(Debuted April 8, 1989, Peaked #94, 4 Weeks on the Chart)

A friend of mine in college clued me in to something about Melissa Etheridge's music that I never paid attention to before: she never addressed her lover by a name in her songs. While I was recounting the lyrics of the songs I knew in the back of my head, my mind focused on the lyric "Go on and close your eyes, go on, imagine me there...she's got similar features with longer hair..." My friend told me, when she's singing about the other woman but doesn't specifically say the other person is male...it means she's a lesbian."

A couple years later, I really wasn't surprised to hear that Etheridge came out of the closet. It has nothing at all to do with the songs she sings (other than giving a frame of reference), but ever since then I've heard other songs where the "other person" was mentioned but not the lover and wondered if the singer or writer was gay.

That said, "Similar Features" works on a level for those of us who are straight as well. She's singing as a woman who realizes that her lover might be imagining another as they're getting intimate. The knowledge that her lover is still hung up on an old lover stings her. However, she realizes that the lover is where he is and lets the fantasy go on. That shouldn't be a straight or gay feeling, that's real life. It's also one of the more memorable debut albums of the era, and a shame to fall off the chart after only peaking at #94.

(Debuted May 13, 1989, Peaked #5, 26 Weeks on the Chart)

There was something about "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" that wasn't mentioned out loud at the time. It was a remake of a 1975 song by Ian Hunter (the former lead singer of Mott the Hoople), and while it summed up life on the road quite nicely, it was still kept quiet because the 1970s were still equated with Disco and bad taste, even though the era was making a resurgence to anybody who really paid attention. But for whatever reason, people still chuckled about the previous decade and those of us who were fans -- like me -- just needed to be content seeing that the signs were there.

When Great White did its version of the song, I actually knew a girl who reminded me of the groupie in the lyrics. Even today, I have a visual of her while I hear the song. That's the power of music...a girl I haven't bumped into in 20 years comes to life in a song when I hear it, even though she may have grown up to straighten her ways, I will always remember her as she was at the time.

(Debuted September 2, 1989, Peaked #2, 15 Weeks on the Chart)

As the 1980s came to an end, there was a renewed interest in music from the 1960s. Whether that was a factor of the Baby Boomers looking back at "their" music as they started turning 40 and the "new" stuff didn't hold as much appeal to them...or if it was a way for the younger fans to go back an appreciate music back when it seemed simpler and was unadorned by such things as synthesized lines and drum tracks, I have no idea.

The sound of "Sowing the Seeds of Love" recall the late 1960s sound of The Beatles, with its dreaminess and the layers of music used (although there was a synthesizer in the instrumental bridge), even using the line "all you need is love" in the lyrics. The video made for the song recalled the era as well, with a series of psychedelic images. What seems to get lost in the song is that it was born out of a political issue: it was written shortly after Margaret Thatcher was returned to office and wasn't exactly supportive of her remaining in power.

The song was a rush of day-glo sugar, enough to float to #2 on the pop chart in the U.S. and helping to inspire more 1960s reflections to come, from Manchester-based bands the next year.

(Not Available on iTunes)

(Debuted December 3, 1988, Peaked #31, 10 Weeks on the Chart)

At the time this version of "Kiss" came out, the spring of 1986 seemed like such a long time ago. I was still in the 8th grade when Prince took the original to #1 on the pop chart, but I was a high school junior now. I'd picked up a great deal of life experience in the meantime and all, so by late 1988/early 1989 I thought it was novel for a song from my past to make a comeback.

And the new version of "Kiss" was definitely different. The original by Prince was a funky falsetto, but the new version had the twin talents of 1960s/70s singer Tom Jones and the 1980s band The Art of Noise, who used the instrumental bridge to riff on their earlier hits "Dragnet," "Peter Gunn" and "Paranoimia." While the original had a funky vibe, this one crossed the line to pure camp.

It ended up being the group's biggest hit, and introduced Tom Jones to a new fan base. Suddenly, it was cool to like him without people wondering what was wrong with you.

(Debuted July 8, 1989, Peaked #82, 5 Weeks on the Chart)

Yes, the title of the band is right. Living Colour's name uses the British spelling, because founder Vernon Reid was born in the U.K. even though the band hailed from New York. While often tagged as a novelty because hard rock groups of the era weren't usually ethnic, Living Colour was the real deal; they proved it by opening for acts Guns 'N' Roses and The Rolling Stones.

"Open Letter (To a Landlord)" was one of my favorite songs from the group's LP Vivid. At the time, I was still in high school and really didn't understand the landlord vs. tenement argument as much as I do today. However, I did get that the words of the song were socially aware and that the lyrics expressed the plight of those being forced out of their homes. In New York, rent control had made it tough for some to move out of their tenements, so some unscrupulous landlords took the step of hiring
hoodlums to rob the tenants. In some cases, they had the hoods burn the houses (mentioned in the lines of the song) so that people had to leave. Then, the tenements were razed for new and more expensive units.

From the opening guitar riff to the final "fight for your neighbor," vocalist (and occasional actor) Corey Glover told it like it was for a group of people living in New York at the time. He's backed up by a solid guitar attack and some of the finest music on what may be one of my favorite 1980s hard rock albums. While many focused on the group's race, their message has remained just as true today as it was than. That isn't something you can say about all of the era's rock acts.

(Debuted May 13, 1989, Peaked #50, 10 Weeks on the Chart)

"I Want it All" was the last chart hit for Queen before the death of Freddie Mercury. It was also the first new hit the band released after my own "discovery" of their back catalog. While I was definitely aware of the group during its 1980 hit singles, I didn't really care for them until later in the decade, when a friend's older sister handed me a stack of her old records that included A Night at the Opera. I picked up on several of their 1970s hits and even had a pantomime for the bridge of "Bohemian Rhapsody" that was both symphonically inspired and comically bad. It cracked my friends up whenever I did it...and really, that was all that mattered at the time.

During the late spring of 1989, the AOR radio station that I tended to listen to started playing "I Want it All," which was great to hear because Queen had been absent for so long. As an anthemic-sounding song, I'm surprised it stopped climbing the chart at #50. However, the band never toured to support their LP The Miracle and never performed it live with Mercury.

"I Want it All" was written in 1987 by guitarist Brian May, who shares the lead vocals with Mercury. Evidently, the main lines of the chorus ("I want it all, and I want it now!") is a favorite statement by May's wife Anita Dopson.

(Debuted June 17, 1989, Peaked #17, 14 Weeks on the Chart)

Though Debbie Gibson was probably better-known for her dance-oriented music, her ballads were even bigger. Of her first seven chart singles -- all Top 40 hits -- the two ballad-style hits "Foolish Beat" and "Lost In Your Eyes" were #1 hits. So, it made perfect sense for another ballad to get a single release. However, it went to #17, which was the last time Gibson would make the Top 20.

The song was written by Gibson and was part of her second album Electric Youth. While the LP was an attempt to break away from the slick bubblegum material that helped her debut, she was a little trapped by the association as a teen idol. Even though she delved into more serious topics ("No More Rhyme" is about the after-effects that kick in after love isn't enough to sustain a relationsip), the public didn't seem as interested in a deeper Debbie Gibson. And that was a shame.

When the video for "No More Rhyme" was being played on MTV, I was quick to notice the appearance of Danica McKellar, who was then playing Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years. I had such a crush on her at the time (sigh).



Debbie Gibson - No More Rhyme by jpdc11

(Debuted December 10, 1988, Peaked #4, 24 Weeks on the Chart)

During his career, Rod Stewart has been regarded as one of those artists who've shown a great deal of talent, and then proceeded to blow that potential away with songs that are really below their level. Critics point to the raw talent he showed on his first four albums, then toss out the comparative "disappointments" (like the boastful "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy" or the theme from Legal Eagles, "Love Touch") as examples of where he went astray. However, from time to time he comes up with material that shows why he's as great as people say he is. "My Heart Can't Tell Tell You No" is one of those times.

Written by Simon Climie (of Climie Fisher) and Dennis Morgan, "My Heart Can't Tell You No" might be infused with prototypical 1980s hooks and production tricks, but it also showcases Stewart's voice as an instrument. While the lyrics express the regret after a breakup but a longing to keep things going, the voice makes you feel he believes it with all of his heart. As a singer, Stewart brings an emotion to words written by another person, and that's exactly what he's supposed to do.

At the time this song came out, I was a lovestruck 16 year-old and was convinced it was a decent song. I'm older now, and have gone through a lot more in my own life. And Stewart's performance has only strengthened in my mind. Even when I heard Sara Evans' remake of the song on my radio recently, her version -- while good -- still doesn't make me forget that Stewart did it better.

(Debuted April 22, 1989, Peaked #19, 14 Weeks on the Chart)

In 1987, Elvis Costello sat down with Paul McCartney to write a few songs for what eventually became McCartney's Flowers in the Dirt album. Eventually they knocked out a dozen songs from the collaboration, and the highest-charting of these was "Veronica," which was on Costello's Spike LP and which McCartney provided the bass line. Costello's songwriting style was similar in some respects to John Lennon's, so it was a natural collaboration for the former Beatle.

In fact, it was the biggest U.S. pop hit of Elvis Costello's career. That is likely a surprise to many, since the song wasn't exactly targeted to the Top 40 and much of the stuff that hit the Top 40 in 1989 was from hair bands, dance groups and teen idols. Not only that, but fans of Costello's work remember him better for his earlier albums. However, as influential and ground-breaking as he was, Elvis Costello was never a draw on the U.S. singles charts.

Rather than going to safe, easily digestible material, the video for "Veronica" touched on an elderly woman in a retirement whose advancing Altzheimer's was causing her to reflect on her own past. Costello, as a narrator, was helpless to do anything but describe what he was seeing. That was a different viewpoint for 1989, but Elvis Costello -- as his body of work will attest -- wasn't afraid to put it out there.

(Debuted April 8, 1989, Peaked #51, 10 Weeks on the Chart)

The Replacements were a very influential band during the 1980s, among the college circuit and among the rising alternative sound that was preparing to push the dance-pop and hair bands away once the decade was a mere memory. However, those who focus on the pop charts might miss the group, since their only listing, "I'll Be You," reached #51, but was a #1 hit on both the Modern Rock Tracks and Album Rock Tracks charts.

A cut from Don't Tell a Soul, which was for all intents and purposes the last album recorded by the group, "I'll Be You" was a departure from the band's mid-80s heyday. Instead of having roots in postpunk or alternative, the music was more a straightforward rock sound. While it was a minor pop hit (and the album was their highest charter), it was enough to turn off some of the band's fans who fondly remebered 1985's Tim and 1987's Pleased To Meet Me.

The video was even a more straightforward affair. Renowned for "Bastards of Young," which had a single-shot image of a kid listening to the song on a stereo and then kicking in the speaker, the video for "I'll Be You" (shown below) was a standard recording of the band playing the song in a studio. That said, the video picked below begins with Paul Westerburg -- who wrote the song -- saying he wishes he could go back and change some of the stuff done in his band's music. That was interesting to see.

(Debuted August 12, 1989, Peaked #11, 12 Weeks on the Chart)

Those who pay attention to this blog on a regular basis might have picked up on the way the songs are set up. Each week, I feature songs that peaked in a specific year in the U.S. And the next week, I feature the following year. When a week featuring songs from 1989 (as this one does) winds down, the wheel starts rolling again at 1980. Since today is Friday, we're once again to the end of the decade and it's time to reset...which makes today's song title ironic.

Actually, "Don't Look Back" is an ironic title to feature in a retrospective blog anyway. Where the earlier hits off The Fine Young Cannibals' The Raw & the Cooked LP ("She Drives Me Crazy" and "Good Thing") had their roots in R&B, "Don't Look Back" was a guitar-driven song. Specifically, the guitar sound of the 1960s by groups like The Beatles and The Byrds was the main influence, keeping with the band's style of updating sounds of the past for a modern synthesis. The lyrics were purely modern, though, reflecting a more negative and downbeat point of view than those 1960s bands had.

And somehow, it's that pessimism that makes "Don't Look Back" more interesting to my ears.

(Debuted November 5, 1988, Peaked #6, 20 Weeks on the Chart)

Confession time.

Yes, I liked Tiffany back in the 1980s. I've already mentioned the fact that I have a weakness for redheads here, and Tiffany was just a year older than I was. Mix into that caustic solution the fact that I was an adolescent when she began having hits and the resulting Puppy Love can cloud somebody's judgement. That said, enough time has passed to allow me to do my thinking with the right head when it comes to music...and "All This Time" has actually grown on me as the years have passed.

Ironically, as the "shine" faded from Tiffany's star and changing musical tastes cast her aside like so many pop confections, she was beginning to show a more versatile style. Personally, I find "All This Time" to be a lot more memorable than the two songs she took to #1, and can even look beyond the generic studio backing music that fills in around her voice.   

(Debuted September 9, 1989, Peaked #11, 22 Weeks on the Chart)

Stylistically, Kix was in the right place in 1989. However, that ended up being the wrong place a couple of years later. Thus, the story of a band that began a dozen years earlier and paid its dues several times over before finally getting its just reward with an MTV-friendly song ended up becoming a One-Hit Wonder thanks to the fickle finger of changing musical tastes.

The Hagerstown, Maryland-based band formed at the height of the Disco era in 1977. At the time, they were called The Shooze and worked on their heavy rock sound. By 1980, the band had settled on the name Kix and began releasing records the following year. From there, they grew to a Baltimore-area favorite and began playing with nationally-known bands by the mid 1980s. When the band issued their LP Blow My Fuse, they were playing arenas. Even then, it still took a year for"Don't Close Your Eyes" to hit. When it did, it was a monster MTV hit, its anti-suicide message striking a chord with the teenaged audience that watched the video.

And then it was over. As Grunge and Alternative rock displaced the so-called "Hair bands" from the music charts, Kix was caught in the debris and never registered another hit single. 

(Debuted May 6, 1989, Peaked #6, 15 Weeks on the Chart)

I featured a Cyndi Lauper song on this blog last summer, mentioning that she was something of a "wild child" during her breakout years. She was a perfect antidote to the Reagan years, providing us with anthems ("Girls Just Wanna Have Fun") and even sang about pleasuring herself ("She Bop"). The music landscape was a different place in 1989, and so was America...even Cyndi Lauper was different. Her LP A Night to Remember was a more mature effort, with the outrageous costumes toned down. That said, she was proving that she actually had vocal talent to anybody who wanted to listen. Unfortunately, few did when it came to the album, even though this single reached the Top 10.

"I Drove All Night" was written by Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg, the team that wrote Lauper's 1986 #1 hit "True Colors." They wrote it with Roy Orbison in mind and were surprised when he agreed to record it. Unfortunately, that version wasn't released until after Orbison's death...and after Lauper had a hit with it. The song agrees with Lauper's range and has proven versatile over the years. It was a minor country hit for the Canadian group Pinmonkey in 2002 and was given a typically over-the-top performance by Celine Dion the next year. It says something when a rendition by Cyndi Lauper is considered "toned down" to your own.

(Debuted July 22, 1989, Peaked #52, 9 Weeks on the Chart)

During the summer of 1989, I was still 16 years old and about to start my senior year of high school. And when it came to music, I was fairly open to stuff that took me away from the Top 40 material my girlfriend liked (yes, she was a fan of New Kids on the Block). My male friends liked hard rock, and when I was alone I tended to raid my parents' record collection for older material, listened to different radio stations and late at night I watched 120 Minutes and Post Modern on MTV. Those shows introduced me to this song.

Kicking off with an acoustic guitar, the thing about the song that made me take notice was the lyric about getting through college and how it seemed (at least to my own ears) to be saying that it was all a formality. I was considering college at the time and that lines "I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind, got my paper and I was free" scared me a little  

Today, I'm well beyond the college years (and served in the military before I went to the State U. of New York) and understand that the song continued beyond that. Now I see the song as a message that life is a series of roads, and everybody needs to navigate their own. The key lyric for me now is "there's more than one answer to these questions pointing me in a crooked line," and there really is no definitive "doctor," "mountain," "fountain" or anything that will provide one. That's what the song means to me now: Life is a journey, and you need to set your own course.

(Debuted June 17, 1989, Peaked #44, 12 Weeks on the chart)

By 1989, I had stopped listening to Top 40 radio for the most part. That summer I was 16 and about to start my senior year of high school, and found the constant dance beat and the repetition of the same 15-20 songs to be too grating. So, I played around with my radio dial and watched shows like 120 Minutes and Post Modern when I watched MTV. As a result, there are several songs from that era of my life that are very familiar to me that weren't Top 40 hits, including this one from 10,000 Maniacs.

I featured another song by 10,000 Maniacs in this blog back in July, but "Trouble Me" was a little different from their previous hit because it wasn't trying to expose some type of social problem. Instead, Natalie Merchant's vocal was saying, "talk to me." Whether the subject is good or bad, there's nothing that can't be discussed. It's a piece of advice that I should have listened to a little more closely, since there are people from that time who are no longer around that I would love to get the chance to speak with today.

(Debuted September 23, 1989, Peaked #4, 27 Weeks on the chart)

As the 1980s came to a close, R&B acts from England were often able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the home-grown acts from the United States. Many fans might not think of British artists as big R&B acts, but it should be pointed out that much of the excitement that marked the British Invasion of the 1960s was the fact that the music was heavily influenced by R&B music. Even after that, the Northern Soul movement was big during the 1960s and '70s and remained ingrained in the minds of fans for years afterward. By the late 1980s, there were British R&B fans who were much more knowledgeable about the style than many American fans.

Soul II Soul was a London-based combo that consisted of the DJ Jazzie B and a revolving roster of musicians (notably Caron Wheeler, whose vocals grace "Back To Life" as well as the earlier hit "Keep On Movin'"). Their biggest American pop hit was "Back To Life," which went to #4 on the pop chart and topped the R&B chart. It was also #1 for four weeks in their native U.K. It was a new twist on the R&B style, as well as a tip of the hat to the past.

(Debuted July 29, 1989, Peaked #7, 38 Weeks on the chart)

"Bust a Move" is a song that is definitely a product of its time. That's not necessarily a bad thing. The late 1980s were a "Golden Age" of  Hip-hop because it was allowed room to grow and expand in its own directions. In effect, there were few rules so experimentation was rampant. Occasionally, something showed up that was able to cross over to the pop chart.

With "Bust a Move," its rhythm is catchy, Young MC's rhymes are humorous and a deep bass line (provided by Flea of The Red Hot Chili Peppers) sticks in the listener's head after the song has ended. Not only that, but the song is simply about getting out on the dance floor, an element that has been part of music for long before there was rock & roll. Proof that its message was universal can be seen by the way it hasn't grown stale over the years or become the object of jokes (like "U Can't Touch This" or "Ice Ice Baby" from the following year).

Not only was "Bust a Move" the first hit Young MC managed to get, it was the biggest. He had previously written two monster hits for Tone Loc ("Wild Thing" and "Funky Cold Medina"), which made 1989 a very good year for him.

(Debuted May 6, 1989, Peaked #16, 14 Weeks on the chart)

During the Summer of 1989, I was dating a girl named Valerie. It was a short relationship, though; she was a free spirit that couldn't be contained and it was silly for me at that age to try. She looked a little like a red-headed version of Stevie Nicks (in fact, she looked an awful lot like the shot of Nicks on the back cover of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours LP), and since "Rooms on Fire" was the current Nicks hit during our time together, I immediately think of her when I hear it.

"Rooms On Fire" was the only single from Nicks' The Other Side of the Mirror LP to hit the pop charts. It peaked at #16 and was #1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart as well. With lyrics that seem to be purposely opaque and partially biographical, it was comparable to much of Nicks' material, both solo and with Fleetwood Mac. However, the album was panned by critics. Nicks was fighting a tranquilizer addiction at the time (in fact, she has said in interviews that she has no memory of the tour she took to support this album), so that might account for the seeming decline in her musical output.

That said, I like the song. I liked it then, and it brings back memories that are good ones from my teen years, which weren't always a bowl of cherries. I haven't seen Valerie in over 20 years, so the song is a little like running into an old friend after a long time apart. That is always a good thing.

(Debuted December 17, 1988, Peaked #48, 10 Weeks on the chart)

I featured a song by Tommy Conwell and the Young Rumblers in this blog last April, during my first trip around the 1980s. The link above will give some background about Conwell and his group, but where "I'm Not Your Man" was a very unsubtle, in-your-face massage, the follow-up was surprisingly philosophical by comparison.

Thought it wasn't a #1 Rock Tracks hit like its predecessor (it stopped at #9 there), it reached #48 on the pop chart, which was a better showing than "I'm Not Your Man" managed. While sounding like a mix between the more introspective material that Bruce Springsteen and John Mellencamp had already been putting out, there's a story going on between the lines that is whatever the listener determines it to be.

Where "I'm Not Your Man" was a preemptive reminder that the narrator wasn't ready to settle down, in "If We Never Meet Again," he's finding that he's leaving part of himself behind as he travels farther down "life's highway." The lyrics (co-written by Jules Shear) don't say whether this was the result of a breakup or was simply the result of a missed connection, only that he's moving on alone and is carrying only good thoughts with him about what happened. it's an interesting counterpoint to the attitude expressed in the earlier single.