This week it's back to November 1981. On TV, General Hospital's Luke and Laura had just gotten married. Meanwhile, on the radio...
40 - "I Wouldn't Have Missed It for the World," Ronnie Milsap
39 - "When She was My Girl," The Four Tops
38 - "Twilight," The Electric Light Orchestra
37 - "I Want You, I Need You," Chris Christian
36 - "Poor Man's Son," Survivor
35 - "Centerfold," The J. Geils Band
34 - "Cool Night," Paul Davis
33 - "Never Too Much," Luther Vandross
32 - "Hooked on Classics," The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
31 - "Steal the Night," Stevie Woods
We start in the middle...of the road, that is. Ronnie Milsap returns with a gentle country ballad about not regretting a past relationship and its good memories in spite of it ending. A nice sentiment, delivered solidly. Nothing more. Producer and songwriter Chris Christian had his only pop hit with some bland easy listening about wanting his lady back. Cheryl Ladd sings backup on it, so there's that. And Paul "I Go Crazy" Davis is here with a bland little offering about wanting an old lover to come over just for the night. This guy actually hit the Top 40 eight times. I don't get it. Nothing special about him at all.
A couple bits o' soul in this pack. The Four Tops return from last time with a song that isn't much but a Levi Stubbs delivery system, which is all right by me. Luther Vandross had his first major hit with this slick bit of romantic disco funk in which he reveals that his capacity for receiving affection is big enough that there is room for "a thousand kisses" and "a million days in your arms" with still space to spare. Right from the beginning, the voice was special. And Stevie Woods had his only hit with this jazzy little tune about wanting to go off into the evening with someone special. He sounds kind of like a cross between Al Jarreau and Johnny Mathis. I like the voice better than the song. He wouldn't have much more Stateside success, but then he went overseas and became a star in Germany. Good for him.
We've got three rock bands here. ELO are here with one of their minor hits, applying their typical sound to a song about dreams and other flights of fancy. Not one of their more memorable ones. Before "Eye of the Tiger," Survivor made their first dent on the charts with this dramatic hard-rocker about a romance between a man of little means and a rich woman. Basically, "Uptown Girl," but taken much more seriously. And it's anthemic enough that it's clear how they got the Rocky gig. And The J. Geils band had their only #1 with this classic tale of a man one day discovering that the girl he lusted after in high school is being featured in what we will euphemisticall call a "men's magazine." This is just irresistible, from the organ to the "na na na na na na"s to the whistling at the end. Not a super favorite of mine, but undoubtedly an 80s essential.
We close out this block with this week's clear Uneasy Rider, a mix of familiar classical melodies performed by London's Royal Philharmonic orchestra backed by the dance beat of a drum machine. This odd idea was commissioned by as-seen-on-TV giant K-Tel Records, and it was a major success. This single, which included among other popular favorites as Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee," Rossini's "William Tell Overture," and the "March of the Toreadors" from Bizet's Carmen, went to Number 10, an the album, which featured other similar mixes (and which my parents bought on cassette), went platinum and spawned multiple sequels. As a kid, I must admit, I dug it, though probably not as much as Walter Murphy's "A Fifth of Beethoven."
30 - "Comin' in and Out of Your Life," Barbra Streisand
29 - "No Reply at All," Genesis
28 - "Heart Like a Wheel," The Steve Miller Band
27 - "Turn Your Love Around," George Benson
26 - "My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone)," Chilliwack
25 - "The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known)," Juice Newton
24 - "Take My Heart (You Can Have It if You Want It)," Kool and the Gang
23 - "Our Lips are Sealed," The Go-Go's
22 - "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)," Daryl Hall and John Oates
21 - "I've Done Everything for You," Rick Springfield
We kick off this section with two solo ladies. La Streisand just missed the Top Ten with this typically dramatic ballad about an on again-off again love affair. She does her usual solid job, but the material just doesn't measure up to her 70s biggies. And Juice Newton scored her third straight pop Top Ten with the most country-sounding of her hits to that point, a ballad about being in a relationship that feels like "the one." She originally recorded it in 1975 with her former band Silver Spur, but it didn't click until she went off on her own. Take from that what you will.
Rock accounts for half of this group. Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford picked up another minor pop hit with this peppy, horn-laden record about a failure to communicate. It was just background music to me. Steve Miller and his combo had their first hit in four years with this rumbly little number that seems to be about his desire to commit to one woman. That's not where I thought he was going with that title, but whatever, decent song that hasn't been worn out by overplay. Chilliwack, a band of American-born Canadians who named themselves after a town in British Columbia, had their biggest U.S. hit with this bouncy earworm about a quest to find a departed paramour no matter what it takes. Sing it with me: "Gone gone gone she been gone so long she been gone gone gone so long." The Go-Go's, an all-female quintet that emerged out of the L.A. punk scene, had their first hit with this aural contagion about ignoring rumors and retaining privacy. I love all their hits, but my favorite is 1984's "Head Over Heels." So good. And Rick Springfield is back and whining. He's finally got a girl of his own after lusting after Jessie's for all that time, but he's still not satisfied. I have no sympathy for him whatsoever.
We'll finish with degrees of soul. George Benson had another of his peppy jazz-pop hits with this attempt to persuade a woman to stop shopping around and settle with him. Don't know if it worked. Doesn't quite seem strong enough. Kool and the Gang are here with a midtempo ballad offering a vital organ. Nothing spectacular, but at least it has a funky pulse to it in the midst of their bland period. And from the genre's "blue-eyed" division, Hall and Oates attend these proceedings with another of their huge smashes, a billowy little dance tune about setting limits on how much of oneself one is willing to offer a lover. I'm not sure that's a successful romantic strategy.
Tomorrow: an anthem of faith, teenage runaways, and the biggest hit of the entire decade.
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