Don’s Top 10 for April 21, 1987
Amazon.com
Back…back…back into time, it's a great “Time Machine” survey from Tuesday, April 21, 1987! Haven't heard a few of these in years. I'll play them on New Jersey 101.5 starting just after midnight late Friday night.
“Talk Dirty To Me” by Poison
(#12 last week) Named by VH1 the 40th greatest hard rock song of all time. I'll defer to their expertise. Have you seen the cult movie “Hot Tub Time Machine”? “Poison” performed it. I put quotation marks there because actors portrayed the group…..
“You Keep Me Hangin' On” by Kim Wilde
(#10 last week) Kim's dad Marty was a U.K. recording star in the 50s & 60s, even charting once in the U.S. (using the name “Shannon”, with the cult song “Abergavenny”, in 1969). Kim herself first charted in the U.S. with “Kids In America” in the early 80s. This song made history itself: It became the first song in the rock era to make the top 10 in three different versions (Supremes, 1966; Vanilla Fudge, 1968). It happened again just a year later, with the third version of “The Loco-Motion” making the top 10.
“With Or Without You” by U2
(#9 last week) The song Bono considers his “Hey Jude”, meaning, the song so big it trancends his group.
“Sign 'O' The Times” by Prince
(#4 last week) Arguably Prince's most socially conscious single. Backup vocals are by then-girlfriend Susannah Melvoin.
“I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” by Aretha Franklin & George Michael
(#7 last week) Produced by Narada Michael Walden, who became the 8th producer in the rock era to have back-to-back national #1 hits when this followed Starship at the summit.
“Lean On Me” by Club Nouveau
(#2 last week) One of only nine #1 songs to be #1 by two different artists, this won Bill Withers a Grammy Award–in 1987, for Best R&B Song, a songwriter award.
“Don't Dream It's Over” by Crowded House
(#6 last week) In a 2001 poll of the greatest New Zealand & Australian songs of all time, this was voted #2 on the New Zealand list & #7 on the Aussie one (the band had members from both countries). The video earned the group a Best New Artist award at the MTV Video Awards show.
“Looking For A New Love” by Jody Watley
(#3 last week) Jody Watley was no stranger to the charts when she hit it big in the late 80s–she was part of the group Shalamar, who made the top 10 in 1980 with “The Second Time Around” & had a few other hits.
“Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now” by Starship
(#1 last week) It's interesting, that as the critics hated the latest incarnation of this San Francisco group, the music-buying public loved them, even more than their previous versions.
“La Isla Bonita” by Madonna
(#5 last week) Madge usually did better on our local charts than nationally, & here's the biggest example, a song that peaked at #4 coast-to-coast, but leaps to chart-topper right here! The translation is “the beautiful island”. it was first offered to Michael Jackson for his “Bad” album by songwriter Patrick Leonard. Boy, would that have been a bad fit. Michael was smart enough to turn it down. Madonna grabbed it & added lyrics.
Leave a Comment