This week, we visit the waning days of 1986. Mike Tyson was just weeks removed from becoming boxing's youngest World Heavyweight Champion ever. Entertainment legends Cary Grant and Desi Arnaz had recently died. And because the idea of abandoning the regular playlist and playing nothing but Christmas music hadn't yet caught on in any widespread way, these were the predominant songs on American radio:
40 - "Change of Heart," Cyndi Lauper
39 - "Falling in Love (Uh-Oh)," Miami Sound Machine
38 - "Open Your Heart," Madonna
37 - "For Tonight," Nancy Martinez
36 - "Goldmine," The Pointer Sisters
35 - "Foolish Pride," Daryl Hall
34 - "Coming Around Again," Carly Simon
33 - "I'll Be Over You," Toto
32 - "At This Moment," Billy Vera and the Beaters
31 - "You Be Illin'," Run-D.M.C.
We start with the solo ladies. Cyndi Lauper picked up her sixth Top Ten with this follow-up to the #1 "True Colors." It's an upbeat number about waiting for an old friend to get his or her life straightened back out. I think. Anyway, it's a little darker than her earlier uptempo hits, but still catchy as hell. Madonna had yet another big 80s hit with this jaunty strut about trying to catch a guy's attention. Apparently, it was originally written with Cyndi Lauper in mind, but Madonna got to it first. Probably for the best. The video, with the little boy watching her in the peep show, was kind of off though. Montreal's Nancy Martinez had her only American hit with this lightweight bit of dance pop about wanting to reconcile with an old flame for one evening of "a little love and candlelight." The only notable thing about Nancy was the fact that she pronounced her last name "MartinEZ" instead of "MarTEEnez." Although apparently no one told Casey this. And Carly Simon had her first hit in six years with this very adult portrait of a crumbling marriage. It may be the only Top 40 hit to refer to broken toasters and burnt souffles, and that's an accomplishment of a sort. But seriously, a good song.
Next we have female-fronted groups. "Falling in Love (Uh-Oh)" was the last Miami Sound Machine single on which Gloria Estefan was not billed apart from the band. And it wasn't a particularly spectacular farewell: just a lightweight pop number about getting involved with someone despite one's better judgement. But the "Uh,oh, uh, oh," chorus, I must admit, sticks in the mind. Annoyingly so. And Ruth, June and Anita Pointer had their final Top 40 hit with this song about a man who makes a woman feel like she's hit the motherlode with his flower-sending, note-leaving, poerty-reading ways. It's very similar to many of their other hits, with the possible exception of their kinda-embarrassing attempts at rapping at the beginning. But not the worst way to go out, by any means.
We'll close out this section with all the songs sung by men. Daryl Hall followed up his Top Ten solo debut "Dreamtime" with this slower tune about being too stubborn to admit he needs help. This one sounds more like something he could have done with Oates, but it's still a cool little nugget that should have been a bigger hit. Toto are back with the piece of crap they had on here the last time we visited '86. California's Billy Vera and the Beaters scraped into the Top 40 in 1981 with a song called "I Can Take Care of Myself." Their follow-up single, however, stalled at #79 until five years later, when the producers of the sitcom Family Ties used it to soundtrack the relationship between Alex Keaton and Ellen Reed (played by eventual real-life married couple Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan). Viewers started trying to track down the song and requesting it from their local radio stations, so it was re-released, and it eventually made it all the way to #1. Recorded live, it's an earnest bar-rock ballad about wanting one more chance with a departing lover, helped greatly by Vera's impassioned lead vocal. Not a great song, but it's not hard to see how it caught on. And Run-D.M.C. followed up their groundbreaking Aerosmith collaboration "Walk this Way" with this fun rap classic about a guy so impaired by drugs and alcohol that he does stupid things like ordering a Big Mac at KFC, yelling "Touchdown!" at a basketball game, and eating a can of dog food for dinner. Casey helpfully told us that parts of this song are spoken in a mysterious dialect called "jive." Awesome.
30 - "All I Wanted," Kansas
29 - "Take Me Home Tonight," Eddie Money
28 - "Someday," Glass Tiger
27 - "Wild Wild Life," Talking Heads
26 - "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades," Timbuk 3
25 - "(Forever) Live and Die," Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
24 - "Amanda," Boston
23 - "Love is Forever," Billy Ocean
22 - "True Blue," Madonna
21 - "Victory," Kool and the Gang
We start with American rock bands. Kansas had their last Top 40 hit with this mushy nothing of a synth ballad that even Journey would have been embarrassed to put out. Just terrible. Talking Heads had their last Top 40 hit with this song from True Stories a film directed by the band's singer, David Byrne. The song has some pretty strange lyrics about fur pyjamas and "sleeping on the interstate," but I can tell you that from what I remember, the movie was even stranger. Anyway, True Stories was the first Talking Heads album I ever bought, and I think it helped my gradual shift towards exploring more music beyond radio pop. Madison, Wisconsin husband-and-wife duo Timbuk 3 had their only major hit with this bizarre little electro-roots earworm about a "Peeping Tom techie with X-ray eyes" who's studying nuclear science so he can get a good job, because "50 thou a year'll buy a lot of beer." I always loved how different this was, and I still do, so of course it's this week's Uneasy Rider. Oh, and does anyone else remember when the gifted high-school students on the sitcom Head of the Class made a video for this song? For that matter, does anyone remember Head of the Class? And Boston are back from last time with this monster power-ballad-by-numbers. Millions may have been waiting for them to return, but I certainly wasn't one of them.
There are three other American acts in this bunch. Eddie Money is back from last time with a song that asks the listened to "be my little baby." Having Ronnie Spector help him make that request was inspired, but still, Eddie, no. Madonna returns from last time with her retro-pop gem about being loyal to a lover. Things haven't quite gone that way in her real life, have they? And Kool and the Gang proved they were still capable of hits with this made-for-sports-higlight-packages dance jam about giving all you can to "go for the win." Listening to it now, I'm surprised to find that I rate it as one of their best post-"Celebration" hits.
We finish the first half with artists from outside the United States. Glass Tiger had their second and last U.S. Top Ten with this ballad that asserts that one day people will miss them. Keep waiting, guys. Britain's OMD had their third American hit with this soothing synth-popper that I think is about two people who are on different paths in life but are still somehow deeply connected. Sorry, I can't always figure these lyrics out. Damn you and your ambiguity, OMD! And another Brit, Billy Ocean, had another hit with another smooth ballad. I like his uptempo stuff way better. All the love songs just seem to blend together in my mind.
Tomorrow: a realm of bewilderment, the return of a classic, and way-oh, way-oh, way-oh way-oh.
No comments:
Post a Comment