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 '86:
15. That Was Then, This Is Now—The Monkees (#20, August)
Maybe it was because of the nostalgia and the 1960s love for the lovable American TV stars turned rock stars, but it was refreshing to hear them back, even if it was just Mickey Dolenz and Peter Tork representing (Davy Jones would sign back on later and Michael Nesmith took his time returning). Schlocky pop, sure, but good-sounding stuff from the pen of songwriter Vance Brescia, who gave the duo an '80s feel with Dolenz's lead vocals easily sliding through the musical backdrop. Really, it was just a nice way to say for a '60s superstar act to say, "We're back! Did ya miss us?!"By the way, the music video for the song was shot and recorded at a familiar stomping ground for me -- Great Adventure in Jackson Township, N.J.
14. Dreams—Van Halen (#22, July)
The debate, I suppose, will always happen between which lead singer was the best for Van Halen, whether it was David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar. I can't decide because both fit different purposes for the time they were there. Personally, Sammy was the better lead singer and you can hear the power in his vocals on this summertime memory from the "5150" album. "Dreams" is pure Van Halen, featuring a great guitar solo from Eddie himself, but a raw, unstoppable vocal from Hagar, who more than made this Van Halen fan happy he was part of the team. Always loved the music video featuring the famed Blue Angels
13. Glory Of Love—Peter Cetera (#1, August)
Sure, this one got played an awful lot by the time it hit No. 1 in early August of 1986, but it's still got moments that make it one of my summertime song memories. I started dating my first girlfriend at the time it hit the top, so it meant something. And we went to see "Karate Kid II" at the movie theater in Brick Township where she lived. "Live or die man!" "Die!" "Wrong! Honk-honk!" the things you remember. Future country music star producer and musician Dann Huff is playing the guitar solo on this one and it feels sentimental with the former lead vocalist of Chicago, Peter Cetera, singing the lead vocal on it. True time travel to hear that one on pop radio every so often.
12. We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off—Jermaine Stewart (#5, August)
The song says it all -- we don't have to take our clothes off to have a good time, oh, no. "So come on baby won't you show some class. Why you wanna move so fast?" The song actually was a promotion for both abstinence during the AIDS-heavy mid-to-late 1980s, which Stewart eventually passed away from in 1997 (AIDS-related liver cancer). If the opening sounds familiar -- like you heard it sorta on Aretha Franklin's "Who's Zoomin' Who?" or on Whitney Houston's smash "How Will I Know?" -- that's because Stewart's song was co-written and produced by the same man behind both those hits, Narada Michael Walden. This is simply a fun, get-on-the-dance-floor record with a message to it that struck a chord with people in the Summer of '86.
11. Be Good To Yourself—Journey (#9, May)
By 1986, the five-man band Journey was just a three-man outfit with studio help: lead singer Steve Perry, guitarist Neal Schon and keyboardist Jonathan Cain. All shine on this record that made the Top 10 the week after Memorial Day, the first hit to come from the "Raised On Radio" album/CD. Cain's keyboard opening sets the tone with this rocker and Schon delivers the blazing guitar solo at the end of the tune. And Steve Perry? Yeah, he made every song he did with that band sound effortless. Those acrobatic vocals were unique, and "Be Good To Yourself" was a shining example. Bass guitar played well on this tune by Randy "Yo, dog!" Jackson.
10. Higher Love—Steve Winwood (#1, August)
By late summer, this was on the radio every half hour … and I still never get tired of hearing Winwood's unique vocals matching his keyboard work and those horns that add a sass to the record that pumps it to a … higher grade. And those backing vocals by Chaka Khan? Exquisite! The record became Winwood's first-ever No. 1 hit and earned him the Grammys for Record and Song of the Year. It's just a nice song that doesn't infringe errantly in any direction. In other words, it's a masterpiece in its creation.
9. Danger Zone—Kenny Loggins (#2, July)
The intensity that went into "Danger Zone" is what makes this arguably the most recognizable song from the biggest soundtrack of the year, "Top Gun." There are those that will argue the love theme by Berlin, "Take My Breath Away" was that song, but "Danger Zone" was the first release from the movie and it set the tone of what those fighter pilots in the sky were all about. And just like he did on the guitar solo on "Glory Of Love," it is Dann Huff delivering a searing, right-through-your-torso guitar solo that gives you a head rush like you're fighting the enemy in the sky. Kenny Loggins, dubbed the King of the '80s Soundtrack Songs, powers his way through a frenzied musical backdrop that further put him in movie soundtrack folklore. Should've been a No. 1 hit, but came up short to the song I have at No. 1.
8. Your Wildest Dreams—The Moody Blues (#9, July)
That lonely-sounding musical open makes you nostalgically wish you had the old days back. It's what "Your Wildest Dreams" was all about and made to fit perfectly in the Summer of 1986 as a generation of baby boomers went back to remembering the good old days of the 1960s and that first love and if he or she still thinks about you the way you did them. Lead singer Justin Hayward brings those memories home on this song that, like the band he was in, the Moody Blues, look back longingly at a much younger time and age and wonder if things are still as groovy now as they were then. We always think about our first love in some way, mostly lovingly. Sometimes we're left feeling like the woman in the music video for Hayward at the end of the video … the feeling of what if.
7. Sweet Freedom—Michael McDonald (#7, August)
The soulful vocals of former Doobie Brothers lead singer Michael McDonald combined with the tropical feel of the song made "Sweet Freedom" the most irresistible song of the Summer of 1986. Just a fun song and one to take with you on your tropical venture, especially if you're either on the beach or going drinking. Rod Temperton, who wrote classics like "Rock With You," "Boogie Nights," "Always And Forever," "Baby, Come To Me," and "Thriller," wrote this one, too, and it's from the movie "Running Scared" starring Billy Crystal and the late Gregory Hines.
6. A Different Corner—George Michael (#7, June)
It was if George Michael told my life story about every woman who came into my life and walked out of it as well and the hurt and sadness that followed, singing, "Take me back in time, maybe I can forget. Turn a different corner and we never would have met." Now take all that gloom and pain and heartache and hurt and put it into three-four waltz time with orchestral instrumentation and let Deon Estus pound your soul with each bass guitar pluck he makes and you feel very small, emotional and lonely. Michael did it beautifully on this song that exposes every ounce of hurt one feels after a relationship sadly ends. To do it with a waltz backdrop is brilliance. It's why we miss what George Michael did, especially since his passing.
5. Nasty—Janet Jackson (#3, July)
"What Have You Done For Me Lately" was her calling card. "Nasty" was the first reminder that you don't mess with this woman at all. "No my first name ain't baby! It's Janet! Ms. Jackson if you're nasty!" Whoa! Suddenly, I felt like it was ME who did something wrong. The record just pounds at you from start to finish -- from the "Give me a beat!" bark-out to the danceable last note. It's a wonderful romp through the dos and don'ts of what you should be respectable as a man alongside this 20-year-old star in the making. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis gave her a beat that let everyone know she was in control from start to finish with a hypnotic beat that resonated that whole summer. "Nasty" is the song that made people aware Janet Jackson was about to be a superstar.
4. Tuff Enuff—The Fabulous Thunderbirds (#10, July)
Texas blues-rock that wasn't ZZ Top! It was delivered by the hard-driving rockers known as the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Pile-driver rock featuring the screaming guitar work of Stevie Ray Vaughan's brother, Jimmie, and the soulful vocals of Kim Wilson. The vocals are never over the top, but that guitar and the punishing drums of Fran Christina … they make the record what it was. Wilson shows you how tough a guy he is by going through a number of obstacles to be with the woman he cares and loves. An instant classic rock smash.
3. Like A Rock—Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band (#12, July)
When Seger gets sentimental and longs for the days of his high school years as he did in "Night Moves" and on this song, the title track from the album/CD "Like A Rock," you can't help get weepy. He's sharing that memory of his childhood with you and you can't help but think a part of you is in him in what he states as his story. "Like A Rock" is probably a slower version of "Night Moves" and is driven by two guitar solos by guest guitarist Dawayne Bailey and a powerful piano played by Silver Bullet Band member Craig Frost. Mesmerizing tune that one day would become the status song for Chevrolet trucks.
2. Jungle Boy—John Eddie (#52, July)
The pounding of the drums, that ferocious backbeat and the screams of "Yeah! Yeah!" and Virginia-born, New Jersey resident John Eddie was a rage in a cage dying to get out with the catchiest tune of the Summer of '86. Played all the time by my local radio station, WJRZ-FM in Manahawkin and Toms River, this song should have been a Top 40 hit … period! Only got to No. 52 and for the last 33 summers, that was unacceptable. This song harkened back to a lot of the old Dion DeMucci records of the early 1960s or the James Dean "Rebel Without A Cause" attitude. Eddie is bold and brash, singing, "Hey Mrs. Jackson, man, I know it's late. It's about your daughter now, and it can't wait. See I'm her boy, if you don't approve … it's my town, toots, if you don't like it, move!" Obviously, he wasn't dating Janet … Ms. Jackson if you're nasty in that same summer. This record still remains one of the all-time best to come out of the Jersey Shore area as a lot of Eddie's crowd included Southside Johnny and Little Steven Van Zandt, and yes, a man he opened up for on occasion, Bruce Springsteen. Such a good-sounding record by today's standards.
1. Sledgehammer—Peter Gabriel (#1, July)
Forget arguably the greatest music video ever shot for a moment here. Everything about "Sledgehammer" was not what Peter Gabriel represented in his career, with Genesis or solo. The fact this is a rousing pop song goes away from everything Gabriel ever did. It's soulful, it's kitschy and it's catchy. I immediately fell in love with this song. Before I headed out to Hammonton High School to cover a South Jersey state sectional softball tournament championship on Friday, May 30, 1986, I stopped in my local Ocean County Mall and went to Listening Booth and purchased the "So" tape by Gabriel to play on the way down. I listened to this song over and over and over again … so drawn in by the horns and the quirkiness of "Sledgehammer," especially the line, "Show me 'round your fruit cage, 'cause I will be your honeybee. Open up your fruit cage, where the fruit is as sweet as can be." How do you not love this record?! It's an iconic '80s song forever and always! It may not have been Peter Gabriel's style, but the fit was just perfect.
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