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101 Best Songs of 1988:#1 – Guns n’ Roses – Sweet Child o’ Mine (3 Viewers)

I know you're a veteran of the party wars, too, but horns that sound that artificial do not sound good when one is using cocaine. It almost ruins Kanye's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Not only is it because it sounds bad when the listener is high, but I think the producers and engineers were also high because MBDTF sounds bad sober. But much worse on cocaine. That's all I was saying about Bobby Brown. #### sounds bad on coke. He must have been in another world hearing those horns when cutting the track.  
Gotcha. I’ve actually never done coke, though I spent a lot of time with people who did. I mainly stuck to booze and weed. 

 
#35 - Sinead O'Connor - Mandinka

Sinead O'Connor released her debut album, The Lion and the Cobra, in November 1987.  It took me 6 months to catch on to it after seeing her video for (I Want Your) Hands on Me with MC Lyte on 120 Minutes.  I was absolutely shocked when Sinead earned a grammy nod for Best Female Vocal Performance later that year - as far as I knew, I was the only person for miles and miles who had even heard of her.  I didn't look up who won the grammy that year, but I find it hard to believe that they sang anything better than Sinead sang in Troy or Just Like You Said It Would Be.  She can from soft-and-sad to flat-out anguished roar better than nearly anyone.  Neither of the three singles from The Lion and the Cobra reached the Billboard Hot 100, though Mandinka went top 20 on the U.S. Dance Charts and top 40 in several other countries.

The wife and I watched a Behind the Music on Sinead a few months back - such a fascinating and tragic figure.  Looking forward to a new documentary about her life that's in the works.

Mandinka

 
I saw Public Image Ltd. open for INXS in high school, and I was too 'cool' for INXS
It's funny how dumb we could be.  I was listening to a podcast the other day and the host was talking about how in college, there were several girls in his dorm that he was crushing on.   But, these girls loved to go country line-dancing, and he was just way too cool for that sort of thing.  So he would stay home and listen to mopey music and play video games, and then get pissed when he found out that one of his crushes hooked up with a dude that wasn't too cool to line dance.  

For me, it was the cheeseball pop club and not the C&W bar and playing spades with the other dorks instead of video games, but the rest is sadly familiar.  

 
#34 - Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal

I'm really torn here.  Bad, despite being released in the summer of 1987, was still the biggest selling album in the world in 1988.  It spawned four top 10 hits (two #1s) in '88 to go along with the three #1s from the prior year.  By the end of the decade, it had sold more than 20 million copies - second all time behind Thriller.  Yet unlike Thriller, I don't think I know of a single person that owned it, at least in HS or college. 

To do my due diligence, the wife and I sat down to stream Bad last night and it honestly did nothing for us (and we both love Off the Wall and Thriller). I genuinely like The Way You Make Me Feel, but that was one of the singles from '87.  Of the ones from '88: Man in the Mirror (hated it), Dirty Diana (faux hard-rock that can't hold Beat It's jock), Another Part of Me (nope).  So we're left with Smooth Criminal, which definitely has it's moments.  Much of Bad seems to be peak MJ making funny noises, and Smooth Criminal is no exception.  Still, I have fond memories of my buddy at work spontaneously dancing behind the counter whenever someone played it on the jukebox, and it did spawn an Alien Ant Farm cover.  I guess if I have to include a Michael Jackson song from 1988, Smooth Criminal is the best of the bunch.  Definitely should be behind My Prerogative though.  Bad oversight on my part.

Smooth Criminal

 
Annie, are you OK?
So, Annie, are you OK?
Are you OK, Annie?
Annie, are you OK?
So, Annie, are you OK?
Are you OK, Annie?
Annie, are you OK?
So, Annie, are you OK?
Are you OK, Annie?
Annie, are you OK?
So, Annie, are you OK,?
Are you OK, Annie?

She may or may not be, Michael. But I can tell you for sure that, after that, I am not.

 
#34 - Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal

I'm really torn here.  Bad, despite being released in the summer of 1987, was still the biggest selling album in the world in 1988.  It spawned four top 10 hits (two #1s) in '88 to go along with the three #1s from the prior year.  By the end of the decade, it had sold more than 20 million copies - second all time behind Thriller.  Yet unlike Thriller, I don't think I know of a single person that owned it, at least in HS or college. 

To do my due diligence, the wife and I sat down to stream Bad last night and it honestly did nothing for us (and we both love Off the Wall and Thriller). I genuinely like The Way You Make Me Feel, but that was one of the singles from '87.  Of the ones from '88: Man in the Mirror (hated it), Dirty Diana (faux hard-rock that can't hold Beat It's jock), Another Part of Me (nope).  So we're left with Smooth Criminal, which definitely has it's moments.  Much of Bad seems to be peak MJ making funny noises, and Smooth Criminal is no exception.  Still, I have fond memories of my buddy at work spontaneously dancing behind the counter whenever someone played it on the jukebox, and it did spawn an Alien Ant Farm cover.  I guess if I have to include a Michael Jackson song from 1988, Smooth Criminal is the best of the bunch.  Definitely should be behind My Prerogative though.  Bad oversight on my part.

Smooth Criminal
I owned Bad. There, you know one guy. I hated it. I was way too old for it, actually. And had moved on musically from the pop pabulum that Michael was putting out. Not a great album. 

Alien Ant Farm's rendition that they did at the BET awards was something else. I actually like the track, but as Andy points out, it got redundant. Fast. Could have used an editor, as I always say (it's kind of becoming my thing.)

 
You are NOT bringing grammar into this countdown too.
Lol. More Pips in the world, I always say. No, that's strictly about music or lyrics that get redundant. We need a cutter, maybe? An expunger. An expurgator of redundancy. An experienced one. Extirpate that text! 

 
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I owned Bad. There, you know one guy. I hated it. I was way too old for it, actually. And had moved on musically from the pop pabulum that Michael was putting out. Not a great album. 

Alien Ant Farm's rendition that they did at the BET awards was something else. I actually like the track, but as Andy points out, it got redundant. Fast. Could have used an editor, as I always say (it's kind of becoming my thing.)


I had it in college too.  I can't recall if Bad was a cassette tape I copied from someone or if it was one of those 12 for a penny tapes you got from Columbia House.  It was OK, but I remember being really disappointed that the best song on the album was available on the CD  and wasn't even put on the cassette version (Leave Me Alone, which technically is a 1989 release). 

 
Some great choices these last few Scorchy.  I must admit I had to click on your link for that Sinead song.  Her music really wasn't my thing back in high school so I don't remember ever hearing it.  It's not bad though that's why I love these threads to discover old stuff that was somehow missed the first go round.  

 
#33 - Jane's Addiction - Jane Says

If I had owned a 6-disc CD changer in late '88, no doubt the discs in slots 1-3 would be Nothing's Shocking, Rattle & Hum, and Green.  Yet somehow, none of them had a song that earned a spot in my top 30.  I expounded on my adoration for Nothing's Shocking upthread - loved it then and love it just as much now - but Jane Says never really grabbed me the same way as the others songs.  I'm guessing the the things that make it the most popular Jane's track (more than double the Spotify plays as Been Caught Stealing, which itself is almost double #3) are also what kept me somewhat indifferent to it.  It was easily the most accessible song on the album, but give me the goofy sweetness of Summertime Rolls or the sonic heaviness of Mountain Song or the aforementioned  Ted, Just Admit It... 

Still, 85 million Spotify plays can't be wrong, and given it's the most popular song from my personal 1988 album of the year, it's gotta fit in here somewhere.

And the real Jane would like everyone to know that she left Sergio, got clean, and finally made it to Spain.  No BS.

Jane Says

ETA: My friend that always got lyrics wrong thought "She hides the television" was "Shiites... the television."  Maybe this was when the PLO was always on the nightly news or something?

 
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I think this was a character in a Monty Python sketch. 


"Guv, i already expurged the redundancy from this sketch!"

"I don't care - do it again"

"But dont you see that, on its own, that would add redundancy to a sketch from which all duplication, in letter and spirit, has been scrupulously removed."

"Well, yeah, removed, sure. but not expurged. Don't ya need like a sponge for that?!

"That's expunged, sir. Very close to expurge, but not quite"

"But you didn't use a sponge, didja?"

"Well, no"

"Well i say what goes 'eah, so you get yourself a proper sponge and expurge it til it's expunged. Then expunge it 'til it's expurged. Then expurge it again and again with a proper sponge til you get absolutely ALL the redundancy"

"But It already is expurged!"

"Now you're being redundant"

Announcer: And now for something completely different - Socrates explains self-absorption.

"

 
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Judd Says Jane Says is hot garbage ;)  

1987 XXX version is a little better and might even tie that record together somehow

PLO <> Shiite .. more likely Iran-Iraq .. I think I'd like the song more if it was about sects ..

 
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#32 - Queensryche - I Don't Believe in Love

Alright all you Queensryche fanboys, here you go.  Freshman year, I must have had five different dorm-mates try to convert me.  I liked  it, but not in the way they liked it.  These were the guys that would write an English 101 term paper on the genius of Operation: Mindcrime.  I was more on "sure, it has some good songs" but then changed the CD to Pretty Hate Machine. A few weeks ago, I gave it a spin for the first time in forever while walking the dogs - I have to admit, it probably sounds better to me now than back then. 

I Don't Believe in Love was the second single of Mindcrime.  Neither it nor previous single Eyes of a Stranger made it onto the Hot 100, with both capping out in the 30s on the Mainstream Rock chart.  When I post two pop songs at #31 and #32 tomorrow, looking forward to hearing how they suck in comparison.😀

I Don't Believe in Love

 
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I could pick about 7-8 songs from Mindcrime that are better than this one, but this one was one of the "hits," so that is fine.  Killer album, probably my 3rd favorite by 'Ryche after Promised Land and Rage for Order. Great stuff. 

 
Figured EdgyScorchy would go for Don't Ever Trust the Needle.

EDIT:  I suppose we Mindcrimers are lucky scorchy didn't choose Silent Lucidity and a time machine.

 
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scorchy said:
#32 - Queensryche - I Don't Believe in Love

Alright all you Queensryche fanboys, here you go.  Freshman year, I must have had five different dorm-mates try to convert me.  I liked  it, but not in the way they liked it.  These were the guys that would write an English 101 term paper on the genius of Operation: Mindcrime.  I was more on "sure, it has some good songs" but then changed the CD to Pretty Hate Machine. A few weeks ago, I gave it a spin for the first time in forever while walking the dogs - I have to admit, it probably sounds better to me now than back then. 

I Don't Believe in Love was the second single of Mindcrime.  Neither it nor previous single Eyes of a Stranger made it onto the Hot 100, with both capping out in the 30s on the Mainstream Rock chart.  When I post two pop songs at #31 and #32 tomorrow, looking forward to hearing how they suck in comparison.😀

I Don't Believe in Love
The next 31 will suck in comparison. 😀

 
scorchy said:
#32 - Queensryche - I Don't Believe in Love

Alright all you Queensryche fanboys, here you go.  Freshman year, I must have had five different dorm-mates try to convert me.  I liked  it, but not in the way they liked it.  These were the guys that would write an English 101 term paper on the genius of Operation: Mindcrime.  I was more on "sure, it has some good songs" but then changed the CD to Pretty Hate Machine. A few weeks ago, I gave it a spin for the first time in forever while walking the dogs - I have to admit, it probably sounds better to me now than back then. 

I Don't Believe in Love was the second single of Mindcrime.  Neither it nor previous single Eyes of a Stranger made it onto the Hot 100, with both capping out in the 30s on the Mainstream Rock chart.  When I post two pop songs at #31 and #32 tomorrow, looking forward to hearing how they suck in comparison.😀

I Don't Believe in Love
I would have never predicted this in a million years. 

 
wikkidpissah said:
"Guv, i already expurged the redundancy from this sketch!"

"I don't care - do it again"

"But dont you see that, on its own, that would add redundancy to a sketch from which all duplication, in letter and spirit, has been scrupulously removed."

"Well, yeah, removed, sure. but not expurged. Don't ya need like a sponge for that?!

"That's expunged, sir. Very close to expurge, but not quite"

"But you didn't use a sponge, didja?"

"Well, no"

"Well i say what goes 'eah, so you get yourself a proper sponge and expurge it til it's expunged. Then expunge it 'til it's expurged. Then expurge it again and again with a proper sponge til you get absolutely ALL the redundancy"

"But It already is expurged!"

"Now you're being redundant"

Announcer: And now for something completely different - Socrates explains self-absorption.
This was underrated. Brilliant. And I don't need any lithium. Well done and slow clap, wikkid. 

 
scorchy said:
#33 - Jane's Addiction - Jane Says

If I had owned a 6-disc CD changer in late '88, no doubt the discs in slots 1-3 would be Nothing's Shocking, Rattle & Hum, and Green.  Yet somehow, none of them had a song that earned a spot in my top 30.  I expounded on my adoration for Nothing's Shocking upthread - loved it then and love it just as much now - but Jane Says never really grabbed me the same way as the others songs.  I'm guessing the the things that make it the most popular Jane's track (more than double the Spotify plays as Been Caught Stealing, which itself is almost double #3) are also what kept me somewhat indifferent to it.  It was easily the most accessible song on the album, but give me the goofy sweetness of Summertime Rolls or the sonic heaviness of Mountain Song or the aforementioned  Ted, Just Admit It... 

Still, 85 million Spotify plays can't be wrong, and given it's the most popular song from my personal 1988 album of the year, it's gotta fit in here somewhere.

And the real Jane would like everyone to know that she left Sergio, got clean, and finally made it to Spain.  No BS.

Jane Says

ETA: My friend that always got lyrics wrong thought "She hides the television" was "Shiites... the television."  Maybe this was when the PLO was always on the nightly news or something?
"Mountain Song" and "Summertime Rolls" are my two favorites off of that album. Always were. Still, I wouldn't grumble if someone threw on "Jane Says" right now. 

 
Figured EdgyScorchy would go for Don't Ever Trust the Needle.

EDIT:  I suppose we Mindcrimers are lucky scorchy didn't choose Silent Lucidity and a time machine.
Oh my word. Empire could have been one of the most disappointing albums I'd ever heard in my nascent musical independence. I remember friends that knew I loved Mindcrime coming up to me in school, and telling me how good Empire was and that I'd been right about The Ryche all along. I was often speechless. 

🎶Jet city wo-man...

 
Oh my word. Empire could have been one of the most disappointing albums I'd ever heard in my nascent musical independence. I remember friends that knew I loved Mindcrime coming up to me in school, and telling me how good Empire was and that I'd been right about The Ryche all along. I was often speechless. 

🎶Jet city wo-man...
I had the same experience with Jane's.  Went away to college, Ritual comes out, MTV plays Been Caught Stealing on an infinite loop, and when I came home for Xmas break, all had changed.  Like the plot of Less Than Zero minus the drugs but with lots more big hair and stirrup pants. 

 
#31 - The Bangles - In Your Room

"You won't regret it if you let me stay, teach you everything that a boy should know..."

If there were a grammy for Seductive Vocal of the Year, Susanna Hoffs would have crushed the voting.  In Your Room was the lead single from The Bangles' third album Everything.  The song and video,, a welcome throwback to the edgier/Paisley Underground version of the band, peaked at #5 on the Hot 100.  Follow up single Manic Monday - released in January 1989 - hit #1 in seven countries.  

In Your Room

 
I like my prog metal smack in the middle of the mainstream. Who am I kidding? I don't even like prog metal. This is straight pandering.
OK, NOW this list makes much MORE sense.  I never was into certain types of music and I simply can't pander.  Everyone has different tastes and it is interesting to get different takes but I've been very-impressed with the heart of your choices for 88.

I thought I would have access to many tunes that didn't chart but were in heavy rotation at the top AOR stations but you've pretty much knocked off the top tunes.  I have a few 'deeper' tracks but my list was thin for this year.  I thought I could get away with some softer pop tunes to fill out the bottom quarter but you took too many of my go-to tunes that I used to play like, Mandinka, New Sensation, What I Am, Orange Crush, Reptile, Simply Irresistible, Proclaimers 500 Miles, Finish What You Started, and even though you didn't like it I love 'She Drives Me Crazy', all of those would have been in my top-35.

I remember many nights saving Mandinka or New Sensation to pick-me-up looking out a picturesque view over the Yampa Valley to the top of Storm Peak jamming out and ling up songs and sets, smile.  

I was most impressed with the selection of The La's - There She Goes because I completely missed that one and I thought for-sure I would get the Primatives 'Crash' because it broke out later in the 90s but you caught that as well.  And I thought for-sure I'd have the Proclaimers since that tune didn't break out till Benny and Joon in the 90s but you caught that as well so basically I know you will pick-off at least a dozen more from my devastated list so I have an idea to cull together a list that won't have  strict parameters I've used in the past.

 
Oh my word. Empire could have been one of the most disappointing albums I'd ever heard in my nascent musical independence. I remember friends that knew I loved Mindcrime coming up to me in school, and telling me how good Empire was and that I'd been right about The Ryche all along. I was often speechless. 

🎶Jet city wo-man...


Yes, it was definitely my most disappointing college purchase.  And I bought a pack of condoms I never used.

 
#31 - The Bangles - In Your Room

"You won't regret it if you let me stay, teach you everything that a boy should know..."

If there were a grammy for Seductive Vocal of the Year, Susanna Hoffs would have crushed the voting.  In Your Room was the lead single from The Bangles' third album Everything.  The song and video,, a welcome throwback to the edgier/Paisley Underground version of the band, peaked at #5 on the Hot 100.  Follow up single Manic Monday - released in January 1989 - hit #1 in seven countries.  

In Your Room


While Susanna Hoffs will always hold the record for most consecutive years on my crush list (35 years and counting), I have to say that I had a huge infatuation with Vicki Peterson in this video.  

 
Closest I ever came to liking Queensryche was "Best I Can" off Empire. (Okay, I like Silent Lucidity too, but that's hardly a True Scotsman Queensryche song).

In Your Room is a cool song that every teenage boy in the 80's thought/fantasized was being sung directly at them. The key change in the middle is a nice addition you don't hear often.

 
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OK, NOW this list makes much MORE sense.  I never was into certain types of music and I simply can't pander.  Everyone has different tastes and it is interesting to get different takes but I've been very-impressed with the heart of your choices for 88.

I thought I would have access to many tunes that didn't chart but were in heavy rotation at the top AOR stations but you've pretty much knocked off the top tunes.  I have a few 'deeper' tracks but my list was thin for this year.  I thought I could get away with some softer pop tunes to fill out the bottom quarter but you took too many of my go-to tunes that I used to play like, Mandinka, New Sensation, What I Am, Orange Crush, Reptile, Simply Irresistible, Proclaimers 500 Miles, Finish What You Started, and even though you didn't like it I love 'She Drives Me Crazy', all of those would have been in my top-35.

I remember many nights saving Mandinka or New Sensation to pick-me-up looking out a picturesque view over the Yampa Valley to the top of Storm Peak jamming out and ling up songs and sets, smile.  

I was most impressed with the selection of The La's - There She Goes because I completely missed that one and I thought for-sure I would get the Primatives 'Crash' because it broke out later in the 90s but you caught that as well.  And I thought for-sure I'd have the Proclaimers since that tune didn't break out till Benny and Joon in the 90s but you caught that as well so basically I know you will pick-off at least a dozen more from my devastated list so I have an idea to cull together a list that won't have  strict parameters I've used in the past.
Thanks Bracie.  I was half-joking on the pandering thing.  My initial list had way too much alternative and not nearly enough AOR rock or pop.  I thought about what I was trying to do and asked if it made sense to have multiple tracks from certain bands I loved or even single tracks from Camper Van Beethoven or the Godfathers versus Top 10 singles from rock bands that I liked fine back then.  So I cut a third Jane's Addiction song for Michael Jackson and The Mighty Lemon Drops for David Lee Roth.  Queensryche was always on there from the start though - I just kept pushing it up based on its perceived importance to a lot of people I know.  I mean, not very many Aerosmith or Van Halen fans  capital-L Loved their respective 1988 releases, but Queensryche fans absolutely worshipped Mindcrime.  To me, that says there's something special even if I don't completely get it, and thus it probably gets pushed up 20-30 spots higher.  I actually like the two singles but don't see myself diving into the whole album again anytime soon.  I spent too much in the late 80s with 2112 or Hemispheres and my ability to appreciate a prog-rock magnum opus just isn't what it used to be.

For the record, there will be one AOR hitmaker who was huge in 1988 that won't be on here.  I didn't know anyone under the age of 30 that listened to the guy back then despite the songs being everywhere.  As my wife said, "When one of his songs came on the radio, my dad would turn it up and I would just wait impatiently for it to end."

 
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#54 - The Church - Reptile

Now this sounds like 1988.  Starfish is just a tremendous record with a bunch of great songs.  Reptile was the second single, reaching #27 on the Mainstream Rock chart (it was released prior to the Modern Rock chart, which didn't debut until later that year).  It doesn't quite reach the heights of the Church's biggest hit but that opening riff is straight $.

Reptile
I missed that you posted this one (until Bracie mentioned it above).

This song is straight up awesome and would be WAY higher were I to do a list for '88. 

 
I think the thing about Mindcrime is that Geoff Tate is so overbearingly pretentious that he actually needs all the grandeur of a rock opera to kind of make it work.  It's true that Mindcrime pretty much has everything I relentlessly make fun of RUSH for, but I liked RUSH when I was 16 too.  

I'm sure that a full listen to Mindcrime now would be excruciating, but as I wrote before, when I hear an individual song on the radio, my inner 16-year old comes out and I'm wailing along.

 
I think the thing about Mindcrime is that Geoff Tate is so overbearingly pretentious that he actually needs all the grandeur of a rock opera to kind of make it work.  It's true that Mindcrime pretty much has everything I relentlessly make fun of RUSH for, but I liked RUSH when I was 16 too.  

I'm sure that a full listen to Mindcrime now would be excruciating, but as I wrote before, when I hear an individual song on the radio, my inner 16-year old comes out and I'm wailing along.
I do feel the need to point out that not a single one of those Mindcrime junkies was seen with a girl freshman year - nothing attracts the opposite sex like Geoff Tate, Joe Satriani, and Steve Vai posters.  I at least was wise enough to leave my Rush poster at home and play a 10,000 Maniacs cd when ladies were present.

 
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I do feel the need to point out that not a single one of those Mindcrime junkies were seen with a girl freshman year - nothing attracts the opposite sex like Geoff Tate, Joe Satriani, and Steve Vai posters.  I at least was wise enough to leave my Rush poster at home and play a 10,000 Maniacs cd when ladies were present.
This also explains that unused box of condoms that was talked about earlier.

 
I do feel the need to point out that not a single one of those Mindcrime junkies was seen with a girl freshman year - nothing attracts the opposite sex like Geoff Tate, Joe Satriani, and Steve Vai posters.  I at least was wise enough to leave my Rush poster at home and play a 10,000 Maniacs cd when ladies were present.
I had moved into my Stax/Volt phase by college.  And all my posters were film posters (an Italian Clockwork Orange poster, MIller's Crossing, La Dolce Vita).  It's not like I had female visitors anyway, but the guys who actually had sex with women in my bed reported it to be a kind of cosmopolitan experience.  

 
#30 - Paula Abdul - Straight Up

trigger warning for @rockaction: horn alert

I know people consider Paula Abdul to be a bit of a punchline now, but her new-jack-adjacent single Straight Up was straight up fire in 1988.  In the early/mid aughts, I got to be a fill-in DJ at a hipster bar in Philly on several occasions.  I loved to see how far I could veer into pop before the DFA-loving doofuses would vacate the floor.  It was like a musical version of six degrees of Kevin Bacon: can I get from Franz Ferdinand to Mariah Carey and then back out to LCD Soundsystem over a half-dozen songs?  When it came to Straight Up, I never had to worry - it brought the joy to even the most dismissive.

Straight Up was actually the third single from Abdul's 1988 debut but the first to chart, eventually making it all the way to #1 in January of 1989.  Three more #1s followed (who can forget the sheer awfulness of MC Skat Kat or the hotness of the Cold Hearted video?).  

Only three more Billboard #1s to go among my top 30.

Straight Up

 

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