Radio Daze: Pop Hits Of The '80s, Vol. 14

The tenth in a series of eleven posts is now available over at Herc's Hideaway.  This latest imagined volume of the Radio Daze series covers the months November 1984 - May 1985, a.k.a. my freshman year at college.  I was an average student at an average state university, but I thought I was the shit [insert eyeroll here].  Even though I was studying "serious" music in college, that didn't keep me from keeping up with my beloved soft rock.  I would have included personal favorite Everything She Wants by Wham (released April 1985, Pop #1, AC #4, R&B #12, Dance #3), but no matter. Here are the 12 tracks Herc has selected for Volume 14:

Title	Artist
We Belong	Pat Benatar
Taxi Dancing	Rick Springfield & Randy Crawford
Foolish Heart	Steve Perry
Nightshift	Commodores
California Girls	David Lee Roth
You Send Me	The Manhattans
Emotion	Barbra Streisand
Why Can't I Have You	The Cars
Fresh	Kool & The Gang
One Lonely Night	REO Speedwagon
Through the Fire	Chaka Khan
You Give Good Love	Whitney Houston

Click on the banner below to visit Herc's Hideaway to listen to the playlist and get my take on these songs.

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Click on the links below to check out the original 5 compilations as well as Herc's previous Radio Daze playlists:

Rhino Series	Herc's Series
Volume 1	Volume ½	Volume 10
Volume 2	Volume 6	Volume 11
Volume 3	Volume 7	Volume 12
Volume 4	Volume 8	Volume
Volume 5	Volume 9

This book (and the buying public) strongly disagrees with me about 1982

So I found this book, 100 Best Selling Albums of the 80s, edited by Peter Dodd, Justin Cawthorne, Chris Barrett, & Dan Auty, first published in the UK in 2004 (my copy is a 2009 edition) and hoped that maybe, just maybe, that it would provide defnitive proof that 1982 is the greatest year in pop music.  The methodology isn't thoroughly explained, but I'm guessing that the sales numbers from the US were added to the sales numbers from the UK and then the albums were ranked accordingly.  It should be noted that the data includes sales made after December 31, 1989.  The editors compiled US data from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and UK data from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).  To date, I've examined similar lists at Rolling Stone, Best Ever Albums, Dave's Music Database, Popjustice, Slant, Pitchfork, and most recently Paste.  Again, 1987 places at the top and even though a 1982 album was the #1 best seller of the decade, my beloved 1982 finishes in the cellar.  Ridiculousness.

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Using the same formula (album #1 received 100 points, album #2 received 99 points, and so on through #100 receiving 1 point, 5050 total points available), here are the results:

		1987 Number of albums: 12 Points: 799
		1983 Number of albums: 14 Points: 734
		1986 Number of albums: 13 Points: 685
		1984 Number of albums: 9 Points: 571
		1985 Number of albums: 11 Points: 511
		1988 Number of albums: 9 Points: 495
		1989 Number of albums: 10 Points: 437
		1980 Number of albums: 8 Points: 379
		1981 Number of albums: 7 Points: 241
		1982 Number of albums: 7 Points: 198

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The 7 top sellers on the list which were released in 1982 are:

1	Thriller	Michael Jackson
62	Business as Usual	Men at Work
81	American Fool	John Cougar
82	Mountain Music	Alabama
90	Lionel Richie	Lionel Richie
96	1999	Prince
97	Asia	Asia

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RS	BEA	DMDB	PM	Slant	PF	Paste	Book
1980	1984	1986	1987	1989	1987	1986	1987
1984	1987	1989	1984	1987	1981	1989	1983
1982	1989	1987	1983	1986	1989	1980	1986
1987	1986	1984	1982	1983	1988	1984	1984
1983	1980	1985	1988	1984	1980	1987	1985
1986	1988	1983	1986	1988	1985	1988	1988
1988	1983	1980	1989	1982	1983	1985	1989
1985	1982	1988	1985	1980	1986	1983	1980
1981	1985	1982	1980	1981	1984	1982	1981
1989	1981	1981	1981	1985	1982	1981	1982

RS = Rolling Stone, BEA = Best Ever Albums, DMDB = Dave's Music Database, PM = Popmatters, PF = Pitchfork, Book = 100 Best Selling Albums of the 80s (2009)

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Radio Daze: Pop Hits Of The '80s, the next volume

The ninth in a series of eleven posts is now available over at Herc's Hideaway.  Herc suffers from triskaidekaphobia and we'll respect his wishes not to mention the number that comes between 12 and 14.  This latest imagined volume of the Radio Daze series covers the months April-October 1984.  During those months, I graduated from high school, met my future wife, moved over 370 miles away from home to attend college, and fell in and out of love an amazingly high number of times for a seven month period.  In my opinion, "soft rock" as I know and love it ended sometime in 1983 (more on that later), so keep that in mind as you look at the 12 tracks Herc has selected for this volume as well as the remaining two volumes yet to come.  I don't hate them, but they're not a really soft rock to this kid.

Title	Artist
Come Back and Stay	Paul Young
My Ever Changing Moods	The Style Council
Love Will Show Us How	Christine McVie
I Can Dream About You	Dan Hartman
Borderline	Madonna
Nobody Loves You Like I Do	Anne Murray & Dave Loggins
Desert Moon	Dennis DeYoung
Solid	Ashford & Simpson
All Through the Night	Cyndi Lauper
Sea of Love	The Honeydrippers
Do What You Do	Jermaine Jackson
Some Guys Have All the Luck	Rod Stewart

Click on the banner below to visit Herc's Hideaway to listen to the playlist and get my take on these songs.

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Click on the links below to check out the original 5 compilations as well as Herc's previous Radio Daze playlists:

Rhino Series	Herc's Series
Volume 1	Volume ½	Volume 10
Volume 2	Volume 6	Volume 11
Volume 3	Volume 7	Volume 12
Volume 4	Volume 8
Volume 5	Volume 9

Heaven 17 (1982)

Released: 1982 (Arista) Produced by: British Electric Foundation Peak on the US Billboard 200: 68

Side One	Side Two
Who Will Stop the Rain Penthouse and Pavement Play to Win Let Me Go	(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang The Height of the Fighting Geisha Boys and Temple Girls I'm Your Money We're Going to Live for a Very Long Time

Charted singles:	Hot 100	Dance	Rock
Let Me Go	74	4	32
Play to Win/Penthouse and Pavement		19
(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang		29
Who Will Stop The Rain		36

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Heaven 17 was singer Glenn Gregory with producers, synth players and former Human League members Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh.  Critic Robert Christgau once called the band "pet shop godfathers" and he was pretty close.  This British synthfunk band was right in my wheelhouse back in '82.  This self-titled compilation was a US release and took tracks from the band's first two UK releases, Penthouse And Pavement and The Luxury Gap, plus the song I'm Your Money.  Side one is very strong, while side two fades a bit towards the end.

This album was a "best of" compilation to introduce a successful band to the States.  I don't think Arista was as successful as they would have liked, but it helped me discover the group even though I was living on the Gulf Coast of Texas at the time.  This album was only available in the US on vinyl and cassette in the early '80s; CD releases of the band's work were issued following the original UK albums' sequencing.  But if you're looking for a place to start with this band, just go straight to The Luxury Gap. 

The song Play To win ended up on the soundtrack album for the movie Summer Lovers while Penthouse And Pavement was included on the Night Shift soundtrack.

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• Who Will Stop The Rain: Funky descending bass line, female background vocals, and fantastic synth programming.  A great way to kick off an album.  I was hooked from the get-go.**
• Penthouse and Pavement: More of the same. I particularly like when the bass player (John Wilson) takes it up a notch on the chorus behind guest vocals from Josie James.  Tasty synth solos throughout.*
• Play to Win: Great rhythm guitar. I also dig the chromatic bassline in the chorus and the frantic synth solo. That whistle lick is hella catchy.*
• Le Me Go: I didn't like this song at first listen because it was too slow for my dance tastes.  Now I appreciate the way it builds and, by the end, I'm dancin' and singing along with the nonsense background vocals.  Still, a strange choice for the group's first US single release.**

• (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang: A political statement with a dance beat (killing two birds with one stone for this pseudo-activist teenager).  Famously banned by the BBC for the line "Reagan is president-elect/Fascist god in motion".  But that beat is relentless.*
• The Height of the Fighting: A waste of a great bass line.*
• Geisha Boys and Temple Girls: The synth intro is one of my favorite parts of the whole album.  The rest of the song doesn't quite measure up and lyrically I have no idea what's going on.*
• I'm Your Money: I like the way this one chugs along, but there's really not a lot going on melodically over a basic blues progression.
• We're Going to Live for a Very Long Time: Sounds like the boys just like the title for an album closer and they just built a song around that line which was recorded up to and onto the runoff groove; meaning the run time of this track (as labelled on the LP sleeve) and the album is infinite, looping the line "for a very long time".  Gimmicky, but it didn't work on my cassette version.*

*on the 1981 UK release of Penthouse And Pavement
**on the 1982 UK release of The Luxury Gap

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Who Will Stop the Rain (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang Let Me Go Penthouse and Pavement Play to Win Geisha Boys and Temple Girls I'm Your Money The Height of the Fighting We're Going To Live For A Very Long Time

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Raydio - Jack and Jill (1977)

 Jack and Jill
b/w Get Down

Released: 1977 (Arista) Written by: Ray Parker, Jr. Produced by: Ray Parker, Jr. Album: Raydio

U. S. Billboard Charts:
Hot 100	8
R&B	5

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A childhood favorite.  I had no idea who Ray Parker, Jr. was and was unaware of his guitar prowess.  I just loved the synth/clavinet backing tracks.  Heck, I even liked the intrusive background exclamations at the end of each line of the verse (Jack!!) and would love to sing along with that mess.  That singing must have been very disturbing to anyone within earshot.  The brief synth solo is perfect.  This song was always a welcome respite from the 120 bpm disco music that dominated the airwaves back then.

Of course, the content of the song has little to do with the nursery rhyme other than borrowing the names Jack and Jill.  Simply put, Jack needs some lovin', he's not getting it from Jill (who is working late to support Jack, I'm guessing), so he goes down the hill to look for another woman.  It's a timeless tale, unfortunately.

On a side note, Raydio is one of the better band names of the time. 

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Paste disagrees with me about 1982

Yada yada yada.  I'm looking at another "Best Album's of the '80s" list in hopes of finding some publication/website that will agree with me that 1982 is the best year ever for pop music.  To date, I've examined lists at Rolling Stone, Best Ever Albums, Dave's Music Database, Popjustice, Slant, and, most recently, Pitchfork.  Today, I look at the list put together over at Paste, which lists only 80 albums as opposed to the customary 100.  This was a close race, with only 37 points separating the top 5 spots.  However, my beloved 1982 finished in the 9 spot.  It is becoming increasingly clear that the recognition of the superiority of the music released in 1982 is an opinion only held by elite members of the pop music cognoscenti (present company included).

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Using a simple formula (album #1 received 80 points, album #2 received 79 points, and so on through #80 receiving 1 point, 3240 total points available), here are the results:

		1986 Number of albums: 9 Points: 444
		1989 Number of albums: 10 Points: 442
		1980 Number of albums: 12 Points: 431
		1984 Number of albums: 8 Points: 423
		1987 Number of albums: 13 Points: 407
		1988 Number of albums: 8 Points: 267
		1985 Number of albums: 7 Points: 266
		1983 Number of albums: 4 Points: 234
		1982 Number of albums: 5 Points: 200
		1981 Number of albums: 4 Points: 126

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The five albums selected for the list which were released in 1982 are:

3	Thriller	Michael Jackson
24	Shoot Out the Lights	Richard & Linda Thompson
42	Marshall Crenshaw	Marshall Crenshaw
59	Hex Induction Power	The Fall
77	The Blue Mask	Lou Reed

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That's seven lists so far.  I'm going to stop after ten album charts and switch to examining the singles charts.

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RS	BEA	DMDB	PM	Slant	PF	Paste
1980	1984	1986	1987	1989	1987	1986
1984	1987	1989	1984	1987	1981	1989
1982	1989	1987	1983	1986	1989	1980
1987	1986	1984	1982	1983	1988	1984
1983	1980	1985	1988	1984	1980	1987
1986	1988	1983	1986	1988	1985	1988
1988	1983	1980	1989	1982	1983	1985
1985	1982	1988	1985	1980	1986	1983
1981	1985	1982	1980	1981	1984	1982
1989	1981	1981	1981	1985	1982	1981

RS = Rolling Stone, BEA = Best Ever Albums, DMDB = Dave's Music Database, PM = Popmatters, PF = Pitchfork

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Radio Daze: Pop Hits Of The '80s, Vol. 12

The eighth in a series of eleven posts is now available over at Herc's Hideaway.  An imagined Volume 12 of the Radio Daze series covers the months July 1983 through March 1984.  Toto, Ronstadt, McCartney - lots of good stuff on this playlist:

Title	Artist
Don't You Get So Mad	Jeffrey Osborne
Tonight I Celebrate My Love	Peabo Bryson & Roberta Flack
Waiting for Your Love	Toto
What's New	Linda Ronstadt
Lady, Lady, Lady	Joe “Bean” Esposito
The Curly Shuffle	Jump ‘N The Saddle
So Bad	Paul McCartney
Here Comes the Rain Again	Eurythmics
Don't Answer Me	Alan Parsons Project
To All the Girls I've Loved Before	Julio Iglesias & Willie Nelson
They Don't Know	Tracey Ullman
Love Won’t Let Me Wait	Johnny Mathis with Deniece Williams

Click on the banner below to visit Herc's Hideaway to listen to the playlist and get my take on these songs.

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Click on the links below to check out the original 5 compilations as well as Herc's previous Radio Daze playlists:

Rhino Series	Herc's Series
Volume 1	Volume ½	Volume 10
Volume 2	Volume 6	Volume 11
Volume 3	Volume 7
Volume 4	Volume 8
Volume 5	Volume 9

Valley Girl soundtrack (1983)

I had so much fun putting together the Sixteen Candles soundtrack playlist, I thought I'd do the same for another early '80s movie that never got a proper soundtrack release.  In the mid-'90s, Rhino Records put together two compilation soundtracks for the movie.  Check out my thoughts on those CDs by clicking on the cover art below:

In my opinion, you're probably better off just buying the albums from Bonnie Hayes and Josie Cotton.  As is often the case, the film had problems securing rights for all the songs the director wanted to include.  Those issues are discussed here.  Most notable is the absence of Frank Zappa's hit, Valley Girl.  In the US, an (often counterfeited) EP was issued with the same 6 tracks on each side:

Sides One & Two
Girls Like Me Angst In My Pants School Is In Everywhere At Once Johnny Are You Queer? Shelly's Boyfriend

In the UK, a more complete album was issued:

Side One	Side Two
I Melt With You Girls Like Me Love My Way School Is In Everywhere At Once	Who Can It Be Now? Shelly's Boyfriend She Talks In Stereo Johnny Are You Queer

In addition to the following tunes, the movie also includes some incidental music by Scott Wilk and Marc Levinthal. This list is based on my DVD version, a 2007 release.

1. Opening credits: "Girls Like Me" by Bonnie Hayes with The Wild Combo, found on Good Clean Fun (1982)
2. Julie and Stacey in bedroom getting ready for party: "Love My Way" by The Psychedelic Furs, found on Forever Now (1982)
3. At the party: "Angst in My Pants" by Sparks, found on Angst in My Pants (1982)
4. At the party: "Jukebox (Don't Put Another Dime)" by The Flirts, found on 10 Cents a Dance (1982)
5. Randy and Fred arrive at the party: The Fanatic by Felony, found on The Fanatic (1983)
6. Loryn and Tommy in the bedroom/Julie and Randy meet:  "Eyes of a Stranger" by The Payola$, found on No Stranger to Danger (1982)
7. At the party/Randy and Fred kicked out: "Electric Avenue" by Eddy Grant, found on Killer On the Rampage (1982)
8. Randy and Fred return to party: "Shelly's Boyfriend" by Bonnie Hayes with The Wild Combo, found on Good Clean Fun (1982)
9. Randy hiding in shower:  "Systematic Way" by Josie Cotton, found on Convertible Music (1982)
10. Randy and Julie in bathroom: "Love My Way" by The Psychedelic Furs
11. Cruising in convertible: "I La La La Love You" by Pat Travers, found on Black Pearl (1982)
12. In the club: "Everywhere at Once" by The Plimsouls, found on Everywhere at Once (1983)
13. In the club: "A Million Miles Away" by The Plimsouls, found on Everywhere at Once (1983)
14. Randy and Julie making out: "Time to Win" by Gary Myrick, found on Language (1983)
15. Skip delivers groceries: "She Talks in Stereo" by Gary Myrick, found on Gary Myrick and The Figures (1980)
16. Randy and Julie montage: "I Melt with You" by Modern English, found on After the Snow (1982)
17. Slumber party: "Girls Like Me" by Bonnie Hayes with The Wild Combo
18. Slumber party: "Shelly's Boyfriend" by Bonnie Hayes with The Wild Combo
19. Skip visits the Brent house: "Eaten by the Monster of Love" by Sparks, found on Angst in My Pants (1982)
20. Randy at club with Samantha: "Oldest Story in the World" by The Plimsouls, found on Everywhere at Once (1983)
21. Randy post-coitus: "A Million Miles Away" by The Plimsouls
22. Randy radio dedication to Julie: "Eyes of a Stranger" by The Payola$
23. Prom: "He Could Be The One" by Josie Cotton, found on Convertible Music (1982)
24. Prom: "School is In" by Josie Cotton, found on From The Hip (1984)
25. Prom: "Johnny Are You Queer?" by Josie Cotton, found on Convertible Music (1982)
26. Prom: "He Could Be The One" by Josie Cotton
27. Closing credits: "I Melt with You" by Modern English

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Sixteen Candles soundtrack (1984)

I put this list together back in 2004.  I've shared it with several people/websites/blogs but never published it myself until today.

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If you ever found a vinyl or cassette copy of the original soundtrack to this movie, you'd be disappointed. Just five songs and one of those is incidental music:

As far as I can tell, the tracks on side one were only available on the original soundtrack release. Original vinyl copies are currently selling at around $100 on secondary markets.  Why Rhino hasn't put together a CD soundtrack compilation like they did for Valley Girl is beyond my understanding. (Homemade bootleg copies abound, however.)  Due to rights issues, the music included in the film varied from version to version (original release, VHS, DVD, TV).  This list is based on my DVD version.  In the order the music appeared in the film:

1. First scene at the house: "Snowballed" by AC/DC, found on For Those About to Rock We Salute You (1981)
2. Sam's room, Sam on phone: "Love of the Common People" by Paul Young, found on No Parlez (1983)
3. Opening credits: "Kajagoogoo" by Kajagoogoo, found on White Feathers (1983)
4. School, sitting in independent study: "Happy Birthday" by Altered Images, found on Happy Birthday (1981)
5. On the bus: "Kazooed on Klassics" by the Temple City Kazoo Orchestra (1978)
6. Farmer Ted makes his move on the bus: "Dragnet" TV theme by Ray Anthony and His Orchestra (1951)
7. Sam walking upstairs to find grandparents in her room: "Twilight Zone" TV theme (1959)
8. Mike listening to walkman in the kitchen: "Rumours in the Air" by Night Ranger, found on Midnight Madness (1983)
9. Sam and Ginny talking in Ginny's room: "Today I Met the Boy I'm Gonna Marry" by Darlene Love, single only release (1962)
10. At the dance, geeks along the wall: "Peter Gunn" TV theme (1958)
11. At the dance: "True" by Spandau Ballet, found on True (1983)
12. At the dance: "Wild Sex (In the Working Class)" by Oingo Boingo, found on Nothing to Fear (1982)
13. At the dance: "Little Bitch" by The Specials, found on Specials (1979)
14. At the dance: "Growing Pains" by Tim Finn, found on Escapade (1983)
15. At the dance: "When It Started to Begin" by Nick Heyward, found on North of a Miracle (1983)
16. Ted and Sam in the auto shop: "Lenny" by Stevie Ray Vaughan, found on Texas Flood (1983)
17. At the dance: "Whistle Down the Wind" by Nick Heyward, found on North of a Miracle (1983)
18. Sam and Jake at the coat check: "Ring Me Up" by the Divinyls, found on Desperate (1983)
19. Restaurant, Bakers and Rizchecks at dinner: "Love Theme from The Godfather" by Nino Rota, found on The Godfather soundtrack (1972)
20. Marlene and Dong dropping off Sam at the house: "Turning Japanese" by The Vapors, found on New Clear Days (1980)
21. At the party: "Rev-Up" by The Revillos, found on Rev Up (1980)
22. At the party: "Farmer John" by The Premiers, found on Farmer John Live (1964)
23. At the party, Jake on the phone: "Hang Up the Phone" by Annie Golden, found on the original soundtrack (1984)
24. At the party, Carolyn's hair caught in door: "Gloria" by Patti Smith, found on Horses (1975) and the original soundtrack (1984)
25. After party, in kitchen: "Theme from New York, New York" by Frank Sinatra, found on Trilogy: Past Present Future (1980)
26. Ted pulling Rolls out of garage: "Young Guns (Go for It)" by Wham, found on Fantastic (1983)
27. Ted driving the Rolls Royce: "Rebel Yell" by Billy Idol, found on Rebel Yell (1983)
28. Loading cars for wedding: "Young Americans" by David Bowie, found on Young Americans (1975)
29. After wedding, Sam and Jake in front of church: "If You Were Here" by Thompson Twins, found on Quick Step and Side Kick (1983) and the original soundtrack (1984)
30. End credits: "Sixteen Candles" by The Stray Cats, found on the original soundtrack (1984)

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If I had been given the job of putting together the official soundtrack (and publishing rights and money weren't an issue), I probably would have put together something like this:

Side One	Side Two
Rebel Yell Hang Up The Phone Whistle Down The Wind Kajagoogoo Sixteen Candles	Gloria Little Bitch True Growing Pains If You Were Here

Pitchfork vehemently disagrees with me about 1982

Now this is just getting ridiculous.  I'm looking at yet another "100 Best Album's of the '80s" list in hopes of finding some publication/website that will agree with me that 1982 is the best year ever for pop music.  To date, I've examined lists at Rolling Stone, Best Ever Albums, Dave's Music Database, Popjustice, and, most recently, Slant.  Today, I look at the list put together over at Pitchfork.  1982 has placed as high as third, but the top spot has thus far eluded that year.  The bottom spot on the list is usually reserved for 1981, but I find my favorite year there this go 'round.  Dead ass last. I'm simply incredulous.  Oh, if you're a fan of 1987, that year won in a landslide.

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Using a simple formula (album #1 received 100 points, album #2 received 99 points, and so on through #100 receiving 1 point, 5050 total points available), here are the results:

		1987 Number of albums: 16 Points: 804
		1981 Number of albums: 12 Points: 594
		1989 Number of albums: 11 Points: 594
		1988 Number of albums: 9 Points: 538
		1980 Number of albums: 10 Points: 485
		1985 Number of albums: 10 Points: 448
		1983 Number of albums: 8 Points: 413
		1986 Number of albums: 7 Points: 403
		1984 Number of albums: 8 Points: 390
		1982 Number of albums: 9 Points: 381

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The nine albums selected for the list which were released in 1982 are:

27	Thriller	Michael Jackson
33	Hex Induction Hour	The Fall
46	English Settlement	XTC
49	Vs.	Mission of Burma
58	Imperial Bedroom	Elvis Costello
60	Nebraska	Bruce Springsteen
61	Homotopy to Marie	Nurse With Wound
95	Rio	Duran Duran
99	Songs of the Free	Gang of Four

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I've not heard the Mission of Burma album and I've never heard of Nurse With Wound.  I'll give Vs. a try, but to be honest, I won't be looking up Nurse With Wound because the Pitchfork review describes the album as "a twisted masterpiece of minimalism whispering terrifying suggestions of death rituals and torture chambers."  Not exactly what I'm looking for in a piece of music.

While I'm happy to see Rio made the list, there are a few 1982 snubs, most notably Avalon and 1999.

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RS	BEA	DMDB	PM	Slant	PF
1980	1984	1986	1987	1989	1987
1984	1987	1989	1984	1987	1981
1982	1989	1987	1983	1986	1989
1987	1986	1984	1982	1983	1988
1983	1980	1985	1988	1984	1980
1986	1988	1983	1986	1988	1985
1988	1983	1980	1989	1982	1983
1985	1982	1988	1985	1980	1986
1981	1985	1982	1980	1981	1984
1989	1981	1981	1981	1985	1982

RS = Rolling Stone, BEA = Best Ever Albums, DMDB = Dave's Music Database, PM = Popmatters, PF = Pitchfork

Simple meta-analysis might suggest that 1987 is emerging as the overall winner, but that won't stop this quest.

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