POLL: US Top 40 Singles For The Week Ending February 28, 1987

Oh wait, I take that back. The Shirley Murdock one doesn't sound familiar at all either.

Open Your Heart, several if not several hundred stories over Jon Bon, the Beasties, Gabriel, and Hornsby (what exactly is a mandolin rain anyway?). The Cinderella tune isn't completely terrible.

Open Your Heart might be my favorite Madonna song (might be), and there are SO MANY good songs here, but Midnight Blue is pulling at me.

Also, Brand New Lover is a fucking awesome tune that I occasionally play on a loop for periods of up to, and perhaps over, an hour.

"love you down" or "come go with me" or "candy" uuuugh

all these songs are horrible.

you are horrible

voting Peter Gabriel.

yeah, i know. trying to stop.

xpost

i'll be missed, not quite on the "balls" level. ILX is not as fun for me anymore...

Unless your name is Racoon, I hate to see anybody leave ilx.

It's between "Love You Down" and "Candy" for me, but I kinda wanna throw "As We Lay" an outside vote, straight fire beautiful song...

Wow, Chico was really jocking Janet's sound harrrrd.

Kinda funny to hear him in that mode when I only knew his 90s neosoul stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OBmgoxUxac

xp read that as 'chicago' and was like, really?

I love "As We Lay" and bought it on 7" at the time. Shirley Murdock was part of the Zapp family, and worked with the Troutmans on this one.

Wow, Chico was really jocking Janet's sound harrrrd.

― raih dednelb (The Reverend),

I have a childhood memory of this song getting introduced on Y-100 thusly: "and here's Janet's new hit, 'Talk to Me.'"

One of the more solid lineups. These are good to great:

YOU GOTTA) FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT (TO PARTY!) –•– Beastie Boys – 11 (8)
BIG TIME –•– Peter Gabriel – 14 (9)
LOVE YOU DOWN –•– Ready For The World – 14 (9)
I’LL BE ALRIGHT WITHOUT YOU –•– Journey – 13 (14)
LET’S WAIT AWHILE –•– Janet Jackson – 7 (15)
NOBODY’S FOOL –•– Cinderella – 17 (13)
I WANNA GO BACK –•– Eddie Money – 11 (17)
STOP TO LOVE –•– Luther Vandross – 16 (15)
OPEN YOUR HEART –•– Madonna – 13 (1)
COME GO WITH ME –•– Expose – 6 (23)
DON’T DREAM IT’S OVER –•– Crowded House – 7 (34)
WE CONNECT –•– Stacey Q – 12 (35)
MIDNIGHT BLUE –•– Lou Gramm – 5 (37)
DON’T NEED A GUN –•– Billy Idol – 6 (39)

"Change of Heart" and "Open Your Heart" were of course paired as another Cyndi vs Madonna FITE.

wow the top 10 was almost as overwhelmingly white then as it is right now

think i gotta go with "Don't Dream It's Over"

all these songs are horrible.

― Bee OK,

jeez man. There's something for every taste here cept country and hip-hop.

well, no, the Beasties in the top ten.

Probably "Love You Down" vs. "Let's Wait Awhile" for me. I don't know how I constantly forget that Janet is one of my favorite pop artists of the past 30 years.

Midnight blue

Open Your Heart
Don't Dream It's Over
You Got It All
Nothing's gonna Stop Us Now

you sold me, cryptosicko, let's run away together

"Lean on Me" by a nose over the eternally underrated Wang Chung.

CANDY

I was in college at the time and way into my university radio station. But what strikes me is how inescapable this music was at the time, whether it was in a dorm, the campus center, mall, and in movies and TV. You heard it regardless of desire.

These days it seems much easier to opt out of the mainstream, but I wonder if that's just due to my point in life.

Voted PG.

Ah, winter of my senior year of HS.

I like a good chunk of these. Went with Crowded House over Lou Gramm, Ready for the World, Madonna, Janet, Club Nouveau. I played that Crowded House album a lot.

I still do.

I haven't in ages, should dig it out.

top 5:

Candy
Stop To Love
I'll Be Alright Without You
Open Your Heart
Fight For Your Right To Party

Most of the time I think "I'll Be Alright Without You" is my favorite Journey song.

^^ mine too. That album is totally forgotten. Is it on the New Jersey thread?

"Stop to Love" is a CVS favorite.

Lots of secondary/tertiary and/or late-career hits here that I'd forgotten: Cameo, Journey, Corey Hart, Billy Idol, REO. Funny era.

And Cyndi Lauper, too -- she didn't even bother to do that song when I saw her a few years ago.

that Idol track is wack: midtempo synth sleaze over which Billy mumbles about Johnny Ray.

I love "Change Of Heart". Maybe Cyndi's last great single (ftr, "I Drove All Night" is only really good). It fits nicely with her earlier stuff.

Bangles on backup vocals.

"as we lay"!! either that or "love you down"

My heyday as a guy who elevated radio pop above all other kinds of music, including all the Husker Puppets and such that I was immersed in a year or two earlier. (They came up with a pithy name for such people--I can't bring myself to use it.)

1. OPEN YOUR HEART –•– Madonna
2. LOVE YOU DOWN –•– Ready For The World
3. BRAND NEW LOVER –•– Dead Or Alive
4. LET’S WAIT AWHILE –•– Janet Jackson
5. YOU GOT IT ALL –•– The Jets
6. (YOU GOTTA) FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT (TO PARTY!) –•– Beastie Boys

Hell: "Livin' of a Prayer"
Something Worse Than Hell: "The Final Countdown"

I was such a radio kid at this period of time; I have fond memories of all of the following:

1 1 LIVIN’ ON A PRAYER –•– Bon Jovi – 12 (1)
2 4 JACOB’S LADDER –•– Huey Lewis & The News – 7 (2)
3 2 KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF –•– Georgia Satellites – 15 (2)
4 3 WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME? –•– Chicago – 16 (3)
5 6 YOU GOT IT ALL –•– The Jets – 16 (5)
6 11 SOMEWHERE OUT THERE –•– Linda Ronstadt & James Ingram – 11 (6)
8 14 (YOU GOTTA) FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT (TO PARTY!) –•– Beastie Boys – 11 (8)
9 13 BIG TIME –•– Peter Gabriel – 14 (9)
10 7 BALLERINA GIRL –•– Lionel Richie – 13 (7)
11 5 TOUCH ME (I WANT YOUR BODY) –•– Samantha Fox – 18 (4)
12 19 MANDOLIN RAIN –•– Bruce Hornsby & The Range – 7 (12)
13 9 LOVE YOU DOWN –•– Ready For The World – 14 (9)
14 18 I’LL BE ALRIGHT WITHOUT YOU –•– Journey – 13 (14)
15 22 LET’S WAIT AWHILE –•– Janet Jackson – 7 (15)
16 15 NOBODY’S FOOL –•– Cinderella – 17 (13)
18 17 STOP TO LOVE –•– Luther Vandross – 16 (15)
19 8 OPEN YOUR HEART –•– Madonna – 13 (1)
20 25 BRAND NEW LOVER –•– Dead Or Alive – 14 (20)
21 26 NOTHING’S GONNA STOP US NOW –•– Starship – 5 (21)
22 37 LEAN ON ME –•– Club Nouveau – 3 (22)
23 28 COME GO WITH ME –•– Expose – 6 (23)
24 16 AT THIS MOMENT –•– Billy Vera & The Beaters – 20 (1)
25 10 CHANGE OF HEART –•– Cyndi Lauper – 14 (3)
26 21 TALK TO ME –•– Chico DeBarge – 17 (21)
27 36 TONIGHT, TONIGHT, TONIGHT –•– Genesis – 3 (27)
28 31 CANDY –•– Cameo – 10 (28)
29 24 CAN’T HELP FALLING IN LOVE –•– Corey Hart – 12 (24)
30 34 THE FINAL COUNTDOWN –•– Europe – 6 (30)
32 35 LET’S GO –•– Wang Chung – 6 (32)
34 38 DON’T DREAM IT’S OVER –•– Crowded House – 7 (34)
35 40 WE CONNECT –•– Stacey Q – 12 (35)
38 29 C’EST LA VIE –•– Robbie Nevil – 21 (2)
39 43 DON’T NEED A GUN –•– Billy Idol – 6 (39)

voting "Candy" because it's "Candy" ffs, recognize greatness

That Chicago song is a cyst.

I remember seeing "Let's Wait Awhile" sung on TV at the time (not a video but a guest appearance). It struck me as outright propaganda, like not really a song from one person to another, but meant as a rally song for Tipper Gore & the PMRC.

The complete title is "Let's Wait Awhile (Tipper's Song)".

haha

That Crowded House record is the one that put Mitchell Froom on the map isn't it?

winnowing down to actual faves:

1 1 LIVIN’ ON A PRAYER –•– Bon Jovi – 12 (1)
9 13 BIG TIME –•– Peter Gabriel – 14 (9)
11 5 TOUCH ME (I WANT YOUR BODY) –•– Samantha Fox – 18 (4)
15 22 LET’S WAIT AWHILE –•– Janet Jackson – 7 (15)
19 8 OPEN YOUR HEART –•– Madonna – 13 (1)
20 25 BRAND NEW LOVER –•– Dead Or Alive – 14 (20)
23 28 COME GO WITH ME –•– Expose – 6 (23)
27 36 TONIGHT, TONIGHT, TONIGHT –•– Genesis – 3 (27)
28 31 CANDY –•– Cameo – 10 (28)
34 38 DON’T DREAM IT’S OVER –•– Crowded House – 7 (34)

i think because this is juuuuust before i really started paying attention to pop music, this is the most surreal top 40 i've seen - not quite my 80s (the way backstreet types talk about their 90s), not quite the pre-my era 80s. surprised how many i still don't really know, including a few top 10s ("jacob's ladder," "will you still love me," "ballerina girl"), while others - "don't dream it's over," "living on a prayer," "big time," are some of the earliest i did know.

probably going to vote for "tonight, tonight, tonight" because i'm kind of obsessed with it.

though sentimentally i should vote for "open your heart" because that video made a 9-year-old me believe madonna would possibly want to date me

someone should set the "Open Your Heart" video to Usher's "I Don't Mind"

Sometimes I wonder if pulling her wig off while flaunting her right profile is her best video moment.

Brand new lover is one of my favorite songs ever. Also, THE VIDEO.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6QxItpzXQ4

Dammit that's not the video.

This is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWbj64Rwfvc

Oh yes!

<3!

Totally chair dancing at my desk to this now. Thanks, thread.

oh don't make me post the "That's The Way (I Like It)" video

"Brand New Lover" is pretty good. And, given that '87 marks the start of my obsession with pop music, I have no idea how I've never heard it before. It's even on my iPod, I just now realize.

That's the way it has to be, DJP.

though sentimentally i should vote for "open your heart" because that video made a 9-year-old me believe madonna would possibly want to date me

― da croupier, Thursday, February 26, 2015 5:29 PM (42 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm though I was 13 & so it wasn't exactly dating I was thinking about

Madonna in the "Lucky Star" video was my first ever celebrity crush at the ripe old age of 6.

oh i didn't even notice "candy" the first time around, classic obviously, still gonna vote "love you down" tho

Easy vote for Bon Jovi but Crowded House put in a strong showing.

I'm surprised by how many of these I like.

"Don't Dream It's Over" still sounds like the outlier.

Starship #3 obv

Might end up going with "Don't Dream It's Over," though it's neck-and-neck with "Open Your Heart."

Heard "Prayer" on the radio yesterday and laughed out loud at the stupid digital synth chimey sound. It felt like Jon was hedging his bets about livin' on a prayer and wanted to sell me a life insurance plan.

I like this period's Eddie Money singles.

I still like Take Me Home Tonight a lot, but I reapproached I Wanna Go Back a few months ago and it just seems pitiful now.

(which is ironic, considering we're engaging in that exact behavior here)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

"Open Your Heart." But this list is surprisingly shitty.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

zero votes for "Brand New Lover" ;_;

I thought I knew every song but I don't know Shirley Murdock's.

listen to it, it's great!

^^^^

"Brand New Lover" is a second tier Dead Or Alive song. i actually saw them live and my roommate, at the time, was so obsessed with the lead singer that we actually followed their limo after the show. well, they figured out that we were following them and two huge security guards got out of the car. like an idiot i pull over behind them. well we were basically told to stop following them. i was driving and one of the guys was reaching for the keys in the car but fortunately i had my window only cracked and he didn't get to the keys. have not thought about that story in the longest time, so thanks thread.

Don't Dream It's Over is completely flawless.

That guitar break kills me.

All the D&A love (which surprised me) translated into no love.

To anyone 15 years younger than I am, I bet Bread (who I often love) sounds as numbingly bland as Crowded House does to me.