November 16, 1985 Part Two

Concluding 1985.

20 - "Lovin' Every Minute of It," Loverboy
19 - "Sleeping Bag," ZZ Top
18 - "Election Day," Arcadia
17 - "One of the Living," Tina Turner
16 - "One Night Love Affair," Bryan Adams

The second half begins with Loverboy, still happy, still wanting to be shot like a rocket into space. They did big dumb rock better than this earlier in their career. Give me "Turn Me Loose," "The Kid is Hot Tonite," or even "Working for the Weekend" over this.

ZZ Top had just come off their biggest success ever when they added electronic elements to their blues-rock on the Eliminator LP. So naturally, they went even farther in that direction for their next record, and on this, the first single from Afterburner, they sound almost like sidemen to a computer. This song about cuddling up in the great outdoors is all right, but the balance between the traditional and the modern that they found on songs like "Sharp Dressed Man" is gone, and it's a bit jarring.

Next are Arcadia, otherwise known as "What Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor were doing while the other two Taylors in Duran Duran were doing the Power Station record." This song sounds more like their parent band than Power Station does, which works. The lyrics don't really refer to elections though, unless "I pull my shirt off and pray" is supposed to be a metaphor for putting oneself through the wringer of a campaign. But any song that includes a spoken-word interlude from Grace Jones is pretty cool in my book.

Tina Turner returns from last time, singing about survival in a desert hellscape. It's starting to grow on me even more than it did when it first came out.

This group closes with Mr. Adams singing about a brief encounter that leaves him cold. That's what this song does to me, Bryan.

15 - "Love Theme from St. Elmo's Fire," David Foster
14 - "Saving All My Love for You," Whitney Houston
13 - "Take on Me," A-ha
12 - "You are My Lady," Freddie Jackson
11 - "Who's Zoomin' Who," Aretha Franklin

This section begins with David Foster's elevator music for Brat Pack angst. Boredom on wax.

Whitney follows with her first number one about waiting on a married guy. Well, that's not as bad a decision as getting hitched to Bobby Brown.

A-ha are back, daring you to take them on, because they'll be gone in a day or two. In reality, it was more like a month or two. Although apparently they actually had a substantial career in Europe after they faded here. Good for them.

Then it's Freddie Jackson, crooning that the woman he's singing to is "everything I need and more." That's nice. And sometimes, nice is enough.

Aretha brings the curtain down on this bunch by asking a strange question. I kind of wish that expression had caught on. And I'm not zoomin'.

When the Top Ten get here, all the pigeons gonna run to them.

10 - "Lay Your Hands on Me," The Thompson Twins
This band got their name from two characters in the popular Belgian comic book series The Adventures of Tintin, about the travels of a young reporter. Steven Spielberg has turned it into a movie, which hasn't come out yet over here, but is already a pretty big hit in Europe. Oh, and this song's still pretty good.

9 - "Be Near Me," ABC
Decent, but no "The Look of Love." Or even "Poison Arrow." But I do like it better than "When Smokey Sings."

8 - "Never," Heart
"Never let them shoot us down," Ann Wilson sings. Well, I'm shooting you and your whole band down, Annie. This song sucks.

7 - "Broken Wings," Mr. Mister
This band's biggest hit was this anthemic pop-rocker about trying to convince someone who's been hurt to take another chance on romance so "the book of love will open up and let us in." It's become a cheese touchstone of the decade, but with that stripped away, it's a really good song. Seriously.

6 - "Separate Lives," Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin
This song is just uninteresting mush. How the hell did it hit #1?

5 - "Part-Time Lover," Stevie Wonder
And this one isn't much better. It also hit #1, but I can excuse that, because, well, Stevie. And this is a better final charttopper for him than "I Just Called to Say I Love You."

4 - "Head Over Heels," Tears for Fears
Okay, I'm now convinced that Roland Orzabal isn't singing "It's hard to be a man when there's a note in your lunch." But I'm still disappointed.

3 - "Miami Vice Theme," Jan Hammer
There's a weird sound in the middle of this that kind of sounds like an electronic simulation of ice being dropped into a glass. What was it supposed to sound like? Why was it put there? If I ever meet Jan Hammer, I will demand he answer these questions.

2 - "You Belong to the City," Glenn Frey
Ah, the peak of Glenn Frey's solo career, when he was associated songs about crime and drugs and gritty urban life. And yet I still didn't like him. I just find him grating on a deep level.

And the song that made people feel alive in '85 was...

1 - "We Built This City," Starship
This song is so wrong, and yet so right. I still don't know why I still like it. Maybe it's partly because Homer Simpson tried to get his family to sing it along with him when they were on the run as accused alligator murderers. But I don't think that's the entire reason.

The NotCaseys this week were "Sidewalk Talk" by Jellybean, "That's What Friends are For" by Dionne and Friends, "Burning Heart" by Survivor, and "Talk to Me" by Stevie Nicks. The Long Distance Dedications were "Never Surrender" by Corey Hart (from a musician to his ex-boarding school bandmates, telling them not to give up on their dreams) and "Never Knew Love Like This Before" by Stephanie Mills (from a Japanese women to the people of Oregon who made her fell welcome when she visited that state).

Before I go, you might be wondering why I didn't do a 70s recap at the top of this post. Well, I've decided that this week's countdown from November 11, 1972 is worthy of an entire post. So tomorrow, you get a bonus. Join me then.