Category: Music

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1980s Blogging Music Radio

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, 20, 25, 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 November 01ST 1987:

  1. “Love In The First Degree” – Bananarama
  2. “Got My Mind Set On You” – George Harrison
  3. “You Win Again” – Bee Gees
  4. “Come On Let’s Go” – Los Lobos
  5. “Crazy Crazy Nights” – KISS

The end was near. I was in my final couple of weeks of living and working in the south of England in the Cotswolds of Gloucestershire. I was there for 2 years and 1 week, and I made the most of it by immersing myself into British culture as an 18, 19, and 20-year-old. It was the greatest 2 years of my life at the time. I vowed to return to the United Kingdom when I left 35 years ago. I haven’t been back since. Someday though it may happen.

Among the highlights of my Top 5 – Bananarama spent a 2ND week at the top with their Stock Aitken Waterman produced pop-dance smash – “Love In The First Degree”. George Harrison scored a comeback smash with what turned out to be his biggest smash since his debut solo smash in 1970 – “My Sweet Lord”. It was a long-lasting hit on my chart, as it straddled the end of my British-based pop chart and the start of my American-based pop chart. Many songs did that. What was big in the U.K. in 1987 was big in the U.S. in 1988, and my chart continued on. You’ll see that as #RetroFriday continues on the 4TH Friday of the month from 35 years ago.

Next #RetroFriday I’ll go back 15 years ago to November 2007. It’s when a young man from the east side of Columbus Ohio was cashing in.

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) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 297

Every Monday I post my all-new Top 10 Christian hit music chart based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from the previous week. It’s the continuation of a weekly hobby that goes back nearly 45 years. Here’s this week’s chart – for the week ending Sunday October 23RD 2022 – the 297TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 11 Good Morning Mercy
[6TH week @ # 1]		 Jason Crabb
2 3 10 New Creation Mac Powell
3 2 18 Thank God For Sunday Morning Cochren & Co.
4 5 4 Ain’t Nobody Cody Carnes
5 – 1 Who I Am Ben Fuller
6 7 4 Love Me Like I Am for King & Country Ft. Jordin Sparks
7 6 9 Build A Boat Colton Dixon
8 4 7 Miracle Power We The Kingdom
9 – 1 Same God Elevation Worship
10 – 1 Then Christ Came MercyMe

# 1 This Week In:
2021 – “What If” – Matthew West
2020 – “Rise Up (Lazarus)” – Cain
2019 – “Fear No More” – Building 429
2018 – “Only Jesus” – Casting Crowns
2017 – “Word Of Life” – Jeremy Camp

53RD ANNUAL GMA DOVE AWARDS – What a great show it was. Recorded at the Allen Arena at Lipscomb University in Nashville Tennessee on Tuesday October 18TH 2022 – it aired 3 nights later on TBN. I watched the Red Carpet preshow for the full hour before the 2-hour telecast. It was a fun 3 hours last Friday night. I had originally planned to live-tweet during the show, but I was actually finalizing my sermon for yesterday morning. I got that done during the show, and the awesome music provided the perfect soundtrack for my final preparations.

LOVE ME LIKE I AM – This song is really growing on me, and with each new listen on the radio – I like it a little bit more.

This concludes another weekend of blog posts. I’ll do it again with the new weekend – and 4 new entries – known as #TravelThursday, #RetroFriday, #SundayScripture, and #Top10Monday.

Your likes, follows, and comments are always appreciated. Thank You for being part of my online ministry to share God’s Good News and win souls for Christ through His music. I’m also on Twitter and Flickr.

Be blessed my friends !  May our God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
1990s Blogging Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1997

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, 20, 25, or 35 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 3RD Friday of the month, so I go back 25 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday October 26TH 1997:

  1. “Tubthumping” – Chumbawamba
  2. “(I Just Wanna) Fly” – Sugar Ray Ft. Super Cat
  3. “(If You’re Not In It For Love) I’m Outta Here !” – Real McCoy
  4. “Show Me Love” – Robyn
  5. “Mo Money Mo Problems” – The Notorious B.I.G. Ft. Puff Daddy & Mase

If any act defined and expanded Eurodance back in the mid-1990s – it was Berlin Germany’s Real McCoy. After “Another Night” and “Run Away” invaded the pop charts worldwide in 1994 and 1995 they scored with 5 more hits on my chart – “Come And Get Your Love” (# 2), “Automatic Lover (Call For Love)” (# 1), “Ooh Boy” (# 2), “One More Time” (# 3), and finally “(If You’re Not In It For Love) I’m Outta Here !” (# 1).

4,686 = Combined number of plays of all 7 Real McCoy tracks on my iTunes / iPod Shuffles since the Summer of 2007.

I loved “(If You’re Not In It For Love) I’m Outta Here !”, and I still love it today. Commercially it was a flop, but luckily here in South Florida it was a regional smash on the radio. It generated heavy airplay as it spent 23 weeks on my chart.

Shania Twain cowrote the track, and she took it to # 1 on the U.S. Country Music chart early in 1996. It was also a minor pop hit at Top 40 radio.

Next #RetroFriday I’ll go back 35 years ago to the end of October 1987. It’s when Sara, Siobhan, and Keren scored a # 1 smash on my chart. It will also be my final British-based pop chart.

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) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Christian Driving Geography God Music Radio Travel

Fort Lauderdale Florida

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last Thursday October 13TH 2022 dual music concerts were occurring simultaneously 17 miles apart in the Greater Fort Lauderdale area (Broward County). At The Parker – “Weird Al” Yankovic was LIVE on tour – with comedian Emo Philips opening for him. Over at The Center – Newsboys were headlining – with Cochren & Co. and Adam Agee (Stellar Kart) opening for them. So of course – you know me – you’ve been reading my blog for years now – of course – I saw – the legendary – “Weird Al” Yankovic and Emo Philips !

I actually bought my ticket for the “Weird Al” show 7 months earlier in March 2022. He was doing back-to-back completely different shows on Wednesday and Thursday (October 12TH and 13TH), and I randomly picked the second show since it was closer to the weekend. If I had picked the first show (on Wednesday) then I could have gone to the Newsboys concert (on Thursday). The Newsboys concert wasn’t even announced until a couple of months ago in August 2022.

So I’ve been a “Weird Al” fan (OK – nerd) for almost 40 years now – ever since I first heard of him and his music in 1983 on WJOK-AM (All Comedy Radio in Gaithersburg Maryland). I bought all of his cassettes back in the ’80s. I kind of “outgrew” him into the ’90s, but I still have that place in my heart for his weirdness. I saw him LIVE in concert for the first time in August 2015, and then I saw him again in June 2019. All 3 shows were in Fort Lauderdale. He always puts on a good fun nostalgic show. I kind of wish I had gotten tickets to both of his shows – since they were both completely different (aside from the encores). For his tour this time around – he performed some of his “extremely unpopular songs”, so not the hits, but even so I knew a lot of the songs that he did. For this show that I attended – one of his encores was a note-for-note cover version of Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al” – one of my favorite songs of all time !

“Weird Al” Yankovic is a born-again Christian who doesn’t cuss, smoke, drink, or use drugs. Privately (off-performance) he’s shy and polite to everyone.

Emo Philips opened for “Weird Al” with a 34-minute stand-up comedy set that had the entire concert hall laughing in hysterics. I was never a fan of his weird comedy, but he definitely delivered for this show. He exceeded my expectations of him. His comedy routine was funny and relevant.

This was my second show at The Parker (former Parker Playhouse) – at least since 2000. It’s been there near downtown Fort Lauderdale (off U.S. 1) since 1966 – with the first show presented in February 1967. It recently completed a 2½-year / $30-million-dollar renovation. It definitely had that “new-car-smell” to it last week. It’s a very nice venue. I think I may have seen a concert or two there in the late-1980s into the 1990s. Back then the Sunrise Musical Theatre was the place for concerts over in the western part of Broward County.

Next #TravelThursday I’ll tell you all about the Miami Military Museum. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp