’80s
-
Tom Petty & Stevie Nicks — “Needles And Pins”
Entered Top 40: March 1, 1986 2 weeks Peaked at: 37 Picking a single in support of a live album is often a dicey proposition. If you don’t have a significantly different version of a big hit, maybe you throw one or two new studio tracks on the record and use those. That’s what Pat… Continue reading
-
1985 in Review
I think the only tangents I couldn’t work in well this year, because they had nothing to do with 1985, were some oddball Laura Branigan songs. Here she covers The Who’s “Squeeze Box.” And here, ever looking to Eurodisco, Branigan recorded “Deep in the Dark;” new lyrics set to the arrangement of Falco’s “Der Kommissar.”… Continue reading
-
Artists United Against Apartheid — “Sun City”
Entered Top 40: December 7, 1985 3 weeks Peaked at: 38 Of the several all-star awareness raising singles of the mid-1980s, this one is still quite listenable, but is one you rarely hear. This probably requires a five-cent history lesson, but just know there are better historical sources out there. A key part of South… Continue reading
-
Laura Branigan — “Spanish Eddie”
Entered Top 40: September 7, 1985 2 weeks Peaked at: 40 Mostly an interpreter of other people’s songs, Laura Branigan’s three biggest US hits were all English translations/adaptations of European songs. After bringing glossy Eurodisco covers to the States, Laura Branigan’s first 1985 offering was…a seamy crime tale?! “Spanish Eddie” wants to be a story… Continue reading
-
Katrina & The Waves — “Do You Want Crying”
Entered Top 40: September 7, 1985 2 weeks Peaked at: 37 Guitarist Kimberley Rew was in the postpunk/psych rock band The Soft Boys with Robyn Hitchcock; their most enduring song is certainly “I Wanna Destroy You.” Upon that band’s dissolution in 1981, Rew revived one of his old groups, The Waves, with his old drummer… Continue reading
-
Ratt — “Lay It Down”
Entered Top 40: August 17, 1985 1 week Peaked at: 40 Like prog and Album Oriented Rock before it, glam metal/hair metal was mostly doing its own thing outside of the Top-40 singles chart, sustaining itself more on tours and album sales. Ratt was one of the early LA hair metal acts with some… Continue reading
-
Animotion— “Let Him Go”
Entered Top 40: July 27, 1985 1 week Peaked at: 39 The 1983 potboiler-ish film A Night In Heaven, in which an uptight married college professor (Lesley Ann Warren; no, not Susan Sarandon) has a fling with a cocky failing student who’s also a stripper (Christopher Atkins), was a flop at the time, and is… Continue reading
-
Kenny Loggins — “Forever”
Entered Top 40: July 20, 1985 1 week Peaked at: 40 Between work on two blockbuster film soundtracks (Footloose and Top Gun), Kenny Loggins released Vox Humana, in which Team Loggins stepped away from the yacht and tried a mishmash of modern (at the time) R&B and synthy pop. It also leaned a little… Continue reading
-
Graham Parker & The Shot — “Wake Up (Next To You)”
Entered Top 40: June 15, 1985 3 weeks Peaked at: 39 For all of Graham Parker’s critical acclaim, his only US Top 40 hit is one I’d not heard at all before. Parker came up in the ’70s British pub-rock scene, and international music press lumped him in with Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson as… Continue reading
-
Robert Plant — “Little By Little”
Entered Top 40: June 15, 1985 4 weeks Peaked at: 36 In 1985 Robert Plant continued to do whatever the hell he wanted, confounding people still holding on to Led Zeppelin. The prior year he’d had a couple of big hits with The Honeydrippers, a supergroup assembled for some ’50s covers (including their #3… Continue reading
About THIS
This is a rundown of all the songs from mid-1970 through 1999 that managed to get into Billboard’s pop Top 40, but peaked no higher than #36. Some of these you’ve heard all your life; some never before. Some were big on a genre chart or on MTV, but just barely crossed over. Lots of third and fourth singles from big albums. More Osmonds than you can shake a stick at.
Recent Posts
- Tom Petty & Stevie Nicks — “Needles And Pins”
- 1985 in Review
- Artists United Against Apartheid — “Sun City”
- Laura Branigan — “Spanish Eddie”
- Katrina & The Waves — “Do You Want Crying”
- Ratt — “Lay It Down”
- Animotion— “Let Him Go”
- Kenny Loggins — “Forever”
- Graham Parker & The Shot — “Wake Up (Next To You)”
- Robert Plant — “Little By Little”
- Mick Jagger — “Lucky In Love”
- Boy Meets Girl — “Oh Girl”
- Tina Turner — “Show Some Respect”
- The Time — “The Bird”
- Dan Hartman —“Second Nature”
- Jeffrey Osborne — “The Borderlines”
- John Hunter — “Tragedy”
- Pat Benatar — “Ooh Ooh Song”
- Elton John — “In Neon”
- 1984 in Review
- Peter Wolf — “I Need You Tonight”
- John Waite — “Tears”
- Sam Harris — “Sugar Don’t Bite”
- Steve Perry — “Strung Out”
- Joyce Kennedy & Jeffrey Osborne — “The Last Time I Made Love”
- Naked Eyes — “(What) In The Name Of Love”
- Barry Gibb — “Shine Shine”
- Sammy Hagar — “Two Sides Of Love”
- Rick James — “17”
- Slade — “My Oh My”
- Face to Face — “10-9-8”
- Robin Gibb — “Boys Do Fall In Love”
- Michael Jackson — “Farewell My Summer Love”
- Styx — “Music Time”
- The Icicle Works — “Whisper To A Scream (Birds Fly)”
- Real Life — “Catch Me I’m Falling”
- Bon Jovi — “Runaway”
- The Romantics — “One In A Million”
- Wang Chung — “Don’t Let Go”
- Irene Cara — “The Dream (Hold On To Your Dreams)”
- The Motels — “Remember The Nights”
- 1983 In Review
- Robert Plant — “In The Mood”
- Naked Eyes — “When The Lights Go Out”
- Barbra Streisand — “The Way He Makes Me Feel”
- Kim Carnes — “Invisible Hands”
- Michael Stanley Band — “My Town”
- Manhattan Transfer — “Spice Of Life”
- JoBoxers — “Just Got Lucky”
- Stacy Lattisaw — “Miracles”
- Joan Jett & The Blackhearts — “Everyday People”
- Elvis Costello & the Attractions — “Everyday I Write The Book”
- Rick James — “Cold Blooded”
- Paul Anka — “Hold Me ‘Til The Morning Comes”
- Rita Coolidge — “All Time High”
- Charlie — “It’s Inevitable”
- Dave Edmunds — “Slipping Away”
- Martin Briley — “The Salt In My Tears”
- Billy Idol — “White Wedding”
- Alabama — “The Closer You Get”
The Bottom Five 