I promised you I would give you a list of my favorite songs from my high school days. Here it is. It'll take a while to post the videos.....
10. "Whip It" (Devo, 1980). The first hit single from Mark Mothersbaugh and his crew proved that Akron, Ohio wasn't just the home of Firestone tires. 31 years later, they're still going strong, as they have a new CD on the way.
9. "All Over The World" (Electric Light Orchestra, 1980). From the movie, "Xanadu". It took Olivia Newton-John 3 years before she tried another movie, but this ELO hit was the best of the three singles off the soundtrack.
8. "Cool Change" (Little River Band, 1979). I fell in love with this ballad, back when WPTR was playing AC pop music.
7. "It's Still Rock & Roll to Me" (Billy Joel, 1980). You do see a pattern, here, don't you? From "Glass Houses". Compared to later works, however, this falls out of my personal top 10 of BJ favorites.
6. "Watching the Wheels" (John Lennon, 1980). 3rd & final single from "Double Fantasy". I have to say I liked this better than "(Just Like) Starting Over".
5. "The Gambler" (Kenny Rogers, 1978). I tried to sing the chorus of this song as I walked through the halls between classes, but I never could sing on-key to save my life.
4. "Little Jeannie" (Elton John, 1980). I wonder how many guys requested this song back in the day, dedicated to the "Little Jeannie"s in their lives.....
3. "Who's Crying Now" (Journey, 1981). This is what introduced me to Journey, as I was unfamiliar with them before this point. (Edited, 4/26/11)
2. "Copacabana" (Barry Manilow, 1978). No, I never went to the disco. I can't dance all that well anyway because of two trick knees that will end up getting put to the test anyway at the class reunion. However, I seem to remember seeing Liza Minelli on The Muppet Show, doing this song in a hilarious skit with some Muppet monsters playing some of the characters in the song.
1. "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" (The Police, 1981). Off "Ghost in the Machine". A friend had introduced me to the music of The Police a year or two earlier, and after hearing this one on the radio, I picked up the vinyl single and played it to death. The gender-reversed cover by Shawn Colvin a few years later is just as good, too.
Honorable mention: "Keep on Loving You" (REO Speedwagon, 1981); "Coward of the County" (Kenny Rogers, 1981); "Open Arms" (Journey); "Too Much Time on My Hands" & "The Best of Times" (Styx, 1980); "I Believe In You" (Don Williams, 1981); "Midnight Rodeo" (Leon Everette, 1979); "Lonesome Loser" & "The Night Owls" (Little River Band).
The videos will be up soon, effendis.......
4 comments:
Great list; I never heard the Shawn Colvin version of the song that you mentioned, so I went online to find it and liked it too.
Shawn Colvin's "Every Little Thing HE Does is Magic" is on her "Cover Girl" CD.
Thanks.
What do you think of the song "I Love A Rainy Night" by Eddie Rabbitt? That one came out around the same time and was a big hit.
Yah, that missed the cut, too. Great song. I listened to a lot of country back then, but I was really more of a pop-rock guy then, and that was I was leaning toward with the list.
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