1) Six of the songs in the Top 10 were by foreign acts. Fourteen of the Top 40 songs were by foreign acts.
2) Eleven songs in the countdown were the first Top 40 hits or only Top 40 hits for the acts who did them ... and that includes Journey lead singer Steve Perry's solo debut, "Oh, Sherrie."
3) Six songs were either former No. 1 hits, the current No. 1 or were on their way to No. 1, four of those being the first No. 1 hits in the careers of those artists.
4) Only 14 of the 40 songs in this countdown were by artists whose lead vocalist was in their 20s. The "older" crowd was still ruling the charts for the most part.
5) The only female solo artist in the Top 10 this particular week was not really a singer ... actress-comedienne Tracy Ullman would go on to bigger things other than singing, even if she had a huge one-hit wonder called "They Don't Know."
But what stands out most of about this particular Top 40 countdown were the five debut songs to the countdown this particular week. So let's meet them:
No. 40 It's My Life--Talk Talk: Another of the acts to be a part of the second British Wave of the early-to-mid 1980s, Talk Talk had two songs of note. There was "Talk Talk," which was a chart hit but didn't make the Top 40. Then there was this synth-happy tune that would not even make it past No. 31. But while Talk Talk has had an alternative music staple for well over a generation, the song got a second chance to do something 20 years later. In early 2004, the California-based band No Doubt re-worked the song and took it to No. 10, but to the Top 5 on the Billboard Top 40 mainstream and track charts. Apparently, Gwen Stefani's interpretation of the song was either better or clearer than that of Talk Talk lead singer Mark Hollis.
No. 39 Runaway--Bon Jovi: I'll be honest -- I thought these guys from Sayreville, N.J. who did their recording at New York's famed Power Station studios were nothing more than pretty-boy hard rockers who had no shot at a big-time career. Shows you how much I knew! This keyboard-driven song backed by lead guitarist Richie Sambora's hot licks intertwined beautifully with lead man Jon Bon Jovi's voice. But I figured that was it, especially when the follow-up song called "She Don't Know Me" barely cracked the Top 50. I thought that song was better than "Runaway," which spent exactly one week in the Top 40 before dropping away. And even if the band did a video of "In And Out Of Love" in my beloved Seaside Heights in 1985 for the not-so-successful "7800 Degrees Fahrenheit" album, I didn't think they had much of a shelf life. Then came the ever-so-slight softening of their hard rock image and the "Slippery When Wet" album in 1986. As they say, the rest is history.
No. 36 Time After Time--Cyndi Lauper: Where the debut "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" (which dropped from No. 11 to No. 17 in this countdown after peaking at No. 2) was sassy, raucous and fun, "Time After Time," co-written by Lauper with Robby Hyman of the Philadelphia-based group The Hooters, was and still is one of the most beautifully crafted songs of its time. Lauper's lead vocals set to the moody backdrop of letting someone know that they will never be forgotten and if needed, they'll be there for you was one of the best songs of the year, if not the best song and actually was the perfect "going-away" gift as the No. 1 song in America on the day I graduated from high school on Friday, June 15, 1984. Still gets me to this day, especially the line of "If you're lost you can look and you will find me, time after time. If you fall I will catch you I'll be waiting, time after time." I've always equated this song to my high school graduating class, no matter how different we are as people in our lives and what our ideologies are ... I believe we would be there for one another.
No. 33 I'll Wait--Van Halen: Van Halen already had a huge reputation as a rock band. Then came the release of the "mainstream rock-friendly" album "1984" as producer Ted Templeman's way of telling the band that they would be better off by expanding their fan base. Whether the die-hard VH fans thought it was a good idea or not, it doesn't matter. The plan worked, starting with the No. 1 song "Jump," which was still in the Top 40 at No. 14. Continuing the pattern of "Jump" with Eddie playing keyboards (Edward Van Halen on keyboards!!!!!???), "I'll Wait" was synthesizer-heavy again with an even heavy dose of his brother Alex on both percussion and drums and Eddie balancing his work on the keys with his lead guitar work. It practically made David Lee Roth's lead vocal a mere afterthought. Still a great-sounding tune to this day.
No. 32 Sister Christian--Night Ranger: One year after the Bay-area band Night Ranger scored their first Top 40 hit with "Don't Tell Me You Love Me," it was "Sister Christian" that made the band stars. The song lives today through both the musical and movie "Rock Of Ages," but in 1984, you couldn't get enough of this song on the radio. I still get chills hearing lead vocalist-drummer and the song's writer, Kelly Keagy, knocking out the beat and yelling, "You're motoring!! What's your price for flight?! In finding Mister Right. You'll be alright tonight." Keagy wrote the song for his younger sister who was growing up a bit too quickly and was giving advice to slow things down a bit. The song also got a memorable run near the end of the 1998 movie "Boogie Nights."
Those were the five debut songs. The rest of the Top 40 is a Who's Who of the "soundtrack of our lives in the 1980s." Madonna's breakthrough Top 10 hit "Borderline" was moving up to No. 37. Berlin's debut hit "No More Words" was moving up to No. 31. Steve Perry's "Oh, Sherrie," another "Rock Of Ages" song, leaped nine places to No. 27. The Go-Go's last big hit, "Head Over Heals," jumped up from No. 22 to No. 20 and the Alan Parsons Project's last big hit, "Don't Answer Me," jumped up from No. 21 to No. 19. The first Top 40 hit for "Weird Al" Yankovic called "Eat It," his parody of Michael Jackson's 1983 No. 1 hit "Beat It," dropped from No. 12 to No. 15.
Oh, and there were those songs in the Top 10 that need no artist tied to the song's title -- "Here Comes The Rain Again," "Hold Me Now," "Miss Me Blind," "Automatic," "Love Somebody," "Somebody's Watching Me," "Hello" and the No. 1 song in the country, the powerful ballad "Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now" by Phil Collins from the awful movie of the same name.
As a matter of fact, there were six movie songs in the Top 40 that week -- and four came from the same movie called "Footloose," the biggest pop culture event of the time. "Holding Out For A Hero" by Bonnie Tyler was No. 34 again that week, Shalamar's "Dancing In The Sheets" was up from No. 39 to No. 30, Deniece Williams' future No. 1 hit "Let's Hear It For The Boy" was the Top 40's biggest mover from No. 38 to No. 23 and Kenny Loggins' title song, "Footloose" dropped from No. 1 to No. 2 to make way for Phil Collins.
The other movie song in the Top 40 that week? Rick Springfield's "Love Somebody," which jumped from No. 13 to No. 8.
A lot of memorable Top 40 songs this particular week ... particularly the five debuts that became iconic '80s hits.
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