Welcome back as we continue the countdown! If you missed the previous songs, you can go back and check out songs 40-31. This has been a good countdown so far. So let’s Return to the week ending April 5, 1986, and continue the countdown.
This is one of my favorite Bob Seger songs. This is one of those misunderstood songs. It is not a patriotic song. It is about cocaine abuse. In an interview with the New York Times, Seger said, “I wrote it after reading ‘Wired,’ Bob Woodward’s biography of John Belushi. That was two and a half years ago, when there was a lot of publicity about cocaine abuse in show business. At the time, I thought that it was just a trend that would quickly die out and that the song would be out of date when it came time to record. But the situation has gotten worse. Maybe cocaine isn’t quite as fashionable on the East and West Coasts these days, but the plague has spread into the heartland — into the Middle West and the South. The key line in ‘American Storm’ is ‘You never feel the need.’ You never feel anything when you’re on drugs. You’re numb. You’re afraid to feel for one reason or another, and that’s why you turn to drugs. I want to see people not do that.”
On the other hand, I loved Whitney. She could do no wrong with me in the ’80s. I wish that she did know that crack is indeed wack. One of our great artists gone way too soon.
Mr. Mister’s follow-up to the smash hit, “Broken Wings”, was another #1 smash hit. They did have two other U.S. top 40 hits after this, but nobody remembers those.
The Outfield has other great songs that rarely get played. However, despite the fact that I’ve heard this song a few million times in my life, I still love it.
I loved Janet Jackson. But, whenever I hear this song, this is the first thing that comes to mind [keep in mind that this is Eddie Murphy. So if you’re listening at work, make sure your headphones don’t pop out]:
That wraps up today’s list of songs. I’m really liking this countdown so far! What do you think. Do you have any favorite songs so far. Any surprises you forgot about? Come back tomorrow as we continue the countdown!
It’s been far too long. At long last, we Return to the Top 40 countdown. This week, we’ll go back 30 years, and see what the 40 most popular songs were. At this time, I was getting ready to start my senior year of high school. I have a ton of great memories, and I loved the music back then. So, let’s Return to August 8, 1987, and check out songs 40-31 today. You can click on the song title to watch the video, and you can click on the album cover to buy/listen to the song from Amazon.
No, Danny Wilson is not a person. It is a Scottish pop group. This is one of those songs that I had forgotten about until I just heard it for the first time in a while.
Finally, a Happy song I approve of! This R&B tune is way better than Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”, which is a million times better than the recent song “Happy” by Pharrell.
When you hear the words ’80s Rock, this is one of the first songs that come to mind. Great song, and great video. So many of us teenage boys really wanted to be that car.
Future candidate of the Return to the ’80s podcast’s segment, ‘Play This, Not That.’ Sure, “Your Love” is a great song, but The Outfield has many other great songs, which never get played. This was one of them. It reached #11 and never gets played.
This hit was off of the Red Rocker’s album I Never Said Goodbye, his only solo album released while he was with Van Halen. This is one of my favorites by him.
10. We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off – Jermaine Stewart
9. Stuck With You – Huey Lewis and The News
8. Spies Like Us – Paul McCartney
7. All Cried Out – Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam With Full Force
6. Sleeping Bag – ZZ Top
5. Love Touch – Rod Stewart
4. Crush On You – The Jets
3. Holding Back the Years – Simply Red
2. Broken Wings – Mr. Mister
1. That’s What Friends Are For – Dionne Warwick and Friends
This was another tough one for me. I didn’t have too much of a problem with the Horrible songs. But there were so many songs that I liked, I had a hard time narrowing it down. If I compiled a list again for this year next week, there could be 10 totally different songs on the list. But, this is what I have right now.
First, the Horrible:
5. Kiss – Prince and The Revolution
I think that only dogs can hear Prince singing this song. It is waaaay to high pitched for me, and gives me quite the headache. I much prefer his Purple Rain songs, and a few others. But this song just goes right through me.
4. Take My Breath Away – Berlin/h3>
The Top Gun soundtrack had some great songs, such as Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone”, “Playing With the Boys” (despite the association with that horrific volleyball scene in the movie), and Loverboy’s “Heaven in Your Eyes”. This Berlin song just ruins the whole thing. It’s long, boring, droning song. “Heaven In Your Eyes” should have been the only ballad on this soundtrack – unless they got Soundtrack King Kenny Loggins to record one.
3. Stuck With You – Huey Lewis and The News:
This song spent 3 weeks at number 1! Are you kidding me!?! I think they were still be rewarded for their Sports album. This song was off of the Fore album. For me, “Stuck With You” feels like “If This Is It, Part 2”. And if you look at my list of 1984 Horrible Hits, you will notice that I didn’t think too much of that song either.
2. Sledgehammer – Peter Gabriel
Much like Dire Straits’ “Money For Nothing”, this song was probably a huge hit because of it’s innovative video. This song was way too overrated. I love Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes”, but I could never change the station fast enough when this crappy song came on.
1. Nikita – Elton John
I love a lot of Elton John’s songs. But, he also has many horrible songs. And this clunker is the bottom of the barrel for me. I like some of Elton’s 80s songs. But it’s songs like “Nikita” that make me prefer his songs from the ’70s.
And here are the Great hits of 1986:
10. Burning Heart – Survivor: This song was on the Rocky IV Soundtrack. It wasn’t as big a hit as “Eye of the Tiger”, but it’s still a really good song. Great for working out or running to at the time.
9. Something About You – Level 42: Level 42 is a very underrated English band. This is their best known song in the U.S., and I still like it today.
8. Why Can’t This Be Love – Van Halen: This was the first Van Halen song with Sammy Hagar as the lead singer. They proved that they could be successful without David Lee Roth. There was not a bad song on the 5150 album. And “Why Can’t This Be Love” proved that they could perform great ballads as well as rockers.
6. Your Love – The Outfield: The Outfield’s popularity exploded in the U.S. with the release of this song. This is a fun song that I enjoy a lot.
5. All I Need Is A Miracle – Mike + The Mechanics
This Supergroup was formed by Mike Rutherford of Genesis, and featured Paul Carrack and Paul Young (not to be confused with the Paul Young who sang “Every Time You Go Away”) on vocals. This is a really good, upbeat song. “The Living Years” is probably my favorite song from the ’80s, but this song isn’t too bad itself.
4. Amanda – Boston
After having a string of great songs in the late ’70s, Boston hadn’t had anything new for 7 years. Then they finally came back in 1986 with their Third Stage album, and “Amanda” was the lead single. The song went number one for 2 weeks in a row. Boston was consistenly great, and this is no exception.
“When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going” was the theme song for the Romancing the Stone sequel, Jewel of the Nile. Billy Ocean has a great voice, and this was a fun song.
2. You Give Love a Bad Name – Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi was a pretty good rock band, with two albums under their belt, when they released Slippery When Wet. When “You Give Love a Bad Name” was released as the first single, the band’s popularity went through the stratosphere. This was a great song as people that were into rock liked it, and people that were more into pop were still drawn to this.
1. Glory of Love – Peter Cetera
I was always a Chicago fan, so I was sad when Cetera left the band. But the band went on to continue being successful, and Peter Cetera didn’t do to shabby himself. “Glory of Love” was Cetera’s first solo song, and it was a smash hit. It was on his album Solitude/Solitaire, and was the theme song for The Karate Kid Part II. I could not get enough of this song when it came out.
Welcome back as we continue the countdown! If you missed the previous songs, you can go back and check out songs 40-31. This has been a good countdown so far. So let’s Return to the week ending April 5, 1986, and continue the countdown.
It’s been far too long. At long last, we Return to the Top 40 countdown. This week, we’ll go back 30 years, and see what the 40 most popular songs were. At this time, I was getting ready to start my senior year of high school. I have a ton of great memories, and I loved the music back then. So, let’s Return to August 8, 1987, and check out songs 40-31 today. You can click on the song title to watch the video, and you can click on the album cover to buy/listen to the song from Amazon.
Return to the 80s 