This Week In The 80’s: Just Around The Corner To The Light of Day…
It’s March of 1987 and I’m a junior in high school. I don’t have any big story for you this week, kiddos, except to say there’s a girl in my Algebra II class that I’m friends with. We flirt, we crush on each other. We seem to always find each other in the halls between classes. I would walk her to car almost every day after school and we’d stand there and talk…trying to muster the courage to tell each other our feelings. She was a huge Crowded House fan and would always have their cassette playing while we sat there on the hood of her car and talked. High school romance, folks. Doesn’t get any better than that. I digress, though. Speaking of Crowded House, “Don’t Dream It’s Over” is at #14 this week on it’s way to a peak of #2.
But that’s not one of the songs I wanna talk about. There are two great songs in the countdown this week that don’t get enough attention when people talk about 80’s music. The first is by the ex-lead singer of Foreigner, Lou Gramm, one of the greatest voices in rock. It’s from his debut solo album and even though it reaches a peak of #5 (this week it’s at #19) it hardly ever gets played or mentioned. It’s either cherry red or “Midnight Blue”.
The second song is from the soundtrack of the movie “Light of Day” starring Michael J. Fox and Joan Jett. It’s actually a Bruce Springsteen song covered by Joan and her band The Blackhearts but the video features Joan and Fox performing with their fictional band, The Barbusters. It’ll peak at #33 in a couple of weeks but it’s just a groovy little tune. I’ve played it in several of the bands I’ve been in over the years. There’s actually two versions of the video. The actual performance video that was on MTV then the version that plays at the end of the movie with MJF singing as well. Both are great. The movie is well worth a watch, too. Trust me.
This Week In The 80’s is a weekly look at the Top 40 charts with Eric Vardeman. His Twitter handle is @ericvardeman.
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