80s0n8 Big 40 Countdown Schedule

[Aaron]

I agree, good song to cover.

 

[Aaron]

1987

40. I'LL STILL BE LOVING YOU - RESTLESS HEART
39. THE FINER THINGS - STEVE WINWOOD
38. ENDLESS NIGHTS - EDDIE MONEY
37. SWEET SIXTEEN - BILLY IDOL
36. EVERY LITTLE KISS - BRUCE HORNSBY & THE RANGE
35. SHAKEDOWN - BOB SEGER
34. DON'T DREAM IT'S OVER - CROWDED HOUSE
33. SOMETHING SO STRONG - CROWDED HOUSE
32. POINT OF NO RETURN - EXPOSE
31. HEARTBREAK BEAT - PSYCHEDELIC FURS
30. JAMMIN' ME - TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS
29. SE LA - LIONEL RICHIE
28. DON'T DISTURB THIS GROOVE - THE SYSTEM
27. ALONE – HEART
26. FASCINATED - COMPANY B
25. LESSONS IN LOVE - LEVEL 42
24. TALK DIRTY TO ME - POISON
23. YOU CAN CALL ME AL - PAUL SIMON
22. SONGBIRD - KENNY G
21. DAY-IN DAY-OUT - DAVID BOWIE
20. JUST TO SEE HER - SMOKEY ROBINSON
19. LA ISLA BONITA - MADONNA
18. I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY (WHO LOVES ME) - WHITNEY HOUSTON
17. IF SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN FAITHFUL - CHICAGO
16. MEET ME HALF WAY - KENNY LOGGINS
15. (I JUST) DIED IN YOUR ARMS - CUTTING CREW
14. DIAMONDS - HERB ALPERT
13. NOTHING'S GONNA CHANGE MY LOVE FOR YOU - GLENN MEDEIROS
12. LOOKING FOR A NEW LOVE - JODY WATLEY
11. IN TOO DEEP – GENESIS
10. WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE - BON JOVI
9. I KNOW WHAT I LIKE - HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS
8. HEAT OF THE NIGHT - BRYAN ADAMS
7. RIGHT ON TRACK - THE BREAKFAST CLUB
6. HEAD TO TOE - LISA LISA & CULT JAM
5. BIG LOVE - FLEETWOOD MAC
4. ALWAYS - ATLANTIC STARR
3. THE LADY IN RED - CHRIS DE BURGH
2. YOU KEEP ME HANGIN' ON - KIM WILDE
1. WITH OR WITHOUT YOU - U2

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

These I like (bold in my library):

39. THE FINER THINGS - STEVE WINWOOD
35. SHAKEDOWN - BOB SEGER
34. DON'T DREAM IT'S OVER - CROWDED HOUSE
30. JAMMIN' ME - TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS
23. YOU CAN CALL ME AL - PAUL SIMON
19. LA ISLA BONITA - MADONNA
(I disliked all Madona songs in the 80s and 90s including this one. In the Y2K I heard them again with new ears and this is one of the 3 or 4 I now like. Still not a fan of the rest.)
10. WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE - BON JOVI
8. HEAT OF THE NIGHT - BRYAN ADAMS
5. BIG LOVE - FLEETWOOD MAC
1. WITH OR WITHOUT YOU - U2

These I am indifferent to :
24. TALK DIRTY TO ME - POISON
3. THE LADY IN RED - CHRIS DE BURGH
2. YOU KEEP ME HANGIN' ON - KIM WILDE

These I have never heard of (I haven't heard too much of this countdown so it is possible I may recognize these (and like or dislike them) if I heard them:
40. I'LL STILL BE LOVING YOU - RESTLESS HEART
38. ENDLESS NIGHTS - EDDIE MONEY
37. SWEET SIXTEEN - BILLY IDOL
36. EVERY LITTLE KISS - BRUCE HORNSBY & THE RANGE
33. SOMETHING SO STRONG - CROWDED HOUSE
32. POINT OF NO RETURN - EXPOSE
31. HEARTBREAK BEAT - PSYCHEDELIC FURS
29. SE LA - LIONEL RICHIE
28. DON'T DISTURB THIS GROOVE - THE SYSTEM
26. FASCINATED - COMPANY B
25. LESSONS IN LOVE - LEVEL 42
22. SONGBIRD - KENNY G
21. DAY-IN DAY-OUT - DAVID BOWIE
20. JUST TO SEE HER - SMOKEY ROBINSON
17. IF SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN FAITHFUL - CHICAGO
16. MEET ME HALF WAY - KENNY LOGGINS
15. (I JUST) DIED IN YOUR ARMS - CUTTING CREW
14. DIAMONDS - HERB ALPERT
13. NOTHING'S GONNA CHANGE MY LOVE FOR YOU - GLENN MEDEIROS
12. LOOKING FOR A NEW LOVE - JODY WATLEY
11. IN TOO DEEP – GENESIS
9. I KNOW WHAT I LIKE - HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS
7. RIGHT ON TRACK - THE BREAKFAST CLUB
6. HEAD TO TOE - LISA LISA & CULT JAM
4. ALWAYS - ATLANTIC STARR

These I dislike:
27. ALONE – HEART
(not a big fan of later Heart. Love their 70s stuff).
18. I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY (WHO LOVES ME) - WHITNEY HOUSTON
(*puke*)


Next week for me will be a write-off. 1989. Good songs were few and far between.

 

[Aaron]

1987 to me is still a good year for countdowns.

1988 is not quite as good, and 1989 is pretty weak.

 

[microbob]

1989 was a bad year in popular music. With new kids on the block and all the boy bands getting popular. 1988 was the when I started getting out of the pop music scene. I did like some of the grunge rock in the 1990's. Nirvana Soundgarden and pearl jam.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

1987 to me is still a good year for countdowns.

1988 is not quite as good, and 1989 is pretty weak.

For me, summer 1985 seems to be the latest that I consider a "good countdown". After that there are less songs I like and more I dislike. I agree that 1988 and 1989 are pretty weak. 1986 and 1987 have some good songs in them.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

1989 was a bad year in popular music. With new kids on the block and all the boy bands getting popular. 1988 was the when I started getting out of the pop music scene. I did like some of the grunge rock in the 1990's. Nirvana Soundgarden and pearl jam.

I stopped listening to top 40 radio in late 80s. Got back into it with alternative rock in the 90s.

 

[sadchild]

38. ENDLESS NIGHTS - EDDIE MONEY

Here's another one left off of his greatest hits that should've been on there.

37. THE LOVE IN YOUR EYES - EDDIE MONEY
I bought his Greatest Hits tape back in '89 and was disappointed when this still-fresh top 40 hit wasn't on it, but at least 5 not-hits (not top 40 anyway) were on there instead.

37. SWEET SIXTEEN - BILLY IDOL

I thought this album was garbage. Or at least the singles I heard from it anyway. Huge disappointment after the amazing Rebel Yell.

32. POINT OF NO RETURN - EXPOSE

The beginning of 4 years of audio torture...

31. HEARTBREAK BEAT - PSYCHEDELIC FURS

Totally forgotten little gem

30. JAMMIN' ME - TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS

A much overlooked Petty song. Dear FM radio, skip "Freefallin'" a few times a week and spin this one instead.

29. SE LA - LIONEL RICHIE

A whole lot of nothing. Felt like 4 straight minutes of "saaaa la, saaa la". Next time, write more than just a boring little hook.

26. FASCINATED - COMPANY B

Fascinated by your love toy? How corny.

17. IF SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN FAITHFUL - CHICAGO
16. MEET ME HALF WAY - KENNY LOGGINS
9. I KNOW WHAT I LIKE - HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS

Missed these back in the day. And totally fine with that.

5. BIG LOVE - FLEETWOOD MAC

Had no idea this song charted so high. Would've expected it to maybe barely crack the top 40.

Will never reach the top 40
#44 Anita Baker "Same Ole Love (365 Days A Year)"
#58 Lou Gramm "Ready Or Not"
#61 REO Speedwagon "Variety Tonight"
#63 Journey "Why Can't This Night Go On Forever"
#71 Cinderella "Somebody Save Me"
#74 Tina Turner "Break Every Rule"
#79 Peter Wolf "Can't Get Started"
#83 Prince "If I Was Your Girlfriend"
#84 Greg Allman Band "I'm No Angel"
#86 Survivor "Man Against The World"
#92 Duran Duran "Meet El Presidente"
#96 Tesla "Little Suzi"
#99 Paul Lekakis "Boom Boom (Let's Go Back To My Room)"
#100 Dead Or Alive "Something In My House"

 

[Aaron]

Surprising that Allman's I'm No Angel never cracked the top 40.

 

[HecticArt]

37. SWEET SIXTEEN - BILLY IDOL

I thought this album was garbage. Or at least the singles I heard from it anyway. Huge disappointment after the amazing Rebel Yell.

It took me a while to get into this album. I'm a huge Steve Stevens fan, and I dig it when he's cutting loose.
That said, I do still like this tune.

31. HEARTBREAK BEAT - PSYCHEDELIC FURS

Totally forgotten little gem

Yup.

30. JAMMIN' ME - TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS

A much overlooked Petty song. Dear FM radio, skip "Freefallin'" a few times a week and spin this one instead.

TESTIFY BROTHER SAD!
The Clear Channel "top 3 hits only make the playlist" policy has killed FM radio for me. So many great tunes never get any love on the radio.

Will never reach the top 40

.............
#84 Greg Allman Band "I'm No Angel"
..............

That surprised me. That song was everywhere back in the day.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

[QUOTE="HecticArt, post: 434198, member: 355"


That surprised me. That song was everywhere back in the day.[/QUOTE]

Even today.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sadchild]

I too expected "I'm No Angel" would have peaked higher than #49.

The Clear Channel "top 3 hits only make the playlist" policy has killed FM radio for me. So many great tunes never get any love on the radio.

Me too. My other beef with FM is aside from the occasional new song, usually from an already established artist, 99% of their playlist hasn't changed in 20 years. You can literally go hours listening to an "active rock station" (not classic rock) and still hear nothing recorded in the last 15 years.

 

[scotchandcigar]

Me too. My other beef with FM is aside from the occasional new song, usually from an already established artist, 99% of their playlist hasn't changed in 20 years. You can literally go hours listening to an "active rock station" (not classic rock) and still hear nothing recorded in the last 15 years.

Are you referring to a specific type of FM station, or just FM in general? Because in many markets, there are local FM stations (to which one can listen online as well) that play the same mix of music - new, old, in-between - as that of SXM's The Spectrum, Alt Nation, and Sirius XMU. In Boston, I listen to WERS (Emerson College) and WXRV (the River); both are independent stations.

 

[HecticArt]

For me, the death of FM radio came with the take-over by the Clear Channel types. Granted, they figured out the formula for turning a profit in a business that it's hard to accomplish, but they sacrificed variety and discovery along the way. It reminds me of the early WKRP episodes.

 

[sadchild]

Are you referring to a specific type of FM station, or just FM in general? Because in many markets, there are local FM stations (to which one can listen online as well) that play the same mix of music - new, old, in-between - as that of SXM's The Spectrum, Alt Nation, and Sirius XMU. In Boston, I listen to WERS (Emerson College) and WXRV (the River); both are independent stations.

I'm up in New Hampshire but occasionally travel to Boston. I find the active rock stations play the same old (and I mean OLD) songs over and over 90% of the time (and it's scary what they play for new "rock" like Imagine Dragons??). Classic rock stations do basically the same thing when I tune in, not reaching very far out of the well-established, time-tested, tired-old classics.

I remember the days of WBCN (when it was actually good), WFNX (when they used to discover new great music), WBOS (when they'd let the DJs play things they foresaw becoming popular before the fact), WJUL (college radio where I first heard Only Living Witness and Korn), and WHOB (aka B106 before it was Frank FM - they were my favorite station, playing a great mix of contemporary rock and pop with splashes of alternative). Even Mix 98.5 was alright for a while.

I know there are some stations out there doing an okay job, like WXRV and WERS. The station I do my radio show on (WPNH) mixes it up with brand new rock, currently popular rock, 90s rock and 80s rock. But mostly, it's a graveyard out there.

 

[scotchandcigar]

I'm up in New Hampshire but occasionally travel to Boston. I find the active rock stations play the same old (and I mean OLD) songs over and over 90% of the time (and it's scary what they play for new "rock" like Imagine Dragons??). Classic rock stations do basically the same thing when I tune in, not reaching very far out of the well-established, time-tested, tired-old classics.

I remember the days of WBCN (when it was actually good), WFNX (when they used to discover new great music), WBOS (when they'd let the DJs play things they foresaw becoming popular before the fact), WJUL (college radio where I first heard Only Living Witness and Korn), and WHOB (aka B106 before it was Frank FM - they were my favorite station, playing a great mix of contemporary rock and pop with splashes of alternative). Even Mix 98.5 was alright for a while.

I know there are some stations out there doing an okay job, like WXRV and WERS. The station I do my radio show on (WPNH) mixes it up with brand new rock, currently popular rock, 90s rock and 80s rock. But mostly, it's a graveyard out there.

I'm in the southern NH/ north-shore MA area, so I know all those stations. I loved WBCN and WFNX, there was also WCGY back in the day - with Mike Morin, "Morin in the morning", and WBOS was good too. So the two I mentioned still have a good variety of music.

As for the rest of them, you're talking about a defunct technology. All these FM stations had their heyday before VHS tapes were popular, and now VHS is gone. So there should be little surprise that the majority of FM stations today are pre-programmed crap. Society has moved-on.

 

[Aaron]

1989

40. THE DOCTOR - THE DOOBIE BROTHERS
39. BE WITH YOU - THE BANGLES
38. THINKING OF YOU - SA-FIRE
37. ROOMS ON FIRE - STEVIE NICKS
36. WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW - EXPOSE
35. INTO THE NIGHT - BENNY MARDONES
34. IKO IKO - THE BELLE STARS
33. CUDDLY TOY (FEEL FOR ME) - ROACHFORD
32. IF YOU DON'T KNOW ME BY NOW - SIMPLY RED
31. LIKE A PRAYER - MADONNA
30. LITTLE JACKIE WANTS TO BE A STAR - LISA LISA AND THE CULT JAM
29. VERONICA - ELVIS COSTELLO
28. SECOND CHANCE - .38 SPECIAL
27. VOICES OF BABYLON -THE OUTFIELD
26. AFTER ALL - CHER & PETER CETERA
25. I DROVE ALL NIGHT - CYNDI LAUPER
24. COMING HOME - CINDERELLA
23. ELECTRIC YOUTH - DEBBIE GIBSON
22. I WON'T BACK DOWN - TOM PETTY
21. MISS YOU LIKE CRAZY - NATALIE COLE
20. I'LL BE THERE FOR YOU - BON JOVI
19. GOOD THING - FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS
18. POP SINGER - JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP
17. THROUGH THE STORM - ARETHA FRANKLIN & ELTON JOHN
16. THIS TIME I KNOW IT'S FOR REAL - DONNA SUMMER
15. BABY DON'T FORGET MY NUMBER - MILLI VANILLI
14. CRY - WATERFRONT
13. WHERE ARE YOU NOW - JIMMY HARNEN & SYNCH
12. EVERLASTING LOVE - HOWARD JONES
11. SATISFIED - RICHARD MARX
10. CLOSE MY EYES FOREVER - OZZY OSBOURNE & LITA FORD
9. BUFFALO STANCE - NENEH CHERRY
8. FOREVER YOUR GIRL - PAULA ABDUL
7. REAL LOVE - JODY WATLEY
6. EVERY LITTLE STEP - BOBBY BROWN
5. I'LL BE LOVING YOU (FOREVER) - NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
4. PATIENCE - GUNS 'N' ROSES
3. WIND BENEATH MY WINGS - BETTE MIDLER
2. SOLDIER OF LOVE - DONNY OSMOND
1. ROCK ON - MICHAEL DAMIEN

 

[paulsonj72]

#13 describes my life at the time as a 17 year old and at the darkest point of personal problems. But as the old saying goes it is darkest before dawn and that was my way too. By the fall of 89 I w as back in the sunshine.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

Like these (bold in my library):
40. THE DOCTOR - THE DOOBIE BROTHERS
31. CULT OF PERSONALITY - LIVING COLOUR
22. I WON'T BACK DOWN - TOM PETTY
18. POP SINGER - JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP
12. EVERLASTING LOVE - HOWARD JONES
4. PATIENCE - GUNS 'N' ROSES
3. WIND BENEATH MY WINGS - BETTE MIDLER
1. ROCK ON - MICHAEL DAMIEN

It is best I just refrain from commenting on the rest.

 

[sadchild]

Good songs: 11
Okay songs: 12
Bad songs: 17


40. THE DOCTOR - THE DOOBIE BROTHERS
37. ROOMS ON FIRE - STEVIE NICKS

Forgotten tunes. I like to hear them maybe once a year.

35. INTO THE NIGHT - BENNY MARDONES

"She's only 16 years old. Leave her alone, they say." He was 32 years old when he first released this in 1980. Creeeeeeeeeepy!

31. CULT OF PERSONALITY - LIVING COLOUR

#31 was actually "LIKE A PRAYER - MADONNA". Living Colour was #31 last week (#50 this week).

21. MISS YOU LIKE CRAZY - NATALIE COLE

Ugh. Forgot this song existed. Wishing it coulda stayed that way.

20. I'LL BE THERE FOR YOU - BON JOVI

"I wish I'd seen you blow those candles ouuuuuuuut. WAAAAAOOOAOAOAOAOAOOO!" *eyeroll*

8. FOREVER YOUR GIRL - PAULA ABDUL

Can only think of this whenever I hear this song (from Homestar Runner). "Aahhahahahhah, I'm ferrever your gerrrrrl"

7. REAL LOVE - JODY WHATLEY

Exactly what I say when her music comes on... "WHAT? LEEving the room now!" (it's actually spelled WATLEY, no H - lol!)

2. SOLDIER OF LOVE - DONNY OSMOND
1. ROCK ON - MICHAEL DAMIEN

Two gigantic hits that are almost completely forgotten.

Songs that will never make it into the Top 40
#56 Cure "Fascination Street"
#61 Chicago "We Can Last Forever"
#65 Queen "I Want It All"
#66 New Order "Round And Round"
#69 Edie Brickell "Circle"
#74 Cult "Fire Woman"
#78 Cutting Crew "(Between A) Rock And A Hard Place"
#85 Rob Base "Joy And Pain"
#87 XTC "The Mayor Of Simpleton"
#90 Replacements "I'll Be You"
#92 Eddie Money "Let Me In"
#93 Jacksons "Nothin (That Compares 2 U)"
#95 Bulletboys "For The Love Of Money"
#100 Julian Lennon "Now You're In Heaven"