song of the day – “Mickey” | TONI BASIL | 1982/1983.

As part of their Oscars tribute for the 2.9.2020 awards show, CBS SUNDAY MORNING aired a wonderful segment featuring the one and only “Toni Basil, Choreographer To The Stars” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY69LqURago).

When you mention the name Toni Basil, most folks would say, “Sure!  She had that one hit, ‘Mickey’!”  Even the interviewer of the CBS SUNDAY MORNING piece called Toni Basil a one-hit wonder.  Well, “Mickey” may have been her only big hit (and only Top 40 hit), but she did have two more singles chart on the BILLBOARD Hot 100, and if you only know her for “Mickey,” like I did back in 1982, there’s so much more to her story than that.

That’s Toni Basil “with the red dress on,” getting everyone’s attention, including Elvis, in a scene from 1964’s VIVA LAS VEGAS.

Long before “Mickey” was even a thought, Toni Basil had already made her mark as an actress, dancer, singer, filmmaker and choreographer.  In 1964, she appeared in the Elvis Presley film, VIVA LAS VEGAS (as the dancer in the red dress during the song, “What’d I Say”), and was the assistant choreographer and a dancer for the concert film, THE T.A.M.I. SHOW (which included her friend and fellow dancer, Teri Garr).

Toni Basil in 1965’s VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS.

In the second half of the 60s, Toni appeared in a number of films, including 1965’s VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS (a MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 favorite), 1968’s HEAD (co-written and co-produced by Jack Nicholson and starring The Monkees, and which Toni also choreographed), and 1969’s EASY RIDER (opposite Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper).

Toni Basil and Peter Fonda in 1969’s EASY RIDER.

During the 70s, Toni Basil appeared in 1970’s FIVE EASY PIECES (also with Jack Nicholson), and continued her multi-decade career in film choreography, including major films like 1973’s AMERICAN GRAFFITI and 1979’s THE ROSE (with frequent collaborator, Bette Midler).  She also appeared on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE numerous times in the show’s early years, and sold out solo performances at The Roxy in Los Angeles in 1976.

In 1979, popular British songwriters / producers Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman wrote a song called “Kitty,” recorded by the British Glam Pop band, Racey, for their 1979 album, SMASH AND GRAB.  A year later, Toni Basil renamed the song “Mickey,” recorded it, and in 1981, before the advent of MTV, she also conceived, choreographed,  directed (and I believe paid for) the video, and even used a modified version of her Las Vegas High head cheerleader outfit for the video (which she still owns!).  She was 37 or 38 at the time the “Mickey” video was shot, and the video is widely considered to be the very first choreographed music video.

From the “Mickey” music video.

Toni Basil’s debut album, WORD OF MOUTH, was released in the U.K. in late May 1981, and “Mickey” was released as a single, but was not a hit at that time.  The album also features covers of the David Essex classic, “Rock On,” and three Devo covers — “You Gotta Problem” (a reworked cover of “Pity You”), “Be Stiff” and “Space Girls.”  And as a bonus, Devo performs on the songs (she was also involved with Devo co-founder and bass player Gerald “Jerry” Casale at the time, and she was a fan of the band)!

WORD OF MOUTH would be released in the U.S. in April 1982, nearly a year after its U.K. release.  Though not immediate, the success of the album and first single “Mickey” would rely on word of mouth (and a whole lot of cheering) that would get Toni Basil onto the music map. 

“Mickey” debuted unsuspectingly on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 at No. 83 in early September 1982.  Five weeks later, it made its debut in the Top 40, and took its time climbing up the chart, until exploding into the Top 15 in mid-November 1982.  The following week, it leapt into the Top 10 on the Hot 100, and in mid-December 1982, it spent a week at No. 1, and would have stayed on top longer, had it not been for the huge hit by Daryl Hall & John Oates (who had a number of huge hits around the holidays in the 80s), “Maneater.”   “Mickey” would go on to spend over half a year on the Hot 100, sell over two million copies in the U.S. alone, and finished the 1983 American singles chart year at No. 36.

The original U.K. single cover art for “Mickey.”

Word of mouth got out about “Mickey” around the globe, too, and it spent five weeks at No. 1 in Canada, two weeks at No. 1 in Australia (the sixth biggest hit of 1982 there), plus it reached No. 2 in New Zealand and through a re-release in the U.K., No. 3 in Ireland, South Africa and BILLBOARD’s Dance chart.

After “Mickey,” Toni Basil released three more singles from WORD OF MOUTH, and the final single released from the album, “Shoppin’ From A To Z,” reached No. 77 on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 in March 1983.  Later that year, Toni Basil released her second studio album, a self-titled effort that generated her third and final Hot 100 entry, “Over My Head,” which reached No. 81 in early 1984, plus it reached No. 4 on BILLBOARD’s Dance Chart, and was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award in 1984 (the first year of the VMA’s) for Best Choreography In A Video, losing out to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”  Toni was actually nominated twice in that category that year, also being nominated for the choreography for Bette Midler’s video for her cover of The Rolling Stones’ “Beast Of Burden.”

Toni Basil has received a number of nominations and awards over the years, and won an Emmy Award in 1988 and Hip Hop International’s Living Legend Award.  “Mickey” is in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as one of the groundbreaking singles of the 80s.

NERDY FUN FACT: One of my favorite pieces of trivia regarding Toni Basil is that she taught both David Byrne and David Bowie how to dance.  She choreographed and co-directed the Talking Heads video for “Once In A Lifetime” in 1980.  Apparently, she and David Byrne studied archival footage of “preachers, evangelists, people in trances, African tribes and Japanese religious sects” to see how David could somehow incorporate a combination of it into his performance.

From the “Once In A Lifetime” music video.

According to a 2007 interview she did about the making of the video, Toni Basil said, “David kind of choreographed himself.  I set up the camera, put him in front of it and asked him to absorb those ideas.  Then I left the room so he could be alone with himself.  I came back, looked at the videotape, and we chose physical moves that worked with the music.  I just helped to stylize his moves a little.”

Toni Basil and David Byrne, 1987.

For David Bowie, Toni Basil choreographed his 1974 Diamond Dogs tour and his 1987 Glass Spider Tour, as well as the video for his song, “Time Will Crawl.”  In 2008 and 2009, Toni was the associate director and choreographer for Tina Turner’s LIVE: 50th ANNIVERSARY CONCERT TOUR.  25 years before, Tina made the biggest comeback of the 80s and one of the biggest comebacks of all-time, thanks to Mr. David Bowie believing in her (another one of my favorite pieces of 80s music trivia).

Talk about your selfies!  Toni Basil, Debbie Harry and David Bowie!

When “Mickey” reached No. 1 on the BILLBOARD Hot 100, Toni Basil was 39.  Toni Basil is now 76, in amazing health and still thriving.  In 2019, at the age of 75, she choreographed Quentin Tarantino’s ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD, which just picked up two Academy Awards, including a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Brad Pitt.

From 2019’s ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD, that’s Leonardo DiCaprio hamming it up and dancing 60s style, courtesy of choreography by Toni Basil.

What’s up next for Toni Basil?  I’m guessing more hella amazing choreography, maybe some cheerleading, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she even resurrected her own music career.  A return to the singles chart in more than 35 years to join the likes of Billie Eilish and Lizzo?  That’s something I would cheer about… 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aqLwHP4y6Q

song of the day – “We Got The Beat” | The GO-GO’s | 1981 / 1982.

On January 15, 2020, the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame announced their 2020 inductees, which included a semi-diverse list of artists, including Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, The Doobie Brothers, T. Rex (long overdue), The Notorious B.I.G. and the only woman to be inducted in the 2020 class, Whitney Houston.

While it was hoped that Pat Benatar and Chaka Khan (as half of Rufus and Chaka Khan) would also be inducted this year, it’s not surprising they weren’t.  At the very least, the Dave Matthews Band didn’t get in.  How the fuck did they get nominated in the first place?  Christ.  But I digress.

A couple of days before the Rock Hall inductees were announced, the Academy Award nominees were announced.  Only one woman of color was nominated for a major acting award and no female directors (and there were many in 2019) were nominated. 

Here on the blog, I know I’ve often mentioned the lack of women in the Rock Hall, and I know I’m not the only one who feels that way.  And, with the double whammy of the Oscar nods and the Rock Hall inductees this week, I’m hopeful that by 2021, we’ll see a lot more women nominated everywhere. 

On the day the Rock Hall inductees were announced, I read an article online about 10 female artists who should be in the Rock Hall (and five who might be next).  At the top of the list, Carole King.  Abso-fucking-lutely.  One of the greatest songwriters of all-time, her 1971 TAPESTRY album was so huge, it spent 15 weeks atop the BILLBOARD album chart, won four Grammy Awards, has sold over 25 million copies worldwide, and was the No. 2 album of the year in the U.S. for both 1971 and 1972, and the No. 22 album for 1973.  Pretty fucking amazing.

Other women on the list I would certainly vote for included Björk, Kate Bush, Dolly Parton and The Go-Go’s.  Courtney Love and her band, Hole, were on the list as well, and as was written in the article, “this one should be a no-brainer.”  WTF?!  She is only on the list because she was married to Kurt Cobain.  She did a decent acting job in a couple movies in the late 90s (including 1998’s MAN ON THE MOON), and the band had one okay song, but really?  A “no-brainer?”  How about just NO!!!  I would much rather have chosen Mariah Carey and Sheryl Crow (both on the list) over Courtney Love, and those are artists I am not really a fan of.  And nowhere (again) on the list was Cyndi Lauper.

Future Rock Hall inductees (yes, please!) Cyndi Lauper and Dolly Parton.

I’ve made my case for Cyndi to be in the Rock Hall (or at least nominated, fer fuck’s sake) many times here on the blog, and you can go back and read about my reasons for why she should have been inducted years ago, so if you see #Cyndi2021 trending anywhere this year, that’s prolly why. 

Even Steve Miller (who has had his own issues with the Rock Hall) called them out when he was inducted in 2016, and said, “keep expanding your vision, to be more inclusive of women.”  That’s goddamned right.

The Go-Go’s are definitely worthy of being in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.  The Los Angeles New Wave / Punk Rockers, formed in 1978 and consisting of singer Belinda Carlisle, Jane Wiedlin on rhythm guitar, Kathy Valentine on bass guitar, Charlotte Caffey on lead guitar and keyboards, and drummer Gina Schock, were the first all-female group to reach No. 1 on BILLBOARD’s album chart with their 1981 album, BEAUTY AND THE BEAT.

One of two covers used for BEAUTY AND THE BEAT.

The album spent six weeks on top in March and April 1982, sold over two million copies in the U.S. alone, was the No. 2 album in America for 1982, and was one of the biggest debut albums of all-time.  To date, The Go-Go’s remain as the only all-female band to both write their own songs and play their own instruments on an album that reached No. 1 on the BILLBOARD album chart.  Still pretty impressive nearly 40 years later. 

BEAUTY AND THE BEAT was released in early July 1981 on I.R.S. Records, and took awhile for it to catch on.  The first single released from the album, “Our Lips Are Sealed,” also took awhile to catch on, but it ultimately reached No. 20 on the BILLBOARD Hot 100, and also took its time leaving the survey, spending its 30th and final week on the Hot 100 in late March 1982.  It was on the chart so long, it ranked at No. 63 for all of 1982, beating out about 20 Top 10 hits, including their own single, “Vacation” (the No. 8 title track from their 1982 album).

The second single chosen from BEAUTY AND THE BEAT was “We Got The Beat,” released this week in January 1982.  Written by Charlotte Caffey, this song made its original 1980 appearance on Stiff Records, and in the U.K., was released as a single in July 1981.  It was so popular in the dance clubs, the import got so much play, it even reached No. 35 on BILLBOARD’s Dance chart in 1981.

The cover art for the original Stiff Records single version of “We Got The Beat.”

The re-recorded version you hear on BEAUTY AND THE BEAT did not take long to debut on the BILLBOARD Hot 100.  Just a couple weeks after its release, it debuted at No. 79 in late January 1982, and just two weeks later, debuted inside the Top 40 at No. 31.  By mid-March, the catchy two-and-a-half-minute New Wave / Dance classic had beat its way to the Top 10.

For three weeks in April 1982, “We Got The Beat” stayed at No. 2 on the Hot 100, held off by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts’ monster hit, “I Love Rock N’ Roll,” and stayed on the chart for 19 weeks, exiting in early June 1982, nearly a full year after the release of BEAUTY AND THE BEAT.  “We Got The Beat” also reached No. 3 in Canada, No. 29 in Austria and No. 7 on BILLBOARD’s Mainstream Rock chart.

NERDY CHART FACT: Both “We Got The Beat” and the namesake of the The Go-Go’s originated from a song they covered, “Going To A Go-Go,” a 1965 hit by The Miracles, co-written, co-produced and sung by the legendary Smokey Robinson.  The week after “We Got The Beat” left the BILLBOARD Hot 100, a live version of “Going To A Go-Go” by The Rolling Stones debuted on the chart.  So, in a way, the Go-Go’s kept beating on until “Vacation” immediately followed The Stones into the Top 40 in July 1982.

The Go-Go’s broke up in 1985, after their third album, 1984’s TALKSHOW, Belinda Carlisle and Jane Wiedlin had successful solo careers, got back together briefly in 1990 and 1994, and have been together for over 20 years, and released their fourth album, the wonderful GOD BLESS THE GO-GO’s, in 2001.  In the summer of 2018, a musical about the band, HEAD OVER HEELS, premiered in New York.

One of the posters for the HEAD OVER HEELS musical.

“We Got The Beat” was named as one of “The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame’s 500 Songs That Shaped Rock And Roll,” a list that includes songs by the also-yet-to-be-nominated/inducted Siouxsie And The Banshees, Salt-N-Pepa, The B-52’s and the aforementioned Cyndi Lauper. 

Today (January 18, 2020) was the fourth annual Women’s March, which started worldwide the day after Donald Trump was sworn in as President Gas.  This year’s protest march for women’s rights and more took place in many cities in the U.S., including an event in Portland, Maine.

From the 2020 Women’s March in Philadelphia, January 18, 2020.

A hope I have for 2020 and beyond is that more women everywhere are recognized for the incredible work they do, not just in entertainment, and are treated (at least) as well and as fairly as their male counterparts.  Nearly 40 years ago, five young women from L.A. shouted, “Yeah!  We Got The Beat!”, and it was an inspiration to women everywhere.  And women still have the beat and then some.  It’s time for men everywhere to take notice and start dancing to that beat.  It’s long overdue…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f55KlPe81Yw

song of the day – “Skateaway” | DIRE STRAITS | 1980 / 1981.

In 1980, when I was a geeky, lanky 13-year-old living in Central Maine, I was not what you would call popular, which was fine, because I had my select friends in junior high school, and that was good enough for me.  When I wasn’t nerding out during the day at school, I would nerd out after school and on weekends by the radio, listening to the favorite radio station of my youth, WIGY 105.9 (or Y106, as it was called).  Back then, more stations (at least in Maine) didn’t bother to mention their full number on the dial, they would either round up or round down.  The biggest Classic Rock station in Maine, WBLM, was just seven years old at the time, and at the time broadcasted from a house in Lewiston/Auburn, Maine.  They were at 108 on the FM dial.  They were my second-favorite station back then.

The infamous WBLM blimp logo that’s been around almost as long as I have…

It was not uncommon for students anywhere in Central Maine to possess and often wear their WBLM T-shirts, featuring their call letters and their logo, “the blimp.”  They were everywhere, and I think I had one.  I can’t imagine I wouldn’t.  (Haven’t seen them for a very long time, though, sadly.)  It was also not uncommon for stores like Ames or Zayre (remember those?) or Kmart to sell huge polyester tapestries and square mirrors housed in a wooden frame featuring band logos on them.  Those were everywhere too.  I should know – I had a huge J. Geils Band handprint tapestry on one of my walls, and a Rolling Stones tongue logo mirror on another wall, replete of course, with cut out bumper stickers of the call letters for my two favorite radio stations stuck on the mirror.  Aaaah youth.

Not quite the mirror I had, and mine was a regular square mirror with the logo, but it’s not far off.

Remember when radio stations gave away albums back in the day?  WIGY did that often, and I was lucky enough to win a few albums from them in 1980, including The Doobie Brothers’ ONE STEP CLOSER and Dire Straits’ MAKING MOVIES.  I would like to think I still have the MAKING MOVIES album I won, but I fear I parted with it long ago.

My respect for Dire Straits grew over the next few years, and my respect for MAKING MOVIES even more so.  In 1980, the four-man Rock band from London led by guitarist and songwriter Mark Knopfler, was coming off a successful year with their 1978 self-titled debut album, and huge hit, “Sultans Of Swing,” which reached No. 4 on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 in 1979 and was a Top 10 hit around the globe.

The band’s second album, 1979’s COMMUNIQUÉ, fared well, but it wasn’t until MAKING MOVIES, released in October 1980, that I heard from Dire Straits on the radio again. 

The album was co-produced by Mark Knopfler and Jimmy Iovine, who Mark recruited for MAKING MOVIES after hearing Jimmy’s production of Patti Smith’s 1978 version of “Because The Night,” which she wrote with Bruce Springsteen, and not only became a Top 15 hit on the Hot 100, but one of the biggest songs of 1978.

And since Jimmy Iovine had also worked on a couple of Bruce’s early albums – BORN TO RUN and DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN – E Street Band keyboardist Roy Bittan was also recruited to play keyboards on MAKING MOVIES (Mark Knopfler’s brother, David, left during the recording of the album). 

“Skateaway,” the third in a killer trio of songs on Side One of MAKING MOVIES (which also included future singles “Tunnel Of Love” and the U.K. Top 10 hit, “Romeo And Juliet”) was about a female roller-skater zooming through the busy streets of the city, listening with her headphones to a radio station on her portable radio (a Sony Walkman, perhaps, since that was just released a year before).  “Hallelujah, here she comes!”

Around the time “Skateaway” and MAKING MOVIES caught my attention on WIGY, it debuted on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 at No. 90 in late December 1980.  “Skateaway” was a moderate hit on the chart, spending a week at No. 58 the end of January 1981.  Four weeks later, it skated away off the chart after 10 weeks.  It also reached No. 31 on the BILLBOARD Rock chart and No. 37 on the U.K. singles chart. 

From the “Skateaway” music video.

I think, kind of like my delayed respect for MAKING MOVIES and “Skateaway,” it was the same for a lot of folks.  It’s an amazing album.  Dire Straits always had a sweet (and successful penchant) for recording long songs (there’s only seven songs on MAKING MOVIES), which doesn’t always bode well as radio hits, and I don’t think radio stations were ready for Dire Straits in 1980, apart from the chart success of “Sultans Of Swing.”  If radio embraced the band like record buyers did, they would have had more than four Top 40 hits in America and 1983’s brilliant “Industrial Disease” wouldn’t have stalled at No. 75 on the Hot 100.

After the huge success of 1985’s BROTHERS IN ARMS album, Dire Straits would release one more studio album, 1991’s ON EVERY STREET, a live album from that tour, 1993’s ON THE NIGHT, and one final live album, LIVE AT THE BBC, in 1995.  After that album’s release, Mark Knopfler disbanded Dire Straits and pursued a successful solo career (he had already scored many films, including the gorgeous score for 1987’s THE PRINCESS BRIDE).

In a 2008 BBC interview, Mark Knopfler was asked about a possible Dire Straits reunion, and he declined, saying, “It just got too big.  If anyone can tell me one good thing about fame, I’d be very interested to hear it.”

The band was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2018, though Mark Knopfler didn’t show up.  Dire Straits bassist John Illsley accepted the honor, and of Mark’s absence, he said, “I’ll assure you it’s a personal thing.  Let’s just leave it at that.”

The legacy of MAKING MOVIES lives on, however, with much respect and admiration nearly 40 years later.  On a 2012 list of the 100 Best Albums Of The Eighties, ROLLING STONE ranked MAKING MOVIES at a very respectable No. 52. 

So, if you haven’t heard MAKING MOVIES before, or haven’t heard it in a long time, go pick it up, or if you still have a Walkman like I do, pop in a cassette of MAKING MOVIES, put on your roller skates (or roller blades, or whatever the young kids are using these days) and skateaway, that’s all…

“She gets rock n roll and a rock n roll station / And a rock n roll dream / She’s making movies on location / She don’t know what it means / But the music make her want to be the story / And the story was whatever was the song, what it was / Roller girl, don’t worry / DJ play the movies all night long / All night long…”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQBKUPwG_Gk

song of the day – “Dancing In The Dark” | BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN | 1984.

On June 15, 2014, Casey Kasem, host of the longtime countdown program, AMERICAN TOP 40, passed away at the age of 82.  From my first blog post (and prolly some more inbetween then and now), I explained how, in 1979, I was a geeky, lanky and somewhat lost 12-year-old living in Central Maine, had a few friends and not a lot of interest in much of anything, but at some point early that year, I discovered AMERICAN TOP 40, and was glued to it every weekend.  Not only could I hear the 40 biggest songs in the country every week, but also Casey’s cool trivia and facts about the songs and the artists, a trait I treasure to this day.  For me, the show was No. 1 with a bullet.  And still is (thanks to the re-airing of broadcasts of AT40 on iHeart Radio).

In honor of my radio hero, Casey Kasem, since the start of June, I have been highlighting songs that peaked in the Top 40 of the BILLBOARD Hot 100 (including five (real) one-hit wonders of the 80s), just like on AMERICAN TOP 40, the hits have gotten bigger with each post.  On June 1, 2017, I featured a song that peaked at No. 40.  With the next post, I’ll feature a “song of the day” that went all the way to No. 1. 

As Casey used to say on AT40, “And on we go!”

If you listened to AMERICAN TOP 40 as faithfully as I did back in the 80s, before Nos. 2 and 1 were announced, he’d usually take a commercial break before announcing them, and would usually say, “The two biggies are coming right up!”  “The two biggies.”  Always cracked me up and still does.

But, when it came to AMERICAN TOP 40, “the two biggies” were, in fact, a big deal.  There a few positions on the chart that are the most frustrating, like Nos. 101, 41 and 11, but no other peak position on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 (or any singles chart, for that matter) was more frustrating to stop at than No. 2.

Foreigner endured the No. 2 position the longest in the 80s, spending 10 weeks in the runner-up spot in 1981 and 1982 with “Waiting For A Girl Like You,” a chart record Foreigner still shares to this day.  And I believe Madonna, who has six No. 2 songs to her credit (four of them in the 80s), still holds the chart record for most No. 2 singles in Hot 100 history.

All told, nearly 100 songs reached No. 2 between 1979 and 1989, including songs by three Beatles (Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison, whose 1981 No. 2 hit, “All Those Years Ago,” was a tribute to John Lennon), two Jacksons (Michael and Janet), and a couple of (real) one-hit wonders, including the Cold War Classic by Nena, “99 Luftballons.”

Some of the biggest songs in history that maybe you thought were No. 1 hits in America were actually No. 2 hits, such as “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper, “Easy Lover” by Philip Bailey and Phil Collins, “We Got The Beat” by The Go-Go’s, “Electric Avenue” by Eddy Grant, “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins, “Hurts So Good” by John Mellencamp, “Start Me Up” by The Rolling Stones and “Purple Rain” by Prince And The Revolution.

Several artists peaked at No. 2 between 1979 and 1989 with two songs, including The Bangles, Culture Club (with their first two hits), Air Supply, Duran Duran, Glenn Frey, Kool & The Gang, John Mellencamp, Billy Ocean (including the guilty pleasure, “Loverboy,” which a DJ back in the day once referred to as “Heavy Metal Disco”; I would disagree), plus Robert Palmer, Pointer Sisters, Linda Ronstadt (in two big duets with James Ingram and Aaron Neville), Tina Turner and Jody Watley. 

Michael Jackson gets an honorable mention, as he peaked at No. 2 with “The Girl Is Mine” with Paul McCartney, and he is featured in an uncredited role backing up Rockwell on “Somebody’s Watching Me.”  Likewise with Sheena Easton, who backed up Prince uncredited on “U Got The Look” and had her own No. 2 hit in 1989 with the sexy Dance hit, “The Lover In Me” (a long way from when she took that “Morning Train” to No. 1 in 1981; I’m sure Prince may have had something to do with it).

Speaking of Prince, he had three No. 2 hits between 1979 and 1989, or in this case, 1984 through 1987, with the aforementioned “Purple Rain” and “U Got The Look,” but also with “Raspberry Beret.”  He, too, gets an honorable mention, as he composed the No. 2 hit for The Bangles, “Manic Monday.”

And a number longtime recording artists saw their biggest hits stop at No. 2, like The Cure (“Lovesong”), Journey (“Open Arms”), The Greg Kihn Band (“Jeopardy”), and Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing In The Dark.”

If there was any one huge artist in the 80s I wanted to see reach No. 1 on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 singles chart, it was Bruce Springsteen.  I was first introduced to Bruce’s music with 1980’s “Hungry Heart,” from his first No. 1 album, THE RIVER.  At the time, I had no idea he had already released four critically-acclaimed and successful albums.

After “Hungry Heart,” I was a Bruce fan for life – granted, not the superfan that Hope is, but I don’t think anyone loves Bruce’s work more than Hope, except maybe for Bruce’s wife, Patti Scialfa.

“Dancing In The Dark” was released in early May 1984, a month before the BORN IN THE U.S.A. album was released.  And, right out of the gate, it was a hit.  “Dancing In The Dark” blasted onto the BILLBOARD Hot 100 the last week of May 1984 all the way into the Top 40, at No. 36.  By the next week, it was already No. 18, with its eyes set on No. 1.

Bruce had hit No. 1 before – as a songwriter.  A song from his 1973 debut album, GREETINGS FROM ASBURY PARK, N.J. – “Blinded By The Light” – was recorded by the London Rock band, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, in 1977, and spent a week at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in February 1977, exactly four years to the month when Bruce’s original was released as a single.

“Dancing In The Dark” had a lot going for it – a popular video directed by Brian de Palma (SCARFACE, THE UNTOUCHABLES, CARRIE, DRESSED TO KILL and the first MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE film) with actress Courtney Cox (FAMILY TIES, FRIENDS) dancing with Bruce on the stage (the video would win the MTV Video Music Award for Best Stage Performance). 

It also had a 12” Dance remix courtesy of Arthur Baker (who’s remixed songs for Daryl Hall & John Oates, Afrika Bambaataa, Cyndi Lauper, Pet Shop Boys and New Order).  The “Blaster Mix” was miles away from anything on 1982’s NEBRASKA or 1980’s THE RIVER, but people loved it.  Not only did it reach No. 7 on BILLBOARD’s Dance chart, it was the biggest-selling 12” single for all of 1984.  Arthur Baker would also go on to remix the follow-up Bruce singles “Cover Me” and “Born In The U.S.A.” as well.

As much as “Dancing In The Dark” had going for it in its second week on the Hot 100, another single debuting on the same chart that early June was “When Doves Cry” by Prince, released in advance of the album and film, PURPLE RAIN.  “When Doves Cry” reached the Top 40 a week later, and just like “Dancing In The Dark,” made a big move into the Top 20 the following week.

By late June 1984, “Dancing In The Dark” had climbed to No. 4, while “When Doves Cry” was closing in at No. 8.  The following week, “When Doves Cry” had jumped to No. 3, and “Dancing In The Dark” was at No. 2, right behind Duran Duran’s “The Reflex.”

“When Doves Cry” proved to be too powerful for “Dancing In The Dark,” which stayed for four weeks in the runner-up position.  “When Doves Cry” was the biggest song of 1984 here in America.

Though “Dancing In The Dark” didn’t reach No. 1, Bruce Springsteen still had a lot to be proud of.  The song gave Bruce his first Grammy Award, winning for Best Rock Vocal Performance.  In the 1984 ROLLING STONE readers poll, “Dancing In The Dark” was voted “Single Of The Year.”  It’s also listed as one of The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame’s 500 Songs That Shaped Rock And Roll.”  It sold a million copies in the U.S. alone, and the single’s B-side (one of the best ever), “Pink Cadillac,” was a Top 5 hit for Natalie Cole in 1988.

Around the globe, “Dancing In The Dark” was an international smash (though in some countries it took awhile), reaching No. 1 in Belgium and the Netherlands, No. 2 in Ireland, New Zealand and Sweden, No. 4 in South Africa and the U.K., No. 7 in Canada and Norway, No. 11 in Finland and No. 12 in Italy.  In Australia, though it stopped at No. 5, it was the No. 1 song of the year, spending 40 weeks on the singles chart there.

“Dancing In The Dark” was just the first part of an amazing journey for Bruce Springsteen and the BORN IN THE U.S.A. album.  Seven out of the album’s 12 songs were released as singles, and all seven reached the Top 10 on the Hot 100 between 1984 and 1986, tying a record set in 1984 by Michael Jackson’s THRILLER album. 

The first compact disc manufactured in the U.S.A. was BORN IN THE U.S.A.

BORN IN THE U.S.A. was No. 1 on BILLBOARD’s album chart twice, in July / August 1984 and January / February 1985.  PURPLE RAIN may have been the album of the year here in the U.S. for 1984 (BORN IN THE U.S.A. was No. 28), but for 1985, BORN IN THE U.S.A. was the No. 1 album of the year in America (and even No. 16 for 1986).

NERDY FUN FACT: BORN IN THE U.S.A. was the first compact disc manufactured in the U.S. for commercial release.  I remember seeing it at a DeOrsey’s in Waterville, Maine, and think it sold for something like $25.00.  And the record album still sounds better.

NERDY FUN FACT 2: According to a 1984 ROLLING STONE interview, the “Dancing In The Dark” Blaster Mix by Arthur Baker happened because Bruce had heard the remix Arthur did for Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want To Have Fun,” and he thought it was incredible: “It sounded like fun, so I hooked up with Arthur.  He’s a character, a great guy.  He had another fellow with him, and they were really pretty wild.  They’d get on that mixing board and just crank them knobs, you know?  The meters were goin’ wild.”

Bruce Springsteen is one of those rare artists who have been on the same record label from the start – Columbia.  Two other Columbia artists instantly come to mind – Barbra Streisand and Bob Dylan.  There won’t be anyone else like them.  Ever. 

Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen (along with many other familiar faces) at the “We Are The World” recording session, 1985.

If you pull away the catchy dance beat, “Dancing In The Dark” is a personal song about the difficulty of writing a hit song and Bruce’s frustration of trying to write songs that will please everyone.  Though I’m thinking Bruce would have liked to have another of his more personal songs become his biggest hit, I would almost bet my record collection he’s alright with that hit being “Dancing In The Dark.”

Bruce Springsteen with The E Street Band, 1984.

“You can’t start a fire / You can’t start a fire without a spark / This gun’s for hire / Even if we’re just dancing in the dark…”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=129kuDCQtHs

song of the day – “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” | MICHAEL JACKSON | 1983.

On June 15, 2014, Casey Kasem, host of the longtime countdown program, AMERICAN TOP 40, passed away at the age of 82.  From my first blog post (and prolly some more inbetween then and now), I explained how, in 1979, I was a geeky, lanky and somewhat lost 12-year-old living in Central Maine, had a few friends and not a lot of interest in much of anything, but at some point early that year, I discovered AMERICAN TOP 40, and was glued to it every weekend.  Not only could I hear the 40 biggest songs in the country every week, but also Casey’s cool trivia and facts about the songs and the artists, a trait I treasure to this day.  For me, the show was No. 1 with a bullet.  And still is (thanks to the re-airing of broadcasts of AT40 on iHeart Radio).

In honor of my radio hero, Casey Kasem, for the entire month of June (and now through July), I will be highlighting a song each day (some days will have two songs!) that peaked in the Top 40 of the BILLBOARD Hot 100 (including five (real) one-hit wonders of the 80s), and with every blog post, just like on AMERICAN TOP 40, the hits will get bigger with each post.  On June 1, 2017, I featured a song that peaked at No. 40.  Sometime here in July, I’ll feature a “song of the day” that went all the way to No. 1. 

As Casey used to say on AT40, “And on we go!”

Well, we’re finally into the Top 5!  Normally it would have taken Casey Kasem three-and-a-half hours to reach this point, but he had a script, a chart already set up courtesy of BILLBOARD magazine, and he didn’t have to write everything out.  Not that I mind.  While it’s taken me quite a bit longer than I had hoped, I have really been enjoying this series, and hope you have too.

The songs that peaked at No. 5 between 1979 and 1989 are, so far, in a class all by themselves.  More than 100 songs reached that position, including some memorable cover songs, like “Respect Yourself” by Bruce Willis (originally by The Staple Sisters), “Cum On Feel The Noise” by Quiet Riot (Slade), “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” by Great White (Ian Hunter) and “Pink Cadillac” by Natalie Cole (Bruce Springsteen, who also had three No. 5 hits of his own).

One of three singles to reach No. 5 on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 for Bruce Springsteen between 1979 and 1989.

Many artists had more than one No. 5 hit, including Pat Benatar, Gloria Estefan (with and without the Miami Sound Machine), Exposé, Lou Gramm (with and without Foreigner), Daryl Hall (solo and two with John Oates), Janet Jackson (solo and with Herb Alpert), Madonna, Sade, Willie Nelson (solo and a duet with Julio Iglesias), George Michael (solo and as a guest vocalist for (real) one-hit wonder, Deon Estus), Olivia Newton-John, Eddie Rabbitt, Rolling Stones, Bob Seger and Rod Stewart.  Australia’s Air Supply had four No. 5 hits.

One of two singles to reach No. 5 on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 for Madonna between 1979 and 1989.

The late, great John Lennon and his son, Julian Lennon, both hit No. 5 within a two-year period of each other, and some of my favorite 80s songs peaked at No. 5, like Thomas Dolby’s “She Blinded Me With Science,” “When Smokey Sings” by ABC, “In Your Room” by The Bangles, The Dazz Band’s “Let It Whip,” “What You Need” by INXS, “Stand Back” by Stevie Nicks, “Sister Christian” by Night Ranger, “I’m Coming Out” by Diana Ross, “(She’s) Sexy + 17” by The Stray Cats, “On The Radio” by Donna Summer, “Master Blaster (Jammin’)” by Stevie Wonder, and “All Through The Night” by Cyndi Lauper, which set a BILLBOARD Hot 100 record for Cyndi as she was the first female recording artist who would reach the Top 5 with four chart hits from a debut album.  And she wouldn’t be the last.

Another of my favorite No. 5 hits belongs to the man who was not only the biggest recording artist of the 1980s, the entire year of 1983 belonged to him.  Of course, I’m talking about the late, great Michael Jackson.  The THRILLER album spent a massive 37 weeks at No. 1 on BILLBOARD’s album chart.  THRILLER was so big, in fact, that it was the No. 1 album in America for two consecutive years.

By now, everyone and their mother (and grandmother) knows all about the Quincy Jones-produced THRILLER album and the success it has had.  It’s still the biggest-selling, non-compilation album of all time.

The first song on the THRILLER album was the fourth (of seven) singles released from the album – “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.”  What a heluva way to start off an album!  From the opening drum beats, you just knew Michael Jackson had something special with this album.

“Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” (a song about strangers – i.e. the press – spreading rumors to start arguments for no apparent reason), was released in early May 1983 and didn’t waste any time debuting on the BILLBOARD Hot 100.  It debuted on the chart at No. 41, three weeks after its release, and with “Billie Jean” still on the chart (at No. 42) and “Beat It” at No. 3. 

The following week, “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” roared to No. 22, looking like a third No. 1 hit in a row from THRILLER (the album’s first single, “The Girl Is Mine,” with Paul McCartney, peaked at No. 2).  After a few slow chart weeks, it reached the Top 10 by early July 1983, and a couple weeks later, spent a quick two weeks at No. 5.  THRILLER’s fifth single, “Human Nature,” had already reached the Top 40 while “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” was still in the Top 10.  It was one of five singles from THRILLER to finish the year in the Top 100 here in the U.S. in 1983.

Around the globe, “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” spent two weeks at No. 1 in the Netherlands, and reached No. 3 in Belgium, No. 5 in Ireland, No. 8 in the U.K., No. 11 in Canada, No. 14 in Spain and No. 16 in Germany.

“LET’S ALL GO TO COURT, LET’S GO MAKE SOME LAW NOW” FACT:  As talented as Michael Jackson was, he had a bad habit of “borrowing” other people’s music for his own songs – without their consent.  At the “We Are The World” recording in 1985, he confessed to Daryl Hall that he used the beat of “I Can’t Go For That” for the beat in “Billie Jean.”  Daryl Hall didn’t seem to mind, but for “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” that catchy vocal bit near the end, you know the one – “Mama-say mama-sah ma-ma-coo-sah” – was actually taken directly from a 1972 Disco song by Manu Dibango called “Soul Makossa” (Manu Dibango is a saxophonist from Cameroon, and Makossa is a type of music and dance in that country), and the bit was used without permission. 

For years, there was no lawsuit about this, but when current Pop star, Rihanna, used the bit in one of her songs from 2007, both she and Michael Jackson were sued.  In early 2009, just months before Michael Jackson died, Michael had admitted he “borrowed” the line, and he ended up settling out of court.  Apparently, when Rihanna asked Michael Jackson to see if she could use the line in her song, that’s when the fit hit the shan, and once again, Manu Dibango was not contacted by Michael Jackson prior to the song’s use, hence the lawsuit.

It’s hard to believe Michael’s been gone nine years already.  He was 50 at the time of his death, the age I’m at right now (don’t worry – I’m not leaving anytime soon), and I’m convinced that Michael had a big comeback in the works when his life was cut short on June 25, 2009.  While I have my own theory about what really happened with his death, I would much rather choose to celebrate his music, in this case “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” which is six minutes of pure Post-Disco joy and dance floor gold.  Honestly, who do you know that WOULDN’T get out on the dance floor and dance to this as soon as they heard it?!

“Lift your head up high / And scream out to the world / I know I am someone / And let the truth unfurl / No one can hurt you now / Because you know it’s true / Yes, I believe in me / So you believe in you…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KWf_-ofYgI

  

song of the day – “Tarzan Boy” | BALTIMORA | 1986 / 1993.

On June 15, 2014, Casey Kasem, host of the longtime countdown program, AMERICAN TOP 40, passed away at the age of 82.  From my first blog post (and prolly some more inbetween then and now), I explained how, in 1979, I was a geeky, lanky and somewhat lost 12-year-old living in Central Maine, had a few friends and not a lot of interest in much of anything, but at some point early that year, I discovered AMERICAN TOP 40, and was glued to it every weekend.  Not only could I hear the 40 biggest songs in the country every week, but also Casey’s cool trivia and facts about the songs and the artists, a trait I treasure to this day.  For me, the show was No. 1 with a bullet.  And still is (thanks to the re-airing of broadcasts of AT40 on iHeart Radio).

In honor of my radio hero, Casey Kasem, for the entire month of June (and now through July), I will be highlighting a song each day (some days will have two songs!) that peaked in the Top 40 of the BILLBOARD Hot 100 (including five (real) one-hit wonders of the 80s), and with every blog post, just like on AMERICAN TOP 40, the hits will get bigger with each post.  On June 1, 2017, I featured a song that peaked at No. 40.  Sometime here in July, I’ll feature a “song of the day” that went all the way to No. 1. 

As Casey used to say on AT40, “And on we go!”

You know, as unlucky as the stigma for being unlucky the number 13 has had as long as I’ve known it, the No. 13 position on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 is something altogether different, or, lucky.  No. 13 has been the home (or treasure trove, if you prefer) to many great classics, like “Money” by Pink Floyd, Queen’s “Somebody To Love,” “Because The Night” by the Patti Smith Group, “Different Drum” by The Stone Poneys featuring Linda Ronstadt, “Radar Love” by Golden Earring, “Takin’ It To The Streets” by The Doobie Brothers, Santana’s “Oye Como Va,” “Roundabout” by Yes, “Let’s Talk About Sex” by Salt-N-Pepa, “Walking In Memphis by Marc Cohn, “Danke Schoen” by Wayne Newton (featured prominently in the John Hughes classic, FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF), “Here Comes My Baby” by The Tremeloes (which my pal Dave Wakeling and The English Beat will be covering on their upcoming album!), “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine (Anymore)” by The Walker Brothers (which was featured in the brilliant but barely-seen 2012 Steve Carell film, SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD), and one of the first singles I ever owned, “Theme From CLOSE ENCOUNTERS” by John Williams. 

I still have my 45 of this, and it looks just as beat up.  After holding onto it for 40 years, I’m not parting with it anytime soon though…

Between 1979 and 1989, there were nearly 60 singles that reached lucky No. 13, and it was a popular number for Bob Seger, who had two hits stop there, as did Kenny Rogers, Elton John and Natalie Cole.  Van Halen had three songs reach No. 13 – “Right Where Ya Started,” and two from the album, 1984: “Panama” and the highly underrated “I’ll Wait.”  Speaking of Van Halen, in 1983, future / former Van Halen lead singer, Sammy Hagar, reached No. 13 with his first Top 40 hit (and biggest solo hit), “Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy.”

Some of my 80s favorites stopped at No. 13 too, like “Shadows Of The Night” by Pat Benatar, “All Over The World” by Electric Light Orchestra (from XANADU), “Back In The High Life Again” by Steve Winwood,” “One Night Love Affair” by Bryan Adams and “Don’t Come Around Here No More” by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.

No. 13 must have been a favorite of mine for blog posts as well, as I’ve featured seven of them – “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by Band Aid, “People Are People” by Depeche Mode, “Waiting On A Friend” by The Rolling Stones, “Where The Streets Have No Name” by U2, plus two of the three (real) one-hit wonders of the 80s that reached No. 13 – M|A|R|R|S (“Pump Up The Volume”) and Frida (“I Know There’s Something Going On”), and one song released in 1989, but peaked at No. 13 in March 1990 – “No Myth” by Michael Penn.

Another song that reached No. 13 on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 in the 80s came out of Italy, by way of Northern Ireland.  In the late 70s, Jimmy McShane (of Derry, Northern Ireland) was attending a stage school in London, learning how to dance and sing, when he was hired as a stage dancer and backing singer for English singer and musician, Dee D. Jackson.  He toured around Europe with Dee D. and her band, and upon a visit to Italy, he fell in love with Italy’s underground dance scene, and the country itself, and ended up moving to Milan in 1984.

In Milan, he learned the Italian language, and in 1984, met up with Maurizio Bassi, who was a music producer and a musician.  Together, they decided to form the New Wave / Dance band, Baltimora, with Jimmy McShane as the singer and the face of the band.

Baltimora’s Maurizio Bassi, left, and Jimmy McShane.

In early September 1985, they released their debut album, LIVING IN THE BACKGROUND, along with the first single from the album, “Tarzan Boy.”  The catchy song about being free and doing whatever you want in the jungle, without the hustle and bustle of living in the city, took about a month and a half to find its way to the BILLBOARD Hot 100, but did find it in mid-October 1985, when it debuted at No. 80.

“Tarzan Boy” steadily moved up the chart at first, but lost its chart “bullet” (for sales and airplay) in its sixth chart week, and stalled at No. 62 for three weeks.  By early December 1985, “Tarzan Boy” had regained its bullet and started moving back up the Hot 100, reaching the Top 40 in mid-January 1986.

By March 1, 1986, “Tarzan Boy” had been on the chart for 20 weeks (longer than some No. 1 songs), and spent a week at No. 13.  “Tarzan Boy” spent half a year on the survey and finished the year at No. 73.

Around the globe, “Tarzan Boy” was a massive hit, reaching No. 1 in Belgium, Finland, France, the Netherlands and Spain, and the Top 10 in the U.K., Austria, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the BILLBOARD Dance chart.

Despite the success of “Tarzan Boy,” Baltimora had a hard time duplicating that success for its other singles and second album, 1987’s SURVIVOR IN LOVE.  Following “Tarzan Boy,” the title track from their debut album, LIVING IN THE BACKGROUND, peaked at No. 87 on the Hot 100, and a few other singles reached the Top 40 singles chart in Italy, but nothing more.  Baltimora broke up after the record label (in this case, Manhattan) dropped them. 

From the 1993 commercial for Cool Mint Listerine, which used “Tarzan Boy.”

Fast forward to 1993, and a new remix of “Tarzan Boy” was used in a Cool Mint Listerine commercial (with animation by future film giant, Pixar).  Well, it didn’t stop there.  “Tarzan Boy” was also featured that year in the film, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES III, and the combination of the two sent “Tarzan Boy” back onto the BILLBOARD Hot 100, re-entering the chart in late March 1993. 

“Tarzan Boy” climbed as high as No. 51 and spent 12 additional weeks on the Hot 100, and a total of 38 weeks combined.  With new hits by Duran Duran, R.E.M., Madonna, INXS, New Order and Boy George’s Pet Shop Boys-produced theme to THE CRYING GAME, the 80s were still sticking around in 1993.  But it was pretty cool to hear “Tarzan Boy” on the radio again.

The cover art for the 1993 reissue of “Tarzan Boy.”

Sadly, the following year, Jimmy McShane, the face of Baltimora, was diagnosed with AIDS while in Milan in 1994.  A few months later, he returned to his hometown of Derry, Northern Ireland, the place where his family had shunned him many years before for being gay.  He died in Derry in late March 1995 at the young age of 37.  And, despite his family’s earlier stance towards Jimmy’s homosexuality, after his death, a family spokesperson said, “He faced his illness with courage and died with great dignity.”

The legacy of Jimmy and “Tarzan Boy” live on today, and the song continues to be covered by other artists and has appeared in films, like Seth MacFarlane’s 2014 film, A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST.  And, “Tarzan Boy” is still heard on the radio today, as it should, because, who wouldn’t want to dance around to a fun, catchy song about being free and roaming around the jungle, removed from that city life?

“Jungle life, I’m far away from nowhere / On my own like Tarzan Boy / Hide and seek, I play along while rushing ‘cross the forest / Monkey business on a sunny afternoon…”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r0n9Dv6XnY

song of the day – “All Around The World” | LISA STANSFIELD | 1989 / 1990.

In mid-October 1989, Pop music in America didn’t know which direction it was going in.  Take the Top 10 of the BILLBOARD Hot 100 chart for October 14, 1989 for example.  You had 80s Pop mainstays Janet Jackson and Madonna leading the pack (“Miss You Much” and “Cherish,” respectively), the future great Grammy taker-awayers, Milli Vanilli (“Girl I’m Gonna Miss You”), a rare big American hit for The Cure (“Love Song”), the last big hit for the Rolling Stones (“Mixed Emotions”), Tears For Fears channeling The Beatles (“Sowing The Seeds Of Love”), rapper Young M.C. with the first (and last) big hit of his own (“Bust A Move”), Hollywood, CA Glam Metal band Warrant (“Heaven”), another big Pop hit for Sweden’s Roxette (“Listen To Your Heart”) and the first Pop single for R&B singer, songwriter and future mega-producer, Babyface (“It’s No Crime”).

Meanwhile, over in the U.K., Disco, which saw its peak ten years earlier, was mounting a sort of comeback.  Sure, there were Disco influences in the 80s – you heard it in the music of Madonna, Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Irene Cara, Queen and Pet Shop Boys, to name a few (Pet Shop Boys even named several of their early remixes as the “Disco Mix”).

In September 1989, Italian Eurohouse band Black Box started a six-week run at No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart with “Ride On Time,” and ended up being the biggest U.K. single of 1989.  Black Box would go on to have big global hits in the early 90s, scoring a couple of Top 10 hits in the U.S. with “Everybody Everybody” and “Strike It Up.”

During the last week of Black Box’s reign on the U.K. singles chart, Manchester, England native Lisa Stansfield released – that same week in mid-October 1989 mentioned at the beginning of the blog post – the second single from her then-forthcoming album, AFFECTION – “All Around The World.”

Lisa Stansfield had tried out a solo career back in the early 80s, and released a number of singles, including a 1983 song called “Listen To Your Heart” (no relation to the Roxette song from 1989). 

After a brief first try at a solo career, Lisa joined the short-lived trio, Blue Zone, which was a combination of Pop, Dance and Blue-Eyed Soul.  Their only album, 1988’s BIG THING, well, wasn’t.  It did, however, give Blue Zone (known as Blue Zone UK in the U.S.) one hit on the BILLBOARD Hot 100, with the song “Jackie,” featured in the 1987 film, SUMMER SCHOOL, starring Mark Harmon and Kirstie Alley.  “Jackie” reached No. 54 on the Hot 100.

It was not until Lisa’s first collaboration with producer and remixer Coldcut in the Spring of 1989 that gave her a big U.K. hit.  The song was “People Hold On,” from Coldcut’s debut album, WHAT’S THAT NOISE?.  Lisa sang and co-wrote the song, and it reached No. 11 on the U.K. singles chart and No. 6 on BILLBOARD’s Dance chart.  It also had Top 40 success in some countries around the globe.

After “People Hold On” was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic, Arista Records signed Lisa on as a solo artist.  Her first successful solo single, “This Is The Right Time,” was released in late July 1989 (it was released as her third single in the U.S. a year later).

“This Is The Right Time” (produced by Coldcut) was a success, reaching No. 13 on the U.K. singles chart, and would go on to fare well in Austria, Canada, Germany, the BILLBOARD Hot 100 (where it reached No. 21), and the BILLBOARD Dance chart, where it spent a week on top in mid-October 1990.

A month before the mid-November 1989 release of Lisa’s debut solo album, AFFECTION, her second U.K. solo single was released – “All Around The World.”  And this one WOULD take her all around the world. 

Almost immediately, critics and music fans were hooked.  ROLLING STONE critic Amy Linden gave the AFFECTION album four out of five stars, saying “the way her voice slinks around the line ‘so-oo sad’ in ‘All Around The World’ show[s] that this is someone who knows her roots even if they aren’t really hers.”

The sound of “All Around The World” was inspired by the late, great R&B legend, Barry White (who would sing, with Lisa, on a version of the song in 1992), and it paid off.  Ten years after the peak of Disco, Lisa Stansfield brought the genre back for four-and-a-half minutes and then some all around the world.

The single “All Around The World” was a massive hit nearly everywhere it landed.  It spent two weeks at No. 1 in the U.K. in November 1989, and from there, it reached No. 1 in Austria (six weeks), Belgium, Canada (five weeks), Holland (four weeks), Norway, Spain, and two weeks at No. 1 on both of BILLBOARD’s R&B and Dance charts, where it finished 1990 at Nos. 6 and 3, respectively, for the year.

Over here in the U.S., “All Around The World” was released in mid-January 1990, three months after its U.K. release, and the news of its success, well, all around the world was good news to American radio stations and record stores.  “All Around The World” debuted on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 just a couple of weeks later, in early February 1990. 

A couple of months later, it had reached No. 3, and certainly had the momentum to reach No. 1, but it got stuck in a few tight chart weeks, and it stayed at No. 3 for three weeks.  The competition for No. 1 was so tight, in fact, in those three weeks, there were three different No. 1 songs, the last of which was “Nothing Compares 2 U,” the Prince-composed gem of a cover by Sinéad O’Connor. 

As it turns out, “All Around The World” really did have the momentum of being a No. 1 song here in America.  When BILLBOARD tallied up the top Hot 100 songs of 1990, “All Around The World” beat out the first two songs that did go to No. 1 (and prevented Lisa from going to there), not to mention it beat out several other No. 1 songs that year too.

Though some would prolly classify it more as an R&B or Dance song than a Disco song, I think “All Around The World” had a real big hand in reinvigorating the Disco genre for awhile in the early 1990s, or at least inspiring other artists and / or songs to include that “Disco” influence. 

One of THE BEST songs to dance to evah, Deee-Lite’s “Groove Is In The Heart” (released during the Summer of 1990), would certainly fit into that category.  Maybe even U2’s “Lemon” (1993), the Pet Shop Boys remix of Blur’s “Girls & Boys” (1994) and the brilliant “Justified & Ancient” by The KLF and Tammy Wynette (1991) would fit into that category as well.

In 1991, Lisa Stansfield was nominated for two Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, losing out to Mariah Carey in both categories.  For the British equivalent of the Grammy Awards, the BRIT Awards, Lisa won Best British Newcomer in 1990 and Best British Female in 1991.

After “All Around The World” (and not counting her vocal contribution to 1989’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas II”), Lisa Stansfield would go on to have 13 more Top 40 U.K. hits, six of those which reached the Top 10.  And she did okay over here in the U.S. for awhile.  Most recently, she released her seventh solo studio album, appropriately titled, SEVEN, in early 2014.  It was her highest-charting U.K. album in 17 years.  That same year, she also released her fourth compilation, and her second and third remix albums back-to-back.

Between 1999 and 2013, Lisa Stansfield appeared in five films, and in 1998, she married her second husband – her longtime friend, engineer, mixer, co-writer and co-producer, Ian Devaney.  They were married in a small ceremony in New York City.

Hard to imagine at one time I didn’t even like Lisa Stansfield or “All Around The World.”  It took me about five years, around my second year living in Portland, but I finally saw and heard what folks were raving about back in 1990.  And, once I learned this song was actually a U.K. hit in 1989, you can bet I played this song often on my little 80s radio show, STUCK IN THE 80s.  And, why wouldn’t I? 

Sure, somewhere in there, “All Around The World” is a melancholy song with some hope (“I can’t find my baby / I don’t know when, I don’t know why / Why he’s gone away / And I don’t know where he can be, my baby / But I’m gonna find him…”).  And it did what it set out to do – go all around the world, but also, it helped incorporate and reintroduce a genre that had pretty much been declared dead a decade before, and at a time where Grunge was about to take off, that’s a pretty impressive feat and then some for a song that almost sounds like it could have come out of 1977…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVuuatjHGnY

song of the day – “You Know I Love You…Don’t You?” | HOWARD JONES | 1986 / 1987.

Happy 2017 everyone!  Hope your holiday season treated you well!

For the January 8, 2017 edition of STUCK IN THE 80s, my little retro radio show on WMPG community radio in Portland, Maine, I’ll be hosting my final (?) All-Request Fest.  It’s something I thought of years ago as a way to give back to everyone who tuned in to the show and pledged money on STUCK IN THE 80s during the bi-annual pledge drives.  From Pop to Punk, Rap to Rock, New Wave to New Romantics, it’s about the listeners and their requests, and it’s always spontaneous and fun. 

For this final (?) edition of the All-Request Fest, I’ll also be channeling my inner chart nerd and will bring folks 17 for ’17, where I’ll be playing just some of the many songs that peaked at No. 17 on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 between 1979 and 1989.  So, from now until the All-Request Fest, I’ll be posting all No. 17 hits…just because, well, I AM a chart nerd.  And I’m okay with that.

One of my favorite No. 17 hits on the Hot 100 is courtesy of one of my all-time favorite recording artists – Southampton, England’s wonderful Howard Jones – “You Know I Love You…Don’t You?”

From Howard’s third studio album, ONE TO ONE, “You Know I Love You…Don’t You?” was the first single released from the album here in America (in the U.K. and other parts of the globe, “All I Want” was the first single released). 

Just four weeks after HoJo’s biggest American hit, “No One Is To Blame,” departed the BILLBOARD Hot 100, he debuted at No. 69 with “You Know I Love You…Don’t You?”

The U.S. cover art for “You Know I Love You…Don’t You?”

The creative part-animated, part-live action video (perhaps inspired by the Richard Lowenstein-directed INXS video of “What You Need” earlier that year) was directed by Wayne Isham, who was attending the University of California at Santa Barbara when the video for David Bowie’s “Ashes To Ashes” was released in 1980, and the video inspired him to start making videos.

While the majority of the early videos Wayne directed were by Hard Rock and Metal artists like Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Judas Priest, Ozzy Osbourne, Queensrÿche and Megadeth, he also directed videos for folks like The Psychedelic Furs (“Pretty In Pink”), Whitney Houston (“So Emotional”), The Rolling Stones and Roxette.  At the MTV Video Music Awards in 1991, Wayne Isham (along with Bon Jovi) received the Lifetime Achievement Award, better known as the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.

The U.K. cover art for “You Know I Love You.”

With help from the cool music video, “You Know I Love You” debuted on the Top 40 of the Hot 100 in just four weeks.  Just before Xmas 1986, it was stuck in a competitive part of the chart, and spent three weeks over the holiday season at No. 17.

While “You Know I Love You” was one of HoJo’s biggest hits here in the U.S., it sadly didn’t fare as well elsewhere.  In Canada, it reached No. 26, a peak of No. 61 in Australia, and in his U.K. homeland, it stalled at No. 43.

My oldest friend, Peter, and I got to see HoJo in Portland, Maine in late June  2016.  It was my second time seeing HoJo perform (the first time was in 1998 in Boston, on a tour with The Human League and Culture Club).  I honestly could see this man perform every day of the week and twice on Sunday.  Howard hasn’t had a Top 40 hit in 25 years, but as much as I love singles chart trivia, I also know the Pop charts don’t define recording artists, and definitely doesn’t define HoJo.

Howard Jones today…

One of the things I love about seeing Howard Jones perform is how comfortable he is in his element.  And the things that man can do with a synthesizer!  Holy cats!  Brilliant, and incredibly fun to watch. 

HoJo performing live, 2016…

I know I don’t have to ask this question, but Howard, “You Know I Love You…Don’t You?”  You bet I do.  Hope to see you around these parts again soon…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy3K8tLhQpE

song of the day – “Waiting On A Friend” | THE ROLLING STONES | 1982.

Today (10.8.2016), I received my latest copy of ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, and in it was this Eric Renner Brown piece with Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, talking about the soundtrack of his life.  For the music he wants played at his funeral, he chose “Waiting On A Friend,” one of my all-time favorite songs by The Rolling Stones. 

Billie Joe said of his choice, “It’s one of the best songs they’ve ever written.  When you’re up in heaven, or wherever you’re at, you’re just waiting for friends to come along.  For something dark like a funeral, it’s a bit more positive.”

Well, four months and four days away from my 50th birthday, I’m not quite in funeral mode just yet.  Although, truth be told, I’ve had a few thoughts floating here and there around about song ideas and compilation videos of my life.  Don’t know if I’d personally choose “Waiting On A Friend,” but it’s a great choice nonetheless.

“Waiting On A Friend” was the second single released from their monster 1981 album, TATTOO YOU, though the history of the song dates back to the GOATS HEAD SOUP recording sessions in Kingston, Jamaica in late 1972 through early 1973.  Mick Taylor was still a member of the band then, and his guitar contribution to the song is included in the version that made its way to TATTOO YOU. 

For The Stones’ 1993 compilation, JUMP BACK, in the liner notes, Mick Jagger said of “Waiting On A Friend”: “We all liked it at the time but it didn’t have any lyrics, so there we were…  The lyric I added is very gentle and loving, about friendships in the band.”  The great Jazz saxophonist, Sonny Rollins, was hired to come on and play that memorable sax on “Waiting On A Friend,” as well as a couple of other songs on the album.

In early December 1981, with Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical” settling in for the longest run of any No. 1 song on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 in the 80s, TATTOO YOU’s first single and huge hit, “Start Me Up,” was in its last week in the Top 10 when “Waiting On A Friend” was the highest debuting song on the Hot 100 that week, coming in at No. 70.

The next week, “Waiting On A Friend” rocketed into the Top 40, and from there, took a couple of months climbing the chart before spending three weeks at No. 13 in February 1982.  It spent 15 total weeks on the Hot 100 and ranked in the Top 100 for all of that year.  Around the globe, “Waiting On A Friend” wasn’t as popular as “Start Me Up,” but it did reach No. 9 in Holland.

There have been a few live and recorded covers of “Waiting On A Friend” over the years, but prolly my favorite cover of “Waiting On A Friend” was released in 2002, when the band NYC Alt-Rock band Luna (featuring Galaxie 500 vet Dean Wareham) covered it on their EP, CLOSE COVER BEFORE STRIKING.

Unlike the straight-ahead, in-your-face, rock and roll oomph of “Start Me Up,” “Waiting On A Friend” was more laid back, had a sort of non-cheesy lounge feel to it, incorporating piano, sax and some light percussion.  To me, it just sounded totally different than any Rolling Stones song I had ever heard.  And I like “Start Me Up,” I always have.  But I LOVE and will always LOVE “Waiting On A Friend”…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKLVmBOOqVU

An outtake from the “Waiting On A Friend” video…

song of the day – “What’s Love Got To Do With It” | TINA TURNER | 1984.

September 1, 1984 was a huge day for legendary R&B singer Tina Turner.  That was the day she celebrated her first and only No. 1 song on the BILLBOARD Hot 100, “What’s Love Got To Do With It.”  For how she got there, we have to go back.

From 1960 to 1975, she and her husband Ike scored 20 Hot 100 hits, six of those reaching the Top 40, and their biggest hit being their soulful cover of the 1969 Creedence Clearwater Revival hit, “Proud Mary.”  Ike and Tina’s 1971 cover reached No. 4, just below the No. 2 original by CCR.

Ike Turner had a well-known cocaine problem, which not only affected his and Tina’s music career, but their marriage as well.  Tina left her abusive husband in 1976, and by 1978, Tina divorced Ike in both marriage and music.  Between 1977 and 1983, she performed solo on a number of variety shows, and also with artists like Rod Stewart, Kim Carnes, Chuck Berry and The Rolling Stones.  And, at the insistence of David Bowie, she picked up a singles record deal with Capitol Records in 1983.

In November 1983, she released her cover of Al Green’s classic “Let’s Stay Together.”  The cover debuted on the Hot 100 in January 1984, became her first charting hit in eight years, and her first Top 40 hit since 1973.  “Let’s Stay Together” peaked at No. 26 in late March 1984, reached No. 3 on BILLBOARD’s R&B chart, and spent two weeks at No. 1 on BILLBOARD’s Dance chart.  It was also a Top 10 hit in the U.K., Belgium, Finland, Holland and New Zealand.

The success of “Let’s Stay Together” prompted Capitol to reconsider their deal with Tina, and offered her a three-album deal, asking for an album ASAFP.  That album (and next single) helped Tina become the incredible comeback story of 1984, maybe of the entire decade.

The result was her fifth studio album, PRIVATE DANCER, which was released in late May 1984.  The second single from PRIVATE DANCER was released in advance of the album, on May 1, 1984: “What’s Love Got To Do With It.”

Written by Terry Britten of Manchester, England, and Graham Lyle of Scotland, “What’s Love Got To Do With It” was actually first offered to Cliff Richard (or, as I call him, the Elvis of the U.K.), but it never materialized.  It was then offered to Pittsburg R&B singer, Phyllis Hyman, who was interested, but the head of Arista Records, Clive Davis, for some reason wouldn’t allow her to do it.  From there, it was offered to Donna Summer, who had it for a couple of years but didn’t do anything with it, and just months before Tina recorded her version, the British Pop group Bucks Fizz were offered the song.  They did record the song but when Tina recorded her version first, their version was not released until the year 2000 (on a reissue of one of their albums).

The cover art (outside of North America) for “What’s Love Got To Do With It.”

 

“What’s Love Got To Do With It” took less than three weeks after its release to debut on the BILLBOARD Hot 100, entering the chart at No. 92.  It reached the Top 40 in late June, and on this date (9.1) in 1984, it spent the first of its three weeks at No. 1.  The song stayed on the Hot 100 more than half a year, and nearly outlasted three Hot 100 singles from another act also enjoying a comeback that year – The Jacksons.  At the time, 44-year-old Tina Turner was the oldest female solo recording artist to reach No. 1 on the Hot 100 (that record is now held by Cher, with her 1999 dance hit, “Believe”).

It was a massive hit around the globe as well, reaching No. 1 in Australia and Canada, and the Top 10 in the U.K., Austria, Germany, Holland, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden and where Tina calls home today, Switzerland.

And the accolades didn’t stop there.  “What’s Love Got To Do With It” was the second-biggest U.S. single of 1984 (only behind Prince’s “When Doves Cry”), it received three Grammy Awards (including Record and Song Of The Year), an MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video, it inspired a 1993 biopic of the same name (partly based on her 1986 autobiography, I, TINA), and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2012.

Tina Turner, looking ecstatic at the 1985 Grammy Awards.

After “What’s Love Got To Do With It” reached No. 1, three more songs from PRIVATE DANCER reached the Top 40, two of them the Top 10.  From there, she scored eight more Top 40 hits between 1984 and 1993, three of those reaching the Top 10 as well.

For my 2011 Valentine’s show on STUCK IN THE 80s, my little 20-year-old 80s music program on WMPG community radio in Portland, Maine, Tina’s hit inspired the title of the show: “What’s Love Got To Do With It – Non-Traditional Love Songs,” starting of course with her No. 1 classic.  The show featured songs like “What Is Love” by Howard Jones, “Love Is A Battlefield” by Pat Benatar, “Ever Fallen In Love” by The Buzzcocks, Joe Jackson’s “Fools In Love,” The Time’s “Jungle Love” and the Red Version of “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” the brilliant 1988 cover by the NYC Avant-Rock band, Swans.

These days, Tina Turner is now an official citizen of Switzerland, where she has lived for many years, has been married for three years to someone she was seeing for the 27 years prior to that, and she has occasionally referred to herself as a Buddhist-Baptist, though in an interview earlier this year, she said she considers herself a Buddhist.

Tina Turner and David Bowie, 1985. (Photo by Dave Hogan/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Though I’ve never seen her perform, I’ve always had a lot of respect for Tina Turner, and after divorcing Ike (who died in 2007), and especially after David Bowie indirectly helped her make music history, I feel like she’s really living the life she truly wants to live.  Tina, who turns 77 in November, has definitely earned it. 

As for today’s “song of the day,” when I think about it, the title “What’s Love Got To Do With It” is kind of a contradiction in terms.  I mean, I don’t know anyone who DOESN’T love that song.  So, in terms of the song and the remarkable Tina Turner herself, I’d say the answer to the question, “What’s Love Got To Do With It” is, well, “everything…”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGpFcHTxjZs

Tina Turner in Paris, 1984.