The Next TOP SONG of 1988 - 1. Heartbreak Beat - Psychedelic Furs (1 Viewer)

[Bracie Smathers]

62.  Turn You Inside-Out - R.E.M.

The song's main guitar riff is an inversion of that used in another song that will make this list.

 

[scorchy]

63.  Got My Mind Set On You (Version I) - George Harrison 

George's return after a 5-year absence and the last album put out while he was still alive.  When this came out, I had no idea that it was a cover from 1962.

George put out a SECOND version AND even a THIRD version.

I wasn't aware of all three versions.

I lost my list so I'm trying but it will take some time.

I remembered there being two versions but could only picture the second video.  Have no idea if the other one I knew about was version I or version III.  Fun song.

 

[PIK95]

62.  Turn You Inside-Out - R.E.M.

The song's main guitar riff is an inversion of that used in another song that will make this list.

Have no idea what is going on in here, but Me in Honey is a monster tune off (Out of Time, not Green) that nobody talks.  Untitled off Green was the one I meant to talk about, lol.   Check it out, the last song.  Carry on.  

Both are great last songs.

 

[Bracie Smathers]

61.  Nothing - Edie Brickell & New Bohemians

A deeper track that many overlooked.  Edie Brickell & New Bohemians had such a unique sound, a mixture of blues, jazz, folk, and rock.  Everything seems to gel in this mellow tune.

 

[Bracie Smathers]

60.  Rain In The Summertime - The Alarm

A Welsh group.  I had a handful of tunes to play when it rained so this reminds me of rainy nights in the booth looking out the large bay window across the Yampa Valley. 

Good memories.

 

[whoknew]

60.  Rain In The Summertime - The Alarm

A Welsh group.  I had a handful of tunes to play when it rained so this reminds me of rainy nights in the booth looking out the large bay window across the Yampa Valley. 

Good memories.

Love that song. Good one.

 

[General Malaise]

Have no idea what is going on in here, but Me in Honey is a monster tune off that record nobody talks about.  Check it out, the last song.  Carry on.

I think Me in Honey was off of Out of Time from 1991, no?  Love that song.

 

[Bracie Smathers]

Have no idea what is going on in here, but Me in Honey is a monster tune off that record nobody talks about.  Check it out, the last song.  Carry on.

I think Me in Honey was off of Out of Time from 1991, no?  Love that song.

Out of Time

Studio album by 

R.E.M.

Released March 12, 1991

 

[Gr00vus]

63.  Got My Mind Set On You (Version I) - George Harrison 

George's return after a 5-year absence and the last album put out while he was still alive.  When this came out, I had no idea that it was a cover from 1962.

George put out a SECOND version AND even a THIRD version.

I wasn't aware of all three versions.

I lost my list so I'm trying but it will take some time.

The first two both got played regularly on whatever channels I was seeing videos from back then. While I did enjoy the intentionally goofy dance interlude of the 2nd one, I always felt gypped at not getting shown the first one instead. The girl in that video, well, I need a minute...

 

[PIK95]

I think Me in Honey was off of Out of Time from 1991, no?  Love that song.

Lol, I was talking about Untitled.  It was the wrong song.  Yeah, of course though.  Out of Time for that.  They are both underrated.  Untitled off Green is so good too.  Both are the last songs on the respective records.  

 

[Bracie Smathers]

I did manage to catch that one, GB.   Maybe substitute the acoustic You're Crazy, which is pretty awesome in its own right.

#75 - Guns n' Roses - Used to Love Her

I made a mistake as Scorchy had this already on his list so here is a REMAKE of my previous selection of G & R 'Used to Love Her 

A redo of my previous selection that I had placed at

#75.  Stand - R.E.M

I didn't care so much for this when it first came out but one of my best friends in college loved it and could not believe I did not like the song.  He was without question the most popular person in our cliche, everyone loved this guy so when he made it her personal mission to convert me into liking this tune he succeeded, lol.  I see my bud Kyle clapping his hands and loudly singing that TWANGY STAAAAAAND lol.  Ya won me over.

A good choice for a redo since I redone my original standce on Stand.

 

[Osaurus]

60.  Rain In The Summertime - The Alarm

A Welsh group.  I had a handful of tunes to play when it rained so this reminds me of rainy nights in the booth looking out the large bay window across the Yampa Valley. 

Good memories.

I’m not a huge Alarm fan, but I love this song. Mike Peters is one of the kindest and hard working musicians I have ever seen.

 

[Bracie Smathers]

59.  La Bamba -  Los Lobos

Arroooooo, the Wolves strike with a remake of the classic Richie Valens tune.

Flashback to early 1960s Cleveland Ohio in my uncle's sports car with Valens version of this song playing as he hits on a girl.  Very cool memory, love this tune.

 

[DocHolliday]

I did manage to catch that one, GB.   Maybe substitute the acoustic You're Crazy, which is pretty awesome in its own right.

You’re crazy is pretty awesome. 

 

[Dan Lambskin]

This Song Is Just Six Words Long

Love that version.

Hell yes

 

[Bracie Smathers]

58.  Someone Like You - Van Morrison

A perfect song from the album Poetic Champions that has become a timeless classic used in many weddings and has made its way on two of Morrison's compilation albums. 

I've been searchin' a long time

For someone exactly like you

I've been travelin' all around the world

Waitin' for you to come through

 

[Mookie Gizzy]

58.  Someone Like You - Van Morrison

A perfect song from the album Poetic Champions that has become a timeless classic used in many weddings and has made its way on two of Morrison's compilation albums. 

I've been searchin' a long time

For someone exactly like you

I've been travelin' all around the world

Waitin' for you to come through

I  had this and another song as huge omissions, so I double checked. I thought this was 87, now I’ll triple check. Anyway, great song

 

[scorchy]

I  had this and another song as huge omissions, so I double checked. I thought this was 87, now I’ll triple check. Anyway, great song

Is it only an oversight if you actually knew about it and missed it?  Where are the grammar/usage nerds when you need them?

Regardless of the year, I've never heard this song  .  In fact, I'm not sure I can name a Van Morrison song other than the much-loathed Brown Eyed Girl.  A huge hole in my game for sure.  One of the things I'm loving about Bracie's list is learning some songs that I didn't know plus a second chance for songs that simply missed the cut (definitely have a couple I am rooting for).

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Is it only an oversight if you actually knew about it and missed it?  Where are the grammar/usage nerds when you need them?

Hi.  And yes.

 

[scorchy]

Hi.  And yes.

I'm a fellow member of that club - just didn't have the confidence in my answer.

 

[Bracie Smathers]

I  had this and another song as huge omissions, so I double checked. I thought this was 87, now I’ll triple check. Anyway, great song

I am going 2nd to Scorchy for 1988 and he did such a great job that I had to widen my list since he basically took about 40 off of my Next-100 so I wouldn't have had enough.

Back in 1988 I worked at KFMU the World's Only Wind-Powered Radio Station as a DJ so 1988 is a special musical year for me so I had to compile a list but I didn't want a watered-down list so I widened my parameters.

From the first post explaining the criteria for this list:

==========================================

List consists of songs from 88, singles albums released and will also include songs listed at the top of the playlist from the radio station I DJ'd at up in the Colorado Rocky Mountain town of Steamboat Springs.  

The songs at the top of that playlist were in heavy rotation in 88 and would include tunes from any part of 87 so my parameters widen on this list.  Also I would move from Steamboat to Boulder Colorado to begin college at CU where they had one of the top AOR stations in the country KBCO.  So my list will include tunes in heavy rotation from my station KFMU and KBCO with one exception and I'll explain that when I get to it later.

 

[Bracie Smathers]

I'm not sure I can name a Van Morrison song other than the much-loathed Brown Eyed Girl.

I'm pretty sure that is a federal crime so we have to fix that right now.

Just scratching the surface.  You might want to check these  tunes out.

Played this my first shift as a DJ.  ====  Tupelo Honey

• Moondance 
  
• Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile) 
  
• Domino
  
• Wild Night
  
• Wavelength
  
• Natalia
  
• Caravan
  

 

[Bracie Smathers]

57.  Fragile - Sting

The song is a tribute to Ben Linder, an American civil engineer who was killed by the Contras in 1987 while working on a hydroelectric project in Nicaragua.

 

[scorchy]

I'm pretty sure that is a federal crime so we have to fix that right now.

Thanks.  I had actually heard maybe half of them - just didn't know it was Van Morrison.  Would have pled not guilty by reason of ignorance...  Maybe it's time to stop skipping over the Classic Vinyl station on my presets.

 

[Bracie Smathers]

56.  Unchain My Heart - Joe Cocker

A cover of a Ray Charles tune originally done in 1961.  Every time I hear Joe's version, I think back to the 80s.

I wasn't aware the tune was originally from 61 so the lines...

... Why lead me through a life of misery
When you don't care a bag of beans for me ...

I assumed Joe wrote the song in the 80s and thought to myself, a bag of beans? 

I remember thinking to myself that you don't hear that phrase very often, but it may have been commonplace back in 61 when Bobby Sharp wrote it.

 

[Doug B]

56.  Unchain My Heart - Joe Cocker

A cover of a Ray Charles tune originally done in 1961.  Every time I hear Joe's version, I think back to the 80s.

Probably not when Cocker's cover was new, but: I remember it being used prominently in a commercial, but I can't remember the product. Gotta look it up.

EDIT: Found it -- it was a Miller Lite commercial, around 2007 or so.

 

[zamboni]

#75.  Stand - R.E.M

Always reminds me of the theme song from Get A Life.

 

[Bracie Smathers]

55.  One Step Up - Bruce Springsteen

Just about every song of the album reflects the impending breakup of the marriage between Springsteen and then-wife Julianne Phillips.

 

[Bracie Smathers]

54.  Nothing But Flowers - The Talking Heads

Love the 'jangly' guitar work on this one.

This comes off of the album Naked.  The band dissolved shortly after the album's release, but did not announce their breakup until 1991.

 

[scorchy]

54.  Nothing But Flowers - The Talking Heads

Love the 'jangly' guitar work on this one.

This comes off of the album Naked.  The band dissolved shortly after the album's release, but did not announce their breakup until 1991.

I definitely missed on this one.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

54.  Nothing But Flowers - The Talking Heads

Love the 'jangly' guitar work on this one.

This comes off of the album Naked.  The band dissolved shortly after the album's release, but did not announce their breakup until 1991.

I miss the honky tonks
Dairy Queens and Seven-Elevens

 

[Osaurus]

I just read Chris Frantz’s (Drummer) book, Remain in Love, not that long ago. It’s a great read. The audiobook is narrated by him as well. 

 

[Bracie Smathers]

53.  Somewhere Down The Crazy River - Robbie Robertson 

Robbie Robertson of The Band fame released this one on his solo debut album.  The backstory is worth telling.

When one of the producers, Daniel Lanois, was asked about the inspiration for "Somewhere Down the Crazy River", he said that the song was "kind of like a guy with a deep voice telling you about steaming nights in Arkansas". He went on to say that Robertson was describing his experiences of hanging out in his old neighborhood of Arkansas with Levon Helm (fellow The Band member) during hot nights in which they were "fishing with dynamite" and had asked a local for directions to "somewhere down the crazy river"

 

[Bracie Smathers]

52.  The Ballad of Jenny Rae - BoDeans

Another off of what I felt was the most undervalued album of 1988, Outside Looking In.

To me this song conjures up images of the old west.

I think this one is really cool.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

I assumed Joe wrote the song in the 80s and thought to myself, a bag of beans? 

Joe didn't write his own songs. 

However, I too first heard this version before Ray's version. 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

53.  Somewhere Down The Crazy River - Robbie Robertson 

Robbie Robertson of The Band fame released this one on his solo debut album.  The backstory is worth telling.

When one of the producers, Daniel Lanois, was asked about the inspiration for "Somewhere Down the Crazy River", he said that the song was "kind of like a guy with a deep voice telling you about steaming nights in Arkansas". He went on to say that Robertson was describing his experiences of hanging out in his old neighborhood of Arkansas with Levon Helm (fellow The Band member) during hot nights in which they were "fishing with dynamite" and had asked a local for directions to "somewhere down the crazy river"

Robertson's first two solo albums are incredible. Always liked the vibe on this one. 

 

[Bracie Smathers]

51.  The One I Love - R.E.M.

I originally had Guns N Roses 'Welcome to the Jungle' here but I wasn't a fan when it came out and didn't bother to listen to it when I slotted it to this spot but after hearing it for the first time in decades, I'm still not a fan.

The One I Love is probably not what you think its about.

The record has become a popular radio dedication to loved ones, relying on a misinterpretation of its refrain, "This one goes out to the one I love." However, subsequent lyrics in the same verse contradict the love song interpretation and suggest a darker, more manipulative theme ("A simple prop to occupy my time").

Stipe related in 1987 to Rolling Stone, "I've always left myself pretty open to interpretation. It's probably better that they just think it's a love song at this point."[7] However, in an interview in the January 1988 issue of Musician magazine, he said that the song was "incredibly violent" and added, "It's very clear that it's about using people over and over again".

 

[Bracie Smathers]

50.  Circle - Edie Brickell & New Bohemians

The other single off the album.

Edie Brickell, a self-described loner wrote Circle in liner notes, "That weird lost feeling can get you even when you're hangin' round with friends."

 

[massraider]

50.  Circle - Edie Brickell & New Bohemians

The other single off the album.

Edie Brickell, a self-described loner wrote Circle in liner notes, "That weird lost feeling can get you even when you're hangin' round with friends."

She has more than one song?

 

[scorchy]

She has more than one song?

Circle was popular enough that the DJ played it at my junior prom.  Can picture my date Rhonda singing along to it as we slow-danced in circles.

 

[General Malaise]

Lol, I was talking about Untitled.  It was the wrong song.  Yeah, of course though.  Out of Time for that.  They are both underrated.  Untitled off Green is so good too.  Both are the last songs on the respective records.  

That is a fantastic song.  I think Green is a very solid album....except for Stand.  Yuck.

 

[Anarchy99]

50.  Circle - Edie Brickell & New Bohemians

The other single off the album.

Edie Brickell, a self-described loner wrote Circle in liner notes, "That weird lost feeling can get you even when you're hangin' round with friends."

I always enjoyed the Bohemians first two albums. Saw her open for Don Henley in 1989. Bumped into her after her set and she was with Paul Simon. She and I were both 21. He was 45 or 46. Definitely came off as a little creepy. Maybe I was just jealous. 

 

[Bogart]

61.  Nothing - Edie Brickell & New Bohemians

A deeper track that many overlooked.  Edie Brickell & New Bohemians had such a unique sound, a mixture of blues, jazz, folk, and rock.  Everything seems to gel in this mellow tune.

50.  Circle - Edie Brickell & New Bohemians

The other single off the album.

Edie Brickell, a self-described loner wrote Circle in liner notes, "That weird lost feeling can get you even when you're hangin' round with friends."

Love this band and this album so much. Fun thing is when seeing them live, it's never "What I Am" that closes the show, it's typically 3 or 4 songs from the end, deep in the set. The last song played is one of these two, and which ever one they don't play last, they typically play third, and it gets the first huge reaction of the night.

 

[General Malaise]

50.  Circle - Edie Brickell & New Bohemians

The other single off the album.

Edie Brickell, a self-described loner wrote Circle in liner notes, "That weird lost feeling can get you even when you're hangin' round with friends."

This is my favorite song from their debut album, which is really good.  Always thought they had more room to run, but not meant to be. 

 

[General Malaise]

I always enjoyed the Bohemians first two albums. Saw her open for Don Henley in 1989. Bumped into her after her set and she was with Paul Simon. She and I were both 21. He was 45 or 46. Definitely came off as a little creepy. Maybe I was just jealous. 

No, I think he's a little creepy.  I love him, but yeah....

 

[zamboni]

I always enjoyed the Bohemians first two albums. Saw her open for Don Henley in 1989. Bumped into her after her set and she was with Paul Simon. She and I were both 21. He was 45 or 46. Definitely came off as a little creepy. Maybe I was just jealous. 

I was always jealous that she could shoot rubberbands up to the stars. I was lucky just to reach the kid at the other end of my homeroom.

 

[PIK95]

That is a fantastic song.  I think Green is a very solid album....except for Stand.  Yuck.

I can't take Orange Crush AT ALL anymore fwiw.

 

[Bracie Smathers]

I always enjoyed the Bohemians first two albums. Saw her open for Don Henley in 1989. Bumped into her after her set and she was with Paul Simon. She and I were both 21. He was 45 or 46. Definitely came off as a little creepy. Maybe I was just jealous. 

No, I think he's a little creepy.  I love him, but yeah....

She married Simon and had three kids with him.  They are still together.  

Longevity is rare for any marriage and incredibly rare in celebrity marriages.  

 

[Bracie Smathers]

49.  I Wanna Be Like You - Los Lobos

The wolves strike again.  This song was not put out on a Los Lobos album, it is from a tribute album entitled: 

Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films

I always loved the original Louis Prima version but much prefer the Los Lobos version.

I used to play this song a lot.

 

[Ramsay Hunt Experience]

No, I think he's a little creepy.  I love him, but yeah....

They're still together   Of course, so are Woody Allen and Soon-Yi.