Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Revenge of the 80s - Part One

I told you at the end of the last entry I might take a detour before getting to 1964, and here we are.

You see, even as I've been going off the beaten track, those classic 70s and 80s AT40 shows are still playing, and many of them contain songs I haven't given my thoughts on here as of yet.  And because I got to the 80s more recently, there are many more of those uncovered nuggets from those countdowns.  I will get to the 70s stuff eventually, but for now, I'm presenting a three-part look back at the stuff I've missed in these last seven months, starting with hits from '80 to '82.

March 1, 1980

38 - "When a Man Loves a Woman," Bette Midler
The first single from the soundtrack to Midler's film debut The Rose was this cover of Percy Sledge's 1966 classic, taken from a scene of her character, Mary Rose Foster, perfoming in concert. Midler's full-throated performance makes it much more clear that the character is based on Janis Joplin than the film's bigger hit title track. Good stuff, and way better than Michael Bolton.

39 - "I Thank You," ZZ Top
The Texas trio's second Top 40 single was this bluesy cover of a 1968 Sam and Dave hit which shows gratiude to a lover who "kisses so good I had to holler for help."  It certainly sounds more like the songs that made their name in the 70s then the slicker stuff that made them multiplatinum MTV icons later in this decade.

May 17, 1980

31 - "Let Me Be the Clock," Smokey Robinson
Smokey's followup to "Cruisin'" was this ballad on which he calls himself a "cuckoo," and expresses a desire to be "the pendulum that strikes your chimes."  Odd metaphors aside, I'll take it every day of the week over any of his other 80s ballads.

34 - "Gee Whiz," Bernadette Peters
Born Bernadette Lazzara in Queens in 1948, Peters began acting at the age of nine, and by the mid-70s, her curly locks and girlish singing voice had made her a Broadway star. Then she went to Hollywood, where she found success in films like Silent Movie and The Jerk, and in 1980, she released a self-titled album that contained her only pop hit, this cover of a 1960 Top Ten by Memphis soul star Carla Thomas. She tries to tone down her natural showy coo to sound more Linda Ronstadtish, but it manages to squeak through. Still, I always liked her voice for what it is, and this is nice. But I'd probably choose her stagey stuff or her performances as Rita on Animaniacs over this.

35 - "Headed For a Fall," Firefall
The penultimate Top 40 for these Colorado soft rockers is a countryish warning to a party girl that "you can't lose your troubles in the bubbles of your wine." Probably the best of what I've heard from them.

36 - "Starting Over Again," Dolly Parton
Dolly's first hit of the decade was this song about a couple that divorces after a long marriage and the struggles of moving on "when your dreams are all shattered and the kids are all grown." A remarkably mature topic for the pop charts, and it was a shock to learn that it was co-written by none other than Donna Summer. A really good song.

38 - "I Don't Want to Walk Without You," Barry Manilow
Barry kept his hit train rolling with this suitably old-fashioned cover of a 1941 Jule Styne/Frank Loesser song of loneliness. I don't need to hear this again, no siree.

40 - "We Live for Love," Pat Benatar
The rock diva's second Top 40 is a peppy tune about growing passions. She sings in an airier, more ethereal voice than her usual rasp. A cool change of pace.

July 12, 1980

38 - "King of the Hill," Rick Pinette and Oak
This New Hampshire band's only hit was this piano ballad about a guy who likes to brag about his success as he stands "high on Ego Mountain."  The guy doesn't get his comeuppance or anything, but still, you get the feeling the Oak boys have a negative outlook on him.  Even though he and his band never got huge, apparently Pinette did overindulge in the sex-and-drugs lifestyle, which eventually let him to become a minister.  He has a website on which he not only spreads the gospel, he also sells CDs with titles like "Jazz for Jesus" and "TV Theme Songs with a Christian Twist." 

January 10, 1981

23 - "Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime," The Korgis
This British band's only major hit is this ethereal ballad that reminds me quite a bit of 10cc.  Simultaneously needful and uplifting.  A forgotten gem.

32 - "I Believe in You," Don Williams
Texan Williams was a country mainstay from 1973 to 1992, a period during which he topped that chart 17 times.  His only pop hit was this languid, drawling outlining of his philosophy, which is basically that the world may change, but love and the basics of life are still good and will get you through.  Pleasant.  That's my best description of it.

37 - "Cold Love," Donna Summer
After getting spacey with "The Wanderer," Summer came out with a straight-ahead rocker in the Pat Benatar vein.  There's a little bit of a disco flavor to it, but not enough to be tarred with that brush.  A solid tune, but it's not surprising that it wasn't that big a hit.

April 4, 1981

39 - "The Party's Over (Hopelessly in Love)," Journey
The only studio track from the band's live LP Captured is this mediocre pop-rocker about a breakup.  This party couldn't end fast enough for me.  But it was right after this that they put out the Escape album and became the true hit machine we all know today.

July 25, 1981

40 - "Give It to Me Baby," Rick James
James' second pop Top 40 was this funky plea for his significant other to provide him with "that sweet funky stuff." Three guesses as to what he was talking about. His usual, reliable libidousness.


August 1, 1981

16 - "Touch Me When We're Dancing," The Carpenters
Karen and Richard's final Top 40 was this romantic ballad about moving slowly in the arms of a lover.  Not a great song, but Karen raises the material as usual.  And it's nice that their last hit found her in a positive mood, given the way things sadly ended.

24 - "Don't Let Him Go," REO Speedwagon
The third hit from the band's breakthrough Hi Infidelity LP is an upbeat suggestion to a woman not to let a good man get away.  I like the energy it has.  A good changeup from the ballads they first struck gold with.

32 - "Double Dutch Bus," Frankie Smith
Philadelphia funkster Smith had his one major hit with this rap track that seems to only have a little bit to do with both skipping rope and public transportation.  It does, however, feature Smith inserting the syllable "izz" into words, a practice that had a long underground history and was eventually brought to its greatest popularity by Snoop Dogg.  Fizzunky stizzuff, tizzoo bizzee shizzure.

33 - "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through," Jim Steinman
Okay, I've talked quite a bit on here about my love for Mr. Steinman's compositions and productions, and here we are with the only hit on which he is credited as an artist.  This song was originally written for Meat Loaf's follow-up album to Bat Out of Hell, but when it came time to record the record, Meat had lost his voice, so Steinman decided to record it and the other songs he'd composed for that record for a solo album  This predictably bombastic track about the power of music features lead vocals by Rory Dodd (the guy who would later sing "Turn around, bright eyes" on Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart."  It hits all my Steinman sweet spots.  A dozen years later, Meat Loaf would finally get his turn at it on Bat Out of Hell II.  And I have to say, he did it much better.




January 30, 1982

18 - "Come Go With Me," The Beach Boys
This cover of a 1957 Del-Vikings hit was originally recorded in 1978 at an Iowa university founded by onetime guru-to-the-rock-stars Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, but wasn't released as a single until four years later.  Not up to their standard, but nice enough.  And better than a million "Kokomo"s.


April 17, 1982

35 - "Pop Goes the Movies," Meco
After cracking the charts with disco versions of themes from two Star Wars movies, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and even The Wizard of Oz, Domenico Monardo eked out one last Top 40 with this medley of film flavorites (misspelling intentional, as a tribute to Seymour Skinner).  It begins with the iconic trademark tune of 20th Century Fox, then goes on to incorporate music from Gone With The Wind; The Magnificent Seven; Goldfinger; The Good, The Bad and The Ugly; and The Apartment.  It just strings them all together, Hooked on Classics-style.  Not as interesting as his earlier interpretations.  Uninspired.

37 - "Take Off," Bob and Doug McKenzie
And here it is, the point at which my fascination with the Top 40 and my love of SCTV finally truly intersect.  Here's the story: after two seasons on Canada's Global Television, SCTV moved to the state-owned CBC, and that network mandated that the show include at least two minutes of "specific Canadian content."  This baffled the show's staff, but eventually, they responded by creating a two-minute, tongue-in-cheek weekly segment called "The Great White North" which featured cast members Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas as the McKenzie brothers, two toque-clad Canuck stereotypes who sat in front of a map of Canada while drinking beer, cooking back bacon, and having discussions (frequently punctuated by the interjection "eh?") about such topics as doughnuts, snow chains on tires, and how there were too many teams in the NHL these days.  Surprisingly, the characters became the breakout stars of the show; first at home, and then in the U.S. after the show was picked up for late-night airing by NBC.  This led to Moranis and Thomas being signed to do a McKenzie Brothers comedy album.  It mainly featured sketches, but Moranis, a former radio DJ, suggested that they could get more sales and airplay if the record included a song that could be a "hit single."  So with the help of songwriters, and the enlistment of Moranis' former elementary schoolmate Geddy Lee of Rush, they created this pop-rock number.  Basically, it consists of the brothers' "Coo-loo-coo-coo!" theme, the two of them aruguing about which one of them came up with the idea for the song, and Lee's choruses.  Silly fun that cracked the Top 20 in America and helped the album go gold.  Eventually, Moranis and Thomas left the show to film a McKenzie movie, the cult hit Strange Brew, and then went on to other, non-hoser-related projects.  Beauty, eh?

June 12, 1982

24 - "Without You," Franke and the Knockouts
The third and final hit by these New Jersey footnotes was this unremarkable power ballad.  Obscurity followed, though singer Franke Previte would later write the Dirty Dancing hit "(I've Had) The Time of My Life.  Good for him.  Bad for me.

26 - "When It's Over," Loverboy
The second hit from these Canadians biggest album, Get Lucky, was this state-of-the-art hard rocker about waiting for a girl to finally get dumped by the loser she's with so one can catch her on the rebound.  I think that's it.  About mid-pack in the ranking of their hits.

30 - "When He Shines," Sheena Easton
The Scottish popstress had her third American hit with this ballad about the guy she's mad for, who is, among other contradictions, "sometimes a tramp, sometimes a dude."  And for some reason, the way she sings the word "dude" tickles me.  The rest of the song isn't much.

32 - "Fantasy," Aldo Nova
This Montrealer, born Aldo Caporuscio, went double-platinum in America with his debut album.  Much of that success was presumably powered by this hit, a fun hard rock tune that contains references to prostitution ("give you love if the price is right") and cocaine ("powder pleasure in your nose tonight," punctuated by an exaggerated sniff in case the message was lost on anyone).  80s air-guitar heaven.

35 - "I Don't Know Where to Start," Eddie Rabbitt
Rabbitt's last solo pop Top 40 was this acoustic ballad about going back to an ex's place to collect one's things and wondering where things all went wrong in the process.  An understated number, which in its own way is more powerful than some of his showier hits.

38 - "Friends in Love," Dionne Warwick and Johnny Mathis
The legendary crooner Mathis teamed up with Warwick for his last pop hit to date, this ballad about a relationship losing its Platonicness.  Both the song itself and the voices singing it raise it above that similarly-themed Gloria Loring-Carl Anderson duet from '86.

39 - "Murphy's Law," Cheri
The Montreal-based duo of American Rosalind Hunt and Canadian Lyn Cullerier peaked at this very spot with their only hit, a dance-pop ode to the adage that whatever can go wrong will go wrong.  In this case, this befalls a guy who loses his house, his car, his girl, and his other girl.  The most memorable parts of the song involve sped-up vocals, and they aren't really all that memorable.


July 24, 1982

32 - "If the Love Fits Wear It," Leslie Pearl
Pennsylvanian Pearl had most of her success in music writing both songs for other artists and commercial jingles.  Her one hit as an aritst is this inoffensive, inconsequential bit of MOR.  A prime example of "waiting-room pop."

35 - "I Found Somebody," Glenn Frey
The former Eagle's first solo hit was this R&Bish track about locating new love when it seemed unlikely.  Just okay, but that's enough to make it more appealing to me than a lot of his other stuff.

36 - "Paperlate," Genesis
This band's sixth U.S. Top 40 was this rocker about...I'm really not sure.  But it's catchy enough, and Earth, Wind and Fire's horn section add a kick to it.  One of their better hits. 

37 - "Nice Girls," Eye to Eye
This male/female, British/American duo had their only real hit with this slick bit of jazzy pop about a good girl who wants to go bad but just doesn't have it in her.  Listening to it, it's no surprise that it was produced by Gary Katz, the man behind the boards behind all of Steely Dan's classics. A cool little discovery.

38 - "Love Plus One," Haircut One Hundred
The only American hit by these short-lived English New Wavers is this undeniably catchy pop song that makes fantastic uses of -phones bout saxo- and xylo-.  Not sure what the lyrics mean, or why singer Nick Heyward is so scared of going down to the lake.  Doesn't really matter, though.  Just really good music.

39 - "Your Imagination," Daryl Hall and John Oates
The only single this duo released between 1981 and 1984 to miss the U.S. Top Ten was this rocker about a suspicious lover that's darker and more new wave-influenced than the stuff they were charting higher with.  I don't really remember this, but I like it quite a bit.  It hits similar sonic sweet spots to "Family Man."

In Part Two: 1983-1984.

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