Don’s Top 10 For July 14, 1985

(#10 last week) One of my favorite bands of the 80s! They never rocked harder than on this hit, which changed their sound from synthpop to more traditional soul-tinged rock. Wasn't as big in England, but went to #1 in Australia.

(#17 last week) By far the hottest upward mover this week, the second hit from the British duo, although they had several MTV "oh wow" faves prior to 1985, such as "Mad World".

(#11 last week) Survivor's lead singer, Dave Bickler, was forced to leave the band due to voice problems & was replaced by Jimi Jamison starting in 1984. He's singer on all the hits after "Eye Of The Tiger" & "American Heartbeat". Founding Survivor member Jim Peterik was also lead singer of the Ides Of March, who hit it big way back in 1970 with the classic "Vehicle" (& even earlier with regional midwest hits).

(#8 last week) A very soulful piece of Britpop, with distinctive electric sitar & echoed piano. Written by Daryl Hall; first recorded by Hall & Oates for their "Voices" album but not released as a single. Oh, to set the record straight, "everytime" is grammatically incorrect, based on the words to the song. It should be "every time".

(#6 last week) Billy Ocean. Boy, for someone so regularly on the charts in the 80s, has he disappeared from the music scene.

(#5) Geniuses are strange. Price Rogers Nelson fits both descriptions, but who's complaining, not with a body of music such as his. This may be my favorite. Incredibly catchy! It was first recorded solo in 1982, but Prince reworked it with his new band, The Revolution, to give it more of an "international feel", with Middle Eastern finger cymbals, stringed instruments, & even a harmonica on the 12-inch single.

(#4 last week) I got a bit emotional seeing this clip. I miss both Johnny & Whitney. So young, so much talent. The song was originally intended for Roberta Flack, but producer Kashif felt it was better suited for someone younger. Hard to believe, but this generated a bit of controversy in 1985 for "suggestive lyrics". Columnist Ann Landers, among others, said it was unsuitable for teens & tweens.

(#3 last week) So what the heck does "Sussudio" mean? The main lyric came about as Collins was improvising words to a drum machine track he had programmed: "suss-sussudio" was a phrase that scanned well. After trying to find an another word to fit the rhythm, he decided to keep "Sussudio" as the song title & lyric. Collins has said that he "improvised" the lyric. Collins was just playing around with a drum machine, and the lyric "sus-sussudio" was what came out of his mouth. Collins said in an interview, "so I kinda knew I had to find something else for that word, then I went back and tried to find another word that scanned as well as 'sussudio,' & I couldn't find one, so I went back to 'sussudio,'" Collins said. He added, the lyrics are about a schoolboy crush on a girl at school.

(#2 last week) #1 nationally this week, it remains the only James Bond theme to be a #1 American single. The band performed this at Live Aid in Philly yesterday. It would be their last last live performance together for 16 years (the original lineup).

(#1 last week; 3rd week at #1) It's Journey drummer Steve Smith on the drums here, filling at the last minute when the original drummer had to back out. Recorded in June 1983 for an obscure movie soundtrack called "A Night In Heaven", two years before it became it a hit.