Don’s Top 10 From August 9, 1985

(#6 last week) Classic Bruce, recorded way back in 1982, finally a hit single three years later. The video for the song was shot in late May '85 in various locations in NJ, & was directed by filmmaker John Sayles, the third video he had done for the album. It featured a narrative story of Springsteen, playing the protagonist in the song, talking to his young son & pitching to a wooden backstop against an imaginary lineup (he eventually lost the game to former Yankee Graig Nettles). The baseball field scene was shot at Miller Park Stadium in West New York, NJ. The field is inside a city block surrounded mostly by homes. Intercut with these were scenes of Springsteen & the E Street Band lip-synching the song in a bar. The bar performance scenes were filmed at Maxwell's in Hoboken,

(#14 last week) This record just has an unstoppable groove! You want to stop what you're doing & start dancing! And Clarence on the saxophone is just the icing on the cake. One of my top 10 personal 80s favorites.

(#16 last week) This only got to #2 nationally, but you made it a local #1 hit, the second song with the title "Cherish" to be #1 (the first was by The Association in 1966). There would be a third hit song called "Cherish", by Madonna, & it also made it to #1 locally, in 1989. Three songs called "Cherish", all different, all local #1 hits. Amazing.

(#15 last week) #6 & 7 were from movies, although this was originally just called "Man In Motion", written by Parr with mega-producer/writer David Foster for the Canadian athlete Rick Hansen, who at the time was going around the world in his wheelchair to raise awareness for spinal cord injuries. His journey was called the "Man in Motion Tour." Several members of Toto are heard backing up Parr.

(#9 last week) Boy, Huey & his News were unstoppable for 3 or 4 years, & this was about his catchiest. Yes, they had a few big albums, but they were the very definition of a "singles band". An 80s version of the Grass Roots! Not that there's anything wrong with that.

(#8 last week) First single from Hart's second album "Boy In The Box" & a bigger hit than '84's "Sunglasses At Night", but barely is remembered now. It spent nine weeks at #1 in Hart's native Canada, where it won the Juno Award for "Single Of The Year".

(#4 last week) Sting said that he wrote this song (his first solo hit, from the album "The Dream Of The Blue Turtles") as an "antidote" to the Police's biggest hit, "Every Breath You Take". Very distinctive musically, with heavy jazz influences.

(#3 last week) The song that made Whitney a star, the first one from her debut self-titled solo album. It was written by LaLa and produced by Kashif. When LaLa sent Kashif a copy of the song, originally offered to Roberta Flack, he thought it would be a better fit for Houston and told Arista he would be interested in recording with Houston. The song garnered mostly positive reviews from critics, but brought Houston a bit of notoriety when it turned up among several songs cited by advice columnist Ann Landers as having suggestive titles.

(#2 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".

(#1 last week; 3rd week at #1) The second American hit from the British duo, although they had several MTV "oh wow" faves prior to 1985, such as "Mad World". Not many realize this was written as a protest song. Lead singer/co-writer Roland Orzabal said, "A lot of people think that 'Shout' is just another song about primal scream theory, continuing the themes of the first album. It is actually more concerned with political protest. It came out when a lot of people were still worried about the aftermath of The Cold War and it was basically an encouragement to protest."