Category: Music

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 10, 15, 20, or 30 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 4TH Friday of the month, so I go back 30 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday December 31ST 1989:

1. “Leave A Light On” – Belinda Carlisle
2. “Love Shack” – The B-52s
3. “Bust A Move” – Young MC
4. “Blame It On The Rain” – Milli Vanilli
5. “With Every Beat Of My Heart” – Taylor Dayne

And that’s how the 1980s ended high atop my Top 40 chart exactly 30 years ago this weekend. The 1980s were definitely not one of my favorite decades of secular hit music. Looking back in hindsight I place the 1990s, the 1970s, and even the 2000s (in that order) ahead of the 1980s. 1980 to 1985 (my teenage years) can be completely written off, but then it started getting good during my two years (1986-1987) in the United Kingdom (British pop). Back home stateside 1988 was essentially a rerun of 1987 in the U.K., but then the music got really good in 1989. I’ve always considered 1989 to be the first real year of 1990s music (my all-time favorite decade).

Starting next month on the 4TH Friday of the month 30 years ago will be January 1990. We’ll jump in to my all-time favorite decade then. We’ll check out the # 1 smash from one of my favorite artists of the early-1990s – a duo with a string of hits – and just a few weeks ago one-half of the duo passed away.

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday (New Year’s Eve) with 3 more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Thanks for going RETRO with me !

All rights reserved (c) 2019 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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 10, 15, 20, or 30 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 3RD Friday of the month, so I go back 20 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday December 19TH 1999:

1. “Falls Apart” – Sugar Ray
2. “My Love Is Your Love” – Whitney Houston
3. “Shake Your Bon-Bon” – Ricky Martin
4. “Then The Morning Comes” – Smash Mouth
5. “Steal My Sunshine” – Len

It’s my 2ND-to-last hit music chart of the 1990s and the 20TH Century. A couple of songs on there – “My Love Is Your Love” (Jonathan Peters’ Radio Mix) and “Steal My Sunshine” – are still favorites of mine exactly 20 years later. The others – well they kind of failed the test of time.

The 1990s were by far my favorite overall decade of hit music – particularly the HI-NRG Eurodance era during the middle part of the decade. (Think 2 Unlimited, AB Logic, Amber, Culture Beat, Fun Factory, La Bouche, Le Click, Real McCoy, Snap!)

Ironically my chart was on a 3-year hiatus during the peak of this era, and it inspired me to resurrect my chart at the end of October 1995. (It would go on for a 14-year run.)

Once we entered the late-1990s HI-NRG Eurodance began fading, and Top 40 radio began to go boy band pop crazy. (Think Backstreet Boys, ‘N Sync, and 98°.)

So a month from now on the 3RD Friday of the month 20 years ago will be January 2000. We’ll kickoff the 21ST Century then with a Top 5 chart that looks very similar to the one above. But speaking of HI-NRG Eurodance there’s a stray track on that chart that hinted that perhaps HI-NRG Eurodance would make a comeback in the new millennium.

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 !

All rights reserved (c) 2019 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries