Pretenders, Middle of the Road Written by Chrissie Hynde Produced by Chris Thomas Mastered by Tim Young Label: Sire Peaked at #2 - January 28, 1984 ^7 weeks in top 10 #19 on the Billboard Hot 100 Album: Learning to Crawl (1984)
John Lennon, Nobody Told Me Written by John Lennon Produced by John Lennon and Yoko Ono Mastered by Greg Calbi Label: Polydor/Geffen/Capitol Week of top 10 entry: January 28, 1984 Peaked at #2 - February 18, 1984 ^7 weeks in top 10 #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 #81 on the 1984 Year-End Hot 100 Album: Milk and Honey (1984) I will ask the same question that I asked about George Harrison's All Those Years Ago. If Nobody Told Me was such a big hit at the time, by one of the Beatles no less, how is it that I have no memory of it being played on the radio or in public? I hear Sir Paul McCartney's post-Beatles stuff all the time and even some of Sir Ringo Starr's stuff. I even had one of John Lennon's other solo songs, Beautiful Boy, play at my bar mitzvah, though it was featured in the hit movie Mr. Holland's Opus, so I can't exactly call the song an obscure deep cut. Whatever, I belabored this point enough with The Rolling Stones' Undercover of the Night. John Lennon and Yoko Ono's 1980 album Double Fantasy was the last thing released in the former's lifetime before his tragic murder. It won Album of the Year at the 24th Annual Grammy Awards in February 1982, so I reviewed it for my previous thread on Album of the Year Grammy nominees. I thought the album was pretty good, save for one criticism. The album alternates between tracks written and performed by John and tracks by Yoko. All of John's tracks were good, but while Yoko's songs were well-written, I imagine her voice was a better fit for her earlier, more avant-garde Fluxus work. At least I got that impression from when she would scream on songs like Kiss Kiss Kiss, which were otherwise more accessible songs in line with what John wrote for the album. She doesn't scream on Milk and Honey, and John's songs are as good as they were on Double Fantasy. So if her screaming was what turned you off of Double Fantasy, then Milk and Honey will be more accessible to you. And I think that might the longest anyone has talked about John Lennon online without bringing up domestic violence.
Yes, Changes Written by Trevor Rabin, Jon Anderson, and Alan White Produced by Trevor Horn Mastered by Bob Ludwig Label: Atco Week of top 10 entry: January 28, 1984 Peaked at #6 - February 18, 1984 ^2 weeks in top 10 Album: 90125 (1983)
Duran Duran, New Moon On Monday Written by Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, Andy Taylor, John Taylor, and Roger Taylor Produced by Alex Sadkin, Ian Little, and Duran Duran (Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, Andy Taylor, John Taylor, and Roger Taylor) Mastered by Arun Chakraverty Label: EMI/Capitol Week of top 10 entry: February 4, 1984 Peaked at #4 - February 11, 1984 ^5 weeks in top 10 #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 #95 on the 1984 Year-End Hot 100 Album: Seven and the Ragged Tiger (1983)
Yes, It Can Happen Written by Trevor Rabin, Jon Anderson, and Chris Squire Produced by Trevor Horn Mastered by Bob Ludwig Label: Atco Peaked at #5 - February 11, 1984 ^2 weeks in top 10 #51 on the Billboard Hot 100 Album: 90125 (1983)
Middle of the Road-Upbeat but not for me. Nobody Told Me-Nice posthumous track. Changes-I have heard this on classic rock occasionally, but it was a shorter version, was there a radio edit or did certain stations chop up the song? New Moon on Monday-Another theatrical video for this song. Love the melody in this song. It Can Happen-Decent,but not something I'd choose to listen to.
Both Learning to Crawl and Seven and the Ragged Tiger are albums I bought early enough in the 1983-84 winter before my "no-buying-albums" pledge went into effect. Tiger is a signature DD album, and "New Moon on Monday" is another single I associate with my frat party-going times. "Middle of the Road" is a superb track - it's now iconic Pretenders. "Thumbelina" is another track from Crawl I quite liked at the time. I wasn't in a "Beatles mood" all that much in '84, but the posthumous "Nobody Told Me" is an undeniably brilliant song. I ignored the Yes tracks for reasons I mentioned in the "Owner of a Lonely Heart" discussion. I ought to give them a listen now though.
Van Halen, Panama Written by Michael Anthony, David Lee Roth, Alex Van Halen, and Eddie Van Halen Produced by Ted Templeman Mastered by Chris Bellman and Gregg Geller Label: Warner Bros. Week of top 10 entry: February 11, 1984 Peaked at #2 - March 3, 1984 ^5 weeks in top 10 #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 Album: 1984 (1984)
Eurythmics, Here Comes The Rain Again Written by Annie Lennox and David A. Stewart Produced by David A. Stewart Mastered by Horst Angenendt Label: RCA Peaked at #8 - February 18, 1984 ^3 weeks in top 10 #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 #38 on the 1984 Year-End Hot 100 Album: Touch (1983)
Bryan Adams, Heaven Written by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance Produced by Bryan Adams and Bob Clearmountain Mastered by Bob Ludwig Label: A&M Peaked at #9 - February 18, 1984 ^1 week in top 10 #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 #24 on the 1984 Year-End Hot 100 Soundtrack: A Night In Heaven (1983) Heaven was Bryan Adams' first #1 hit on the Hot 100. And I bet most people don't know it was from a movie soundtrack. I certainly didn't until I looked it up for this post.
Of these three songs today, the one I was most excited for back in '84 was "Here Comes the Rain Again" because Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams" and "Love Is a Stranger" were two of my favorite singles from the previous year. I ended up preferring one of their follow-up singles, "Right By Your Side." I also recall in 1984 a comedian noting the melodic similarities between "Sweet Dreams" and "Here Comes..." by singing their respective first lines in the exact same way. Both "Panama" and "Heaven" came off as generic tracks. I wasn't excited about either of them.
I wasn't a fan of DD back then, but this song was different, I always liked it. Nice change of pace for them.
Panama-Classic VH party song. Was this a hit in the Republic of Panama? Here Comes the Rain Again-Moody synth pop song. Heaven-Excellent Power Ballad, we're getting to the really good stuff in 1984 now. I never even knew the film A Night In Heaven existed.
Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Runner Written by Ian Thomas Produced by Manfred Mann Mastered by Ray Staff Label: Bronze (UK)/Arista (US) Week of top 10 entry: February 18, 1984 Peaked at #3 - March 10, 1984 ^6 weeks in top 10 #22 on the Billboard Hot 100 Manfred Mann's Earth Band's 1982 album Somewhere In Afrika was released in the US in November 1983 with a substantially different track listing from the original European release. One of the changes was the addition of Runner, which would be the band's last top 40 hit in the US. It was also featured on the soundtracks of two movies in the autumn of 1984. But to reiterate, Runner wasn't on the original album, which was an ode to Manfred Mann's native South Africa and combined African musical elements with 80s production just a couple of years before Paul Simon's Graceland. To illustrate this, side A on the original release ends with a song called Brothers and Sister of Azania (Azania being a name sometimes applied to parts of southeastern Africa), which leads into side B. Side B consists of the following: An eight-and-a-half-minute multi-part track called "Africa Suite" A seven-and-a-half-minute cover of Bob Marley's Redemption Song combined with Zulu and Xhosa chants in protest of apartheid A traditional song that gives the album its title In the interest of preserving Manfred Mann's vision, I listened to the original track listing. I put Runner and Rebel, the other song added to the US release, after the opening track, but otherwise kept the track listing intact. It's an interesting listen that Runner doesn't hint at in any way. Check it out if you're curious.
Christine McVie, Got A Hold On Me Written by Christine McVie and Todd Sharp Produced by Russ Titelman Mastered by Ted Jensen Label: Warner Bros. Debuted at #33 - February 4, 1984 Peaked at #1 - March 17, 1984 ^2 weeks at #1 ^5 weeks in top 10 #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 #91 on the 1984 Year-End Hot 100 Album: Christine McVie (1984)
Van Halen, I'll Wait Written by Michael Anthony, David Lee Roth, Alex Van Halen, Eddie Van Halen, and Michael McDonald Produced by Ted Templeman Mastered by Chris Bellman and Gregg Geller Label: Warner Bros. Week of top 10 entry: February 25, 1984 Peaked at #2 - April 28, 1984 ^8 weeks in top 10 #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 Album: 1984 (1984)
Runner - I don't remember this single getting much Top 40 radio play. It might have been more of an MTV hit that helped sell the 45 disc. The Olympic games theme no doubt helped it as well - the upcoming LA summer Olympics was a big, popular event that year. Got a Hold on Me - I've always preferred Christine McVie over Stevie Nicks when it came to solo efforts. This single was a particular favorite.
Yes, Leave It Written by Trevor Rabin, Trevor Horn, and Chris Squire Produced by Trevor Horn Mastered by Bob Ludwig Label: Atco Week of top 10 entry: March 3, 1984 Peaked at #3 - April 14, 1984 ^10 weeks in top 10 #24 on the Billboard Hot 100 Album: 90125 (1983)
Kenny Loggins, Footloose Written by Kenny Loggins and Dean Pitchford Produced by Kenny Loggins and Lee DeCarlo Mastered by Wally Traugott Label: Columbia Week of top 10 entry: March 10, 1984 Peaked at #2 - March 17, 1984 ^3 weeks in top 10 #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 #4 on the 1984 Year-End Hot 100 Soundtrack: Footloose (1984) We all know this song was made for the 1984 film of the same name, but did you know Kenny Loggins co-wrote it with the movie's screenwriter Dean Pitchford? You may remember Dean Pitchford as the co-writer of Kenny's hit Don't Fight It featuring Steve Perry. According to an interview he did with the Library of Congress of all institutions, Footloose was Pitchford's first screenplay. His experience in songwriting, and with Kenny in particular, informed his approach to screenwriting: The movie itself received mixed reviews from critics, but the soundtrack went nine times platinum, so I'm sure Pitchford wasn't hurt that badly.
Re: Footloose - Great soundtrack which shows the genre variety that was on the charts in the mid-80's. Shalamar, Bonnie Tyler and Sammy Hagar? Nice.
