song of the day – “On The Radio” | DONNA SUMMER | 1979 / 1980.

For December 31, 2020, Maryhope, my partner in radio and my partner in love, and I remotely recorded some radio shows for WMPG-FM Community Radio out of Portland, Maine and WMPG.org.  Maryhope and I covered several shows at WMPG for New Year’s Eve a few years before (when it was on a Sunday night) in an eight-and-a-half hour marathon show to ring in the new year.  We had a blast, until the DJ with the first show of the New Year (the one who would replace us after our special New Year’s broadcast) overslept, because he thought, since it was a holiday, he didn’t have to go in (cue the eye roll).  Other than that, we had a an incredible time ringing in the New Year in the place we had first met many years before, and we certainly do make some amazing radio together!

In thinking about our fun time with that New Year’s Eve at WMPG, Maryhope had the excellent idea of ringing in 2021 at WMPG too!  But, when Covid-19 hit in March 2020, WMPG has been broadcasting remotely ever since.  First, they were airing recently-archived shows (WMPG keeps archives of their shows for five weeks on WMPG.org), and then just about everyone started recording shows remotely from home.  That’s when Maryhope and I joined in, submitting shows to air whenever there was an open spot in the schedule.  

Maryhope started airing her wonderful new badass retro show, PURPLE MONKEY DISHWASHER, eventually getting her old slot back, 9:00 – 11:00pm on Sundays, with me contributing a STUCK IN THE 80s spotlight!!  You can find the archives of her past five shows at wmpg.org/show/sun2100/.  And I resurrected our old radio show, STUCK IN THE 80s, for some new shows and rebroadcast some old ones as well.  It was a lot of fun bringing the show back after a few years!  

But, when Maryhope mentioned doing some shows for WMPG to air on New Year’s Eve 2020 and early New Year’s Day 2021 (she recorded somewhere in the vicinity of four shows, and I did a couple), at the time, I didn’t realize I would be writing about one of the shows I did a few months later.  

The show I’m referring to was a fill-in show for the WMPG Station Manager, Jim Rand, and his longtime Thursday afternoon Punk show, LAND OF THE LOST.  But, in my 25 years at WMPG, I learned a long time ago, that if you’re subbing for a show, you don’t always have to play what is normally played on that particular show.  Those hosts “encourage” you to play what they normally play, but it’s not usually required.  

My show that New Year’s Eve afternoon (from 3:00 – 5:00pm Eastern time) was called 1979.  That’s it; that’s the title.  It was the year I fell in love with music, and I wanted to highlight that.  I lovingly put together two hours of kickass music in a multitude of genres that included no less than Rock, Punk, Disco, Soul, Alternative (before it was called that), Rap, Country, New Wave, Ska….and Pop Muzik, which was also the song I started the show off with, by Robin Scott (better known as M, and one of my all-time favorite songs).

That first set of my 1979 show was admittedly one of THE BEST sets I have ever done in the 36 years I’ve been a DJ.  After “Pop Muzik,” I played “Dance This Mess Around” by The B-52’s, “Grinding Halt” by The Cure, “Do The Dog” by The Specials, Madness and “One Step Beyond…,” plus “Tears Of A Clown” by my friend, Dave Wakeling, and The English Beat, and “Train In Vain” by The Clash.  

In total, I played 30 full songs, a playlist that included songs from Blondie, Led Zeppelin, The Ramones, the Electric Light Orchestra, the Buzzcocks, Fleetwood Mac, The Jacksons, Nick Lowe, Sister Sledge and David Bowie.  I also played part of “Rapper’s Delight” by The Sugarhill Gang, in a special mix I put together with “Good Times” by Chic, and I played a comedy bit from Robin Williams’ brilliant 1979 comedy album, REALITY…WHAT A CONCEPT.  

I was pretty proud of the show.  I still am.  Maryhope loved it too, and I even got a piece of fan mail from a WMPG listener about my 1979 program, less than an hour into the show, with the email subject line to WMPG titled, “Today’s fabulous selection from 1979!”  

The email read, “Today doing laundry and plugged in my old boombox!  I searched for a station,  WMPG,  came in crystal clear!!  What a fabulous selection of ’79 music!!  The English Beat, the Clash, Blondie, and the Ramones, to name a few!  I am mighty impressed with your choices today!!  I grew up listening and have a few of the above artists’ albums!!  Thank you for going back in time…”

Well, not long after the start of 2021, Maryhope and I were still talking about that show.  I think I told her that I could do a 1979 show for a year.  And, I believe she said something along the lines of, “Well, why don’t you?”  I hadn’t planned on doing another show, to be honest, and was going to just submit the occasional STUCK IN THE 80s until Covid was finally behind us, and everything was back to the old normal.  Or maybe I thought I didn’t have time to work on a weekly show.  Of course, Maryhope was right.  She also reminded me, much to my surprise, that I had been talking about doing a 1979 show for years.  

So, with a request to see if there were any open slots on the WMPG schedule right now, I sent an email to Jessica Lockhart, the Program Director for WMPG, who has been with the station longer than I’ve been with the station, and who has been doing some absolutely incredible work scheduling all of these remote radio shows from everyone, and helping to keep WMPG on the air all this time.  

There was an open slot from Saturday nights 11:00pm to 1:00am Sunday mornings, and I snagged it right away.  I slightly reworked my New Year’s Eve show, and on January 23, 2021, WMPG aired the first installment of my new radio show, 1979 – THIS AIN’T JUST DISCO.

The poster for my new show, 1979 – This Ain’t Just Disco, on WMPG!

“This Ain’t Just Disco” is paraphrased, of course, in a line from “Life During Wartime,” a Talking Heads song from their 1979 album, FEAR OF MUSIC (“This ain’t no party / this ain’t no disco…”).  And, “This Ain’t Just Disco” fits perfectly because Disco was EVERYWHERE in 1979.  You couldn’t escape it.  Even non-Disco artists like Rod Stewart, Wings and Kiss had big Disco hits in 1979.  And Blondie’s “Heart Of Glass” united Punk and Disco fans alike.  No easy trick.

And the more I thought about subsequent 1979 shows, I thought of a tagline that is 1979% accurate:  “Songs from the year I fell in love with music, and songs from 1979 I fell in love with later on.”  And, for two hours every week, it’s a fun combination of songs that wouldn’t normally go together in (almost) any radio playlist.  Six shows in, I didn’t repeat a single artist (except a medley of “Hot Stuff” and “Bad Girls” by Donna Summer in the debut show).  Seven shows in, I hadn’t repeated a single song.  That’s not so bad!  AND, as an added bonus, like I’m doing for Maryhope’s show, she is doing a PURPLE MONKEY DISHWASHER 70s spotlight for each of my shows!  Pretty damn bleeping cool!!!

For Show No. 7, which aired at a special time Sunday, March 7th into International Women’s Day, March 8, 2021 (and was rebroadcasted in my normal Saturday night slot on March 13, 2021), I celebrated International Women’s Day 2021 with a show featuring all female artists.  One of those artists is the aforementioned late, great Donna Summer, from Boston, MA.  Donna Summer was not only the “Queen of Disco,” she was the Queen of 1979.  Donna Summer RULED 1979.  

On the first BILLBOARD Hot 100 chart of 1979, she was still in the Top 40 with her No. 1 cover of “MacArthur Park,” and two weeks later, she was back in the Top 40 with “Heaven Knows,” which peaked at No. 4.  She was only out of the Top 40 for one week in 1979.  

The No. 1 songs “Hot Stuff” and “Bad Girls” followed in the Summer of 1979, plus “Dim All The Lights” (also from the No. 1 BAD GIRLS album) reached No. 2 in November, and her duet with Barbra Streisand, “No More Tears (Enough Is Enough),” moved into No. 1 the following week, which was also the week her new single, “On The Radio” (and the title track of her greatest hits album) was released.  And Donna Summer was STILL in the Top 10 of the BILLBOARD Hot 100 the last week of 1979!  Phew!  Holy cats!

Some shots of Donna Summer for the (literally!) ON THE RADIO hits collection.

“On The Radio” was played on my International Women’s Day show.  It’s also one of my favorite “radio” songs, and before I proudly owned the double greatest hits album it’s named after, I proudly owned the single.  The history is fuzzy on this, but ON THE RADIO: GREATEST HITS VOLUMES I & II may have actually been the first album I ever owned (though not the first album I ever bought with my own money — that was 1981’s GREATEST HITS by Queen). 

The single for “On The Radio” debuted on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 in the first half of January 1980, and within two weeks, was already in the Top 40.  Three weeks later, it was already in the Top 10, and headed for No. 1.  Unfortunately, there was a lot of competition at the top of the chart in the early months of the new decade, and other songs had plans for No. 1, notably Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2).”  The best “On The Radio” could settle for is two weeks at No. 5 (for two weeks) in March 1980.  

Still, “On The Radio” ended up as one of the biggest hits of 1980, and Donna Summer had another big year, reaching No. 3 with “The Wanderer,” the title song from her new album (and a new label for her, Donna was the first artist signed to the brand-new Geffen Records, founded by David Geffen, who had co-created Asylum Records back in 1971).

Donna Summer made four song appearances in the first seven shows of 1979 — THIS AIN’T JUST DISCO, and I KNOW she’ll make some more, especially with Show No. 10 (airing Saturday, April 3, 2021) devoted to the short-lived but popular labels Casablanca (Donna Summer’s first label), and RSO Records (responsible for the huge SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER and GREASE soundtracks).  

I’m not how long the show will be on.  Like I said, I could prolly do the show for a year, though, honestly, I’d happily give it up to bring WMPG back to its normal schedule, because that would mean that Covid-19 is behind us, which, after a year already, is already a year too long.  

For now, though, I’m enjoying the show and putting together new shows every week!  One of the best parts of doing this show is discovering new-to-me music that is 42 years old!  Kickass.  You can find the archives of the show at wmpg.org/show/sat2300/.  And that is where you will find me, Maryhope’s PURPLE MONKEY DISHWASHER 70s SPOTLIGHT,  and where you will find Donna Summer…“On The Radio.”  

song of the day – “It Must Be Love” | MADNESS | 1983.

When it comes to music, anyone who’s known me for any period of time knows my love for terrestrial radio, 80s music and my stance on (real) one-hit wonders.  Being a singles chart nerd here in America for 40 years (most of my life), I classify a (real) one-hit wonder as an act who has reached the BILLBOARD Hot 100 only once.  Throughout the three-and-a-half year history of this blog, I’ve often featured (real) one-hit wonders of the 80s, and I’ll feature another one soon.  There were nearly 500 of them; it will take awhile. 

But, as much as I’ve loved radio for the past 40 years, there are aspects of radio I’ve never cared for.  As outlined in one of my very first blog posts back in 2016 (“wouldn’t it be good,” after the 1984 song by (real) one-hit wonder, Nik Kershaw, https://foreveryoung80s.wordpress.com/2016/02/02/wouldnt-it-be-good/), I hit upon this very subject of radio stations and media outlets like VH1 “determining” what songs are worth remembering, and what songs get left behind, despite any imprint the songs that got left behind may have had on the singles chart.

10 years ago, VH1 did a bullshit show on the “Greatest One-Hit Wonders Of The 80s,” and if memory serves me right, nearly 75% of the list was inaccurate.  In response to this list, I put together a show called “Why I Wasn’t A One-Hit Wonder” on my STUCK IN THE 80s radio program. 

Not long after my “Why I Wasn’t A One-Hit Wonder” program aired in October 2009, I had the honor of interviewing the voice of The English Beat and General Public, Dave Wakeling (whose hit 1993 cover of The Staples Singers’ “I’ll Take You There” appeared on the show), we talked about this very topic, and I asked Dave if it bothered him that General Public, according to VH1, was referred to as a one-hit wonder (General Public was ranked No. 77 on VH1’s list, because of “Tenderness”):

“[VH1] asked me to be involved in that, and I sent them a list of [our] hits, and I was like, ‘Sadly, we can’t be involved in a one-hit wonder [show], can we?’  So, I told him that I thought they were barking up the wrong tree, and beating a dead horse, and it seems to be something, I think it stems more from VH1 than anything else, to try and marginalize or even ridicule the 80s somehow, and most of the people working on those damn programs weren’t even there; with their young sarcastic tones.  I put the guy in his place, frankly.  And, I said, ‘Even if I was a one-hit wonder, it’d be one more than you, mate, wouldn’t it?!’  Or, as my dad used to say, ‘Better to have been a has been than a never-bleeding wozzer!’”

My god, I love sharing that story.  It’s fucking beautiful, and it’s nice to know there are artists like Dave Wakeling who appreciate similar views of what does and does not determine a (real) one-hit wonder.  I imagine Barry Scott, legendary host of the long-running radio show, THE LOST 45s, would tend to agree.

Take another successful British act, Madness (on that 2009 VH1 list at No. 28, with “Our House”).  Between 1979 and 2008, the Ska/Popsters hailing from the Camden Town part of London) reached the Top 40 of the U.K. singles chart 29 times with 26 songs, with 15 songs reaching the Top 10 (one of them in two different chart runs; I’ll come onto that in a bit), and one No. 1 song – “House Of Fun,” which spent two weeks at No. 1 in the Spring of 1982.

Over here in America, Madness wasn’t as popular, but still managed to hit the BILLBOARD Hot 100 three times: “Our House,” which went to No. 7 in the Summer of 1983, “It Must Be Love,” and “The Sun And The Rain,” which reached No. 72 in early 1984.  In fact, “Our House” was part of a chart-setting record on the BILLBOARD Hot 100.  On the chart dated July 16, 1983, British acts shattered an 18-year-old record, by placing HALF of the Top 40 songs on the Hot 100 that week (the original 1965 record was 14).  And, out of those 20 songs on that July 16, 1983 chart, seven of the Top 10 songs that week were by Brits.  “Our House” was No. 8.  Absolutely impressive.  The Second British Invasion was in full swing, and Madness was a part of that.

The original 1981 U.K. single release of “It Must Be Love.”

In late November 1981, Madness (then featuring seven members) released a gorgeous stand-alone single called “It Must Be Love,” which later appeared on their No. 1 U.K. compilation, COMPLETE MADNESS, in April 1982.  “It Must Be Love” is actually a cover of a soulful, mainly-acoustic Pop song by British singer / songwriter / musician / poet, Labi Siffre.  It reached No. 14 in the U.K. in 1971.

10 years after the original, the Madness version of “It Must Be Love” reached No. 4 on the U.K. singles chart, becoming their eighth-consecutive Top 10 hit there.  In 1983, in an attempt to get the U.S. further interested in Madness after the No. 7 Hot 100 success of “Our House,” Geffen Records released a compilation with some of their more popular U.K. songs released from 1979 through 1982 (oddly enough, one of their most-famous songs, “One Step Beyond…” was not represented).  Though the compilation was well-reviewed, had some success on the BILLBOARD album chart, and I happily bought the album, it sadly did not have the effect the band was hoping for.

However, the success of “Our House” in America did not stop the success of Madness here.  While still in the Top 40 with “Our House,” “It Must Be Love” debuted on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 in late August 1983 at No. 85.  About a month later, “It Must Be Love” became the second American Top 40 single by Madness.  It spent five weeks in the Top 40, peaking at No. 33 for two of those weeks in October 1983.  Madness would reach the Hot 100 one more time, in early 1984 with the aforementioned “The Sun And The Rain.” 

Back in the U.K., Madness continued to be successful, so much so in fact that their 1992 compilation album, DIVINE MADNESS, also reached No. 1 on the U.K. album chart, and got the band back together after a six-year break.  It also brought back reissues of three of their Top 10 hits, the most-successful reissue being “It Must Be Love,” which this time reached No. 6 on the U.K. singles chart 11 years after the original release hit No. 4.

The 1992 U.K. reissue of “It Must Be Love,” featuring a still from the music video on the cover.

Formed in 1976, Madness is still together today, with their 12th studio album, CAN’T TOUCH US NOW, released in October 2016, and their most-recent compilation, 2017’s FULL HOUSE: THE VERY BEST OF MADNESS.  Both albums were certified Silver in the U.K.

The full album cover art for 2016’s CAN’T TOUCH US NOW.

Maryhope and I have loved Madness for a long time, with “It Must Be Love” a lovely favorite we treasure.  And though the last time I heard “It Must Be Love” on terrestrial radio was either on my WMPG radio show or Maryhope’s, I’d like to think that it’s being played somewhere on the dial where Madness is not regarded as an American one-hit wonder.  And if there is such a place like that in America which exists besides the community radio confines of Portland, Maine, well, it must be love, right?

The cover art for the U.S. release of “It Must Be Love.”

“As soon as I wake up / Every night, every day / I know that it’s you I need / To take the blues away / It must be love, love, love / It must be love, love, love / Nothing more, nothing less / Love is the best…”

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

Madness, 1983.

song of the day – “Abracadabra” | STEVE MILLER BAND | 1982.

Waiting for the real Colin Hay to begin, Rockland, Maine, 8.16.2017. He was, of course, fantastic and soulful.

Hey everyone!  Thanks so much for being patient with me, as I’ve taken an unexpected (but quite enjoyable) absence from the bloggy thing since the end of July.  There’s been work stuff, home stuff, I had a fun time attending concerts featuring Blondie, the 80s Retro Futura Tour (including Howard Jones, Modern English, Men Without Hats, Paul Young, Katrina of Katrina And The Waves, and The English Beat!), and most recently, seeing the wonderful Colin Hay in beautiful Rockland, Maine. 

I’ve also been spending a lot of quality time with the incredible and awesome Hope, my superfriend, sassy radio co-host and writing hero, which included a swim in the cold Atlantic Ocean here in Maine that changed me forever.  There’s a lot more to say, and I will, in a post coming soon that will be about Hope and that swim in the ocean and much more!  And Hope comes up again later in this post, so stay tuned!!

That’s the absolutely lovely HopeyT and me, Kettle Cove State Park, Cape Elizabeth, Maine, 9.2.2017!

When I started my tribute to my radio hero, Casey Kasem, back on June 1, school was in session and Summer was weeks away.  Well, it’s now September 9, 2017, school is back in session and Fall is less than two weeks away.  I’ve had fun bringing you this tribute to Casey (who passed away in June 2014 at the age of 82), and wanted to make sure (1) you all didn’t think I would hold out on the Number One song of this tribute, and (2) that I get this in ASAFP, because what’s a Top 40 countdown without a Number One song?

Much like AMERICAN TOP 40, this post will be full of nerdy chart facts and then some, but first, I wanted to recap the songs I’ve posted in this series so far.  These songs (which include five (real) one-hit wonders of the 80s), are ranked at the positions they peaked at on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 (with peak year), and though they do not represent a definitive Top 40 list for me, but I love all of them, and hope you’ve enjoyed reading about them!

40. CLONES (WE’RE ALL) – ALICE COOPER (1980)

39. SLIPPING AWAY – DAVE EDMUNDS (1983)

38. PROMISES IN THE DARK – PAT BENATAR (1981)

37. WHISPER TO A SCREAM (BIRDS FLY) – ICICLE WORKS (1984; (real) one-hit wonder of the 80s)

36. SOMETIMES A FANTASY – BILLY JOEL (1980)

35. FAKE FRIENDS – JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS (1983)

34. ME MYSELF AND I – DE LA SOUL (1989)

33. PRIDE (IN THE NAME OF LOVE) – U2 (1984)

32. VALLEY GIRL – FRANK & MOON ZAPPA (1982)

31. (GHOST) RIDERS IN THE SKY – THE OUTLAWS (1981)

30. LIES – THOMPSON TWINS (1983)

29. TURN UP THE RADIO – AUTOGRAPH (1985; (real) one-hit wonder of the 80s)

28. POINT OF NO RETURN – NU SHOOZ (1986)

27. THE RIGHT THING – SIMPLY RED (1987)

26. NOT JUST ANOTHER GIRL – IVAN NEVILLE (1988)

25. TAKE ME WITH YOU – PRINCE & THE REVOLUTION featuring APOLLONIA (1985)

24. ONE WAY OR ANOTHER – BLONDIE (1979)

23. YOU CAN CALL ME AL – PAUL SIMON (1986 / 1987)

22. AIN’T NOBODY – RUFUS & CHAKA KHAN (1983)

21. FOOL IN THE RAIN – LED ZEPPELIN (1980)

20. OUR LIPS ARE SEALED – THE GO-GO’S (1982)

19. PUSH IT – SALT-N-PEPA (1988)

18. LET ME TICKLE YOUR FANCY – JERMAINE JACKSON with DEVO (1982)

17. YOU ARE THE GIRL – THE CARS (1987)

16. HOLIDAY – MADONNA (1984)

15. ONE OF THE LIVING – TINA TURNER (1985)

14. DIGGING YOUR SCENE – THE BLOW MONKEYS (1986; (real) one-hit wonder of the 80s)

13. TARZAN BOY – BALTIMORA (1986)

12. WHAT’S GOING ON – CYNDI LAUPER (1987)

11. EDGE OF SEVENTEEN – STEVEIE NICKS (1982)

10. RELAX – FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD (1985)

09. THE ONE I LOVE – R.E.M. (1987)

08. LET THE MUSIC PLAY – SHANNON (1984)

07. WHAT I AM – EDIE BRICKELL & NEW BOHEMIANS (1989)

06. INFATUATION – ROD STEWART (1984)

05. WANNA BE STARTIN’ SOMETHIN’ – MICHAEL JACKSON (1983)

04. HEART AND SOUL – T’PAU (1987; (real) one-hit wonder of the 80s)

03. LOVE SHACK – THE B-52’S (1989)

02. DANCING IN THE DARK – BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (1984)

Throughout this series, I’ve been mentioned how many songs peaked at each position between 1979 and 1989.  It’s only fitting that songs which reached No. 1 would have the highest number of songs hitting the apex of the BILLBOARD Hot 100.  For this post, I am only counting the songs that reached No. 1 between January 1980 and December 1989, and for that 80s time period, 232 songs went all the way to No. 1.  Let’s get nerdy now (if you’re not already there), with some chart feats about No. 1 songs during the 80s and the BILLBOARD Hot 100:

• FOUR (REAL) ONE-HIT WONDERS reached No. 1 during the 80s – Bobby McFerrin (“Don’t Worry, Be Happy”), the second-chance single, “When I’m With You” by Sheriff, Jan Hammer’s “Miami Vice Theme,” and Vangelis (“Chariots Of Fire (Titles)”), though the composer did reach the chart separately twice in the early 80s as part of the duo Jon & Vangelis, with Jon Anderson of Yes.

• MOST WEEKS SPENT AT NO. 1 IN THE 80s (27); MOST NO. 1 SONGS FROM ONE ALBUM (5); MOST NO. 1 SONGS IN THE 80s (9) – Michael Jackson.  The King Of Pop reached No. 1 in the 80s with “Rock With You” (1980; 4 weeks at No. 1), “Billie Jean” (1983; 7 weeks), “Beat It” (1983; 3 weeks), “Say Say Say,” with Paul McCartney (1983 / 1984; 6 weeks), “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You,” with Siedah Garrett (1987; 1 week), “Bad” (1987; 2 weeks), “The Way You Make Me Feel” (1988; 1 week), “Man In The Mirror” (1988; 2 weeks); “Dirty Diana” (1988; 1 week).

• MOST NO. 1 SONGS IN THE 80s (if you’re NOT Michael Jackson): Madonna (7), Phil Collins (7 solo hits), Whitney Houston (7), George Michael (6 solo hits, which includes “Careless Whisper”), Daryl Hall & John Oates (5), Lionel Richie (5).

• NO. 1 WITH MOST WEEKS SPENT ON THE HOT 100 – 40 – “Red Red Wine” – UB40. It spent 25 weeks on the Hot 100, including a week at No. 1 in 1988, and had charted for 15 weeks in its first chart run in 1984.

• MOST CONFIGURATIONS AT NO. 1 – PAUL McCARTNEY, with Wings (“Coming Up (Live At Glasgow),” 1980), with Stevie Wonder (“Ebony And Ivory,” 1982), and with Michael Jackson (“Say Say Say,” 1983 / 1984).

• NO. 1 WITH MOST WEEKS SPENT IN THE TOP 10 OF THE HOT 100 (15) – “Physical – OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN (1981 / 1982), and “Eye Of The Tiger” – SURVIVOR (1982).  SUPER NERDY FUN FACT: the song which spent the most weeks in the Top 10 in the 80s didn’t even reach No. 1 – “Hurts So Good” by John Mellencamp spent 16 weeks in the Top 10, with four of those weeks in the runner-up spot.

• MOST WEEKS SPENT AT NO. 1 IN THE 80s (10) – “Physical” by Olivia Newton-John (1981 / 1982).  While it’s more commonplace on the Hot 100 these days, the biggest song of the 1980s would be the only song to spend at least 10 weeks at No. 1 on the chart for next 10 years.  In 1992, Boyz II Men spent a then-record 13 weeks at No. 1 with “End Of The Road.”  Two No. 1 songs later, Whitney Houston would break that record with “I Will Always Love You,” which spent its 14th and final week on top in late February 1993.  The current record is 16 weeks at No. 1.

In the most recent tabulation of the Greatest Of All Time Hot 100 songs for BILLBOARD’s legendary singles chart, many songs from the 80s were represented, and are currently ranked as follows:

08. “Physical” – OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN (1981 / 1982; 10 weeks at No. 1)

15. “Bette Davis Eyes” – KIM CARNES (1981; 9 weeks)

16. “Endless Love” – DIANA ROSS & LIONEL RICHIE (1981; 9 weeks)

24. “Eye Of The Tiger” – SURVIVOR (1982; 6 weeks)

29. “Every Breath You Take” – THE POLICE (1983; 8 weeks)

31. “Flashdance…What A Feeling” – IRENE CARA (1983; 6 weeks)

40. “Another One Bites The Dust” – QUEEN (1980; 3 weeks)

41. “Say Say Say” – PAUL McCARTNEY & MICHAEL JACKSON (1983 / 1984; 6 weeks)

54. “Call Me” – BLONDIE (1980; 6 weeks)

57. “Lady” – KENNY ROGERS (1980; 6 weeks)

63. “Centerfold” – THE J. GEILS BAND (1982; 6 weeks)

64. “(Just Like) Starting Over” – JOHN LENNON (1980 / 1981; 5 weeks)

68. “I Love Rock ’N Roll” – JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS (1982; 7 weeks)

73. “Ebony And Ivory” – PAUL McCARTNEY & STEVIE WONDER (1982; 7 weeks)

75. “That’s What Friends Are For” – DIONNE & FRIENDS (1986; 4 weeks)

77. “Upside Down” – DIANA ROSS (1980; 4 weeks)

83. “Billie Jean” – MICHAEL JACKSON (1983; 7 weeks)

86. “Abracadabra” – THE STEVE MILLER BAND (1982; 2 weeks)

89. “Say You, Say Me” – LIONEL RICHIE (1985 / 1986; 4 weeks)

91. “All Night Long (All Night)” – LIONEL RICHIE (1983; 4 weeks)

95. “Waiting For A Girl Like You” – FOREIGNER (1981 / 1982; 10 weeks at No. 2; still tied for a record for spending the most weeks peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100)

98. “Hurts So Good” – JOHN MELLENCAMP (1982; 4 weeks at No. 2)

So, for now, the 80s represent more than a fifth of the greatest hits to grace the BILLBOARD HOT 100.  Pretty damn cool.  I know it won’t always be like that, and I always wonder why some huge hits like Prince’s “When Doves Cry” (No. 1 for 1984) or Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick In The Wall” (No. 2 for 1980) aren’t up there, but songs these days tend to stay atop the Hot 100 (and the chart as a whole) a lot longer than they did back in the day, but honestly, I’m grateful for the songs that are still there. 

When I was preparing for this hefty blog post (prolly my second-longest, save for the Prince tribute post in April 2016), I was going through the list of No. 1 songs, and there are some songs I’ve already featured as a “song of the day” (Tears For Fears’ “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” comes to mind, and has often as of late), and there are many others I love. 

But, I concede that there are some real stinkers in there, too: Will To Power’s awful covers medley of “Baby, I Love Your Way” and “Freebird” (subtitled “Freebaby,” which is just heinous)?!  How in THE HELL did that get to go to No. 1 and “I Don’t Want Your Love” by Duran Duran stops at No. 4, and U2’s “Desire” stops at No. 3?!  For the love of all things holy!  And though I admit enjoying the movie MANNEQUIN, “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” by Starship?!  Are you kidding me?!  Even Grace Slick denounced that piece of shit.  While the go-to “worst song of the 80s” award is usually 1985’s “We Built This City,” I can tolerate that way more over “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now.”  Yes, I’m THAT guy.

If I was going for my absolute favorite No. 1 song of the 80s, there’s no competition.  It’s “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” by Simple Minds.  It’s also my all-time favorite song.  But it’s a post I want to save for another time.  So, I thought it would be fun to bring in Hope, my writing hero, who, unlike yours truly, doesn’t obsess and write about nerdy chart facts or Top 40 hits, let alone ones that hit No. 1.  I thought it would be cool to have her choose the song for this post.

On August 11, 2017, Hope was kind enough to send me her list of her picks for No. 1 songs from the 80s, many of which have been already mentioned in this post!  One of those songs, and a song that is almost universally loved (like “Let’s Dance” by David Bowie, “Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper, or the aforementioned Tears For Fears, Prince and Simple Minds gems) is “Abracadabra” by The Steve Miller Band.

Hope had included “Abracadabra” under the category of “Situational” No. 1 songs.  For Hope, “Abracadabra” was popular during the Summer after her high school graduation (“the glamorous Summer in The Hamptons!”), and she loves the line, “black panties with an angel’s face.”  Who wouldn’t love that line?!  It’s awesome (much like Hope herself)!

Milwaukee, Wisconsin native Steve Miller formed his Psychedelic Rock / Blues Rock band in San Francisco back in 1966.  Since his first two albums were released in 1968, through to his 1988 Jazz album, BORN 2 B BLUE, Steve Miller had been on Capitol Records, and he had some huge albums in the 70s. 

After 1981’s CIRCLE OF LOVE album (with the sweet Top 40 hit and criminally-forgotten gem, “Heart Like A Wheel”) failed to become his fourth consecutive platinum album here in America (though it was certified Gold), Steve was undeterred, got to work, and released the ABRACADABRA album in mid-June 1982.

Of the album, ROLLING STONE said, “The essence of good magic is deception, and with the release of this album, Steve Miller has earned the right to twirl his wand and shout, ‘Abracadabra!’”

Well, Steve thought so too, but Capitol wasn’t so sure.  The song inspired by Diana Ross (whom Steve met on a Pop music TV show in the 60s) told THE HOWARD STERN SHOW in 2016 that Capitol Records didn’t see a hit with the song “Abracadabra”:

“Capitol didn’t believe in [“Abracadabra”] and didn’t want to release it.  I had a different deal with Phonogram in Europe.  When it came out in Europe, I cancelled my American tour because it was Number One everywhere in the world, except the States.”  Once again, the record label got it wrong.

Well, after seeing the success of “Abracadabra” overseas, Capitol gave in and released it in the U.S., a month before the ABRACADABRA album was released.  “Abracadabra” debuted on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 in late May 1982 at No. 75, and took just four weeks to debut within the Top 40. 

The next few weeks were a steady climb, and by late July 1982, “Abracadabra” had become Steve Miller’s first Top 10 hit in five years, to the month.  With John Mellencamp’s “Hurts So Good” camped out at No. 2, and Survivor’s “Eye Of The Tiger” camped out at No. 1, “Abracadabra” was stuck at No. 3 for four weeks before it could work its magic on reaching No. 1. 

In early September 1982, after 15 weeks on the chart, “Abracadabra” finally hit No. 1 on the BILLBOARD Hot 100, giving Steve Miller his third No. 1 U.S. single overall, and his first No. 1 single since 1976’s “Rock’n Me” spent a week on top.  The No. 1 run of “Abracadabra” was just as quick as “Rock’n Me,” and his first No. 1 song, 1974’s “The Joker,” which also spent a lone week at No. 1.

The Steve Miller Band, 1982.

The following week, Chicago’s “Hard To Say I’m Sorry” snuck into the No. 1 position when no one was looking and stayed there for two weeks.  “Abracadabra” dropped to No. 3 (behind previous No. 1, “Eye Of The Tiger”).  But, in a magical chart feat, “Abracadabra” moved back up to No. 2 the next week, and by the end of September, “Abracadabra” reclaimed the No. 1 spot for one more week, before John Mellencamp’s little ditty about “Jack And Diane” started its four-week run at No. 1.  “Abracadabra” stayed on the Hot 100 until mid-Novemer 1982, and left the chart after nearly half a year.  It finished the year at No. 9 here in America. 

Around the globe, “Abracadabra” worked its magic on the singles charts of many countries, reaching No. 1 in Switzerland (six weeks), Sweden (four weeks), Australia and Canada (two weeks), and Austria, No. 2 in the U.K., Germany and Ireland, No. 4 in Norway, No. 8 in New Zealand, and No. 26 in the Netherlands.

“Abracadabra” was the last song The Steve Miller Band placed inside of the Top 40 of the BILLBOARD Hot 100, though they charted several more times through 1993, including the brilliant but oddly-underrated “I Want To Make The World Turn Around” from 1986.

Steve Miller continues to tour today, and in 2016, he was inducted as a solo artist into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, where he had some not so nice things to say about the whole thing, calling the Hall a “private boys’ club full of fucking gangsters and crooks,” and vowing to make it better. 

The Steve Miller Band, 2015.

He suggested taking the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame nominating committee, replace every one of them and start over.  I hope it works out, because Devo, from Akron, Ohio (less than an hour south of Cleveland, where the Hall is based), should have been inducted years ago, much like the incomparable Cyndi Lauper, who has taken on Blues, Standards, Folk, Dance and Country music in the past 15 years, not to mention writing a book, winning a Tony Award and co-founding the True Colors Fund, which works to end homelessness among LGBT youth, and even testified before Maine Senator Susan Collins in 2015 about this very subject. 

This photo of Steve at the 2016 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony speaks volumes, and not favorably for the Hall…

As for me and Hope and many others for “Abracadabra,” it’s one of those infectious songs that deserved to go to No. 1, and 35 years later, it still holds up.  At least the five-minute, eleven-second album version.  When the single was released, I bought it, but was instantly pissed it wasn’t the long version!  Sure, it’s only a minute and change difference, but if you hear the single version vs. the album version, you can tell the single version is a bit sped up, and the kick-ass instrumental that closes out the rest of the song isn’t there.  That’s even why I chose the video link below.  It’s not a link to the actual video, but to the album version.  You know, all these years later, I’m still impressed that sped up, edited single version got the song to No. 1.  Maybe that was magic too.

Speaking of magic, Hope inspired me recently to start training for a 5K using the Couch To 5K app (C25K); we’re both training for it, and finishing Week 5 of 8 this weekend!  Hope and I haven’t run a proper 5K in our adult lives, and the last time I ran the equivalent of a 5K was in high school during Cross Country, where I lettered my senior year.  Holy cats, that was 33 years ago! 

Post-run workout, 9.7.2017! (With a kick-ass playlist by DJ HopeyT to keep me going!)

But, you know what?  Maybe it’s not magic after all that’s got us training for our first 5K ever – and in our early 50s!  Maybe you just need to believe.  Just like Steve Miller believed he had a hit with “Abracadabra,” even as his longtime record label disagreed – and he was right!  It’s one of THE BEST songs of the 80s and of all-time.  And I believe getting through this 5K (and other aspects of my life) will happen with belief over magic, though I have to say, when it happens, it will feel pretty damn magical and then some…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKCV8gzSlYw

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 – “The Bottom Line” | BIG AUDIO DYNAMITE | 1985.

“The horses are on the track…”

In September 1983, with what was prolly the beginning of the end for The Clash, Mick Jones, the legendary band’s lead guitarist, co-lead vocalist and songwriter since their inception in 1976, was fired from the band.  Punctuality (or lack thereof) was a prominent factor in his dismissal from The Clash. 

Not long after getting booted from “the only band that mattered,” Mick Jones did something that prolly felt natural for him – he helped start another band – General Public, which was founded with The English Beat’s Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger, from the ashes of that band, which broke up in 1983.

But, the association Mick Jones had with General Public was quite short-lived.  Although his name is featured on the credits of General Public’s debut album, …ALL THE RAGE (he did play guitar on “Tenderness,” “Never You Done That” and at least three other songs), Mick left during the recording of the album.  I think had Mick stayed with Dave and Roger and General Public, it would have been quite interesting and amazing.  But, I can’t be mad at Mick and forgive him for leaving because…

…in 1984, Mick went on to co-found the Post-Punk, Alt-Dance band, Big Audio Dynamite, with film director Don Letts, who had previously directed a number of Clash videos and later the 2000 Clash documentary, WESTWAY TO THE WORLD, which picked up a Grammy Award in 2003 for Best Long Form Video.

The first album for Mick’s third band in two years, the appropriately-titled THIS IS BIG AUDIO DYNAMITE, was released in October 1985, interestingly enough, the month before the release of CUT THE CRAP, the last album by The Clash, which most folks thought was, well, crap (save for tracks like “This Is England”).

When ROLLING STONE’s David Fricke reviewed CUT THE CRAP in January 1986, THIS IS BIG AUDIO DYNAMITE got mentions as well: “If CUT THE CRAP is a cheat, then Mick Jones’ new band Big Audio Dynamite is an unexpected gamble.  ‘That old time groove is really nowhere,’ Jones shrugs in ‘The Bottom Line,’ brusquely dismissing [Joe] Strummer’s retropunk didacticism.  Instead, he continues, ‘I’m gonna take you to part two,’ which on THIS IS BIG AUDIO DYNAMITE is an intoxicating subversion of Eighties dance-floor cool with SANDINISTA!’s dub-funk turmoil…  THIS IS BIG AUDIO DYNAMITE hardly transcends the Clash’s finest hours, but for Jones it is a new beginning.  With CUT THE CRAP, one might well wonder if Joe Strummer’s at the end of the road.”  David was right – The Clash broke up in early 1986.  Many folks, yours truly included, thought they had already broken up long before then.

No, that’s not Terence Trent D’Arby standing next to a seated Mick Jones.  That’s film and video director, DJ, musician and B.A.D. co-founder Don Letts.

But, with songs like “E=MC2,” “Medicine Show,” “C’Mon Every Beatbox” and “BAD” (featured in the 1986 John Hughes classic, FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF), Big Audio Dynamite and THIS IS BIG AUDIO DYNAMITE were thriving.  The album was certified Gold in their U.K. homeland, and reached the Top 10 in New Zealand.

The first single released from the album (and the only song on the album solely written by Mick Jones) was “The Bottom Line.”  It was also the first song by B.A.D. that made me fall in love with the band, though not until 1987, when one of my (future) best friends, Michael, introduced me to them.  “The Bottom Line” did not fare well in the U.K. (where it reached a surprising No. 97 chart peak), but it was a Top 40 hit in Australia, New Zealand and BILLBOARD’s Dance chart.

There were at least a couple of different remixes for “The Bottom Line,” and though I enjoy the U.S. 12” mix by Rick Rubin, I have always favored (and will always prefer) the original and glorious 8-minute, 40-second U.K. 12” Remix.  Not only does it mirror the 4:35 album version, but when the album version is ready to cut out, in the U.K. Remix, Mick and Co. actually DO take you to Part Two (“I’m gonna take you to, I’m gonna take you to part two, part two…”)

Nearly 32 years after its release, it’s interesting how the song’s lyrics could still apply today:

“A dance to the tune off economic decline / Is when you do the bottom line / Nagging questions always remain / Why did it happen and who was to blame

“When you reach the bottom line / The only thing to do is climb / Pick yourself up off the floor / Don’t know what you’re waiting for

“They’ve been doing it down at the zoo / And I can show ya here’s what to do / All of the States and over UK / Even the Soviets are swinging away…

“So when you reach the bottom line / The only thing to do is climb / Pick yourself up off the floor / Anything you want is yours…”

Apart from a 2011 reunion, Big Audio Dynamite (and later, the successful Big Audio Dynamite II) stopped years ago, but Mick (who turns 62 in June 2017) is still keeping busy, performing in recent years with the live band for the popular U.K. Alt-Rock / Electronica band, Gorillaz, and on albums for Alt-Rockers, The Wallflowers, and Algerian singer, Rachid Taha (who released a brilliant Arabic cover of “Rock The Casbah” in 2004).

All these years later, my bottom line on “The Bottom Line” is that it’s still so infectious (especially the original 12” U.K. Remix) and amazing to dance to or listen to in the car, or anywhere.  And, if for some Godforsaken reason you have never heard this song, click on the link to the original video below, or take the next 10 minutes, find the link to the original 12” U.K. Remix and get ready to move.  It may not be that “new dance that’s going around” anymore, but “when the hits start flying,” you’re GONNA get down.  And then you’re gonna “pick yourself up off the floor” and do it again…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V5Zoe84BjE

song of the day – “Mirror In The Bathroom” | THE ENGLISH BEAT | 1980.

This is my first blog post after a longer-than-expected 13-day absence, and a belated tribute to the late, great Saxa, the Jamaican saxophonist extraordinaire best known for his work with The English Beat, and who died on May 3, 2017 at the age of 87 (the day after my last blog post).

Born Lionel Augustus Martin, Saxa was part of the first wave of Ska, playing sax with Jamaican artists like Prince Buster and Desmond Dekker.  At almost 50 years old, Saxa joined The English Beat to record their first single, a kick-ass, 1979 Ska / New Wave cover of “Tears Of A Clown,” the 1970 No. 1 hit on both sides of the Atlantic by Smokey Robinson And The Miracles.

Following the breakup of The English Beat in 1983, Saxa remained connected with the band’s offshoots, playing on efforts by General Public (with Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger) and Fine Young Cannibals (with Andy Cox and David Steele), and formed The International Beat with original English Beat drummer, Everett Morton.

The International Beat (with Saxa right in the middle)…

In my November 2009 interview with Dave Wakeling, the voice of The English Beat and General Public, I asked him, with Ska originating in Jamaica, did he have a favorite Jamaican musician, and he didn’t hesitate to name Saxa, who, according to Dave, “taught me so much about music; not about how to play music, but about the art of connection, the spiritual quality of transmitting messages.  He helped put it into hard focus for me, so I knew why I was doing this.”

Following Saxa’s passing, there was a great piece online about him written by Bill Pearls on BrooklynVegan.com, who said that Saxa’s “melodic style was a crucial part of The Beat’s sound – maybe the MOST distinctive part.”  I agree with that.  There are so many Beat songs with his signature saxophone sound that you wouldn’t hear on anything else at the time that featured a sax. 

The first English Beat song showcasing Saxa that comes to mind for me is “Mirror In The Bathroom,” the third of five singles released from their brilliant 1980 debut album, I JUST CAN’T STOP IT. 

“Mirror In The Bathroom” became the band’s third consecutive Top 10 hit in their U.K. homeland, reaching No. 4 on the U.K. singles chart, and No. 22 on BILLBOARD’s Dance chart, (a special 12” single with “Hands Off…She’s Mine” and “Twist And Crawl”). 

The cover art for the “Mirror In The Bathroom” European 7″ single.

As I’ve prolly stated here before, I was very late in getting to know The English Beat, and I think (the memory is a bit fuzzy here) my first introduction to “Mirror In The Bathroom” was as part of a pivotal scene in the excellent 1997 John Cusack film, GROSSE POINTE BLANK. 

In that same 2009 interview with Dave Wakeling, I asked him about it, and what it was like to have a filmmaker want to use his music for a film: “It’s thrilling, John Cusack and John Hughes used a lot of [our] tracks over the years.” 

Long before it was used in several films, “Mirror In The Bathroom” helped propel I JUST CAN’T STOP IT to a No. 3 peak on the U.K. album chart (and was certified Gold there).  It was also ranked No. 3 in the NEW MUSIC EXPRESS (NME) “Singles Of The Year” list, and author Gary Muholland featured it in his fantastic 2002 book, THIS IS UNCOOL: THE 500 GREATEST SINGLES SINCE PUNK AND DISCO.

After Saxa’s passing, Dave Wakeling posted on Facebook, “Thank you for your pure melody, your insights on music, love and life, and for your constant kindness to me.  You now deserve to take your place as Top Tenor, First Chair, in St Peters Archestra, just as you had practiced for your whole life.”

I’ve enjoyed the work of so many saxophonists since I started really getting into music in 1979, but Saxa was in a class all by himself.  And, as a new 50-year-old myself, for him to join an upstart Ska / New Wave band at almost 50 years old is mighty impressive, much like Saxa himself. 

R.I.P. Saxa, and many, many thanks… 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHWrmIzgB5A

song of the day – “Belly Of The Whale” | BURNING SENSATIONS | 1983.

Your benevolent 80s overlord is back!  That wonderful term of endearment was the creation of one of my best friends, Hopey T.  We collaborated on many radio shows over the years, and last week, we started on our first writing collaboration, a screenplay for a Comedy / Drama film set in the 80s.  It’s gonna be pretty bleeping cool, much like Hopey T herself. 

Speaking of Hope, she got a song stuck in my head last week that I’ve never forgotten about, but just hadn’t thought about in awhile – the wonderful “Belly Of The Whale” by Burning Sensations.

Formed in the Los Angeles, California area in 1982, Burning Sensations was a Rock band founded by Tim McGovern, the former lead guitarist for The Motels (and former love interest for that band’s leader and lead singer, Martha Davis). 

Tim had been with The Motels for their first two albums, and during the 1981 recording for their third album, titled APOCALYPSO, Tim had disagreements with the album’s producer Val Garay, who has worked with many artists like Kim Carnes (they shared a Record Of The Year Grammy Award for “Bette Davis Eyes”), Bonnie Raitt, Dolly Parton, Ringo Starr, Linda Ronstadt, Joan Armatrading and much more.

Well, by the end of 1981, Martha Davis and Tim McGovern broke up, he left the band and the APOCALYPSO album never materialized (Capitol Records said it was “too weird” and “not commercial enough”).  What turned out to be The Motels’ third album, 1982’s ALL FOUR ONE, would become their big breakthrough album and featured the Top 10 hit, “Only The Lonely,” plus “Take The L” and even a couple of songs co-written by Tim McGovern, “Art Fails” and “Tragic Surf.” 

After his departure from The Motels, Tim McGovern founded Burning Sensations, whose name might be a throwback to Reggae group names like The Wailing Souls or The Mighty Diamonds, or even non-Reggae acts like The English Beat. 

Burning Sensations released one EP (BELLY OF THE WHALE in 1982) and their self-titled full-length album in 1983, which featured covers of songs by Creedence Clearwater Revival (“Down On The Corner”) and Jimi Hendrix (“I Don’t Live Today”). 

The BURNING SENSATIONS album also featured “Belly Of The Whale,” a song which fuses Rock and Calypso and whose sound may or may not have been inspired by that Motels album that didn’t work out.

Though “Belly Of The Whale” did enjoy some success on MTV (the video features a tribute-of-sorts to the biggest music act of that year, Michael Jackson), it was never a hit, a fact that still surprises me to this day.  But, as I’ve come to realize over the years, some of the best songs ever released were never really hits at all.

Burning Sensations contributed one more cover in their short time together, with a cover of Jonathan Richman’s “Pablo Picasso” featured on the 1984 soundtrack to the cult classic, REPO MAN, with a sound harkening a bit to Wall Of Voodoo.

The six men who comprised Burning Sensations would be together for just five years, and broke up in 1987.  At last check, Tim McGovern leads a Classic Rock band in the Pacific Northwest called Knucklehead.  But, I’ll remember Tim most for writing one of the catchiest and danceable classics of the 80s that never became a hit, though it’s always been one with me.  Maybe even Ishmael and Jonah would agree.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZgtKt8K3ho

song of the day – “Shout” | TEARS FOR FEARS | 1985.

This post is dedicated to my discontent with Ticketmaster, the memories of how easy and fun it used to be to get tickets to shows, and my love for Tears For Fears and this song.  #TearsForFears #HallAndOates #TDGarden #TicketmasterFAIL

Earlier this week, presale tickets went on sale for the highly anticipated Daryl Hall & John Oates / Tears For Fears show at Boston’s famed TD Garden for June 2017.  First, presale tickets went on sale for folks who have some sort of special membership or an American Express card.  Then there’s the general presale the day before the general public can get tickets, so if you have special presale codes from folks like Pandora or Ticketmaster themselves, you have a (small) chance to get good seats before the everyone else does.

I remember years ago, living in Portland, Maine – even just a few years before the Interweb became popular – when you could wait in line hours before the box office opens to be guaranteed a good seat at a show.  There wasn’t all of this presale bullshit or special VIP package nonsense costing one’s paycheck.  You could buy a ticket for $20 or $30 and have a great time.  For the “big” shows, most of the general admission seats are gone.  It’s all reserved seating, which in most cases, is a good thing (I left tenth-row RESERVED seats of a 2004 David Byrne show at Portland’s State Theatre because people started going crazy when he began singing Talking Heads songs, and everyone migrated to the front.  Did you really think I really wanted to leave a David Byrne show early?!  Of course not!  He was amazing to watch.  Well, after some asshat spilled beer on me, I was done.  Reserved seats are reserved for a reason, asshole.

Thank God for acts like The English Beat, who still have accessible prices for their shows, and their shows are always fun and memorable.  Club shows like that remind me of the concerts from the old days.  Mostly general admission, a great time and you’ll even have enough $$ to get a T-shirt or some swag.

I recently reconnected with my old friend Travis after way too long, and he was going to pay for our tickets to see Daryl Hall & John Oates and Tears For Fears.  When the general presale tix went on sale yesterday (3.9.2017), I was ready.  But I couldn’t get tix at the level we wanted.  The special presales before mysteriously snatched all those seats up?!  Not likely. 

Unlike getting tickets to see Cyndi Lauper in Bangor, Maine in July 2017, where I could pick my own seats, the only option I had was “Best Available” for each category.  And the seats offered were terrible.  Nothing close.  And this was the presale!  When my friend Shawn in NYC and I saw Duran Duran and Chic in Brooklyn in April 2016, I was able to get 16th row seats NON-PRESALE!  Granted, I spent a little more $$ for that, but it’s New York, at least twice the size of Boston! 

Fiction can be fun!

When HopeyT and I saw Peter Gabriel and Sting in Worcester, MA in July 2016, I bought those tickets – the most $$ I’ve ever spent on a show – five months in advance!  And they were THE WORST seats I’ve ever had for a show.  I complained to Ticketmaster and the DCU Center in Worcester, but to no avail.  Ticketmaster seemed to care at first (like today), but nothing ever came out of it, not that I expected it to.  WTF is it with Ticketmaster and Massachusetts shows?!

When the presale option for Hall & Oates / Tears For Fears show in Boston didn’t pan out, I was ready at noon today (3.10.2017) for the general public tix.  The option we wanted wasn’t an option, and I ordered tickets for us for a section we didn’t want, but didn’t want to miss out on the show either.  Had all of the information entered in on Ticketmaster’s website, hit “enter” to reserve the seats, and all that popped up was the next screen was not a confirmation of seats, but of gibberish, which looked somewhat like an error message.  The credit card and transaction did not go through.  When I went back to get similar seats, they were gone.  When I kept trying, the Ticketmaster site stopped working altogether.  I later learned that site was down.  When the site was up and running again, all they had left were balcony seats.  We were more than willing to pay extra for good seats, and they were gone. 

Sometimes I wish I could relay to Ticketmaster and the powers that be who organized these shows that I’m not just a huge fan of Daryl Hall & John Oates and Tears For Fears, that I’m also someone who hosted a little 80s radio show in Portland, Maine for almost 21 years, and 80s music is not only my passion, it’s a way of life for me, and it keeps me young.  The music of Hall & Oates AND Tears For Fears proudly made ALOT of appearances on STUCK IN THE 80s over the years, and will again once the show is back.  I was so looking forward to seeing this concert.  But, I’m not going to get balcony seats when I had reserved better ones just because Ticketmaster wants me to conform to their douchebaggery, elitist ways. 

I’m not a rich man.  I don’t get to see shows all the time.  It’s been great for the last several years, where I have been able to see some folks perform that I didn’t get to for whatever reason back in the 80s.  And I don’t think people should have to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars just to see two of their favorite 80s acts from the third row.  It’s not right.

If you’re still reading, thanks very much for letting me vent.  And now on to a much better subject…

Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith formed Tears For Fears in Bath, England in 1981, and released a brilliant debut album in 1983 called THE HURTING.  But, it wasn’t until two years later when they were picked up on my music radar, with “Everybody Wants To Rule The World,” from their also-brilliant second album, SONGS FROM THE BIG CHAIR.

“Everybody Wants To Rule The World” was enjoying its second and final week at No. 1 on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 in mid-June 1985 when the second single from SONGS FROM THE BIG CHAIR, “Shout,” debuted on the chart at No. 66. 

In other parts of the globe, “Mothers Talk” was the first single released from the album (in August 1984; a U.S. remix was released in April 1986).  “Shout” was originally released in the U.K. around Thanksgiving 1984, well in advance of its U.S. release.  It was one of the biggest singles of the year, spending the first three weeks of August 1985 at No. 1 on the BILLBOARD Hot 100.  It also spent two weeks at No. 1 on BILLBOARD’s Dance chart, reached No. 6 on BILLBOARD’s Rock chart, and even peaked at No. 56 on BILLBOARD’s R&B chart.

“Shout,” with its strong lead vocals by Roland Orzabal, impressive guitar solo and keyboards, and that infectious pounding drum of producer Chris Hughes, was not only one of the biggest singles in America in 1985, it was one of THE biggest global hits of the year, and of the decade.  “Shout” reached No. 1 in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand and Switzerland, No. 2 in Italy and South Africa, No. 4 in the U.K., No. 5 in Ireland and Norway, No. 6 in Austria, and high singles chart rankings in France and Sweden too.  It was a massive hit just about everywhere on the planet.

Roland Orzabal once said of “Shout” years after its release: “A lot of people think that ‘Shout’ is just another song about primal scream theory, continuing the themes of the first album.  It is actually more concerned with political protest.  It came out in 1984 when a lot of people were still worried about the aftermath of The Cold War and it was basically an encouragement to protest.”

Curt Smith added to that sentiment: “It concerns protest inasmuch as it encourages people not to do things without actually questioning them.  People act without thinking because that’s just the way things go in society.  So it’s a general song, about the way the public accepts any old grief which is thrown at them.”

As I lament (and protest, I suppose) tonight about the more-than-disappointing assjackery shenanigans of Ticketmaster, I couldn’t think of a better song to choose to highlight today than this kick-ass gem that will make me shout forever…

“Shout, Shout, Let it all out / These are the things I can do without / Come on, I’m talking to you, Come on…”

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

don’t you (forget about me).

As I start this blog post, it’s in the 7:00pm hour on Sunday, February 26th, 2017, and during this time for the better part of the past 21 years, for the folks of Portland, Maine and beyond, I’d be playing a lexicon of the great 80s music you remember and much more on my little 80s radio program, STUCK IN THE 80s (on WMPG community radio).  More on the amazing last STUCK IN THE 80s show in a bit.

Once the show ended, I wanted to take a couple of weeks off from the blog, though truth be told, I’ve been thinking about this post since before the last show even aired.

The original STUCK IN THE 80s logo…

After nearly 21 years, over a thousand shows, thousands of requests, tens of thousands of songs played, these two weeks later, it’s still hard to believe that the last STUCK IN THE 80s has aired on WMPG, a radio station that has been like a second home for me for nearly half my life.  Though I’m still considered a volunteer there, I’ll miss being a regular part of it.

Back in August 2015, I first announced that I would be ending the show at the end of August 2016 after 20 years on WMPG, but in April 2016, I decided I wasn’t ready to end the show yet.  The show started part-time in the Spring of 1996 (I was 29 years old), and full-time on Sundays in the Fall of 1996.  When I realized that my 50th birthday in 2017 fell on a Sunday, it just felt right; it felt cathartic to end the show then.  I’m still happy with that decision.  But the last weekend for the show wasn’t without its moments.

This didn’t exactly happen here in Maine the weekend of the last STUCK IN THE 80s on WMPG, but it wasn’t too far off…

Many months ago, I half-joked about the last show, saying, “Wouldn’t it be funny if there was a blizzard and I couldn’t do my last show?”  Well…I’m not sure if it was an official blizzard in Portland, Maine, but the weather was more blizzard-like than blizzard-lite.  I always planned on co-hosting my last show with my dear, dear friends and regular STUCK co-hosts, Hope and Shawn.  Shawn lives in Portland, and Hope (who did a touching radio tribute for me in November 2016 and put together a wonderful tribute video for me recently) traveled all the way from Springfield, MA to be there.   I’m so grateful to both of them.

Hope, me and Shawn, having a fun time at Bayside Bowl, Portland, Maine 2.11.2017.

That Saturday night (2.11.2017) before the last show, I had planned on a “cheers and thanks” get-together at a Portland venue, but with the inclement weather, most folks weren’t able to attend.  The last show’s attendance was another story.

Before the last show could happen, though, I needed to contact WMPG’s fantastic Program Director, Jessica, to see if the station was going to be shut down due to the storm, which was in full force before Sunday night.  Jessica was indeed planning on shutting down the station but knew it was my last show that night, and was kind enough to let Hope, Shawn and I go on with the last STUCK IN THE 80s and then shut the station down, which was actually kinda cool in a way.

The show’s STUCK IN THE 80s “Parting Shot” playlist featured songs Hope and Shawn wanted to hear, and songs that meant a lot to me over the years (and many of those songs have appeared on this blog so far): 

• ALPHAVILLE – FOREVER YOUNG (SPECIAL EXTENDED MIX) (1984) – This Cold War Classic was part of the inspiration for my blog.
• BOOK OF LOVE – MODIGLIANI (LOST IN YOUR EYES) (1986 / 1987) – One of my “Desert Island” songs, or rather, one of the songs I would want to have with me if I was stranded on a desert island.
• BLONDIE – DREAMING (1979) – Another of my “Desert Island” songs, this is my all-time favorite Blondie song, from the Fall of 1979.  I remember it well.
• THE ENGLISH BEAT – I CONFESS (DAVE ALLEN REMIX) (1982) – One of my best memories during the show was interviewing and meeting Dave Wakeling in 2009.  I’ve seen him and the band perform in Portland almost every year since.  Hearing this song live gives me such joy!
• THE CLASH – THIS IS RADIO CLASH (1981) – Released as a stand-alone single between 1980’s SANDINISTA! and 1982’s COMBAT ROCK, this was requested for DJ HopeyT!
• BAUHAUS – SPIRIT (ALTERNATIVE VERSION) (1982) – The original version from THE SKY’S GONE OUT and requested for DJ Shawn!
• PRINCE & THE REVOLUTION – TAKE ME WITH U (1984 / 1985) – This gem from PURPLE RAIN is one of my all-time favorite Prince songs that doesn’t get nearly enough love as it should, so I wanted to play it.
• THE THE – THIS IS THE DAY (EXTENDED 12” MIX) (1983) – A true statement that night…  The end of an era and the beginning of a new one…
• TALKING HEADS FEAT. JOHN GOODMAN – PEOPLE LIKE US (1986) – My favorite version of this spirited T-Heads gem from TRUE STORIES…
• JOE JACKSON – CANCER – Recorded live during the NIGHT AND DAY tour on 5/8/83 at the Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, Australia.  One of my all-time favorites (of many) by Joe Jackson.
• DAVID BOWIE feat. THOMAS DOLBY – HEROES – Like many others, David Bowie’s sad passing in 2016 did a number on me.  But, ever since, I’ve been inspired too.  On July 13th, 1985 (at LIVE AID), he dedicated this song to his son, “to all our children, and the children of the world.”
• ROBYN HITCHCOCK – CHINESE WATER PYTHON (1990) – One of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve ever heard, from one of the most brilliant singer / songwriter / storytellers in the world.
• THE DREAM ACADEMY – PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LET ME GET WHAT I WANT (instrumental version) (1985 / 1986) – I couldn’t leave STUCK IN THE 80s on WMPG without playing this gorgeous Smiths cover by one of my favorite 80s bands, and from a pivotal scene in one of my favorite John Hughes films (FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF).
• INXS – DON’T CHANGE (1982 / 1983) – A favorite gem from my favorite album by my favorite band…
• PET SHOP BOYS – WEST END GIRLS (1986) – I remember hearing this for the first time like it was yesterday, and it was around this time 31 years ago…
• YELLO – DOMINGO (1985) – When DJ Hope and her sister, DJ Weez, teamed up for a 4-hour edition of her awesome show, POWERHAUS, in early 2016, they played this song.  I don’t know how it was off my radar for so long, but I’m glad it’s there now!
• THE KLF feat. TAMMY WYNETTE – JUSTIFIED & ANCIENT (12” MIX) (1991) – The origins of this song date back to 1987, when The KLF were still The Timelords.  One of THE best one-time collaborations of all-time.
• PETER GABRIEL – IN YOUR EYES (2011 NEW BLOOD ORCHESTRAL VERSION) – Hope and I were so glad to see Peter Gabriel perform in 2016, but I wish I had also seen him on this tour, featuring orchestral versions of his amazing songs.  This is my favorite, originally from 1986’s brilliant SO album.
• CYNDI LAUPER – TIME AFTER TIME (1983 / 1984) – Meeting and interviewing Cyndi Lauper in 2002 was a moment, much like Cyndi herself, that I’ll treasure forever.
• SIMPLE MINDS – A BRASS BAND IN AFRICA (1985) – This amazing instrumental was the B-side of “Don’t You (Forget About Me).”
• SIMPLE MINDS – DON’T YOU (FORGET ABOUT ME) – Recorded live from The Ahoy in Rotterdam, 12.3.1985.  My favorite song for all-time.

The response to the last STUCK IN THE 80s on WMPG was incredibly overwhelming and heartfelt.  It was prolly the most-listened-to show I’ve ever had.  Wanted to share just some of the truly amazing and kind comments shared by my WMPG family, friends and fans:

• “Better safe than sorry, I suppose…  Better to Be Stuck in the 80’s than in the low teens and a blizzard…  Big shout out to Ron for all his years on the air, and his show to end all shows, tonight… at least for a day or two…  cheers!”
• “Thank you Ron.  Our Sunday nights won’t be the same without you.”
• “Ron …….Rock it….tear the roof off……and then shut it down buddy!”
• “What an end to a great run.  SHUT IT DOWN, Ron!”
• “What a way to go – a birthday, a blizzard, and then shutting down the station.  Tonight will be epic – thank you for the tunes and enjoy the next great adventures in Life!”
• “Thanks Ron for one last – and hopefully not final – Sunday night kitchen dance party.”
• “Ron, Sunday nights will not be the same.  Thank you so much.  It has been a pleasure listening to your programs.  It was a thrill to program and co-host a show.  You will be missed.  All the best in what lies ahead.”
• “Wow your birthday, last show and an epic nor’easter on its way.  You certainly know how to party!!!!”
• “Congrats on such a great show.  I’ll miss tuning in to you.”
• “Happy birthday Ron!  Forever grateful for your show!  You truly are the King of the 80’s!”
• “What the hell am I supposed to do on Sunday evenings; be sociable?”
• “REALITY sets in as Sunday evening approaches without STUCK IN THE 80s.  It’s kinda going to be like a zombie achieving consciousness and understanding that everyone’s a zombie and there are no fresh brains.”
• “You’re gonna get me crying again…forget you?  You, Hope and Shawn were our Sunday nights….we’ll never forget.”
• “This will be a last show you can never forget!”
• “Happy Birthday, Ron! Congratulations on an incredible radio run!”
• “This is the end of an era!!  No 80s show on the radio even came close to yours.  The research, the knowledge and the vast music catalog are unparalleled.  Sad to see it go, but glad you gave Portland a proper 80s experience for so many years.  I hope the next phase in your life is great as well.”
• “What do you do when the radio show you love and have been listening to for the last 15-plus years goes silent (Wow, Ron, you really went out in dramatic fashion, this blizzard and all!)?!  Will and I miss you already!  Thank you so much, Ron – all the best to your next chapter!”
• “Happy Birthday to you, my brother!  Today is bittersweet for sure.  Can’t wait for your next musical adventure.  Peace & Love (and birthday spankings) to you!”
• “Mike drop!!! Thanks for 20 years Ron & crew!!!”
• “Ron does final show.  Shuts down transmitter.  /mic drop/”  (more on that in a bit…)

DJ Shaxx, Whitney and me, 1.29.2017…

And from my radio neighbor for the past 11 months, host of the wonderful LEFT OF THE DIAL, the incredibly talented DJ Shaxx:

“First, Happy birthday, friend!

“Can’t believe I won’t be there tonight for you to pass the broadcasting baton to me as I begin LEFT OF THE DIAL.  One of the reasons I love doing my show is that it has always followed STUCK IN THE 80s.  I come into the studio on a wave of positivity and grooving to your music; your legendary presence in the big chair as I walk into the on air studio.  Your personality and music has always helped me start my show with a bang.  In fact, my intro, my first song… you’re the audience.  I have so much enjoyed our conversations transitioning between shows.  And then, as you hit the road, I continue to spin music and speak on the mic and imagine you driving up interstate 295.

“With your departure, Ron Raymond Jr., a big part of what I do will change.

“Changes…  The only constant in life, right?  But change is good.  I’m excited for you and the changes coming up in your life.  The opportunities for great things to happen.  Your future is bright, Ronnie.  You gotta wear shades.

“Man, I’m gonna miss you.  I will miss your DJ mentorship, extensive knowledge and impeccable taste in music.  I will miss your humor and your kindness.

“Thank you for all that you’ve given to WMPG.  Thank you for sharing your great, great knowledge of the 80s every week.  You can feel it tonight.  Everyone tuning in.  Theirs are invisible airwaves crackling with life.  Ripe and tender, whistling with energy (as Geddy Lee would sing).  Thanks for carrying on that great Spirit of Radio.  Because of what you’ve done.  It will live on.  For a long, long time.  Someday inhabitants of a distant universe will be hearing these broadcasts and they will say, ‘Geez!  These people are stuck in the 80s.  We must rescue them.’  And then our planet will never be the same.

“Excelsior!”

When you host a radio show for as long as I did with STUCK IN THE 80s, I had 20 years of thank-you’s and shout-outs to announce.  Of course, I wasn’t able to get to everyone.  That alone would have taken a whole entire show.  The last of my deserved thank-you’s were dedicated to two of my dearest and closest friends in the whole world – DJs extraordinaire Hope and Shawn, who I’d like to truly love to thank again, for their love and knowledge of music and the 80s, their mad DJ skillz, and their passion, dedication and innumerable contributions to STUCK IN THE 80s!  I couldn’t have done it all these years without them!  (BTW, at the end of the show, since we were shutting down the station, Hope came back on the air and said, “STUCK IN THE 80s OUT!”  And then, in sorta dramatic fashion, Shawn and I did drop out mics…  It was great.)

Shawn, me and Hope, WMPG-FM and WMPG.org, 2.12.2017, hiding from the blizzard outside and truly STUCK IN THE 80s!

For over a year now, people have been asking me why I’m ending the show.  Well, there’s a number of reasons, but mainly, for now, I want to take a break and take some time for me, do some screenwriting, maybe some voiceover work, continue with the little bloggy thing here, and with me turning 50 a couple of weeks ago, to figure out the next step of my path in this next chapter of my life. 

Thank you, for 20 years and then some…

I don’t know where, and I don’t know when, but STUCK IN THE 80s will be back, I guaRONtee.  I’ll be back too.  And don’t worry ‘bout a thing, ‘cause every little thing is gonna be alright.  And please know that STUCK IN THE 80s has been the proudest moment of the first half of my life.  Thank you.  I love you and I’ll miss you all.

So, until the next time you hear me on your radio, take care, be good, talk hard, and don’t you forget about me.  I’ll catch you on the flip side.  And as Mr. David Bowie once said, “I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.”  So stay tuned…

Hope and Shawn, I couldn’t have done it without you.  Thank you!

song of the day – “Save It For Later” | THE ENGLISH BEAT | 1982.

If my math is correct, tonight (9.7.2016) will mark the seventh time I’ve seen The English Beat perform in Portland, Maine since they started coming here a week after my interview with Dave Wakeling in November 2009.  I’ve never seen a recording act perform as many times.  It’s funny, because I never saw The English Beat (let alone knew about them) when they were around in the late 70s and early 80s.  Now, I couldn’t imagine being without their music and not seeing them every chance I get.  Last year was the only time I’ve missed their Portland show, and that’s only because I found out about it too late.

The English Beat (as they are known here in America) started out in Birmingham, England in 1978, as a New Wave / Ska band, but with a marriage of Pop, Soul, Punk and Reggae.  Pretty impressive.  The band was well-represented with the wonderful Dave Wakeling (vocals and guitar), Ranking Roger (vocals), Andy Cox (guitar), David Steele (bass), Everett Morton (drums) and Saxa (real name Lionel Augustus Martin) on, of course, saxophone.

Oddly enough, there’s been more compilation albums released with The English Beat’s music than actual studio albums, but I tell you, all of their original studio albums – 1980’s brilliant I JUST CAN’T STOP IT, 1981’s WHA’HAPPEN? and 1982’s SPECIAL BEAT SERVICE – are all pretty damn special.

I can’t remember if it was the 1997 John Cusack film, GROSSE POINTE BLANK (with “Mirror In The Bathroom” featured in a pivotal scene in the film) that reignited my interest in The English Beat, but I do know from there, they and their music were always welcomed on the show. 

Back in 2009, I was the longtime Music Director for WMPG community radio in Portland, Maine (in addition to hosting my volunteer radio show, STUCK IN THE 80s).  I got word that The English Beat’s upcoming appearance to Portland and the opportunity for an interview with Dave Wakeling (the voice of The English Beat and General Public) came up, and I, of course, was very interested.

Dave Wakeling, photographed for ROLLING STONE in 2012.

Dave and I spoke on Monday, November 16, 2009, for nearly a half-hour on subjects from Margaret Thatcher, the 1981 British documentary DANCE CRAZE, I.R.S. records, the late, great John Hughes and his massive record collection, VH1 and much more.

The “much more” part of the interview included a conversation on covers, a subject I’m fascinated with.  The English Beat has released a number of successful cover songs, from their U.K. Top 10 covers of Smokey Robinson and The Mircales’ “Tears Of A Clown” (No. 6, 1979) to Andy Williams’ “Can’t Get Used To Losing You” (No. 3, 1983; their biggest U.K. hit), and General Public released their 1994 cover of The Staple Singers’ No. 1 hit, “I’ll Take You There” (No. 73 U.K., No. 22 Hot 100, No. 6 BILLBOARD Modern Rock, No. 1 BILLBOARD Dance).

I asked Dave if there were any covers he hadn’t covered yet but would like to, and he almost instantly mentioned “Here Comes My Baby,” a song written and recorded by Cat Stevens in 1967, but was popularized by the English band, The Tremeloes, that same year.  That version reached No. 4 in the U.K. and No. 13 on the BILLBOARD Hot 100.  Dave even sang a little bit of the song during the interview, and I’ve been waiting for him to release a version ever since.  I may get my wish – I believe it’s included on the upcoming album by The English Beat featuring Dave Wakeling – HERE WE GO LOVE – scheduled for release sometime in 2017.  Maybe he’ll sing it tonight!

The U.S. version of the single.

We also talked about covers other artists have done of songs by The English Beat or General Public, like Pete Townshend’s 1985 cover of  “Save It For Later” (from The English Beat’s 1982 album, SPECIAL BEAT SERVICE), and I asked Dave what that is like for him:

“It’s got to be about one of the proudest moments you could ever have, you know?  I used to sit and thrill to The Who when I was a kid.  So, to have somebody of that stature cover one of your songs – and Pearl Jam covered a bit of [“Save It For Later”] in their ‘Better Now,’ because it’s basically the same song, I believe, and Robert Plant had it as his song of the year, which was stunning to me.  Johnny Marr had it as his favourite song of the 80s, which I still haven’t recovered from that one.  So, those sort of things do mean a lot, especially when they’re artists that had really affected you, you know.”

Well, Dave Wakeling and The English Beat have really affected me.  As I’ve mentioned on the bloggy thing here before, there’s just something about being at an English Beat show that moves me – the energy, the skanking, the music – and when they play “I Confess” (prolly my favorite song of theirs), I close my eyes and somehow I feel a peace I can’t really describe in a blog post, and I don’t feel it anywhere else but their live shows.

After that first show in 2009, I got to meet Dave Wakeling on the tour bus, and at the time, I was 80 pounds heavier and wearing a wool sport coat, black shirt and a two-tone (black and white checkered) tie.  Dave loved the look of the tie, and I said, “I’ll tell ya what I’m gonna do – I’m going to give you the tie right off of my shirt.”  Dave appreciated the gesture, signed everything I brought with me (including a flier for the show that was signed, “Save it for later Ron!”), and gave me the T-shirt I’m wearing to the show tonight. 

Dave Wakeling (who makes his home in California these days) is the kind of guy who doesn’t forget his friends or his fans.  All these years later, he still hasn’t forgotten.  The love between Portland, Maine and The English Beat featuring Dave Wakeling is quite mutual and then some.  “Save It For Later” wasn’t one of their biggest hits, but it’s truly one of their best, and like the Dave and the band, it’s aged well, and is one of many songs I’m looking forward to skanking to tonight…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bM0wVjU2-k