Don’s Top 10 for February 18, 1987

(#17 last week) By 1987, rap was going rock...& suburban. From the album "Licensed To Ill", which was the first rap album to make it to #1 nationally.

(#17 last week) Followup to the #1 hit "Sledgehammer", from the album "So". Interesting album title. :-) But, strangely, his first four solo albums were all titled "Peter Gabriel", differentiated only by their different cover artwork.

(#3 last week) Followup to the #1 hit "True Colors", this uptempo number featured the Bangles on backup vocals. The video was filmed at London's Trafalgar Square.

(#2 last week) "Open Your Heart" was originally titled "Follow Your Heart" & ironically, originally meant for Cyndi Lauper. Then the Temptations were considered for the song. Then word came that Madonna had chosen to record it as the opening song to her album "True Blue", & changed some of the lyrics.

(#11 last week) Movie music, but, ugh, what a movie: "Jaws--The Revenge"! Written by Rupert "Pina Colada Song" Holmes.

(#4 last week) Samantha Fox parlayed her fame as a topless model in British tabloid newspapers to a singing career, starting with this salacious smash.

(#8 last week) This was a great time for Bruce Hornsby. Not only did he perform on his own #1 hit, "The Way It Is", just a few months earlier, he was headed for the top as a songwriter with this smooth pop gem.

(#6 last week) Longtime Chicago lead singer Peter Cetera had just left for a solo career, but the band didn't miss a beat, hiring soundalike Jason Scheff. Honestly, casual listeners would have been hard-pressed to tell the difference.

(#5 last week) Good old-fashioned 70s-style boogie-woogie rock from some good 'ol boys from Atlanta. The band never had another big hit, but their remake of "Hippy Hippy Shake" WAS featured in the "Cocktail" soundtrack in 1988.

(#1 last week; 2nd week at #1) This was one of 35 songs recorded originally for the album "Slippery When Wet", & it almost didn't make the cut! Jon wasn't that thrilled with it. He thought maybe it could be on some soundtrack I(what does that say about soundtracks?). The "talk box" sound effect was thought of by the album's producer, who realized it hadn't been used since "Frampton Comes Alive!" 10 years earlier.