Category: 1980s

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1989

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date May 24, 2019

Every Friday night I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 10, 20, or 30 years ago this weekend (rotating each week). Here it is – for the week ending Sunday May 28TH 1989:

“Baby Don’t Forget My Number” – Milli Vanilli
“Into The Night” – Benny Mardones
“I’ll Be There For You” – Bon Jovi
“Iko Iko” – The Belle Stars
“The Look” – Roxette

It’s another strong Top 5 chart from exactly 30 years ago this Memorial Day Weekend here in the U.S.A. 4 of those 5 hits are in active rotation on my iPod Shuffles at work. The one lone song that’s not – “Into The Night” – has just been added to my Wish List on iTunes. I had to listen to several different versions of that track to pick out the one that I remembered from 1989 (which was actually from 1980). It’s Benny Mardones’ signature song, and he still performs it LIVE in concert. The song has evolved over the years, but it’s the original version that tops them all. Yep – that’s the version that a young almost 22-year-old Chris cranked-up on Y-100 while driving up and down Dade County Florida’s U.S. 1 / South Dixie Highway in his red 1989 Geo Spectrum sedan.

Well it’s the last Friday night of May of 1989, so what’s on TV tonight ? Well obviously I’m watching “Full House” – followed by “Perfect Strangers”- followed by “Mr. Belvedere” (my favorite TV show back then). “Just The Ten Of Us” was on after that, but I didn’t really care for it all that much. Prime Time Television was a whole lot more fun back in 1989 !

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday afternoon, Monday morning, and Tuesday night with 3 more blog posts for this weekend. Until then – enjoy your Saturday. Make memories that’ll make you smile 30 years from now !

Tags 1989

1980s Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1989

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date April 26, 2019

Every Friday night I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 10, 20, or 30 years ago (rotating each week). Here it is – for the week ending Sunday April 30TH 1989:

“I Only Wanna Be With You” – Samantha Fox
“This Time I Know It’s For Real” – Donna Summer
“She Drives Me Crazy” – Fine Young Cannibals
“The Look” – Roxette
“Soldier Of Love” – Donny Osmond

What a strong Top 5 chart exactly 30 years ago. My Goodness. Samantha Fox, Donna Summer, and Donny Osmond all had strong dance songs at the time, and then there’s Fine Young Cannibals with what I consider to be one of the greatest pop songs and pop videos ever made in the history of pop music. If that weren’t enough the Swedish duo Roxette came out of nowhere and exploded onto our U.S. pop scene with their debut smash – and their first of no less than 10 radio hits from 1989 to 1994.

But back to Fine Young Cannibals. I lived in England from 1985 to 1987, so I knew who they were, and I was a fan of them before most Americans back home stateside. Their remake of Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds” was absolutely brilliant, and it was actually the # 1 smash on my 10TH-ever weekly hit music chart dated Saturday February 01ST 1986. The video was pretty cool too, but they topped themselves 3 years later with this gem:

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday afternoon and Monday night with two more blog posts for this weekend. Until then – enjoy your Saturday. Walk away from the computer, put down your smart phone and tablet, go outside, and have some fun in the sun ! That’s what I’ll be doing.

Tags 1989

1980s Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1989

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 29, 2019

“I Beg Your Pardon” – Kon Kan
“Soldier Of Love” – Donny Osmond
“My Prerogative” – Bobby Brown
“Like A Prayer” – Madonna
“Wild Thing” – Tone Loc

I remember when my local Top 40 radio station – Y-100 (Miami) – first started playing “Soldier Of Love”. They withheld the artist of the song so that we could hear it, like it, and request it without prejudice. It worked, and it became a hit before we discovered that it was child star Donny Osmond singing it. Once that was revealed the hit became a # 2 smash from coast to coast. It began a short comeback for Donny, as it was his biggest hit in 18 years since he was 13.

Nationwide Casey Kasem counted down the hits on “Casey’s Top 40”, and Shadoe Stevens did the same on “American Top 40” on this Easter Weekend in 1989. The results were the same. Mike And The Mechanics scored the new # 1 smash from coast to coast with “The Living Years”. It replaced Debbie Gibson’s “Lost In Your Eyes”.

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday and Monday with two more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Make memories that will last a lifetime !

Tags 1989

1980s Holidays Music Radio Travel

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – SPECIAL

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 15, 2019

Every Friday night I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 10, 20, or 30 years ago (rotating each week). But not this week. This week it’s a SPECIAL #RETRO:

We’re just about 24 hours away from Saint Patrick’s Day on March 17TH. It’s the day when most people of Irish descent (like myself) observe and celebrate by wearing green, and eating green foods, and drinking green liquids, and talking Irish-like. I’m not that crazy. I just wear green. When I was a kid in school (many years ago) if you didn’t wear green on Saint Patrick’s Day then you were likely to get pinched over and over again by someone wearing a lot of green. That pretty much made everyone Irish for a day.

My family had a Manx cat named Fluffy for over 17 years. She was a brown cat, but sometimes when the light (or the sun) hit her fur just right she looked greenish. This much is certain: Fluffy loved me more than any other human. When I wasn’t around she looked for me. During her final few years she “came back to life” whenever I came home to visit her.

I lived away from Fluffy in the south of England for exactly 2 years and 1 week from November 1985 to November 1987. I served in the United States Air Force at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire. Saint Patrick’s Day was a big thing in England back then. I imagine it still is. I know it’s even bigger in Ireland and Northern Ireland. I never got to visit either nation while I was so close by in England. I saw a lot of England during those two years when I was 18, 19, and 20 years old. I also visited Scotland, Wales, The Netherlands, Belgium, and France. One day in the future I’ll make it to Ireland – maybe even the Isle Of Man – home of the Manx cat.

Back on my Top 50 personal hit music chart for the week ending Sunday March 29TH 1987 an unsuspecting Irish ditty about a great ship made its debut at # 47. It was a collaboration featuring The Pogues and The Dubliners titled “The Irish Rover”. They actually performed that song LIVE on BBC’s “Top Of The Pops”. They kicked-off the show that week. The following week it skyrocketed 40 notches on my chart from # 47 to # 7. It peaked at # 4 the week after that. It was a Top 10 U.K. pop smash, and a # 1 smash in Ireland. Here’s a video of a TV broadcast where the two bands joined forces and performed it LIVE before a studio audience:

It’s halftime. I’ll be back on Sunday and Monday with two more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Have fun. Make memories that will last a lifetime.

Tags Irish