It's now time to reveal the first 31 songs that I purchased as part of my new year's resolution/all-year-long project. I didn't really have any special theme for January, only to just buy a variety of songs that have long been a staple in my listening habits. However, I was being a bit selective with my choices briefly at the start and at the end of the month. More details about that down below. And the 31 songs of January 2023 are:
America - "A Horse With No Name"
Belinda Carlisle - "Circle In The Sand"
Belinda Carlisle - "Heaven Is A Place On Earth"
Belinda Carlisle - "I Get Weak"
The Brothers Johnson - "Stomp!"
Camouflage - "The Great Commandment"
Cascada - "Evacuate The Dancefloor"
Chumbawamba - "Tubthumping"
DA PUMP - "U.S.A."
Dana Dawson - "Romantic World"
Deon Estus - "Heaven Help Me"
The Doobie Brothers - "What A Fool Believes"
Evanescence - "Bring Me To Life"
Extreme - "More Than Words"
Gang Of Four - "Is It Love"
Jaki Graham - "Step Right Up"
Jasmine Guy - "Just Want To Hold You"
Jermaine Stewart - "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off"
Keith Richards - "Struggle"
King Kobra - "Iron Eagle (Never Say Die)"
Michael Stanley Band - "He Can't Love You"
Pablo Cruise - "Love Will Find A Way"
Public Image Ltd. - "Rise"
The Reverend Horton Heat - "In Your Wildest Dreams"
Shannon - "Let The Music Play"
Split Enz - "I Got You"
Steely Dan - "Do It Again"
Steely Dan - "Reelin' In The Years"
Styx - "Mr. Roboto"
Tommy Shaw - "Girl With Guns"
When In Rome - "The Promise"
As I said in the intro article for this project, iTunes was nice enough to kick off 2023 by focusing on rock songs for their biweekly $0.69 sale. Not willing to let a good deal go away, my first eight songs were part of that sale. Not my ideal way to start off this project (I was originally gonna have the first song be DA PUMP's "U.S.A.") but it ended working out in a different way.
For you see, the first song ended up being When In Rome's "The Promise". Why a 80's pop song was part of a rock song sale, I don't know. That aside, I have always loved "The Promise" ever since I was a teen. I was really into 80's music at the time, greatly helped by VH1 specials, endless watching of VH1 Classic, and listening to The Buzz 104.5, my then local 80's radio station. I discovered "The Promise" on that very radio station, where it would routinely play and always captured my full attention. Once I figured out the artist and song title (ah, the old days before Shazam), I tried to get the song, only to not find it easily on CD or on any 80's music compilation. I also couldn't download it illegally at the time because my older brother got us banned from Napster because of the Metallica fiasco and Kazaa and Limewire didn't exist yet. So, I paid $5 to one of my friends to download it along with some other songs for me and burn it to a CD. I put it the CD in, eventually got to "The Promise", only to find out my friend downloaded an incomplete version that only goes 56 seconds. It literally ended right before the first chorus! I told my friend about it when it came time for a second CD, only to get the exact same incomplete version. Eventually, Kazaa became a thing, so I was now able to get my own songs and burn my own CDs, with the first one of course featuring a complete version of the song that I personally checked and downloaded.
I don't care how cheesy it is, I will always love "Mr. Roboto". I mean come on, it was my first taste of the Japanese language and heavy 80's synthesizers. And whenever I listen to it, I always recall the famous 90's Volkswagen commercial it was in, where a goofy guy (a then unknown Tony Hale) is talking and wildly acting out in a vehicle in a silent mall parking lot, only for his buddy to open the door and cause the song to loudly escape.
As with everybody's childhood, there were a lot of visits to the doctor or the dentist or the barber that I had to endure. And of course, I also had to endure their waiting rooms. The slow waiting, the crummy magazines, the crappy chairs, the little to no entertainment unless you wanted to watch shitty daytime programming or play with baby toys. But as I often stewed in those chairs, I would prick up my ears and began to take mental notes on the music that was playing. Eventually, I would remember tracks and have some favorites. That's how I became very fond of "A Horse With No Name". When I eventually decided to check out Steely Dan later on as an adult, I realized that "Reelin' In The Years" was another one of those waiting room favorites. As for "Do It Again", I must have heard it back then but I have no mental proof of it. I mainly associate it with Guitar Hero World Tour. However, there is another Steely Dan classic that was a waiting room favorite but it sadly wasn't on sale, so we will have to wait on that one.
If ever there was a song that can best encapsulate my teen years, specifically when I was in high school, it would be Evanescence's "Bring Me To Life". Dear lord, that song was everywhere and pretty much everybody, from the cool to the uncool, had an affinity for it. Forget Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory, this song was the peak of nu metal. I'm happy it has lived on and remains very popular to this day, often helped by many of an internet meme.
"Tubthumping" was probably my favorite song of 1997 and I foolishly bought Chumbawamba's Tubthumper just for it. If you haven't already guessed, yes, I am a big fan of one-hit wonders. And holy crap, "Tubthumping" was a love it or hate it song because other than being overplayed on the radio and MTV/VH1, it was featured in practically every single movie commercial in 1997. Also, I strangely always remember the Pete Postlethwaite intro on the album version of the song but always forget the weird outro that kinda ruins it. Seriously, only buy or listen to the single version.
"More Than Words" was one of those songs that I heard a lot as a kid but it never really stuck with me, not really until it became a titled tune for CD compilations and featured prominently in their television commercials. I really like the song but I have a hard time nowadays separating it from the infamous bomb The Love Guru, where Mike Myers bizarrely/stupidly does a serious cover of it for supposed laughs.
Oh man, I was so, so happy when I discovered that Jasmine Guy's "Just Want To Hold You" was now available to purchase. Yes, that Jasmine Guy, the actress from A Different World and Cats Don't Dance. I burned this little R&B gem on to a CD as a teen and would often play it, before it was eventually transferred to my iPod and was frequently listened on there. I recently just found out that the guy she sings with right near the end of the song is none other than James Ingram!
Another "now available" tune I was happy to see is Dana Dawson's "Romantic World". I only discovered it last year but I watched the music video for it a lot on YouTube. Not well known at all here in the States but it was huge in France in the early 90's.
When I was getting knee deep in my love of one-hit wonders, of course I came across and instantly fell for "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off". Absolute 80's banger that has thankfully outlive that later dreadful Gym Class Heroes song that sampled it. I'm more of a fan of the single version of the song, as the album version has a Prince-like talking sequence that's kinda off-putting.
When I was really into anime as a teen, I would often stay up far into the night every Friday and change the channel to Showtime Beyond. There, I would watch the likes of Dirty Pair Flash or a movie/OVA from Central Park Media or an episode or two of the non-anime Shadow Raiders (aka War Planets). But before I could, Showtime Beyond would often air a promo video for the channel set to The Reverend Horton Heat's "In Your Wildest Dreams".
No, George Michael didn't sing "Heaven Help Me". Deon Estus did. But George Michael does do the backing vocals for the song, as a favor for his backing vocalist at the time. Unfortunately for Estus, though this choice helped the song get play on the radio, many people still think it is a George Michael song.
Remember Last.fm? For those you don't, it was a free music service where you could essentially create your own radio station by adding you favorite songs and having them play in shuffle form with included ad breaks. You also could listen to an auto-generated station of recommended songs. Hence how I discovered and fell in love with Jaki Graham's "Step Right Up". And then Last.fm completely fell apart by bad decisions and the introduction of Spotify.
I remember when "U.S.A." first dropped and became a surprise hit in Japan back in 2018, and also it being a viral fad later in the United States mainly due to the signature "Shoot" dance featured in its music video. I wanted to check the song out but I didn't until two years later where it would become my top song of 2020 on Spotify. Often nowadays, it's my most played J-pop song in Japanese music rhythm video games.
Belinda Carlisle. A pretty underrated pop diva, as ridiculous as it sounds. I mean come on, she was the lead singer/cover girl of a very famous all-girl rock band, had a successful first solo album, and then had an even more successful second album with three top ten singles including a number #1 hit. On the other hand, she didn't sell out or really budge from the music she wanted to make after that success, proceeding onward into the 90's with some less than ideal singles and albums in America but earning a second life and fruitful career in the UK.
Originally, I was only gonna go with just one song from Carlisle: "Circle In The Sand". First discovered it through Last.fm, then became a music video favorite on YouTube. But when I was about to buy it, I noticed that "Heaven Is A Place On Earth" and "I Get Weak" were on sale. So I bought all three.
Honestly though, "Heaven Is A Place On Earth" is a stone cold favorite of mine and a lifelong single in my life. I had to heard/love the song as a kid because when I went got the CD compilation More Pure 80's and put that track on, as soon as I heard the opening "Ooh, baby...", it felt like a huge dam just exploded in my mind.
"I Get Weak" had a different road in my life, as I do remember hearing it frequently when I was a kid. I always associated with the hair salon I would go to at my local mall, where it seemingly played there every time I went. Never knew who sang it but always remembered the chorus. "I Get Weak" is also the first Diane Warren song to appear in this project and I do expect her to pop up again.
"What A Fool Believes" was another waiting room favorite. I always really loved the chorus and would often silently sing it to myself or do a mocking version of it. I would also hear it here and there as a kid, especially on adult contemporary radio stations which were my parents' stations of choice. Now it has become one of my favorite songs of all time.
Keith Richards certainly is not a singer and his solo stuff isn't well known. But I adore "Struggle". I love it simply because of its opening guitar riff. I first discovered the tune thanks to Saturday Night Live. No, I didn't watch the 1988 season premiere as a kid where he memorably performs it. But I did see the performance back when Comedy Central was actually good and would air old episodes of the show including the musical performances.
Be prepared to see more yacht rock in the future but pretty much none of them can conquer the king that is Pablo Cruise's "Love Will Find A Way".
As weird as it sounds, one of my favorite television shows of all time is a hourlong block of music videos. Specifically, a block named We Are The Eighties which aired on VH1 Classic. This was my literal jam. I would watch it whenever it was on, most notably every morning before I had to catch the school bus. And I can't count the sheer amount of times where I would scramble to find a pen and paper to write down artists and songs or thought I could mentally remember them. What made the show so great was the utter variety of music videos; it wasn't just the usual heavy hitters of the 80's or the most overplayed videos. To draw up an example, you would see a video from A Flock of Seagulls, followed by Del Fuegos, Kate Bush, Boys Don't Cry, Simple Minds, Dramarama, and Alison Moyet.
Unfortunately, at some point, the corporate overlords of VH1 Classic began to alter and destroy the channel and my beloved We Are The Eighties was heavily affected. It then started to be nothing but the big hits of the 80's, eschewing all of the great oddities and little seen music videos. There were now more commercial breaks and pathetic consumeristic integration. I vividly remember one of the last times I watched the show: They came back from commercials, aired Cameo's "Word Up!", which had "Buy This on iTunes!" banners at the beginning and ending of the video, and then went to commercials.
But I will always cherish those years I had with that show. My only remaining proof of that time are those beloved burned CDs of mine filled with songs I discovered thanks to the programmers at VH1 Classic. So if you're wondering why Camouflage, Gang of Four, Public Image Ltd., Split Enz, and Tommy Shaw are here, it is all because of We Are The Eighties. And even more of those discoveries will be coming to this project.
I kinda wish I discovered Michael Stanley Band's "He Can't Love You" via VH1 Classic but alas I found and fell in love with it via compilation videos of 80's music on YouTube. Fun fact: "He Can't Love You" was the 47th music video to air on the first day of MTV.
And the 31st song goes to King Kobra's "Iron Eagle (Never Say Die)", the very cheesy title track to the 1986 action film/ripoff of Top Gun. And if you felt bad for Louis Gossett Jr. while watching that movie, wait till you see him in the official music video for the song.
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