It’s coming up on that time of year again! Since last year’s inaugural Return to the ’80s March Madness Tournament was a success, we will make this an annual thing. Last year was all about Hall & Oates (with “Out of Touch” being their most popular song among Return to the ’80s readers.
For those of you who discovered this site within this past year, here’s how this works. We take an artist, and place their 16 biggest hits in brackets, and have the same format as the NCAA basketball tournament. Two songs will be pitted against each other for several days, and the winner moves on in the tournament. We keep narrowing it down, until we have a winner. You can vote on this site, as well as on Twitter, and the main Facebook page and the Facebook group page. I will add the votes together.
This year I’m going to need your help to get this started. I am having a difficult time choosing which artist to cover. This is where you come in. I have listed some of the top musical icons of the ’80s. So, please vote for the artist who you would like to see in this year’s tournament. I will leave the voting open for a week. You can vote here, and in the Facebook Group. The Facebook page and Twitter don’t allow enough options, so those pages won’t be used until the actual tournament begins. I have listed Phil Collins (his solo and duet stuff – not Genesis), Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, and Bon Jovi. I should also note that only the singles that charted in the ’80s will be in the actual tournament. I have also allowed the option to write in somebody that is not on the list.
Thank you so much for your help! This should be fun! And unlike any political election, no matter who wins, we all win.
Welcome back to the conclusion of this week’s countdown! If you’d like to go back too check out the previous songs, you can check out songs 40-31, 30-21, and 20-11. It has been fun going back to this transitional part of my life. We may have been heading into the ’90s, but there are definitely some classic ’80s songs here. So, let’s Return to the week ending February 11, 1989, and wrap up this week’s countdown.
The synth-pop group followed up their smash hit, “What’s on Your Mind (Pure Energy)” with another Top 10 hit. In that previous song, they had sampled Leonard Nimoy’s voice from the Star Trek episode “Errand of Mercy”. In this song, they sampled William Shatner as James T. Kirk saying “It is useless to resist us” from the Star Trek episode, “Mirror, Mirror”, and James Doohan as Scotty saying “Let’s Go See!” from the Star Trek episode, “Wolf in the Fold”. They did not have any other top 10 hits after this song. Maybe they needed to sample Doctor McCoy saying “I’m a doctor, not a ____”.
Yes, Rick Astley had other songs besides “Never Gonna Give You Up” and “Together Forever”. Somebody better inform the ’80s radio stations and shows that are out there.
My second ’80s crush of this countdown! This was the first song released from Samantha’s third album, I Wanna Have Some Fun. I always loved her music. And 16-18 year old me really appreciated that every one of her songs at that time were about sex or love…but mostly sex. Pretty much the pop version of the band Kiss.
This was one of Sheena Easton’s biggest hits in the U.S., peaking at #2. After having a strong run throughout the early ’80s, this would be her final Top 10 hit. This song was written by Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, Antonio “L.A.” Reid and Daryl Simmons, who were quite the powerhouse at that time.
This awesome ballad would be Tiffany’s final Top 10 hit. I personally think she is very underrated. She has a very cool and unique voice, and puts a lot of emotion into her songs. And she is another ’80s artist who is still out there recording new music….most recently, 2018’s Pieces of Me.
Speaking of unique voices, here is another awesome power ballad. White Lion had a really good run in the late ’80s/early ’90s before they called it quits.
2-3-4!!! Bon Jovi was not slowing down one bit at this time. This was the 2nd single released from the New Jersey album, and was the 2nd of 5 Top 10 songs from that album alone. That was the most top 10 hits for any hard rock album.
Thanks Wikipedia for letting us know that the title is a reference to the phrase “doin’ the wild thing,” a euphemism for sex. Duh!!!! This song would peak at #2. It is a lot of fun. I do like rap with guitar and heavy drums. As usual, if a rap song has a great rock sound to it, that means it was stolen. In this case, it used an uncredited sample of Van Halen’s “Jamie’s Cryin'”. There was a lawsuit that was settled out of court.
Great power ballad by the Canadian rock group, Sheriff. This song was released in 1983 with minor success. Then in November 1988, Brian Philips, Program Director at KDWB in Minneapolis, and WKTI in Milwaukee began playing the song, and eventually other radio stations nationally followed suit. The song shot up to number 1, which was four years after the band separated in 1985. Freddy Curci held the final note of the song for 19.4 seconds, making it the longest-held note for a male pop singer. Curci went on to form the supergroup Alias, and is still with them to this day.
This was the third song released from Paula Abdul’s Forever Your Girl album (after “Knocked Out” and “The Way That You Love Me”), but this is the one that shot her up to superstardom. This was the first week the song topped the charts, and would stay here for 3 weeks. She had a long string of hits in a short time after this. And the former Laker Girl already had a huge career as a choreographer in many, many music videos and blockbuster movies.
Well, that wraps up this week’s countdown. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I have. We’ll be heading back to the U.K. next time. Until then, Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars.
Welcome back, as we wrap up this week’s Top 40 Countdown! This brought back a lot of fond memories for me. And I do love how there was quite a few different genres represented throughout this whole countdown. So, let’s Return to the week ending November 5, 1988, and see what were the most popular songs in the country
Awesome song that has that eary-mid ’80s sound. And yes that’s Leonard Nimoy’s voice as Mr. Spock from the Star Trek episode “Errand of Mercy”, which was the first time we saw the Klingons in the Star Trek universe.
Wow, my two least favorite ’80s songs are both on the same countdown! First there was “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”. And now there’s this Neil Diamond cover.
Awesome rocker, which was U2’s first single off their Rattle and Hum album. The song won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
After Slippery When Wet launched Bon Jovi in the stratosphere, they did not let up, as they followed up with the incredible New Jersey album, with “Bad Medicine” as the lead single.
Kylie Minogue was the third act to make this song a top 5 hit, starting with LIttle Eva in 1962 and Grand Funk Railroad in 1974. This song was a locomotion for Minogue, as it started as a hit in her home country of Australia. Then it made it’s way to Europe and Asia, then came to the U.S. and Canada.
We have another cover here, as Phil Collins recorded this Mindbenders 1965/66 hit for the Buster movie soundtrack. Between this song, and “Two Hearts”, you would think the movie was going to be a blockbuster. However, I still haven’t seen it, and I don’t know anybody who ever has.
This song would go on to be a number one hit next week. The Escape Club the only British artist to have a No. 1 hit in the United States while never charting in the UK.
I think we can track the division in the country back to this song. I personally think it’s a fun song, although I did get very sick of it. But, a lot of people had this extreme hatred of this song. And seeing John Stamos on drums really sent them over the edge! This song would be their last hit on the Hot 100.
Well that wraps up the Top 40 this week. I hope you enjoyed it! The next time, we will hop back across the pond to the U.K. In the meantime, Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars.
If you’re ready, I’m willing and able
Help me lay my cards out on the table
You’re mine and I’m yours for the taking
Right now the rules we’ve made are meant for breaking
If you’d like to get this song from Amazon, you can click on the album cover below
Welcome back to this week’s countdown! If you missed the previous songs, you can go back and check out 40-31, 30-21, and 20-11. This has been a great week of music so far, and it continues today. It was so good, that we will be coming back with another countdown next week, with a twist! We will Return to the top 40 countdown for the week of March 6-12, from the UK! I know there is a huge following here of folks from the U.K. So they will get to relive their past, and 80s fans from the U.S. may discover music that did not make it over here for one reason or another. But first thing’s first. Let’s Return to the week ending February 28, 1987, and check out the top 10 songs of this week.
Peter Gabriel had some groundbreaking videos in the late ’80s. Which means that they were on MTV every other song. Which also means that I couldn’t stand it! I was dreading listening to this again, but now I’m liking it a little more.
At this time, I was too cool to watch cartoon movies. So, I’ve never seen An American Tail. But, I do love this song. Such a perfect duet with two incredible voices.
Between this, and Janet Jackson’s “Let’s Wait Awhile” earlier in the countdown, all we need to do is substitute Samantha Fox’s “Touch Me” with Jermaine Stewart’s “We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off”, and we would have a perfect countdown for a Catholic school dance.
Bon Jovi had a huge hit with “You Give Love a Bad Name”. But, this ’80s anthem is the one that changed them forever. When you say the words “’80s music” to somebody, this is one of a handful of songs that would immediately come to mind. This is totally deserving of the #1 spot, and a great way to end the countdown.
That’s it for this week. I hope you enjoyed this countdown. Please let me know your thoughts. And as I mentioned earlier, we will be coming right back next week with the UK Top 40 from 1983. Until then, Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars.
We are back with a new episode of the Return to the ’80s podcast! After having technical difficulties, and losing a great episode about Ghostbusters (which we will have to revisit), we came back strong with some Slippery When Wet! Bon Jovi has recently released a new album, This House is Not For Sale, which was a #1 selling album. With this year being the 30th anniversary of the iconic ‘Slippery’ album, we decided to Return to 1986, and revisit it. And we are taking a guest with us on this trip – Scott from 80s Mixtape Autoreverse and 80’s Reboot Overdrive. So come check us out, and listen to our take on this classic album.
– Journey is in the lead, followed by ELO, Yes, and the Cars
– Vote now at https://www.rockhall.com/vote
– We are non-partial here. Vote for whichever artist you’d like. As long as it’s Journey.
Death of the Week (Non-Fidel Castro Edition)
R.I.P. Florence Henderson (February 14, 1934 – November 24, 2016)
Welcome to another episode of Return to the ’80s! This episode is the first in a series of television theme songs. Robert and Paul each pick 5 sitcom theme songs, and discuss them. A special thanks goes out to Return to the ’80s team member Sandy from Jersey for putting together these show notes. As usual, if you have any questions or comments about this episode, or anything ’80s, we would love to hear from you! Our next episode will be about Ghostbusters. Let us know if you’ve seen the new Ghostbusters movie. Also, Ghostbusters II gets trashed alot. Are there any fans if that sequel out there to defend this film? You can email us at returnto80s@gmail.com.
Opening
– Talks of Ghostbusters: new one being released on video
Stranger Things
– Stranger Things coming out and how it’s a mix of 80s movies.
– Talk of inconsistency of one of the songs in Stranger Things. (Late 80s)
– Talk if how great the kids were in the show.
– Talk of Matthew Modine in Stranger Things.
Bon Jovi
– Bon Jovi coming back out. Spoke about that. Played clip of “This House Is Not For Sale“. Has 1.7 mil hits on YouTube.
– Remember that Song – Tina Marie got the answer to the question, which was “The Way It Is“, sung by Bruce Hornsby.
– Plays song.
– Robert talks of how he saw him and Huey Lewis and the News in the same month
– Tim Cook also got song right.
– Reads note that Tim wrote.
– Robert gives a new Remember That Song. Can you name the artist and song:
Working in a factory eight days a week
Try to make dollar, damn what a beat
Cartoon capers happen in reality
Rich man, poor man, living in fantasy
Write in to returnto80s@gmail.com and put Remember That Song in the subject line to submit your answer.
Trivia
“Who was the producers original choice to play Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties.?” Answer was Matthew Broderick which was answered by Tina Marie.
– Matthew had to decline role because his father became ill.
– New trivia- Which 2 songs in the U.S., that were sung in German, were #1 and #2 songs.
Write in to returnto80s@gmail.com and put Trivia in the subject line to submit your answer.
Main Topic – Sitcom Theme Songs
– Paul talks of old intro styles to TV shows and how he misses them, and misses opening credits.
– Covering sitcoms on this podcast, and the other categories will be split up.
Theme songs covered:
– ALF (great theme song)
– Growing Pains (a personal fave of mine) spoke of the show and how Leo and Matthew Perry were on it and how it was one of Paul’s favorite shows (mine too).
– Charles in Charge – Version 1 and Version 2
– Gimme a Break
– Head of the Class – Paul talks of when he was in the Navy and Khrystyne Haje and the Pointer Sisters came on his ship during the Gulf War.
– Cheers
– Fresh Prince of Bel Air
– My Two Dads (one of my favorites)
– Talks about Red Oaks – the show that is on Netflix [But Paul remembered after recording this, that it is actually on Amazon).
– Night Court (another great show)
– Diff’rent Strokes – talks about how a reunion can’t be because a lot of the characters have passed away.
Wrapping Up
– Ending – talks of covering more show tunes and speaks of Blu Ray coming out Tuesday for Ghostbusters.
– And speaks of the soundtracks.
– And rewatching Ghostbusters 2