The song was released in 1984, and reached the #10 position in the US Billboard Hot 100. This song may be more relatable now that we are older as it is about nostalgia as Dennis DeYoung sings about reconnecting with an old love and recalling the old days.
The video was directed by Jack Cole, who also directed Steve Perry’s “Oh Sherrie” and “Foolish Heart” videos. This video was filmed partly at the train depot and other historic buildings in and around Santa Paula, California.
Can you name the artist and song:
Get the party goin’ on the dance floor
See, cause that’s where the party’s at
Last Song: “Desert Moon” by Dennis DeYoung from Desert Moon (1984)
Great job Craig (@cdennis0130) and Parvez(@_parvezMD)!!!
She was standing in the rain
Trying hard to speak my name
They say first love never runs dry
If you’d like to get this song from Amazon, click on the album cover below:
Welcome back as we wrap up this week’s countdown. If you missed the previous songs, you can go back and check out songs 40-31, 30-21, and 20-11. If you are in the U.S., I hope this countdown has provided a little escape from the election day craziness. This has been a great week of music. For those of us who grew up around the time of this countdown, we were so lucky to enjoy some great music. Now let’s Return to the week ending November 10, 1984, and wrap up this countdown.
Earlier in the countdown, we had a song by Tommy Shaw in the wake of the band Styx falling apart. Now we have the former Styx frontman, Dennis DeYoung with his solo effort. This is an outstanding song, that would peak right here at #10.
Thanks to producer, David Foster, we were right in the middle of Chicago’s renaissance. I do get slightly annoyed that most people only know of Chicago from their power ballads, even though they have some incredible rock songs. But, with a song like this, I can totally see why. This is one of my favorites by them. I love that both Peter Cetera and Bill Champlin sing on this. I love both of their voices. Great combination!
David Bowie (still can’t believe he is gone) was still making an impact on the music world at this point. This song was off of his Tonight album, which was his follow-up to the mega-successful Let’s Dance album. This song was launched with a 21-minute short film, Jazzin’ for Blue Jean. The film won the 1985 Grammy Award for “Best Video, Short form” (Later renamed “Best Music Video”), which would be Bowie’s only competitive Grammy Award during his career. He was nominated for several, but this was his only win, in addition to his Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.
This song is from Tina Turner’s huge comeback album, Private Dancer. This song was originally recorded and released in 1981 by Spider, a band from New York City with one of the co-writers, Holly Knight, as a member. Of course Tina had the most successful version. The song won Tina Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female, one of four Grammys awarded to Turner in that ceremony.
There weren’t too many acts as big in the ’80s as Hall & Oates.This was their lead single from their 1984 album Big Bam Boom. It would be their last #1 hit. The song was also their 14th straight top 40 hit since 1980.
Before we continue, let’s see what was topping some of the other charts this week in 1984:
The number one country song was “I’ve Been Around Enough to Know” by John Schneider (Yes, that John Schneider from The Dukes of Hazzard)
Topping the Rock charts was “I Can’t Hold Back” by Survivor
Number one on the Adult Contemporary charts was “What About Me?” by Kenny Rogers, Kim Carnes and James Ingram
The Number 1 album was Purple Rain by Prince and the Revolution
And topping both the R&B and the Dance charts is our #5 song on the Hot 100 this week:
While Prince was a megastar performer himself, he also wrote music covered by other artists. This was one of them. Prince wrote this song, and it was on his debut album. It was also covered by The Pointer Sisters on their 1982 album, So Excited!.
Then Chaka Kahn took over, and this song would start a big comeback for her. Melle Mel (from Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five) did the rapping. And Stevie Wonder is on the harmonica.
This was Wham!’s big breakthrough hit. It became their first American and UK number-one hit. To be honest, I really hated this song when it first came out. I like it now because of its nostalgic value. It should also be noted that while it was at the top of the charts for two weeks, it prevented the next song from becoming a #1 hit…
Yes, perhaps Prince’s signature song, this never hit #1 (still can’t believe he is gone). That doesn’t change anything though. This is an iconic song of the decade. For a lot of people, when you mention the ’80s, one of the first images that come to mind is the cover of the Purple Rain soundtrack and movie poster. And if you listened to our Prince episode of the Return to the ’80s podcast, you would know that there is a Journey connection here. After recording the song, Prince phoned Jonathan Cain from Journey asking him to hear it, worried it might be too similar to “Faithfully“, a Journey single composed by Cain which had recently been in the charts. Cain reassured Prince telling him the songs only shared the same four chords. Prince was extremely sensitive to Copyright infringement. It’s good to see he put his money where his mouth was, and was careful himself.
This was one of Stevie Wonder’s most commercially successful hits. It was featured in the Gene Wilder (still can’t believe he’s gone) movie The Woman in Red. The ballad won both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Original Song. It was also nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Song of the Year and Best Pop Instrumental Performance at the Grammy Awards.
I always loved Billy Ocean’s voice. This is a good one. It won Ocean the 1985 Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, making him the first British artist to win in that category.
Well that wraps up this week’s Countdown. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I have. Did you have any favorites or least favorites? Let’s do another one of these in the coming weeks. In the meantime, Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars.
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In 1961, when he was 14, Dennis DeYoung teamed up with his 13-year-old neighbors, Chuck and John Panozzo, in a three-piece combo. The trio later added guitarist James Young and John Curulewski to form the band Tradewinds in the late 1960s. The band renamed itself TW4 in 1968 before becoming Styx in 1970.
The band had some success in the early-mid 70s.
Their popularity started soaring when guitarist/singer/songwriter Tommy Shaw joined the group in 1975. But by the early ’80s, tension began mounting in the group. Tommy Shaw wanted the band to go more towards a rock direction, and Dennis DeYoung wanted to go more pop and theatrical. In 1984, Tommy Shaw left the band, and went solo. He released three solo albums in the 1980s: Girls with Guns (1984), What If (1985), and Ambition (1987). His biggest hit was the title track from his debut album Girls With Guns. It peaked at #33 on November 17, 1984.
While the band was in transition, Dennis DeYoung also did a solo project. He was a little more succesful than Shaw as his first solo album, Desert Moon, generated the hit, “Desert Moon”, which peaked at #10 on November 10, 1984.
Five years later, Styx decided to get back together. But, they did so without Shaw, who had formed Damn Yankees along with Ted Nugent, Jack Blades (of Night Ranger), and drummer Michael Cartellone (Shaw’s drummer during his 1988 Ambition tour). In 1990, Styx released the album Edge of the Century. A&M Records (which had just merged with PolyGram Records) dropped the group from its roster in 1992, and the group broke up again shortly afterwards.
In 1995, Styx reunited again, this time Tommy Shaw joined the group again. However, drummer John Panozzo became terminally ill and did not rejoin the band. He died of gastrointestinal bleeding on July 16, 1996. In 1999, DeYoung was replaced by Canadian star Lawrence Gowan. He has been non-mainstream work, and has not had another solo hit since “Desert Moon”. Styx is still together touring and recording, so Tommy Shaw also has not had another solo hit since “Girls With Guns”
Here is both songs:
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“Desert Moon” by Dennis DeYoung
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“Girls With Guns” by Tommy Shaw
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Return to the 80s 