Category: Travel

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1995

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date November 13, 2020

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 2ND Friday of the month, so I go back 25 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday November 12TH 1995:

“Til I Hear It From You” – Gin Blossoms
“Get Together” – Big Mountain
“Come And Get Your Love” – Real McCoy
“Back For Good” – Take That
“Forever Tonight” – Peter Cetera & Crystal Bernard

A new season of my weekly RETRO feature continues, and this week I debut a brand new look back at 25 years ago. After a 3-year hiatus my weekly hit music chart came back to life in a big way at the end of October of 1995. It would be the start of a run that would last over 14 years. It would also mark the start of the online era of my chart where I got to share it with the whole world via my web site.

Gin Blossoms were one of my favorite pop-rock bands of the mid-1990s. “Hey Jealousy” and “Found Out About You” were fun songs to jam to in my cozy efficiency apartment in Melbourne Florida in 1993 into 1994. They were both big hits on 107.1-A1A – the Top 40 radio station back then (and now) along Florida’s Space Coast.

Back in Homestead (where I live today) “Til I Hear It From You” was the perfect pop song for late-1995 that was my first # 1 smash of the new post-grunge pop era.

And what can I say about Real McCoy. They were a hit-making machine back in the mid-1990s with no less than 7 big pop hits in a row on Top 40 radio in South Florida. They defined the Eurodance phenomenon during the 1990s !

Next Friday on RETRO I’ll go back 30 years ago to November 1990.

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 !

Tags 1990, Music, Radio

Blogging Career Holidays Military Travel

Honoring My Fellow Veterans

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date November 11, 2020

It’s Veterans Day here in the U.S.A.

This past weekend marked the 35TH anniversary that the United States Air Force shipped me off to a foreign country solo for the first time in my life. As an 18½-year-old I flew from Washington Dulles Airport nonstop to London Heathrow Airport. It was an overnight flight from November 09TH into November 10TH of 1985. From there I took British Rail westward to Swindon in Wiltshire, and then from there I hired a cab to take me up to RAF Fairford in the Cotswolds of Gloucestershire – my home for the next 2 years. (It was my first permanent duty station.)

I’ve been a member of the United States Air Force for the past 36 years now – going back to when I first signed on the dotted line of the delayed enlistment program near the start of my senior year in high school. I was hesitant in joining the military way back then, but it all turned out just right, and it’s become my career. I’d do it all over again.

To my fellow Veterans – this is our day. From one Veteran to all of you – I thank you for serving your nation so that we may be free indeed.

Veterans Day 2020

Tags Military, Veterans

1980s Blogging Career Military Music Radio Travel

My Least-Favorite Music Decade

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date November 5, 2020

Last Thursday I blogged about “My Favorite Music Decade” – the 1970s. This week I’m blogging about “My Least-Favorite Music Decade” – the 1980s.

I was not a fan of early-1980s music at all – not back then – not now. It reminds me of my high school years – which were not fun at all. MTV was huge back then, and they redefined how we not only heard – but also saw the hottest hits in the land. I didn’t watch much of it.

For a couple of years (1983 and 1984) I completely abandoned Top 40 music in favor of an all-comedy AM radio station in the Greater Washington D.C. area – WJOK. I was actually a “regular” on “The Funny Button”, as I called all of my favorite deejays on there on a fairly regular basis requesting comedy bits, telling jokes, and contributing comedic material.

At the end of 1985 I discovered the British pop scene – and I thorough immersed myself in it for the next 2 years – attending the first 17 concerts of my life. That was the peak of that music decade – those 2 years when I was working and living and having fun as an 18, 19, and 20-year-old in the south of England.

When I returned home stateside it was like a year of reruns. All of the great music that I enjoyed over in the United Kingdom in 1987 was just starting to make it big here in 1988.

1989 was a great year for pop music, but I’ve always considered it to be the start of 1990s music – which was a great decade overall.

So to recap there were only 2 good years of pop music from 1980 to 1988, and I had to go overseas to find it !

1980s Blogging Career Driving Life Military Music Radio Travel

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1985

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date October 30, 2020

Every 2ND, 3RD, and 4TH Friday of the month 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, or 30 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 5TH Friday of the month, so it’s a special. Back in 1985 I was an 18-year-old USAF Airman Basic living in a dorm at Chanute AFB near Rantoul Illinois. I was there for technical training related to my future job. During those last days of October of 1985 I was still there, but I shouldn’t have been. You see I was held-back. While my 3 classmates moved on to their next destination I was still there with my instructor. I failed the final exam (barely). I didn’t study hard enough for it. Perhaps I partied just a little bit too much during the days and nights leading-up to the final exam.

So my instructor summarized the material of the past 12 weeks, quizzed me on it over and over again, and prepared me to take the final exam again. I passed it on the redo, and I was soon on my way out of that dorm, off the base, and on the road in my 1980 Chevy Citation. I drove 700 miles eastward across Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and into Northern Virginia (my home-of-record at the time).

These were the hottest hits in the land during that memorable 700-mile drive – exactly 35 years ago this weekend – for the week ending Sunday October 27TH 1985:

“Saving All My Love For You” – Whitney Houston
“Part-Time Lover” – Stevie Wonder
“Take On Me” – A-Ha
“Miami Vice Theme” – Jan Hammer
“Head Over Heels” – Tears For Fears

That was the longest solo road-trip of my life (up to that point). That was in my very first car that I didn’t get to keep long enough, as I would soon be on my way overseas to The United Kingdom. (That car would eventually be sold by my Dad.)

Big changes are coming to RETRO starting next Friday. I’ll be removing 20 years ago from the monthly rotation, and I’ll be adding 25 years ago and 35 years ago. My hit music chart began 35 years ago next month in England, and 25 years ago this month it was resurrected after a 3-year hiatus. The beginnings of both of these distinct eras are intriguing, and I’m looking forward to looking back at these music memories of my life.

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 !