Top 100 Of The 1980's

[Unhinged]

#92

Kiss On My List
Hall & Oates



Total Points: 1498

Billboard 1981 Rankdown: 4

From: Voices

singingrulebritannia - 31
God - 100
Red - 50
@phillippe - 98
tim - 39
tallen2001 - 88
newpower - 74
trilogy - 87
campbellssoup - 77
Doc Indie Party Rock - 53
Butterflies & Hurricanes - 87
willapted33 - 71
rowellfarm490 - 70
samo🦕 - 82
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 - 60
Sambalada - 81
alexcuse - 81
Mirago - 37
Az Paynter - 24
cedric - 64
mamooshka - 53
commerce196 - 61
MoD - 8
@crapkuki23 - 36
peacebone - 59
jtd Thee Stallion - 79
craziaskowboi - 22
@doinktheclown - 96
charmander78 - 22
gonecountry - 18
House Lannister - 89
Cody Wants Out... - 58
crazyb - 86
nickd - 94
American Idiot - 86
desperado - 39
Alex1901 - 68
Leo ✔ - 96
woods - 75
Juanca - 86
Unhinged - 89

Observing

@levitation
walt91
Nick P

[charmander78]

Man I don’t know what to expect from this RD anymore...

[Unhinged]

#91

Rapture
Blondie



Total Points: 1570

Billboard 1981 Rankdown: 3

From: Autoamerican

singingrulebritannia - 47
God - 13
Red - 12
@phillippe - 67
tim - 63
tallen2001 - 99
newpower - 69
trilogy - 64
campbellssoup - 55
Doc Indie Party Rock - 49
Butterflies & Hurricanes - 20
willapted33 - 87
rowellfarm490 - 40
samo🦕 - 97
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 - 68
Sambalada - 61
alexcuse - 56
Mirago - 9
Az Paynter - 100
cedric - 51
mamooshka - 41
commerce196 - 96
MoD - 43
@crapkuki23 - 87
peacebone - 44
jtd Thee Stallion - 97
craziaskowboi - 21
@doinktheclown - 85
charmander78 - 96
gonecountry - 53
House Lannister - 41
Cody Wants Out... - 92
crazyb - 99
nickd - 59
American Idiot - 94
desperado - 99
Alex1901 - 95
Leo ✔ - 73
woods - 58
Juanca - 13
Unhinged - 69

Observing

@levitation  
walt91  
Nick P  

[Unhinged]

Done for the day and not sure if I'll reveal again until next week as it's my 20th High School reunion this weekend so I'mma be busy!

Next set kicks off with the first loss from one of the "Big 3" of this rankdown...

[samo🦕]

Great final couple of reveals, especially Rapture, which I was worried would go far with its initial top 3 placement.

[charmander78]

Good, I didn’t like rapture that much. 3 bottom 10 losses ain’t bad

[Butterflies & Hurricanes]

OUCH! this one hurts

[Red]

what

I figured I'd take a big hit early, but this was not what I had in mind.

[Az Paynter]

My #100 actually left in the bottom 10! AWESOME!

[nickd]

Stevie Nicks is still my biggest loss at #49 so I guess I'm doing alright.

So Emotional - I'm not too into diva style singing so there's only a few Whitney songs I like to listen to, and I Wanna Dance With Somebody is the only one of those on the RD so I don't mind this leaving.

Buffalo Stance - Never heard it before and I'm guessing a lot of others here haven't either. It's different from most of the other songs on the RD with the early hip hop sounds, but I don't like it that much. I feel like that about a lot of genre pioneering songs, I can recognition their influence but I feel like the later songs from the genre have refined the sound better so I enjoy them more and I generally rank songs based off listening enjoyment value.

Venus - Not really my type of music, but as someone who grew up in the 90s/00s I first heard this in those Gillette ads and they were everywhere so that didn't help.

Kiss On My List - a #94 from me and it's not even my lowest ranked Hall & Oates song. IDK I find most of their music boring.

Rapture - a #3 on its Year End RD and it's already out?? I think it's a decent song but definitely not as good as Call Me so not too upset at this leaving. That's 4/10 from 1981 eliminated though, damn...

[nickd]

Jun 7, 2019 14:17:33 GMT -5 Unhinged said:

Done for the day and not sure if I'll reveal again until next week as it's my 20th High School reunion this weekend so I'mma be busy!

Next set kicks off with the first loss from one of the "Big 3" of this rankdown...

I have five from them in my bottom 20 so I'm not sure, but I'll guess "Man In The Mirror"?

[singingrulebritannia]

Ok I expected "Buffalo Stance" low because it's one of the rankdown's more unique songs and was a shock of a top 10 entry in the first place. "Rapture"'s tanking after how high it got initially...is a little weird, but it's still not a song I totally love, and it's another song with rap involved.

But messing with "Kiss On My List" is not acceptable. >:(

[campbellssoup]

I’m gonna guess “Off the Wall”

[House Lannister]

The losses that have hit hardest so far have been Rapture, Venus and Buffalo Stance.

While best known as a pioneer in blending singing and rap music together, Rapture's a pretty good song that also tosses in a guitar and some fairly good flow from Deborah Harry. How this deserved a #100 is kinda bizarre, but you do you, AZ.

Venus was one of those songs that combined synths, a rock attitude and a memorable video to create a fun atmosphere.

Stance is just fun.

My biggest beef with I Want Your Sex is that it doesn't really feel sexy. It tries awfully hard, but it doesn't accomplish it.

Stop Draggin' My Heart Around was decent, but in this sort of round, it was vulnerable. Same for Urgent and Hurts So Good.

I wasn't that big on Take Me Home Tonight. Sorry.

So Emotional's loss isn't really that shocking. She's got better in this set.

Although not my least favorite, Kiss on My List won't be missed. I guess the easy listening sounds don't translate so well to 2019 ears?

As for predictions on who'll be soon to drop, I'll lean towards Borderline.

[craziaskowboi]

Jun 7, 2019 15:47:54 GMT -5 Az Paynter said:

My #100 actually left in the bottom 10! AWESOME!

I actually have nothing against my #100, though some people will probably flip out when they find out what it is.

[woods]

Lost: 7 34 54 58 59 61 67 74 75 89

Let's start eliminating some of my Bottom 10, please (and nothing in my Top 50)

[Juanca]

Bloodbath started!!!!

100. I Want Your Sex (93): Yes, bottom 10! I had ranked this at #49 in the 1987 RD, which I admitted was a case of under-ranking. It was the song with my 4th lowest yearend ranking in this RD... and even though I tried to be really fair and give it another chance, this just couldn't escape my bottom 10 the production and melody are just not as strong for this RD.

99. Stop Draggin' My Heart Around (81): I love Stevie and Tom, and this is a good song, but it's never been among my favorites of the decade. It made it high in my submission for the 1981 RD (#14), but it couldn't stand the test of the final 80s RD...

98. Urgent (70): This was my #15 in the 1981 RD, which means that I ended up increasing a bit my preference to this song lately, as it over-performed SDMHA. The musicality of this song, with the sax, guitar, drum, vocals combo made me like it better for this RD. Not surprised at this being bottom 10 considering Foreigner's performances in every freaking RD bar 1981 lol.

97. Hurts So Good (55): This was my #4 in the 1982 RD! It's one of my personal favorites from the 1980s, especially due to personal memories.. but I tried to be as fair as possible in this RD, and decreased a bit the weight I had put to personal memories, to focus more on how strong I consider the songs on its own. This was the song that suffered the most of that decision

96. Take Me Home Tonight (92): Second bottom 10 loss in the bottom 5!! Good surprise! This is a good song, and I especially like Ronnie's featured vocals here. But I actually like Walk on Water and Think I'm In Love more than this one. I ranked this at #36 in the 1986 RD.

This was a surprisingly good reveal for me!! No top half losses and two bottom 10s gone. I'm sure this will change n the next reveal..

[Doc Indie Party Rock]

#95. So Emotional - Whitney Houston
I liked Whitney's first two uptempo dance pop hits. Not much after that. This was o.k. but out of its league among this other hits.

#94. Buffalo Stance - Neneh Cherry
This is what early Hip Hop sounded like, before they F U C K E D it all up. I would actually like some Hip Hop if it was still this melodic.

#93. Venus - Bananarama
Our only Hi-ENG entry and it's bottom 10. This rank of this song is why Eurobeat and HiNRG never caught on with the Westerners. 

#92. Kiss On My List - Hall & Oates
Not the strongest song for the dou, but Blue Eyed Soul should never come in bottom 10.

#91. Rapture - Blondie
Here we go again. Only George Michael could pull off rapping better than Blondie. This is what I consider an epic Rap song. 


This RD is really starting to stink. 

[cedric]

Shocked that So Emotional is bottom ten tbh. But i'm happy to see Venus and Buffalo Stance gone, same case with George Michael last set: not bad but def not among the best of the 80s

Rapture and Kiss On My List were the only two songs this set that I had initially ranked in my bottom 20 but rose way higher, probably should've kept it that way but they were definitely growers the more I listened.

[samo🦕]

I’m guessing the big 3 loss is Man In The Mirror or Off The Wall, but I’m definitely hoping for the latter.

[singingrulebritannia]

Jun 7, 2019 17:02:22 GMT -5 campbellssoup said:

I’m gonna guess “Off the Wall”

Jun 8, 2019 3:15:21 GMT -5 samo🦕 said:

I’m guessing the big 3 loss is Man In The Mirror or Off The Wall, but I’m definitely hoping for the latter.

Demonic

[samo🦕]

Jun 8, 2019 3:17:07 GMT -5 singingrulebritannia said:

Jun 7, 2019 17:02:22 GMT -5 campbellssoup said:

I’m gonna guess “Off the Wall”

Jun 8, 2019 3:15:21 GMT -5 samo🦕 said:

I’m guessing the big 3 loss is Man In The Mirror or Off The Wall, but I’m definitely hoping for the latter.

Demonic

[Juanca]

Yup, seems the #mess started

95. So Emotional (58): I ranked this at #16 in 1988. This is my 5th favorite Whitney song of the 80s, and my 6th uptempo WH song. A strong song, but couldn't make my top 5.

94. Buffalo Stance (97): Even though I've grown to like this song A LOT with time, and I do consider it a good song, it was still clearly in the bottom of the pack for me in this list.

93. Venus (43): Yup, I assumed this was going to be tanked, but I still hoped it would at least escape bottom 10. I think people don't really appreciate this type of sound here. The production is extraordinary here IMO. One of the best covers that represents the best of this type of 80s dance pop. And the girls did a great job with vocals too. I still love the song and it's one of my favorite songs to drive with windows down First top-half loss :(

92. Kiss On My List (86): Good to see this as the first H&O song to go. A good song, but not strong enough for so many classics in this RD.

91. Rapture (13): OK! First big loss, and a surprising one, considering it was #3 in the 1981 RD. WTF happened here? This is one of the best representatives of the eclectiness of the 80s. A song with disco, funk, rock, pop elements, with superb vocals and rap and great combo of instruments from guitar, bass, drums, BELLS, percussion. Like once again WTF?! I still listen to this often. A modern CLASSIC that didn't deserve bottom 10 of the decade. Really.

[Deleted]

Jun 8, 2019 3:20:09 GMT -5 samo🦕 said:

Jun 8, 2019 3:17:07 GMT -5 singingrulebritannia said:

Demonic

Isn't this copyright infringement? AZ might have an opinion on this jk jk

[Doc Indie Party Rock]

"Off The Wall" better not show up for another 80 numbers. 

[Juanca]

I know we've all shared some different songs in each year RD...
I'd like to highlight a few less common songs that were quite big back home or are some different type of classic, or both...

For example, instrumentals and easy listening types of songs:

- Fandango (Herb Alpert):
My favorite song by Herb was released in '82, with LOTS of Latin flavor. It would become a popular song for a wide range of TV specials, shows and ads throughout the 1980s. The video had a high rotation especially at night or before the start of some TV channels transmission (some channels would start at like noon), and the song would be sort of a staple in easy-listening radio stations for most of the decade.


- Night Birds (Shakatak):
This is another great example of a primarily instrumental song with Latin flavor that would become staples in TV and easy-listening stations in the 80s. And another song that like Fandango I have LOTS of childhood memories --and I still like quite a lot thanks to a funky, disco, jazzy, Latin combo that sounds so classy.


- Memories (Barbra Streisand):
Arguably one of her best vocal performances, and a beautiful ballad that I thought had been a bigger hit in the US, but I guess it just didn't fit in. Still, a modern classic that would've been in my top 10 of 1982


- ET Phone Home (Jupiter 8 featuring Kitty Woodson):
I mean, we've talked about so many different classic movies of the 80s in the RDs, so I feel we HAD to mention one of the 1980s classic movies: E.T.!!!! We watched this film MANY times in theaters, Betamax, VHS, TV. It was in movie theaters for over a year, with record ticket sales back home. The theme song made it to the weekly charts back home. Far too many memories to leave this movie unmentioned in a series of 1980s RDs.


- Scuttle Buttin' (Steve Ray Vaughan):
This 1987 instrumental rock song made it to our charts in 1988-9. It's a great guitar composition but it success in radio was thanks to a popular Pepsi TV commercial that made the song popular.



- Iquitos (Los Hijos del Sol):
In the middle of one of the worst periods of Peruvian history (Shining Path's terrorist actions in the highlands and getting closer to the capital, record hyperinflation, constant blackouts, food rationing), an important musical effort was made in 1989 to reconnect with our roots and helped us get closer together as a nation. This was the project Los Hijos del Sol -the Sun's Offstrpings, which brought together renowned national musicians to record traditional music with a bit more modern sound and solid production. The third single of this project was this primarily instrumental gem, based on music from the Amazon. Not a hit in pop radio stations, but a song that would often be used in ads, documentaries, TV shows, etc.

[nickd]

I just realized Bon Jovi basically copied Venus' verse melody on Living On A Prayer. Maybe I should've given it a few extra ranks...

[Juanca]

In a couple of rank downs I shared some 1980s hits in Spanish, but then it became harder to share more in other rankdowns. I'll make an effort this time to share a few Latin Spotlights of key artists and big hits of this important and eclectic decade in music

Latin Spotlight: Juan Gabriel


He's considered one of the biggest Latin songwriters and overall artists ever. His career started and blossomed in the early 1970s, primarily with ballads and traditional Mexican rancheras. His prolific songwriting helped many Latin artists, who would use his compositions or cover his songs. However it was the 80s that saw his fame reach the highest of peaks, with some pop ballads and uptempo fun songs. His 1980 song "Yo No Naci Para Amar" (I Wasn't Born To Love) became a big hit and one of the classic Latin ballads. The lyrics about his difficulty and impossibility to love would in time be associated with his sexual orientation...





He never came out, but he never denied the rumors about his sexuality... His global breakout came in 1984 with his album Recuerdos II. The first single, "Querida" (Darling), was arguably the biggest song of 1984 throughout Latin America. Its poppier sound made it easier for pop radios to play it. Vocals, lyrics, melody, production made it a hit, and even the video was a hit -despite his mannerisms. Even the fun follow-up song "Besame" (Kiss Me) with the video showing him unabashedly delicate was a minor hit. The album would become the biggest seller of the decade for a Mexican artist. Following the success of Recuerdos II, his ranchera duet with Rocio Durcal "Dejame Vivir" (Let Me Live) also became a hit in AC and some pop radios.






Juan Gabriel's last album of the 1980s was Pensamientos In 1986 and it included one of his best songs, vocally and lyrically: "Hasta Que Te Conoci" (Until I Met You). Its original version is a 7-minute epic pop-Mariachi ballad, that starts with minimal instrumentation that goes along with the calm lyrics and vocals of the verses in the first 2 minutes, and then music and vocals grow in intensity as the lyrics address the pain of a difficult love, then the adlibs, brass and drum sounds pick up as he shares his (melo)dramatic frustration and pain. His version at Palacio de Bellas Artes is considered a classic in Latin music. Anecdotally, he fought hard to be able to perform in this 'classical' venue that had only been used for orchestral, classic artists. Juan Gabriel would become the first ever 'popular' music performer to do a concert in this venue. In the 90s, Hasta Que Te Conoci was covered as a salsa song with great success by Marc Anthony.
After Pensamientos, he took a 8-year hiatus and didn't record an album due to problems with his label. However, he contributed several hits to many artists, and all of these songs had the signature Juan Gabriel sound, structure and lyrics, further supporting his reputation as one of the best Latin artists of the 1980s --scratch that, of any decade.
Personally, Hasta Que Te Conocí was in my top 20 of the decade, Querida in my top 40, and Yo No Naci Para Amar in the hot 100.

[Unhinged]

After a fun weekend I’m ready to start revealing again tomorrow!

[Unhinged]

#90

Off The Wall
Michael Jackson



Total Points: 1580

Billboard 1980 Rankdown: 9 

From: Off The Wall

singingrulebritannia - 8
God - 30
Red - 59
@phillippe - 66
tim - 87
tallen2001 - 74
newpower - 45
trilogy - 20
campbellssoup - 100
Doc Indie Party Rock - 22
Butterflies & Hurricanes - 96
willapted33 - 48
rowellfarm490 - 63
samo🦕 - 87
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 - 83
Sambalada - 30
alexcuse - 93
Mirago - 85
Az Paynter - 84
cedric - 57
mamooshka - 73
commerce196 - 58
MoD - 83
@crapkuki23 - 80
peacebone - 34
jtd Thee Stallion - 29
craziaskowboi - 54
@doinktheclown - 81
charmander78 - 49
gonecountry - 70
House Lannister - 97
Cody Wants Out... - 29
crazyb - 47
nickd - 65
American Idiot - 75
desperado - 89
Alex1901 - 47
Leo ✔ - 75
woods - 37
Juanca - 94
Unhinged - 59

Observing

@levitation  
walt91  
Nick P