Tag: 1987

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1987

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date April 29, 2022

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 !

Tags 1987, Music, Radio

1980s Blogging Music Radio Travel

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1987

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 25, 2022

It’s the 4TH Friday of the month, so I go back 35 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday March 29TH 1987:

“Let It Be” – Ferry Aid
“Lean On Me” – Club Nouveau
“(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)” – The Beastie Boys
“I Get The Sweetest Feeling” – Jackie Wilson
“Respectable” – Mel And Kim

During the early evening hours of Friday March 06TH 1987 the MS Herald Of Free Enterprise car and passenger ferry – on its way to Dover England – capsized off the coast of Zeebrugge Belgium in the North Sea. 193 passengers and crew perished in shallow frigid water. There were 346 survivors.

A little over a week later a large ensemble of mostly British musicians got together to record a special version of The Beatles’ classic “Let It Be”. It was released as a single a week after that, and it went straight-in at # 1 on the British pop chart. All proceeds of the single went to a charity that supported the victims of the disaster and their families.

Here’s the official music video of this single:

Next #RetroFriday I’ll go back 15 years ago to April 2007. It’s when my favorite pop-punk band scored a # 1 smash with a fast-paced song that can wait another 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 1987, BBC, British, England, Music, Radio

1980s Blogging Music Radio Travel

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1987

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date February 25, 2022

It’s the 4TH Friday of the month, so I go back 35 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday March 01ST 1987:

“Live It Up” – Mental As Anything
“I Get The Sweetest Feeling” – Jackie Wilson
“Skin Trade” – Duran Duran
“Coming Around Again” – Carly Simon

Last week on #RetroFriday I hinted at a long-running Australian band who scored a # 1 smash on my chart that is one of my favorite songs of all-time that I still hear nearly every day on my iPod Shuffles that play at my desk at my workplace. And I sing along to it every day. And I’ve probably played it more times than any other American, as it’s a virtual unknown song here in the U.S.A.

That would be Mental As Anything’s “Live It Up” – their biggest hit ever. It was an International pop smash in Australia / New Zealand and Europe – reaching # 3 on the U.K. pop chart. I absolutely love this song 35 years later. It still sounds as fresh as it did back in 1987 when I was a late-teenager (not quite 20 yet) living it up in England.

Here’s the band from their iconic Thursday February 26TH 1987 LIVE performance on BBC-1’s “Top Of The Pops”:

Next #RetroFriday I’ll go back 15 years ago to March 2007. It’s when a guy from my former hometown scored his first # 1 smash on my chart. His second # 1 smash would come 10 years later and help resurrect my weekly hit music chart after a 7-year hiatus.

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 1987, BBC, British, England, Music, Radio

1980s Blogging Music Radio Travel

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1987

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date January 28, 2022

It’s the 4TH Friday of the month, so I go back 35 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday February 01ST 1987:

“Someday'” – Glass Tiger
“C’est La Vie” – Robbie Nevil
“Walking Down Your Street” – The Bangles
“Trampolene” – Julian Cope
“I Love My Radio” – Taffy

Julian Cope was one of my favorite singers on the radio in late-1986 and early-1987. His “Saint Julian” album was actually released after his two hit singles from the album – “World Shut Your Mouth” (which actually became a mainstream rock hit stateside) – and “Trampolene”. I liked both songs equally. They were quite hard rock for British Top 40 radio at the time (not known for much rock). I guess both songs could best be described as “psychedelic pop punk”.

Here’s the music video for “Trampolene”:

January / February 1987 was a great time for pop music in my life as a 19½-year-old living in Gloucestershire England. My 2-year U.S. military tour of the region was more than half-done and on the downhill, so I knew that I had to maximize my limited time remaining by exploring the area and enjoying the arts and entertainment when not working at my job.

I attended 2 LIVE concerts in January 1987 – The Human League at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, and Frankie Goes To Hollywood (opened by Berlin led by Terri Nunn) in Birmingham.

Next #RetroFriday I’ll go back 15 years ago to February 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 !