Hey everybody! Just think: one week from now, you’ll probably be feeling full and somewhat nauseous from all the food you’ve ingested. I say, why wait a week? Get that nauseous feeling right now as we tackle the Billboard Top 10 from November 24, 1984!
10. I Just Called to Say I Love You — Stevie Wonder Amazon iTunes
9. Penny Lover — Lionel Richie Amazon iTunes
8. All Through the Night — Cyndi Lauper Amazon iTunes
7. Strut — Sheena Easton Amazon iTunes
6. Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run) — Billy Ocean Amazon iTunes
5. Better Be Good to Me — Tina Turner Amazon iTunes
4. Out of Touch — Daryl Hall and John Oates Amazon iTunes
3. I Feel For You — Chaka Khan Amazon iTunes
2. Purple Rain — Prince and the Revolution Amazon iTunes
1. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go — Wham! Amazon iTunes
10. I Just Called to Say I Love You — Stevie Wonder
I’m sorry. I know it’s cliché, but I have to.
It’s funny ’cause it’s true! There are, sadly, a lot of people out there who think of this song when they think of Stevie Wonder, and seriously, that pains me. You know who I’m talking about. You probably work with them.
Barry asks another important question here: “Is it, in fact, unfair to criticize a formerly great artist for his latter day sins?” No, it’s not. Stevie Wonder may be a musical genius, but it doesn’t mean I have to love everything he’s ever released. “I Just Called to Say I Love You” is actually a well-written song. It’s poppy, it’s catchy, and the sentiment is simple, yet original. However, none of this changes the fact that this is song comes nowhere near the caliber of his work from the ’70s. And I’m still on the fence as to whether I give him credit or points off for the cha-cha-cha ending.
When I hear this song today (and I try not to), this is what I usually think about:
9. Penny Lover — Lionel Richie (download)
When you’re on fire like Lionel Richie in 1984, you can do whatever the hell you want. You can write a song called “Penny Lover,” which is not actually about somebody who loves pennies, or even about someone who loves girls named Penny. And you can sit back and watch your song reach the Top 10, without batting an eye. That being said, “Penny Lover” peaked at #8 and thus became Richie’s lowest-charting solo single to date. This doesn’t seem so bad until you realize that he co-wrote the song with his wife, Brenda, and you just know that Lionel got the shit kicked out of him for that one. “You write a song with ‘Tam bo li de say de moi ya” and it goes to #1, but my song stalls at #8? Go outside and find me a switch!”
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If Howard Jones wasn’t the definitive poster boy for synthpop during the 1980s, he was certainly one of the leaders of the pack, spending many a week in the charts during the course of the decade. We won’t waste our time by listing off every single hit single the man had, but…oh, sorry, perhaps some readers do need a brief refresher course. For those of us who may not have lived through the decade in which Mr. Jones saw his greatest success, we speak of the man responsible for such memorable ditties as “New Song,” “Things Can Only Get Better,” “No One Is To Blame,” and “Everlasting Love.” Indeed, he even managed to maintain his success into the ’90s, scoring a substantial hit in 1992 with “Lift Me Up.”