Promo posters as seen on "WKRP in Cincinnati" #100

Albums: Huey Lewis and The News - Huey Lewis and The News (Chrysalis, 1980), The Doors - Greatest Hits (Elektra, 1980), Twennynine With Lenny White - Twennynine With Lenny White (Elektra, 1980), Times Square soundtrack, (RSO, 1980), The Babys - On the Edge (Chrysalis, 1980)
Episode: Season 3, Episode 12, "Venus and the Man"
Original air date: Saturday, January 31, 1981


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Album on the turntable is Candi Staton - Candi Staton (Warner Bros., 1980)

Also seen on studio door, a picture of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Lennon was killed around the time this episode was filmed.

Embed from Getty Images
Photographed on November 2, 1980 by Jack Mitchell

Promo posters as seen on "WKRP in Cincinnati" #98

Albums: Huey Lewis and The News - Huey Lewis and The News (Chrysalis, 1980), The Babys - On The Edge (Chrysalis, 1980)
Episode: Season 3, Episode 14, "Ask Jennifer"
Original air date: Saturday, February 14, 1981


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Albums of My Senior Year in High School (1983-84)

Your humble blogger's high school campus, ca. 1984.

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A few months back, friend o' the blog JB offered up this rant:

JB and I are in complete agreement. But his tweet got me thinking about other albums with that kind of longevity, then I heard my 80 year old high school campus is mercifully scheduled for demolition, and because brains work in strange ways, I put those two seemingly unrelated thoughts together and came up with this question:

Were there any albums that had singles in Billboard's Hot 100 for the entirety of my senior year in high school, August 1983-May 1984?

Well, I found one album that met the criteria (a personal favorite at that!) and four others that came dang close. Granted, a lot of this success is due to timing and luck, but that's the music biz. This may or may not have any interest to you, but I did the research and compulsively created a timeline graphic, so here it is:

click to enlarge

MFD Not-So-Random Five #2

In which I select five songs from 1976-1985 based on an arbitrary theme. (Not to be confused with this blog's Random Five feature, a different exercise in arbitrariness). Today's theme: Song titles that begin with the word "heart"

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1. "Heart" by Nick Lowe (1982, Columbia)
   The second track from the stellar, highly recommended Nick the Knife album. A reworking of the Rockpile original, I prefer this light-hearted (pun intended) pseudo-reggae take on the tune. (Don't get me wrong, The Rockpile version is great, too. Just different.) I enjoy the background vocals and organ guitar trade-off.


2. "Heart Attack" by Olivia Newton-John (1982, MCA)
   Even though I was trying to be a New Wave hipster in '82, I couldn't resist this tune (or ONJ, for that matter). Written for a greatest hits album by Steve Kipner, this is catchy as all get-out and I love the combination of synth along with the sax solo. Who is that? Tom Scott? My only complaint is that sometimes she's yelling instead of singing, but a lot of artists suffered from that particular malady in the early '80s. Good song, bad video. On a related note, your humble blogger will be seeing ONJ in concert on March 23. ❤


3. "Heart and Soul" by Huey Lewis and The News (1983, Chrysalis)
   When I first heard this song, I rushed out to buy the 45 even though I had given up on buying 45s several years previously. I'm guessing I had to buy the single because the album wasn't yet released. Anyway, it reminds me of a high school post-football game "victory dance" where I was pursuing a young blond named Melody or Mary or something like that (I'd check my yearbook but I really don't feel like getting up). That relationship didn't work out because she had a crush on a friend of mine (how high school is that?). But the song: this synth hook is relentless but somehow never gets old and the breakdown guitar bit is an earworm. Didn't know until I checked the wiki this was a cover of an quirky Exile song and it was later covered by The BusBoys so I learned something new today.


4. "Heart of Ice" by Joe Jackson (1984, A&M)
   The album closer of Body and Soul, this seems like a leftover song from Jackson's Mike's Murder soundtrack. Mostly instrumental; vocals don't appear until 5 minutes in. One of the background vocalists is Ellen Foley who many of you know from "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" but I'm more familiar with her work on Night Court (side note: how great is the Night Court theme?). This song is good, not great, and I don't understand the ending at all. Not to mention the title probably isn't appropriate for Valentine's Day.


5. "Heart to Heart" by Kenny Loggins (1982, Columbia)
   One of my top 5 Loggins singles. What's not to like? Written by Loggins, Michael McDonald, and David Foster with performances by those three, members of Toto and Pages, and a sweet sax solo by David Sanborn. (Pro tip: you should check out Sanborn's 1982 instrumental pop album, As We Speak.) And oh! that middle eight. The fact that this goodness only reached #15 on the pop charts shows you how good the music was in '82*. Somehow, I came across a High Adventure cassette in 1983 and that thing took up residence in the Markmobile's Pioneer deck for a few weeks.

*Curious, I had to see which 14 songs the American public thought were better than "Heart to Heart." Well, hear ya go:

Promo posters as seen on "WKRP in Cincinnati" #27

Albums: Huey Lewis and The News - Huey Lewis and The News (Chrysalis, 1980)*, The Doors - Greatest Hits (Elektra, 1980), Jeff Beck - There and Back (Epic, 1980), Gamma - Gamma 2 (Elektra, 1980)
Episode:  Season 3, Episode 8, "Baby, It's Cold Inside"
Original air date: Saturday, January 3, 1981

*As mentioned in Episode 30 of the "Hold My Order, Terrible Dresser" WKRP podcast.

1985 - The Golden Age of Soundtracks?

In 1985, 27 singles reached the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. Of those 27, one-third came directly from movie or TV soundtracks.  That's 9 soundtrack singles and there's not even any Kenny Loggins on this list!!

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		"Crazy for You" Madonna #1 for one week, May 11  from the movie Vision Quest
"Don't You (Forget About Me)" Simple Minds #1 for one week, May 18 from the movie The Breakfast Club
		"Heaven" Bryan Adams #1 for two weeks, June 22-29 from the movie A Night in Heaven
"A View to a Kill" Duran Duran #1 for two weeks, July 13-20 from the movie A View to a Kill.
		"The Power of Love" Huey Lewis & the News #1 for two weeks, August 24-31 from the movie Back to the Future
"St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)" John Parr #1 for two weeks, September 7-14 from the movie St. Elmo's Fire
		"Miami Vice Theme" Jan Hammer #1 for one week, November 9 from the TV series Miami Vice
"Separate Lives" Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin #1 for one week, November 30 from the movie White Nights
		"Say You, Say Me" Lionel Richie #1 for four weeks, December 21, 1985 - January 11, 1986 from the movie White Nights

Interesting that the cover for the "Say You, Say Me" single states that it is the title song from White Nights.  Wha?  Wouldn't the title song be titled "White Nights"?  There I go nitpicking again.  Regardless of the song title, "Say You, Say Me" won the Oscar for Best Original Song at the 58th Academy Awards.

For the record, I don't like all of these, just the ones by Madonna, Simple Minds, Huey Lewis, and Jan Hammer.  I've never seen Vision Quest, A Night In Heaven, or White Nights.  Should I bother?

Other soundtrack hits from 1985 that didn't make the top spot include:

• "You Belong to the City" by Glenn Frey from Miami Vice  (peaked at #2)
• "The Heat is On" by Glenn Frey (#2), "Axel F" by Harold Faltermeyer (#3), and "Neutron Dance" by The Pointer Sisters (#6) from Beverly Hills Cop. 
• "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going" by Billy Ocean from The Jewel of the Nile (#2)
• "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)" by Tina Turner from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (#2)
• "Rhythm of the Night" by DeBarge from The Last Dragon (#3)
• "No More Lonely Nights" by Paul McCartney from Give My Regards to Broad Street (#6)
• "Spies Like Us" by Paul McCartney from Spies Like Us (#7)
• "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough" by Cyndi Lauper from The Goonies (#10)
• "Love Theme from St. Elmo's Fire" by David Foster from St. Elmo's Fire (#15)
• "To Live and Die in L.A." by Wang Chung from To Live and Die in L.A. (#41)
• "Into the Groove" by Madonna from Desperately Seeking Susan (surprisingly never released as a single)

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