Another trip to '85. Hasn't been too long since our last visit, but there's been enough turnover that I feel I can give it the regular treatment. Here we go.
40 -"Walk of Life," Dire Straits
39 - "Lonely Ol' Night," John Cougar Mellencamp
38 - "Tonight She Comes," The Cars
37 - "Object of My Desire," Starpoint
36 - "Small Town," John Cougar Mellencamp
35 - "Running Up That Hill," Kate Bush
34 - "Girls are More Fun," Ray Parker Jr.
33 - "Wrap Her Up," Elton John
32 - "Say You, Say Me," Lionel Richie
31 - "Sisters are Doin' it for Themselves," Eurythmics and Aretha Franklin
We begin with the rock contingent. Dire Straits followed up their #1 "Money for Nothing" with this chugging rocker about a subway busker who plays "oldies, goldies" such as "Be-Bop-a-Lula," "What'd I Say," and "the song about the knife" (presumably named Mack). It's just fun, a no-frown zone. Mr. Mellencamp appears twice in this section; first with the song we've encountered twice before, and then with his next hit, a song that celebrates growing up outside the hustle and bustle of the larger cities. Nice song, but probably best heard back-to-back with Simon and Garfunkel's "My Little Town" to get both sides of the story. And The Cars are here with their last Top Ten, a typically jittery song about a woman of whom Ric Ocasek sings "she jangles me up" and "gives me a reason for feeling all right." Oh, that Paulina Porizkova.
Then we have the R&B/soul contingent. Starpoint hailed from Annapolis, Maryland, the home of the U.S. Naval Academy. Their biggest pop hit was this okay funk number most notable for the way singer Renee Diggs sings "My body screams 'please make love to me.'" Ray Parker Jr. had his final solo Top 40 hit with this tune that makes the case agains "sausage fests" by asserting "The party ain't begun 'til all the girls come." Well, at least he wasn't biting Huey Lewis. And Lionel Richie picked up his fifth and last #1 with this ballad that seems to be about frienship and togetherness and this "awesome dream" he had about people dressing up in low light. Oh, and there's an uptempo part in the middle that mentions dancing, which I guess is how it ties in to the movie it came from, the ballet flick White Nights.
This section wraps up with the British. Ethereal British chanteuse Kate Bush has had many hits in the U.K., but her only encounter with the American Top 40 was with this rhythmic, atmospheric earworm about a woman who wants to make a deal with God that would allow her to swap places with her male lover so the two of them could understand each other better. It's pretty heady subject matter, and Kate's voice sounded like nothing else on American pop radio at the time, and for those reasons, this is your Uneasy Rider for the week. Sir Elton is here with a song in which he and backup vocalist George Michael sing about their lust for women. It's a fun song, for reasons both blatant and subtextual. And Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart are joined by the Queen of Soul for a celebration of female empowerment. The passion is certainly there, but it's not much of a song. Personally, I think "I Am Woman" has this beat all ends up.
30 - "And We Danced," The Hooters
29 - "Oh Sheila," Ready for the World
28 - "Fortress Around Your Heart," Sting
27 - "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down," Paul Young
26 - "So in Love," Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
25 - "Perfect Way," Scritti Politti
24 - "Party All the Time," Eddie Murphy
23 - "I Miss You," Klymaxx
22 - "Alive and Kicking," Simple Minds
21 - "Soul Kiss," Olivia Newton-John
I'll start with the American groups. The Hooters return with their rootsy number about teenage romance. Two of these guys worked on Cyndi Lauper's She's So Unusual so they have that going for them, which is nice. Ready for the World make one more visit to this blog to once again prove that faux Prince + faux Australian accent = real awesome. And Klymaxx misses you. But I don't miss them.
Then we'll go to the solo artists. Sting is still building walls and trying not to get blown up. Paul Young is still making threats. But there are a couple newcomers in this category. After conquering stand-up, late night TV, and the movies, Eddie Murphy decided that it was time for him to take a break from comedy and try music. He got funk star Rick James to agree that this was a good idea, and the result was this mildly catchy dance-popper about a woman who just doesn't want to stay home. As a singer, Eddie sounds like Luther Vandross compared to, say, Don Johnson, but that doesn't say much. And ONJ is here with what would be her last Top 40 hit, a sultry little midtempo jam about begging for sex. At this point, she was just trying too hard to be hot, when in her heyday, her sex appeal just naturally shone through her driven-snow pure image. When she felt the need to have to spell it out, it was the beginning of the end.
I'll close out the first half with the British bands. OMD are back, and they still can't believe they once had a thing for you, of all people. Scritti Politti are a group, but basically they're singer Green Gartside and whatever musicians he decides to surround himself with. Their only dent on the consciousness of listeners on this side of the Atlantic was this memorable bit of spastic synth-pop that uses a lot of big words to state that Mr. Gartside had an ideal method "to make the girls go crazy." Definitely a gem. And Scotland's Simple Minds, who were originally a punk band called Johnny and the Self-Abusers, had just broken America with the Breakfast Club smash "Don't You (Forget About Me)" in the summer of this year. But they didn't write that song, so it remained to be seen if they could keep up that momentum with their own material. So for the follow up, they released this anthemic rocker about hangin on to love, and it made it all the way to #3. But their next two singles brought diminishing returns, and changes in musical direction and intraband tensions combined to make sure the group would never scale such heights in the USA again.
Tomorrow: a place to rest, Duran Duran side project #2, and a lot of songs we've already covered.
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