We move into year two of Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ‘80s, with one of the best weeks we’ve had in a while, in my opinion. How about we continue with the letter L, looking at songs that peaked at #41 or lower on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during the ’80s.
Johnny Lee
“Bet Your Heart on Me” — 1981, #54 (download)
Naturally, after I say this is one of the best weeks we’ve had in a while, we start off with this lump of coal. I’m not quite sure I understand how most country music crossed over into the Hot 100 in the early ’80s. Lee had a pretty massive hit in 1980 with “Lookin’ for Love” (#5), so maybe I can see “Bet Your Heart” charting if it was the follow-up, but it wasn’t. There were four other singles between those two that only hit the country chart. So how does this generic country song become the one that mainstream radio pushes? I guess it’s just about knowing the right people or having the right amount of cash.
Larry Lee
“Don’t Talk” — 1982, #81 (download)
There are weeks where I dig this light rock sound from the early ’80s and weeks I don’t. This must be one of those where I do, because I’m groovin’ along to this simple tune, the only solo hit Larry Lee had after leaving the Ozark Mountain Daredevils early in ‘82.
Paul Lekakis
“Boom Boom (Let’s Go Back to My Room)” — 1987, #43 (download)
I’m so happy this missed the top 40 by three spots. “Boom Boom (Let’s Go Back to My Room)” is the type of song Bottom Feeders is all about, so I would have been crushed to not have it here. This is one of two songs in the letter L that I love way more than I should. And I’m going to bet that all of you loved this at one point or another too (this is the place to admit it). If you were between the ages of 15 and 22 in 1987 when this came out you absolutely loved this, because it was probably played at every high-school dance or fraternity party for a year. I can’t imagine how many horny boys and horny girls were awkwardly dry humping each other trying to get some “Boom Boom.” (I was going to add a Paul Lekakis picture to this, but my google search kept turning up pictures of him naked by himself or naked with other men, so I decided to move on).
Y’know, if you name your kid Herbert or Poindexter, you’re just setting that child up for a lifetime of teasing and ridicule. And if you name your band Kajagoogoo, well, you can expect a certain amount of critical derision.