Diana Ross - "Missing You"

(Debuted December 1, 1984, Peaked #10, 26 Weeks on the Chart)

On April 1, 1984, Marvin Gaye was involved in an argument with his father and was tragically shot to death. He was a day short of his 45th birthday. Gaye's loss was sudden and affected the extended "family" he was a part of at Motown. Not surprisingly, the tribute songs to his memory arrived soon, and one of the biggest ones was performed by his former labelmate and 1970s duet partner Diana Ross.

"Missing You" was written by another former labelmate, Lionel Richie. The song was inspired by conversations Richie had with Ross about Gaye. Released at the height of Richie's creative period, it would become Diana Ross's last Top 10 pop hit and final #1 R&B song.

Menudo - "Hold Me"

(Debuted May 11, 1985, Peaked #62, 11 Weeks on the Chart)

Menudo was a Latin group that was formed in Puerto Rico during the late 1970s who were specifically targeted towards the youth market. In order to keep the group "young," their members were rotated out as they grew older. The most famous alumnus of the group was Ricky Martin, who arrived in 1984 and replaced the last original member. He would go on to become a major star in the 1990s.

"Hold Me" would be Menudo's only appearance on the Billboard Hot 100. It appeared on the group's second English-language LP. Even though Martin was a member of the band, the lead vocals were performed by Robby Rosa. Rosa was born in New York and was the one member who could best handle most of the English lyrics.

In retrospect, "Hold Me" is a decent pop song. Done over a synthesized groove that is definitely a relic of its era, it was aimed at an audience of teenage girls (and not necessarily those who spoke Spanish as a first or second language). It doesn't sound much different than what New Kids on the Block offered just four years later. In that sense, perhaps Menudo's timing was just a few years off.

Robey - "One Night in Bangkok"

(Debuted January 5, 1985, Peaked #77, 3 Weeks on the Chart)

American listeners probably know "One Night in Bangkok" from its version by Murray Head. While that version was the original recording and the bigger pop hit, Louise Robey (then billed simply by her last name) actually had a hit on the dance charts before Head's version went up the Hot 100. In fact, Robey's rendition debuted on the pop chart one week after Head; however, it lasted all of three weeks before falling off as Head would ride the song to #3.

The song was written for the play Chess, and included on a concept album recorded before the show was ever staged. It was written by Tim Rice, with the music coming from the two men of ABBA, Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus. Robey's version was aimed squarely at the dance clubs, reaching #5 on that survey.

Though it was Louise Robey's only song to reach the Hot 100, she was able to find work as an actress. She appeared in the TV show Friday the 13th: The Series.

The Pretenders - "Show Me"

(Debuted March 17, 1984, Peaked #28, 13 Weeks on the Chart)

The title of the album Learning to Crawl was inspired by Chrissie Hynde's young daughter, but it ended up being a fitting description of the band she played with. In the two years since the group's last LP, it had been altered due to tragic circumstances. Both guitarist James Honeyman-Scott and bassist Pete Farndon would overdose on drugs. The group would continue, but fate made it more like a backup unit for Hynde than the cohesive lineup it originally was.

With new members Robbie McIntosh and Malcolm Foster aboard, the group laid down the tracks for Learning to Crawl in 1983. While not as well-regarded as the group's previous two LPs, the album was still a great listen. Including the two sides of a single from late 1982 ("Back on the Chain Gang" and "My City Was Gone," both of which are great songs), there were four songs from the album that charted on the Hot 100. "Show Me" was the third of those hits, making the Top 40 in the Spring of 1984.

The video below shows the band performing the song live in Germany during the same era it was a hit.

Peabo Bryson - "If Ever You're in My Arms Again"

(Debuted May 12, 1984, Peaked #10, 25 Weeks on the Chart)

To pop fans, Peabo Bryson was best known for his duet with Roberta Flack called "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love," which had hit #16 in 1983. However, he'd been singing -- as part of several groups as well as a solo act -- since he was a teenager in the 1960s. He was part of Michael Zager's Moon Band in the 1970s and sang on their minor hit "Do it With Feeling." Despite a handful of pop singles that either "bubbled under" or missed the Top 40 altogether, he had greater success on the R&B charts, where he cultivated a more sophisticated-sounding "urban contemporary" sound that sprung up after the decline of Disco.

Besides his penchant for duets, perhaps Bryson's ultimate ballad was "If Ever You're in My Arms Again," a song written by Michael Masser, Cynthia Weil and Tom Snow. A song about realizing what you once had after it's slipped away, it was crafted to suit Bryson's style well, with emotional bridges before the choruses that allowed him to use his vocal range, and became his first Top 10 pop hit (and his only one that wasn't a duet). It also went to #5 on the R&B chart and topped the adult contemporary chart. It was one of his finest moments on record.

Tracey Ullman - "They Don't Know"

(Debuted February 25, 1984, Peaked #8, 17 Weeks on the Chart)

No blog that covers the 1980s would be complete without a mention of Tracey Ullman's influence. Her TV show on Fox during the early days of that network was highly-acclaimed and introduced us to The Simpsons, a cartoon that is still with us over 20 years later. But prior to her American acting breaktrough, Ullman managed to get a Top 10 pop hit that certainly sounded like it came out of the bubblegum era of the 1960s.

That said, it would be remiss to mention "They Don't Know" without mentioning that it was written and originally sung by Kirsty MacColl in 1979. MacColl sings backup on this version as well, even belting out the high-pitched "bay-ay-bee" at the end of the instrumental bridge. The video is notable because Paul McCartney makes a cameo appearance at the end. Ullman was appearing in McCartney's film Give My Regards to Broad Street at the time and he was glad to help her out.

REO Speedwagon - "I Do' Wanna Know"

(Debuted Ocober 27, 1984, Peaked #29, 12 Weeks on the Chart)

After two years, REO Speedwagon came out with a new LP called Wheels Are Turnin' in 1984. The first single (and leadoff track) of that album was a guitar and piano-driven adrenaline shot that was quite memorable to me as a 12 year-old. Not only did the guitar catch my ear, but the words "I don't wanna do what I'm supposed to do, I don't want to wear what I'm supposed to wear" definitely appealed to the budding nonconformist in me.

And then, just as quickly as the song arrived, it disappeared. Other (bigger) REO Speedwagon hits -- "Can't Fight This Feeling," "One Lonely Night" -- replaced it and caused it to be unfairly forgotten. In that sense, "I Do' Wanna Know" is the perfect type of song to feature in this blog: something that should have been better remembered than it was. It's something I fondly remember, seemingly out of place on the radio with "I Just Called to Say I Love You," "Missing You" and "Caribbean Queen" yet still great to hear when its turn came.

The Dazz Band - "Joystick"

(Debuted February 11, 1984, Peaked #61, 11 Weeks on the Chart)

One of the biggest icons of the 1980s was the video game system. Whether it was an Atari (which my family had), Intellivision, Colecovision or a Nintendo (which came out much later), it gave people a method of enjoying video games from their homes without having to get their fix one quarter at a time in the arcade. Early in 1984, I was also a sixth grader, and the term "joystick" had a double connotation: not only was it the device we used when we moved Pac-Man around the maze, but it was also a slang term given to very different device altogether. A more biological one we carried around with us.

The Dazz Band also used that double entendre in their song "Joystick," using sound effects in the song and explicitly mentioning the video game in the lyrics, yet still slipping in "take control of the stick...turn me on" in there as well. Anybody who paid attention to the words was going to know that these guys weren't necessarily singing about any Atari.

The Dazz Band was a Cleveland-based funk group that had formed during the late 1970s. Originally, they had the horn section that accompanied many funk units, but realized as the early 80s started that the "sound" was becoming more electronic and moved toward incorporating a drum machine and synthesizer into their act. "Joystick" was the band's first Hot 100 single since the #5 "Let it Whip" from 1982 but never managed to get it or any other song into the pop Top 40. On the other hand, they kept scoring hits on the R&B survey and to a lesser extent on the dance chart through 1988.

U2 - "New Year's Day"

(Debuted April 2, 1983, Peaked #53, 12 Weeks on the Chart)

I could have not timed this song more perfectly unless the actual New Year's Day didn't fall on a weekend this year. So, for my final entry of the year, I'll toss out this U2 song that is a lot more familiar to listeners than its #53 peak position would normally indicate. However, in its initial chart run, U2 wasn't nearly as well-known as they soon became.

A song that was ostensibly about the Polish Solidarity movement, which was subjected to a crackdown by the Communist government in December 1981. Interestingly, Bono began the song as a love song to his newlywed wife on their honeymoon and eventually reworked the lyrics. As part of the LP War, which also included "Sunday Bloody Sunday," "40" and "Seconds," it helped set the Irish band's notoriety as a group that wasn't afraid to take a political stance.

That said, the thing worth pointing out in "New Year's Day" isn't its message but a musical matter. It's one of those songs that shows how important the rhythm section (bass and drums) is to a song. In essence, the two instruments combine to form a driving force -- like the timing chain/belt in an engine -- to propel the song forward. There's other interesting elements of the song, like The Edge's dual use of the guitar and piano, a rather simple melody and that wail that Bono gives before he begins the words. However, the song's base is what allows all of that to happen.

"New Year's Day" also included the line "Under a blood red sky..." That would be the title of U2's concert LP, recorded as they supported the War album.

Spandau Ballet - "True"

(Debuted August 6, 1983, Peaked #4, 18 Weeks on the Chart)

Spandau Ballet's name came from an inscription a friend of the band found in the bathroom of a Berlin nightclub: "Rudolf Hess, all alone, dancing the Spandau Ballet." Hess was a former deputy of the Nazi party in Germany and was the last remaining convict in Germany's Spandau Prison from 1966 until his death in 1987. That said, the song "True" has absolutely nothing to do with him or his former cronies.

Instead, "True" is a romantic ballad that was a worldwide smash. In addition to its #4 showing on the American pop chart, it was a #1 single for four weeks in the U.K. and charted highly in about 20 different countries. It would be sampled on the 1991 P.M. Dawn hit "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss" and appear in several movies over the years. The constant exposure has given "True" a place as a quintessential 1980s hit.

The song reflects the band's interests in jazz, soul and R&B and even mentions Marvin Gaye in one of its lines.