Can you name the artist and song:
One day you feel quite stable
The next you’re coming off the wall
But I think that you should warn me
If you start heading for a fall
Last Song: “Dreamin’” by Vanessa Williams from The Right Stuff (1989)
Great job Adora (@Adora2000) and Erwin (@erwin_green)!!!
Those words are here in my heart
Oh, but there is just one missing part
How to put it together
How to say it right
Hi Everybody! Time for a new Top 40 countdown! This week, we are Returning to 1989. This is one of the last countdowns that I would have heard before I left for Navy Boot Camp, and be cut off from all pop culture for a couple of months. This should be an interesting week. Some of these songs were new to the countdown, and they would be big hits as I was graduating boot camp. Other songs had been out for a bit, so I knew them very well. And of course there are songs that were new to the countdown, but would not last long, and would be gone by the time I left boot camp. So, let’s Return to the week ending February 11, 1989, and begin the countdown!
Also, you can click on the song title to listen to/watch the video on YouTube, and you can click on the album cover to get the song from Amazon.
That wraps up today’s list of songs. What do you think so far? What were you doing at this time in 1989? Also, feel free to email me a long distance dedication to Returnto80s@gmail.com. We’ll be back tomorrow, to continue the countdown.
Follow @returntothe80s Hi Everybody! Welcome back to this week’s countdown! If you missed the previous posts, you can check out songs 40-31 and 30-21. Once again, we have a crazy diverse day. We have hair bands, R&B, and pop. And, we also have a Long Distance Dedication! So, let’s Return to the week ending March 25, 1989, and continue the countdown.
We begin today with Poison’s cover of the Loggins and Messina hit, “Your Mama Don’t Dance”. The Loggins and Messina version reached all the way up to #4 in 1972. While Poison didn’t go as high with the song, they did manage to reach #10. This song was kind of a let down for me. But, next year, Poison would release what I feel was their best album – Flesh and Blood.
“Your Mama Don’t Dance” by Poison on Amazon
This is one of those songs that I didn’t recognize by the title, but remembered it when I heard it. This has that classic late-80s New Wavey synthpop sound. This song was a worldwide hit for the Canadian synthpop band.
“I Beg Your Pardon” by Kon Kan on Amazon
Oh Good Lord!!! I forgot that we are now in a point in time where the New Kids were white hot. Well, I was never a part of their target audience, so this is not my thing. They are local to me, so I am happy for their success. Donnie is awesome in Blue Bloods, and I actually do enjoy the A&E show, Wahlburgers. I still haven’t been to one of those restaurants yet. By the way, who would have thought that 26 years after this song, New Kids On the Block would still be touring?!?
“You Got It (The Right Stuff)” by New Kids On The Block on Amazon
“Superwoman” is the second single from R&B singer Karyn White’s self-titled debut album, Karyn White (1988). It became her second U.S. top ten hit and second U.S. R&B number-one hit.
Here is a nice R&B song by Karyn White. She had a nice string of hits in the late ’80s through early ’90s. She then left the music business to start a family. In 2012, she released her first studio album in 17 years – Carpe Diem.
“Superwoman” by Karyn White on Amazon
Here is the second song, of this list, titled “You Got It” (minus “The Right Stuff”). I remember this song very well, but thought this was an older song from the ’60s. This song reached #9, and was Orbison’s first Top 10 hit in 25 years. Unfortunately, Orbison never saw this return to the charts, as he died of a heart attack the previous December at the age of 52. A couple of his Traveling Wilburys played on this song – Jeff Lynne on backing vocals and electric guitar, and Tom Petty on backing vocals and acoustic guitar.
“You Got It” by Roy Orbison on Amazon
Here is another really good R&B hit. This is my favorite song so far today. Anita Baker won a Grammy with this song for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.
“Just Because” by Anita Baker on Amazon
Ugh, I can’t “Stand” this song! I don’t know what it is about R.E.M., but they just irritate me. This song just sounds like an annoying children’s song. I will give them credit for having a unique sound.
Now we’re up to our Long Distance Dedication. This is the feature that reminds us what popular music is all about…songs helping us to express important feelings. Here is a letter from Robert from Nebraska:
Dear Casey,
This dedication is for the most important person in my life. I had the great experience of growing up in Frankfurt, Germany. I was part of military family and we moved quite a few times. I was a quiet, shy boy and I had a few good friends, but always had difficulty being comfortable in groups, especially if girls were present. I never really dated much – until the beginning of my senior year when I met Diana. I had signed up for the bus to take us to an away football game. The buses were crowded and I was forced to sit next to one of the most beautiful girls I had ever seen. Naturally, I was nervous and had trouble even looking as her- not to mention talking to her. During the football game we gave each other side glances and on the trip home we again sat together- not because we had to this time. When we got back to the school, I somehow summoned enough courage to ask for her phone number. The rest, as they say, is history. We became inseparable and did everything together. Eventually, the time came to return to the U.S. for college. We decided to go to school in Nebraska – I just could not imagine being without her. I was leaving the first week of July and she would leave at the end of August. We spent every day until that week in June. These were the best days I had ever had. I was worried that things would not work out while we were apart and these could be the last days I would ever see her. Casey, would you please play “Endless Summer Nights” by Richard Marx. This song reminds me of the great times I spent with Diana and how much she meant to me. Thank you.
P.S. Casey, everything did work out. This summer we will celebrate our 25th anniversary with our four wonderful children. Even today this song reminds me of her and that summer after our senior year.
Robert. Here is your long distance dedication
From 1987, that was “Endless Summer Nights” by Richard Marx, a long distance dedication from Robert in Nebraska, to his wife Diana.
Now. On with the countdown.
“Endless Summer Nights” by Richard Marx on Amazon
I had never heard this song before. I do like some songs by Breathe, so I was hoping this would be a pleasant surprise. It’s not bad. Not great either, but far from the worst on this countdown.
“Don’t Tell Me Lies” by Breathe on Amazon
This is the third R&B song today, and it is another winner! This was Vanessa’s first top 40 hit, and first #1 R&B hit.
“Dreamin'” by Vanessa Williams on Amazon
This is, by far, my favorite Guns N’ Roses tune! It is such a perfect rock song. From Steven Adler’s awesome drumming to Slash’s classic guitar sound, to Axl’s voice, which is perfect for this song. They are just firing on all cylinders at this point. I think that if they all got along, kept their s*!t together, they would have survived through the grunge era. Everybody has been waiting for the original lineup to get back together for years. And after Eddie Trunk’s recent interview with Steven Adler, there is a buzz about this happening. I’m not holding my breathe though.
“Paradise City” by Guns N’ Roses on Amazon
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The following is from the History Channel:
On this day in 1984, 21-year-old Vanessa Williams gives up her Miss America title, the first resignation in the pageant’s history, after Penthouse magazine announces plans to publish nude photos of the beauty queen in its September issue. Williams originally made history on September 17, 1983, when she became the first black woman to win the Miss America crown. Miss New Jersey, Suzette Charles, the first runner-up and also an African American, assumed Williams’ tiara for the two months that remained of her reign.
Vanessa Lynn Williams was born March 18, 1963, in Millwood, New York, to music teacher parents. She attended Syracuse University and studied musical theater. In 1982, while working a summer job as a receptionist at a modeling agency in Mt. Kisco, New York, photographer Thomas Chiapel took the nude pictures of Williams, telling her they’d be shot in silhouette and that she wouldn’t be recognizable. After Williams became Miss America, the photographer sold the pictures to Penthouse without her knowledge. Williams later dropped lawsuits against the magazine and photographer after it was learned that she had signed a model release form at the time the photos were taken.
The Miss America pageant, which prides itself on projecting a wholesome, positive image of women, began in 1921 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, as a stunt developed by local businessmen to extend the summer tourist season. In 1945, the Miss America Organization handed out its first scholarship. Today, it provides over $45 million each year in cash and tuition assistance to contestants on the national, state and local levels. In 1954, the competition was broadcast live for the first time. Beginning in the 1980s, contestants were required to have a social platform, such as drunk-driving prevention or AIDS awareness, and Miss America winners now travel an estimated 20,000 miles a month for speaking engagements and public appearances. In 2006, following a decline in TV ratings, the pageant moved from Atlantic City for the first time in its history and took place in Las Vegas, where a new Miss America was crowned in January instead of September.
Vanessa Williams rebounded from the Miss America scandal and went on to a successful entertainment career as an actress and recording artist, performing on Broadway as well as in movies and television and releasing a number of popular albums.
I don’t know about anybody else, but Vanessa Williams is the only Miss America that I can remember. It reminds me of the line from the Styx hit “Miss America”:
In your cage at the human zoo, they all stop to look at you
Next year, what will you do when you have been forgotten
But despite the scandal, Williams went on to a successful career. In 1988, she had success with the album and the song “The Right Stuff”:
As far as her music goes, her biggest success came in 1992 with the number 1 smash hit, “Save the Best for Last”:
I had actually bought that one on cassette single. Remember those? And more recently Williams had success on the hit show Ugly Betty, which just finished its last season.
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