I’ve had the time of my life…..
this is a meme my hubby found on a blog he reads and which he knew would appeal to me! So, you take the top 50 records from the year you were 18 from this website http://www.onmc.iinet.net.au/ , post the list and then –
bold the ones you liked,
strike the ones you disliked
and italicize the ones you knew but didn’t particularly like or dislike.
The ones you don’t know will still be in normal text.
I took the UK top 50 singles for 1987 (OMIGOD – that’s TWENTY years ago!!!!!!!) For me, the ’80s were THE music decade..I’m an ’80s girl through and through – however 1987 was a little too late on in the decade and things were going down hill. Wham! had split (I was at the Final Concert at Wembley and cried), house music and sampling was beginning to take a hold and we were heading into the Rave culture of the early ’90s.
MTV launched in 1987 and so suddenly we were subjected to huge production videos (luckily my family never had satellite so I never saw any of them)
Still there were a few good bands still around – messrs Stock, Aitken & Waterman were still holding sway long before we’d heard of Simon Cowell and their creation, Rick Astley, was amazing us all with how someone so boring could sell so many records….
1. NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP RICK ASTLEY I could not stand Rick Astley, he was the most uncool artist around, a product of the PWL “factory” of Stock, Aitken & Waterman.
2. NOTHING’S GONNA STOP US NOW Starship this is typical 1980’s pop and was, I think, the them to the film “Mannequin” starring Andrew McCarthy – a brat pack member – and Kim Cattrell (later of Sex and the City)
3. I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY (WHO LOVES ME) Whitney Houston this song has some mixed memories, I wasn’t particularly a Whitney fan but this was “My” karaoke song at our local pub
4. YOU WIN AGAIN The Bee Gees it’s the Bee Gees! What more do you need
5. CHINA IN YOUR HAND T’Pau a bit forgettable but at the time I liked T’pau and I have their album. Not one that has lasted as a classic..
6. RESPECTABLE Mel & Kim this was just too annoying, “Tay, tay, tay, tay, t-t-t-tay, tay, tay, take or leave us, only please believe us, we ain’t ever gonna be re-spect-able” now I’m going to have that in my head for days…
8. IT’S A SIN The Pet Shop Boys possibly my favourite Pet Shop Boys song
9. STAR TREKKIN’ The Firm very irritating novelty record “There’s Klingons on the starboard bow, starboard bow, starboard bow….”
10. PUMP UP THE VOLUME M/A/R/R/S I positively, actively hated this record. It was the first big “house” record. Full of samples and scratching …. not my sort of thing at all
12. UNDER THE BOARDWALK Bruce Willis oh dear, when actors sing……
13. LET IT BE Ferry Aid one of a flood of charity records following on the Band Aid band wagon, not the worst but then not the best either. This was to raise money to help after the Herald of Free Enterprise cross-channel ferry sank.
14. ALWAYS ON MY MIND The Pet Shop Boys I like Pet Shop Boys but this was pretty mediocre
15. GOT MY MIND SET ON YOU George Harrison I defy anyone to listen to this and not sing along and smile
16. CAN’T BE WITHOUT YOU TONIGHT Judy Boucher – this I do not remember at all. Have just googled to try and trigger my memory and discovered that Ms Boucher was born in the Caribbean but relocated to High Wycombe (about 5 miles from where I live) in 1970. Still have no memory of her or the song…
17. LA ISLA BONITA Madonna I never liked Madonna and still don’t. My boyfriend in 1987 was obsessed, but then so were most 18 year old boys in 1987
18. LA BAMBA Los Lobos this was such a feel good record you had to like it
19. HOLD ME NOW Johnny Logan vaguely remember the name of the artist but the song means nothing..
20. WHO’S THAT GIRL? Madonna grrr Madonna, what is it people see in her?
21. EVERYTHING I OWN Boy George I liked Culture Club but this solo was not good
22. DOWN TO EARTH Curiosity Killed The Cat Ben Vol-au-Vent Pierre (as we called him) and the boys with another catchy 80’s pop tune…I actually knew someone who had their song “Name and Number” as an answer phone message (Hey, how ya doing? Sorry you can’t get through, ‘cos this is a message that’s been recorded, especially for you. And if you leave a name and a number we’ll get right back to you, you can leave a message if you want to, when the bleeps are through)
23. WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN Percy Sledge this was re-released and made it into the charts after being in Levi’s commercial. One of several old soul records which suffered that fate – I remember Wonderful World by Sam Cooke and Heard it Through the Grapevine by Marvin Gaye.
24. HEARTACHE Pepsi & Shirley I’m sorry but even my Wham! fan status couldn’t make me like this
25. ALWAYS Atlantic Starr I don’t remember it well but I know I didn’t like it
26. WHENEVER YOU NEED SOMEBODY Rick Astley oh no, not another Rick Astley record…they let him make another one?
27. TOY BOY Sinitta I saw Sinitta the other day on pop quiz show “Never Mind the Buzzcocks” apparently she had a relationship with Simon Cowell…I’m not sure who I feel more sorry for in that.
28. I GET THE SWEETEST FEELING Jackie Wilson another re-release? How many were there in this year.
29. FAITH George Michael I loved this record then and now, it is still one of my favourite George records…I’m a George fan – did I mention??
30. I JUST CAN’T STOP LOVING YOU Michael Jackson with Siedah Garrett never a big Michael Jackson fan but I don’t mind listening to him, this song was a bit “something and nothing”
31. LIVE IT UP Mental As Anything – nope, no memory
32. LOVE IN THE FIRST DEGREE Bananarama “guilty, of love…guilty, of love in…guilty, of love in the third degree” why are so many songs so annoying…and the lyrics just stick..
33. CROCKETT’S THEME Jan Hammer – ahhhh, Miami Vice – now that’s what I call the 1980’s. This is the “my girl friend’s just been shot, my boss has ripped a strip off me, I’m driving my porsche with the top down into the sunset with my shades on to think about life” tune
34. ALONE Heart this was my other karaoke song. I love Heart, I love rock music and I love this song. Put it in the car stereo, wind the windows down, put your shades on and SCREAM it out.
35. WIPE OUT The Fat Boys & The Beach Boys – Aaaagghh this was even more annoying than any of the other annoying songs so far. As soon as I hear that silly laugh “Ha-ha-ha-ha Wipe out” I cringe. And it’s the Beach Boys!!! Why-o-why-o-why did they do it??
36. CALL ME Spagna what I remember most about this is Spagna’s hair, from the Limahl school of hairdressing – white and fluffed out all over the place. What we would have termed a “fright wig” back in the day. I think she was Italian and the song was very “Euro-pop”
37. LET’S WAIT AWHILE Janet Jackson no, I don’t even want to think about Janet Jackson, thank you
38. JACK YOUR BODY Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley although someone will probably tell me I’m wrong, I always put this in the “House” music category. Sampling and scratching. Hmmmm
39. THE GREAT PRETENDER Freddie Mercury Freddie at his outrageous, larger than life self. I have this on single and album…always seems very poignant as you get the impression he really was “the Great Pretender, pretending that I’m doing fine” We miss you Freddie.
40. MALE STRIPPER Man 2 Man meet Man Parrish – what? this was a song? in the charts?
41. LEAN ON ME Club Nouveau – I thought I was aware of music so this must have been pretty forgettable
42. WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS? The Pet Shop Boys with Dusty Springfield you can rely on the Pets to deliver a perfect pop song..
43. SOME PEOPLE Cliff Richard sorry Cliff, not my thing
44. A BOY FROM NOWHERE Tom Jones
45. WITH OR WITHOUT YOU U2 can I double strike this, I hate, hate, hate U2
46. WISHING WELL Terence Trent D’Arby when I started Uni in Sept 1987 and travelled to London on a weekly basis I had this album on my Walkman – cassette walkman obviously, no CDs back then. I would listen to TTD as I crammed onto a train and made my way through the underground system
47. HEART AND SOUL T’Pau see my comments re the other T’pau song
48. FAIRYTALE OF NEW YORK The Pogues with Kirsty MacColl I have to say I am getting to like this song less but probably because it gets played everywhere for the 2 months leading up to Christmas, along with Slade, Wizard and Last Christmas by Wham!
49. I WANNA BE YOUR DRILL INSTRUCTOR Abigail Mead & Nigel Goulding – vague memory but not really
50. MY ARMS KEEP MISSING YOU Rick Astley and they let him keep recording, this song title always makes me smile as it reads like his arms aren’t very co-ordinated and so keep missing the girl when he goes to hug her….given Mr Astley’s dancing it wouldn’t surprise me…
I can’t believe that the songs in 1987 were so bad….I love the ’80s and I love ’80s music- how could it have got so bad?
Anyway – perhaps they trigger some memories for you.
oh – and here’s a picture of me on my 18th Birthday, I’m the one in the gorgeous electric blue mohair dress. My best friend Alison, her boyfriend (now her husband) Colin (playing the guitar) and my boyfriend at the time, Ed, were all getting ready to go out with my parents and brothers. We went for a meal at The Catherine Wheel in Henley. We are in my bedroom at my parents house.
Gotta love those permed bobs girls! I expect that I was wearing either electric blue stockings or black ones with either seams and bows on the ankle or little butterflies on the ankles – blame Lady Di for that little fashion trend.
this one was taken later in the year on a school trip to Switzerland, that’s me on the left and Alison on the right.
cut-off jean shorts, I lived in them for years. As soon as my jeans started wearing out, cut the legs off at the knee, when they started fraying too much, cut them off really short. Looks like my bob had grown down into a real permed mullet do by the summer…dig the matching stripey t-shirts. Believe me, we didn’t try to look alike!
Blogged with Flock
Oh I love this! Meme. Curiosity Killed the Cat – Ben and his Beret… I had completely forgotten Those pictures are fab too!
Excellent post this Wendy! Really took me back! I too had a curly bob hair do for a while! and yes the cut offs we made out of old jeans (I did that as well!). Still did up until quite recently if I`m honest! Even now I still wear them to do the gardening!
My sister used to have dresses like your blue dress there with the V at the back, and do you remember back-winged jumpers?! and Jumpsuits! I had both I was about 9 or 10!
I shall do this meme myself I think! and put a link to your blog as well:)
ahh, the memories! You are right though… I graduated in ‘87 too, and by the looks of that list, things were winding down! Egads! My ’80s faves… the Cure, Siouxie, Echo and the Bunnymen… ahh the memories! Cute pics too!