US #1s of 1986

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