A POLL Bizarre ~~~ It's the ILM 80's R&B TRACKS POLL ~~~ RESULTS THREAD!!!

I can not separate "Just Be Good To Me" from its cover art. Such a stately, slow-rolling, metallic song.

Wooooow, I figured 'Just Be Good To Me' was a lost cause at this point. Good show!

Have the Mary Jane Girls not shown up at all yet?!

I'm completely in the dark about what's still to come.

"In My House" way down. Still have fingers crossed for "Candy Man."

Ah, okay, guess I missed that.

There are still two songs by female solo artists who have yet to make an appearance which feel maybe too obscure to show up this late in the game but whose absence will be an absolute travesty of justice and a perversion of the cosmic order. Not to be hyperbolic or anything.

And they are?

https://img.discogs.com/Fi4i6YSoc_S4ZcLzOo5cMw-4Jmo=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-202123-1273968833.jpeg.jpg
16. Diana Ross - Upside Down
837 points, 17 votes
https://youtu.be/4GtyMeEcPPE

xpost Cheryl and Jenny!

Sorry, '80s Diana Ross doesn't belong anywhere near the top 25.

That's just how I feel.

Would love to have a discussion after this is all done about where everyone is from and where/when they heard many of these songs for the first time (especially if you are old like me). I have a good friend here born and raised in the midwest who is relatively unfamiliar with, say, the Oran "Juice" Jones and Vandross tracks, but recognizes them via friends as regional hits from the east coast (where I am from). Dunno how accurate that is.

I don't remember hearing "The Rain" on KDWB or WLOL in Minneapolis, but I could've just tuned it out.

You tuned it out, KDWB played it a LOT (with the spoken word outtro)

I know this because I taped it off of the top ten countdown

Brief précis of where I was from ca. 1980-1989: GA>VA>IN>VA>TN>IN>FL>IN. So I recognize all too well how different pop radio can be from region to region

Hah, I'm glad we can compare KDWB notes itt!

I never heard the outro to 'The Rain' until YouTube happened. I feel like I missed out on something essential in my youth.

Wow, this run has been so great.

Love the D-Train song. I love the album version which has the slow intro before bursting into life so much.

I was getting nervous for The Rain. Probably the most quotable song of all time. My personal favourite lines are "I missed you so much I followed you today" and of course "'my first impulse was to run up on you and do a Rambo". That whole spoken part is so ridiculous and amazing. It was my number three.

Never Too Much was my number one. Such an effortless and gorgeous song. It's a shame that's probably going to be the only Luther song in the list.

I thought Just Be Good To Me might make the top 10. The full album version with that epic intro is so thrilling. A timeless song.

I'm happy to see Upside Down so high but as I mentioned earlier, My Old Piano is my favourite. It might actually be my favourite Chic related song.

https://img.discogs.com/LJHdNpXur9pK3zVdj9rPA-PjABQ=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-584968-1197905970.jpeg.jpg
15. Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing
848 points, 15 votes, 1 number one
https://youtu.be/rjlSiASsUIs

wow, thought this would be higher

I was born in the 1979, so obviously I'm too young to remember the early '80s stuff firsthand. And back in the eighties, Finland was still very much a "rock" country, so only the big R&B names, like Michael, Janet, Prince, EWF, or Whitney got any significant airplay here. So besides them, I mostly knew the stuff that got played on MTV. But about 10+ years ago I got into a huge boogie/post-disco kick, and ever since then I've delved deeper and deeper into this stuff, and nowadays the '80s are my favourite decade when it comes to R&B.

Compilation series like Ben Liebrand's "Grand 12-Inches" and Unidisc's "Star-Funk" have been a great resource for getting into the club music of this period, and I wholeheartedly recommend them to all you. Though sadly Unidisc is apparently very picky about the stuff it's acquired the rights for, so a lot of awesome tunes by one-hit wonders (like "Summer Breeze", which I repped in the nomination process) are not easily available anywhere else than on those Star-Funk comps... And since some of them are pretty rare these days, those tunes have become needlessly obscure.

OK, first genuine bummer in the top 50 for me.

This is one of my favorite grooves of all time.

(btw "Atomic Dog" is going to be #1, right)

I'll take any track off In Our Lifetime over it.

Love the D-Train song. I love the album version which has the slow intro before bursting into life so much.

Oh man, yes. I really wish this had been the version I'd heard first. Such a great bait-n-switch.

Atomic Dog already placed, so sadly won't be #1

I deeply love Marvin, but I don't have more than 'meh' feelings about 'Sexual Healing'.

xpost I dunno, man, the way this poll is going I wouldn't discount any possibility, up to and including a song coming in at multiple positions.

OK, first genuine bummer in the top 50 for me.

Yeah, sad it only made #15, my #1.

I'll take any track off In Our Lifetime over it.

Oh!

"sexual healing" is fucking amazing, i was rooting for it to be no. 1

Meh, we all have our blind, sexless spots.

I voted for most of these today, so good work ILM

https://img.discogs.com/8lM0GTdWyzP8Qw4oDabOY3yS8ZE=/fit-in/600x586/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2857044-1304220738.jpeg.jpg
14. Michael Jackson - Human Nature
858 points, 14 votes
https://youtu.be/7Y3dsAY_a_I

my highest mj vote

My second-highest.

Think it was my highest too

Toto!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWdy5i_44sQ

"Human Nature" wasn't one of my 3 MJ picks, but it's luxe.

So I guess, unsurprisingly, MJ will dominate the top 20? There's still 3 more tunes by him surely to come, maybe one more by The Jacksons too. Can't complain tho, all those songs are pure fire.

https://img.discogs.com/XerRTxf1bHunsQihEd0bikKwnA0=/fit-in/600x591/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2921326-1312145841.jpeg.jpg
13. Commodores - Nightshift
895 points, 13 votes
https://youtu.be/FrkEDe6Ljqs

There are several Thriller tracks I didn't vote for that will probably show up, yeah. Can't complain, though, as that's one of my absolute favorite albums of the '80s. It's just surprising to realize that there's so much love for 'The Girl is Mine'.

too low!

That song freaked me out as a kid once I found out what (who) it was about.

re: "nightshift": tears, every time.

I thought listening to it was going to summon ghosts or something.

Too low and you all know it.

I don't, but I love it.

'Night Shift' is a spiritual successor to this song from '65, in case y'all have never heard it before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwJ3K79Q2_Q

The "Talk to me so you can see what's going on" callback is the most poignant moment in recorded music

Love "Nightshift." Someone should poll the session drummers that play on all of these tracks.

I grew up (mostly) in SE PA, with no MTV, so I think I heard most of these songs on top 40 or on ... perhaps Power 99? The latter is certainly where I know I heard most rap back then.