US #1s of 1986

"Kiss" obv, w/ Janet close behind and "Amadeus", "Human" and Robert Palmer a bit farther in the distance

"Kiss" vs. "West End Girls" vs. "Live to Tell" vs. "Sledgehammer" vs. "Papa Don't Preach" vs. "Human."

Im-fucking-possible.

When it was good it was very very good (Kiss, West End Girls) and when it was bad it was an abomination (the Dionne Warwick, Bon Jovi and Starship). Bonus, not a bad year for ballads now that it's 20 years on and they aren't so overplayed (The Way It Is, True Colors, Holding Back the Years). Voting West End Girls.

voted "the way it is" but i really should have voted "sledgehamer". "kiss" will win, of course.

yes "kiss" will win of course, because nothing else in a fair-to-middling list gets close to its orbit.

ok, i shouldn't say that because "west end girls" would easily trump everything but "kiss" for me. and "live to tell" is classic enough even though it's only about my 6th-favorite madonna ballad. and there are plenty of other good songs there. but still, "kiss."

Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald, "On My Own"

This was #1 when I was born. :/

Don't get me wrong, I looooooooove "Kiss," but, for me at least, this is easily "West End Girls."

Nothing on this list comes close to the majestic strangeness of "Walk Like an Egyptian," which wraps up everything that was great, multicolored, angular, and art-damaged about this part of the 1980s in one perfect package.

Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald, "On My Own"

This was #1 when I was born. :/

This was #1 when many others were conceived as well.

i want "take my breath away" to get at least one vote

xp: I see what you did there!

yess my birth year! unfortunately by birth song is "greatest love of all".

voting for "addicted to love".

i never imagined 'west end girls' went no 1 in the US!

1. live to tell
2. papa don't preach
3. kiss
4. when i think of you
5. west end girls
6. walk like an egyptian

west end girls, b/c "in every city, in every nation / from lake geneva to the finland station" is a great couplet.

lex otm about everything.

Dionne & Friends, "That's What Friends Are For" or janet, madonna or prince.

You're all secretly voting for Whitney, aren't you?

im voting for whitneys aunt.

Oh my god, how to choose... West End Girls was obviously classic but... erm, was Rock Me Amadeus really that *late*? I thought it came out much earlier, like, 84 or something. Anyway, that just pips PSB for me.

shit, i forgot these:
Starship, Sara
Falco, "Rock Me Amadeus"
Pet Shop Boys, "West End Girls"
Whitney Houston, "Greatest Love of All"
Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald, "On My Own"
Simply Red, "Holding Back the Years"
Genesis, "Invisible Touch"
Madonna, "Papa Don't Preach"
Cyndi Lauper, "True Colors"
The Bangles, "Walk Like an Egyptian"

86 wasnt bad at all.

voted PSB, but Falco comes second, not least because of this crazy video...

...also because he has the most outrageous headstone
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Falco_Grab.jpg/200px-Falco_Grab.jpg

Some strong contenders here. Went for "True Colors" in the end.

The mid-to-late 80s were usually better in the American charts than the British ones. The Brits were a bit too busy looking for "the next big thing" while the Americans settled with the new wave/new romantic stuff that they hadn't really discovered until 1982-83 anyway.

Heart, "These Dreams
Falco, "Rock Me Amadeus"
Prince and the Revolution, "Kiss"
Robert Palmer, "Addicted to Love"
Pet Shop Boys, "West End Girls"

This is one HELL of a run of five consecutive #1's ...

Really tough decision, and trying to decide on the basis of "most iconic video" isn't helping either ...

oh fuck i forgot he died. :-(

roughly 20 of these are great but PSBs just over the two Madonnas.

i love 'On My Own' fwiw, esp. Labelle at the end ("this wasn't how it was supposed to eeeeeeeeeeeeend")

That video! I had forgotten the scene in the Biker Bar. Oh god yes.

oh fuck i forgot he died. :-(

So did Robert Palmer. Why couldn't God take Phil Collins or Mick Hucknall instead?

I'm kind of blown away that Boston's "Amanda" was a #1.

Heart, "These Dreams
Falco, "Rock Me Amadeus"
Prince and the Revolution, "Kiss"
Robert Palmer, "Addicted to Love"
Pet Shop Boys, "West End Girls"

This is one HELL of a run of five consecutive #1's ...

Yup! Also: "Human," "When I Think of You," "Invisible Touch," "Venus," and "Sledgehammer." I could've voted for any one of them, but I'm particularly fond of "Live To Tell" this morning.

Going through these in my head, half of them sound the same to me...

Heart, "These Dreams
Mr. Mister, "Kyrie"
Steve Winwood, "Higher Love"
Peter Cetera, "Glory of Love"
Madonna, "Live to Tell"
Cyndi Lauper, "True Colors"
Bruce Hornsby & the Range, "The Way It Is"
Simply Red, "Holding Back the Years"
Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald, "On My Own"

There's a slight spread from fast and upbeat to slow and maudlin but basically this is MOR/AOR heaven.

lots of early digital synth pads and arpeggiated marimba pattern type things

if only 'Sweet Freedom' was in this thing

I heard "On My Own" at the supermarket a couple of weeks ago; it was better than I remembered.

There are a few duds in there but overall, great year. Tracks that are absolutely essential to the fabric of the universe: "Rock Me Amadeus," "West End Girls," "Sledgehammer," "Walk Like an Egyptian."

Songs that I like a lot but which reasonable people might disagree: "The Way It Is," "Kiss," "Higher Love," "True Colors," "Human." Those aren't my favorite Madonna songs but they are not mistakes by any stretch of the imagination.

I voted for "Sledgehammer" but I suspect "West End Girls" will narrowly edge out "Kiss" for the win in this one.

"Kiss," of course.
Everyone else should fold up their penises and go home.*

* Stolen from Xgau's review of Dirty Mind.

goddam this kicks 89's ass

west end girls is the one i'd most like to hear this second, but i could easily vote for like 5 of these

This is easily my favorite year for chart music.

For real. Some of the songs that made the top ten ("Let's Go All The Way," "Sweet Freedom," "Opportunities," "Rumors") would be winners on any list.

"Walk Like an Egyptian" (even though this got hella played), "Human", "When I Think of You", "Sledgehammer", "Kiss", "West End Girls", "Live to Tell" as good or better than everything I ended up voting for from any of the polls '86 & forward.

OTM x & xxpost

Unironically, Peter Cetera. That song has been stuck in my head for months.

...not to mention Falco, "Addicted to Love" , Boston coming correct, hell, even the Mr. Mister seems awesomne through the hazy gauze of nostalgia.

ha! was going to say the peter cetera & maybe greatest love of all would be the only ones I flip stations on

I would

I even harbor a soft spot in my heart for the breakdown in "Kyrie." "These Dreams" was my older sister's favorite song for like three months; she'd take one of the stereo speakers into the bathroom with her while she was getting ready for school. The semispoken bits have a kind of majesty in retrospect.

The worst song on here is the Huey Lewis song, which is just okay compared to everything else running the gamut from good to essential.

Nah - Iceman would have punched Kelly McGillis in the mouth if she'd used "Take My Breath Away" as a "love theme."

Synths sounded horrible at the time. Really, this was DX7 Hell. But still some nice songs.

I can totally do without "That's What Friends Are For" (despite the fine Wonderian harmonica work) "Amanda" (which seems a bit like Classic Rock's incongruous lone entry), "Sara," "Stuck With You," "Invisible Touch," "Next Time I Fall," "Glory of Love," and "You Give Love a Bad Name."

"Take My Breath Away," "Holding Back the Years," and "Live to Tell" all have kinda the same interminable ploddiness to my mind; I do not love these songs (apologies for dissenting from the LtT love).

The rest are good to great, as has been amply noted.

ER WAR SUPERSTAR
ER WAR POPULAR

AMADEUS AMADEUS

yes "kiss" will win of course, because nothing else in a fair-to-middling list gets close to its orbit.

― paper plans (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, February 3, 2009 1:29 AM Bookmark

voted PSB, but Falco comes second

^^^^^

Always hated "Sledgehammer" (video even more than the song). Candidates for third place:

Prince and the Revolution, "Kiss"
Madonna, "Live to Tell"
The Bangles, "Walk Like an Egyptian"

And maybe these, too:

Heart, "These Dreams"
Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald, "On My Own"
Billy Ocean, "There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)"

Love Bananarama and love "Venus" (Shocking Blue version), but that cover always seemed pretty pointless to me.

AMANDA

PAPA DON'T PREACH

Pretty impossible. Eight year old me with my newly acquired boombox listening to 99.9 KISS FM all day long all summer long playing with my GI Joes and BMX bike. Those were the days. Lots of that 80's melancholy synth work in this list too. Yeah, I really can't pick.

Crap year overall, but that list makes the year look better. And I admit to underappreciating some of those at the time. And even utter dogshit like "Rock Me Amadeus" at least has the lol80's factor going for it. Ultimately it's between "Live To Tell" and "West End Girls"

Ummm...PSB take it.

What a year! This is impossible.

good lord...

i spent a lot of time in 3rd-4th grade taping songs off Casey Kasem's top 40

I started doing that in '86 as well (UK though, so Bruno Brookes etc. instead of Kasem)

lol at heart. they're probably in their early to mid 30s in that video but i thought they were old.

I fell in love with many (pretty much all) of my High School aged babysitters to songs like "What About Love." I was a real romantic.

Not sure why I capitalized High School there.

utter dogshit like "Rock Me Amadeus" at least has the lol80's factor

More like the lolGerman factor (or Austrian, or whatever), if you ask me. Plus it's a great record.

voted "Kiss" but probably Heart & Bon Jovi's most tolerable hits

take my breath away is timeless and powerful i voted for it

lol sure

Crap year overall, but that list makes the year look better.

Well there's loads of other stuff, "Bigmouth Strikes Again"? "Let's Go All The Way"? "Edge of Heaven"? Oh, and ILMlolers fave Devastatin' Dave The Turntable Slave with "Zip Zap Rap"...

And even utter dogshit like "Rock Me Amadeus" at least has the lol80's factor going for it

lol80's? These would (mostly) be great singles in any decade.

I want to give this to Simply Red, but I still return to that Human League song at least once every couple of months...

"Money'$ Too Tight to Mention" is the killer on that album.

Well, that one's good, too.

Seeing this guido-type dude (or whatever yr NW equivalent is) pull up to a cornerstore in a droptop with "Rock Me Amadeus" blasting and then proceed to enter said cornerstore while his car ran and "Rock Me Amadeus" continued blasting immeasurably improved my opinion of that song. It was pretty badass.

Dude could have proclaimed victory over the world at that moment and I wouldn't have argued.

Y'all don't make me make my SImply Red joke.

holding back the tears

http://www.rathergood.com/holding

Know why Mick Hucknall stopped holding back the ears?

Because the bunny was too tight to mention.

http://www.rathergood.com/bunny_too_tight

xp: DAMMIT TOO SLOW

Hey, I came up with that joke when I was twelve so to heck with Quizno's guy.

http://www.rathergood.com/mickey

"West End Girls"

Why do I keep clicking on those links at work?

"Hey, lookee there! Well the third time's gotta be the charmer!"

It's unfair that these other songs have to compete with "Kiss."

^^^how I break it down to an extent

Huh, didn't figure on being TOTALLY alone in hating (for 20+ years now) "Rock Me Amadeus" but whatever. Much, much would rather hear Nena or Trio or Peter Schilling or even Taco. (Or even "Der Komissar".)

Can't wait for the 1984 poll! (Most impossible one ever, if you ask me.)

1. Peter Gabriel, "Sledgehammer"
2. The Bangles, "Walk Like an Egyptian"
3. Prince and the Revolution, "Kiss"
4. Madonna, "Live to Tell"
5. Pet Shop Boys, "West End Girls"
6. The Human League, "Human"
7. Madonna, "Papa Don't Preach"
8. Bananarama, "Venus"

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

waht

C'mon, this was pretty obvious. Start counting hands.

i voted for west end girls. didn't really see this one ending any other way.

nothing against "West End Girls", but I'm not sure where it comes within a million miles of "Kiss"

but that's just me *shrug*

kiss is the one prince song i'd be cool w/never hearing again

owned

Same here. Radio overplay has hurt it.

Yeah, I'm done with "Kiss."

Wait, no I'm not.

might be played out but still prob one of the 10 best pop songs ever

Well, I'm done with it in the sense that when I listen to Parade I skip it; I do the same with "Let's Go Crazy." I'm just bored of these great songs already.

^^lets go crazy is unskippable come on

well he just skipped it so bloop there goes ur hypothesis

lol

but otr it's my fav prince song i think

I also skip "West End Girls" when I listen to Please, so.

I only skip "Purple Rain" every time I listen to Purple Rain. I skip nothing on Parade when I listen to Parade because I almost never listen to Parade.

lol i always listen to "purple rain." i bought a purple vinyl single on accident (thinking it was the whole album), and it's still the only prince vinyl i've got so i grew to like that song more than i might have

Oh come on. West End Girls is not 775% better than Addicted To Love.

Robert Palmer circa Cluees coulda done a decent version of "West End Girls."

xp: I know, and what the fuck is this?

Peter Cetera, "Glory of Love" 2
Janet Jackson, "When I Think of You" 2

Democracy.

haha, my bafflement here is sort of the mirror image of some britisher bafflement i remember when "when doves cry" won the '80s singles poll. ("prince? really?") more surprised at the paltry madonna showing.

I voted for Peter Cetera, just to annoy you all. Sorry.

Wooohoo!! Something beat Kiss!! WOOOHOO!

Well I liked that Pet Shop Boys song back in the day a lot (first year of high school, German class as I recall), but it doesn't do a whole lot for me now. Still I'm happy Kiss didn't win. Most minimal, obvious, boring-as-hell Prince song, ever. It's hardly a song. Nothing adventurous about it at all. No passion. Just this repetitive simplicity. Zzzzz...

Let's not mention Peter C*t*ra. Can't deal with him. Hell I'd vote for Kiss over him anyday!

Also, I'm fully aware of the fact that I could easily have just voted for Janet Jackson in this poll, but in times past, she's been the only beacon I could cling to in some of these awful late 80's #1 polls, so this time it was nice to have some other decent choices.

Can we do 1985 please please please?

Also yeah, Robert Palmer could have done a decent version of "West End Girls".

People who skip "Purple Rain" on the Purple Rain album, though, are absolutely batshit in my opinion. Just sayin'.

No, people who skip "The Beautiful Ones" on the Purple Rain album are absolutely batshit. Not that anyone ever does that, just sayin'.

I'd argue that people who skip anything on Purple Rain are a bit fucked in the head.

enlightening musical discussion

LOLOLOL You guys are all kool kids all around. I love it.

heh. "Sledgehammer" came in 3rd? really???

"West End Girls" is the better song (obviously), but "Kiss" is the purple one's greatest single ever, and, therefore, unfuckingbeatable (except on ilm, natch)!

nothing against "West End Girls", but I'm not sure where it comes within a million miles of "Kiss"

― The Reverend, Friday, February 6, 2009 12:39 AM (13 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^agree - don't think they're the best singles from either artist though

(that would be 'rent' for PSB and um er uh either 'when doves cry' or 'little red corvette' for prince)

I dunno, when I think about the best Prince singles, the songs that come to mind instantly are "Kiss", "Alphabet St" and "Raspberry Beret". (Sometimes "1999".)

"Rent" is kind of impossible for PSB to transcend, though.

I voted for Peter Cetera, just to annoy you all. Sorry.

I did too, because for me it is the very definition of a guilty pleasure. But I wouldn't have voted for it had I known that the best song here, Addicted To Love, would get only five measly votes.

The Human League, "Human" 1

This is criminal.

Not as criminal as the UK #1s of 1986, though.

I think the more interesting poll would be "vote for your 3rd favorite song"

US 86: 20/30
UK 86: 8/18

I rank the top ten!

Oh! I love that Jermaine Stewart song.

The production lets it down.

Hmmm, I'd move "Throwing it all away" and "Human" to Meh, and "Typical male" to The Hague, making space for "Rumours", "Manic Monday" and "Word Up!" in Good To Great; "Nikita" can go to The Hague too, and we'll move You Give Love a Bad Name" and "If You Leave" out of there and up to Solid (maybe "Danger Zone" too). "Life in a Northern Town" and "The Rain" also decidedly not Meh but Solid.

I strongly agree with not including Bruce Hornsby & The Range at all, as it doesn't even deserve as much as a hearing at the ICC.

YOU SENT ME TO THE HAGUE
BUT YOUR MEM'RY I STILL PLAGUE
AMANDA

"Typical Male" to The Hague? I love the bridge, Phil Collins' drumming, and Tina's ferocity.

Oh man, another reason to hate Phil Collins.

1986 is my favourite music year in history, for both nostalgic (it was the year I became a precocious, obsessive radio/Casey Kasem listener) and quantitative (there is just a ridiculous amount of music from that year that I adore) reasons. From the list of US #1s alone, these are some of my favourite songs ever:

Pet Shop Boys, "West End Girls"
Prince and the Revolution, "Kiss"
Madonna, "Papa Don't Preach"
Madonna, "Live to Tell"
Janet Jackson, "When I Think of You"
The Human League, "Human"
Genesis, "Invisible Touch"
Whitney Houston, "How Will I Know"

and from Alfred's extended list:

Genesis – Throwing It All Away
The Pretenders – Don’t Get Me Wrong
Janet Jackson – What Have You Done For Me Lately
Sly Fox – Let’s Go All the Way
Belinda Carlisle – Mad About You
Janet Jackson – Nasty
Phil Collins – Take Me Home
The Bangles – Manic Monday
Cameo – Word Up!
Madonna – True Blue
El Debarge – Who’s Johnny
The Dream Academy – Life in a Northern Town
Timex Social Club – Rumours
Howard Jones – No One is to Blame
Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark – If You Leave

If absolutely forced, I'm sure I could sustain on a playlist of just those songs for the rest of my life.

The Billboard charts were insanely white in those days.

Wow, what a year

xpost

I suspect that the further you go back in time, the whiter the charts look. I'll leave it to the Billboard obsessives to confirm or deny that, but I do remember Casey Kasem listing the top songs on the "Black" charts (along with Country, Easy Listening, etc) as a sidenote during each week's countdown.

1981-1982 were particularly bad

Mr. Mister, “Is It Meh or Sound, Solid Entertainment (It Actually Appears to be Both)”

Updated, which gave me a chance to slot "The Way It Is."

"Typical Male" to The Hague? I love the bridge, Phil Collins' drumming, and Tina's ferocity.

― Let's have sensible centrist armageddon (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 9 March 2019 16:27 (four hours ago) Permalink

“Typical Male” is my favorite song from Tina’s post-comeback era: great chorus, especially the synthy horn line (I love how it echoes the underrated '83 Kc and the Sunshine Band single “Give It Up”). There’s also the post-bridge chorus breakdown, where everything drops out except drums, staccato guitar, and that voice (the “WAAAAHHH” that drops in, sax or Tina?), then it rebuilds for a full-instrumentation chorus.

People on Spotify have graciously assembled the Billboard Top 100s from basically every year as playlists. Unfortunately, not all songs are on Spotify, meaning the user is faced with the choice of either leaving it out, or inserting a karaoke or cover version, which can totally derail the playtlist. In the 1986 list, the real “Sweet Freedom” was not available, so we get someone called “Done Again” covering the song, and oh yes – we get a bad Michael McDonald impersonation! I am totally throwing this on the mix for my next gathering, just to see if anyone goes “Dude…wait…that’s not actually… Mic-… seriously, what the FUCK IS THIS!?”
https://open.spotify.com/user/12128872417/playlist/4rhgAIno9OiopUzNhOZDbc?si=AQovrMTcSCCISb8-nWUWpg

"I confess I'm a fool for a man/With a clever m-i-i-i-ind"

Here's just the #1 songs.

Alfred, I need more detail around your hatred of True Colors. Maybe I was a couple of years too young, but I’m trying to imagine hating it.

hd, i just saw your true colors.

shining through.☺

I wouldn't personally say I hate it but 'True Colors' was a pretty tepid single in its context as a follow-up to her first monumental + iconic album (and even as a follow-up to a song about the gahdamn Goonies).

('Change of Heart' is much better.)

Puzzled that “sledgehammer” was a hit , just seems like a nothing song

Puzzled that “sledgehammer” was a hit , just seems like a nothing song

lol over the past 2 or 3 years, after mildly admiring it since 1986, I've converted into thinking it's among the best 5 or 10 songs of the entire decade.

“sledgehammer” is great, the coda!!

just about the only goofball Britsoul pastiche that works

wouldn't personally say I hate it but 'True Colors' was a pretty tepid single in its context as a follow-up to her first monumental + iconic album (and even as a follow-up to a song about the gahdamn Goonies).

― You Can't Have the Woogie Without a Little Boogie (Old Lunch),

this

There’s just no groove to sledgehammer imho. Rhythm is just off

a Teddy Riley remix would’ve been sweet

On board with most of Alfred's ratings except I love "Take My Breath Away" (come on, that synth bassline is everything!) and I'm sorry but Glory of Love is a great song. Sure, the production and Cetera's vocals are by the numbers but the songwriting is top notch.

The "Sledgehammer" video was huge, a mainstay of "Greatest Videos EVAH" countdowns.

xpost Yeah, I read the list to my wife, and while she sentimentally bumped a couple of songs up a level, she sent that one straight to "good to great." I don't know about that, but I think it's better than the Hague. (My personal bump went to "Higher Love.")

Re: "Sledgehammer," a good comparison might be something like "Tempted" by Squeeze, which has the same relatively slow tempo (and maybe the exact same relatively slow tempo) but is a lot more of a groove. I think the drum take in "Sledgehammer" might have been a really early take, too, with the rest of the stuff mixed and matched from other takes and experiments, which might be why for such a "groove" song the drums themselves are kind of relatively sluggish (compared to the great horn chart, or the awesome bass).

The novel demo-evolution versions Gabriel released were pretty incredible. Like, listen to how "Sledgehammer" evolved. In its own way the most basic form at the start has a great groove and this real air of menace and melancholy that goes missing in the final form.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJU_MLQc2fc

I was only 14 at the time, but I already hated the way most records sounded this year, even if the songs were OK to good. Worst of all of these is probably "Stuck With You".

“sledgehammer” ... among the best 5 or 10 songs of the entire decade.

Yup.

Bruce Hornsby and the Range – The Way It Is
Dionne and Friends – That’s What Friends Are For
Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald – On My Own
Heart – These Dreams
Robert Palmer – Addicted to Love

would upgrade all of these to "good to great" personally

"these dreams" especially, crystalline perfection

I'd upgrade "These Dreams" today

“Human” is my jam from 86, just slow it downnnnnn

I remember knowing that sledgehammer was number 1 for several weeks in a row and crossing a certain street in my hometown. ‘86!
Still not a fan of the song though. Suspect the famous video (which I’ve never seen, thank god) is part of the reason this mess rose to the top.

wrong! #1 is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B_UYYPb-Gk

Aerosaliva

4 calstars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gIO5wP6oyc

"these dreams" especially, crystalline perfection

It's a guilty pleasure

4 calstars: 📹