Kenny Loggins - "Meet Me Halfway"

(Debuted March 7, 1987, Peaked #11, 25 Weeks on the chart)

In the 1980s, Kenny Loggins was the undisputed "Sultan of Soundtrack." If there was a movie that had a hit soundtrack, you could bet that there would be a Kenny Loggins song on it somewhere. And for the 1987 Sylvester Stallone film Over the Top, there was "Meet Me Halfway."

The movie hasn't exactly weathered the decades well, but had a soundtrack that was prototypical for its era, and Loggins' song was the biggest hit. The funny thing, though...is that I rarely think of the film when I hear it. At the time, I had just started dating the girl I saw for the bulk of my time in high school. She lived about 2 miles from my house and I had to go all the way over to her house to visit her (as a parent today, I have less of a problem with that now than I did then). I specifically remember thinking at that time how nice it would be to meet her halfway occasionally.

Sting - "Russians"

(Debuted January 18, 1986, Peaked #16, 13 Weeks on the chart)

Today is Veterans' Day here in the United States. It was once called Armistice Day, a time to remember the sacrifices made by soldiers in what we now call World War I. In 1918, it was hoped that lessons would be remembered and that no war on that horrible scale would ever be waged again. Sadly, the next generation was left to conduct another war that was even larger. After the second World War, it appeared there was always going to be a looming threat due to nuclear weapons. That is the driving force behind of Sting's song "Russians."

The song is definitely a relic of the Cold War. For those who weren't around then, there was a long period where the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. were locked in a long battle that was more of an ideological war than one that had soldiers shooting at each other, but it was a real concern for more than forty years. At the heart of the threat was the understanding that both nations had nuclear arsenals that could easily ensure mutual destruction once a dispute went from a diplomatic matter to a more military one. The problem was felt around the world, as Sting (who wasn't Russian or American) pointed out.

Using a classical suite from the Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev, Sting asks the musical question about whether the Russians love their children while musing about how the concept of an "unwinnable war" was false. One line stands out for me, though: "There is no monopoly on common sense...on either side of the political fence." That's advice that still needs to be heeded.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - "If You Leave"

(Debuted March 8, 1986, Peaked #4, 20 Weeks on the chart)

I've mentioned on this blog before that I've always held a soft spot for redheads. And yes, that means I had a crush on Molly Ringwald when I was a teenager. I know I wasn't alone in that feeling, but I sometimes wonder whether my interest in redheads stems from her or if it's simply a matter of liking Molly Rongwald because I was predisposed toward redheads. It's the classic "chicken vs. egg" dilemma.

In any case, hearing this song immediately brings up an image of Molly Ringwald, thanks to the way it was linked with the film Pretty in Pink in 1986. If you watch the video below, you'll see that her image was even incorporated into that. It was the song played at the climactic moment of the film, when the "happy ending" gets ready to take place.

"If You Leave" was all over the radio and MTV in 1986. While I usually found myself growing tired of songs that have been grossly overplayed then, I somehow never felt that way about this one. I guess that was the effect the red hair had on me. Which was funny...because my girlfriend at the time was a brunette.

'Til Tuesday - "What About Love?"

(Debuted September 20, 1986, Peaked #26, 14 Weeks on the chart)

In 1985, 'Til Tuesday made quite an impression with the hit single "Voices Carry." It would reach the Top 10 and featured a video about an oppressive relationship that was played heavily on MTV. However, the video focused more on the band's singer Aimee Mann and kinda pushed the three other members into the shadows during their scenes. That often spells trouble for a band's future direction, but they soldiered on the next year with a second LP called Welcome Home.

The album featured a lot more of Mann as a songwriter (the full group was credited for most of the songs the first time around) and was more earthy, which was quite a statement in the heavily synthesized, dance-friendly music landscape of the mid 1980s. One song that still pointed to the previous year's hit was "What About Love," a track that is sometimes forgotten even by the experts (in fact, Allmusic claims it missed the Top 40 when it went to #26).

Though sometimes seen as a low-key hit, "What About Love" was a nice single and played well among much of its competition in 1986. It also showed a blossoming talent for songwriting that Mann would enjoy during her solo career in the 1990s.

Talking Heads - "Wild Wild Life"

(Debuted September 6, 1986, Peaked #25, 20 Weeks on the chart)

The Talking Heads were one of those groups whose music is quite entrenched into 1980s culture, as well as its style. However, their songs aren't the big hits many would have expected. "Wild Wild Life" was their final hit, but it was only their third to reach the Top 40. Two of the band's more memorable hits -- "Once in a Lifetime" and "Road to Nowhere" -- didn't get into the Hot 100 during their initial chart runs (though the former scraped its way to #91 as a live track from Stop Making Sense).

By 1986, the band was beginning its breakup after more than a decade together. "Wild Wild Life" was taken from the "soundtrack" album from lead singer David Byrne's film True Stories. Only it wasn't really a soundtrack album at all. Instead of featuring the songs in the movie as sung by John Goodman (who appears in the video below), "Pops" Staples and others, they were performed by Byrne and his band as a condition of the financial backers of the film as a way of ensuring that some profit would arise.

Today, the song is probably better-remembered than the movie is.

Art of Noise - "Peter Gunn"

(Debuted May 17, 1986, Peaked #50, 11 Weeks on the chart)

Around 1986, I placed a bunch of quarters into a video game called Spy Hunter. It the game, you were driving a tricked-out "spy" car equipped with a machine gun and your job was to eliminate the bad guys around you using a variety of weapons that could be picked up along the way, including oil slicks, smoke screens and missles. Evidently, there were also levels of the game that took place on the water and on icy roads, but I never got that far. I may have played it a lot, but I never said I was ever good at the game.

The theme music that played all through the game was an electronic adaptation of the Peter Gunn theme. I wasn't around during the TV show's 1958-'61 run, so I didn't know the song was a theme song to a TV show. Instead, I knew it because it showed up in some movies (like The Blues Brothers and Sixteen Candles), as well as that video game. The tune is incredibly catchy, though and I definitely was exposed to it at an early age.

The original version of the song was recorded by Henry Mancini, who composed the song. In 1959, Duane Eddy contributed his signature "twangy" guitar line to the song and took it to #27 on the chart. For Art of Noise's version, Eddy was called in to recreate his own sound to give it an air of "authenticity" among the electronic sound the band used. It would be the first of three singles the group would place in the Billboard Hot 100, each of which featured a guest artist.

General Public - "Tenderness"

(Debuted November 17, 1984, Peaked #27, 17 Weeks on the Chart)

General Public was started from the ashes of the breakup of The Beat (known as The English Beat in the U.S.). Two members of that group, Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger, joined up with former Clash guitarist Mick Jones, Specials bassist Horace Panter and two ex-members of Dexy's Midnight Runners to forma a "supergroup" of sorts among English punk/ska/mod groups. Jones would leave the band during the recording of their first LP All the Rage, which included "Tenderness."

"Tenderness" would end up being the band's only chart hit in the U.S during the 1980s. It was well-received at the time, though not enough to be a major hit; however, time has been kind to the song due to its cheerful melody. It has appeared in several movies over the years, including Sixteen Candles and Weird Science, which have helped to keep it identified with the decade.

(Thanks to regular reader Brian for pointing out that General Public did have a pair of chart hits in the U.S. during the 1990s as well.)

Ray Parker, Jr. - "Jamie"

(Debuted November 17, 1984, Peaked #14, 16 Weeks on the Chart)

When "Jamie" came out, I was in the seventh grade. At that time, I was starting to see the way some of my friends and classmates would start getting jealous over girls, even those who'd told them to buzz off. Though I wasn't yet learning the lessons of jealousy yet from a personal point of reference (that would come along about one year later), a song like "Jamie" made perfect sense to me at the time. Today, a man singing the words of this song may be called a stalker and slapped with a restraining order.

"Jamie" was Ray Parker, Jr.'s follow-up to the smash hit "Ghostbusters," which may have helped propel it a little higher than it may have otherwise finished. However, it was as high as he would ever get on the charts from that time forward. A lawsuit over plagiarizing the Ghostbusters theme would keep him busy and eventually sidetrack Parker's career. He managed to get a couple/ more singles into the Top 40, but neither would rise very high. For all intents and purposes, "Jamie" was his last decent hit song.

It's a shame that a guy who made his name playing guitar for Stevie Wonder, Barry White and Freda Payne and then enjoyed several hits as the force behind Raydio would be silenced due to a business matter. However, it may have seemed odd that the person who sang about leaving his "property" alone would be accused of plagiarizing, too.

Phil Collins & Marilyn Martin - "Separate Lives"

(Debuted October 5, 1985, Peaked #1, 20 Weeks on the Chart)

Here's a song whose impact on me has changed over the years. When it first came out in 1985 and went to the #1 spot on the pop chart, I thought it was a decent song and hoped to hear more from Marilyn Martin in the future. I also thought it was a better song than the other #1 hit from the movie White Nights (Lionel Richie's "Say You, Say Me," which wasn't actually included on the soundtrack LP). 

However, I was about to turn 13 at the time and was a lot less experienced in the way of relationships. So I missed a lot of the message of the song, which happens on the other side of a split, with both parties getting used to a new life trajectory that didn't include the other. The song was written by Stephen Bishop, best known for the songs "On and On" and the Tootsie theme "It Might Be You." Setting it up as an adult-styled duet paid off; in addition to reaching the top of the pop charts, it also went #1 on the adult contemporary survey as well. 

It's heart-wrenching to those who've been in that situation. But that's part of what makes music great.

Pat Benatar - "Invincible"

(Debuted July 7, 1985, Peaked #10, 17 Weeks on the Chart)

I remember seeing the video for this song on MTV during the Summer of '85. The video above was a recording from its early run there, when it still was tagged as an "Exclusive" that couldn't yet be seen on Night Flight, Friday Night Videos or HBO's Video Jukebox. Not only did I immediately recognize it as the best thing I'd heard from her since "Love is a Battlefield" two years earlier, I was hopped up to see the movie The Legend of Billie Jean. With the music video as an introduction, it looked like it would be really good.

Today, I still think the song is one of the best she's ever done. As for the movie...let's just say it was a major disappointment when I saw it. Time hasn't changed that fact at all. In fact, even Pat Benatar makes a point of expressing her displeasure about the film when she sings "Invincible" in concert. I still wonder how many tickets were sold for that movie on the basis of this song alone, rather than Helen Slater's immense hotness.

That said, it was still included on her next LP Seven the Hard Way, so Benatar fans weren't forced to also buy the soundtrack in order to have her complete body of work.