Happy Easter everyone. And to celebrate, we're going back to 1984. This looks like a fun one.
40 - "The Longest Time," Billy Joel
39 - "No More Words," Berlin
38 - "Show Me," The Pretenders
37 - "One in a Million," The Romantics
36 - "Back Where You Belong," .38 Special
35 - "Holding Out for a Hero," Bonnie Tyler
34 - "Red, Red Wine," UB40
33 - "The Kid's American," Matthew Wilder
32 - "A Fine Fine Day," Tony Carey
31 - "To All the Girls I've Loved Before," Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson
We'll start with the solo singers. Billy Joel had his fourth hit from An Innocent Man with this tribute to the doo-wop genre. It works as an homage, but it's also a pretty good example of the style in and of itself. It's probably the best of that LP's hits. Bonnie Tyler had her last American hit with this blustery contribution to the Footloose soundtrack. It's a big, operatic Jim Steinman production about a woman who fantasizes about a mythic "streetwise Hercules" who possesses superhuman strength and speed. Don't know if she ever found him, and I don't care. I'm a big fan of both Steinman and Tyler, and Lord knows they hit it out of the park with "Total Eclipse of the Heart," but this one just leaves me cold. Matthew Wilder followed up his debut smash "Break My Stride" with a fast, synth-laden ode to drivin', smokin', rockin' and doin' it. There's a spirit to it, but it just doesn't quite have the oomph necessary to really get the message across. This would be his last hit as an artist, and I have to say, I don't think we missed out on anything. And California keyboardist Tony Carey, a former member of the bands Rainbow and Planet P Project, had the first of his two Top 40 singles with this Springsteeny tale of the narrator's "Uncle Sonny," who from what I can make of the lyrics, was a mysterious man who was involved in some questionable activities and who met an unknown fate in the end. But that's okay. I don't always need songs to spell everything out. And I definitely remember this song fondly as an underrated gem.
Then we have two female-fronted groups. Before "Take My Breath Away," L.A. New Wavers Berlin scored a hit with this uptempo portrayal of a relationship that's souring. Singer Teri Nunn knows this is the case because she says of her lover "You tell me you love me while you're looking away." This isn't nearly as cool or interesting as their 1982 #62 "Sex (I'm A...)," but still much better and more representative than that hunk of mush from Top Gun. And Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders are here with a song about looking for someone that can make up for all the bad in the world, who can "keep the despair at bay and send it away." A tall order, to be sure. But for someone as awesome as Ms. Hynde, I'd try.
We'll finish this section with a look at three male-fronted groups and a duet between a very odd couple. Detroit's Romantics followed up "Talking in Your Sleep" with their only other Top 40, a boring pop-rocker about a special lady. Contrary to its title, songs like this are a dime a dozen. Although I do thing it's funny that they have a band member named Mike Skill who isn't even the singer. Florida's .38 Special picked up the fifth of their nine Top 40s with this okay rock tune about wanting a woman to give a guy a second chance at love. This is not to be confused with their 1989 hit "Second Chance." Although you probably wouldn't make that mistake, becasuse for one thing, that was a ballad. And for another, it was terrible. Birmingham, England reggae band UB40 made their first appearance on the U.S. charts with this loping cover of a very minor Neil Diamond single from 1968. On this release, #34 was the highest position it would attain, but this celebration of the comforting properties of alcohol would be rediscovered four years later, and would make it all the way to #1. It might sound painfully hipsterish of me to say I liked it better the first time around, but...I liked it better the first time around. And the bizarre pairing of smooth, loungey Spanish pop singer Julio Iglesias and raspy, cannabis-consuming country star Willie Nelson on a song about all of the ladies they've, ahem, entertained during their lives (co-written by the slightly less ill-suited team of Albert "It Never Rains in Southern Califorinia" Hammond and frequent Burt Bacharach collaborator Hal David) somehow paid off in the form of a Top 5 hit. It was cheesy then, and its fromagean qualities have only increased with the passage of time. Still, I'd rather hear this than anything Enrique's ever recorded.
30 - "Runner," Mannfred Mann's Earth Band
29 - "The Authority Song," John Cougar Mellencamp
28 - "Leave It," Yes
27 - "Head Over Heels," The Go-Gos
26 - "Give it Up," KC
25 - "Don't Answer Me," The Alan Parsons Project
24 - "Tonight," Kool and the Gang
23 - "Thriller," Michael Jackson
22 - "Come Back and Stay," Paul Young
21 - "The Language of Love," Dan Fogelberg
We'll start this section with three British bands. Manfred Mann's Earth Band had their last hit to date with this cover of an Ian Thomas song about the grandeur and effort of racing on foot. There's a nice intensity to it, and evocative lyrics about sweat and breath and crossing the line. Certatinly nowhere near "Blinded by the Light," but still, pretty damn good. Yes followed up the #1 "Owner of a Lonely Heart" with this cool little confection that added some of the proggy ambition of their best years to their new pop direction. Can't really say what it's about, but that's fine with me. And the Alan Parsons Project cracket the Top 20 for the last time with this retroish tale of doomed romance that is probably best remembered for the amimated, film-noir style video, with its rumpled raincoats, dizzy dames, and musclehead villains. Loved that clip, but the song is a minor classic in its own right, at least to me.
I'm dividing up the male solo singers into the categories "First Got Famous On Their Own" and "Fronted a Popular Group Before Going Solo." Leading off the former category is J.C. Mellencamp with his celebration of sticking it to The Man, even if it always ends in futility. And it's true, rebellion is usually crushed. But it is usually pretty fun. Brit Paul Young picked up his first American hit with this synth-soul plea for a lover's return. Not bad, but I don't think anyone could have imagined that this guy'd be at #1 a year later with "Every Time You Go Away." And Dan Fogelberg had his last Top 40 hit with this number about the various miscommunications that happen in relationships. Uncharacteristically, it's an uptempo rocker, and he actually does pretty well with it. I've given Dan a lot of crap here, and I'm sure I'll continue to do so, but I give him credit for going out with a nice burst of energy.
Now we go to the American bands. The Go-Gos are here with what has always been my favorite song of theirs. The piano, the handclaps, Belinda Carlisle rhapsodizing about a love that makes it seem like "the whole world's out of sync." All of it combines to hit all my sweet spots. Top 50 of the whole decade, at least. And Kool and the Gang are here with a nice little chunk of funk-rock about losing one's virginity at 16. You know what? These guys actually had more good stuff in this decade than I remembered. I guess the stench of "Cherish" overwheled it.
We close the first half with a couple guys out on their own, away from the bands they helped to multiple charttoppers. Although in Harry Wayne Casey's case, it turns out that's not quite true. In most of the rest of the world, this sprightly throwback to his disco heyday was credited to "KC and the Sunshine Band," but for some reason, their American handlers decided to just market it as a KC solo record. Not sure it really made a difference. No matter who you say did it, it's a solid song. And Michael Jackson scored his seventh Top Ten from Thriller with the album's title track, a funky paean to the terrors offered by horror movies that even comes with a spoken-word interlude by fright film legend Vincent Price. And then of course there's that long, expensive video, which still holds up. You just can't lose with perfectly choreographed zombie dancing.
Tomorrow: the Apocalypse in German, paranoia in English, and the man who's signalled to many an artist that they've truly "made it."
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