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*** 1980's One Hit Wonders . . . #1 - LIPPS, INC. - Funkytown *** (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Anarchy99
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Anarchy99
Footballguy
#78 - BOYS DON'T CRY - I Wanna Be A Cowboy (#12 - 6/21/1986 - 19 weeks)
Another Anarchy fave (I like pop songs with guitar in it). Headed by Nick Richards, the song and video are an homage to the wild, wild west . . . which was the title of a song by the Escape Club that hit the top of the charts two years later (but don't qualify as a one hit wonder).
I Wanna Be A Cowboy was featured in the Bruce Willis flick The Last Boy Scout (which is worth a viewing for those that haven't seen it). Something tells me this is not the last time Willis will be discussed . . .
Up next, a Puerto Rican female vocalist gets to thinking about her uncle, who had passed away from AIDS.
Another Anarchy fave (I like pop songs with guitar in it). Headed by Nick Richards, the song and video are an homage to the wild, wild west . . . which was the title of a song by the Escape Club that hit the top of the charts two years later (but don't qualify as a one hit wonder).
I Wanna Be A Cowboy was featured in the Bruce Willis flick The Last Boy Scout (which is worth a viewing for those that haven't seen it). Something tells me this is not the last time Willis will be discussed . . .
Up next, a Puerto Rican female vocalist gets to thinking about her uncle, who had passed away from AIDS.
Osaurus
Footballguy
Binky The Doormat
Footballguy
that is one lonely place to be.rolliehouliranson said:
Anarchy99
Footballguy
#77 - SA-FIRE - Thinking Of You (#12 - 5/6/1989 - 24 weeks)
Sa-Fire had 9 songs hit the Billboard 100 and Dance charts from 1986-1991, but this was the only one to hit the Top 40. The song was written after her uncle had passed away from AIDS and was later used in a PSA for AIDS awareness. Like many of these OHW's, she faded for many years, recorded an album again many years later, and mostly fell out of the public's eye.
Up next . . . O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
Sa-Fire had 9 songs hit the Billboard 100 and Dance charts from 1986-1991, but this was the only one to hit the Top 40. The song was written after her uncle had passed away from AIDS and was later used in a PSA for AIDS awareness. Like many of these OHW's, she faded for many years, recorded an album again many years later, and mostly fell out of the public's eye.
Up next . . . O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
Leroy Hoard
Footballguy
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Penguin
Footballguy
SA-FIRE married my friend Albert Cabrera, who was one of the most influential Latin Freestyle producer/remixers of all time. The aren't together now, but he and Tony Moran were called the Latin Rascals and they wrote, produced and remixed numerous dance hits between 1985 and the early 90's.
Anarchy99
Footballguy
#76 - STEVE FORBERT - Romeo's Tune (#11 - 2/23/1980 - 19 weeks)
This one got a fair amount of discussion in the other OHW thread. Forbert has released 19 studio albums, 6 compilations albums, and 3 live albums, but his only true hit was Romeo's Tune. His first 4 albums each hit the Billboard 200. Romeo's Tune came out in the summer of 1979 but became a hit in 1980 (thus why is qualifies as an 80's OHW). Unlike many others on the OHW's countdown, Forbert has managed to have kept his music career going throughout the past 40 years. As the years went by, he settled in as more of a folk singer.
Keith Urban covered the song and thought enough of it to put it on his Greatest Hits album (without releasing it on a previous album).
On a morbid side note, I remember this song pretty well. I ended up recording a bunch of songs off the radio onto cassettes (again, the younger folks won't remember what those are), which was the big music medium before CD's. I had saved up money and bought a Sony Walkman from Crazy Eddie (obviously before the fraud and racketeering charges, bankruptcy, and store closings). I was on our school soccer team and listened to tunes on my Walkman on trips to away games.
The night before a road game, a couple of high school kids were murdered at a cemetery next to the field we were going to be playing on. In this era, they wouldn't play the game and it would be rescheduled. Back then, they let the game happen. It was a bizarre scene. The cemetery was right next to one side of the field, so they taped that side of the field off with crime scene tape and made both teams share the opposite sideline. They had a ton of law enforcement, CSI, and FBI folks at the crime scene with dogs and armed guys with assault rifles protecting the scene. It was very surreal and everyone there felt really bad about playing a silly soccer game and felt intimidated with armed law enforcement officials standing their posts. I remember all this in vivid detail, as I was listening to Romeo's Tune on my Walkman as we drove past the cemetery into the parking lot and I first saw everything going on. Creepy.
Coming up, POWER BALLAD ALERT! A Maryland band who's name is pronounced the same (but spelled differently) as a popular early 80's video game. This band previously was known as The Shooze . . . and then The Generators . . . and then The Baltimore C-o-c-k-s before settling in on the name that they used on their self-titled 1981 debut album.
This one got a fair amount of discussion in the other OHW thread. Forbert has released 19 studio albums, 6 compilations albums, and 3 live albums, but his only true hit was Romeo's Tune. His first 4 albums each hit the Billboard 200. Romeo's Tune came out in the summer of 1979 but became a hit in 1980 (thus why is qualifies as an 80's OHW). Unlike many others on the OHW's countdown, Forbert has managed to have kept his music career going throughout the past 40 years. As the years went by, he settled in as more of a folk singer.
Keith Urban covered the song and thought enough of it to put it on his Greatest Hits album (without releasing it on a previous album).
On a morbid side note, I remember this song pretty well. I ended up recording a bunch of songs off the radio onto cassettes (again, the younger folks won't remember what those are), which was the big music medium before CD's. I had saved up money and bought a Sony Walkman from Crazy Eddie (obviously before the fraud and racketeering charges, bankruptcy, and store closings). I was on our school soccer team and listened to tunes on my Walkman on trips to away games.
The night before a road game, a couple of high school kids were murdered at a cemetery next to the field we were going to be playing on. In this era, they wouldn't play the game and it would be rescheduled. Back then, they let the game happen. It was a bizarre scene. The cemetery was right next to one side of the field, so they taped that side of the field off with crime scene tape and made both teams share the opposite sideline. They had a ton of law enforcement, CSI, and FBI folks at the crime scene with dogs and armed guys with assault rifles protecting the scene. It was very surreal and everyone there felt really bad about playing a silly soccer game and felt intimidated with armed law enforcement officials standing their posts. I remember all this in vivid detail, as I was listening to Romeo's Tune on my Walkman as we drove past the cemetery into the parking lot and I first saw everything going on. Creepy.
Coming up, POWER BALLAD ALERT! A Maryland band who's name is pronounced the same (but spelled differently) as a popular early 80's video game. This band previously was known as The Shooze . . . and then The Generators . . . and then The Baltimore C-o-c-k-s before settling in on the name that they used on their self-titled 1981 debut album.
Leroy Hoard
Footballguy
I also did a lot of radio taping, blanks were so much cheaper than buying artist cassettes. The only pre recorded tapes I had were mainly Colombia House 13 for a penny scams. I'm sure I am still on their most wanted list.
Anarchy99
Footballguy
Trust me, you couldn't have been as bad as I was. I also bought high end blank cassettes and did the Columbia House 13 albums for a penny deal . . . but I got the albums and not the cassettes. I was horrible . . . I would get the albums, tape them, and then send them back. They had a 30 day trial and return policy. I joined several different clubs or used variations of names and was able to tape a lot more albums than I ever thought I could get away with. Not one of my prouder moments, I'm afraid. I also borrowed a bunch of albums from our town's library and taped those as well. I made some really good mix tapes from actually albums, so the song quality was good, there wasn't a DJ talking over songs, and there weren't cut off songs or commercials, etc.
zamboni
Footballguy
I think we all participated in that scam. My pet dog, hamster and guinea pig all had their own accounts.
Anarchy99
Footballguy
This reminds me of a gag we pulled on one of our male friends. We got him a membership to the Girl Scouts of America (on purpose . . . but without telling him). So he got on just about every mailing list imaginable. The stuff he got in the mail never stopped and fell in line with the age we had listed. Feminine hygiene products, bra and underwear coupons, actual samples of things like panties, the latest and greatest in birth control, pamphlets on who to contact if boys / men / relatives were being inappropriate, etc. It was the gift that kept on giving comedy wise, as there was a flood of stuff that came in the mail practically every day. One of us even sent in a nomination for him to receive a merit based award for being a great volunteer and a top troop contributor. He never could get off all the junk mailing lists.
Leroy Hoard
Footballguy
There was this one crabby old lady down the street we sent "bill me later" subscriptions to Hustler.
Anarchy99
Footballguy
#75 - KIX - Don't Close Your Eyes (#11 - 12/16/1989 - 23 weeks)
Some call them hard rock . . . others call them glam metal. As noted earlier, they started out in 1977 and took on several names before settling on Kix. In the early days, they played a lot of rock staples performing in the Baltimore bar scene. They went on to produce a half dozen albums over 15 years before taking a break for 7 years. They've stayed together since then and are touring currently and will be at the M3 Rock Festival 5/3 in Baltimore.
For any Def Leppard fans in the audience, they contributed Foolin' to a DL tribute album roughly 10 years back.
For the Scorpions crowd, Still Lovin' You from 2006.
For the VH / Sammy Hager fan base, There's Only One Way To Rock from 2003.
And for the Zep heads, Immigrant Song from a LZ tribute album in 1999.
On the way, a song from a British band with rhyming words in their two word title from an album with another Hot 100 song that implored people to pray like Aretha Franklin.
Some call them hard rock . . . others call them glam metal. As noted earlier, they started out in 1977 and took on several names before settling on Kix. In the early days, they played a lot of rock staples performing in the Baltimore bar scene. They went on to produce a half dozen albums over 15 years before taking a break for 7 years. They've stayed together since then and are touring currently and will be at the M3 Rock Festival 5/3 in Baltimore.
For any Def Leppard fans in the audience, they contributed Foolin' to a DL tribute album roughly 10 years back.
For the Scorpions crowd, Still Lovin' You from 2006.
For the VH / Sammy Hager fan base, There's Only One Way To Rock from 2003.
And for the Zep heads, Immigrant Song from a LZ tribute album in 1999.
On the way, a song from a British band with rhyming words in their two word title from an album with another Hot 100 song that implored people to pray like Aretha Franklin.
Gr00vus
Footballguy
Osaurus
Footballguy
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DocHolliday
Footballguy
zamboni
Footballguy
Leroy Hoard
Footballguy
Binky The Doormat
Footballguy
just gotta look "where the action is"
ETA: for those not pretty to really old, "Where The Action Is" was a national afternoon music show in the mid-60s where Paul Revere and the Raiders were the "house band"
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Anarchy99
Footballguy
#74 - SCRITTI POLITTI - Perfect Way (#11 - 12/21/1985 - 25 weeks)
I remember when this song first came out and they announced the name of the bank on the radio, I thought the "cr" was an "h" instead. I thought that was an edgy name until they played the song and heard the actual name again. Whoops.
Scritti Politti hung around for over 30 years but only put out 5 albums (and had a half dozen Top 40 songs in the UK). They were led by Welsh singer / songwriter Green Gartside, who went on to work with Miles Davis, Chaka Khan, Eurythmics, Elvis Costello, Mos Def, Kylie Minogue, Robyn Hitchcock, and several others.
Miles Davis recorded an instrumental version of Perfect Way, which sounds very similar to the original.
Next on the countdown, a British synth / pop / new wave trio that only put out one album, and I promise that their one hit topped the Billboard Dance chart in 1988.
I remember when this song first came out and they announced the name of the bank on the radio, I thought the "cr" was an "h" instead. I thought that was an edgy name until they played the song and heard the actual name again. Whoops.
Scritti Politti hung around for over 30 years but only put out 5 albums (and had a half dozen Top 40 songs in the UK). They were led by Welsh singer / songwriter Green Gartside, who went on to work with Miles Davis, Chaka Khan, Eurythmics, Elvis Costello, Mos Def, Kylie Minogue, Robyn Hitchcock, and several others.
Miles Davis recorded an instrumental version of Perfect Way, which sounds very similar to the original.
Next on the countdown, a British synth / pop / new wave trio that only put out one album, and I promise that their one hit topped the Billboard Dance chart in 1988.
Doug B
Footballguy
Anarchy99
Footballguy
#73 - WHEN IN ROME - The Promise (#11 - 12/10/1988 - 25 weeks)
Not sure how a band has three versions of itself and only one album, but somehow this one does. There was the 80's version, a 2000's version, and a late 2000's version. The original line up features Clive Farrington and Andrew Mann on vocals and Michael Floreale on keyboards. Other than that, there isn't much to tell. They had legal issues and their record label dropped them when they didn't out out anything new. None of the three musicians really did all that much before or after being in the band.
We close out the #11's by going Into The Night . . . for a song that charted for 37 weeks.
Not sure how a band has three versions of itself and only one album, but somehow this one does. There was the 80's version, a 2000's version, and a late 2000's version. The original line up features Clive Farrington and Andrew Mann on vocals and Michael Floreale on keyboards. Other than that, there isn't much to tell. They had legal issues and their record label dropped them when they didn't out out anything new. None of the three musicians really did all that much before or after being in the band.
We close out the #11's by going Into The Night . . . for a song that charted for 37 weeks.
zamboni
Footballguy
Doug B
Footballguy
Such a good song, though. I wonder if it could be credibly re-worded as "... nineteen years old"?
zamboni
Footballguy
Clearly was going for the shock value, I guess. Much like Kiss and “Christine Sixteen”.
Anarchy99
Footballguy
As a side bar story, I bumped into the video for Depeche Mode - People Are People on Youtube. Back when I was underage and living in California, I went to a party on a Saturday night with a bunch of trendy, upscale, older people and it was decided we would go out clubbing. I was only 18 and didn't have a fake ID and was concerned I wouldn't get in, especially since a lot of the places they were talking about had recently started cracking down on underage kids sneaking in.
I don't remember exactly where we went, but it was around midnight in L.A. / Hollywood. We ended up going somewhere with a giant line to get in and we started debating if we wanted to wait around and hope to get in, or just bounce and roll to someplace else. Little did I know that my hairstyle and general look at the time made me a doppelganger for Dave Gahan, lead singer of Depeche Mode . . . and by a fluke coincidence they had just played at the Palladium in L.A. that night. We started to leave when a bunch of people from the club itself came running out to us and begged us to stay and whisked us inside the club through a side door. Again, I was with a crowd that could be considered hardcore partying professionals, so they fit right into the bar scene on the strip.
I knew a few Depeche Mode songs but really wasn't that familiar with how the guys in the band looked. Inside the club, they kicked someone out of a corner booth / table and started giving us free drinks. Then they started playing a few Depeche Mode songs, which I started singing along to (oddly enough I even SOUND like the singer). I still was not making a connection to what was going on (and was not feeling any pain by this point, so one could say I was acting the part of a rock star to a T).
The place was going nuts, and next thing I know, the manager and the owner of the club both came over saying how great it was that I stopped in and they wanted to take a picture with me. Then some other folks came up and flashed pictures and started yelling that the show was awesome. A couple folks started yelling "Dave, you guys are awesome!" . . . which was made even more bizarre because my name actually IS Dave.
By this point, I really started wondering what was going on. Then a couple of people from the media showed up, and I remember they came in asking to interview the guy from Depeche Mode . . . and that's when it finally added up. When they asked to see me, I asked why on earth would they want to talk to me, and I told them I wasn't who they thought I was. They weren't thrilled, especially when the REAL Dave Gahan showed up at the club these guys had left to come search for me.
Of course that made the club look like idiots and then they wanted to be paid for all the alcohol (there were like 12 of us). I don't remember if they got paid or not, as everyone I was with was laughing their azzes off and said don't worry about it, they would cover it if they made us pay as this was going to make an awesome story to tell all their friends.
I don't remember exactly where we went, but it was around midnight in L.A. / Hollywood. We ended up going somewhere with a giant line to get in and we started debating if we wanted to wait around and hope to get in, or just bounce and roll to someplace else. Little did I know that my hairstyle and general look at the time made me a doppelganger for Dave Gahan, lead singer of Depeche Mode . . . and by a fluke coincidence they had just played at the Palladium in L.A. that night. We started to leave when a bunch of people from the club itself came running out to us and begged us to stay and whisked us inside the club through a side door. Again, I was with a crowd that could be considered hardcore partying professionals, so they fit right into the bar scene on the strip.
I knew a few Depeche Mode songs but really wasn't that familiar with how the guys in the band looked. Inside the club, they kicked someone out of a corner booth / table and started giving us free drinks. Then they started playing a few Depeche Mode songs, which I started singing along to (oddly enough I even SOUND like the singer). I still was not making a connection to what was going on (and was not feeling any pain by this point, so one could say I was acting the part of a rock star to a T).
The place was going nuts, and next thing I know, the manager and the owner of the club both came over saying how great it was that I stopped in and they wanted to take a picture with me. Then some other folks came up and flashed pictures and started yelling that the show was awesome. A couple folks started yelling "Dave, you guys are awesome!" . . . which was made even more bizarre because my name actually IS Dave.
By this point, I really started wondering what was going on. Then a couple of people from the media showed up, and I remember they came in asking to interview the guy from Depeche Mode . . . and that's when it finally added up. When they asked to see me, I asked why on earth would they want to talk to me, and I told them I wasn't who they thought I was. They weren't thrilled, especially when the REAL Dave Gahan showed up at the club these guys had left to come search for me.
Of course that made the club look like idiots and then they wanted to be paid for all the alcohol (there were like 12 of us). I don't remember if they got paid or not, as everyone I was with was laughing their azzes off and said don't worry about it, they would cover it if they made us pay as this was going to make an awesome story to tell all their friends.
Penguin
Footballguy
Leroy Hoard
Footballguy
Anarchy99
Footballguy
Anarchy99
Footballguy
#72 - BENNY MARDONES - Into The Night (#11 - 9/6/1980 - 37 weeks)
A lot has been made that the song is about a pervy relationship with a young girl, but Mardones has said the song was inspired by a 16-year-old girl named Heidi that lived in his apartment building. He insists their relationship was purely platonic, as he looked after her and her family after her father left. He would pay her $50 a week to walk his dog.
As the story goes, he and songwriting friend Robert Tepper were up all night writing songs when Heidi showed up in the morning to walk the dog. She came in dressed for school in a miniskirt and little stacked heels and they thought she looked adorable but looked 16-going-on-21. Tepper is said to be the one that said, "'Oh, my God," and Mardones apparently replied "Hey, Bob. She's just 16 years old, leave her alone" and the song practically wrote itself from there.
The song is notable in terms of Billboard chart history, as it is one of only 10 songs to have reached the Top 20 on two different occasions. It charted originally for 20 weeks and hit #11 in 1980. In 1989, a station in Arizona added it to their playlist of songs for a Where Are They Now? program they played each week. It got popular all over again as other stations picked it up and started playing it. The second time around, it stayed on the countdown for 17 weeks and maxed out at the #20 slot.
BAR BET ALERT: It's total combined run of 37 weeks in the Hot 100 was the most for any song in the 80's. For those that are curious, the all time record for most weeks on the Hot 100 chart is held by Imagine Dragons - Radioactive, which spent a staggering 87 weeks on the chart from 2012-2014. Radioactive never managed to top the charts, though, stalling at #3.
Mardones put out 10 studio albums across 40 years and placed a grand total of 0 other songs in the Hot 100, truly making him a one hit wonder. The combination of one song charting twice and no other song charting at all in 40 years will be a tough feat to match.
Drum roll . . . we head into the Top 10 songs next as this countdown is far from over.
A lot has been made that the song is about a pervy relationship with a young girl, but Mardones has said the song was inspired by a 16-year-old girl named Heidi that lived in his apartment building. He insists their relationship was purely platonic, as he looked after her and her family after her father left. He would pay her $50 a week to walk his dog.
As the story goes, he and songwriting friend Robert Tepper were up all night writing songs when Heidi showed up in the morning to walk the dog. She came in dressed for school in a miniskirt and little stacked heels and they thought she looked adorable but looked 16-going-on-21. Tepper is said to be the one that said, "'Oh, my God," and Mardones apparently replied "Hey, Bob. She's just 16 years old, leave her alone" and the song practically wrote itself from there.
The song is notable in terms of Billboard chart history, as it is one of only 10 songs to have reached the Top 20 on two different occasions. It charted originally for 20 weeks and hit #11 in 1980. In 1989, a station in Arizona added it to their playlist of songs for a Where Are They Now? program they played each week. It got popular all over again as other stations picked it up and started playing it. The second time around, it stayed on the countdown for 17 weeks and maxed out at the #20 slot.
BAR BET ALERT: It's total combined run of 37 weeks in the Hot 100 was the most for any song in the 80's. For those that are curious, the all time record for most weeks on the Hot 100 chart is held by Imagine Dragons - Radioactive, which spent a staggering 87 weeks on the chart from 2012-2014. Radioactive never managed to top the charts, though, stalling at #3.
Mardones put out 10 studio albums across 40 years and placed a grand total of 0 other songs in the Hot 100, truly making him a one hit wonder. The combination of one song charting twice and no other song charting at all in 40 years will be a tough feat to match.
Drum roll . . . we head into the Top 10 songs next as this countdown is far from over.
Doug B
Footballguy
Mardones himself said the song was not about a romantic relationship. OK. But even if we don't believe him ... it was a different world back then. In my high school, it was not the least bit unusual for female HS juniors and seniors (and heck, probably younger) to date guys in their early 20s. I know it's a movie, but look at the scene in Fast Times when Stacy went out to the baseball dugout with that 20-something stereo salesman. In that film's universe, the stereo guy wasn't a creep because he was getting with a HS girl ... he was a creep because he used Stacy and discarded her afterwards -- the underage thing wasn't even in mind the way it would be today.zamboni said:
Even 14 years later, in 1995's Mallrats, a not-too-different scenario was played for laughs (Ben Affleck's character Shannon and 15-year-old Trish). Now, in that universe, Shannon did get arrested for it ... though even the arrest was jokey. That wouldn't happen in a 2019 movie.
Wonder where they get that from...
If I could fly, I'd pick you up...I'd take you into the night...and show you a love...like you've never seen...
Benny would probably face a harsher judgment in today's "outrage at everything" culture.
Doug B
Footballguy
Gr00vus
Footballguy
Anarchy99
Footballguy
Gr00vus
Footballguy
Rove!
Footballguy
Kix vocalist Steve Whiteman was a vocal coach for Lzzy Hale from Halestorm
http://bravewords.com/news/kix-frontman-steve-whiteman-on-halestorm-singer-lzzy-hale-she-already-had-all-that-talent-i-just-pointed-her-in-the-right-direction
she has great vocal talent
Mr. Irrelevant
IBL Representative
Anarchy99
Footballguy
#71 - FRANK STALLONE - Far From Over (#10 - 10/1/1983 - 16 weeks)
We head into the Top 10 songs with a song from the Staying Alive soundtrack from Sly Stallone's younger brother Frank. Frank Stallone has had a lengthy career as an actor and singer and clearly benefited from the success of his brother. He's appeared in 60+ movies and tv shows (including a bunch of his brother's films).
Musically, he started out contributing songs to movies (the Rocky films, Paradise Alley, Staying Alive) before releasing a self entitled debut album in 1985. He proceeded to release 10 albums over a 25 year time frame. His on-line bio claims he has had 4 platinum and 10 gold albums, which I see no evidence to remotely support any of that anywhere. He's never had an album hit the Billboard 200, so not sure how you get 4 platinum albums then.
Staying Alive was a sequel to the smash film Saturday Night Fever from 6 years earlier. The sequel was not as successful as the first outing, generating $126 million at the worldwide box office compared to $282 million for SNF. The soundtrack for the sequel was also not as popular, peaking at #6 on the Billboard 200 album charts.
The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack stayed atop the album charts for 24 weeks and went on to sell over 16 million copies. For those curious about the record for most weeks at #1 on the album chart, that distinction is held by the West Side Story soundtrack at 54 weeks in 1962 and 1963.
For those that appreciate longevity, there have only been 4 albums that have spent at least 520 weeks on the Billboard 200 album chart (10 years) . . .
- Pink Floyd Dark Side Of The Moon (942 weeks . . . over 18 years!)
- Legend Bob Marley & The Wailers (571 weeks)
- Journey Greatest Hits (561 weeks)
- Metallica Self Titles (532 weeks)
Up next, we travel across the pond and are essentially told Don't Shed A Tear (and it is NOT Paul Carrack).
We head into the Top 10 songs with a song from the Staying Alive soundtrack from Sly Stallone's younger brother Frank. Frank Stallone has had a lengthy career as an actor and singer and clearly benefited from the success of his brother. He's appeared in 60+ movies and tv shows (including a bunch of his brother's films).
Musically, he started out contributing songs to movies (the Rocky films, Paradise Alley, Staying Alive) before releasing a self entitled debut album in 1985. He proceeded to release 10 albums over a 25 year time frame. His on-line bio claims he has had 4 platinum and 10 gold albums, which I see no evidence to remotely support any of that anywhere. He's never had an album hit the Billboard 200, so not sure how you get 4 platinum albums then.
Staying Alive was a sequel to the smash film Saturday Night Fever from 6 years earlier. The sequel was not as successful as the first outing, generating $126 million at the worldwide box office compared to $282 million for SNF. The soundtrack for the sequel was also not as popular, peaking at #6 on the Billboard 200 album charts.
The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack stayed atop the album charts for 24 weeks and went on to sell over 16 million copies. For those curious about the record for most weeks at #1 on the album chart, that distinction is held by the West Side Story soundtrack at 54 weeks in 1962 and 1963.
For those that appreciate longevity, there have only been 4 albums that have spent at least 520 weeks on the Billboard 200 album chart (10 years) . . .
- Pink Floyd Dark Side Of The Moon (942 weeks . . . over 18 years!)
- Legend Bob Marley & The Wailers (571 weeks)
- Journey Greatest Hits (561 weeks)
- Metallica Self Titles (532 weeks)
Up next, we travel across the pond and are essentially told Don't Shed A Tear (and it is NOT Paul Carrack).
zamboni
Footballguy
Upcoming documentary about his groundbreaking and highly influential career. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6812404/
![[scooter]](/data/avatars/m/22/22287.jpg?1659477690){kind=avatar}
[scooter]
Footballguy
He contributed to 3 soundtrack albums that went gold or platinum (Rocky, Rocky III, and Staying Alive), but that's all I could find.
Here's one album that definitely didn't go platinum (unless Xenu bought 1,000,000 copies): "The Road To Freedom" by L. Ron Hubbard And Friends
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Gr00vus
Footballguy
Anarchy99
Footballguy
#70 - WATERFRONT - Cry (#10 - 6/17/1989 - 17 weeks)
There's really not a lot to tell about Waterfront, other than they are a duo that sounded a bit like Wham!. They released an album in 1989 and another in 2011. They were the first Welsh duo to achieve top 10 single status in the U.S. and were named BMI Songwriters of the Year in 1990. Other than that, I got nothing.
Which is fine, because I have another story. That was possibly my greatest summer ever (in Connecticut at the time). I likely was never in the same shape again as I was then. I jogged 10 miles a day for ha-ha's. I was also a big tennis player, although I never played on a competitive / school team. I would play a match in the morning and another one in the evening and sometimes played hours and hours a day. I had a variety of serves, hit ground strokes with all types of spin, and would either get people off balance / out of position or would set them up for winners. I wasn't a pounder (except for some serves) and won points by dragging them out and either hitting a shot that couldn't be returned or having the opposition make an unforced error. (On a side note, the only professional tennis match I ever went to was a grueling Boris Becker / John McEnroe Davis Cup match in 1986 that lasted almost six and a half hours).
Anyway, I had gotten really good and even beat a few D-I scholarship tennis players. I had a college buddy that was trying to get better at tennis, so I would rally with him a lot so he could get better. One day the two of us were just hitting the ball back and forth when a girl from our college tennis team showed up with a guy to play with her. He was a decent player but he got overpowered by the girl, as she hit hard with a lot of topspin deep in the court.
My tennis playing friend was smitten over her and mentioned to me it would be awesome if they would play doubles with us. I didn't know her at all but asked and she declined, basically because my friend really wasn't that good and she was trying to get warmed up for a match. Of course, I asked if she would be willing to play another time and she said sure and gave me her number . . . but said she would be happy to play with me and not to bring my friend the next time.
Of course, my friend had a case of puppy love and would not stop taking about her for days. He had good reason, as she looked like Genie Bouchard. I didn't tell him that she gave me her number since she expressed no interest in wanting to hang out with him or rally with him and she seemed more than eager to get together with me.
I was crazy bold back then and called the number she had given me and got her father on the phone. I told him his tennis playing daughter gave me her number to set up a time to play (she didn't give me her name, only her number). She wasn't home and he took my name and number and said he would give her the message. So far so good. I got a call back and was asked if I was the one that called. We talked for like two hours on the phone. Apparently her father was loaded, so we made plans to get together at a private club for lunch and to play. Again, so far so good.
I showed up at the club and told one of the staff members that I was a guest and was waiting for someone, so he let me practice my serve while I was waiting. A girl that looked like Caroline Wozniacki showed up and started serving next to me. She saw the same club attendant I did, and she asked him if there was a guy looking for her as she was waiting for someone. She didn't look the same, but I asked if she was waiting on me and it turned out she was. Except this was the younger sister of the girl I saw at the court earlier in the week. Basically, the father gave the wrong daughter the message, she called me back, we hit it off, and it was a total fluke thing. She also was on the tennis team, just not as good at tennis. We had a great time and spend a lot of time together over the summer.
But my stories often have a lot of wrinkles to them. The girl I saw on the court initially ALSO called me to play. We also went out and had a great time, and she and I were pretty evenly matched. She wanted to play pretty frequently. She also asked me to go to other places, so it was clear it was not just a tennis thing. As fate would have it, there were plenty of wires crossed, as she didn't know I had already played with her sister. They both lived at home, and I would call them pretty regularly and even went over to their house a bunch of times. The dad even liked me (and he apparently didn't like anybody).
I spent the summer playing tennis with the two sisters (but never together) and essentially dating both of them before things got weird. Ultimately they were not a big fan of sharing, so I ended up with neither of them. But it was fun while it lasted. My tennis playing friend was ready to beat the crap out of me, as I ended up with two girls based on him showing interest in one of them. One of them liked the Waterfront song, which is why I am describing it here.
However, there is still more to the story. One night I was out with the older sister in New Haven. One of the night spots there is Toad's Place (where I have seen many a show). We went out to eat for New Haven pizza and then stopped by Toad's to see what was going on that night in the summer of 1989. I believe the name on the bill was a band called Red, Hot & Blue and she wasn't that interested so we ended up going to a dance club instead. Little did I know, The Rolling Stones were the band really playing that August night (a secret gig for their first show in 7 years). And we were there and halfway in the door before she said she would rather go to a dance club.
There's really not a lot to tell about Waterfront, other than they are a duo that sounded a bit like Wham!. They released an album in 1989 and another in 2011. They were the first Welsh duo to achieve top 10 single status in the U.S. and were named BMI Songwriters of the Year in 1990. Other than that, I got nothing.
Which is fine, because I have another story. That was possibly my greatest summer ever (in Connecticut at the time). I likely was never in the same shape again as I was then. I jogged 10 miles a day for ha-ha's. I was also a big tennis player, although I never played on a competitive / school team. I would play a match in the morning and another one in the evening and sometimes played hours and hours a day. I had a variety of serves, hit ground strokes with all types of spin, and would either get people off balance / out of position or would set them up for winners. I wasn't a pounder (except for some serves) and won points by dragging them out and either hitting a shot that couldn't be returned or having the opposition make an unforced error. (On a side note, the only professional tennis match I ever went to was a grueling Boris Becker / John McEnroe Davis Cup match in 1986 that lasted almost six and a half hours).
Anyway, I had gotten really good and even beat a few D-I scholarship tennis players. I had a college buddy that was trying to get better at tennis, so I would rally with him a lot so he could get better. One day the two of us were just hitting the ball back and forth when a girl from our college tennis team showed up with a guy to play with her. He was a decent player but he got overpowered by the girl, as she hit hard with a lot of topspin deep in the court.
My tennis playing friend was smitten over her and mentioned to me it would be awesome if they would play doubles with us. I didn't know her at all but asked and she declined, basically because my friend really wasn't that good and she was trying to get warmed up for a match. Of course, I asked if she would be willing to play another time and she said sure and gave me her number . . . but said she would be happy to play with me and not to bring my friend the next time.
Of course, my friend had a case of puppy love and would not stop taking about her for days. He had good reason, as she looked like Genie Bouchard. I didn't tell him that she gave me her number since she expressed no interest in wanting to hang out with him or rally with him and she seemed more than eager to get together with me.
I was crazy bold back then and called the number she had given me and got her father on the phone. I told him his tennis playing daughter gave me her number to set up a time to play (she didn't give me her name, only her number). She wasn't home and he took my name and number and said he would give her the message. So far so good. I got a call back and was asked if I was the one that called. We talked for like two hours on the phone. Apparently her father was loaded, so we made plans to get together at a private club for lunch and to play. Again, so far so good.
I showed up at the club and told one of the staff members that I was a guest and was waiting for someone, so he let me practice my serve while I was waiting. A girl that looked like Caroline Wozniacki showed up and started serving next to me. She saw the same club attendant I did, and she asked him if there was a guy looking for her as she was waiting for someone. She didn't look the same, but I asked if she was waiting on me and it turned out she was. Except this was the younger sister of the girl I saw at the court earlier in the week. Basically, the father gave the wrong daughter the message, she called me back, we hit it off, and it was a total fluke thing. She also was on the tennis team, just not as good at tennis. We had a great time and spend a lot of time together over the summer.
But my stories often have a lot of wrinkles to them. The girl I saw on the court initially ALSO called me to play. We also went out and had a great time, and she and I were pretty evenly matched. She wanted to play pretty frequently. She also asked me to go to other places, so it was clear it was not just a tennis thing. As fate would have it, there were plenty of wires crossed, as she didn't know I had already played with her sister. They both lived at home, and I would call them pretty regularly and even went over to their house a bunch of times. The dad even liked me (and he apparently didn't like anybody).
I spent the summer playing tennis with the two sisters (but never together) and essentially dating both of them before things got weird. Ultimately they were not a big fan of sharing, so I ended up with neither of them. But it was fun while it lasted. My tennis playing friend was ready to beat the crap out of me, as I ended up with two girls based on him showing interest in one of them. One of them liked the Waterfront song, which is why I am describing it here.
However, there is still more to the story. One night I was out with the older sister in New Haven. One of the night spots there is Toad's Place (where I have seen many a show). We went out to eat for New Haven pizza and then stopped by Toad's to see what was going on that night in the summer of 1989. I believe the name on the bill was a band called Red, Hot & Blue and she wasn't that interested so we ended up going to a dance club instead. Little did I know, The Rolling Stones were the band really playing that August night (a secret gig for their first show in 7 years). And we were there and halfway in the door before she said she would rather go to a dance club.
skol asylum
Footballguy
Sorry, way behind in updating Spotify. Will get back to at some point.
Anarchy99
Footballguy
This one is not actually in the countdown, but Wild Thing from late great Sam Kinison showed up on shuffle play for me this morning so I figured I would give a shout out. It featured members from a lot of popular bands from the era including Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Guns N' Roses, Motley Crue, Poison, Bad English, Quiet Riot, Ratt, and Billy Idol. The video features Jessica Hahn, a former church secretary from the scandal involving televangelist Jim Bakker, who went on to become a multi-time Playboy centerfold.
Anarchy99
Footballguy
#69 - MUSICAL YOUTH - Pass The Dutchie (#10 - 2/26/1983 - 18 weeks)
This song came up in the other OHW thread, so won't spend a ton of time on it. The original Musical Youth was a British reggae band that put out two albums and stuck it out for a little over 5 years before disbanding. The band was besieged with legal, personal, and financial issues. One of the original members had a string of juvenile crimes and died at 24 years old. They charted 6 songs in the UK Top 40. After 18 years, the band reformed and pressed on as a duo.
On deck, an American R&B band hits the charts with a mostly an a cappella song only accompanied by piano and keyboards. And I'm fairly confident none of the band members attended med school.
This song came up in the other OHW thread, so won't spend a ton of time on it. The original Musical Youth was a British reggae band that put out two albums and stuck it out for a little over 5 years before disbanding. The band was besieged with legal, personal, and financial issues. One of the original members had a string of juvenile crimes and died at 24 years old. They charted 6 songs in the UK Top 40. After 18 years, the band reformed and pressed on as a duo.
On deck, an American R&B band hits the charts with a mostly an a cappella song only accompanied by piano and keyboards. And I'm fairly confident none of the band members attended med school.
zamboni
Footballguy
The original: https://youtu.be/k05n4xpXFeI
Musical Youth had to change the topic from weed to an oven.
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