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 5TH Friday of the month, and usually I present a special on this Friday, but due to #GoodFriday 2 weeks ago #RetroFriday was preempted. So this week I go back 35 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday May 03RD 1987:
- “You’re So Strong” – Mental As Anything
- “Meet El Presidente” – Duran Duran
- “Can’t Be With You Tonight” – Judy Boucher
- “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” – Starship
- “If You Let Me Stay” – Terence Trent D’arby
My favorite Australian band of all-time – Mental As Anything – scored their 2ND consecutive # 1 smash on my chart in 9 weeks in 1987. “You’re So Strong” followed-up “Live It Up” to the top of the pops. It was a remarkable achievement in that while “Live It Up” was a BBC Radio 1 smash (Top 3 on the U.K. pop charts) – “You’re So Strong” received very limited airplay for a week or two before it fizzled. Strangely – “You’re So Strong” was the only Mental As Anything song that made an impact stateside – as a hit on the U.S. Dance chart.
You know a lot of great bands, duos, and artists have come out of Australia, and I’ve liked a lot of their music. But Mental As Anything rises above all of them. I actually only know two of their songs. “Live It Up” is one of my favorite pop songs of the era while living for 2 years in the United Kingdom. 35 years later I still hear it almost every day via my iPod Shuffles that play at my desk at my workplace. For 3 minutes and 49 seconds it always brings me back to that time when I was a late-teenager (on the verge of my 20s) enjoying life in a foreign country with my best friends at the time. I actually don’t have “You’re So Strong” in my collection, but (as I wrote this) I went on iTunes and I added it to my wish list for purchase later. It’s another good song – peppy and faster than I remembered it during those couple of weeks that it played on the radio 35 years ago. It’ll be a good solid addition to my daily iPod Shuffle airplay.
By the way how about that Judy Boucher song – “Can’t Be With You Tonight”. Back in the mid-1980s Caribbean reggae music was very popular in the U.K. It was a common fixture on pop radio and the pop charts. It kind of served as unofficial promotion for the warm British territories of the Caribbean. I loved its feel on the radio. What a great memory that song was !
Next #RetroFriday I’ll go back 15 years ago to May 2007. It’s the week that Switchfoot had an “Awakening”.
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 !
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