top 50 forgotten/"lost" US hits of the late '80s

Oh also

31. Madonna - Who's That Girl

Hey Ducky
Let me stick the 7 inch in the computer

I think I'm familiar with four of these (Batdance, Jacob's Ladder, Miami Vice theme, Who's Johnny). The two from film/television I couldn't sing you a note, Who's Johnny I know from the Weird Al parody, and Jacob's Ladder is one of Huey Lewis' all time classics, so this was an easy vote once I got down that far.

Why do I have to share my baby with a monkey?

One of the "Who's..." maybe? "...Johnny" vid is pretty dreamy, "...That Girl" seemed like as big a deal as any Madonna hit when I was a kid. Still mad it's not on Immaculate Collection.

while it is true that pop playlists had more regional variation then than they do these days, it is likely that a good number of these were indeed "fake hits" -- not to say they didn't do well at all, but that they weren't really getting played as much as you'd think from looking at the charts. in sean ross's followup blog on why hits fade, he explains:

But many of the lost hits on this list are songs that never spent a sustained amount of time in “power rotation” at radio in the first place. There’s not as much chance for listeners to remember them, much less fondly. One industry reader astutely commented that many of these songs were lesser titles from major artists "forced up the charts by promotion. [There are] a lot of follow-up cuts and duds by superstars." Many of the "Lost 100" titles were the first single by an act from a new project following a major hit album. Radio considered them disappointments, and didn’t play them in power rotation, but you can’t often tell from the charts.

he names 8 examples, most of which were top 3 hits, including one that topped the hot 100

Great list. Probably could’ve expanded it out to 100 easily.

it's actually a top 65 ranking on the link! 51-65 are:

51. Martika - Toy Soldiers
52. Exposé - Seasons Change
53. Natalie Cole - Pink Cadillac
54. Thompson Twins - King For A Day
55. Tina Turner - Typical Male
56. Sa-Fire - Thinking Of You
57. Richard Marx - Satisfied
58. Kool & The Gang - Misled
59. Linda Ronstadt & James Ingram - Somewhere Out There
60. Taylor Dayne - With Every Beat Of My Heart
61. Billy Ocean - There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)
62. Rod Stewart - My Heart Can't Tell You No
63. Debbie Gibson - Lost In Your Eyes
64. Suzanne Vega - Luka
65. Stevie Nicks - Talk To Me

Somebody please do this same list for the Soundscan era (especially 2000-2005)

he also did an early 90s ('90-'94) list (which i'm thinking of polling next ;P ) that spans the very beginning of the soundscan era. i don't think he's likely to do late '90s/early '00s equivalents yet tho, since classic hits stations are currently extremely '80s-centric and have not really started to go deep on the late '90s or later at all

Did not realize that Consolidated song was a Tina Turner cover

I love that clogged-drain sound in "Rocket 2 U"

Was reminded of this one yesterday while shuffling through an '80s Billboard playlist. Seems like there are a lot of obscure charting singles where, at a glance, I recognize neither the artist nor the song title but then it all comes rushing back once I listen for a few. And it only reached 52 in 1986, I guess?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaELZ5q6Y7M

Oh also it occurred to me that 'Dancing on the Ceiling' fits very snugly among the selections here. Hit number 2 in 1986 and, outside of my iTunes, I'm not sure I've heard it played anywhere since 1986.

I've heard "My Heart Can't Tell Me No," "Talk to Me," and "Seasons Change" in the wild the last couple years, esp that Rod Stewart single.

"Luka"?? Is the implication that there is another Suzanne Vega song that is better known than this? While I clearly remember "My Heart Can't Tell You No" and "Toy Soldiers", I can understand why they might be of limited importance to anyone who wasn't taping songs off the radio in 1988. "Luka" has to be one of the best songs of is genre, though. Beat Phoebe Bridgers at her game 30 years earlier.

"New Girl Now" is the OPO for Honeymoon Suite.xp

I'd guess that 'Tom's Diner' is probably more well-known than 'Luka'.

"Luka"?? Is the implication that there is another Suzanne Vega song that is better known than this?

Tom's Diner!

xp

'Marlene On The Wall' was a marginally bigger hit in the uk

The only reason I've heard of "Tom's Diner" is because it was used to test the mp3 format. Was it an actual hit?

the DNA remix was massive, yes

#5 in the US

Huh. TIL a group called DNA that does not include Arto Lindsay had a hit with a remix of this weird spoken word thing that was bigger than "Luka".

Oh also it occurred to me that 'Dancing on the Ceiling' fits very snugly among the selections here. Hit number 2 in 1986 and, outside of my iTunes, I'm not sure I've heard it played anywhere /since/ 1986.

(at the peak of their success that is)

still hear Dancing On The Ceiling on the radio in the UK, think a lot of the love for it is people being a bit ironic though

one of the worst songs by a major star ever recorded.
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Friday, July 17, 2020 9:12 AM (thirteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

(at the peak of their success that is)

― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl)

otm. 1986 is peak New Jersey.

I was in high school during the later 80s and looking at the list swore a handful of these songs were 84. I was shocked Who's Johnny was 86.

Favorites to vote for are:

Who's That Girl
Causing a Commotion
Monkey

Cheese I can't deny:

When the Children Cry
No More Lonely Nights

Weird. I have zero memory of this remix or its video.

"When the Children Cry" has to be the biggest White Lion song, though?

definitely.

I prefer "Hungry" and "Wait" myself.

Yeah, I hear "Dancing On The Ceiling" in grocery stores and stuff. Also probably his second most lasting video (after "Hello"). Stanley Donen!

About 1/3 of these still end up in my head once every few months (I was singing “I don’t want to live without your love” last week), another 1/3 were immediately audible in my brain when reading the titles even if I haven’t thought of them in decades, and 1/3 I have zero memory of but might if I bothered to track them them down.

Initial gut reaction is Dreamtime which I weirdly love and know every word of.

Also one of the desks in my high school had “white loin” carved into it and I don’t know if it was someone who couldn’t spell and never learned during the time it took them to carve the letters with a pocket knife of compass point or if they were mocking them for “when the children cry”

Huh. TIL a group called DNA that does not include Arto Lindsay had a hit with a remix of this weird spoken word thing that was bigger than "Luka"

I can definitely imagine a few lines of well placed atonal guitar scree in between SV’s verses

absolutely incredible things about the video for 'foolish beat':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qf8BoWKeHow

1. the little rollin' hand move she does on stage that ends with her head tilted back. i may remember this becoming a short-lived 'thing'.
2. the waiter in the european restaurant waiting patiently on his mark for the camera to track past the edge of the doorframe before starting up his legs to walk to Debbie's table.
3. that stack of coffee cups. let's get into this. Debbie's drinking straight up espresso, maybe macchiatos. probably single shots. so she's on her 4th cup of coffee. that's pretty raw-dog. her Turtleneck Loverboy is drinking cappucinos. if we consider that in the mid-80s pretty much nobody would have been specifying 'single shots' in their cappucinos, this boy has consumed 6-8 shots of italian espresso, otherwise known as rocket fuel. this guy is FLYING. but wait - there's a flower in the top cup. its stem isn't as long as the flowers in the vase behind the Leaning Tower Of Coffee Cups, so presumably someone has... picked one of the flowers out of the vase and either cut or torn its stem in two? and then placed it in.... an old coffee cup? leaving aside for a moment that if this were a real italian cafe they would have already been barked at for playing with their cups like this, none of the staff would have done this. so either Debbie or Turtleneck did it. and now Turtleneck's pretending like he's just noticed it, and he offers it to Debbie. she accepts, feigning gratitude and surprise. that flower that you just tore in two and placed atop your maniacal Coffee Tower? oh you shouldn't have! no really, you shouldn't have.
4. Debbie's stage outfit is smokin. great look.
5. another flower scene! wait - why is it funny that the kid stole their flowers?? what a little shit-head! he's not even good at skating. not acceptable. this is the year before The Search For Animal Chin came out.
6. as the song ends, Turtleneck waits vainly by the stage door at a... Debbie Gibson concert! wait, this isn't the stage door. stage doors don't have velvet ropes and door guys. this is the... front door? pretty quiet night. maybe it's a Tuesday. anyway, does he have flowers? oh boy does he have flowers. the same red kind of flowers the crappy skateboarder stole. he's gone all out. but he trashes them and walks away. i guess Debbie didn't show? this was hours afterwards and she snuck out the actual stage door, i guess. too bad he didn't pony up for a ticket, he would have seen her rock some sick moves.

still the youngest artist to write and self-produce a #1

Also probably his second most lasting video (after "Hello"). Stanley Donen!

definitely remember watching a making-of doc for the video because of its rotating room set and choreography. and wiki says it was the most expensive video at that time.

i have never knowingly heard a single song on this list.

this is me, except for Batdance

I successfully avoided radio in the late 80's, for the most part

I'm sure I've heard some before, but nothing clicked except Prince when I scanned through

now if this was EARLY 80's, I'd have some opinions

About 1/3 of these still end up in my head once every few months

Yes -- probably more than 1/3 for me, and probably more often than every few months.

This happens especially when I revisit some music for the first time since single-digit age that I used to know word-for-word, buried so deep in my memory that the recollection seems dead upon my first revisiting. But afterwards it plays it my head for about a week or longer and I somehow know every word once again, often exhuming more adjacent seemingly unrelated memories (musical or otherwise) from around the same time.

Most recently it was "This Time I Know It's For Real" which I haven't heard since probably 1991.

Another one was on that MTV30 thing in 2011 -- for whatever reason their Rick Astley selection from Club MTV was "It Would Take A Strong Strong Man" which I had not heard since 1989-ish.

Anyway, I enjoy many of these in the same way that I enjoy b-movies from the same era -- they're kinda campy and funny and stupid and fun. Breathe "How Can I Fall" is one of these for sure, and I doubt anyone else will vote for it, so that's my vote.

I'm surprised that "Jacob's Ladder" became a single, never mind the fact that it charted to high. I always thought it was
incredibly bland and forgettable.

How did I not see Monkey

"10. Cyndi Lauper - Change Of Heart"

I haven't thought about this song in decades, but did this morning when I saw that album was being reissued on vinyl and this song was noted as the other hit from it. I remember that song, kind of, but can't really remember how it went.

I post this only so y'all can remember how hot George Michael was at his prime -- and what an ass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHb2XYeXcJI

I remember that song, kind of, but can't really remember how it went.

many of these choices in a nutshell

I heard "We'll be together" in Trader Joe's last weekend and remembered how good that song is.

Change of heart
Time for a new start
Woo woo hey
Do you wanna go to the moo-vays
I had a change of start
Now I'm playing my part
Hey woo woo
Doodle doodle doo

All this time I been confusing the NKOTB song with this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiC81IOkjNk

“i wanna have some fun” and “monkey” at least to me both feel like un-forgotten monster smashes

I know 22 of these songs by title alone. Of those, I think I would vote either Dreamtime or Who's that Girl as my favorites.

I didn’t know Jacob’s Ladder was a biblical thing and thought maybe it was from the Tim Robbins movie... like that key & peele ray parker jr. sketch

yea Dreamtime is good

Wait, I'm not insane, at least acc to Wiki:

Luka" is a song written and recorded by Suzanne Vega, released as a single in 1987. It remains her highest-charting hit in the United States, reaching No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Worldwide, the song charted the highest in Poland and Sweden, peaking at No. 1 and No. 2 respectively, and reached the top 10 in Austria, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa. Shawn Colvin sings background vocals on the record.[4]

Maybe it's a legacy song issue??