American Top 40 PastBlast, 1980s: Year in Review, 2017

A few months ago, my friend Mark suggested I might create a Spotify playlist of all the AT40 songs I’ve featured.  Year’s end seems like a good time to put that together.  Today it’s the 80s, in the order presented.  Yesterday I did the analogous thing for the 70s.

Some notes:
–I put these on Facebook only from January to mid-July, before this ol’ blog got started. A few of those early posts have migrated over here; maybe all of them will eventually.
–I skipped the weekends when a show from 1988 played.  To be honest, my interest in Top 40 music was sufficiently fading that I was worried I wouldn’t have much to say.
–One track, “Cry,” by Godley and Creme, isn’t available on Spotify, so you’ll just have to play that one in your head at the appropriate time.  Also, I could find only a live version for “Shock the Monkey” by Peter Gabriel.  C’est la vie.

Here’s the track list; I’ve got links for those tunes that have appeared on the blog.  Enjoy!

1/14/84: Motels, “Remember the Nights”
1/25/86: Pete Townshend, “Face the Face”
1/24/81: Michael Stanley Band, “He Can’t Love You”
2/9/80: Steve Forbert, “Romeo’s Tune”
2/19/83: Moving Pictures, “What About Me”
2/25/84: Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, “Runner”
3/2/85: John Parr, “Naughty Naughty”
3/8/80: J. Geils Band, “Come Back”
3/15/86: Opus, “Live is Life”
3/20/82: Quarterflash, “Find Another Fool”
4/4/87: Crowded House, “Don’t Dream It’s Over”
4/4/81: Phil Seymour, “Precious to Me”
4/23/83: Frida, “I Know There’s Something Going On”
4/26/85: Eric Clapton, “Forever Man”
5/10/86: Honeymoon Suite, “Feel It Again”
5/12/84: Cyndi Lauper, “Time After Time”
5/23/81: Franke and the Knockouts, “Sweetheart”
5/31/80: Bruce Cockburn, “Wondering Where the Lions Are”
6/6/87: Pseudo Echo, “Funkytown”
6/11/83: Little River Band, “We Two”
6/19/82: Stevie Nicks, “After the Glitter Fades”
6/30/84: Wang Chung, “Dance Hall Days”
7/12/86: Moody Blues, “Your Wildest Dreams”
7/13/85: Bryan Adams, “Summer of ‘69”
7/25/81: Jim Steinman, “Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through”
7/30/83: Martin Briley, “Salt in My Tears”
8/9/80: George Benson, “Give Me the Night”
8/18/84: Bananarama, “Cruel Summer”
8/22/87: Danny Wilson, “Mary’s Prayer”
8/31/85: Godley and Creme, “Cry”
9/4/82: Frank Zappa, “Valley Girl”
9/10/83: Rick Springfield, “Human Touch”
9/13/86: Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam with Full Force, “All Cried Out”
9/26/81: ELO, “Hold on Tight”
10/3/87: Swing Out Sister, “Breakout”
10/13/84: John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, “On the Dark Side”
10/18/80: Larsen-Feiten Band, “Who’ll Be the Fool Tonight”
10/22/83: Men at Work, “Dr. Heckyll and Mr. Jive”
10/31/81: Diesel, “Sausalito Summernight”
11/8/86: Howard Jones, “You Know I Love You…Don’t You?”
11/17/84: Tommy Shaw, “Girls with Guns”
11/14/87: John Cougar Mellencamp, “Cherry Bomb”
11/30/85: Kate Bush, “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)”
12/4/82: Peter Gabriel, “Shock the Monkey”
12/13/80: John Lennon, “(Just Like) Starting Over”
12/20/86: Timbuk3, “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades”
12/28/85: Clarence Clemons and Jackson Browne, “You’re a Friend of Mine”