Hi Everybody! Time for a new Top 40 countdown! This week, we are Returning to 1989. This is one of the last countdowns that I would have heard before I left for Navy Boot Camp, and be cut off from all pop culture for a couple of months. This should be an interesting week. Some of these songs were new to the countdown, and they would be big hits as I was graduating boot camp. Other songs had been out for a bit, so I knew them very well. And of course there are songs that were new to the countdown, but would not last long, and would be gone by the time I left boot camp. So, let’s Return to the week ending February 11, 1989, and begin the countdown!

Also, you can click on the song title to listen to/watch the video on YouTube, and you can click on the album cover to get the song from Amazon.

40. “Eternal Flame” by The Bangles

This Bangles smash hit broke into the Top 40 right here. This ballad would eventually top the charts. After topping the charts with “Walk Like an Egyptian”, this song helped the Bangles be only the third all-female group to score multiple number-ones in the United States, after the Supremes and the Shirelles.

39. “Little Liar” by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts

This was the second single released from the Up Your Alley album (after “I Hate Myself for Loving You”). This is one of those awesome songs that I had forgotten about. It has that classic late ’80s/early ’90s rock sound. It had peaked at #19 on the Billboard Hot 100.

38. “The Love in Your Eyes” by Eddie Money

This is the second song in a row that I love, and had forgotten about! This came off of Money’s Nothing to Lose album, which had the big hit, “Walk on Water”.

37. It’s No Secret” by Kylie Minogue

Time to sound like a broken record…this is another one I vaguely remember. This was not as a big a smash as Minogue’s cover of “Locomotion”, but it is still a decent throwback to late ’80s pop. Kylie Minogue is still releasing new music to this day. She just released her 14th studio album, Golden, last year. Her single, “Dancing“, was a #1 hit on the U.S. Dance charts.

36. “Dreamin'” by Vanessa Williams

I remember this song, but didn’t realize it was from the ’80s. This was released from Vanessa Williams’ debut album, The Right Stuff, and was her first top 40 and first number-one hit on the Billboard R&B chart, where it stayed at the top of the chart for two weeks.

35. “Just Because” by Anita Baker

And now we have the second awesome R&B ballad in a row. This was off of Anita Baker’s #1 smash hit album, Giving You the Best That I Got.

34. “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” by Poison

Unless you lived under a rock in the late ’80s, you know this song. It was Poison’s biggest hit, staying at the top of the chart for 3 straight weeks. I loved it when it was first released. But, it got exhausting hearing it everywhere all the time. Of course, some of that was self-inflicted, as I had the 45 of this song. After keeping my distance for a while, I do enjoy going back to this.

33. “You’re Not Alone” by Chicago

I always loved this song, from the great Chicago 19 album. I don’t remember the version from this video. There seems to be a lot of electric guitar in it, which is pretty cool. From September ’88 through this time of February ’89, I had a job working for the newspaper The Providence Journal. I would deliver papers for paper routes that did not have any paperboys. After that, I would go back to the office, and go back out and bring newspapers to people that called in, saying that they didn’t get their paper. So, while I was driving around delivering papers, Chicago 19 would be in heavy rotation in my car. Any of those songs immediately bring me back to that time.

32. “I Beg Your Pardon” by Kon Kan

I had totally forgotten about this song! It was the debut single of the Canadian synthpop band Kon Kan. I love this as it has that classic ’80s sound. It would be Kon Kan’s only top 40 hit inthe U.S.

31. “My Prerogative” by Bobby Brown

Sadly, Bobby Brown is known more for his problems, including the train wreck involving the relationship between him and Whitney Houston. We forget how huge a star he was at this time in the late ’80s though. This song was a #1 hit. The album from which it came, Don’t Be Cruel, topped the Billboard 200 album charts, and spawned 5 top 10 hits. It was the best selling album of 1989.

That wraps up today’s list of songs. What do you think so far? What were you doing at this time in 1989? Also, feel free to email me a long distance dedication to Returnto80s@gmail.com. We’ll be back tomorrow, to continue the countdown.