Concluding '87.
20 - "We're Ready," Boston
19 - "Mandolin Rain," Bruce Hornsby and the Range
18 - "I'll Be Alright Without You," Journey
17 - "Stop to Love," Luther Vandross
16 - "At This Moment," Billy Vera and the Beaters
The second half opens with Tom Scholz and company with their last Top Ten hit. It's mainly a love ballad, but with a revved-up, fist-pumping chorus that seems a bit out of place. But it definitely sounds like no one else but Boston.
Bruce Hornsby and the Range followed up their #1 debut single with this midtempo reminiscence of young love amongst carnival tents and bluegrass bands. Simple, but powerful. Could be their best single.
Next are Journey with their last Top 40 hit of the eighties, a bland ballad in which Steve Perry tries to convince himself he doesn't miss the woman he just broke up with. This one made the Greatest Hits album they released the next year, an album that has sold over 25 million copies around the world. I really don't know what to say about that.
Then it's Luther Vandross with his first Top Twenty pop hit, an uptempo tune about a guy who wishes his girlfriend would stay at home more instead of going away on business so often. A neat little gender-flip of an old theme, and Luther is always a joy to the ears.
This section is closed out by Billy Vera and the Beaters' Alex Keaton-powered moment in the sun. Again, most of this song's power is in Vera's vocal. In lesser hands, it wouldn't be much.
15 - "Nobody's Fool," Cinderella
14 - "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)," The Beastie Boys
13 - "Big Time," Peter Gabriel
12 - "Respect Yourself," Bruce Willis
11 - "Somewhere Out There," Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram
This section is led off by Philadelphia glam-metallers Cinderella, who were led by raspy-voiced singer Tom Kiefer. On this, their first hit, he applies that rasp to a solid power ballad about a relationship gone wrong. "I scream my heart out just to make a dime," he sings. He also screamed his voice out, because he has been battling vocal cord problems on and off since the mid-90s. Too bad, really, because they were one of the more interesting hair bands out there.
Next are the Beastie Boys with their first and biggest pop hit, a hard rock-powered rap about the problems of teenage boys: hating school, not being allowed to smoke, having your mother find and dispose of your pornography, etc. This was the bratty incarnation of the group that broke into the mainstream, and they perpetuated that delinquent image not only in their songs and videos, but in the on-and-offstage behaviour that led Casey to dub them "the Three Stooges of rap." Of course, after this they went in much more innovative directions with their music, and they have become much more serious people. But it all began with this rebellious, punky anthem. Evolution is a strange thing.
Peter Gabriel followed up his #1 "Sledgehammer" with his only other U.S. Top Ten, a tongue-in-cheek funk-rocker about fabulous wealth. The man should have had more American pop hits, in my humble opinion.
Then it's Bruce Willis during the height of his Moonlighting popularity, when he decided to put out an album on which he portrayed a blues singer named Bruno. And it came out on Motown, no less. It produced one hit in the form of this limp, unnecessary cover of a Staple Singers classic. It's only redeemed a bit by the second verse, which June Pointer sings. When Bruce is singing...well, let's just say I long for the relative competenced of Don Johnson. And to top it all off, this song hit #5, while the original only made it to Number 12. Everyone involved should be ashamed of that.
This bunch is anchored by Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram's hit ballad from An American Tail, an animated film about mice immigrating from Russia to America. Haven't seen the movie, but the song is too mushy for my taste.
The Top Ten are here. Hide the liquor.
10 - "Change of Heart," Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi returns from last time with this uptempo plea to reconnect with a friend. Probably on the low end of her hits, but still good.
9 - "Love You Down," Ready for the World
The guys behing the fun-funk of "Oh Sheila" and "Digital Display" scored their last pop hit by slowing down about loving an older woman and promising to pleasure her "even if it takes all night." I like that even when they did a love jam, they still made it interesting. I think even more of them now than I did before.
8 - "Open Your Heart," Madonna
Madge (as they call her in England) returns to offer her love to a reluctant suitor. "I hold the lock and you hold the key," she sings. Is there some sort of metaphoric symbolism in that line? I wouldn't know about anything like that.
7 - "Ballerina Girl," Lionel Richie
Lionel had his last Top Ten with this sleepy ballad about loving a lady who pliés and pirouettes. Maybe watching White Nights got him hot and bothered, I don't know. Anyway, this isn't much.
6 - "You Got It All," The Jets
Minnesota's Wolfgramm siblings had the second of their five Top Tens with this ballad in which one of the sisters tries to convince her current lover that he's much better than her last one. Not bad. And it was written by Rupert "The Pina Colada Song" Holmes, so that's something.
5 - "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)," Samantha Fox
Londoner Fox first gained fame at 16 posing topless on Page 3 of the British tabloid The Sun. After becoming one of the most popular "Page Three Girls" ever, and having her breasts insured for 250,000 pounds, she retired from that kind of modelling at 20 and began a music career. Her first single was this unabashedly lustful dance-pop number, and it became a Top 5 smash around the world. She would have a few more hits on both sides of the Atlantic, then she faded into obscurity, only to return again in the 2000s as a frequent participant in British reality shows. And in 2008, at 42, she posed topless one more time for a Page 3. Good for her...?
4 - "Jacob's Ladder," Huey Lewis and the News
Huey and co. had their third and final #1 with this Bruce Hornsby-written number about rejecting those who would foist their religion on people, and instead doing one's best to make it to Heaven on one's own terms. Definitely Huey's most interesting hit, and possibly his best. It's definitely less throwaway than a lot of his other stuff.
3 - "Will You Still Love Me," Chicago
This was Chicago's first hit after the departure of Peter Cetera. Unfortunately, the band continued on their well-established "sappy-ass ballad" path, and new singer Jason Scheff seems to be going out of his way to sound as much like Cetera as he can. It worked in terms of chart success, but I think you can guess how I feel about it.
2 - "Keep Your Hands to Yourself," The Georgia Satellites
These swampy Atlanta rockers made their biggest chart impact with this fun, catchy tune about that age-old problem: A man wants to have sex with a woman, but she insists that he wait until marriage. Even when he volunteers to live with her for the rest of his life, she counters with "a story about free milk and a cow," and remains adamant that there will be "no huggin', no kissin' until you make me your wife." A great little gem, perfect for drunken singalongs. The band didn't do much after that, but I must admit I quite enjoyed singer Dan Baird's solo album Love Songs for the Hearing Impaired.
And topping the list 25 years ago was...
1 - "Livin' on a Prayer," Bon Jovi
Jon and co. followed up "You Give Love a Bad Name" with another charttopper. This one tells the tale of struggling young lovers Tommy and Gina, whose devotion to each other helps them survive the tough times. It's become a rock standard, if there is such a thing. And it is a damn good song when you strip everything away.
The NotCaseys this week were "Hooked on You" by Sweet Sensation, "Walking Down Your Street" by The Bangles, "The Lady in Red" by Chris DeBurgh, and "The Finer Things" by Steve Winwood. There were two LDDs this week. The first came from a girl who asked Casey to play her developmentally-challenged brother's favorite song, "The Rainbow Connection" from The Muppet Movie. And the second came from a Czech hotel manager, who dedicated Dire Straits' "So Far Away" to the Canadian television producer she met when he came to town to cover a hockey tournament. And during the countdown, Casey paid heartfelt tribute to the recently deceased Liberace, though he didn't play a song to accompany it.
As you may have noticed, I didn't lead off this post with a 70s recap. So yes, that means there will be a bonus post tomorrow, as I take an extended look back at this week in music in 1973. Join me if you like. If not, see you next week.
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