At last, we move on to the 80s leftovers. There are quite a few, and one year in particular has enough to merit its own entry (or two, TBD), but we'll never finish if we don't start, so here goes.
11/1/1980
30 - "Without Your Love," Roger Daltrey
Shortly after his Who bandmate Townshend scored his biggest solo hit with "Let My Love Open the Door," Daltrey had his sole U.S. Top 40 with this ballad from the soundtrack of McVicar, a film in which he played a real-life British bank robber. A sweet song of devotion and dependence.
31 - "Never Be The Same," Christopher Cross
Cross' follow-up to the #1 "Sailing" was this uptempo MOR track about a lost, life-altering love. Basic waiting-room music, perfect for leafing through old magazines while awaiting the results of your blood work.
35 - "I'm Happy That Love Has Found You," Jimmy Hall
The former lead singer of Southern rockers Wet Willie had his thonly solo Top 40 with a song about being happy for a woman finding the love of her life...him. That`s not usually how these songs go, and that's the most interseting thing about his slick, boring lite-popper.
36 - "You Shook Me All Night Long ," AC/DC
This Australian hard rock band had broken through in America the previous year with the Highway to Hell LP. Then in early 1980, lead singer Bon Scott died after a night of drinking, and the group considered breaking up. But instead, the band hired a new singer, Brian Johnson, and recorded a new album called Back in Black. This record became one of the biggest sellers of all time, and the first single, this grinding ode to raucous sex with a "fast machine" who "kept her motor clean" became the band's first U.S. Top 40. I probably don't have to say much more, because most of you who are reading this can probably identify the song upon simply hearing that first note.
39 - "Theme From The Dukes Of Hazzard (Good Ol' Boys)," Waylon Jennings
The country legend had his biggest pop hit with the title song to the popular action-comedy series that followed Georgia cousins Bo and Luke Duke as they foiled Boss Hogg and Sherriff Rosco P. Coltrane, often with the help of their Uncle Jesse and their cutoff-clad cousin Daisy. Jennings also narrated the adventures of these "two modern-day Robin Hoods." Yee-haw.
40 - "Sometimes A Fantasy," Billy Joel
The fourth hit from Joel's Glass Houses LP was this jittery rocker on which Billy describes having what is now called "phone sex." I liked the song better before I realized that. Still, pretty good.
10/17/1981
20 - "Say Goodbye To Hollywood," Billy Joel
Billy again, this time with a live version of a song he first recorded in 1976. It's a song about leaving Los Angeles whose sound was inspired by Phil Spector productions like The Ronettes' "Be My Baby." One of his better hits.
24 - "She's A Bad Mama Jama (She's Built, She's Stacked)," Carl Carlton
Eight years after cracking the Top Ten with "Everlasting Love," Carlton picked up a second hit with a funky ode to a woman who has "all the curves that men like." It also helped add "mama jama" to the lexicon of swear-word substitutes, alongside such favorites as "dadgum," "freaking," and the more recent "shut the front door."
29 - "Atlanta Lady," Marty Balin
The former member of Jeffersons Airplane and Starship had his second solo hit with the slice of plain white milquetoast about a woman from the capital of Georgia. There's just nothing about this.
32 - "He's A Liar," The Bee Gees
As the 70s ended and disco declined, people wondered what direction the Gibbs would take on their first eighties recordings. Their first single of the decade saw them going in a more pop-rock direction on this song that seems to be about a guy who gets roughed up by his ex's new man. I think that's it. The minor chords and the menacing delivery of the title phrase were clearly meant to give them an edgier sound, but it isn't very convincing, and the single failed to get past #30. The group's commercial low point.
33 - "Alien," Atlanta Rhythm Section
The band on the milder end of the Southern rock spectrum had its last Top 40 hit with a song about feeling alone and isolated from the world. Nothing earth-shaking, but a nice little song about a state we can all relate to.
37 - "Sausalito Summernight," Diesel
This Dutch band had their only major American success with this Steve Millerish rocker about an ill-starred California road trip. One of the stronger hits to emerge from my father's homeland.
39 - "In The Dark," Billy Squier
Squier's follow-up to "The Stroke" was this synth-laden rock song about trying to reunite with an old lover. I'm pretty sure that's it. Meh, you're better off just listenting to "The Stroke" again.
40 - "Burnin' For You," Blue Oyster Cult
The second and last hit for these Long Island rockers was this song about lust, decorated with some darker imagery like "living for giving the Devil his due." Not quite "Don't Fear the Reaper," but a solid classic rock staple.
Uh oh, a sudden unexpected wrinkle in the space-time continuum had zapped us ahead to...
11/22/1986
26 - "What About Love," 'Til Tuesday
The second and last Top 40 for these Bostonians was this midtempo rumination on a lover's emotional unavailability. A step down from "Voices Carry," to be sure. But Aimee Mann would go on to work better in this vein on her own.
39 - "Welcome To The Boomtown," David & David
Messrs. Baerwald and Ricketts, singer-songwriters with identical Christian names, recorded just one album together, and it spawned this hypnotic, compelling rock song that introduces two characters: Christina, a sportscar-driving, cocaine-abusing jet setter; and Kevin, a college dropout who now deals drugs out of a Denny's restaurant. We don't learn much about either of them beyond that, except for when the bridge seems to tell of Christina's death ("The ambulance arrived too late/I guess she didn't want to wait.") But even with this dearth of detail, the song is a vivid, chilling portrait of those who succumb to the world's darker temptations. "Pick a habit, we got plenty to go around," Baerwald sings. A solid entry in my 80s Top 100.
In Part Two: hopefully I'll successfully dial the time machine back to finish '81, and we'll go from there.
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