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.
This week, it's the Sounds of the Summer of '84:
15. She Don't Know Me—Bon Jovi (#48, July)
Jersey in da House!! Long before they became more appealing to a wider audience (translation: more women digging them!!), they were giving us rockers that could tell a story like this one about the guy trying his best to impress a girl who isn't paying attention. Sensational musical backdrop, especially the work done by David Bryan on keyboards, a smashing backbeat by Tico Torres and great guitar work from the one and only Richie Sambora. Place vocals on record like Jon Bon Jovi and you have a fantastic rocker. If only this song could have appealed to women more, it may have been a Top 20 hit for the band.
14. Legs—ZZ Top (#8, July)
Until the "Eliminator" album was released in 1983, no one would have paid much attention to these guys from Texas. But this was the music video age and everyone suddenly discovered Dusty, Billy and Frank. The best song from this album was this one, featuring a cool, geeky-guy-gets-girl music video. But video or not, this rocker with the driving guitar sound that made Z.Z. Top famous (like on songs such as "Le Grange" and "Tush") still would have been a hit. It's not necessarily Billy Gibbons' vocals that drive the record, but it's the guitars and Frank Beard's drumming that make this the band's landmark first Top 10 hit.
13. My, Oh My—Slade (#37, August)
This record is in the same vain as three classic Rod Stewart songs, "Sailing," "You're In My Heart" and "Rhythm Of My Heart." They all have the same thing in common -- great sing-a-long pub songs. It's a song of unity and hope and love for your fellow man and woman ... which we seem to be lacking of these days in our highly charged political world. Thanks to Quiet Riot re-recording the group's classic "Cum On Feel The Noize" the year before, a whole lot of people may never have heard of Slade. But after this song featuring Noddy Holder's emotionally powerful vocals and a great guitar played by David Hill. Try the song out in a British pub if ever you're there. The sing-a-long is not far behind!
12. Oh, Sherrie—Steve Perry (#3, June)
This record should have made Sherrys/Sherries/Sherris everywhere excited for life -- they had a song to call their own! Well, at least this generation's did. "Oh, Sherrie" is as simple a love song as it gets, one that Journey lead singer Steve Perry wrote about his then-understanding girlfriend Sherrie Swafford. You get the same to-the-max lead vocals on this one from Perry as you get on his Journey records and a great guitar solo played by Michael Landau. Love how the song starts slowly with co-writer Bill Cuomo's keyboard track, then builds into the rocker that it does, then finishes with the same keyboard pattern. Great early Summer of '84 hit song.
11. Self Control—Laura Branigan (#4, June)
Where most of her hit songs were keyboard- and synthesizer-driven, this one wasn't. Actually, it was more of a guitar-laden song, and like on "Oh, Sherrie," it's Michael Landau playing the hot guitar licks. One of Branigan's best songs ever, she paints the seedy side of nightlife and how it controls her where she "lives among the creatures of the night." Powerful echo at the bridge. And another powerful vocal by the woman who gave us so many great songs in the early-to-mid 1980s.
10. High On Emotion—Chris DeBurgh (#44, August)
The sad thing about this song is it didn't get any higher than No. 44 on the chart, but a hard-driving record from the man who gave us "Don't Pay The Ferryman" the summer before and the 1987 international smash "The Lady In Red." DeBurgh's vocals are high on emotion and that amazing chorus where he seems to ramp it up another few notes and the dramatic "You're love will find a way. Great sweeping instrumental track and super guitar work by Phil Palmer and keyboards by the song's producer, Rupert Hine. It's an amazing, rarely heard nugget from the 1980s, but I feel the power of that song each time I listen to it.
9. What's Love Got To Do With It—Tina Turner (#1, September)
I'll always remember this song as the culmination of arguably the greatest comebacks in music history, hitting No. 1 on the Hot 100 the weekend of Labor Day. This record permeated the entire Summer of '84 and just grew on me the more I heard it. The impassioned vocals of 44-year-old Turner and that wandering harmonica-sounding guitar lick by song co-writer and producer Terry Brittain are what this song is always going to be remembered by … oh, and that movie with the same title starring Angela Bassett as Turner. It was a shock that by Labor Day Weekend, it was the No. 1 song in the country, but that only added to the story of the great comeback story Turner weaved.
8. The Reflex—Duran Duran (#1, June)
Thank you, Nile Rodgers! The original version of "The Reflex" from the "Seven And The Ragged Tiger" album/cassette was hard to listen to and just boring. But the former Chic guitarist and producer to acts such as David Bowie and Diana Ross showed up to mix and edit the song for single release and though it may not have been great, it was tons better than the original on the album. The synthesizers of Nick Rhodes still star on this song, but at least it gave it an energy that miserably lacked on the original. And the music video featuring the act doing the song in concert (I saw them in concert do this song … in its original, bleh form) made this an international smash, hitting No. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic, here in late June for two weeks. The Reflex … what a game!
7. Dancing In The Dark—Bruce Springsteen (#2, June)
In 1980, Bruce Springsteen recorded a song with mass appeal in the Top 5 hit "Hungry Heart," but stayed true to his rocker, Jersey roots to make songs that sounded personal and not make pop records. He wrote "Dancing In The Dark" because his co-producing mates, Jon Landau, Chuck Plokin and E Street Band member Steven Van Zandt, didn't think there was a good first hit from the "Born In The U.S.A." album, so Springsteen wrote the driving "Dancing In The Dark." Voila! A great first single. Featuring Max Weinberg's drumbeat, a great narrating lead vocal from Springsteen and a rousing closing saxophone outro by the Big Man, Clarence Clemons, the song became Springsteen's biggest hit ever, peaking at No. 2 as summer officially took off. Great music video directed by horror film maven Brian DePalma and featuring a great dance scene at the end featuring Springsteen and concert-goer and then-unknown Courteney Cox.
6. Borderline—Madonna (#10, June)
"Holiday" may have started Madonna's chart run of hits, but "Borderline" really started her career. Great record co-produced and written by Reggie Lucas, it's a low-key dance record as anything Madonna has ever done. It worked for the pop appeal and wider audience and it worked as the weeke I graduated high school was the week it became her first Top 10 hit. Superb strings playing behind her at the chorus and whatever obstacles there are in this song "keep pushing" Madonna. Better music video featuring future Top 40 one-hit wonder Louie Louie as the boyfriend and directed by up-and-coming director Mary Lambert. A memorable summertime song for generations.
5. Eyes Without A Face—Billy Idol (#4, July)
To appreciate this one, you have to hear the full album version that's almost 5 minutes long. It's a synthesizer-built record with Idol's vocals hauntingly great throughout and his girlfriend, Perri Lister, delivering the French-laden line "Les yeux sans visage," translated into the title of the song. But the highlight of the song is the guitar solo by longtime Idol compatriot Steve Stevens with Idol singing over it. It's a dramatic song from start to finish and the handclaps really punctuate its solid, hypnotic sound that made this a great record in the Summer of '84 from his "Rebel Yell" album and his first huge Top 10 hit.
4. State Of Shock—Jacksons (with Mick Jagger) (#3, August)
So who out there thought the Jacksons could rock out the way they did on this guitar-powered hit that features Michael Jackson and Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger on co-lead vocals and who deliver back-and-forth exchanges. It's a hot one, as hot as the heat was during that Summer of '84. David Williams' guitar stars from start to finish and is the true backdrop of this song that Michael was supposed to do with Queen lead vocalist Freddie Mercury in a duet for the "Thriller" album, but scheduling conflicts ended that hope, so Jackson did it with Jackson, a huge fan of Jackson's and his brothers. I'm sure Mercury could have given the same energy as Jagger did, but we have Mick Jagger and as far as I'm concerned, that's all you really needed.
3. Sister Christian—Night Ranger (#5, June)
As I think of the final days of my high school life in June 1984, I think of two songs. The other song is coming much later. The other is this one, written by drummer-singer Kelly Keagy as a warning to his younger sister about growing up much too fast. I always remember the piano played by Alan Fitzgerald of the band and how powerful that opening was, building up to the dual guitar work of Jeff Watson and Brad Gillis. You can't help but turn this one all the way up while riding with the windows down in your car on a spring/summer day. It resonates with my generation … and future generations forever, especially if you remember the song near the end of the movie "Boogie Nights." The quintessential power ballad of the '80s!
2. When Doves Cry—Prince (#1, July)
One of the 1980s greatest songs ... and it's without a bass. Imagine that -- a great record without a bass track! But that's the genius that was the late and great Prince. From the movie and soundtrack of "Purple Rain," everytime you hear that musical keyboard backdrop, you are a prisoner of that song for the next four-plus minutes or nearly six minutes if it's the album version of the song. It's electric without being over the top. That electronic drumbeat will last the tests of time and Prince's vocals make this record what it was. A record with that kind of background doesn't need a whole lot but a lot of TLC and Prince purely provided that on what would be his first No. 1 hit.
1. Time After Time—Cyndi Lauper (#1, June)
Everytime this song comes on the radio, I will always remember this as the song that was No. 1 on the Hot 100 the day I graduated high school. It's an appropriate song with the friendships that were built over the years in school -- "if you're lost, you can look and you will find me, time after time." The song was beautifully written by Cyndi Lauper -- her second single release form her "She's So Unusual" album after the iconic "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" -- and Rob Hyman of the Hooters. Any slow song has to have a mood that will make you smile or turn you into a blubbering puddle, and this song surely does both. It is Lauper's beautiful approach that does the job as she puts every ounce of emotion into this song, the song that highlighted an album, a song about friendship, whether near or from afar. No matter who recreates this song on tape, vinyl, electronically, they can't capture the pure power and emotion that Lauper put forward on the original. There's no questioning that.
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