In honor of the Republican debates--which I managed to miss tonight because 1) I don't have a TV, 2) I spent the evening grading papers, and 3) frankly, I'd rather drink Drano--I thought it would be appropriate to take a look back at the week that the icon of the GOP, Ronald Reagan, took office.
Reagan came on as a very strong candidate and personality (Carter, for all his achievements since leaving the White House, has admitted he was a weak president.) After 10-plus years of unrest following Vietnam, Nixon, inflation, the Ford and Carter years, and disco ( ), Reagan promised a return to a strong, proud America. Whether or not he succeeded depends on who you ask, but it's insightful to take a look back at the songs which were popular during the week the country boldly shifted back to Conservatism.
40. GAMES PEOPLE PLAY, Alan Parsons Project 39. MY MOTHER'S EYES, Bette Midler 38. I NEED YOUR LOVIN', Teena Marie 37. CRYING, Don McLean 36. SMOKEY MOUNTAIN RAIN, Ronnie Milsap 35. HE CAN'T LOVE YOU, Michael Stanley Band 34. A LITTLE IN LOVE, Cliff Richard 33. COLD LOVE, Donna Summer 32. KILLIN' TIME, Susan Anton/Fred Knoblock 31. THE BEST OF TIMES, Styx
30. HEARTBREAK HOTEL, The Jacksons 29. MORE THAN I CAN SAY, Leo Sayer 28. HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT, Pat Benatar 27. WOMAN, John Lennon 26. I AIN'T GONNA STAND FOR IT, Stevie Wonder 25. SEVEN BRIDGES ROAD, The Eagles 24. SUDDENLY, Olivia Newton-John/Cliff Richard 23. KEEP ON LOVIN' YOU, REO Speedwagon 22. TOGETHER, Tierra 21. THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL, ABBA
20. LADY, Kenny Rogers 19. SAME OLD LANG SYNE, Dan Fogelberg 18. 9 TO 5, Dolly Parton 17. MISS SUN, Boz Scaggs 16. GIVIN' IT UP FOR YOUR LOVE, Delbert McClinton 15. TIME IS TIME, Andy Gibb 14. HEY, NINETEEN, Steely Dan 13. TELL IT LIKE IT IS, Heart 12. CELEBRATION, Kool & The Gang 11. I MADE IT THROUGH THE RAIN, Barry Manilow
10. DE DOO DOO DOO, DE DA DA DA, The Police 9. IT'S MY TURN, Diana Ross 8. I LOVE A RAINY NIGHT, Eddie Rabbit 7. PASSION, Rod Stewart 6. EVERY WOMAN IN THE WORLD, Air Supply 5. HUNGRY HEART, Bruce Springsteen 4. GUILTY, Barbra Streisand/Barry Gibb 3. THE TIDE IS HIGH, Blondie 2. LOVE ON THE ROCKS, Neil Diamond 1. (JUST LIKE) STARTING OVER, John Lennon
That was my first semester of grad school, meaning I won't recognize a whole lot of these without actually listening to them. I do recognize some names I like.
Songs that I can still hear in my head I Love a Rainy Night Celebration 9 to 5 (annoyingly so) Hit Me With Your Best Shot
I was finishing up my senior year of high school (or what would have been high school; I had enrolled in a GED program), which was a very troubling year for me. AT40 was a release and a bridge into other things, so I have fond memories of nearly all of these songs.
She was a looker. I'll have to dig up the video, she if she could sing.
Originally Posted by He Who Wanders
I was finishing up my senior year of high school (or what would have been high school; I had enrolled in a GED program), which was a very troubling year for me. AT40 was a release and a bridge into other things, so I have fond memories of nearly all of these songs.
Sounds like you were looking for distractions. You know Grad school: intense focus followed by higher octain stress relief.
I DID get my very first big boy record player/speakers at this time and spent the remainder of the money on album jackets that looked good from milk crates at a sidewalk sale. No top 40 stuff but a few "best ofs" and attempts to look eclectic, which were actually my better gets. Alice's Restaurant, Court and Spark, Andy Mackay (Sax in your clip reminded me), Roxy Music, Diamond Dogs, APP "Tales of .... Bach "Musical Offering" by St Martin, which actually had random people from the grad dorm showing up in my room....
I think if I tried, I could remember everything I bought and I think I still have all those albums sitting in the garage.
For me, the theme here is Songs By Major Artists that: ...I don't know 39. MY MOTHER'S EYES, Bette Midler 33. COLD LOVE, Donna Summer 30. HEARTBREAK HOTEL, The Jacksons 26. I AIN'T GONNA STAND FOR IT, Stevie Wonder
..I know, but didn't recognize the title 25. SEVEN BRIDGES ROAD, The Eagles
...I know, but need help to remember how they go 11. I MADE IT THROUGH THE RAIN, Barry Manilow 9. IT'S MY TURN, Diana Ross 4. GUILTY, Barbra Streisand/Barry Gibb
..I know, but I didn't know these guys had version 37. CRYING, Don McLean 13. TELL IT LIKE IT IS, Heart
Other songs I don't know: 35. HE CAN'T LOVE YOU, Michael Stanley Band 34. A LITTLE IN LOVE, Cliff Richard 32. KILLIN' TIME, Susan Anton/Fred Knoblock 22. TOGETHER, Tierra 17. MISS SUN, Boz Scaggs 15. TIME IS TIME, Andy Gibb
A real hotch-potch of a list. Some stuff I like, some stuff I don't like, some stuff I don't recognize/don't remember, some stuff I'm indifferent to, and some stuff that's been way overplayed.
Here's the ones I know and like:
40. GAMES PEOPLE PLAY, Alan Parsons Project 31. THE BEST OF TIMES, Styx 27. WOMAN, John Lennon 21. THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL, ABBA 20. LADY, Kenny Rogers 19. SAME OLD LANG SYNE, Dan Fogelberg 14. HEY, NINETEEN, Steely Dan 12. CELEBRATION, Kool & The Gang 11. I MADE IT THROUGH THE RAIN, Barry Manilow 9. IT'S MY TURN, Diana Ross 6. EVERY WOMAN IN THE WORLD, Air Supply 4. GUILTY, Barbra Streisand/Barry Gibb 3. THE TIDE IS HIGH, Blondie 1. (JUST LIKE) STARTING OVER, John Lennon
And here's the ones I can't stand, with added barbs:
28. HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT, Pat Benatar - I admit it would be cruel to make fun of Pat Benatar's overbite, huge eyes, tiny (cocaine casualty?) nose, and non-stop bad hair days, but it's all too easy to do when she recorded pseudo-edgy abuse-exploiting anthems like this one. 13. TELL IT LIKE IT IS, Heart - NO, just NO! Ann Wilson is one of the most bombastic, overrated white girl belters in the world, and this horrible version of a great Aaron Neville song is her worst offense, even worse than Heart's execrable 1990 hit "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You." 10. DE DOO DOO DOO, DE DA DA DA, The Police - And speaking of overrated...Sting writes an inane pop song that pretends to make fun of inanity, and laughs all the way to the bank. UGH! 5. HUNGRY HEART, Bruce Springsteen - Not a bad song, but it should have been recorded by the Ramones as originally intended. For a so-called "friend of the working man", Broooce can seem awfully greedy and calculating. 2. LOVE ON THE ROCKS, Neil Diamond - It's not just that he comes across to me as a pompous, pretentious, self-important, smarmy a**. What really bothers me is that he's adored by a whole generation of psuedo-ironist hipsters. Some of his songs are worse than others, but they're all tainted for me by that blasted hipster cred. YUCK!
Pat Benatar was a feisty rocker in a time when female singers were of the Debbie Harry or Donna Summer varieties. Nothing wrong with either, but Benatar looked and sounded like she could kick ass and mean it. I really like a lot of her early hits, including "Heartbreaker" and "Hit Me With Your Best Shot." "Love Is a Battlefield" became overplayed and annoying, and her subsequent hits didn't strike much of a chord with me.
I've never been a fan of the Police, but I do like their early songs, as well, including "De Doo Doo Doo." At a time when every other pop song was about how wonderful love is (which is really every pop music era), they dared to record a song that had something meaningful to say about how rhetoric is used to confuse and mislead people. The message is even more relevant today.
Ironically, that message ties in with the Republican debates (which, as I said, I didn't watch) because of the way political speech on both sides is used to distort, fabricate and play to emotions.
Another irony: the song at No. 1 celebrates the joys of "Starting Over," which is how the Republicans must have felt when Reagan won the White House. It's truly ironic that the Beatle who most personified the '60s ethos of questioning authority and doing your own thing should have as the last hit of his lifetime a retro '50s-style song that signaled a "going backwards" of sorts in US politics.
Debbie Harry was the princess of punk! She ate Pat Benatars for breakfast!
Originally Posted by He Who Wanders
Another irony: the song at No. 1 celebrates the joys of "Starting Over," which is how the Republicans must have felt when Reagan won the White House. It's truly ironic that the Beatle who most personified the '60s ethos of questioning authority and doing your own thing should have as the last hit of his lifetime a retro '50s-style song that signaled a "going backwards" of sorts in US politics.
Well said. We can only wonder what Lennon would have made of the 1980s had he not been taken away from us one year into that decade.
Joan Jett was, in my opinion, a mediocre entertainer who inaugurated one of the worst things in music: the sped-up "punky" cover of a cheesy pop song. And I think she couldn't write a decent song to save her life.
I like the Runaways just fine. Joan on her own, no.
Early Blondie could rock out with the best of them. Later Blondie was equally punk by being willing to experiment with any style. Sure, some were better than others, but at least they tried with sincerity.
During Yes's first American tour, she and Tony Kaye apparently hooked up, leading him to stay in New York for a few weeks after the end of the tour, while the rest of the band went back to England to work on their new album. The rest of the band found this a convenient excuse to sack Kaye and replace him with Rick Wakeman.
Ah, I see you answered the question while I was typing. I'd never heard that version of Kaye's departure before. That would have been in 1971. Was Debbie involved in the music scene then, or was she still a Playboy bunny?
Not much for this one I recognise, even from the bigger acts.
29. MORE THAN I CAN SAY, Leo Sayer 27. WOMAN, John Lennon 21. THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL, ABBA 18. 9 TO 5, Dolly Parton 12. CELEBRATION, Kool & The Gang 10. DE DOO DOO DOO, DE DA DA DA, The Police 3. THE TIDE IS HIGH, Blondie 5. HUNGRY HEART, Bruce Springsteen, although I'd have heard that one after the others. 28. HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT, Pat Benatar would be the same.
There's not too many of those I've listened to a lot. Blondie probably comes out on top. Hungry Heart too, but only because I heard it from someone else a lot.
"...not having to believe in a thing to be interested in it and not having to explain a thing to appreciate the wonder of it."
Ah, I see you answered the question while I was typing. I'd never heard that version of Kaye's departure before. That would have been in 1971. Was Debbie involved in the music scene then, or was she still a Playboy bunny?
Debbie's involvement in the music scene actually goes all the way back to about 1968 and some silly pseudo-hippie group she was part of. In the late 90s, she drolly told a VH1 interviewer that, at the time, she was "clueless".
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), Reagan promised a return to a strong, proud America. Whether or not he succeeded depends on who you ask, but it's insightful to take a look back at the songs which were popular during the week the country boldly shifted back to Conservatism. 
