This Week In The 80’s: A Floating Amp, Lions, and Richard Marx
April, 1988. Senior year. A month and a half from THE finish line and a few short weeks from a huge prom debacle that I’m still trying to recover from, financially. Around this time, I caught Richard Marx in concert. He was new on the scene and played a little venue in Tulsa, Oklahoma called the River Parks Floating Amphitheater (affectionately referred to by locals as “the floating amp”). It is, as the name suggests, an amphitheater that floats on a river (see below). It’s one of the coolest venues I’ve ever been too and I saw many a great show there in my youth.
I went to the show with a girl friend of mine because she talked me into it but I think I enjoyed the show more than she did, if we’re being honest. Richard Marx put on a terrific show that night. He’s one of my favorite song writers from any era (not just the 80’s). This week on the chart, his song “Endless Summer Nights”, is sitting at #12 (down from a peak of #2). Rumor has it there’s an acoustic version of this song by yours truly floating around the interwebs somewhere but I digress…
Some other great songs on the chart this week: “Electric Blue” by Icehouse (severely underrated song), “I Get Weak” by Belinda Carlisle (80’s crush, played this song at my wedding a couple of years ago), and David Lee Roth’s “Just Like Paradise“. One of my absolute favorites from the 80’s, however, debuts on the chart this week. This song was actually released in June of 1987 but didn’t chart till now thanks, in no small part, to heavy rotation on MTV. It’ll eventually peak at #8, has one of the slickest guitar solos ever, and reminds me of a certain someone in high school who will forever remain nameless. Incidentally, I saw this band at the same floating amphitheater a little over a year later. Loud as hell and awesome…not to mention someone fell in the water (which didn’t happen as often as you would think). It’s White Lion and “Wait”.
This Week In The 80’s is a weekly look at the Top 40 charts with Eric Vardeman. His Twitter handle is @ericvardeman.
Be the first to comment