There’s something terribly wrong with me right now. Just like everyone, there are points when I get a song stuck in my head that I just can’t get rid of. But right now I have a medley stuck in my brain which apparently only comes out when I’m singing in the shower (thankfully). It goes like this: “I’m gonna take you by surprise and make you realize / Amanda / I’m gonna tell you right away / I can’t wait another day / Amanda / I’m gonna say it like a man and make you understand / Amanda / I love you / You know it’s you babe / Giving me the courage and the strength I need / Please believe that it’s true / Babe, I love you.” Every morning for at least the last two weeks I’ve found myself singing some ungodly blend of Boston’s “Amanda” and Styx’s “Babe.” And I don’t even know why. I don’t remember hearing the tunes lately and it’s not like they are my favorite songs. Why couldn’t I just be singing a medley of “Danger Zone” and “Who’s Johnny” instead?
Here’s another week of Bottom Feeders where we chat about songs that reached no higher than #41 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the ’80s. We have a mess more of M to continue with this week, so stream away and enjoy.
Millions Like Us
Á¢€Å“Guaranteed for LifeÁ¢€ — 1987, #69 (download)
I mentioned a few weeks ago how this song got me buying Á¢€Ëœ80s CDs again. I can state for a fact that before I started writing this up I had heard this song only once — back when I was listening to my whole collection from start to finish. The number of plays column on iTunes is at 0 which means itÁ¢€â„¢s never shuffled to it and IÁ¢€â„¢m 100% sure IÁ¢€â„¢ve never pulled this out on my own. I knew nothing about the group and with a generic (and pretty bad) name like Millions Like Us a google search doesnÁ¢€â„¢t turn up anything and the 45 only said the song was written by the group.
So, I went out and got the CD. If I had just listened to it a little bit I probably could have figured it out, but when I first heard this song, I thought it was a soulful young black man. But no, Millions Like Us is more like Go West — two soulful middle-aged white dudes. The singer is John OÁ¢€â„¢Kane and the other guy goes by the name of Á¢€Å“JeepÁ¢€. And that still tells me virtually nothing about the band. The track is pretty damn good though.
Stephanie Mills
Á¢€Å“Sweet SensationÁ¢€ — 1980, #52 (download)
Á¢€Å“The Medicine SongÁ¢€ — 1984, #65 (download)
Á¢€Å“Bit by BitÁ¢€ — 1988, #75 (download)
Á¢€Å“(YouÁ¢€â„¢re PuttinÁ¢€â„¢) A Rush on MeÁ¢€ — 1987, #85 (download)
Stephanie Mills is really the person that shaped my collection into what it is today. Okay, maybe not Stephanie directly, but The Best of Stephanie Mills is one of the first CDs I ever purchased once I decided to pursue collecting the whole chart. That has 15 songs on it of which three are Á¢€Å“mixes.Á¢€ Stephanie had 22 songs on the R&B charts in the decade, so clearly IÁ¢€â„¢d need more. It took a while, but this made me realize why I needed to collect the original albums rather than greatest hits collections. By the time I bought the albums to get the songs that werenÁ¢€â„¢t on the hits record, I owned all but two of the songs on the CD anyway, so that became a pretty useless disc. So I have Stephanie Mills to thank for the 3,000-plus LPs that fill up my entire spare bedroom.
Ronnie Milsap
Á¢€Å“He Got YouÁ¢€ — 1982, #59 (download)
Á¢€Å“DonÁ¢€â„¢t You Know How Much I Love YouÁ¢€ — 1983, #58 (download)
Á¢€Å“She Loves My CarÁ¢€ — 1984, #84 (download)
Ronnie Milsap has had not one, not two but 32 country #1 hits in his career. Now of course while country music is not my specialty upon looking at those charts it seems all you had to do was shit on a fiddle and you had a #1 song and once you had one #1 you were guaranteed hits into your mid-60s as long as you just kept releasing songs that every other country artist in the history of music had recorded. So, I donÁ¢€â„¢t know if thatÁ¢€â„¢s impressive or not. But compared to my zero hits, I suppose I have to give him props.
None of these however are country songs. I mean sure, both Á¢€Å“He Got YouÁ¢€ and Á¢€Å“DonÁ¢€â„¢t You Know How Much I Love YouÁ¢€ were two of those #1 hits, but these guys are pop songs if you really want to break it down proper. I donÁ¢€â„¢t even think Á¢€Å“She Loves My CarÁ¢€ was pushed to country radio at all, as itÁ¢€â„¢s the only song in a gaggle of tunes from Á¢€â„¢73-Á¢€â„¢93 that didnÁ¢€â„¢t chart.
The biggest question here is really for myself I suppose. IÁ¢€â„¢ve never had one desire to pull out a Ronnie Milsap record yet having just listened to all three of these songs — they are excellent. So why the hell ainÁ¢€â„¢t I listening to him? This is going to suck now though because I just canÁ¢€â„¢t get Á¢€Å“She Loves My CarÁ¢€ out of my head (except when I’m singing “Amanda Babe” I guess).
Mink DeVille
Á¢€Å“Each WordÁ¢€â„¢s a Beat of My HeartÁ¢€ — 1984, #89 (download)
Although youÁ¢€â„¢d never know it from listening to this song, Mink DeVille was the house band at punk club CBGBÁ¢€â„¢s for a good three years in the Á¢€Ëœ70s. IÁ¢€â„¢ve never heard anything from them other but the album this came from – 1983Á¢€â„¢s Where Angels Fear to Tread – but there ainÁ¢€â„¢t no punk in this track. And IÁ¢€â„¢ll probably still never remember this song because every time I think of DeVille I think of C.C. DeVille from Poison which leads me to Bret Michaels, which leads me to the shot of him getting plastered by a prop at the Tonys. Á¢€Å“Unskinny Bop (bop, bop, bop)Á¢€.
Minor Detail
Á¢€Å“Canvas of LifeÁ¢€ — 1983, #92 (download)
Wow, this is a terrible damn song. Minor Detail was brothers John and Willie Hughes with John providing those virtually unlistenable vocals here. The only parts I dig are the parts with the vocoder that sound remarkably like they were ripped off from Neil YoungÁ¢€â„¢s Trans album (then Neil re-ripped them for Landing on Water). John Hughes went on to write for Popdose (whoops, I mean manage the Coors). Boy does this scream out for a Á¢€Å“Lost in the Á¢€Ëœ80sÁ¢€ post.
Missing Persons
Á¢€Å“WordsÁ¢€ — 1982, #42 (download)
Á¢€Å“Destination UnknownÁ¢€ — 1982, #42 (download)
Á¢€Å“WindowsÁ¢€ — 1983, #63 (download)
Á¢€Å“Walking in L.A.Á¢€ — 1983, #70 (download)
Á¢€Å“GiveÁ¢€ — 1984, #67 (download)
Obviously I have no way of verifying this tidbit, but I have to think that Missing Persons gets more recurring airplay than any other artist that never had a Top 40 hit — or at least close to it. These five songs were the only singles Missing Persons had and despite getting close, Casey Kasem never got to say their name. Á¢€Å“WordsÁ¢€ obviously gets the most airplay now, but Á¢€Å“Walking In L.A.Á¢€ and Á¢€Å“Destination UnknownÁ¢€ are pretty close.
After Missing Persons broke up in Á¢€â„¢86, singer Dale Bozzio had one solo track hit the rock charts, guitarist Warren Cuccurullo went on to many years with Duran Duran and drummer Terry Bozzio became a session musician. And then some heavy shit must have fell on his head as he started drumming for motherfuckinÁ¢€â„¢ Korn.
Mr. Mister
Á¢€Å“Hunters of the NightÁ¢€ — 1984, #57 (download)
Mr. Mister is supposed to be here, right? I have clearly learned that I am not smarter than a fifth grader as IÁ¢€â„¢m not sure if this should be under “Mr” or “Mi” — but from what I remember, you spell out the abbreviations when alphabetizing. Fuck it — either way itÁ¢€â„¢s here and it wonÁ¢€â„¢t be later, so it is what it is.
I hear Mr. Mister get their shit handed to them in so many Á¢€Ëœ80s conversations itÁ¢€â„¢s just not funny. And I like them. I enjoy Á¢€Å“Broken WingsÁ¢€ and I dig Á¢€Å“KyrieÁ¢€ even more. IÁ¢€â„¢m not sure why thereÁ¢€â„¢s such a hatred of the group out there, but everyone is entitled to a bad opinion now and then. For those that donÁ¢€â„¢t like the more popular songs, Á¢€Å“Hunters of the NightÁ¢€ might actually be right up your alley as itÁ¢€â„¢s not nearly as polished or synthy. ItÁ¢€â„¢s from I Wear the Face which happens to be their best overall album.
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Mistress
Á¢€Å“Mistrusted LoveÁ¢€ — 1979, #49 (download)
This is one of only two songs that appeared only on the first Billboard Hot 100 of the decade — the week of January 5, 1980. It peaked at #49 the week of December 22, 1979, and then the charts were frozen the week of December 29. This ended up appearing at the tail end of the January 5 chart and then was off completely the following week. Sadly, this was kind of tough to locate as well — all for that measly little one week. So I guess you could say this is the least Á¢€Ëœ80s song of the series. (The other song is still to come, so I wonÁ¢€â„¢t reveal it just yet.)
Joni Mitchell
Á¢€Å“(YouÁ¢€â„¢re So Square) Baby I DonÁ¢€â„¢t CareÁ¢€ — 1982, #47 (download)
Á¢€Å“Good FriendsÁ¢€ — 1985, #85 (download)
IÁ¢€â„¢m invoking Á¢€Å“General RuleÁ¢€ privilege here (regulars will understand). All I know is that Á¢€Ëœ85s Dog Eat Dog didnÁ¢€â„¢t sound anything like the Joni Mitchell I knew in part due to Thomas Dolby being brought on to produce the record.
Kim Mitchell
Á¢€Å“Go for SodaÁ¢€ — 1985, #86 (download)
I have to admit when I first went searching for this song I figured Kim was a woman and then after finding out otherwise, I was kind of shocked how much this rocks as well. In fact both 1984Á¢€â„¢s Akimbo Alogo and 1986Á¢€â„¢s ShakinÁ¢€â„¢ Like a Human Being are chocked full of crazy riffs showcasing MitchellÁ¢€â„¢s guitar skills. If I was making a CD of underrated Á¢€Ëœ80s songs, Á¢€Å“Go For SodaÁ¢€ would definitely be on it. And back in the Á¢€Ëœ80s the dude totally looked like David Lee Roth.
QUICK HITS
Best song: Kim Mitchell, Á¢€Å“Go for SodaÁ¢€
Worst song: Minor Detail, Á¢€Å“Canvas of LoveÁ¢€
Next week IÁ¢€â„¢d put money on hearing some Tom Werman-produced tunes.
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