wild Thing” to me, but I still like it.
“Funky Cold Medina” by Tone Lōc on Amazon
This is one of my favorite Madonna songs. It was the first song released off of the album of the same name. I think that Like a Prayer was Madonna’s last solid album. I would not hear this title track until I got to San Diego a month later. I instantly loved this song, and still love it today.
“Like a Prayer” by Madonna on Amazon
I love this song by Deon Estus! Deon was the bass player in Wham!, and was the bassist on George Michael’s first two solo albums. And how’s this for a resume? Deon has played with Marvin Gaye, Tina Turner, Frank Zappa, George Clinton, Annie Lennox, Edgar Winter, Aaron Neville, and Elton John. This song was his biggest hit, peaking all the way up at #5. George Michael sang the backing vocals here.
“Heaven Help Me” by Deon Estus on Amazon
This countdown took place 26 years ago this week. Now that we have Returned to 1989, let’s go back another 26 years – to 1963. This week in 1963, unless you saw them in a club in Hamburg Germany, chances are that you have never heard of the Beatles yet. Before the music landscape changed forever, let’s take a look at what was at the top of the charts this week in 1963.
It was Ruby and the Romantics. Their song “Our Day Will Come” was their first mainstream hit, and it topped the charts. They didn’t go on to be anywhere near as successful.
“Our Day Will Come” by Ruby and the Romantics on Amazon
OK, I had enough of that for now. Let’s Return to 1989.
Yeah, yeah, I know. Now a lot of you want to go back to 1963 again! But, this was a huge hit, and put Paula Abdul on the map. I know I loved this song when it came out. I don’t love it so much now, but it’s still not bad to hear once in a while.
“Straight Up” by Paula Abdul on Amazon
I love Vixen! I could not get enough of this all-female hard rock group. They are mainly known for this song and “Edge of a Broken Heart“. But, I loved every song on their first two albums. And I still love them today.
I was unfamiliar with this hit from the “Toy Soldiers” singer, Martika. Martika rose to prominence by starring in the musical television show, Kids Incorporated, which also launched the careers of Stacy Ferguson (aka Fergie) and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Martika was a stand-out on that show. I love her voice. I don’t know why, but even though I was really into rock (and still am), I loved this freestyle pop sound of the very late ’80s.
“More Than You Know” by Martika on Amazon
I hope you are all enjoying this trip back to 1989. At least this gives you something else to listen to instead of Taylor Swift.
Tomorrow is going to be an even bigger range of musical styles than it was today. And tomorrow, we will have the return of the Long Distance Dedication!!! So come back tomorrow, and check it out!
Welcome to the Return of the Top 40!!! And what a week to jump back into this! These were the biggest hits in the U.S. 30 years ago this week. There are going to be some true classics this week. Remember, you can click on the song title to see the video. This is going to be exciting, so let’s get to it, and Return to the week ending March 9, 1985, and begin the countdown.
What better way to Return to the countdown than to begin with one of my favorite Chicago songs. Not only is this a fun, upbeat song, but the video is totally awesome! The first half is Indiana Jones-like, and the second half was influenced by Casablanca.
Boy, summer does sound good about now! This classic Don Henley song went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. The video won the Video of the Year at the 1985 MTV Video Music Awards, and also won that year’s awards for Best Direction, Best Art Direction, and Best Cinematography.
It’s always great to hear Jeffrey Osborne, who is from my home state of Rhode Island. This song is off of his 3rd album, Don’t Stop. I had never heard this song before. It is more uptempo than most of his other songs that have been released. I’m liking this one!
This is a very fun dance song by the family DeBarge. This song was written by legendary songwriter Diane Warren. This song reached all the way up to #3 on the Hot 100 charts, making it the biggest hit by DeBarge.
This was the fifth and final single released from the classic album, Heartbeat City. This is another song that I was unfamiliar with. This ballad isn’t too bad. Not one of my favorites by them, but not too bad.
This collaboration between David Bowie and the jazz fusion band the Pat Metheny Group, was recorded for the soundtrack to the film The Falcon and the Snowman – a movie I never heard of, which starred Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn. This has that classic David Bowie new wavey sound to it.
This is a nice song, written, composed, and produced by Lionel Richie as a tribute to Marvin Gaye, who had died earlier in the year. This is one of those songs that I remembered as soon as I heard it. This song was Diana Ross’ last major hit on the US pop singles chart, hitting the Top 10 in the spring of 1985.
Well, I’m getting better at digging up these Prince videos! If you are new to these countdowns, Prince usually makes an appearance. However, he is about the only artist that does not allow their music on YouTube, or just about anywhere else on the internet, for that matter. So I normally substitute it with another song. The is the second Prince song in a row I was able to find. This song was the final single to be released from the Purple Rain soundtrack.
This awesome song is about as ’80s as you can get! I think I remember this synth-pop classic as the opening theme to one of the WWF shows. Hulk Hogan always comes to mind when this song comes on.
Turn it up!! Now, we’re in my wheelhouse! This was the lead single released from Autograph’s debut album, Sign in Please. It would be their only Top 40 hit, reaching No. 29 in the Billboard 100. In 1985, Guitar Player magazine awarded Steve Lynch “Guitar Solo of the Year” for this song.
Well, that wraps up the countdown for today. It will continue tomorrow. Did you like these first 10 songs so far? Even though I was 14 at the time of this countdown, I only remembered about half of these songs. I would have thought it would have been more. Did you discover any new music here? Give me your thoughts on the countdown, and what you were doing at this time in 1985.
Follow @returntothe80sCan you name the artist and song:
From a phone booth in the rain I called to tell her
I’ve had a change of dreams I’m comin’ home
But tears filled my eyes when I found out she was gone
Last Song: “Obsession” by Animotion
Great job Jim and @RICANROLL!!
I will find a way and I will have you
Like a butterfly
A wild butterly
I will collect you and capture you
Return to the 80s 