Tag: 1986

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1986

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date April 23, 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 4TH Friday of the month, so I go back 35 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday April 27TH 1986:

“Rock Me Amadeus” – Falco
“The Greatest Love Of All” – Whitney Houston
“Train Of Thought” – A-Ha
“The Things The Lonely Do” – Amazulu
“Living Doll” – Cliff Richard & The Young Ones

Amazulu – What a fun band while I was living and working in the United Kingdom. Their music could best be described as upbeat reggae pop. (Reggae was surprisingly popular in the British Isles in the mid-1980s.) They scored with 4 big cover hits in a row on my chart. The 1ST hit – “Don’t You Just Know It” – was a hit very soon after I arrived in the south of England late in 1985. It debuted on my 3RD chart ever, and it peaked at # 2. “The Things The Lonely Do” was their follow-up song. It peaked at # 3 – although it failed to make the BBC-Gallup Top 40. They would go on to score with 2 more hits on my chart and on the radio – “Too Good To Be Forgotten” and “Montego Bay”. (The latter of the 2 was actually a surprise smash on Canadian radio.)

Shortly after I left England behind (late in 1987) Amazulu broke-up, but their fun music still remains on my mind from that fun year of 1986 when I turned 19-years-old and I was fully entrenched within the British pop music scene.

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, British, England, Music, Radio

1980s Blogging Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1986

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 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 March 30TH 1986:

“Move Away” – Culture Club
“Digging Your Scene” – The Blow Monkeys
“Kiss” – Prince
“Manic Monday” – The Bangles
“Absolute Beginners” – David Bowie

I loved that David Bowie song. It’s probably my favorite David Bowie song of all-time. 35 years later – it’s in occasional rotation on my iPod Shuffles of hits that I listen to at my workplace.

Debuting at # 14 on my Top 40 chart was “Living Doll” – a 1986 comical remake of Cliff Richard’s 1959 U.K. # 1 smash. On this weekend in 1986 it became a U.K. # 1 smash all over again. Here’s the music video. It was # 1 on my personal music video chart that week:

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, British, England, Music, Radio

1980s Blogging Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1986

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date February 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 February 23RD 1986:

“The Phantom Of The Opera” – Sarah Brightman & Steve Harley
“When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going” – Billy Ocean
“System Addict” – Five Star
“And She Was” – The Talking Heads
“How Will I Know” – Whitney Houston

35 years ago this weekend Sarah Brightman – one of the stars of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom Of The Opera” – scored a # 1 smash on my chart with the title track of the West End (London) musical. At the time she was married to Andrew Lloyd Webber. He composed the song (with lyrics added by others). I actually saw the play LIVE in person later in 1986 with a couple of coworker friends of mine at the time. It was my first play ever. I saw it several months after my first concert ever.

Nationally (in the United Kingdom) Billy Ocean’s # 2 hit was # 1 in the British Isles. Whitney Houston’s # 5 hit was # 1 back home stateside on “American Top 40”.

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, British, England, Music, Radio

1980s Blogging Military Music Radio Television

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1986

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date January 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 January 26TH 1986:

“It’s Alright (Baby’s Coming Back)” – Eurythmics
“Suspicious Minds” – Fine Young Cannibals
“How Will I Know” – Whitney Houston
“You Little Thief” – Feargal Sharkey
“Wrap Her Up” – Elton John & George Michael

David A. Stewart had a very good week atop my pop chart exactly 35 years ago. He was one-half of Eurythmics (with Annie Lennox), and he also produced Feargal Sharkey’s hit.

Surprisingly “It’s Alright” flopped here in the U.S. (after 8 previous Top 40 hits). Check out its official music video below or here. It was quite unique and futuristic for 1985:

Oh man – that song – with its eerie sound and feeling – triggers vivid memories of that specific time-period in my mind. I remember buying an “International” (NTSC / PAL / SECAM) TV set at the Base Exchange (military department store) on base a few weeks earlier so that I could watch TV in my own dorm room. I soon realized that while it was convenient to do so I had abandoned my new friends in the “day room” (community recreation room). I felt lonely in my dorm room watching TV solo, so I went back to the day room to hang out with my friends there – even if I couldn’t watch what I wanted to watch. It was more important to be with others, laugh, eat, drink, and play Uno. Ah – the life and times of 18½-year-old me in the south of England.

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 !