Concluding our first regular 80s visit.
20 - "Electric Avenue," Eddy Grant
19 - "Rock n' Roll is King," The Electric Light Orchestra
18 - "The Safety Dance," Men Without Hats
17 - "Lawyers in Love," Jackson Browne
16 - "Never Gonna Let You Go," Sergio Mendes
The second half begins with Guyana-born, London-raised Eddy Grant and his classic electro-funk protest song inspired by the April 1981 riots in the city's Brixton section, where there actually is an Electric Avenue. Didn't know that at the time though. It was just a fun song to sing along to.
Next are ELO with their tribute to early rock n'roll, complete with "ramalama"s and a reference to "Roll Over Beethoven." Not exactly convincing from a band with "orchestra" in its name, but it's all right.
Then it's the chapeau-challenged Montreal synth-poppers with their immortal ode to a worry-free step that they even do at the North Pole. The title was inspired by an incident where singer Ivan Doroschuk was kicked out of a club for doing the punk-inspired "pogo." This is one of those songs that people play to somehow prove how ridiculous 80s pop was. Well, okay, you're right, but if you can't dance to this, you're no friend of mine.
Jackson Browne picked up his last Top 20 single with this rocker with bizarre lyrics about designer jeans, Happy Days, and the Soviet Union becoming a holiday paradise for romantically-entangled attorneys. I guess it's supposed to be some kind of social commentary, but I don't quite get it. But it's pretty catchy, and maybe one of these days it'll make sense.
This group closes with Brazilian jazz-pop pianist Sergio Mendes with a limp waiting-room ballad sung by a couple of nobodies. I guess this has its place, but not in my life. A big nothing.
15 - "Human Nature," Michael Jackson
14 - "Take Me to Heart," Quarterflash
13 - "Flashdance...What a Feeling," Irene Cara
12 - "China Girl," David Bowie
11 - "Hot Girls in Love," Loverboy
This fivesome begins with the fifth single from Thriller, a lush ballad about longing to go out and embrace the freedom and mystery of a city's nightlife. For Michael, who became so isolated by his massive fame, this song must have gained a sad poignance over the years.
Nowadays the Portland, Oregon band Quarterflash are only remembered for their 1981 #3 "Harden My Heart." But they did have two more hits after that, the second of which was this sultry little number in which singer Rindy Ross (love that name) pursues a potential lover, seductively telling him "Don't deny the miracle." If that guy did, he's crazy.
Next is Irene Cara, who appeared on Broadway as a child, was in the cast of the classic 70s kid's show The Electric Company, shot to fame in the movie...Fame, and here grabbed a #1 smash (and later an Oscar) by performing and co-writing this memorable theme to the female-welder-who-wants-to-be-a-dancer movie Flashdance. In grade school, our music class was once made to sing this. Not a pleasant memory.
Then it's David Bowie with a song he and Iggy Pop wrote together in 1977 for Iggy's album The Idiot, but later recorded himself and put out as the follow-up to his #1 smash "Let's Dance." The title is just a bit politically incorrect, and the lyrics make clear his relationship with the title lady are complicated to say the least. Still, the nostalgia factor cannot be denied.
This part finishes with a slab of big dumb rock from Canada's Loverboy, a song in which they describe a lady whom they feel "deserves the best" and is "a cut above the rest," in spite of her rampant promiscuity. It's an interesting attitude for that time. Some might even say admirable. Whaddaya know, I've found sociological depth in a Loverboy song!
Ten remain:
10 - "I'll Tumble 4 Ya," Culture Club
The third hit by the then-shocking Boy George and his group is a Latin-flavored confection that contains the most explicit references to George's sexuality in their singles catalogue in lines like "Who's got the new boy gender?" and "He'll be a boy for you, but you need more." I'm guessing that the band's then red-hot popularity caused radio programmers not to scrutinize the lyrics too closely, because I feel certain that if they did, this wouldn't have gotten this high on the charts.
9 - "Puttin' on the Ritz," Taco
This Indonesian born Dutchman's first name had nothing to do with Mexican food. Apparently, it's an acutal Dutch name. Anyway, his biggest success by far was this synth-pop cover of a 1929 Irving Berlin song about fashionable dressers. It also may be the only modern pop hit ever to feature what sounds like a tap-dance solo.
8 - "(Keep Feeling) Fascination," The Human League
The second American Top Ten for these British New Wavers. They actually manage to convey the emotion of "passion burning, love so strong" in the midst of a sea of icy synths. They were very good at that.
7 - "Is There Something I Should Know," Duran Duran
The third American hit for these British teen idols who at the time I saw as kind of the equivalent of what would later be known as "boy bands," except that they could actually play instruments. And then, as now, there was no denying the catchiness of their hits, including this one. However, "You're about as easy as a nuclear war" remains one of the all time "WTF" lyrics.
6 - "It's a Mistake," Men at Work
The fourth and final U.S. Top Ten for this Australian band, a deceptively bouncy number about Cold War confrontations that could lead to nuclear strikes. Yes, the destruction of this entire planet by atomic bombs was a genuine concern back then. We didn't do "duck and cover" drills like they did in the 50s, and it's not like I dwelled on it day and night, but it definitely seemed possible, and it scared the shit out of me at times.
5 - "Stand Back," Stevie Nicks
The raspy, mystically enigmatic Fleetwood Mac singer was inspired to write this synth-heavy dance-rocker while listening to Prince's "Little Red Corvette." Nicks later called Prince himself and told him the story and about her song's melodic similarities to his hit. Not only was he flattered, but he also came to the studio where she was recording and played keyboard's on the track. This may explain why this has always been my favorite solo song of hers.
4 - "Maniac," Michael Sembello
The first, and by far the biggest, of veteran Philly session guitarist Sembello's two Top 40 hits, this was the second #1 from the Flashdanc soundtrack. This song was originally inspired by a horror film about a serial killer, but his producer encouraged him to change the subject matter and change lyrics like "he will kill your cat and nail it to the door" to "And she's dancing like she's never danced before." The right commercial choice, as it turned out. Later, Springfield Elementary janitor Groundskeeper Willie would try to make extra money busking at a local park as a one-man band, and he performed this song, complete with a finale inspired by the film in which he had a bucket of water pour down on him.
3 - "She Works Hard for the Money," Donna Summer
Donna's last Top 5, a state-of-the-art pop-rock number about a working-class heroine. On the 45 sleeve and in the video, the song's subject is portrayed as a watiress, but apparently the song was actually inspired by an encounter Summer had with a frazzled bathroom attendant. Admittedly, that probably wouldn't have made as good a video.
2 - "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)," Eurythmics
First of all, the song itself is a classic, a chilly-yet-ridiuclously-catchy new wave number with borderline S&M lyrics ("Some of them want to abuse you/Some of them want to be abused"). But it's the video that blew my little 12-year-old mind, with Annie Lennox with her super-short bright orange hair, standing in a conference room with a screen showing random images behind her, spinning a globe with one black-gloved hand and menacingly wielding some sort of stick with the other. And then she shows up later in a fancy red gown and long brown wig, playing a cello outdoors alongside bandmate Dave Stewart, both with faces obscured by Lone Ranger-style masks. And then they're in a field full of cows. Then they're on a rowboat. Then we find out it was all Annie's dream. Anyway, I know I thought that was the greatest thing ever the first time I saw it, and I was even more impressed months later when Annie performed the song at the Grammys dressed as Elvis. Everything around that song was, and is, genius.
And the big song of the week a mere 28 years ago was...
1 - "Every Breath You Take," The Police
Sting wrote this monster hit, the biggest of the year, from the point of view of a stalker-like figure who spies on a person's every move for less-than-noble reasons. But to his horror, many embraced it as a tender love song. However, he wasn't disturbed enough to give back any of the millions this song made for him. Nor should he have been. However it was interpreted, it's a persistent earworm that will be played with unintentional irony at weddings and anniversary parties for centuries to come.
Lots of extras this week, and that's not counting Casey's replay of the previous week's Top 2 (identical to this week's). There were four NotCaseys: "Holiday Road" by Lindsey Buckingham, "True" by Spandau Ballet, "Tonight I Celebrate My Love" by Roberta Flack and Peabo Bryson, and "Burning Down the House" by Talking Heads. There were also two Long Distance Dedications. First, two girls asked Casey to dedicate "Cecilia" by Simon and Garfunkel to their fellow campers at a Russian-language camp in Minnesota they'd attended. Then, a university student wanted him to play Andrew Gold's "Thank You for Being a Friend," for a teenage boy convicted of vehichular manslaughter for a fatal drunk-driving incident who spoke at her school as part of his probation. And lastly, Casey played what he said was the biggest hit ever by two groups collaborating on one song, the Supremes/Temptations smash "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me."
As I said last week, I'm coming back tomorrow for one more kick at the 70s can. Join me. It'll be worth it, I promise.
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