Ever heard: "That was better before..."
Ever wonder what singers from the eighties became?
Do you remember Kajagoogoo, Culture Club, Tears for Fears, ABC, Spandau Ballet, Nick Kershaw, Howard Jones, Duran Duran, Human League, Madness, New Order ???
Well, this blog will bring you back in the eighties, but will also try to find the follow-up of those (not so ancient) times. ;-)
First week of february in 1987, in the U.S., it's Madonna that reached the top of the charts with her song "Open Your Heart" that entered the charts end of '86. This song is the third realeased as a single from her album "True Blue" right after "Papa don't preach" and "True Blue". The video, filmed by the famous french director Jean-Baptiste Mondino, was nominated 3 times at the MTV Video Music Awards, so, you guess this one deserves to be watch again...
Nevertheless, as with a lot of Madonna's videos, not everybody was pleased... Some people were outraged at seeing a kid entering a strip-club and being kissed by Madonna at the end!
20 years later, I'm afraid those kind of people died since then, just by viewing all that we can see on videos today! :-))
What's happening when a popstar sings a duet with a soul music living legend? Well, that produces a legendary hit for sure! That's what happened in UK first week of february 1987 with Aretha Franklin and George Michael's "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" .
Though Aretha Franklin seems to be a bigger music legend than George Michael (everyone probably knows her biggest hit "Respect"), this duet was the first and only one time that Aretha reached the first place in the UK charts.
On the other hand, after "Careless Whisper" in 1984 and "A Different Corner" in 1986, this was already the third number one in a row from George Michael , and he'll have several others later on...
That song already reached the top of the US charts but a bit later... It entered the charts at place 59th then it needed 9 weeks to reach the top on 18th april 1987.
For your information only, that song was co-written by Dennis Morgan and Simon Climie who'll also know his hour of success in 1988 with his band Climie Fisher and their breakthrough hit "Rise to the Occasion".
In 1987, number 1 this week in the US charts was Billy Vera and the Beaters with the song "At this Moment". Don't ask me what it was, I have no clue! But here is a live version of it:
YouTube was forced by MTV to remove its video, so the only video I found is one sung by Tom Jones and actually that's at least as good! Click the following link to watch it:
Though I might be wrong, I'm quite sure this song never reached Europe and even in the US, its success was not that easy...
Actually the song was written in the seventies already, but no one wanted to record it! The song was only recorder 10 years later and even then it stay quite unknown... So how come this song finally reached the top?!? Thanks to television's magic!
In 1982 started the show that will reveal Michael J.Fox : "Family Ties". The success of this show will grow up from year to year until 1989. One day the producer asked to use the song in one of the episodes... In 1986's first show, the song is used where Michael J.Fox loses his girlfriend... and that's exactly what the song is about! NBC received tons of mails asking details about that song. And that's the way this song finally hit the top of US charts.
Nevertheless, this success didn't really help Billy Vera and the Beaters to become real big stars... Since then, they continue to do what they were doing before and that they really like, I mean play in L.A. area clubs where they still have their loyal lovers...
Last week in januray '87 and first week in february '87, Steve "Silk" Hurley was number one in UK charts... Who? Steve "Silk" Hurley and his hit "Jack Your Body". The best is probably to watch the sample below to see if it's remind you something...
Even if this song might appear insignificant, that was quite a "revolution" as it was the first "house" song to reach the top of the charts and this opened the way for the next music style: "acid music"...
If, as for me, this name doesn't ring a bell, we probably have some excuses as this was Steve's unique big hit... But Steve was and still is first and foremost a great DJ... What he does best are remixes and arrangements on others' songs... And on that side of the job, the least we can say is he worked with the best! Just have a look at some stars he worked for: Michael Jackson ("Jam", "Remember The Time") - Prince ("Get Off") - Janet Jackson ("Runaway") - Madonna ("Take a Bow") - Mary J.Blige - Jennifer Lopez - and many others...
So, it's a good name to recall to show-off as an expert at your next party! :-))
YouTube is really amazing! It really looks like all the greatest hits from the eighties can be found there...
I've updated all my old posts to add the videos I was talking about. I've added around 15 of them and I've really had a good time watching and listen to those!
I hope you'll enjoy the ride too... and from now on, I'm looking forward to help you remember number ones from 1987!
Soooooooooooo I'm finally back to this blog more than a year after my last post!
What happened during that year... well, lot of things of course, but there are 2 things that make me coming back to this blog:
- The new and improved Blogger version. - The ability to post YouTube videos on this blog.
Those 2 things should greatly improved this blog, our memory might forget some songs or videos but it seems that all of them can now be found on YouTube... So stay tune, and this time I hope, I'm back for good! :-)
Though the biggest hit from A-Ha is probably "Take on me" and its incredible video (I'm sure you remember this mix of drawnings and real images...), "The Sun Always Shines On TV" is certainly almost as well known by all people tha thad ears during the 80's! :-)
This song reached the first place in UK charts in January 1986 and reached the #20 in US charts, which is quite good for a norwegian band!!
Please accept my apologies for having not posted more updates lately... I have several excuses, but who cares? We're not here to talk about me are we?!? ;-)
During the elapsed time, I've missed to talk about the following hits :
Whitney Houston's "Saving All My Love for You" #1 in UK on 8th december '85
Shakin's Stevens' "Merry Christmas Everyone" #1 in UK on 22d december '85
Pet Shop Boys' "West End Girls" #1 in UK on 5th january '86
Anyway, I'm confident, we'll have other opportunities to talk about those artists during the year to come...
And what about US charts? Well, Lionel Richie's "Say You, Say Me" reached the top position on 15th december '85 but he kept that place up to february '86!!! So, I still have "plenty" of time to talk about that smashing hit! ;-)
So, please stay tuned, I should be back very soon, talking about A-Ha...
That we'll still remember in 20 years from now! ;-)
Note that starting today, those of you that would like to post a comment will have to use a password. I've had no other choice than to use that tool to stop the automatically generated comments that was regularly posted on my blogs... I hope you'll understand that I made that decision to improve this blog's quality...
In the United-States, december 1985 started with a new number one on the top of their music charts... It was Mr.Mister with their song "Broken Wings".
They stayed number one only 1 week and they did not produce a lot of hits during the band 5 years long existence. During that short career they edited 3 albums... The first one was "I Wear the Face" and contained no real success..."Broken Wings" was on their second album "Welcome to the Real World" and that was their real "break-out" album... That album also contains the hits singles "Kyrie" and "Is it Love?". Then, their third and last edited album was "Go On" ... but none of the songs of that album ever reached a top 10...
So, the band decided to break-up in 1989... Note that before the Mr.Mister "adventure", all the members of this band were already successfull musicians playing or singing with famous people such as: Kenny Loggins, REO Speedwagon, Toto, Al Jarreau, Donna Summer, Quincy Jones, Barry Manilow, James Ingram, Twisted Sister, they even did a lot of vocals for the Village People !!! So when Mr.Mister was over, they all turned back to work with different famous music people such as : Madonna, Djinn, Kenny Loggins, WhiteSnake, Tori Amos...
Now, here is little game for you: try to find the differences between their "best-of" album and their second (and most successfull) album... ;-)
"Seperate lives" from Phil Collins ?!? Was that a n°1 hit? Yes, 20 years ago it was n°1 in the United-States! I guess that for once, Belgium was really too far away from the States, because I can hardly remember that song ever reached Europe! :-)
I'm almost sorry to have to talk about that song for the first time that I'm talking about Phil Collins on this blog! Though I'm not a real Phil Collins' fan, there are several songs from him that I like very much... ( and also others that I hate!)
Anyway, even if that last only 1 week, that song was n°1 and I'm going to tell you a bit more about it... Obviously there were people who liked it and maybe you're part of those! ;-)
This song was written to be part of the soundtrack of the movie "White Nights" from Taylor Hackford, starring Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines.
No need to say that this movie is for dance lovers only, Baryshnikov is certainly a dance genius, but that doesn't make him an actor! And don't expect to be thrilled by the "political/thriller" part of the movie!! :-)
Before she sang this duet with Phil Collins, backing vocalist Marilyn Martin had performed with Joe Walsh and Stevie Nicks, and had performed on Kenny Loggins' n°1 hit "Footloose"... which was the main song from... a dance movie!!! Is there any kind of "singer for dance movies" diploma out there?!? :-))
Ok, enough said... if you liked that song or if you don't have a clue anymore what it was, you can watch the entire video above...
But I suggest you rather click on the cover below, and listen to some samples of Phil Collins' greatest hits...
Today, back to London where Feargal is not the charts' leader anymore, but they needed to be two to replace him... They? I'm talking about Wham! that reached n°1 in the UK charts with their hit single "I'm your man".
Wham! it's of course (are you an eighties music fan or not?!?) George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. I've already talked about them in that post, so just click if you don't remember! ;-)
By clicking on the cover above, you'll be able to listen to samples of the best songs from Wham!
"I'm your man" is the second track but there's also a '96 remix... That is ... how to say... "different"! This remix is probably not the best idea they ever had... I'll let you judge by yourself but of course I still prefer the 85's version...
If you checked my previous post about George Michael, you saw that I had said that I'll let you know more about Andrew Ridgeley in my next post about Wham!... So, it should be today... but since then, I've changed my mind about what this blog would be about... So, I'll keep the updated information about Andrew for my "to come" website about singers from the eighties... Sorry!;-)
Ok, let's see for once what was n°1 in the US charts...while Feargal Sharkey was entertaining the UK...
In November 1985...yes that's 20 years ago! ;-)... the number one song was "We Built This City" by Jefferson Starship, also known as Starship alone... Starship is a band formed by Paul Kantner who previously built the band Jefferson Airplane. So for his second band, he kept the name Jefferson, but today we talk about them sometimes as Jefferson Starship, sometimes as just Starship... whatever! :-))
Was "We Built This City" a big hit ? Is there any reason for it to be "famous"?
Actually there's a very "funny" reason for it to be "famous" but probably a reason that Paul Kantner doesn't like much...
In April 2004, Blender, a US music Magazine, listed the "The 50 Worst Songs Ever" and guess who hit the first place: "We Built This City" ! Not really the kind of first place singers are looking for, is it? :-)
According to editor Craig Marks "It purports to be anti-commercial but reeks of '80s corporate-rock commercialism. It's a real reflection of what practically killed rock music in the '80s." Also sealing the song's fate were Starship's steep fall from grace as the admired Jefferson Airplane and "the sheer dumbness of the lyrics," Marks says...
Note for all of you 80's music fans, 6 songs from the eigthies are in the top 10 of 50 worst songs EVER!!! Here they are:
Wang Chung's "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" at n°3
Huey Lewis & The News' "The Heart of Rock & Roll" at n°6
Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy" at n°7
Eddy Murphy's "Party All the Time" at n°8
Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder's "Ebony and Ivory" at n°10
Note that I almost forgot that Eddy Murphy pretended to be a singer! :-))
Find more information about Starship on their official website: Jefferson Starship
On 10th November 1985 (yes, 20 years ago...) Feargal Sharkey reached the first place in UK charts with his song called "Good Heart".
Too bad for Feargal, that song will be his first but also almost his lonely hit ever...
So, how come that a new singer with a new song made such a success? Well, actually Feargal Sharkey had already had some success with the irish punk-pop band The Undertones. But the band split in 1983. So, his voice (very "special") was already known by the audience... Moreover, the song is actually a cover of Maria McKee's "A Good Heart" and so, was maybe already in the audience's memories... And last but not least, the song was produced by Dave Stewart the famous guitarist of Eurythmics.
Feargal public career was not very long, but he stayed in the music business first as an A&R Manager (controlling the artists and choosing the material) for Polydor Records. He was then a member of the Radio Authority (part of the UK's communications regulator) for 5 years from 1998 to 2003.
Twenty years ago the N°1 in UK hits was "The Power of Love" performed by Jennifer Rush.
This is for sure the biggest hit of Jennifer Rush. It stayed number one in the UK charts for more than 1 month long! This was the first single by a female soloist to sell a million copies in the UK, and is among the UK's best-selling singles of all-time!
Too bad for Jennifer, she didn't hit the american top 40 with it, but the song did!!! The versions of the song by Laura Branigan and also by Celine Dion reached the american top 40. Celine Dion's version was even nominated for a 1995 Grammy Award.
There's even more to tell about the song title "The Power of Love"...
Actually, there are 3 different songs each called "The Power of Love" and the 3 of them were hits in 1985. That's for sure the only year in which three different songs of the same name have been in the UK charts...
The second, released by Huey Lewis and the News, was written for and featured in the film "Back from the Future" starring Michael J.Fox. That song was nominated for an Academy Award at the 1986 Oscars.
Then Jennifer came out with her unforgettable song.
Ok, that's it about that song... and as promised, you'll find more about Jennifer Rush on my new website, coming out soon (?) ... ;-)
Ok, I'm deeply sorry, there are still no news on this blog!
And this lasts since ?... Months already!!! :-(
I know you're visiting my blog and I'm feeling guilty for not offering you better information about the music that we all like: 80's music !
As explained in my previous post, I'm now building a website to talk about what your favourite singers or bands from the 80's are doing nowadays!
What will become to this blog then?
Well, I think this blog will be the place to remember which song was number one 20 years ago and to discuss our feelings about this specific song. For more info about the singer of that song, I'll send you back to my new website... Once it will be ready of course! :-)
I'll keep you informed!
For those of you who still don't know about last Robbie Williams 'ska song "Tripping", click here to FULLY listen to it! ;-) You'll even be able to listen a sample of all the songs of his new album!!! It's FREE and official, thanks Robbie! ;-)
Sometimes some videos are removed from YouTube and the links in my blog are not working properly anymore... If you ever notice a video that is not available anymore, please leave a comment to let me know and I'll change the link. Thanks in advance!
