In honor of Colin Hay’s 69th birthday, today’s Song of the Day is Men at Work’s “Down Under”. Throughout the ’80s, America was obsessed with Australia. From Olivia Newton-John to Rick Springfield to Men at Work to Foster’s Beer to Crocodile Dundee to Elton John’s performance of “Candle in the Wind” live in Australia to Yahoo Serious. Well I think America had had enough after Yahoo Serious.
But anyway, Men at Work’s “Down Under” was a smash hit in the U.S. as it also was a smash around the globe. The song was originally released in 1980 as the B-side to their first local single titled “Keypunch Operator“.
Thankfully, they rerecorded the song, and released it in 1981 as their second single from their album Business as Usual. Their first single, “Who Can It Be Now?” was a #1 hit in the U.S., and there was no sophomore slump with “Down Under”.
According to Songfacts, the quirky video became a huge hit on MTV. The network had been on the air for only a year, and they didn’t have many videos to choose from. Men at Work didn’t know much about MTV, but British and Australian bands had been making videos for some time. The band made videos that fit their personality, often improvising scenes and using their friends for help. The guy who stands up and offers the Vegemite sandwich is the band’s drummer, Jerry Speiser. He wasn’t really “6 foot 4 and full of muscles” – he had to stand on something to get extra height. He also wore a wig.
Men at Work released just two more albums after Business as Usual before breaking up in 1986. But, in thoe few short years, the band was quite a force on MTV and on radio.
Right off the bat, we a get a song like I have never heard on a U.S. top 40 countdown. The closest may be Kenny G. Mezzoforte is an instrumental jazz-funk fusion band from Iceland. This would actually be the band’s biggest hit, and would chart all the way up to #17 on the U.K. charts. I am loving this song, and it’s a great way to kick off this countdown.
Foster and Allen are a musical duo from Ireland consisting of Mick Foster and Tony Allen. This definitely has an Irish feel to it. But, it also sounds like an old school country song.
Despite this band being from Los Angeles, I had never heard of them. This is little disco/funk tune.
This is the first band I know of so far. However, I have never heard this song. If you like the song, “In a Big Country”, then you will like this one. It has a very similar sound.
This is another U.S. based group (out of New York) that I had not heard of. This is a cool disco/funk song. Now I can see why I never heard of this song. While it would land all the way up to #13 on the U.K. charts, it topped out at #103 on the U.S. charts.
When I saw the band name, I was hoping this was a punk rock band. I was correct. However, at this time, The Stranglers decided to change direction, so this is more of a new wavey sound. The music itself sounds like it could come from a Tarentino film. But, the “singer” talks through the entire song. Then almost 5 minutes in somebody is singing the same lyrics in the background as the narrator who is speaking. No thanks.
This song brought this new wave band into prominence in the U.K. as it went up to #12 on the charts. This is good if you like slow new wave music. I would have hated it back in the day, but I’m liking it now.
I’m kind of digging this song. I never heard of Malcolm McLaren, but he sounded like quite the character. He was a visual artist, performer, musician, clothes designer and boutique owner. He was best known for being the promoter and manager of bands such as the New York Dolls and the Sex Pistols. This song sounds like it has an upbeat reggae beat.
The first song I know! Do I really need to say anything about this? I’ll just smile and give you a Vegemite sandwich.
Great way to end today’s list! I thought this was going to be a cover of the Beatles classic. But, it’s a different song. It sounds like Abba covering an ELO song. Very cool! I may need to look more into this group.
Awesome Pointer Sisters jam that does as advertises, and gets you excited. This is also a go-to for caffeine pill junkies everywhere.
This was the first of 2 Top 40 hits by The Clash. According to 
This classic country crossover hit ranked number 7 on CMT’s 100 Greatest Duets in Country Music. Rabbitt had several crossover hits in the early ’80s. Sadly, he passed away in 1998 of lung cancer.
Previously unreleased, producers just assumed this would be a hit, and included it on Fogelberg’s Greatest Hits album. Luckily, they were right, and it peaked at #23 on the U.S. charts, and #29 in Canada.
This was the first single as a solo artist for the former Steely Dan frontman. His album, The Nightfly, was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
as the band’s highest charting hit in the UK, peaking at No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart. It would peak at #18 on the U.S. charts. On the album, this song is listed as “The Look Of Love (Part One),” with the last track being a short version of the song called “The Look Of Love (Part Four).” What happened to parts two and three? They appear on the 12″ single along with the others. Part Two is an instrumental, and Part Three is a remix.
Chicago was fading away after having incredible success in the ’70s. Then producer David Foster came along, and kicked them back into high gear, giving them a huge comeback with Chicago 16. This was the second single released from the album. Most of their hits in the ’80s were ballads, including this one. However, I would highly recommend listening to any of their full albums. They have so much more great music that you may not know about.
Forgotten hit of the ’80s. This was released from their self-titled debut album. It would be the first of 2 hits for the band (“Dreamin’ Is Easy” was the other). This was a staple on MTV in the early days. Then again, in those early days, any music video was a staple.
This little ditty would be John Cougar/John Cougar Mellencamp/John Mellencamp’s signature song. It was at the top of the charts for 4 weeks.
This Men At Work song was first released as a single in Australia in June 1981. After it was more than a year old, it found it’s way to the U.S. and became a #1 hit in October of 1982.
Phil Collins’ cover of The Supremes’ 1966 hit was his first solo #1 hit in the U.K. It would reach #10 in the U.S. This song came off of Collins’ second album, Hello, I Must Be Going!, and proved that he could be mega succcessful as both a solo artist, and as a member of Genesis.
This Cape Verdean family hail from my home state of Rhode Island. They had several hit songs throughout the ’70s. This song would be their final Top 40 hit, peaking at #33.
Even though Billy Squier is known to have fallen off the map not long after MTV was born, this rocker was in heavy rotation during the music channel’s infancy.
This was the third single released from John Cougar’s breakthrough album, American Fool. “Hurts So Good” and “Jack & Diane” are hard acts to follow. But this song isn’t too shabby, and has the same sound as it’s predecessors.
The second Rhode Island act of this countdown! All we need is John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band to complete the trifecta! This is Osborne’s signature song, which came off his self-titled debut album.
This band had it’s heyday in the ’70s, with hits “A Horse With No Name”, “Ventura Highway”, and “Sister Golden Hair”. This song is also pretty damn good. It was a comeback song for the group, but it would be their last Top 40 hit.
This is one of my favorite songs of the ’80s. I could not get enough of this song when it was first released. It is still in heavy rotation on my playlist to this day.
Not a bad song as the band transitioned from Jefferson Airplane to Starship. The band jumped aboard the MTV bandwagon early, and were very successful throughout the ’80s.
.jpeg)
Return to the 80s 