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As I recall it, this was one of the first ones submitted and kind of set the format for the ones to come.
And where else but on the CPF can you get an in depth analysis of Jenny: 867-5309 ??
METHEAD
I was ten years old in 1982. I wasn't hanging out with my buddies behind the arcade sneaking smokes and skateboarding. More likely I was begging my parents for quarters so I could go inside the arcade to play Pac-Man or something. Thus, many of my musical experiences in the early '80s were shaped by top-40 radio and MTV. Yeah, I know... shut up, you elitists. MTV was just getting started, and I can remember exactly where I was when certain videos came on. Glued to the TV, mostly. Those were the days when you could watch MTV for hours and it was just one video after another, man. Plus, the VJ's were cool. Martha Quinn, baby!
1 Centerfold - J. Geils Band
This song is from the first record album I ever bought. Back in the days when I thought a song about a centerfold was absolutely the coolest thing ever. Also the first time I ever heard the word "negligee". I had to look it up. I love love love this freakin song, man. Plus the video has a shot of what looks like an ordinary snare drum that ends up being full of milk that splashes all over the place when the guy plays it. Oh, and chicks in tight sweaters.
2 Spirits in the Material World - The Police
God, The Police kick ass. There are better Police songs out there... many of them. But this one was on the charts and stuff, so it's here. Plus, I have to rank The Police very high on any '80s list.
3 The Message - Grandmaster Flash
The first rap song I remember that didn't talk about parties and waving your hands in the air til the break of dawn. And it was a message... to suburbia as well as kids in the ghetto. While "Rappers Delight" was making fun rhymes about Superman, "The Message" was talking about people pissing in stairwells, guys hanging themselves in prison, gangsters flashing twenties and tens.
4 Hurts So Good - John Cougar
Coulda gone with Jack 'n' Diane here... but I just like this song better. A lot better. Jack and Diane sorta lurches along... this song jams.
5 Who Can It Be Now? - Men At Work
Just try to hate this song. I dare you. Still have this album on vinyl at home, I damn near wore it out. "Business As Usual" would end up breaking the American record for the most weeks spent at the top of the charts by a debut album.
6 Shake it Up - The Cars
Great '80s band. This song was a pretty big hit so it makes the list. I always end up singing along when I listen to these guys, I just can't help it. Infectious.
7 Abacab - Genesis
Early Genesis kicks ass. This song is from a period in their history where they were sorta changing from long jam compositions into more radio-friendly arrangements... but it's still good. "Home By The Sea" is better than this one... but I think that was on a later album.
8 Rock The Casbah - The Clash
An early MTV video experience. I had no idea who The Clash was at the time. I just knew I liked the song. Some stereotypical depictions of Jews and Arabs... but they're dancing together, so it's OK.
9 Kiss Off - Violent Femmes
You know, "Add It Up" was on most of the lists I found, but "Kiss Off" is so much better. Great example of how a songwriter can be pissed off at the world without using the phrase "shut up" repeatedly in the refrain. Young songwriters of today, take note. "I forget what eight was for." Fucking great. Sidenote: listen to the Femmes' cover of "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" from the "Why Do Birds Sing" album (1990). Damn.
10 Rio - Duran Duran
Yeah, yeah. I know. But this song is pretty good. Heard it the other day and was reminded how good the hook is. This video had weird painted women writhing around on a beach and being chased around a sailboat, if I remember correctly. Apparently this sailboat was crossing the Mexican border, 'cause they mention the Rio Grande a bunch of times.
11 You Got Lucky - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
"You got lucky, babe... when I found you." Ha ha! I want to play this at my wedding.
12 Valley Girl - Frank Zappa (w/ Moon Zappa)
Not the best Zappa song by any stretch of the imagination. But I played some Zappa for a buddy who claimed he had never heard any, and he started singing
along when this came on. He grew up in Southern California, and this song was huge out there. This song was actually nominated for a Grammy, but "Eye Of The Tiger" beat it. A 14-year-old Moon Zappa recorded her vocals in the middle of the night, basically imitating the other girls in her school. Introduced the "valley girl" species to the USA and maybe helped popularize all that fun slang like "gag me with a spoon", "grody to the max", "tubular", and "bitchin". Totally.
13 Shock The Monkey - Peter Gabriel
Breaking away from Genesis and cementing his own style. I really like this song, but I remember the video more than anything. It's paired with "She Blinded Me With Science" in the file cabinet of my brain.
14 Rosanna - Toto
Guilty pleasure. "Africa" is also good. Toto is a wacky name for a rock band, but the lead singer had hair like a poodle with a jheri-curl, so maybe the name fits.
15 1999 - Prince
"Little Red Corvette" was the B-side to this, I believe. Fun little ditty about partying. Phish opened their 1998/99 New Years Eve show with this and the place went nuts.
16 Pretty Woman - Van Halen
Roy Orbison singing about hot chicks makes me feel all weird. Van Halen singing about hot chicks, on the other hand, is so perfect it hurts. This is from the era when Van Halen's albums were like 20 minutes each. Eddie! Eddie! Eddie!
17 Man Out Of Time - Elvis Costello
Wow. One of the Best. Songwriters. Ever. Period.
18 Don't You Want Me - Human League
One of the first big hits for a synth-pop-dance outfit. "Tainted Love" would fit here, but I can't stand that song. Sorry, fans.
19 Goodnight Saigon - Billy Joel
"They counted the rotors"? They can do that? Damn!
20 Heat of the Moment - Asia
What else can I say. Decent song. I remember some girl I knew way back when had the album cover painted on the back of her denim jacket... that's all I got.
21 867-5309 (Jenny) - Tommy TuTone
Eh. I think everyone knows this phone number, but they have to look up everyone else's. Can't you just set everyone's phone number to music? You'll never forget another one, I promise.
22 Electric Avenue - Eddie Grant
This song makes me laugh every time I hear it. When I first moved to NYC I wanted to go up to people on the street and ask them how to get to Electric Avenue. But I never did. "Yeah, like we never heard that one before, pal... why don't you turn your ass around and go back uptate, you scrawny little hayseed!"
23 I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) - Hall & Oates
The album "H20" represents for me, the peak of Hall and Oates. I wore that album out too.
24 Come On Eileen - Dexy's Midnight Runners
Man, I can't stand that weird bohemian Adam Ant lookalike prancing around in the woods. But he was a welcome sight to me one night as I was watching "American Werewolf In London" on HBO. I got scared, had to change the channel, and this video was on.
25 Open Arms - Journey
Look, I can't stand Journey. But they were a huge act back then, and this was one of the biggest rock ballads. Also, we went on a field trip for school once, and a bunch of girls in the back of the bus were singing along to this on a tape they were playing.. Except they were singing "So I come to youuuu... with Open Legs..." Hehehehehhh, good times.
Honorable mention (no particular order):
We're Gonna Groove - Led Zeppelin
Tainted Love - Soft Cell
White Wedding - Billy Idol
Der Kommissar - Falco
Goody Two Shoes - Adam Ant
Mexican Radio - Wall Of Voodoo
Steppin' Out - Joe Jackson
I Ran (So Far Away) - A Flock of Seagulls
For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) - AC/DC
Pac-Man Fever - Buckner and Garcia
Modern Love - David Bowie
We Got The Beat - The Go Gos
Eye Of The Tiger - Survivor
Somebody's Baby - Jackson Browne
Senses Working Overtime - XTC
Little Guitars - Van Halen
Cooky Puss - Beastie Boys
Dancin' In The Street - Van Halen
Maneater - Hall & Oates
Caught Up In You - 38 Special
Another One Rides The Bus - Weird Al Yankovic
Rock This Town - Stray Cats
I Melt With You - Modern English
SO there you go. I'm pretty sure this stuff was all released on albums in 1982... may not have hit the charts 'til 1983. I'll revise this using only the 1982 Billboard top 100 list at some point soon.
COOBY
Wow, the memories!
Coupla thoughts from me:
Shake It Up: Heard this song just this morning. A great song, except it reminds me of the Yankees! They used it in their commercials one year a long time ago.
There is an Electric Avenue in Danville, PA, and I often wonder if the people who live on it think about that song a lot.
Come on Eileen is a fabulous song which I could hear ten times a day and not get sick of it. But the people in the video all lot like they need a bath!
Totally agree with you about Journey and the song Tainted Love, blech!
Nice job Methead!
THE BIG TRAIN
You have a lot of hold-your-nose-and-vote choices.
You've got Asia over anything from Night and Day by Joe Jackson or Beauty and the Beat by the Go-Gos or just about every other track on Violent Femmes.
1. Blister in the Sun
2. Kiss Off
3. Please Do Not Go
4. Add It Up
5. Confessions
6. Prove My Love
7. Promise
8. To the Kill
9. Gone Daddy Gone
10. Good Feeling
Did you have a rule that limited you to one track per artist? That could be ten of your top twenty selections right there.
METHEAD
Kiss Off is in my top-ten there.
I mean if we're gonna be restricted to Billboard's chart, there will be some songs there that I don't really like, but were big hits.
And yeah, I did try to limit it to one song per artist, just to represent the most that I could. I love that Femmes album, but Kiss Off is my fave, so I went with just that one. Obviously I'd rank most of those tracks ahead of Asia and Journey. I tried to mix it up between Billboard's choices and my own.
THE BIG TRAIN
Screw Billboard, be yourself tonight.
LF
The list comments are great!
THE BIG TRAIN
Agreed. Comments are great.
But unplug the playlists and give us y'er own choices.
WIDE BEE GEE
There's quite a few on that list under consideration for my 1981 rankings.
Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5 , 7, 11, few others ... I'm pretty sure all come from 1981 releases.
Your No. 21 is a leading preliminary contender for 1981's Number One slot.
METHEAD
"Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5 , 7, 11, few others ... I'm pretty sure all come from 1981 releases."
I'm sure you're right. But that's what's gonna happen with a list based on Billboard's charts. I've got choices here that were on '82 albums, but didn't hit the charts until '83. As a result they're on Archer's list as well.
Is this stuff all gonna be compiled into a giant master list at the end? If so... this overlap business ain't that big a deal, really.
WIDE BEE GEE
It won't matter in the end. I suppose the best way to solve this would be;
Your year is 1) what Billboard charted in your year and
2) What didn't chart but was released during your calendat year.
I suppose that's good for me because what lose in Tutone I'll make up for in Springsteen and Lennon (late 1980 releases).
THE BIG TRAIN
Your year should be what you think came out in your year, but, if contested, you've got to defer to somebody brandishing a release date.
Not that understand Widey going number one with "867-5309."
WIDE BEE GEE
I'm not gonna make Meathad chop up his whole list.
867-5309 is a terrific pop-rock guitar ballad. You can sing along to it, dance to it, but its a desperate, sad song all the same.
Let's break it down:
Jenny, Jenny, who can I turn to?
You give me something I can hold on to.
I know you think I'm like the others before
Who saw your name and number on the wall.
This is a sad, lonely man who's not singing to Jenny but to himself. He has plenty of self-doubt but what really gets him is that nagging feeling that others see no value in him either. The last two lines are exposition in great economy: It tells us the whole story.
Jenny, I got your number.
I need to make you mine.
Jenny, don't change your number,
8-6-7-5-3-0-9, 8-6-7-5-3-0-9
8-6-7-5-3-0-9, 8-6-7-5-3-0-9
Don't change your number? He hasn't called yet... will he call? There's some drama here...
That's a hell of a chorus by the way. Yeah, it's a phone number, but it's pronounced backwards, as if the number isn't 867-5309 but 8675-309.
Jenny, Jenny, you're the girl for me.
You don't know me but you make me so happy.
I tried to call you before but I lost my nerve.
I tried my imagination, but I was disturbed.
Are these the ramblings of a man who's got game? I think not. He also doesn't show any interest in being this girl's "savior" He's after her because of what she can do for him. He's a creep.
Jenny, I got your number,
I need to make you mine.
Jenny, don't change your number,
8-6-7-5-3-0-9 (8-6-7-5-3-0-9)
8-6-7-5-3-0-9 (8-6-7-5-3-0-9)
I got it, I got it!
I got your number on the wall!
I got it, I got it!
For a good time, for a good time call....
This is a cool bridge, with great timing on the staggering "I got it!"s framing a funny rhyming verse. This leads into a cool guitar solo that continues behind the next chorus....
Jenny, don't change your number.
I need to make you mine.
Jenny. I'll call your number,
8-6-7-5-3-0-9 (8-6-7-5-3-0-9)
8-6-7-5-3-0-9 (8-6-7-5-3-0-9)
Highlight of the song right here: Note how sadly he says "Jenny I'll call your number." (The tone of voice is completely different than the "don't change you number" the first two times around) He's gone from vaguely hopeful to doomed-and-he-knows-it: He can't even get an easy chick!
Jenny, Jenny who can I turn to? (8-6-7-5-3-0-9)
For the price of a dime I can always turn to you.
(8-6-7-5-3-0-9)
8-6-7-5-3-0-9 (8-6-7-5-3-0-9)
8-6-7-5-3-0-9 (8-6-7-5-3-0-9)
5-3-0-9!
5-3-0-9!
5-3-0-9!
5-3-0-9!
He's like Rainman here at the end, just spitting out the number like its something exciting.
This is possibly the best song of 1991 and, independently confirmed by Meathead here, among the top 21 of 1992!
92!
92!
92!
92!
THE BIG TRAIN
You're nuts!
Derivative Elvis Costello music.
"867-5309"/"Jesse's Girl" similarity score: 976.
WIDE BEE GEE
Like, no way.
THE BIG TRAIN
Yeah, well, Swing Out Sister called about your ticket request. They said you could have three or four tables if you want.
Right down front.
METHEAD
After a whole year of waiting to see if this guy would call Jenny, the fans simply lost interest, causing this song's precipitous drop from #1 in 1981 to # 21 in 1982.
Gotta be honest... I didn't look up lyrics when I ranked these... I shoulda.
WIDE BEE GEE
Elsewhere on this list, I approve of the choice of "Spirits" as the Police selection. But the Cars -- I can't even remember the name of the song, but its the ballad that Ben Orr sings. Minor hit -- and IMO the highlight of that record. As great as the Cars were, it was downhill after Candy-O.
THE BIG TRAIN
Dude, you're talking about "Drive"!
Problem with the Cars was the same problem with Hall and Oates. They had two front men in the seventies and early eighties, but, after the video era launched, they stuck with Ocasek/Ocasek/Ocasek/Ocasek. Every song was the same cute-little-girlie-makes-me-feel-all-kinds-of-goofie.
Benjamin Orr was the superior singer and composer, but got shuffled off in favor of the more ambitious Ocasek. Even in "Drive," Ocasek's future wife and he starred in the video for Orr's song.
WIDE BEE GEE
Actually, I was confused. Definitely not thinking of Drive (not on that record) but "I;m not the one" -- with Ocasek singing.
The Orr song that was cool on that record was "Think It Over" which wasn't a hit.
Nevermind.
THE BIG TRAIN
Dude, you're not talking about "Drive"! That would have been 'eighty four!
THE BIG TRAIN
Cooby: lol, did anyone else ever dial that phone # just to see what would happen?
Yup! http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/8675309.asp
CENTERFIELD
Amateurs.
A real prankster calls that number, asks for Jenny, then says "I just called to say I love you."
Between these songs and "Ghostbusters", there was so much fun to be had at the expense of others.
Freakin' caller ID depriving yutes today of hours of fun...
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