One must give Billy Ocean a lot of credit. Back in the 80’s he (or perhaps Jive Records) was pretty savvy marketing dude. In 1984 he recorded a song using several titles over different parts of the world, changing literally just one word for each. It’s confirmed he released African Queen and European Queen. Who … Read More
I don’t know about you guys, but for me nothing facilitates homicide-thirsty adversarial gangs coming together to form a bond more than the art of dancing to Eddie Van Halen guitar riffs and the King of Pop vocals on a momentous record. Like every wannabe Michael Jackson fanatic out there in the 80s, I owned … Read More
I can already sense the skeptics chirping. “If you had to put a Bryan Adams song in your countdown and especially in the Top 10, why the hell did you pick Heaven?” I readily admit there’s a handful of Adams tunes more universally appreciated that better stood the test of time. Summer of ’69, Everything … Read More
I’m going to throw this out there, and it’s likely an opinion not shared by many. Rocky III was my favorite movie of the 1980s. Yes, in a decade that featured Brat Pack cult classics Pretty in Pink, St. Elmo’s Fire, Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club as well as memorable giants Back to the … Read More
One of the biggest questions from the 1980’s music diehards always wanted to know was—exactly who is Jessie’s Girl? Sadly it’s a mystery Rick Springfield fanatics like myself may never see solved, but thanks to my recent revelation that Songfacts.com is the greatest website on the internet, we were allowed some perspective. In a 2009 … Read More
If you ever needed evidence Michael Jackson had the ability to make everything better, look no further than Rockwell’s Somebody Watching Me, which except for Jackson slaying the chorus is otherwise at best a novelty song—and that’s a generous assessment. I really don’t care about Rockwell when it comes to music, although the story behind … Read More
Dearly beloved. We are gathered here today to get through this thing called life. Electric word life. It means forever and that’s a mighty long time but I’m here to tell you there’s something else. The afterworld. A world of never ending happiness, you can always see the sun, day or night. So when you … Read More
I never realized I was that big a Wham fan until now, as a second of their songs (kind of theirs) have landed inside the Top 20 of my countdown. Oh well, shit happens. If you want to be technical, Careless Whisper actually in United States was credited as “Wham featuring George Michael”, but we’re not … Read More
Musically, my life changed in 1984 when Prince released his Purple Rain album. Not long before, Michael Jackson’s Thriller was my undisputed favorite album of all-time—and by that I mean the first 12-13 years of my inconsequential existence. Man, that album of Prince’s in ’84—–between his unrivaled guitar rifting, singing and implausible compositions that accompanied … Read More
Before proceeding, there’s two myths surrounding this song and its artist I need of being dispelled, and I must give credit to Songfacts.com for pointing them out. I’m sure some fans already knew but I’d bet mostdidn’t. Firstly, neither Jenny nor the famous phone number accompanying her name were actually real. The tune, co-written by … Read More
