My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1987

Hello again retro music fans. Every Friday I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 15, 25, 30, or 35 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 4TH Friday of the month, so I go back 35 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday June 28TH 1987:

“Star Trekkin'” – The Firm
“Let’s Dance” – Chris Rea
“Don’t Dream It’s Over” – Crowded House
“When Smokey Sings” – ABC
“It’s A Sin” – Pet Shop Boys

Has it really been 35 years since this 20-year-old teenybopper danced like a maniac in his dorm room to “Star Trekkin'” (across the universe – on the Starship Enterprise under Captain Kirk !)

What a corny song that was, but it was a # 1 smash on my chart – # 1 nationwide in the United Kingdom, and it was also huge at the record stores on the European continent and also in Australia and New Zealand. Dr. Demento made it a cult favorite here stateside as well.

But allow me to share more on my # 2 hit exactly 35 years ago. It’s Chris Rea. You may remember him for his Summer of 1978 radio hit “Fool (If You Think It’s Over)”. It was his biggest hit here stateside. But it wasn’t his biggest hit worldwide. That would be “Let’s Dance”. I took an instant liking to “Let’s Dance” as soon as I heard it for the first time in late-May 1987. The very fast-paced song (175 BPM) spent 11 weeks on my chart – peaking at # 2 for 3 weeks in a row. To this day I still hear this song almost daily via my iPod Shuffles that play at my desk at my workplace. I consider it to be one of the greatest pop songs ever made, and it’s part of the amazing soundtrack of the greatest summer that I’ve ever seen – the Summer of 1987 – living and working in Gloucestershire England.

Next #RetroFriday I’ll go back 15 years ago to the start of July 2007. It’s the week that a hard rock band was in my Top 5, and they showed me how I can my rock face off to my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday and Monday with 2 more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Thanks for going retro with me !