Welcome back to this week’s countdown! If you still need to see what the previous songs were, you can check out songs 40-31, and 30-21. I would also like to point out that T.G. Monahan and I started a new Return to the ’80s series called, Return to 1989. This will be a monthly series, going through all the news events, movies, and music from 30 years ago. So, if you’d like to Return to the glory days of 1989, you can check out our inaugural episode about January 1989.
Now, let’s Return to the week ending February 11, 1989, and continue this week’s countdown.
And don’t forget, 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.
We’ll start off today’s songs with a little synth-pop action. There is no mistaking that this is an 80s song. Erasure had some awesome hits in the U.S. in the late 80s. And they were even bigger in the U.K., as they had 24 straight Top 40 hits there. And by 2009, 34 of their 37 chart-eligible singles and EPs had made the UK Top 40, with 17 climbing into the Top 10. They are still very active, and are constantly releasing new albums. The latest was 2018’s World Beyond.
This was the fourth single released from Taylor Dayne’s awesome debut album, Tell It to My Heart. This joins a list of songs about not rushing, such as this, “We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off”, and “Keep Your Hands to Yourself”.
2 years after the release of the legendary Hysteria album, Def Leppard was still dominating the charts. This was the sixth single released off of the album, and had landed at #3.
This is one of those songs that did not look familiar to me at all. But once I heard the chorus, it all came back to me. This is a cute, fun R&B song. It would peak at #13 on this chart, and it was a #1 hit on the Billboard R&B singles chart.
In a decade full of incredible duets, this was one of my favorites. It doesn’t hurt that it is Ann Wilson from Heart and Robin Zander from Cheap Trick that are singing it. Also, it was written by Richard Marx, who knows his way around a power ballad. This was featured on the soundtrack to the 1988 film Tequila Sunrise starring Mel Gibson, Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell.
The second boy band entry on today’s list. I hate to admit it, but this song is kind of catchy. And the New Kids are local to me, so I won’t trash them. You can’t argue with their success. But, I’d rather watch an episode of Blue Bloods, starring Donnie, instead. They have been touring in recent years, and it sounds like they have been very successful tours. If anybody is willing to admit that they have seen them, please let me know how they are singing these songs. I don’t know if it would be cool and fun, or just weird.
This was the lead single from Karyn White’s debut, self-titled album. Even though I was definitely more into rock in these days, I still liked Karyn White a lot for some reason. This song was written and produced by Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, Antonio “L.A.” Reid and Daryl Simmons, and it was the first of four Top 10 singles from Karyn White.
80s CRUSH ALERT!!!! This would be Debbie’s biggest hit, staying at the top of the charts for 3 straight weeks. This was the first single released from her Electric Youth album, ensuring that there would be no sophomore slump. And this was the third song on today’s list for the teen crowd.
This was the debut single for Edie Brickell & New Bohemians. This was the beginning of the end of the ’80s. It could have easily blended in with the ’90s and the singer/songwriters from that period.
That wraps up today’s songs. I’d love to hear what you think so far. We will wrap up the top 10 songs of the week, on Friday.
Welcome to a new podcast series called, Return to 1989. Inspired by T.G Monahan’s Dreamin’ in ’89, we decided to take a look back and see what happened 30 years ago. Todd “T.G.” Monahan Return to 1989 to go over news events, movie releases, and album releases. This month, we Return to January. If you have anything you would like us to discuss, or if you had any personal stories or milestones from this year, please let us know. You can either comment below, or email us at Returntothe80s@gmail.com.
– Jan 8 “42nd Street” closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 3,486 performances and “Starlight Express” closes at Gershwin Theater NYC after 761 performances
– Jan 9 “Pat Sajak Show” premieres on CBS
The Pat Sajak Show is an American late-night television talk show which aired on CBS from January 9, 1989 to April 13, 1990.
– Jan 10 LA Kings center Wayne Gretzky becomes NHL’s all-time leading scorer in combined regular season & playoff points; 4 assists in 5-4 home win over Edmonton brings his total to 2,011, 1 more than Gordie Howe.
– Jan 13 “Ryan’s Hope” ends 13½ year run on ABC-TV
– Jan 20 George H. W. Bush inaugurated as 41st US President, Dan Quayle becomes 44th Vice President
– Jan 22 Super Bowl XXIII, Joe Robbie Stadium, Miami, FL: San Francisco 49ers beat Cincinnati Bengals, 20-16; MVP: Jerry Rice, SF, WR
– Jan 28 46th Golden Globes: “Rain Man”, Dustin Hoffman, & Jodie Foster win
Movies
January 13
Gleaming the Cube
DeepStar Six
The January Man
January 27
No Retreat, No Surrender 2
Parents
Physical Evidence
Three Fugitives
Music
January 9 A Show of Hands – Rush
January 10 New York – Lou Reed
January 23 Oh Yes I Can – David Crosby
Lōc-ed After Dark – Tone Lōc
January 24 Electric Youth – Debbie Gibson
Skid Row – Skid Row
January 25 After the War – Gary Moore
January 30 Fabulous Disaster – Exodus
Technique – New Order
January 31 Life Is…Too Short – Too Short
Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich – Warrant
If you’d like to contact Todd, and/or order the book, he can be reached in the following places:
Here is another Remember That Song submission from another faithful member of the Return to the ’80s gang – bierpumpe from https://bierpumpe.wordpress.com/
Can you name the artist and song:
And I’m lookin’ in the mirror all the time
Wondering what she don’t see in me, I’ve been funny
I’ve been cool with the lines
Ain’t that the way love supposed to be
Last Song: “Foolish Beat” by Debbie Gibson from Out of the Blue (1987)
Happy birthday to Debbie Gibson who turned 46 yesterday, and is exactly 2 days older than me! Oh shit. Seeing that in print makes me realize that 50 is quickly approaching! Ugh!
There was a place where all you could do was wish on a four-leaf clover