Each week, I am releasing a list of my 15 favorite songs from the first 15 summers I lived in my beloved hometown of Toms River, N.J. between 1974-88. That takes me from the summer I was 7 until the summer I was 21. Each song from each summer has a special meaning and I will try to convey them as best as I possibly can. So I will rank each summer's hit song memory from Nos. 15 through No. 1. Each song was a hit that peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 between Memorial Day Weekend and Labor Day Weekend. An interesting final note here: "Ebony & Ivory" by Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder is NOT in this countdown because it was a hit in the Spring of 1982, hitting No. 1 then, so I did not include it among the summertime memories.
This week, it's the Sounds of the Summer of '82:
15. Body Language—Queen (#11, June)
Slinky, sleek and in a way, sleezy. The way this song sounded, it should have been the theme to a television game show. Always loved the pause as the song starts to take off after lead singer Freddie Mercury yells, "Baby don't talk!" Great backbeat from drummer John Taylor and even better bass guitar from John Deacon. And the vocal acrobatics of Mercury … need I say more? And that sound made a couple of times of a balloon blowing up and popping -- a genius record that doesn't get played much on radio anymore. It made for a great early Summer of '82 favorite.
14. No One Like You—The Scorpions (#65, July)
Amazing guitar work from Rudy Schencker. Memorable vocals from Klaus Meine. Intense music video. WHY did this song fail to make the Top 40? Why?! There's no excuse for that -- there was always room on the chart for a power-hungry hard-rockin' metal-like record such as this. Were we not ready yet to have a German hard rock act storm the charts? Did we have to wait until "Rock You Like A Hurricane" for acceptance of this fantastic band from Hamburg? I'm still perplexed to this day.
13. Fantasy—Aldo Nova (#23, May)
Speaking of sleazy-sounding songs being so good, here's another example of it. Aldo Nova must have had a memory of being one time in a huge city district where hookers were prevalent and the drugs ran rampant. Great guitar work and solo by Nova and pleasurable piano played by Dennis Chartrand. It's a synth-rocker in some ways with Nova also playing keyboards, but at its core, it's hard rock without doubt. Another song to bounce your head up and down. Man, my head hurt that Summer of '82.
12. When It's Over—Loverboy (#26, June)
Unlike the previous rockers mentioned here, this one is more a synth rocker with great guitar work in the bridge by the song's co-writer Paul Dean, who wrote this with lead singer Mike Reno, whose narrative is tremendous. The longer version of this song still is the better choice: More Reno vocal, more Dean guitar work and more synth sound from Doug Johnson. One of Loverboy's best works.
11. Do I Do—Stevie Wonder (#13, July)
The long version of this record contains the work of the great jazz trombonist Dizzy Gillespie, puffed-out cheeks and all. It's a great post-Disco record that you can't resist tapping your feet to when it's on the radio. Nathan Watts puts down a pretty heavy bass and the keyboard work Wonder does matches the sassiness of his vocals. It's just a feel-good song and every summer needs a feel-good song. This is that such song.
10. The Other Woman—Ray Parker Jr. (#4, June)
The first-ever solo hit for Ray Parker Jr. has a duel starring role. Charles Green is magnificent on saxophone throughout. Otherwise, it's all Parker telling the story of "the other woman," the one that tempts and tries to pull him away from the woman he's with now. He also delivers a great guitar solo near the end. And the irresistible drums? Those are, believe it or not, played by Parker. Just a great early summertime hit in '82.
9. Caught Up In You—.38 Special (#10, July)
Jacksonville in Da House with this rocker that seemed to be on the radio no matter what part of the country you lived in. Though his vocals sound strained (it may have been the production), Donnie Barnes sounds good and the duel guitars of Barnes and Jeff Carlisi at the end of this song continue the Southern Rock sound that acts like Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers made famous a decade earlier.
8. Only The Lonely—The Motels (#9, July)
The cool vocals of Martha Davis make this song sound so mysterious. But it is storytelling that has a dark side to it about the non-joys of success, the loneliness one feels as life suddenly gets lived in a fishbowl and relationships gets strained. Guy Perry with a great guitar solo on this record. Truly great-sounding summer song.
7. Hold Me—Fleetwood Mac (#4, July)
That piano introduction by Christine McVie sucks you in, and then it's just a super in-harmony vocal shared by McVie and Lindsey Buckingham, who has a tremendous guitar solo on the record. In my opinion, it's a much quieter-sounding Mac record than other Mac songs in the 1970s. It's a rocker with an adult contemporary flair to it. The music video of the group in the desert also stands out, too. Can't think of the Summer of '82 without this Fleetwood Mac smash.
6. Abracadabra—Steve Miller Band (#1, September)
That melody is hypnotic from the beginning. Miller's vocals are on fire -- "I heat up, I can't cool down. You got me spinnin' round and round. Round and round, and round we go. Where it stops, nobody knows?" Miller delivers a great guitar solo as a point-counterpoint in the bridge. But where this song shines is long after the edit for single use on radio stations has been taken care of. The end with the synthesizer and guitar improvising in a rock manner makes the longer album version a classic right to the very last twang sound going out.
5. Don't You Want Me—The Human League (#1, July)
A No. 1 hit at the start of 1982 in the UK, you knew this song would be a hit, but boy the perseverance on the chart this one had from its Top 40 debut in April and then hitting No. 1 in July. Great storytelling straight out of "A Star Is Born" the movie. Philip Oakey is the tour guide telling that tale and then you hear the star that got the break in Susan Ann Sulley, who explains her side of the story, while the synthesizers are loud and proud. It is an iconic '80s tune without question as it went to No. 1 for three weeks. The Human League went on to have other hits, including another No. 1 hit in "Human" in 1986, but believe me, THIS is the song most everyone will remember The Human League by forever.
4. Tainted Love—Soft Cell (#8, July)
One of the greatest one-hit wonder songs ever recorded. Marc Almond's vocals are divine and tell the story of being jilted by his lover, the story first told by Gloria Jones on a song written by Ed Cobb in 1964. Where the original was filled with horns, it is David Ball's synthesizers that steal the show and that melody that repeats throughout the record. Almond's vocals are passionate and sometimes over the top … and as a fan, we love it! The tune seemed always paired with a remake of the Supremes' first No. 1 hit, "Where Did Our Love Go?" so it was a great two-song medley, but for here, we are just counting "Tainted Love," which broke Paul Davis' record with "I Go Crazy" at the time for most consecutive weeks on the Hot 100 chart with 43 weeks. Another great summertime song.
3. Heat Of The Moment—Asia (#4, June)
The supergroup Asia -- John Wetton, Steve Howe, Geoff Downs and Carl Palmer -- came running out of the game at over a 100 mph with that debut hit from the "Asia" album with "Heat Of The Moment," a sizzling summer sound of 1982 with Howe's guitar blasting through their airwaves at the end and Wetton's vocals having a long-lasting impact on that first single. Great keyboard work by Downes and an even better music video with the 16-screen video that is done in frame-by-frame sequence. Great way for the band Asia to debut.
2. Eye Of The Tiger—Survivor (#1, July)
I went out and bought the 45 the week it debuted in the Top 40 at No. 19. I played this song to death on my family's record player. That song just stuck in my mind and I knew that was a No. 1 hit the momet I heard it. From the "Rocky III" soundtrack starring Sylvester Stallone, Carl Weathers and Mister T., I pity the fool who couldn't get into this record. Great build-up right to David Bickford's vocals. It's a three-part lyric with a chorus, but what I'll remember is Bickford's strain on the last "The Eye … of the Tiger." Great finishing run of the song. There's nothing bad about this motivational record. It's a huge part of my childhood growing up in the early 1980s, especially during the summer.
1. Kids In America—Kim Wilde (#25, August)
No song had more of an effect on me in the Summer of 1982 than "Kids In America" by Kim Wilde, a No. 2 hit in her native UK the year before. It's New Wave music at its absolute best, highlighted by the synthesizer work of her brother Ricky, who was the producer of the song. When I heard "Kids In America," I, like with "Eye Of The Tiger," had to buy the 45 single. I wore that single out on that same record player that same summer because I personally felt like that song was speaking to me. "Will the kids in America … whoa-oa! Will the kids in America … whoa-oa! Everybody live for the music-go-round!" There was also, "New York to East California, there's a new wave coming, I warn you!" I don't understand why that wave never made it to the west side of California … but OK. I have faith it made it there anyway. "Kids In America" is a truly influencing record for my generation and one I won't ever forget.
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