This week we go back to a countdown that originally aired a mere two days before John Hinckley Jr. attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan to impress Jodie Foster. What a strange world. Reagan, of course, survived. And no, Alexander Haig, you were never in charge. Anyway, here was the popular music of that time.
40 - "Who Do You Think You're Foolin"," Donna Summer
39 - "How 'Bout Us," Champaign
38 - "Turn Me Loose," Loverboy
37 - "Sweetheart," Franke and the Knockouts
36 - "It's a Love Thing," The Whispers
35 - "Fade Away," Bruce Springsteen
34 - "Time Out of Mind," Steely Dan
33 - "Too Much Time On My Hands," Styx
32 - "Take it On the Run," REO Speedwagon
31 - "Games People Play," The Alan Parsons Project
We'll start with some R&B artists. Donna Summer's post-disco career dip was beginning when she only reached #40 with this synth-popper about the struggles of fame. It's not bad, but you can tell she wasn't quite in her comfort zone. Champaign return from my very first 80s lookback, back in June of last year, with their decent ballad about questioning a relationship's strength. And The Whispers had their third pop hit with a pleasant bit of lite funk about the side effects of romance. It's kind of like the stuff Kool and the Gang was putting out at this time, but better.
The rest of this section is rock, and I'm dividing the seven songs into groups marked "hard rock" and "less hard rock." First among the former is the debut hit from Calgary's Loverboy, a fun bit of cheese about a guy too wild to be tamed by love. But no, Mike Reno, you are not the craziest boy I've ever seen. Styx is back from June with their synth-driven ode to the devil's playthings, and REO Speedwagon return from that same chart with one of their few hits that still holds up to me, a power ballad about confronting a cheating partner. On this one, their poofy corporate sound actually sounds...right.
And lastly there's the stuff that isn't quite as loud as the ones I covered above, but still rocks, to varying degrees. Franke and the Knockouts return from last June with their limp debut single. I think I actually liked this as a kid. Silly boy. Bruce Springsteen followed up his first pop Top Ten, "Hungry Heart," with this mournful ballad about a man who knows his lover is drifting away from him, partly because of his own neglect, and his promise to change back into the man she loved in the first place. Very emotional. It isn't played as much as some of The Boss' other classics, but it's up there with his best. Steely Dan are here with their last Top 40 hit, a jazzy bit of almost-disco with their usual obtuse lyrics. I can tell you that "chasing the dragon" is a term for inhaling opiates. What that has to do with anything, only those guys know. And The Alan Parsons Project are back from January with their song about gambling or something. Like the singer of this song, I too don't want to spend the rest of my life quietly fading away.
30 - "Ain't Even Done with the Night," John Cougar
29 - "Just Between You and Me," April Wine
28 - "Guitar Man," Elvis Presley
27 - "Being with You," Smokey Robinson
26 - "I Ain't Gonna Stand for It" Stevie Wonder
25 - "Don't Stop the Music," Yarbrough and Peoples
24 - "Treat Me Right," Pat Benatar
23 - "Her Town Too," James Taylor and J.D. Souther
22 - "Precious to Me," Phil Seymour
21 - "Somebody's Knockin'" Terri Gibbs
We kick off this group with solo rockers. John Cougar had his first Top 20 hit with this urgent midtempo number about a guy who isn't sure he's the man his girlfriend wants and needs him to be. The shout-out to Sam Cooke is a nice touch. Plus, I swear I once saw him perform this on TV, during which he did the James Brown bit of being wrapped in a cape and led offstage, seemingly exhausted, then breaking loose and performing some more. Anyway, to me, it stand's as the man's best song. Four years after his death, Elvis popped back up on the charts with a 13-year-old recording of him singing a minor Jerry Reed country hit set to a new instrumental background. It's a cool little number that tells a tale of a guitar player struggling to find work in nightclubs. The cynical-seeming creation of this track makes me uneasy, but I still have to say I like it. Pat Benatar is back with her swaggering demand to get what she deserves from her man. And Phil Seymour, who first tasted success alongside fellow Oklohoman Dwight Twilley, had his one taste of solo success with this catchy bit of pop-rock love songcraft. Seymour has a distinctive, almost boyish voice, and it adds even more personality to an already solid track. Yet another lost gem.
Then there are a bands and two duos. Montreal rockers April Wine had their third, last, and biggest American hit with this ballad about a love built to last. Okay, but the only thing even slightly remarkable about it is the line they sing in French near the end. To me, "Oowatanite" is probably the best they ever did. Dallas natives Cavin Yarbrough and Alisa Peoples made their one big impression on the pop world with this spacey funk jam about keeping the tunes comin'. The contrast between Yarbrough's growls and Peoples' sweet singing works wonderfully, and that Chipmunksian bit of distorted vocals in the middle adds some extra flavor. No surprise that it's been a popular source for hip-hop sampling. And James Taylor made his last Top 40 appearance on this team-up with J.D. "You're Only Lonely" Souther. It's a sad, folky tale about a woman who feels isolated from the outside world after breaking up with her lover, because she doesn't want to hear what people are saying about her or to run into people she knows were friends with both her and her ex. Not a well-plumbed topic in pop songwriting, but a worthy one. Not a bad curtain call for Sweet Baby James.
The first half closes with three non-rock solo acts. Smokey Robinson is back from June with with his drippy "I love you, and I don't care what anyone says" ballad. For a much better variation on this theme, why not try Tracey Ullman's 1984 hit cover of Kirsty MacColl's "They Don't Know"? Stevie Wonder returns from January's '81 chart with a playful-yet-still-serious declaration that he will no longer put up with infidelity. And Terri Gibbs, a blind country singer, had her biggest hit with this sultry tune about being visited by none other than the Devil Himself, who appears before her with "blue eyes and blue jeans" and promises her "one heavenly night." An okay song, but I have to admit that for a while after this came out, I was sure that a guy was singing this. Her voice is kind of deep, you see. Plus there's that name, which when you only hear it, could belong to either gender. Anyway, Ms. Gibbs, should you ever chance upon this, I offer heartfelt apologies on behalf of my confused ten-year-old self.
Tomorrow: a song about a lover's commute, forbidden lust in the halls of academia, and an alien with a strange, rhyming appetite.
No comments:
Post a Comment