Question: Name the 1980 film based on the life of John Merrick.
Last Question: Which music video received three nominations at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards, winning Best Choreography for a little-known choreographer by the name of Paula Abdul?
Bonus: Which album is the song from?
Answer: “Nasty” by Janet Jackson from the album Control
Can you name the artist and song:
Take a chance
Leave everything behind you
Come and join me, won’t be sorry
It’s easy to survive
Last Song: “Straight Up” by Paula Abdul from Forever Your Girl (1989)
Great job sweetpurplejune!!!
You are so hard to read
You play hide-and-seek
With your true intentions
If you’d like to get this song from Amazon, click on the album cover below:
Can you name the artist and song:
We got the power, got the glory
Just say you need it and if you need it say yeah
Last Song: “Cold Hearted” by Paula Abdul from the album Forever Your Girl (1989)
Great job Andy, Adora (@Adora2000), and iamwaynegilbert (@iamwaynegilbert)!!!
All the world’s a candy store
He’s been trick or treatin’
If you’d like to get this song from Amazon, click on the album cover below:
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.
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.
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.
Follow @returntothe80sCan you name the artist and song:
Lipstick cherry all over the lens as she’s falling
In miles of sharp blue water coming in where she lies
Last Song: “Knocked Out
Great job Imjustme (@Imscarletvelvet)!!!
I walked your way
Hoping that maybe you noticed
I don’t want to move so fast
I don’t want to blow it
If you’d like to purchase this song from Amazon, click on the album cover below:
Hi Everybody! Welcome back to this week’s countdown! At this point in time, we were getting away from that classic early to mid-’80s sound. It is kind of sad as we begin to move out of the ’80s. But, I did love the huge range of musical styles. For example, yesterday we had Metallica and Enya on the same list! Today also has a mix of rock acts and pop acts.
There are going to be a couple of different things about today’s list. For each song, I will include an Amazon link to the song. Then you can download it, and put it on your iPod, MP3 player, whatever listening device you use. Don’t worry though. You can still click on the song title to listen/watch the YouTube video of the song.
The second change is that I am going to throw an older song into this list. I listen to Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 station on iHeartRadio whenever I get a chance. I noticed that he often plays an older song in addition to the Long Distance Dedication. So I will do the same thing here.
Now, let’s Return to the week ending March 25, 1989, and continue the countdown.
I had heard this song before. But, I had no idea that Animotion (best known for their smash hit, “Obsession“) was the band who performed this. It has that distinctive late-’80s sound. This song was also featured in the 1988 movie, My Stepmother Is an Alien, starring Dan Aykroyd and Kim Basinger.
“Room to Move” by Animotion on Amazon
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This is one of my favorite duets of all-time. I bought the 45 of this song before I joined the Navy. You can’t go wrong with Ann Wilson lead singer of Heart, who I think has one of the best rock voices ever. She sounded really good with Robin Zander, the lead singer of Cheap Trick. It also doesn’t hurt that Richard Marx was one of the songwriters here, as he was at the top of his game. This song was also featured in a 1988 movie. This one was for Tequila Sunrise starring Mel Gibson, Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell.
“Surrender to Me” by Ann Wilson and Robin Zander on Amazon
.38 Special is mainly known for their upbeat rock songs. However, this awesome ballad would be the band’s biggest hit, peaking at #6. It also peaked at #2 on the Mainstream Rock chart, and became the band’s first #1 single on the Adult Contemporary chart.
“Second Chance” by .38 Special on Amazon
This is one of the biggest power ballads of all-time. Bon Jovi was in the peak of their incredible run at this point, and this song shot right up to #1. I still love this song. Richie Sambora’s backing vocals are just incredible. And it feels like Jon is putting everything he has into this song – Especially, at the part where he screams after the lyrics I didn’t mean to miss your birthday, baby/I wish I’d seen you blow those candles out. So, so great!
“I’ll Be There For You” by Bon Jovi on Amazon
He’s back. Yesterday, we hit Tone Lōc’s “Wild Thing”. Now here is his other song. This song does sound like “Wild Thing” to me, but I still like it.
“Funky Cold Medina” by Tone Lōc on Amazon
This is one of my favorite Madonna songs. It was the first song released off of the album of the same name. I think that Like a Prayer was Madonna’s last solid album. I would not hear this title track until I got to San Diego a month later. I instantly loved this song, and still love it today.
“Like a Prayer” by Madonna on Amazon
I love this song by Deon Estus! Deon was the bass player in Wham!, and was the bassist on George Michael’s first two solo albums. And how’s this for a resume? Deon has played with Marvin Gaye, Tina Turner, Frank Zappa, George Clinton, Annie Lennox, Edgar Winter, Aaron Neville, and Elton John. This song was his biggest hit, peaking all the way up at #5. George Michael sang the backing vocals here.
“Heaven Help Me” by Deon Estus on Amazon
This countdown took place 26 years ago this week. Now that we have Returned to 1989, let’s go back another 26 years – to 1963. This week in 1963, unless you saw them in a club in Hamburg Germany, chances are that you have never heard of the Beatles yet. Before the music landscape changed forever, let’s take a look at what was at the top of the charts this week in 1963.
It was Ruby and the Romantics. Their song “Our Day Will Come” was their first mainstream hit, and it topped the charts. They didn’t go on to be anywhere near as successful.
“Our Day Will Come” by Ruby and the Romantics on Amazon
OK, I had enough of that for now. Let’s Return to 1989.
Yeah, yeah, I know. Now a lot of you want to go back to 1963 again! But, this was a huge hit, and put Paula Abdul on the map. I know I loved this song when it came out. I don’t love it so much now, but it’s still not bad to hear once in a while.
“Straight Up” by Paula Abdul on Amazon
I love Vixen! I could not get enough of this all-female hard rock group. They are mainly known for this song and “Edge of a Broken Heart“. But, I loved every song on their first two albums. And I still love them today.
I was unfamiliar with this hit from the “Toy Soldiers” singer, Martika. Martika rose to prominence by starring in the musical television show, Kids Incorporated, which also launched the careers of Stacy Ferguson (aka Fergie) and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Martika was a stand-out on that show. I love her voice. I don’t know why, but even though I was really into rock (and still am), I loved this freestyle pop sound of the very late ’80s.
“More Than You Know” by Martika on Amazon
I hope you are all enjoying this trip back to 1989. At least this gives you something else to listen to instead of Taylor Swift.
Tomorrow is going to be an even bigger range of musical styles than it was today. And tomorrow, we will have the return of the Long Distance Dedication!!! So come back tomorrow, and check it out!
Can you name the artist and song:
There’s a hole in the wall
With a light shining in
And it’s letting me know to get up
It’s time to begin
Last Song: “Straight Up” by Paula Abdul (Great job Jim!):
I’ve been fooled before
Wouldn’t like to get my love caught
In the slammin’ door
How about some information please
Return to the 80s 