Number Two Hits, 1987-1989

I know I said that I might stop but this list is too sick to not do. So many classics. Don't think I've ever heard of Jody Watley, Robbie Nevil, or Breathe though.

Tempted to vote for Warrant, which is a perfect hair-metal ballad, even though I know there's others on here that are considered classics (Prince, Def Leppard).

i don't think i know enough of these to vote comfortably but i love "u got the look" so much

sowing the seeds

Bobby Brown - On Our Own
Madonna - Express Yourself
Robert Palmer - Simply Irresistable
Pebbles - Mercedes Boy
Madonna - Causing a Commotion
Prince - U Got the Look
Jody Watley - Looking for a New Love

Voting "On Our Own."

PSB/Dusty Springfield easily, "U Got the Look" next. Two I was big on at the time but don't ever think about any more: "The Lover in Me," "Wild Thing."

Prince is the ringer here. Tempted to vote for Robert Palmer but there aren't many songs better than U Got The Look

I hope "Don't Dream It's Over" gets a vote.

Tone Loc - Wild Thing
Taylor Dayne - Don't Rush Me
Elton John - I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That
Def Leppard - Pour Some Sugar On Me
Pebbles - Mercedes Boy
Johnny Hates Jazz - Shattered Dreams
Pet Shop Boys with Dusty Springfield - What Have I Done to Deserve This?
The Bangles - Hazy Shade of Winter
Madonna - Causing a Commotion
Prince - U Got the Look
George Michael - I Want Your Sex
Jody Watley - Looking for a New Love
Crowded House - Don't Dream It's Over
Janet Jackson - Let's Wait Awhile

^^ all immense. I heard "Shattered Dreams" again on Monday -- my favorite sophisti-pop ballad.

was gonna vote PSB, maybe Janet, but am wondering if just the delivery on "Romeo and Juliet/They never felt this way I bet" is enough for me to vote for "Cherish" which isn't really all that but those lines kill me

Pet Shop Boys or Prince will sweep this unless the silent majority supporting "Is This Love" surprises us.

The Cure and it's not particularly close. For me anyway.

there are other Whitesnake and Crowded House songs that i probly wd vote for but not these ones

NYCNative has pre-emptively made me feel bad about saying mean stuff about anybody who votes for the effing Cure now

I can take it.

Tempted to go for "Pour Some Sugar On Me" on the "should have been #1 card", even if it's not the actual best song up there. Pretty ridiculous that it wasn't #1. The other one that surprises me that it didn't hit the top is "Girl You Know It's True".

http://uhhyeahdude.com/audio/soundbites/dontknowmuch.mp3

Wow, "Sowing the Seeds of Love," "Real Love," "Looking for a New Love," all great. Prince, Crowded House, PSB all perfect, in the case of PSB and Crowded House, practically standards, even. "Shattered Dreams," "Pour Some Sugar..." Jeez, what a great period for number twos! Have the other polls been this tough?

On the flip side, not sure I remember that Warrant song, but it kinda sucks. The shitty Whitesnake ballad is better.

voted Wild Thing, it's lived on as a #1 even if it was held off by Paula Abdul

Simply Irresistible too, held off by GnR

I wish the poll had covered the previous year so as to include "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On."

Breathe's "Hands to Heaven" = soundtrack to my first serious crush (on a girl!).

Haha, had to youtube of few of these...

Breathe was the American (?) Spandau Ballet.

ouch

My ears are starting to get fatigued from all the gated drums and synth stabs, thank you C&C and LA Reid.

Also, Robbie Neville is not a Neville brother!!! He's like Andie Macdowell's fraternal twin.

whoops, you can see why I'm confused as I borked up the spelling (but I always imagined it spelled the same as the bros.)

PSB will probably take it and they probably should. I'm voting Janet

As much as I can do without post-Rio Duran Duran, at least you can focus on Nile Rodgers' playing all over "Notorious".

Cracking up at such a time warp this list is, I haven't heard most of these since I was on the dance floor of my HS... the Belinda track in particular is bringing me back, that odd chord change probably prevented this from going to #1.

All right I'm done... voted "Don't Know Much"

Diane Keaton's video for "I Get Weak" is a scream. For one the female gaze dominates...and orientalism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmMCXLdNrz8

def lep, pet shop boys, pebbles, milli vanilli, and either of the like a prayer madonnas are in the running but in the end only one of these tracks is too hot to handle, too cold to hold

'is this love?' is kinda a lost foreigner song

funny you have tone quoting jody watley's 'hasta la vista baby' from 'looking for a new love' in 'wild thing'

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

for me, this is a close race between "Pour Some Sugar on Me" and "Let's Wait Awhile".

otth, it's kind of shocking how Dusty Springfield never got a #1 hit, and "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" is a killer, so...

I voted for "Don't Dream It's Over" -- one of the few songs that makes me cry.

janet vs. prince for me. and my vote to prince. crucial!

(but yeah crowded house song is pretty fantastic too.)

any other year etc.

Prince.
Great competition though!

"Love Song"

It's like a list of all my '80s guilty pleasures... Many of which I am more nostalgic about them than actually liking them per se... With a bunch of songs I cannot stand. Especially since I come at this as a rock(ist) guy.

Still, I narrowed it down to this:

The Cure - Love Song
Tone Loc - Wild Thing
Robert Palmer - Simply Irresistable
INXS - Devil Inside
The Bangles - Hazy Shade of Winter
Georgia Satellites - Keep Your Hands to Yourself
Robbie Nevil - C'est La Vie
Duran Duran - Notorious

Going with Hazy Shade because picking a cover song out of that mess seems like the perfect thing to do.

I have a p huge soft spot for that Warrant sing but there's no way this isn't Cherish vs. Don't Dream It's Over. Probably voting the latter.

This is Somewhere Out There. Jeez, are you guys heartless or something?

This really comes down to Express Yourself vs Hazy Shade and my teenage self is mad that I'm not voting for Notorious but my teenage self can STFU.

But I think that Express Yourself is personally meaningful for me because that Express Yourself / Vogue era was the time that my bratty bubblegum-hating late teen self realised that despite all that Fascist Madonna Type clone shit that made me raaaaaaag eagainst her all through high school, Madonna was actually kinda awesome, so I'm going for that.

Oh god the moment I voted I saw "What Have I What Have I What Have I Done To Deserve This" which would have been on the shortlist, but, I regret nothing.

Jesus, This list is amazing.

I went with Crowded House, because, yeah, crying.

BUT IT COULD HAVE BEEN LIKE 10 OTHERS

I just heard "Shattered Dreams" at CVS!

It's a perfect CVS jam.

The moment I knew I was destined to be a copyeditor was when I was at yearbook camp: I was looking at other schools' yearbooks of recent vintage and I got INCENSED that the Nevil song, which was the No. 1 song of the year for some school in Florida, was spelled "Say La Vee."

shit i never knew 'hazy shade' was a simon & garfunkel song, my entire radio-listening childhood is all out of whack now

one of the most amazing covers

in my mind it will remain a bangles original

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

jesus at 'sowing the seeds of love' getting four votes, lotta oasis fans in the house

never really got the praise for "Lovesong". I enjoy the Cure, but that song, while nice, has never struck me as being outstanding.

surprised it climbed as high as #2 in...1989? seems very out of place with everything else on that list, for sure.

i think that is the point. the Cure were out of place when it came to pop music but somehow still managed at number 2 song.

the cure weren't remotely out of place in 1989, alot of major label college radio types were having huge pop success in the late 80s - u2, rem, inxs, the cure in 89 and then sinead o'connor and depeche mode in 90 and the concurrent emergence of the modern rock radio format only amplified it (esp since pre-nirvana kroq was the template). it felt somewhat odd and exciting that the cure had that huge a smash but it wasn't out of nowhere, 'just like heaven' had been all over mtv just a couple of years earlier and if billboard had counted mtv plays probably would've been a top ten hit.

Uhhhhh ok wow.

from the no vote getters i go 'mercedes boy'>'soldier of love'>'looking for a new love'>'i don't want to go on w/ you like that'>'causing a commotion'>'keep yr hands to yrself'>'is this love?'>'real love'>'hands to heaven'>'c'est la vie'>'the lover in me'>'don't rush me'>'notorious'>'simply irresistable'

"Georgia Satellites - Keep Your Hands to Yourself 0"

:'(

I'd a thrown a vote to "Mercedes Boy" if it would have saved it from ignominy like this :(

I can't really put my finger on why, but I despise that Georgia Satellites song.

Excellent list, although most of the best songs were deservedly high up, apart from the Leps and Belinda.

Pour Some Sugar On Me is flawless imo

It's what I voted for!

"Love Song" also peaked at #2 on the Modern Rock Tracks that year as well.