Don’s Top 10 From March 30, 1982

(#11 last week) Well, Gibb & McCoo were wrong about Mr. Higgins--he never had another big top 40 hit. Maybe it was his name, which people were constantly mistaking as Bernie. But we remember this one, fondly. Lyric mistake: "Sailing away to Key Largo"? In the film Bogart & Bacall do not sail to Key Largo; Bogart arrives on a bus, and Bacall is already living there.

(#10 last week) Let's be honest here, gang: this record was BAD. Every time I heard the opening notes when I played this as a current song in Wilkes-Barre, it was like chalk on a blackboard. The record is SO bad, it's good. Almost. The followups? The immortal "Do The Donkey Kong" & "E.T. (I Love You)". I can only imagine.

(#14 last week) After "Open Arms" got stuck at #2, this would, too, spending four weeks in the runner-up spot, just missing becoming Springfield's (elusive) 2nd #1 hit.  "Don't Talk To Strangers" was about his paranoia that his girlfriend was being unfaithful when he was away.

(#10 last week) Peter Wolf & co. had their first top 40 hit back in 1973, the insanely catchy "Give It To Me" (should have been bigger). Superstardom was a long time coming for the boys who formed in Boston, but were mainly from New York. title track, 2nd single from their 1st & only million-selling album.

(#8 last week) Headed for the top. There have been a lot of #1 movie themes, & a lot of #1 instrumentals, but this is the only #1 record by an artist from Greece that I can think of. Vangelis' real name? Evangelos Papathanassiou.

(#6 last week) A hit that has totally disappeared from airplay, & it isn't that bad! The followup to Olivia's biggest hit, "Physical", this has its pop charms. Talk about a complete image change for the formerly sweet & innocent lovely Livvy, now a smokin' hot songstress. Many ladies have followed her playbook since.

(#4 last week) This did very well at top 40 radio, peaking here at #4, but it did even better on the R&B chart, spending 9 weeks at #1. "That Girl" was a new song on a hits compilation, "Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium".

(#3 last week) Poor Go-Go's, having to follow Rex Smith's lame-O intro on "Solid Gold". For me, personally, these ladies gave me hope that catchy guitar pop-rock was on its way back to the charts. Loved 'em!

(#2 last week) "Don't Stop Believin" is by far their most enduring hit, but this was Journey's biggest originally. It's been stuck in the #2 position for 5 weeks, first behind "Centerfold", then "I Love Rock 'N Roll". Bad luck to be behind two giant hits.

(#1 last week; 3rd week at #1) Sometimes, the simplest songs are the biggest, & wow, was this HUGE. The anthem of a generation! 7 weeks at #1. Originally written by & sung by British group The Arrows in 1977, it was meant as an answer record to the Stones "It's Only Rock 'N Roll (But I Like It)". Joan Jett first heard it while with her first band, the Runaways, but couldn't convince the other girls to record it. Glad she remembered it years later.