As of this list, we’ve covered every year this fall from 1979-85, plus 1987. I think it’s time to give the Top 40 a rest for awhile, though there are a few special charts (AT40 Book of Records, the Top 40 Hits of the Beatles together and separately, year-end specials) I might indulge in if there’s interest.
Enjoy!
40. CENTIPEDE, Rebbie Jackson 39. I NEED YOU TONIGHT, Peter Wolf 38. TEARS, John Waite 37. I DO’ WANNA KNOW, REO Speedwagon 36. SUGAR DON’T BITE, Sam Harris 35. WHO WEARS THESE SHOES? Elton John 34. WE ARE THE YOUNG, Dan Hartman 33. GIRLS WITH GUNS, Tommy Shaw 32. DO WHAT YOU DO, Jermaine Jackson 31. HELLO AGAIN, The Cars
30. LUCKY STAR, Madonna 29. VALOTTE, Julian Lennon 28. TEACHER TEACHER, .38 Special 27. I CAN’T DRIVE 55, Sammy Hagar 26. SOME GUYS HAVE ALL THE LUCK, Rod Stewart 25. WE BELONG, Pat Benatar 24. I’M SO EXCITED, The Pointer Sisters 23. WALKING ON A THIN LINE, Huey Lewis & The News 22. IT AIN’T ENOUGH, Corey Hart 21. ON THE DARK SIDE, John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band
20. I CAN’T HOLD BACK, Survivor 19. WILD BOYS, Duran Duran 18. SEA OF LOVE, The Honeydrippers 17. THE WAR SONG, Culture Club 16. COOL IT NOW, New Edition 15. WHAT ABOUT ME? Kenny Rogers/Kim Carnes/James Ingram 14. NO MORE LONELY NIGHTS, Paul McCartney 13. HARD HABIT TO BREAK, Chicago 12. DESERT MOON, Dennis DeYoung 11. BLUE JEAN, David Bowie
10. PENNY LOVER, Lionel Ritchie 9. ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT, Cyndi Lauper 8. STRUT, Sheena Easton 7. BETTER BE GOOD TO ME, Tina Turner 6. OUT OF TOUCH, Daryl Hall & John Oates 5. I JUST CALLED TO SAY I LOVE YOU, Stevie Wonder 4. I FEEL FOR YOU, Chaka Khan 3. CARIBBEAN QUEEN (NO MORE LOVE ON THE RUN), Billy Ocean 2. PURPLE RAIN, Prince & The Revolution 1. WAKE ME UP BEFORE YOU GO-GO, Wham!
If I could pick a lot of groups I like, worst "best" song, they'd be on this list. I did like Benatar, Lauper, and Easton's songs. I liked Valotte, and "I Can't Drive 55."
On the Dark Side probably has the most staying power for me.
This would certainly be my second favorite. It applies to the same situation I refer to above... which of course was a fellow high school guy (my best friend) I was trying hopelessly not to fall in love with! YEESH, those days were a total pain!!
Teeds, would you agree that Cafferty sounds like a horse?
Lash, I am so with you on "All Through the Night!" Love it!
There's a lot of songs I don't recognize by title, but would probably recognize (and maybe like) if I heard them. This warrants further investigation.
Originally Posted by He Who Wanders
I think it’s time to give the Top 40 a rest for awhile, though there are a few special charts (AT40 Book of Records, the Top 40 Hits of the Beatles together and separately, year-end specials) I might indulge in if there’s interest.
Teeds, would you agree that Cafferty sounds like a horse?
Now that you mention it. Not sure why I didn't hear it before. A bit arabian. A bit apaloosa?
The lyrics are a real head scratcher. They don't seem to actually say anything, yet they say it over and over again. Pretty much 1984 must have sucked for this song to get ranked so highly. Maybe it was because of the movie?
As I recall, "Eddie and the Cruisers" bombed. The song succeeded in spite of the movie's failure.
Yes, the song is repetitive and says nothing of value. I think it was meant to evoke the teenage angst in love songs of the early '60s: loving the girl from the wrong side of the tracks, being unable to express one's feelings, etc.
I hadn't thought of Cafferty sounding like a horse. His vocals are certainly unique.
In spite of such questionable attributes, I love the energy in the song, the opening piano melody, and the sax solo. I crank up the radio any time it comes on.
I'm more interested in who the artists are and how they represent a sort of transitional period in pop music than I am in any particular song. I don't have a personal top ten from this list, although a number of songs were quite pleasant to listen to. To me, this was the beginning of a bland period for music. MTV had become ensconced as the medium for pop music, and its ethos of style over substance dominated. There's a sense of rock artists toeing the line to get airplay. Very few of these songs, if any, take chances or express an original point of view, as "Pressure" and "Southern Cross" did on the 1982 chart.
But in terms of artists and transitions, we've got two members of Styx with solo hits (Tommy Shaw and Dennis DeYoung), ex-Led Zep frontman Robert Plant with a new "group" (The Honeydrippers), ex-J. Geils Band lead singer Peter Wolf, and an ex-Beatle's son, Julian Lennon. Along with stalwart artists such as McCartney, Stewart, Wonder, and Elton John, there's a sense of rock 'n' roll maturing, coming of age, and wondering where do we go from here? Grace Slick commented on this unnerving sensation ten years earlier in Jefferson Starship's "Hyperdrive": "I didn't know there were corners until I was told to stand in one." You're all grown up, at the top of your game, and now you have to compete with younger pop stars such as Duran Duran, Prince & The Revolution, and Culture Club. How do you do so? By churning out hits that sound like everything else on the radio. By making videos in which the creative vision of the director often overshadows the intent of the song. (Steve Perry parodied this to hilarious effect in his "Oh, Sherrie" video.)
Meanwhile, during the mid and late '80s, Neil Young remained as iconoclastic as ever with "This Note's for You" and Whitesnake showed there was still life in blues-based rock with "Slow An' Easy." Naturally, neither song went anywhere near the Top 40. The lessons were clear: If you wanted to have hits (or continue having hits), don't buck the system, play the game, and be as vapid as everybody else.
By the way, in November 1984, the recently reunited Deep Purple released Perfect Strangers, the first album with its classic Mk II lineup (Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Paice) in 11 years. There was hope for the future of music by looking to the past. Alas, this hope was short-lived.
OK, this is a decent rocker and a typically catchy Shaw tune. However, I much prefer his 1998 album 7 Deadly Zens, which takes more chances than anything I see here.
There came a time in the '80s when several rockers (Mellencamp, Aerosmith, and others) tried to make the leap into weightier, more socially relevant material with varying results. Huey Lewis & The News, best know for pop candy fluff such as "Heart and Soul" and "I Want a New Drug," offered this entry about soldiers returning home from war.
It takes on a haunting relevance today, in the shadow to two wars and with our greater awareness of PTSD.
This would certainly be my second favorite. It applies to the same situation I refer to above... which of course was a fellow high school guy (my best friend) I was trying hopelessly not to fall in love with! YEESH, those days were a total pain!!
This is a really good song with an outstanding vocal performance from Cyndi.
I think it’s time to give the Top 40 a rest for awhile, though there are a few special charts (AT40 Book of Records, the Top 40 Hits of the Beatles together and separately, year-end specials) I might indulge in if there’s interest.
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His vocals are certainly unique.
