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

"get it right" is totally perfect, one of my favorite things luther vandross has ever written

oh and "stay with me tonight" is wayyyyy too low. ac classic

Wtf, I was expecting "Beat the Street" to be in the top 40!? One of the ten best boogie tunes, IMO. Love the evocative tone of Redd's voice, there's something transcendent about it.

i forgot to vote for 'just the two of us' :(

https://img.discogs.com/0TUd8cLNNOza5yGdc0_myC9676M=/fit-in/600x609/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2275598-1429283920-8842.jpeg.jpg
234. Marvin Gaye - Praise
202 points, 3 votes
https://youtu.be/A0AgZ0mPRjI

"Let's Go All The Way" is one that, as I was nominated it, I paused for a sec to consider whether or not it was properly R&B. I'm glad that four others appeared to agree.

I didn't nom "The Breaks," but it seemed legit enough (even though we discussed early on that we weren't doing rap) that I voted for it.

was nominated

https://img.discogs.com/Hv1FGiA-mxbPZjeQqlLfCY07eYw=/fit-in/600x582/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1694346-1379745906-9668.jpeg.jpg
232 (TIE). Princess - Say I'm Your Number One
202 points, 4 votes
https://youtu.be/aRK49e1Avmc

https://img.discogs.com/k_JtKWcD1fSb05hs2APD8HcqqEw=/fit-in/509x510/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-5775227-1402318679-5464.jpeg.jpg
232 (TIE). Tracie Spencer - Symptoms of True Love
202 points, 4 votes
https://youtu.be/iM4JU1CPL7A

https://img.discogs.com/Bp_Ml2xHOLpj9IwPHkK18cJlza4=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1177431-1453029109-8044.jpeg.jpg
231. Bobby Brown - Every Little Step
202 points, 5 votes
https://youtu.be/P0FKzPfsxA4

Voted for both of them. The Tracie Spencer because of the campaigning thread, Princess is the best thing SAW ever did, just ahead of Mandy Smith's I Just Can't Wait and Mel & Kim's Respectable

Yeah, I also thought "Beat The Street" would be much higher. Such a key track at the time.

(argh! just noticed that, while I nominated "Let's Go All The Way," I actually forgot to vote for it! thanks to the five of you who picked up my slack!)

"every little step" was my highest ranking babyface/reid track, everything they do well done so sweetly and lightly

https://img.discogs.com/zcgGt3T4CBa8Mjq5MuVdkZFcRQQ=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-3218584-1451215706-8356.jpeg.jpg
230. Bobby Womack - If You Think You're Lonely Now
203 points, 5 votes
https://youtu.be/bRXnRwm-njM

Wtf at "Every Little Step" placing that low?!

wtf at "if you think you're lonely now" placing this low

a lot of my ballot getting cleared out early lol

https://img.discogs.com/NsdJ8TzP7DTGTiwnMmZ8Sq5URl0=/fit-in/600x602/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-7141064-1434740522-9094.jpeg.jpg
229. Womack & Womack - Love Wars
205 points, 4 votes
https://youtu.be/hmda4Ccyz3Q

i love this song so much

Woah, figured that would be top 50 at least.

https://img.discogs.com/aGTN8e2shp4od_HYwy71uWVmcFY=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2555200-1291160844.jpeg.jpg
228. Billy Ocean - Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)
206 points, 5 votes
https://youtu.be/9f16Fw_K45s

https://img.discogs.com/HclCSa4XOGz_OFKlX-NAlFBMVoE=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-767726-1242817673.jpeg.jpg
227. Whispers - Keep On Lovin' Me
208 points, 3 votes
https://youtu.be/d6aRvVTSC0I

'Symptoms of True Love' was #4 on my ballot. It's a tragedy that it placed so low, but if its appearance here elevates the profile of that gargantuan track, I'll take it.

Also voted for 'The Breaks'. Feel like Sugar Hill joints were often more a melange of subgenres than straight-up rap.

operation hell on earth, never forget

LOVE WARS an amazing album, all of it.

Kashif too low

https://img.discogs.com/sMorPx5DxZI4LaGHqSKS9sICvgo=/fit-in/600x606/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1495331-1249547981.jpeg.jpg
226. Irene Cara - Flashdance... What a Feeling
208 points, 4 votes
https://youtu.be/ILWSp0m9G2U

https://img.discogs.com/CA6p4JPbSzinzrwgZFWSxBKjuXE=/fit-in/600x599/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-3430475-1338979687-3199.jpeg.jpg
225. Michael Jackson - Baby Be Mine
209 points, 3 votes
https://youtu.be/uaV4SSLaTs8

Wish more MJ followed this template...

'BABY BE MINE' TOO LOW! But I was worried about vote splitting wrt that album so I'm glad it's here at all (we probably should've just collectively agreed to give 'the complete '80s works of Prince' and 'the entire Thriller album except 'The Girl is Mine'' the top two spots and worked from there).

Old Lunch otm

https://img.discogs.com/l8NMO3qG6J4bk-4NfLDClmwIBQs=/fit-in/447x444/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-3851307-1346868752-8360.jpeg.jpg
224. Michael Jackson - Thriller
214 points, 4 votes
https://youtu.be/sOnqjkJTMaA

https://img.discogs.com/9nqaLbvNVioa-70gUbyspic17t8=/fit-in/600x607/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1214249-1201215699.jpeg.jpg
223. George Michael - Careless Whisper
215 points, 4 votes
https://youtu.be/izGwDsrQ1eQ

Sorry, wrong link:
https://youtu.be/ui_CNb4FUtQ

https://img.discogs.com/MGrUrx3DceMIkh99RtxJN_8D2ts=/fit-in/600x598/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2975070-1454211584-4056.jpeg.jpg
222. Teddy Pendergrass - Love T.K.O.
216 points, 4 votes
https://youtu.be/rV9VuPkIIv4

Teddy Pendergrass' beard was something else

Always feel like Thriller the song us way underrated

I don't dislike "Thriller," but I always kind of felt it existed mostly to soundtrack the video.

i guess it's appropriate that "love tko" placed this close to "love wars" since they're both womack & womack tunes but still TOO LOW

https://img.discogs.com/DkU6RpUMGsEBV2bNK3E-81WF_uI=/fit-in/600x597/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1725802-1356529275-4514.jpeg.jpg
221. Ray Parker Jr. - Ghostbusters
216 points, 6 votes
https://youtu.be/Fe93CLbHjxQ

much as busting makes me feel good, too high

crazy low

if this means the six or seven other worthwhile RP Jr. songs outranked it, it's good

Last one for today:

https://img.discogs.com/66FajELmAJt95A-CfAccvoaaAEU=/fit-in/600x580/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-7975687-1452769408-6443.jpeg.jpg
220. Michael Jackson - Another Part of Me
217 points, 3 votes
https://youtu.be/8vwHQNQ88cM

is Teddy's arm in a sling?

wow Princess is way way too low but then i didn't vote so mustn't complain. looking forward to the rest of this.

I'm fairly pleased by the results so far, especially the modest placements of tunes that weren't R&B as I knew it (white suburban teen listening to a "black music" radio station in the wee hours). Six voters ranking "Ghostbusters" as their 64th favorite R&B tune of the 80s (on average), however, calls for reeducation camps.

Lol

if this means the six or seven other worthwhile RP Jr. songs outranked it, it's good

I'm still upset that I didn't nominate Raydio's There's More Than One Way To Love a Woman for the 70s poll. I thought it came out in 80. That's his Stairway To Heaven.

I love 'Ghostbusters' for what it is, but it was never gonna make my ballot.

I wasn’t on the poster, I wasn’t in the trailer. I'm not surprised.

i love this song

This is driving me insane...do any of my 80s R&B headz recognize the interpolation at the chorus where he sings the title??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SnWTW6YXbE

Several elements of the song sound like a de- and reconstruction of the Doobie Brothers' version of 'You Belong to Me':

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

If that's not quite it, it feels like the Doobies/Michael McDonald are a good first route of inquiry. That opening synth line is all them.

The chorus backing track sounds a bit like Wham "Everything She Wants" tbh.

I was going to say the backing track sounds like “yah mo be there”

One of his recent hits interpolated Eugene Wild

I'm a little late to the Alexander O'Neal party, because I only just discovered that 'Criticize' is the best song ever written.