Year Released: 1984

Notable Songs: “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”, “Careless Whisper”, “Freedom”, “Everything She Wants”

Album MVP: “Careless Whisper”

Why I Loved It: This title is about as symbolic to an 80s act as it can get, because boy did Wham ever “Make It Big” with this album.  Staying on that symbolic word, this album symbolizes 80’s straight-up pop music as well as anything. Many of you won’t agree but in my opinion this is one of the best albums of the entire decade. If you don’t like hearing that then tough shit—go start your own countdown. While their music on a whole is undeniably a huge slice of 80’s cheese, “Careless Whisper” was pretty fuckin’ deep, man.  Sung entirely by George Michael (his Wham! bandmate, Andrew Ridgely would leave the stage when they would sing this on tour), it’s a song about cheating and regretting it. I didn’t care much for the song’s premise as a 14-year old when it came I simply loved signing a long to Michael’s masterful (yes I said fuckin’ masterful) vocals. By the way this song was No. 14 on my Favorite 100 Songs of the 80s countdown last year. The story of how “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” came about is as fascinating as the song itself.  As i wrote last year when ranking this song No. 19 on the same countdown, “As legend goes, Ridgely lived at home with his parents even after Wham established themselves in the U.K. because he was always one the road, and also maybe too cheap to get his own place.  One morning Ridgely needed an early wake up call so he left a note for his mother asking to “wake me up up.”  After realizing he accidently duplicated the word up, he intentionally did the same with the last line of his note, which read “before you go go.”  George Michael saw the note, found it funny and sure enough, it eventually became their first signature hit in America.”  Add in two more hit songs to the collection and this is one of the very best 80’s albums, it’s as simple as that.

Commercial Success:  Critics don’t think much of Wham but it’s hard to fathom how ridiculously well this album of theirs did commercially. It rose to number-one on the Billboard Top 200 and stayed there for three weeks before Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” knocked it off. It would stay on the charts for 72 weeks and finish 1985 ranked fifth on the year-end Billboard Top 200.  From the album sprung three number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100. “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” reached one, spent three weeks on top and finished ’85 third on the year-end Billboard Hot 100.  “Everything She Wants” reached one and stayed there for two weeks.  Of course the biggest hit of all was “Careless Whisper”, which rose to one, stayed there for three weeks and went on to finish 1985 number-one on the year-end Billboard Hot 100. For good measure “Freedom” peaked a three on the Billboard Hot 100, giving the album four top three songs. In total Make It Big has sold more than 10 million copies around the world.

Fun Facts: From Songfacts.com: “Under the advisement of Ridgeley, they moved on from their leather-wearing, angry and somewhat political sound to a fluffy, flashier, friendlier pop sound. Michael spoke to Q in 1988 about never quite being comfortable with wearing white shorts and all the earrings. “That was so feminine looking!,” he said. “When I look back on that it’s so disgustingly embarrassing. I saw a clip from (‘Wake Me Up Before You) Go-Go’ recently and I thought, Who the f–k is that? What the f–k was I trying to prove? I’ve never really been quite sure who in the audience goes for this look.” Image won over substance with the popularity of MTV, though, and Make it Big went gold in the United States.

After the incredible success of their second album, Michael began to hear a shift in the sound of his songwriting. It resulted in Wham! announcing in 1986 that they would go their separate ways. They played one last farewell show in June to 72,000 fans at Wembley Stadium.”

YEAR RELEASED: 1982

NOTABLE TRACKS: “Do You Believe In Love”, “Working For a Living”, “Giving It All Up For Love”, “Hope You Love Me Like You Say You Do”.

ALBUM MVP: “Do You Believe In Love”

WHY I LOVED IT: There’s a handful of times throughout this rundown I need remind readers this isn’t a list of the most popular or commercially successful albums of the 80s, but instead are my personal favorites. There are few, very few bands that symbolize the 80’s for me more than Huey Lewis and the News….and I love them for it.  Why wouldn’t I? They were reliably producing some of the catchiest pop tunes to hit radio waves throughout most of the ’80s, and it felt like every single they released became a big hit. That trend started with their “Picture This” album, their second studio effort that started their ascension into the hearts and ears of mainstream America. The best among the album’s singles was “Do You Believe in Love”—their first true breakthrough hit and still my favorite Huey Lewis and the News song (it was No. 48 in my Favorite 100 Songs of the 80s countdown earlier this year.)  Most critics who don’t like Huey Lewis and the News do so because they take the band so seriously. Don’t!

Take their music for what it is. Sure, it’s insubstantial and flimsy of substance but who gives a shit— “Picture This” is deliciously fun with the some of the best produced tracks of the era. 

COMMERCIAL SUCCESS:  “Picture This” enjoyed moderate commercial success but wasn’t nearly as big as their next two albums would become. It spent 35 weeks parked on the Billboard Top 200 but never climbed higher than seven.  “Do You Believe in Love” was the band’s first-ever commercial hit, reaching as high as seven on the Billboard Hot 100.  “Hope You Love Me Like You Say You Do” reached No. 36 on the Billboard Hot 100 while “Working  For a Living” landed as high as No. 41. “Giving It All Up For Love” was released as a single but didn’t chart.

FUN FACTS:  From Songfacts.com, “Originally, they were known as Huey Lewis & The American Express. Their manager, Bob Brown, had them change it so they wouldn’t get sued. Lewis is very intelligent. He graduated from prep school in Lawrenceville, New Jersey at 16, and enrolled at Cornell after spending some time traveling. He didn’t last long at Cornell, as he was more interested in making music than studying.  Lewis has a very clean-cut image that was congruent with the preppy culture that said no to drugs in the ’80s. This image was a bit deceptive, as Lewis did smoke a lot of pot in his day and was never trying to be a poster boy for clean living. Lewis claimed that the best part of being famous was being able to hang out with his musical idols. A highlight was the “We Are The World” sessions, where he was up until 8 a.m. with Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles and Willie Nelson.”

I love me some Huey Lewis & The News, and this song is my favorite amongst many of their formidable choices.  It’s also mandatory that “The News” gets their props from me. Because Lewis was the face of the group and lead singer it’s easy to only refer to them as Huey Lewis, but the backup vocals of his bandmates are critical to this song’s success, similar to Billy Joel’s doo-woppers in 80s hits like Uptown Girl and The Longest Time.

I didn’t realize until compiling my list this was actually the group’s first top ten hit. I do know it came prior to their commercial giant “Sports” album, easily on my short list of favorite LPs of the decade.

I loved the music video, which was a mainstay in the MTV early days.  The video shows the band do everything together, including serenading a woman in her bed while she lies sleeping and another scene where they’re literally all in the same bed.  She must’ve had too much to drink, as she seems dead to the world.  Either that or she’s creeped out and playing dead.

Such a fun song—during an enjoyable time for pop music.  This song’s impeccable hooks make it amongst the preeminent mainstream hits of the 80s.

Chart Success: “Do You Believe In Love” peaked at number-seven on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982, where it finished 51^st on the year-end Billboard Hot 100 chart. In total it spent 17 weeks on the charts.

Great Lyrics: In fairness this song is far more about flawless vocal delivery than emotional provoking lyrics.

“I was walking down a one way street
Just a lookin’ for someone to meet
One woman who was looking for a man
Now I’m hopin’ (hopin’) that the feeling is right
And I’m wonderin’ (wonderin’) if you’ll stay for the night
So I’m coming (I don’t want to be lonely baby please tell me)
I want to love you all over.”

Fun Fact: This is the second of two Huey Lewis & The News songs on this countdown, but it wasn’t close to their biggest hit.   The band had eight hits inside the top six including three number-ones: Jacob’s Ladder, Stuck With You and Power Of Love (No. 58 on this countdown).