Welcome back to another week of Top 40 music! I am so worn down by this election season. And now it’s time to celebrate the end of this disgusting chapter in U.S. politcs. And what better way to celebrate than to take a shower, and listen to some great music. And this is going to be a great week of music! We are Returning to the week ending November 10, 1984. This week we had just elected Ronald Reagan to his second term as president. I was only 14 at the time, but I don’t remember the campaign being so dirty back then. So let’s go there, and Return to the week ending November 10, 1984, and begin the countdown.
[Reminder: If you want to hear the song/watch the music video, you can click on the song title]
This was John Waite’s follow-up to “Missing You“, and was overshadowed. That is a shame because this is a pretty good song. It kind of sounds like a song Bryan Adams would do. A good mid-tempo rocker. Not a bad way to begin the countdown.
This song was the second single released from Bruce’s classic Born in the U.S.A. album. It was originally written for Donna Summer, but Jon Landau, Springsteen’s manager, thought the song was a potential hit. So he kept it for the upcoming Springsteen album.
This was the fourth single released off theCars’ classic Heartbeat City album. The video was directed by Andy Warhol. This song is part of the opening montage of the Return to the ’80s podcast.
There is not much denying which decade this song is from! This song was Dan “I Can Dream About You” Hartman’s last #1 dance tune. I wish dance music these days sounded like this!
I never heard of this song before. It sounds like Loverboy played on high speed. Sam Harris was the grand champion singer of Star Search in its premiere season in 1983.
After the band Styx melted down following the Kilroy Was Here album, Tommy Shaw struck out on his own for a while. This was his debut single, and what a way to start!
It didn’t take long for The Cars to make another appearance on this countdown! This was the third single released from Heartbeat City. This is a little different sounding Cars song. Not only is it a ballad, but instead of Ric Ocasek singing lead, the band’s bassist, Benjamin Orr sang lead. The music video was directed by actor Timothy Hutton. It is mainly known for featuring model Paulina Porizkova, who would later become Ric Ocasek’s wife.
This title track to Julian Lennon’s debut album was his first single released in the U.S. It may be a blessing and a curse that he looks and sounds like his legendary father.
This is one of my favorite Prince songs. Still can’t believe he’s gone. This song was the opening track on the Purple Rain soundtrack as well as the film.
What a great way to end today’s list of songs! This is one of my favorite Benatar tunes. This was the lead single off of her 1984 album Tropico. The song earned Benatar a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance alongside Linda Ronstadt, Tina Turner, Madonna, and Whitney Houston (won by Whitney).
Well that wraps up today’s list of songs. Not a bad way to start the week, right? Is everybody else ready for this election season to end too? We’ll be back tomorrow to continue the countdown.
Welcome to the Return of the Top 40!!! And what a week to jump back into this! These were the biggest hits in the U.S. 30 years ago this week. There are going to be some true classics this week. Remember, you can click on the song title to see the video. This is going to be exciting, so let’s get to it, and Return to the week ending March 9, 1985, and begin the countdown.
What better way to Return to the countdown than to begin with one of my favorite Chicago songs. Not only is this a fun, upbeat song, but the video is totally awesome! The first half is Indiana Jones-like, and the second half was influenced by Casablanca.
Boy, summer does sound good about now! This classic Don Henley song went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. The video won the Video of the Year at the 1985 MTV Video Music Awards, and also won that year’s awards for Best Direction, Best Art Direction, and Best Cinematography.
It’s always great to hear Jeffrey Osborne, who is from my home state of Rhode Island. This song is off of his 3rd album, Don’t Stop. I had never heard this song before. It is more uptempo than most of his other songs that have been released. I’m liking this one!
This is a very fun dance song by the family DeBarge. This song was written by legendary songwriter Diane Warren. This song reached all the way up to #3 on the Hot 100 charts, making it the biggest hit by DeBarge.
This was the fifth and final single released from the classic album, Heartbeat City. This is another song that I was unfamiliar with. This ballad isn’t too bad. Not one of my favorites by them, but not too bad.
This collaboration between David Bowie and the jazz fusion band the Pat Metheny Group, was recorded for the soundtrack to the film The Falcon and the Snowman – a movie I never heard of, which starred Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn. This has that classic David Bowie new wavey sound to it.
This is a nice song, written, composed, and produced by Lionel Richie as a tribute to Marvin Gaye, who had died earlier in the year. This is one of those songs that I remembered as soon as I heard it. This song was Diana Ross’ last major hit on the US pop singles chart, hitting the Top 10 in the spring of 1985.
Well, I’m getting better at digging up these Prince videos! If you are new to these countdowns, Prince usually makes an appearance. However, he is about the only artist that does not allow their music on YouTube, or just about anywhere else on the internet, for that matter. So I normally substitute it with another song. The is the second Prince song in a row I was able to find. This song was the final single to be released from the Purple Rain soundtrack.
This awesome song is about as ’80s as you can get! I think I remember this synth-pop classic as the opening theme to one of the WWF shows. Hulk Hogan always comes to mind when this song comes on.
Turn it up!! Now, we’re in my wheelhouse! This was the lead single released from Autograph’s debut album, Sign in Please. It would be their only Top 40 hit, reaching No. 29 in the Billboard 100. In 1985, Guitar Player magazine awarded Steve Lynch “Guitar Solo of the Year” for this song.
Well, that wraps up the countdown for today. It will continue tomorrow. Did you like these first 10 songs so far? Even though I was 14 at the time of this countdown, I only remembered about half of these songs. I would have thought it would have been more. Did you discover any new music here? Give me your thoughts on the countdown, and what you were doing at this time in 1985.
Question: What group hit #1 in 1988 with a medley of Peter Frampton’s “Baby, I Love Your Way” and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Freebird”?
Last Question: On the set of what Cars video did Ric Ocasek meet his future wife Paulina Porizkova?
Answer: “Drive”
While Ric Ocasek was the main lead singer for the Cars, bass player Ben Orr sang the lead on this song. Sadly, Orr died of Pancreatic cancer in 2000.
The video stars Czheckloslovakian model Paulina Porizkova. In 1984, at the age of 18, Paulina appeared on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She appeared on the cover again the following year, making her the second woman (after Christie Brinkley) to be featured on the swim-suit issue’s front cover consecutive times.
Paulina and the 35 year old Ric Ocasek met during the 1984 filming of the “Drive” video (which was directed by Timothy Hutton). Ocasek was married to his second wife when he met the 19 year old Paulina.
Ric and Paulina got married on August 23, 1989. And it must be true love since they are still married, almost 22 years later.
Welcome back to another week of Top 40 music! I am so worn down by this election season. And now it’s time to celebrate the end of this disgusting chapter in U.S. politcs. And what better way to celebrate than to take a shower, and listen to some great music. And this is going to be a great week of music! We are Returning to the week ending November 10, 1984. This week we had just elected Ronald Reagan to his second term as president. I was only 14 at the time, but I don’t remember the campaign being so dirty back then. So let’s go there, and Return to the week ending November 10, 1984, and begin the countdown.:format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-6421435-1418805523-6570.jpeg.jpg?resize=120%2C120&ssl=1)
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I never heard of this song before. It sounds like Loverboy played on high speed. Sam Harris was the grand champion singer of Star Search in its premiere season in 1983.
It didn’t take long for The Cars to make another appearance on this countdown! This was the third single released from Heartbeat City. This is a little different sounding Cars song. Not only is it a ballad, but instead of Ric Ocasek singing lead, the band’s bassist, Benjamin Orr sang lead. The music video was directed by actor Timothy Hutton. It is mainly known for featuring model Paulina Porizkova, who would later become Ric Ocasek’s wife.
