Yeah, I forgot the abomination called "Spies Like Us". Next time I check my Billboard Top Pop Singles book before posting.
"Magic" This is where Olivia entered her "mom hair" 80s phase. Her hair is halfway between a mullet and Lady Di. For a few years, she really was kind of America's sweetheart, even if she's Australian. Good song with a "mysterious" vibe to it. re Billy Joel's success in the 80s... Spoiler he was big enough to be invited to be part of a little future #1 called "We Are The World," which was a who's who of mid 80s mainstream popularity.
I don't think it's an abomination, but you also forgot about "No More Lonely Nights" from 1985. And as far as Billy Joel is concerned, you forgot all about the hits from "The Bridge", "Storm Front", and the two songs from his greatest hits album, of which "You're Only Human (Second Wind)" was a top 10 hit. Sometimes our musical preferences get confused with actual history. Sometimes, we tend to marginalize the music we didn't listen to for a given time period, and amplify the importance of the music we did listen to. It's why a lot of people on this forum tend to think punk and alternative music was bigger in the 70s and 80s than it really was here in the U.S. because that's what they listened to back then.
Nope. Now, Paul McCartney may not have had any hits from "Press To Play", but the singles from it were all over MTV.
I thought the post sounded a little off. BJ was one of the decade's biggest artists, scoring hit after hit. I was a bigger BJ fan in high school, late 1970s, The Stranger era. Even saw him in concert in Wichita, KS, in 1979. I think Piano Man is his greatest song. I lost interest in his music after 1980. There's one 1980s LP he recorded, the one which included the singles Keeping the Faith and The Longest Time (a tribute to Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons), which sounded like a greatest hits LP. Almost every song was a hit single, or sounded like one. BJ enjoyed hit after hit. McCartney, not so much, though he had hits. The quality of his songs, particularly those abominable duets, the ones that went to No. 1, really tanked though. That's something we should all do. I've often assumed things, too. After I posted (on another artist, earlier in this thread), I quickly checked online and noted the artist did score more hits, so I edited my post while there was still time. No problem, though. I enjoy reading your posts.
"Its Still Rock and Roll to Me" It is an interesting take to reminisce about this song as I remember it in 1980 (at age 10) and then to look back on it knowing a bit more about the music culture happening at the time. I agree Billy's best work is just a bit smarter and more clever (mostly) than most, yet not quite literate enough to make the critics swoon. He's always been in a bit of a damned if he does, damned if he doesn't and he didn't have the benefit of a Jon Landau like manager/benefactor to make his work seem more relevant and poignant than it actually is. Billy's everyman Long Island vibe is also a bit middle of the road in music critique...rougher, more street wise and sneering than the average LA star, but not urban enough for the CBGB/art scene. Regardless, Billy can write a hit, knows a hook when he hears/writes it and knows how to give the masses what they want without being a complete LCD. Even this seeming throw away tune has a lot more under the hood than people give credit. My take as a ten year old in 1980 was it was a fun, wordy, bratty song that in addition to "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" helped give me an appreciation for pre-Beatles American RnR/R&B. It prompted me to continue to follow Billy's career and was a fun pre-pubescent LP after wearing out the grooves on The Stranger and 52nd Street. My take now is, I can hear a very strong Joe Jackson influence (Look Sharp...Is She Really Going Out...I'm the Man) and I can really hear the sound of his band at the time...a bunch of well seasoned Long Island guys giving a bit of a rough and tumble take on the pop music of the day...New Wave, Pop, Arena Rock, Anglo pop. Not the most authentic, but certainly a style all their own...again, not nearly as celebrated as the Ashbury Park scene, but as honest as any out there at the time. Liberty Devito does not get enough credit for adding a muscular sound to the AT40.
I agree with you, yet knowing enough of Billy's career, he truly wasn't just a piano man. He had more sides to him than that so, taking on or showing his rocker side was him being authentic to himself. That was also a pretty genuine call out to Richie Cannata, his long time sax/keys guy, and very Bronx. And yes, I think Billy's persona, no matter how hard he tried, seemed pretty safe, especially when contrasted with say a John Rotton/Lydon...BUT the guy did used to box and was not immune to the rougher parts of New York borough life.
It was "No More Lonely Nights" I was referring to when I (mistakenly) said Paul's last Top 10 was 1984. It peaked in December 1984. But, that's close enough to 1985. I think in my mind it seems Billy Joel faded away after that blast of hits from The Innocent Man album. And, like you said about personal preference, I didn't like anything Billy did after a few of the hits on An Innocent Man. But, like I said, I should have checked my Billboard book. And, you're right about punk and alternative in the 80s in the US. It was very underground. In the 70s it barely registered. And, I lived in L.A. Synth pop/commercial new wave was huge in the 80s, but that's different.
Coming into the top 20 for it's first run at this time was this tune. A song that would probably never be released today.
Right around this time, the single “Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Joy Divsion, was in constant airplay on college radio stations. Although it never cracked the Top 100, it reached #42 on the Billboard Disco Chart (!) even though it’s not a disco song. I guess it got a lot of airplay in clubs. The single was released shortly after the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis, who suffered from depression. The rest of the band would regroup as New Order. IMO, “Love Will Tear Us Apart” is legendary, iconic post-punk track - one of the very best singles of the 1980s.
Oh Oh wow, what a song. I love it, but the lyrics not so much. But the production and the mood all over that record is stunning to me. Agree that it would likely never make it out of the gate today. Talk about creepy, but the funny thing is that I never paid much attention to the lyrics until just a few years ago. If he could have just boosted the age of the girl a few years, I don’t think it would have hurt the song one bit and it likely would have done better. Also, a very good recording, though I don’t care for the rest of the album.
From what I understand and remember, punk and new wave were quite big in L.A., and they weren't that underground.
Ah yes! The child predator song. But, if it couldn't get released today, why do you hear it on oldies radio and in store muzak systems?
I love Magic. My favorite all time ONJ song. One of those that brings back memories. I remember a girl across the street had the 45. She said "if I can borrow your Rubik's Cube for the weekend you can borrow my Magic record". So we swapped for the weekend. I remember liking Benny Mardones at the time, not so much now. I had that song on a K-Tel record. I LOVED this record, one of my favorite from K-Tel, it had so many good songs on it.
She’s not quite there yet. The clip embedded on this thread was part of her Physical video album. They augmented the ten album tracks with newly filmed clips for “Magic,” “A Little More Love,” and “Hopelessly Devoted to You.” Here is a clip of the song from its time on the charts: “Magic” is such a compelling record. Surprisingly, Newton-John and Farrar didn’t think it was the breakout hit from Xanadu. They expected the big record from the soundtrack to be “Suddenly,” her duet with Cliff Richard. It went top twenty on both sides of the Atlantic. It was possibly hindered by the poor reaction to the film.
