Tag: 1986

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1986

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date December 31, 2021

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, so it’s a special. But since #RetroFriday wasn’t presented last week (due to Christmas Eve) – I’ll go back 35 years ago for this edition. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday December 28TH 1986:

“Dreamin'” – Status Quo
“The Boy In The Bubble” – Paul Simon
“Reet Petite” – Jackie Wilson
“C’est La Vie” – Robbie Nevil
“Open Your Heart” – Madonna

What a memorable last weekend of 1986. I actually flew home from London England to Washington D.C. a few days before that Christmas to spend some quality time with my family after missing the previous Christmas (and two Thanksgivings) with them.

Paul Simon’s “The Boy In The Bubble” was a great song off a great album – “Graceland” – which I owned in cassette form. Like “You Can Call Me Al” before it – I memorized the lyrics of “The Boy In The Bubble” after hearing it numerous times on the radio – British radio. Both singles were far more popular across the European continent (and Australia and New Zealand) than they were stateside. “The Boy In The Bubble” was a # 16 hit in the Netherlands and a # 26 hit in the United Kingdom. On my own personal chart it became a # 1 smash in January 1987.

Here’s the official music video, and I still know its lyrics to this day:

Next Friday on RETRO I’ll go back 15 years ago to January 2007.

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 1986, BBC, British, England, Music, Radio

1980s Blogging Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1986

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date November 26, 2021

It’s the 4TH Friday of the month, so I go back 35 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday November 30TH 1986:

“Waiting For The Ghost Train” – Madness
“French Kissin’ In The U.S.A.” – Debbie Harry
“Sometimes” – Erasure
“Everybody Have Fun Tonight” – Wang Chung
“Hip To Be Square” – Huey Lewis And The News

What great music. What fond memories of that wonderful time of my life – enjoying the company of my friends and the fun times that we shared together in the south of England. This was the 2ND (U.S.) Thanksgiving of my life away from my family back home stateside. (The 1ST was the year before in 1985. I had just arrived in England 2½ weeks earlier.)

Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away” was the # 1 smash all across the United Kingdom, and back home stateside Bon Jovi scored their very first # 1 smash with the hard-rockin’ “You Give Love A Bad Name” from their multi-platinum album “Slippery When Wet”.

Next Friday on RETRO I’ll go back 15 years ago to December 2006. Thanks for going RETRO with me !

This is the end of an abbreviated blog weekend, as #SundayScripture and #Top10Monday are on hiatus for the rest of this month of November. They will both return during the 1ST weekend of December. In fact a full weekend of blogging returns next weekend – with 5 new entries on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday. I don’t blog on Saturdays. That’s my day of rest.

Tags 1986, BBC, British, England, Music, Radio

1980s Blogging Music Radio Television

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1986

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date October 22, 2021

It’s the 4TH Friday of the month, so I go back 35 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday October 26TH 1986:

“Heartache All Over The World” – Elton John
“Whole New World” – It Bites
“Take My Breath Away” – Berlin
“You’re Everything To Me” – Boris Gardiner
“Girls Ain’t Nothing But Trouble” – DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince

Elton John may not like that song. In fact he may hate it – as well as the album that it came from (“Leather Jackets”). But I loved it back then, and I still love it today. It’s actually one of my favorite Elton John songs ever. It was the perfect HI-NRG pop sound for the Autumn of 1986.

35 years ago this week I had so much spare time on my hands living and working in the U.K. that I was able to compile and publish (on notebook paper) a personal Top 50 chart – twice per week. On that inaugural Top 50 chart (expanded from a Top 40) I had 25 hits moving up, 14 hits moving down, 5 non-movers, and 6 new entries from The Mission, Icicle Works, Jackson Browne, Boston, Kenny Loggins, and The Cutting Crew.

Nick Berry was at # 1 on the BBC-Gallup Top 40 with “Every Loser Wins”. He was one of the stars of the # 1 TV programme at the time – “EastEnders” – and he performed that song (in character as “Wicksy”) many times on the show back then.

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 1986, BBC, British, EastEnders, England, Music, Radio

1980s Blogging Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1986

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date September 24, 2021

It’s the 4TH Friday of the month, so I go back 35 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday September 28TH 1986:

“Stuck With You” – Huey Lewis And The News
“Pretty In Pink” – The Psychedelic Furs
“(Forever) Live And Die” – Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
“You Can Call Me Al” – Paul Simon
“Brand New Lover” – Dead Or Alive

35 years ago next month – October 1986 – I saw Huey Lewis And The News (supported by Bruce Hornsby And The Range) LIVE in concert in London England at the historic Hammersmith Odeon. 9 days later I saw Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (OMD) LIVE in concert in Oxford England at the Apollo. They were two great concerts, and they were my 3RD and 4TH concerts ever in my life (at age 19).

OMD is my favorite electronic pop act of all-time, and “(Forever) Live And Die” is my favorite song from them. It was the lead single from perhaps my favorite album / cassette of all-time – “The Pacific Age”. I actually got to see OMD LIVE in concert again – nearly 33 years later in August 2019 in Fort Lauderdale Florida (just up the road from me). I sat near the front row (far-left corner), and me and a bunch of fellow concert-goers (all strangers) were singing and dancing so actively that during “Dreaming” Andy McCluskey came over and cheered us on from the stage as he sang and danced. It was an awesome sight to see and experience !

OMD

2 years ago here on RETRO I wrote about that concert experience. Read all about it.

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 !