US #1s of 1986

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.

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: 📹