top 50 forgotten/"lost" US hits of the late '80s

Donny Osmond - Soldier Of Love

this certainly wins for "most hilarious"

Very surprised to see the Miami Vice theme on there but I guess not everyone has a group of friends obsessed with the show.

"Foolish Beat" is good and "Spies Like Us" goofy fun but I'm gonna go with macca's "No More Lonely Nights", a real highpoint of that 80's boomer midlife crisis pop thing imo.

one of the Madonnas would probably be my favourite from the stuff i can remember without looking it up

Great list. Probably could’ve expanded it out to 100 easily. There were a lot of hits in the 80s. To be fair, a lot of these are just failed follow-ups to bigger hits. “We’ll Be Together” even has “If you wanna keep something precious” to jog the listener’s memory. Voting “Cross My Broken Heart”. I loved the Beverly Hills Cop II soundtrack when it came out, but I’ll be damned if I can figure out where in the actual movie the song plays. “Shakedown” by Bob Seger was also on that soundtrack and should’ve been on this list.

I am intimately (sadly?) acquainted with this era of pop singles, so Regina and Survivor are the only ones that didn't start automatically playing in my head when I read the song title (the latter because I kept hearing Whitesnake instead). It's a tough call. 'To Be a Lover' is one of the better Billy Idol singles imo. 'Neutron Dance'? 'Diamonds'? There isn't much on the list that I'm, like, in love with but most of it resides in a warm place inside my heart.

'Diamonds' because I don't remember it from the time unlike most of the good stuff here.

Aw jeez feel like this poll was made for me. Lots of bangers!

The Pointer Sisters - Neutron Dance

This being on the list is a failure of the present, not the past.

26. Taylor Dayne - Don't Rush Me

my vote

Y'all have fun with Sean Ross' essay: https://radioinsight.com/ross/187494/the-100-most-lost-songs-of-the-1980s/

Oops! Sorry, Brad, I didn't see your link.

Some of these songs were fake hits. If Miami's Y-100 didn't play, for example, "She Wants to Dance with Me," "In Your Room," or "Victory" but I heard them on Casey Kasem and Shadoe Stevens' AT40 they were fake hits.

FL stations kinda went their own way, though, IIRC. There were a number of songs I fondly recall getting decent rotation in Jacksonville that, when we moved away, I never heard on the radio again. And some (Radiorama's 'Daddy Daddy' being an example that immediately springs to mind) that never hit the Hot 100 at all.

Definitely recall freestyle tunes that never made the charts, as well.

Just about every synthwave producer seems to have done a tribute/knockoff of the Miami Vice theme at least once, so that certainly doesn’t seem as much a forgotten relic like the rest of these (“smaller followups to big hits” is spot on).

"hey JJ! what you been doin'"

still love "c'est la vie" so that's my vote.

list is a great reminder of how many sappy songs chicago through at the wall over the course of those years. really put us all through the ringer with that shit.

Regina and Survivor are the only ones that didn't start automatically playing in my head...

I was a big enough fan of that Regina single to actually pick up a promo copy of her album in a cheap bin, and even I couldn't make "Baby Love" play in my head this morning. It's pretty good fake Madonna. But this is absolutely "Neutron Dance" for me.

Yeah, this (when I was about 8-10) might be the time I paid the most attention to pop so, even when I can't recall the tune, I do at the least recall the existence or something about the video of at least half of these. (It would probably close to 100% if we were looking at songs from the mainstream rock charts.) "Batdance" is probably best but I really want to vote for "In Your Room".

I had no idea "Look Away" was forgotten but I guess I mostly hear "You're the Inspiration" and "Hard to Say I'm Sorry".

Chicago 19 was my second vinyl record! My dad bought it for me for Xmas along with the soundtrack to Oliver and Company and my first turntable

Cyndi Lauper - Change Of Heart

I love this song so much it's scary.

It's the only one on True Colors that matches the genius of She's So Unusual imo.

Also, I thought that was the only Samantha Fox song anyone knew.

Bangles on backup vocals! xpost

I still ride for all of these:

5. Prince - Batdance
10. Cyndi Lauper - Change Of Heart
13. Arcadia - Election Day
15. Samantha Fox - Naughty Girls (Need Love Too)
19. Jan Hammer - Miami Vice Theme
20. The Jets - Cross My Broken Heart
27. Bangles - In Your Room
31. Madonna - Who's That Girl
33. Herb Alpert - Diamonds
34. Milli Vanilli - Baby Don't Forget My Number
37. George Michael - Monkey
38. Samantha Fox - I Wanna Have Some Fun
39. El DeBarge - Who's Johnny
41. The Jets - Rocket 2 U
42. Duran Duran - I Don't Want Your Love
44. The Pointer Sisters - Neutron Dance
45. Madonna - Causing A Commotion
47. Huey Lewis & The News - Jacob's Ladder
48. Robbie Nevil - C'Est La Vie
50. Sting - We'll Be Together

This list is reminding me of how much better off we all would have been had someone locked the New Kids in a basement

Also, I thought that was the only Samantha Fox song anyone knew.

Ha, I see there was more than one there. I meant "Naughty Girls".

DJP has most of the good ones, I just have to add a little bit of cheese that's stuck with / stained me.

11. Chicago - I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love
15. Samantha Fox - Naughty Girls (Need Love Too)
18. Steve Winwood - Don't You Know What The Night Can Do?
19. Jan Hammer - Miami Vice Theme
21. White Lion - When The Children Cry
25. Paul McCartney - Spies Like Us
27. Bangles - In Your Room
31. Madonna - Who's That Girl
34. Milli Vanilli - Baby Don't Forget My Number
35. Paul McCartney - No More Lonely Nights
37. George Michael - Monkey
38. Samantha Fox - I Wanna Have Some Fun
39. El DeBarge - Who's Johnny
40. Chicago - Look Away
42. Duran Duran - I Don't Want Your Love
44. The Pointer Sisters - Neutron Dance
47. Huey Lewis & The News - Jacob's Ladder
48. Robbie Nevil - C'Est La Vie

also

18. Steve Winwood - Don't You Know What The Night Can Do?

reminds that rather little Michelob Rock makes this list, meaning that it must still be in radio playlists somewhere? probably in midwestern bars.

I'm somewhat surprised "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" isn't no here

Rocket 2 U

also, special shoutout to Weird Al’s Ed McMahon-themed El DeBarge parody

Most of these I can't even bring to mind but Arcadia's "Election Day" started playing in my head, so that one.

haha when I sing "Who's Johnny" around the house (which is often), I end up mixing up the lyrics with "Here's Johnny". maybe Al's best parody?

HEYO! HEY-HEYOOO!

Just listened to "Who's Johnny" for the first time in eons. The yuge gated drums! The production reminds me of "Wood Beez," which is odd because the Scritti song came first. I always thought it borrowed from De Barge a bit.

Rocket 2 U

― trapped out the barndo (crüt), Thursday, July 16, 2020 3:50 PM (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

oh man i don't think i've heard "rocket 2 u" since i was a kid. i've got to vote for it. i have a major attachment to the jets. they were sort of well-known in utah because they were mormon - it's a weird story involving uncomfortable colonial and religious energy i don't exactly know how to explain. one of the few positive contributions to the general culture mormonism is at least partially responsible for. the sets for these videos ("rocket 2 u" and "cross my broken heart") look a lot like the tv show "kids incorporated" which i was obsessed with. i love how cornball and innocent they were, but catchy af and disarmingly substantial in moments.

"crush on you" is obviously their masterpiece though

Batdance is one of the greatest songs of all time, so voted that. A lot of these songs are lesser-known hits from people who are either only associated with one song (Rick Astley, Milli Vanilli) or songs that for whatever reason do not rise to the level of their most important work (Duran Duran, Madonna, and yes, Prince in the eyes of everyone but me) - if I'm only going to remember five Duran Duran songs, none of them are going to be "I Don't Want Your Love". Sort of the '80s equivalent of "The Ballad of John and Yoko" of all fucking things becoming a #1 hit - if that record didn't have the Beatles' name on it no way that would have made #1.

I'll also say that while there are a lot of these songs I can't remember, even though they were totally on the radio and stuff, but I do still remember "Look Away", and I fucking hate it.

A decent number of CVS Jams on those 'Lost' lists.

If post-Cetera Chicago
Is playing on your radio
Look away
Baby, look away

re: The Jets, I have been and always will be a "Curiosity" partisan

if I'm only going to remember five Duran Duran songs, none of them are going to be "I Don't Want Your Love".

"I Don't Want Your Love" and "Notorious" are the only Duran Duran songs I go out of my way to listen to these days

I've played "Rocket 2 U" on a jukebox as recently as this year, so that one. I like the Regina one also, I own the 12" single.

All She Wants Is >>> IDWYL

agreed! I really love All She Wants Is

Not only have I never heard "I Like It" before, I have no memory of the career/existence of Dino. (I think the later in the 80s, the more gaps in my knowledge.)

He's kinda shit, I guess, but I have a massive soft spot in my heart for him.

S-S-SUMMERGURLS

"All She Wants Is" is garbage

I was confused to see Miami Vice Theme on there too, but was getting it mixed up with Crockett's Theme, which I think is much more popular. I have no memory of ever hearing the actual Miami Vice Theme before today.

29. Regina - Baby Love

Aww, I love this song!! Think it was actually originally written for Madonna, but when she rejected it Regina sung it herself. Co-writer was Stephen Bray who also wrote Angel, Over & Over and True Blue with Madonna

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4IwsyBFoS0

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Oh, we're supposed to vote on these(?) That's rough, lol

are we voting best or most forgotten

(I went with "Neutron Dance" - one more track that of course I know well, and which is pretty hard to beat overall.)

when I was in middle school science we were learning about like space and stuff and I was having trouble memorizing everything and one of the things was that neutron stars were dense

so my mom actually tried to help me with a mneumonic device by telling me to think of the Pointer Sisters song .."neutron dense"

I love my mother

Around the same time as "Neutron Dance" the Pointer Sisters had a hit with "Automatic," which I thought was them singing "Automan," about the contemporaneous (83? 84?) TV show.

"Automatic" was several months before, to be clear.

I loved hearing the Pointer Sisters on the radio as a kid. i think "Jump for my Love", "Neutron Dance", "I'm So Excited" were shit my toddler ass liked to boogie to

I'm sure I've heard many of these songs but based on titles alone 'We'll Be Together' is the only one I recognize.

I'm sorry

when I was in middle school science we were learning about like space and stuff and I was having trouble memorizing everything and one of the things was that neutron stars were dense

so my mom actually tried to help me with a mneumonic device by telling me to think of the Pointer Sisters song .."neutron dense"

i love this story thank you for sharing

Neutron Dance narrowly pipping Jan Hammer for me. I must say, though, while there are some obscurities here, from this poster’s UK perspective several of these are anything but forgotten.

the organ trills on “we’ll be together” are hideous

well, "organ." It sounds like a Casio preset.

I like We'll Be Together.

iirc the video had not just Sting video acting, but a Rhythm Nation like dance breakdown.

Ha, it's actually worse than I remembered it being.

I know and love a lot of these songs. Voted Change of Heart. Baby Love is gr8; C'est La Vie is gr8 as well.

Spies Like Us, Who's Johnny*, and of course Batdance were from movies, which explains a bit about why they appeared and then mostly vanished: they made little sense once the

Who's That Girl, Neutron Dance, Shake Your Love, and Causing a Commotion were all very big and am surprised that they've faded from pop fans' memories.

* = Short Circuit, in case you don't know

I just listened to a re-recorded version of "We'll Be Together" from some best-of and it was super terrible, so I went back to the ...Nothing Like The Sun version and it's very similar but the slight differences are enough for me to be like "yes, this is a jam".

Basically, the backing vocal arrangement makes this entire song for me.

Spies Like Us, Who's Johnny*, and of course Batdance were from movies, which explains a bit about why they appeared and then mostly vanished: they made little sense once the

Who's That Girl, Neutron Dance, Shake Your Love, and Causing a Commotion were all very big and am surprised that they've faded from pop fans' memories.

You do remember that "Who's That Girl", "Neutron Dance", and "Causing a Commotion" were ALSO soundtrack songs, right?

I feel like this belongs in this thread (I bought the 12" when it came out lol):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_A8Xe9M0NY

xp LOL (I think "Neutron Dance" had even been released a few years earlier, but only became huge after appearing on the "BHC" soundtrack?)

T/S: Steve Winwood, "Don't You Know What The Night Can Do?" vs. Genesis "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" vs. Eric Clapton's 1987 version of "After Midnight."

Only the third was created specifically for a beer commercial but in my memory these three songs share a beer-commercial vibe.

I saw that Michelob commercial as a kid and immediately thought drinking beer would be that amazing.

It's not

I think you mean "drinking Michelob would be that amazing."

True. When i drink St Bernardus ABT 12 i leave the planet

Only the third was created specifically for a beer commercial but in my memory these three songs share a beer-commercial vibe.

The other two songs were also used in Michelob ads, though.

Hah, I knew it.

And DJP, thanks for the expansion on the movie songs - I should have recalled the filmic origins of at least "Who's That Girl" but it evaded my mind.

Though there is still, I think, a useful distinction between "created for a movie" vs. "used in a movie."

"Who's Johnny" will always be remembered by its middle-school parody version: "'Who farted?' she said / Then turned, and walked away..."

Though there is still, I think, a useful distinction between "created for a movie" vs. "used in a movie."

Sure, but the only songs in your list that weren't created specifically for a movie were "Neutron Dance" and "Shake Your Love", and "Neutron Dance" didn't become a hit until it was included on a movie soundtrack, so I'm not sure it's as big a distinction as one might think it should be.

I greatly prefer the ‘87 beer commercial version of “After Midnight” to the original.

Which I only ever knew about because of its inclusion on the Crossroads box set. I didn’t watch no damn TV in 1987!

Yeah the remake of After Midnight is a pretty solid rock track

Sure, but the only songs in your list that weren't created specifically for a movie were "Neutron Dance"

Some interesting trivia that I absolutely have known for a long time, and did not only learn about via Wikipedia earlier:

According to Allee Willis, "Neutron Dance" was written in hopes of being placed on the soundtrack of the film Streets of Fire: "We were told that there was a scene on a bus that was leaving town after there had been this nuclear holocaust, and that a '50s doo-wop black group was going to be at the back of the bus that the lead couple was escaping on ...

ahahahahahahahaha classic

I also prefer the bullshit beer commercial version of After Midnight, though it's extremely tacky that Eric Clapton of all people, with his infamous struggles with substance abuse, should do a beer commercial at all. The Genesis beer commercial, on the other hand, Tonight Tonight Tonight is a song literally about addiction, which makes its usage in a beer ad almost as wrong-headed as Reagan and Born in the USA.

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

Those results are just burnin'!

Lol, I'm glad I could help take the Bangles to #2.

heh, those results scan like someone just shuffled the song order

listened to the top 5 and didn't recognize anything. the el debarge song sounds like "stand" by REM

It's remarkable to me that someone wouldn't know "Neutron Dance," but then, I'm not going to assume that "Beverly Hills Cop" has filtered down through the generations and/or across borders.

xp oh this is that song from Short Circuit! I was not an especially idiotic child, just normal idiotic, but I always thought Johnny 5 was singing "who is Downey"

xp Do you think I could credibly pull off the "banana in the tailpipe" routine on a Zoomer?

xp The music video features El DeBarge singing in a courtroom, where a judge is presiding over the trial of Johnny 5 (the robotic protagonist of Short Circuit). A representative of NOVA, the government defense contractor that created Johnny, sits at the prosecutor's table as El DeBarge sings his testimony from the witness stand. Stephanie Speck (Ally Sheedy) and a cardboard cutout of Newton Graham Crosby, Ph.D. (Steve Guttenberg) are also in attendance as adversarial witnesses for the prosecution, implying that El Debarge is playing the co-lead role of Ben Jabituya, played by Fisher Stevens in the film. The prosecutor's sole question during these examinations is the titular line of the song "Who's Johnny?" She plays a VHS tape, labeled "Short Circuit," containing various clips from the movie. Meanwhile, Number 5 wreaks havoc in the courtroom (only his robotic hand is visible to the viewer) with various hijinks, including giving the prosecuting attorney a pair of funny nose glasses, turning up the ceiling fan to create a windstorm of papers, swapping the judge's gavel for an exploding one and calling the fire department, resulting in the judge being sprayed with water. Stephanie and El DeBarge sneak out of the courtroom at the end, covering the camera with a slate on their way out. The prosecutor, still wearing the trick glasses, pops up to deliver the last "Who's Johnny?"

The top two finishers are worthy. "Batdance"--eh, I don't really get it. It mostly reminds me of those obnoxious remixes that played over the end credits of a lot of films from that era, where dialogue from the film is mixed into the film's novelty-ish theme song (we could do a whole thread of these). The rest of the Batman album is solid, though, and occasionally even better than that; "Electric Chair" would likely make my list of top ten Prince tracks.

I don't even like "Neutron Dance" much.

more votes than i would have expected for "c'est la vie"!

heh, those results scan like someone just shuffled the song order

such is the genius of this poll