Counting down the Top 50 of '84 - Albums #5 - 1

(or, more accurately, my favorite albums released in 1984)

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Difford & Tilbrook
Difford & Tilbrook

Produced by:	Tony Visconti, E.T. Thorngren, Chris Difford, & Glenn Tilbrook
Billboard 200:	55
CashBox 200:	25
Rolling Stone 100:	33

• Billboard: "sleeker, more expansive pop feel"
• Rolling Stone (★★★): "chock full of Tilbrook's typically jaunty pop tunes"
• Smash Hits (6 out of 10): "plenty of rewards."
• Record Mirror (++): "a disappointment"

Top 3 Tracks
"Love's Crashing Waves"
"Action Speaks Faster"
"Man for All Seasons"

The songwriting duo from Squeeze put out this album after the group split up (temporarily) in the early '80s. Compared to the duo's usual fantastic writing, the songwriting on this release isn't that great, but even the best material couldn't hold up to the slick, flat production given here. However, this came out in the summer of 1984 and I listened to it non-stop, so I'm very familiar with all the tunes and arrangements. Difford & Tilbrook should have been more well known in the US, but this wasn't the release that would gain them that fame and recognition.

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Big Bam Boom
Daryl Hall & John Oates

Produced by:	Daryl Hall, John Oates & Bob Clearmountain
Billboard 200:	5
CashBox 200:	7
Rolling Stone 100:	5

• Billboard: "The hit machine rolls on"
• CashBox: "substantial pop that is constantly anchored by a big funk sound."
• Rolling Stone (★★★★): "the most solid Hall and Oates album in years"
• Stereo Review: "a stiff, slightly awkward record - not a must."
• Robert Christgau: B

U.S. Billboard charted single:	Hot 100	R&B	Dance	AC	Rock
Out Of Touch	1	24	1	8	1
Method of Modern Love	5	21	15	18	5
Some Things are Better Left Unsaid	18	85		17	16
Possession Obsession	30	69	20	8

Top 3 Tracks
"Some Things are Better Left Unsaid"
"Method of Modern Love"
"Out of Touch"

This album was a marked departure for the group as they updated their "blue-eyed soul" sound to match the times. Lots of synths, sequencing, echo, and dance beats in a louder and noisier setting than we were used to with these guys. Now it sounds like every other dance/hip-hop album from the late '80s, so I guess these guys were actually ahead of their time in terms of sonic originality.

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Learning to Crawl

The Pretenders

Produced by:	Chris Thomas
Billboard 200:	5
CashBox 200:	4
Rolling Stone 100:	1

• Rolling Stone: ★★★★
• Trouser Press: "100 percent Hynde. And it's fine."
• CashBox: "one of early 84's success stories"
• Billboard: "strong songs, crack performances"
• Smash Hits (5 out of 10): "a patchy comeback LP"
• Robert Christgau (A-): 'I'm not the kind I used to be/I've got a kid, I'm thirty-three' is certainly a quotable quote, and whether rock-and-rolling her baby or growling at fat cats Chrissie Hynde backs it up."
• High Fidelity: "contains some of the Pretenders' finest music to date"
• Stereo Review: Best of the Month

U.S. Billboard charted singles:	Hot 100	Rock
Back on the Chain Gang	5	4
My City was Gone		11
Middle of the Road	19	2
Time the Avenger		6
Show Me	28	8
Thumbelina		57

Top 3 Tracks
"Middle of the Road"
"Time the Avenger"
"My City was Gone"

This is The Pretenders' greatest album and a more complete album than any they previously released, including their spectacular debut (yeah, I said it). Plus, this music has aged well. The song My City was Gone is especially poignant to me now because it makes me think of the town I grew up in which has undergone significant changes and decay over the years.

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Like a Virgin
Madonna

Produced by:	Nile Rodgers, Steve Bray, & Madonna
Billboard 200:	1
CashBox 200:	1
Rolling Stone 100:	1

• CashBox: "a healthy dose of disco-rock"
• Billboard: "This second album brings considerable muscle"
• High Fidelity: "Madonna pulls off the neat trick of outstripping her own fast start."
• Rolling Stone (★★★½): "Rodgers wisely supplies the kind of muscle Madonna's sassy lyrics demand."
• Smash Hits (8 out of 10): "a good all-American dance album"
• Stereo Review: "sounds thin to me - not terrible, but predictably commercial"
• Robert Christgau: B 

U.S. Billboard charted single:	Hot 100	Dance	AC
Like a Virgin	1	1	29
Material Girl	2	1	38
Angel	5	1	5
Dress You Up	5	3	32

Top 3 Tracks
"Material Girl"
"Like a Virgin"
"Dress You Up"

No sophomore slump here. Madonna brought in Nile Rodgers to produce, found a great bunch of dance tunes, put a sexy "Boy Toy" picture on the cover, and gave the whole package an ambiguous, suggestive, slightly controversial (at the time) title. With this album, Madonna moved from pop singer to pop icon. Madonna doesn't have a great voice, but she knows how to put together a package (e.g., the backing band for much of the album is freakin' Chic for chrissakes) and, with a few missteps, this album transcended the existing concepts of dance-pop and set the stage for dance music in the late '80s.

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Stop Making Sense
Talking Heads

Produced by:	Talking Heads & Gary Goetzman
Billboard 200:	41
CashBox 200:	29
Rolling Stone 100:	16

• Rolling Stone (★★★★): "a solid artistic statement from a band that's starting to have as much as they've given their listeners."
• Stereo Review: "a great live performance"
• Robert Christgau (B+): "a soundtrack, albeit for the finest concert film I've ever seen"
• CashBox: "an electrifying LP"
• Billboard: "sustains remarkable polish"

Top 3 Tracks
"Found a Job"
"Once in a Lifetime"
"This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)"

Simply put, this album represents the best concert movie ever filmed.

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These are my personal top 10 albums released in 1984. The following criteria was used on a very slippery sliding scale:

• How often I enjoyed the album at the time of release
• How often I've enjoyed the album over the years since release
• My opinion of the overall quality of the album

The top tracks for each album are solely my opinion.

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Other album charts from MFD (formats vary):

• 1976 (17 albums, 3 posts) Top album: Songs in the Key of Life
• 1977 (10 albums, 1 post) Top album: Saturday Night Fever
• 1978 (19 albums, 1 post) Top album: 52nd Street
• 1979 (50 albums, 6 posts) Top album: I Am
• 1980 (10 albums, 2 posts) Top album: Glass Houses
• 1982 (82 albums, 10 posts) Top album: Rio
• 1983 (83 albums, 4 posts) Top album: North of a Miracle
• 1985 (25 albums, 5 posts) Top album: Cupid & Psyche 85

CD Longbox #38

Madonna (1983)

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Exclusive photo courtesy of Dirk Digglinator of the Hambonian Archives.

To view other longboxes, please click here.

For more information on the brief life of the CD longbox, go visit The Legend of the Longbox.

The Filthy Fifteen (1985)

In late 1985, the Parents Music Resource Center began a movement to censor rock music. Looking back, the group's efforts were largely ineffective, but it was successful in creating the above advisory sticker which most likely helped album sales more than hindered them.

Rolling Stone, September 12, 1985, p. 13
click photo to enlarge

The group put together this list of 15 "objectionable" songs in an apparent attempt to outrage suburban moms with nothing better to do.

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"Darling Nikki"

Prince

from the album Purple Rain (1984)

Not released as a single

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"Sugar Walls"

Sheena Easton

from the album A Private Heaven (1984)

Pop	Rock	R&B	Dance
9		3	1

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"Eat Me Alive"

Judas Priest

from the album Defenders of the Faith (1984)

Not released as a single

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"Strap On 'Robbie Baby'"

Vanity

from the album Wild Animal (1984)

Not released as a single

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"Bastard"

Mötley Crüe

from the album Shout at the Devil (1983)

Not released as a single

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"Let Me Put My Love in You"

AC/DC

from the album Back in Black (1980)

Not released as a single

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"We're Not Gonna Take It"

Twisted Sister

from the album Stay Hungry (1984)

Pop	Rock	R&B	Dance
21	7

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"Dress You Up"

Madonna

from the album Like a Virgin (1984)

Pop	AC	R&B	Dance
5	32	64	3

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"Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)"

W.A.S.P.

Not released in US until later in the decade.

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"High 'n' Dry (Saturday Night)"

Def Leppard

from the album High 'n' Dry (1981)

Not released as a single

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"Into the Coven"

Mercyful Fate

from the album Melissa (1983)

Not released as a single

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"Trashed"

Black Sabbath

from the album Born Again (1983)

Pop	Rock	R&B	Dance

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"In My House"

Mary Jane Girls

from the album Only Four You (1985)

Pop	Rock	R&B	Dance
7		3	1

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"Possessed"

Venom

from the album Possessed (1985)

Not released as a single

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"She Bop"

Cyndi Lauper

from the album She's So Unusual (1983)

Pop	Rock	R&B	Dance
3	27		10

Top Singles of March 16, 1985

Let's take a look at what was topping the various single charts on March 16, 1985.

	Billboard	CashBox	Radio & Records	Gavin Report
1	"Can't Fight This Feeling" REO Speedwagon	"Can't Fight This Feeling" REO Speedwagon	"Can't Fight This Feeling" REO Speedwagon	"Material Girl" Madonna
2	"The Heat is On" Glenn Frey	"Careless Whisper" Wham! feat. George Michael	"Material Girl" Madonna	"Can't Fight This Feeling" REO Speedwagon
3	"Material Girl" Madonna	"California Girls" David Lee Roth	"One More Night" Phil Collins	"One More Night" Phil Collins
4	"California Girls" David Lee Roth	"The Heat is On" Glenn Frey	"Too Late for Goodbyes" Julian Lennon	"Too Late for Goodbyes" Julian Lennon
5	"One More Night" Phil Collins	"Sugar Walls" Sheena Easton	"Lovergirl" Teena Marie	"Only the Young" Journey
6	"Too Late for Goodbyes" Julian Lennon	"One More Night" Phil Collins	"Only the Young" Journey	"Lovergirl" Teena Marie
7	"Careless Whisper" Wham! feat. George Michael	"Easy Lover" Philip Bailey with Phil Collins	"High on You" Survivor	"High on You" Survivor
8	"Lovergirl" Teena Marie	"Material Girl" Madonna	"California Girls" David Lee Roth	"Crazy for You" Madonna
9	"Private Dancer" Tina Turner	"Too Late for Goodbyes" Julian Lennon	"Just Another Night" Mick Jagger	"California Girls" David Lee Roth
10	"Relax" Frankie Goes to Hollywood	"Lovergirl" Teena Marie	"Save a Prayer" Duran Duran	"I'm on Fire" Bruce Springsteen

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Exclusive MFD meta-analysis of the above charts:

1. "I Can't Fight This Feeling" (39 points)
2. "Material Girl" (30 pts)
3. "One More Night" (27 pts)
4. "Too Late for Goodbyes" (21 pts)
5. "California Girls" (20 pts)
6. "The Heat is On" (16 pts)
7. "Lovergirl" (15 pts)
8. "Careless Whisper" (13 pts)
9. "Only the Young" (11 pts)
10. "High on You" (8 pts)
11. "Sugar Walls" (6 pts)
12. "Easy Lover" (4 pts)
13. "Crazy for You" (3 pts)
14. (tie) "Private Dancer" and "Just Another Night" (2 pts)
16. (tie) ""Relax," "Save a Prayer" and "I'm on Fire" (1 pt)

AT40, May 26, 1984 [Part 3 of 4]

 

I'm breaking down the AT40 show of May 26, 1984 track by track.  For an a look at #40-31, click here, for #30-21 click here.

#20:  "It's a Miracle" by Culture Club. Guest host Charlie Van Dyke quotes Boy George as saying that Roy Hay is really the leader of the group. (Odd, because when I saw the group a few months ago, they were billed as "Boy George and Culture Club" and yes, they played this song.) This is one of the group's better singles; it peaked at #13 in only 8 weeks in the Top 40.

"A listener wants to know: what male artist and what female artist who started out on the country chart went on to have the greatest success on the pop chart? Well, the top man was a star from Tupelo, Mississippi and the top woman is a superstar from Locust Ridge, Tennessee. Details coming up."

#19:  "Self Control" by Laura Branigan. Branigan's music never did much for me, but I seem to be in minority as this tune would work its way up to #4 by the end of June.

Charlie gives us the answers to the above listener questions: Elvis Presley and Dolly Parton.

#18:  "Borderline" by Madonna. Charlie introduces this song by mentioning there are 7 solo female artists in today's countdown: Christine McVie, Tracey UIlman, Laura Branigan, Irene Cara, Cyndi Lauper, Deniece Williams, and Madonna. And there ain't no Madonna like '80s Madonna. Great tune - my favorite from Madonna's self-titled debut album. It peaked at #10.

#17:  "Dancing in the Sheets" by Shalamar. The third song in today's countdown taken from the Footloose soundtrack album. This is a catchy tune that sounds terribly dated with its synths and drum machine. But it's not as if I'm going to let that keep from dancing right now. It's almost like I'm at the High Spot Drive-In:

This single is peaking here at #17.

Charlie teases that an upcoming song is recorded by an artist that lives in "a certain part of Los Angeles" then plays an excerpt from Frank Zappa's "Valley Girl."

"Every week, American Top 40 is heard in the 50 states and around the world on great radio stations like:"

• WQTC - Two Rivers, Wisconsin
• WNBX - Keane, New Hampshire
• WPLJ - New York City

#16:  "I'll Wait" by Van Halen. Of the four singles released from the 1984 album, this is my least favorite. I like my VH with more guitar riffs. Nonetheless, this tune spent ten weeks on AT40, peaking slightly higher at #13.

#15:  "Love Somebody" by Rick Springfield. Springfield lives in the San Fernando Valley and they need show content, so Charlie offers up information about the area and we treated to an excerpt from Bing Crosby's 1944 song, "San Fernando Valley."  "Love Somebody" is one of Springfield's better singles, but one we rarely hear these days. It had peaked at #5 a few weeks earlier.

#14:  "The Longest Time" by Billy Joel. At #14 for the third week in a row. This doo-wop tribute is one of the top four or five cuts on An Innocent Man and I still know every word and am egotistical enough to mistakenly believe I know all the vocal harmonies as well. I had seen Joel perform the song live the previous month.



and bought one of the ugliest sleeveless concert tees ever produced (yes, I wore it in public):

Anyhoo, "The Longest Time" would peak here at #14.

Charlie states: "Music historians usually identify 'New Wave' as having originated in England, but the first New Wave act to hit our Top 40 weren't British at all - they were Americans: a band out of Boston. Details, and their current hit, are coming up."

#13:  "The Heart of Rock 'N' Roll" by Huey Lewis & The News. "The whole album has a clear, crisp sound and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost." -Patrick Bateman. I like it just fine, but the video hasn't aged well:

"The cheese is strong with this one." That may be, but this single would be one of 12 Top 10 hits for Huey and the boys.

Guest host Charlie Van Dyke claims The Cars are the first New Wave act to hit the Top 40 and plays an excerpt from "Just What I Needed" (#27, 1978). And I'm OK with The Cars getting that designation.

#12:  "You Might Think" by The Cars. I wasn't a fan of this single nor its award-winning stalker video.  But I dubbed a friend's copy of the LP, loved "Hello Again" and "Magic" and would just listen to those two tracks over and over; they're still two of my favorite Cars songs. But this tune would become one of the band's bigger hits; it had peaked at #7 earlier in May.

#11:  "Head Over Heels" by The Go-Go's. While Beauty and the Beat is my favorite Go-Go's album, this is easily my favorite Go-Go's single and it's not even close (and the whole Talk Show album tends to be underrated).

--end of hour three--

Billboard, May 26, 1984, p. 60

More to come...

Bubbling Under 1982 [Part 3 of 5]

Using information found in the above supplement, below is an annotated list of songs that didn't quite crack the Billboard Hot 100, provided with links in hopes of helping you find some vintage tunes that are new to you. Click on the title to hear the tune or see the video, click on the artist for a Wikipedia entry, and click on the album for the Discogs entry. In all, there were 105 tracks that "bubbled under" the Hot 100 in 1982, here's 21 of those.

Title	Artist	Album	BU	Rock	AC	RB	Dance	Country
Hey There Lonely Boy	Stacy Lattisaw	Sneakin' Out	108			71
Right in the Middle (Of Falling in Love)	Bettye LaVette	Tell Me a Lie	103			35
President's Rap	Rich Little	12" single	105			39
Jump	Loverboy	Get Lucky	101
Who's Foolin' Who	Lulu	Lulu	106
Instant Love	Cheryl Lynn	Instant Love	105			16
If This World Were Mine	Cheryl Lynn & Luther Vandross	Instant Love	101			4
Everybody	Madonna	Madonna	107				3
Spies in the Night	Manhattan Transfer	Mecca for Moderns	103
Nobody's Business	Maxus	Maxus	109
Big Band Medley	Meco	Swingtine's Greatest Hits	101		18
Hot Spot	Midnight Star	Victory	108			35
Last Night	Stephanie Mills	Tantalizingly Hot	101			14
Love's Comin' at Ya	Melba Moore	The Other Side of the Rainbow	104			5	2
Love Leads to Madness	Nazareth	2XS	105	19
Tattoo	Novo Combo	Novo Combo	103	42
She's Just a Groupie	Bobby Nunn	Second to Nunn	104			15	28
Inside Out	Odyssey	Happy Together	104			12	25
I Just Want to Satisfy You	O'Jays	My Favorite Person	101			15
One of a Kind	Orleans	One of a Kind	110
Li'l Suzy	Ozone	Li'l Suzy	109			45

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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