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Wide Bee Gee
1981 started without MTV and ended with it! Transitional year where toothless FM schlock-rock trio of death (REO Speedwagon, Journey, & Foreigner) was extremely popular.
Folks were unsure any longer what was cool so they tried anything: Was the Alan Parsons Project cool? Was new wave cool? Was the “Stars on 45” medley series cool? We had to live through it to find out. The Hot Hundred in 1981 will make you hurl so very few from my list and theirs is the same.
I tried to be representative even of the stuff I hated and limited my choices where possible to one per artist. I didn’t count the stuff covered in other years but actually released during this one (Police, J Giels, Men @ Work etc etc)
First the Hall of Shame for being flawed enough to stay out of this list...:
Workin’ for the Weekend – Loverboy
Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey
Don’t Let Him Go – REO Speedwagon
Bette Davis Eyes (the No. 1 song of 81) – Kim Carnes
Hey Nineteen – Steely Dan
Doors of Your Heart – The English Beat
Bob & Doug MacKenzie – Great White North
Blue Oyster Cult – Burnin’ for You
Love Is Like A Rock – Donny Iris
HUNDREDS OF OTHERS....
and now, your top 30...
30. You Make My Dreams Come True – Hall n’ Oates
What can you say, Darryl Hall could sing and this is bubblicious.
29. Foreigner – Urgent
I didn’t go for Foreigner but this is them doing what they did well. Gramm has a nice voice.
28. The Breakup Song (They Don’t Write ‘Em) – Greg Kihn Band
Better than “Jeopardy” – the song, not the show anyway.
27. Don’t You Want Me – The Human League
Best stupid guy-girl duet since “Paradise by the Dashboard Light”
26. Flying High Again – Ozzy Osbourne
No matter how little he passed down to his kids, Ozzy had some singing talent, and his guitar player (who’d die soon) does nice work on this cock-rock-cut.
25. White Girl – X
Punk-ass punks from LA!
24. A Thing About You – Tom Petty
I could have gone with “The Waiting” but this one gets the edge.
23. Under Pressure – David Bowie & Queen
Two of the best vocalists of the 70s team up behind a disco beat.
22. Girls on Film -- Duran Duran
What Duran Duran never got a whole lot better and this one had a forbidden video!
21. Steve Winwood – Arc of a Diver
Winwood was rare among 60s relics who held up in 81. Steve Miller’s “Circle of Love” album was embarrassingly bad.
20. Billy Squier – The Stroke
This song just jackhammered into your brain at first listen and stayed there. Squier was a certified journeyman nobody when he released this tune about compromises in the record industry, only to torch his own career by dancing around a bedroom in Olivia Newton John’s clothes a few years later.
19. I’m Lucky – Joan Armatrading
Thomas Dolby’s keyboards nearly dominate this track but a happy little melody and Joan’s voice balance the scales. A quirky little song I always liked.
18. Slowhand – The Pointer Sisters
The sistas knew soul.
17. Just the Two of Us – Grover Washington and Bill Withers
I’ll nod to the nascent adult-contemporary category with this pretty, well-sung ballad.
16. Never Say Never – Romeo Void
BNA: “I might like you better if we slept together…” This was an exciting, daring song that was a lot of fun dancing to. Very much an 80s classic.
15. Start Me Up – The Rolling Stones
Was this the last great pairing of Mick and Keith? Maybe.
14. Gloria – U2
This was the first U2 song I ever heard, thanks to a new thing called a video.
13. King Crimson – Elephant Talk
Art-rock would thankfully die a bloody death in the 80s, but this was it at its best – a wild, complex song with verses that went alphabetically -- Babble, burble, banter, bicker bicker bicker Brouhaha, boulderdash, ballyhoo -- “Undisciplined” from the same album was also pretty cool.
12. Red Barchetta – Rush
Back then, you were either with Rush or against ‘em: My younger brother was with, so I was against. Rush were so gay, I argued then, that the only way they’d write a love song was if they wrote one to a car. Seriously! Secretly I always liked this one and I play it when I see it on a jukebox.
11. Jumpin’ with Symphony Sid – Joe Jackson
There’s no one song from this that really stands out so I just chose the first one. Much cooler than the retro-swingers of the late 90s done with super players.
10. Our Lips are Sealed – The Go-Gos
This was a very innocently sexy song.
9. Superfreak – Rick James
I was working a summer manual labor job with a guy who introduced his girlfriend to me as “My Supafreak!” She gave him the dirtiest, most scrotum-scorching look I ever saw. He meant well. What a great summer.
8. Wolves, Lower – R.E.M.
Some hardcore fans argue R.E.M. started going downhill after the Chronic Town EP. This is raw early stuff, but its all there – Buck’s jangling, Mills’ great background vocals and Stipe’s pained mumbling. Plus you can dance to this one.
7. Clubland – Elvis Costello
The long arm of the law slides up the outskirts of town… This one barely beats “Beyond Belief” only cuz it was a bigger hit.
6. Bad Reputation – Joan Jett
“I Love Rock n’ Roll” was the big hit off this record but I hated it then and hate it today. This one was way cooler.
5. Beautiful World – Devo
“New Traditionalists” didn’t have the big Devo hit everyone might have expected following “Whip It” but this tune was pretty good anyway. My friends and I secretly dedicated this song to the Lunchroom Jockocracy.
4. Let’s Groove – Earth, Wind & Fire
Strong little funk-disco thing happening here. I like the way the verse mimics the chorus.
3. In Quintessence – Squeeze
This leads off “East Side Story,” which in a fair fight would get more Top-30 mentions. I love this one cuz it just blows you away right as it begins – the verse sung in harmony building to a goofy, brief chorus, organ and bass propelling it along.
2. Unchained – Van Halen
Eddie’s guitar playing and David Lee Roth’s Rothness might be overrated from time to time, but maybe what I like most about Van Halen is the background singing. “And ya hit the ground runnin’!” That wasn’t unique to this song but it’s a good example.
1. Message of Love – The Pretenders
Now the reason we’re here…. There’s absolutely nothing that’s not perfect on this cut!
GF212121
Jumpin' Jive is a great album. I'd have gone with 'Jack, You Dead,' but there are no bad calls on this one. Excellent choice. 'The Breakup Song' is absolutely one of my favorites. What a riff. A near-perfect pop song. And, good work for remembering Chronic Town.
TK ROLLIN
Come on Wide, give us a break
Hey, hey, hey, one break coming up
THE BIG TRAIN
Good choice for a number one. And great job pulling Jumping Jive out of there. I'd go for... well, any song from that disk really. "Under Pressure" should be hiya.
Twenty-Five Possible Oversights Widey Didn't Want You to Know About:
- "For Those About to Rock" -- ACDC
- "Pressure Drop" -- The Clash
- "Bringin' On the Heartbreak" -- Def Leppard (only Def Lep I could ever stand)
- "Just Can't Get Enough" -- Depeche Mode
- "Every Grain Of Sand" -- Dylan
- "Singin' The Blues," "Almost Saturday Night," or "The Race Is On" from Dave Edmunds' Twangin', the last of these with the Stray Cats
- "Talk Dirty" -- John Entwhistle (WLIR's first ever "Screamer of the Week, I think)
- "Telecommunication" -- A Flock of Seagulls (don't let this discredit my other more worthy suggestions)
- Something from that J. Giels record that was everywhere that year
- Billy Joel -- If you're one of those peeps who think he shouldn't have pretended to rock and stuck with piano ballads, Songs in the Attic came out that year
- "Around the Dial" and "Destroyer" or "Better Times" from the Kinks' Give the People what they want. For maybe a half hour of rock history, the Kinks were cooler than the Who.
- "Trouble" -- Lindsey Buckingham (Well, it was no worse than "You Make My Dreams")
- "Pretty In Pink" -- The P Furs
- "Airwaves" -- The Ramones (Come on!)
- "Shut Up" -- The Replacements
- Rush -- Exit Stage Left and/or Moving Pictures came out this year; TK Rollin will tell you which tracks to go for.
- "Spellbound" -- Siouxsie and the Banshees
- "History Never Repeats" -- Split Enz
- "Wrack My Brain" -- Ringo Starr
- "Wunderbar" -- Tenpole Tudor
- "Talk to Ya Later" -- The Tubes
- "Gloria" -- U2
- "Chariots Of Fire" -- Vangelis (I bet you considered this one)
- "You Better, You Bet" or "Another Tricky Day" -- The Who
- "Kids in America" -- Kim Wilde
Nice recollection of Billy Squire's career-altering pink tee-shirt.
PATRICK McGOOHAN
Steely Dan wasn't THAT bad...
If I had to pick one track from "Exit... Stage Left" it would proobably be Red Barchetta, so I'm with you on that one. As a drummer, though, YYZ was a thrill... and Villa Strangiato... and if you like biting social commentary, there's Broon's Bane/theTrees...OK, I'm a Rush dork.
Nice choice on "Gloria." It's one of the best uncharacteristic and unrecognized U2 tracks IMO. Great vocal melody, and Adam Clayton strays from his boring root-note plunking to play a bass solo. Wow!
WIDE BEE GEE
I considered most of those... and named a few you said I overlooked (Rush, U2, and ya overlooked my intentional overlooking of Freeze Frame and repeat artist selections).
I found 81 difficult in that there were lots of "second or third bast" efforts including many from the artists you mentioned (Edmunds, Split Enz, Kinks, Who, etc.) I considered 'em though.
Missed the Ramones, Souxsie, Tenpole Tudor (who the hell?)
And you'll have to beat the shit out of me before I recognize any Depeche Mode. Ugh.
THE BIG TRAIN
I meant to take U2 out. I saw you had it. As an editor, I've shown myself to be quite wanting.
Rush should qualify potentially for two selections as they had two albums.
You can catch Tenpole Tudor tonight at the Victoria in Derby or tomorrow at Trillians in Newcastle. They take the fourth off before heading up to King Tut's Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow.
They were roots/pop/punk with the aesthetic of a marauding army of singing swordsmen. Frontman Eddie Tudor appeared in the Sex Pistols' movie The Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle, singing "Who Killed Bambi."
Are you telling me you really considered and rejected "Talk to Ya Later"?
WIDE BEE GEE
Nah, I overlooked it. I assumed that album included She's a Beauty which I thought I saw on another list. That singer was really bad. I'll revise before the complilation CD comes out.
NORRIN RADD
mostly, an excellent list, with a lot of great R&B. great call on DISCIPLINE... a great album.
some of the obvious horrible songs you overlooked (i think these were 81, though i'm not 100% certain):
Celebration - Kool & the Gang
Tainted Love - Soft Cell
Jesse's Girl - R.Springfield
Lets get Physical - Olivia NJohn
Queen of Hearts, +
Angel of the Morning - Juice Newton
Endless Love - Diana Ross
Morning Train - Sheena Easton
but there were some others that i THINK were from 81 that deserve some mention:
Pretty in Pink - psychadelic furs
Tide is High - Blondie
Being with You - Smokey Robinson
Centerfold - JGeils
Fire & Ice - PBenatar
We got the beat - GoGos
and there were a bunch of movie soundtracks/songs/scores to talk about:
Chariots of Fire - Vangelis
For Your Eyes ONly - Sheena Easton
Arthur's theme - Christopher Cross
also, this was the year of the Sondheim show, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, which has some of his best songs ever, include WE HAD A GOOD THING GOING, and NOT A DAY GOES BY.
also, i'm pretty sure this was the year of Laurie Anderson's O, SUPERMAN which is a pretty special piece of music-performance art-theater-whateveryouwantocallit.
on edit: i must admit a fondness for Kim Carnes' BETTE DAVIS EYES. i guess this discredits the rest of my post. oh, well. there is no accounting for taste.
DOCTOR SPONGE
Put BOC in the top 30 NOW!!
Funny, I read this post yesterday and then heard Blue Oyster Cult – Burnin’ for You on the Shea PA when the Spos were yanking Kim. Yeah, it's got legs.
TK ROLLIN
I always like this sicky tune from that album from Soft White Underbellie ...
Junkies down in Brooklyn are going crazy
They're laughing just like hungry dogs in the street
Policemen are hiding behind the skirts of little girls
Their eyes have turned the color of frozen meat
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
Joan Crawford has risen from the grave
Joan Crawford has risen from the grave
Catholic school girls have thrown away their mascara
They chain themselves to the axles of big Mac trucks
The sky is filled with herds of shivering angels
The fat lady laughs, "Gentlemen, start your trucks"
Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
Joan Crawford has risen from the grave
Joan Crawford has risen from the grave
Christina
Mother's home
Christina
Come to mother
Christina
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
Joan Crawford has risen from the grave
Joan Crawford has risen from the grave
Joan Crawford has risen from the grave
Joan Crawford has risen
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