This Week In The 80’s: Sleight of Hand And Twist of Fate

This Week In The 80’s: Sleight of Hand And Twist of Fate

1987. I’m finishing up my junior year of high school and headed to the summer. I’m a senior, baby! I’ve got two albums on heavy rotation in my car and in my room these days. Both are in the countdown this week: “Wanted Dead or Alive” from Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet is sitting at #14 while “With Or Without You” from U2’s The Joshua Tree holds down the top spot this week. Two albums that could not be more juxtaposed. While Slippery does not contain a bad song, it was just another in a line of hard rock albums that were blowing up at the time (thanks, in large part, to MTV). Joshua Tree, however, changed my life, affected me in ways that I could feel when I listened to it but couldn’t express in a tangible way. It still has that effect on me to this day. Incidentally, Wanted Dead or Alive, is one of the two songs that Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora play at the MTV music awards as an acoustic duo. It’s the performance that inspired the “Unplugged” series.

There’s a host of great songs on the chart this week. First up, there’s Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers…

Also, a great little diddy from the incomparable Paul Simon. The video cameo by Chevy chase is sheer perfection.

And finally…Poison. This video perfectly encapsulates the ethos of 80’s hard rock and heavy metal to a “T”. Even though I was never a huge fan of CC Deville as a guitar player, I was terribly impressed with the number of guitars he appears to own in this video. Plus – and we can all admit this – next to “Nothing But A Good Time” this is probably one of the most fun party songs to come out of that era. Just about every cover band I’ve been in has played this song. Big dumb rawk at it’s finest!

This Week In The 80’s is a weekly look at the Top 40 charts with Eric Vardeman. His Twitter handle is @ericvardeman.