Tag / YES

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Fifty Years Of Music – 1984

Fifty years ago, I made my first appeared on the Earth.  In celebration, we are going to take a look at the year-end Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for each year of my life and see what songs resonated with me at the time and if they continue to do so to this day.

Today, we enter my second decade on the planet and look back at the music of my lifetime with 1984.  I am starting to become more familiar with the songs of the day, either from that time period or from later exposure.  38 of the Hot 100 are familiar to me now, with fourteen of them appearing in my collection in one way or another.

#89: Billy Joel – The Longest Time
iTunes stats: N/A

Written and recorded as a tribute to the music the influenced Joel as a child, the track peaked at #14 on the Hot 100.

#87: Ratt – Round and Round
iTunes stats: 25 plays

Reaching #12, the song is the band’s biggest hit and was ranked as the 20th greatest heavy metal song of all time by Rolling Stone in 2023.

#86: John Cougar Mellencamp – Pink Houses
iTunes stats: N/A

Inspired by a trip Mellencamp took from the airport in Indianapolis to his home in the godforsaken town of Bloomington, the song cracked the top ten, reaching #8 in early 1984.

#79: Madonna – Holiday
iTunes stats: N/A

Entering the Hot 100 in October of 1983, Madonna’s first big hit rose to #16, spending a total of 21 weeks on the charts.

#78: Michael Jackson – Thriller
iTunes stats: N/A

Peaking at #4 in 1984, the track re-enters the charts regularly around Halloween, giving Jackson a top 20 hit in seven straight decades.

#76: The Pointer Sisters – I’m So Excited
iTunes stats: N/A

Originally stalling out at #30 in 1982, this re-mix re-released in 1984 cracked the top ten, reaching #9.

#74: Wang Chung – Dance Hall Days
iTunes stats: 21 plays

A #1 smash on the Dance Club Songs chart, it hit #16 on the Hot 100.

#73: Bananarama – Cruel Summer
iTunes stats: N/A

Featured in The Karate Kid, the second most popular song with this name peaked at #9 in 1984.

#68: Quiet Riot – Cum on Feel the Noize
iTunes stats: 15 plays

Helping to bring national attention to LA’s burgeoning metal scene, this cover of an old Slade tune became the band’s biggest hit, reaching #5.

#66: Madonna – Lucky Star
iTunes stats: N/A

Madonna’s first top five hit, it peaked at #4 in the fall of 1984.

#64: Huey Lewis and the News – If This Is It
iTunes stats: N/A

The group’s fifth top ten hit, this throwback to the doo-wop of the 50s hit #6.

#60: ZZ Top – Legs
iTunes stats: N/A

Cracking the top ten and reaching #8, it remains the band’s highest charting single.

#55: Huey Lewis and the News – I Want a New Drug
iTunes stats: N/A

Peaking at #6, the song earned Lewis a second payday when he sued Ray Parker Jr. for plagiarizing it for his theme to Ghostbusters.

#51: Billy Ocean – Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)
iTunes stats: 13 plays

Ocean took home the 1985 Grammy award for Best Male R&B Vocal performance for this track, making him the first British artist to win in that category.

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by admin

iTunes Top 200 Artists: #5

6 years ago, we first counted down the then Top 100 artists in my iTunes library.  Since that time, I’ve successfully managed to migrate my music collection to a new PC with the stats intact and expanded the count down to the Top 200..  It’s been 3 years, so I figured it was time to take yet another look at my Top 200 artists, based on the number of plays from late 2007 through January 1, 2021.

Today, we break in to the top five and surpass four digits in the number of plays for the first time.  Born out of the death of Kurt Cobain in 1994, our next entry is the Dave Grohl solo project turned band known as Foo Fighters.

 

#5: Foo Fighters
iTunes stats: 1026 plays
Previous ranking: #3

Adding an additional 2 songs, up to 48 songs, helped the Foo Fighters raise their total by 54%, which caused them to drop 2 spots on the charts.  Their most popular song, a live version of My Hero from a concert in London’s Hyde Park in 2006, clocks in with 60 listens, while 6 different tracks bring up the rear with a single play.

I’ve managed to see the band in concert twice: first in 2005 and again in 2015.  The first show was an indoor affair at the Allstate Arena, where they were touring with Weezer, who got things started by mixing a cover of Big Me into their set.  Once the Foo Fighters came out, they mixed in old hits with selections from their new album for a fun, 16-song set.  They also managed to break down some of their hits with elongated guitar solos that gave the audience an opportunity to thrash themselves as much as humanly possible.

10 years later, I saw them for the second time at Wrigley Field.  Having broken his leg over two months earlier,  Dave Grohl spent the show sitting in an electric throne that could bring him out in to the crowd thanks to an extended stage.  The band wasted no time in getting things started, blowing out Everlong and Monkey Wrench straight out of the gate.  2 and a half hours and 21 songs later, they closed down the joint with a rousing rendition of Best Of You.  In between, they put on a hell of a show, featuring their own hits along with some snippets of hits from Van Halen, Yes, and Alice Cooper.

by admin

Fighting Foo

FooFightersThe Foo Fighters finally invaded Wrigley Field last night, in a show that was nearly a year in the making.  Dave Grohl put together a lineup, consisting of local bands Urge Overkill, Naked Raygun, and Cheap Trick, that influenced him as he was growing up and becoming the rock star that he is today.

Urge Overkill opened the show at 5:30 sharp, playing a quick 25 minute set that included an uneven rendition of Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon, their contribution to the Pulp Fiction soundtrack and their only song that I know.  They were followed by local punk veterans Naked Raygun, whom I was familiar with by name only.

Cheap Trick was up next, and their short set was also short on hits, outside of a few of their 70s standbys.  Having seen them previously, I was hoping to hear them break out their version of the theme to That 70s Show, but that was not to be.

Finally, the Foo Fighters took the stage, with Grohl, having broken his leg in June, sitting in an electric throne that could bring him out in to the crowd thanks to an extended stage.  They wasted no time in getting things started, blowing out Everlong and Monkey Wrench straight out of the gate.  2 and a half hours later, they closed down the joint with a rousing rendition of Best Of You.  In between, they put on a hell of a show, featuring their own hits along with some snippets of hits from Van Halen, Yes, and Alice Cooper.

It had been a while since I went to a full-on rock and roll show, and this one delivered the goods.  It won’t be long before my next, and if it is half as good as this one, it will be a good time.

by jim

Cub News Abounds

rich_renteria_piratesYesterday was a busy day at the corner of Clark and Addison, as three different news stories broke about the Chicago Cubs.

1) Word broke early in the day yesterday that the Cubs are set to name Rick (formerly Rich) Renteria as their new manager today.  Renteria most recently was the bench coach for the Padres.  The hope is that he will be able to better communicate with the rising Latin American prospects because he is bi-lingual.

I’m not sure what to make of this hire. It seems foolish to hang a hiring decision solely on what languages a guy can speak, but hopefully Renteria brings a little more to the table than that.

2) The Cubs notified WGN that they are opting out of their current television deal following the 2014 season.  The station has 30 days to agree to a higher rights payment determined by a third party consultant hired by both WGN and the Cubs.  If they do not, the Cubs are able to take the 70 game package to the open market.

There doesn’t seem to be much of an option on free TV other than the current setup, and their deal with Comcast Sports Net prohibits them from going to another cable channel, so the odds are that they re-up, at least until 2019.  At that point, the CSN deal will also be up and the Cubs can start looking at creating their own network similar to NESN or YES.

3) As if that wasn’t enough, word broke yesterday afternoon that Keith Moreland, who took over the color analyst spot on WGN following the death of Ron Santo, would not be returning for a fourth season.  In a statement released by WGN, Moreland said that he wishes to spend more time back home in Texas.

I must admit that I have not listened to a lot of Cubs baseball these past few years, but Moreland seemed like he was doing a good job, certainly a more competent one than his predecessor.  Reaction to this news on the Interwebs, however, would indicate that Cub fandom was not enamored with his work and are happy to see him go.